“When working at the bottling plant, she'd felt herself turning into something nearly savage, fingers stiff, mind numb, chest a cage. There'd been cats in their village who'd hiss and spit at anyone who came near them, and Xiaolei thought she could understand why. Sometimes if she wanted to leave her room, she first found herself listening from inside for any hall noises and waiting until they subsided before exiting; the sound of another door rasping open would prompt her to pause. If she spotted people her age clustered in the courtyard--a few girls had made friendly overtures--she'd turn and make a hasty retreat, as if suddenly remembering something. It wasn't surprising, she told herself: all wild animals fear human contact.”
Book:Land of Big Numbers