The city is a living organism, and because every living thing must one day die, the city must die too. Like the human beings who build it, the city has it's periods of youth, maturity and old age. The city dies by degrees, a house here, a street there, block by block, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, the boarded up shuttered buildings stand empty, decayed, deserted, dead. But that part of the city, which still lives, continues to go through the motions, it sends water through the mains, electric current to illuminate the street lamps, and police cruisers on their slow patrols. 

Tonight, officer Tom Bergman stiffens to attention behind the wheel of his car, and loosens the strap of his holster. Just up ahead, a man is walking slowly along the sidewalk...