For a few moments, Alex's jaw hangs slack in surprise and his breath hitches. But then he clicks his tongue out of annoyance and glares at the spot where the man was standing. Did he really run off to look cool? This isn't a movie!
Alex grumbles inwardly for a few moments before deciding to ignore what the man did. After all, if he's already gone there's no point chasing after him. Instead, he sets his sights on the dumpster filled with food.
Alex walks from the gray dumpster filled with cardboard boxes to the one filled with garbage bags of food adjacent to it. The man seemed to have closed the dumpster's lid before running off, so the large black lid rests firmly over it. However, he didn't lock it, so Alex can open it whenever he likes.
He grips the edge of the lid, already salivating at the food contained within the dumpster. He doesn't usually expect much from garbage, but this is Leo's! Leo's Lunches is, in Alex's opinion, the best restaurant in the city of Rifield! Not to mention, the food should still be fairly warm.
Maybe there'll be hotdogs! Or chicken tenders! Pizza wouldn't be bad either!
With great anticipation, Alex tightens his grip and flings the lid upwards! It arcs over the hinge and hits the brick wall behind the dumpster with a loud plastic clack! Then he looks inside, hope glimmering in his eyes.
In the next second, that hope is extinguished, and his face contorts into a scowl. How is it even possible to puke that much!?
The entire interior of the dumpster is covered in vomit. There isn't an insane amount of it, but it's spread out enough to partially cover most of the dumpster's contents. The large black garbage bags gleam with puke in the faint streetlight; half-digested chunks of food are scattered here and there, sticking to the bags; and near the edge of the dumpster, where the man puked the most, is a small pool of odorous bile.
At that sight, Alex loses his appetite and mentally berates the man. Damn drunk! This was supposed to be a feast! As he inwardly screams, he pulls his right leg back, and slams his foot into the metal wall of the dumpster!
A metallic thump rings through the air, but the dumpster is unaffected. Alex's toes, however, now throb painfully.
He wants to keep kicking but, Alex decides to take a few minutes to calm down. His short temper has gotten him into dangerous situations before, so he knows to calm down whenever something like this happens.
He breathes deeply, in through the nose and out through the mouth, over and over until the anger dissaptes. Then he closes the lid to the dumpster and walks out of the alleyway.
I'll just head to another restaurant.
However, just as he leaves the alleyway, he hears a rustling noise coming from behind him. Before he even has time to think, a small gray blur shoots out of the alley!
Alex is taken by surprise and stumbles several steps back upon seeing the blur, but he quickly regains his composure. He wouldn't have been able to live on the streets of Rifield for so long, if he couldn't react quickly!
He pumps energy into his legs and exerts force onto the ground to stabilize his footing. Then, in one smooth motion, he grips the hilt of the large sheathed knife hanging from his polyester belt and yanks it upwards.
This is by far the most valuable thing Alex owns. Several years ago, a hunting expo came to Rifield, and he was able to swipe it from one of the tables and run away before being caught.
The knife itself has a blade that's several inches long with a slight curve at the tip and pointed ridges at the back. The handle is made of carbon fiber and has a small dent for his ring finger to go. Its edge is a bit dull, but still plenty sharp enough to inflict damage.
With his knife unsheathed, Alex gains some confidence. His emerald-green eyes scan his surroundings until he finds what he's looking for. The gray blur is running straight at Alex, as though it hasn't even noticed him!
Now that he's composed himself, Alex instantly recognizes what the blur is. It's a rat! But not just any rat, this rat is over ten inches long!
The rat darts towards Alex at a frightening pace. Its path neither wavers nor deviates, instead it runs in a straight line towards him. It's planning to run between his legs!
For just a moment, Alex thinks about running away. After all, it's just a rat. But he easily casts that thought away.
Instead, he waits for the rat to get closer. He doesn't know why, but it seems intent on running towards him. He'll take advantage of that if he can. Then, when the rat is only a few feet away, Alex makes his move. He exerts force through his legs and lunges towards the rat! His arms outstretch and his grayish-green raincoat flaps in the wind. He's planning to grab the rat!
But, just before Alex can trap it in his grasp, the rat finally seems to notice him! It changes its direction and darts to the right of Alex, intent on escaping! But something seems wrong with the rat; its movements are sluggish and painful, and it doesn't even consider one thing.
Thunk! With a loud noise, Alex stabs his knife down, directly into the rat's torso. It didn't realize that it ran right under his outstretched knife-holding arm! The blade pierces the rat's skin and penetrates deep into its flesh. Its bones break and its internal organs are ruptured. After only a few more breaths, the rat's eyes dim and it dies.
Normally, Alex wouldn't have been able to finish it off so easily, but thanks to the rat's erratic behavior and weakened state, he killed it without much resistance.
Still, what could have made that rat act so weirdly? Alex inwardly wonders to himself as he wipes the blood off his knife with his raincoat. Then he puts it back in the sheath and picks up the rat by the tail to examine it.
His initial judgment was correct; the rat is around eleven inches long, not including the tail. While this is out of the norm, Alex has seen larger ones. However, what is strange is the state of the rat. Its front left leg seems badly burnt, and large patches of fur have been singed. What's stranger is that this seems to have happened recently, as the singed hairs still give off a faint smell.
What on Earth? Did someone set it on fire? Did it singe itself on a bonfire? Yes, that's probably it. The homeless make bonfires all the time, it was probably just unfortunate enough to get caught in one. Upon realizing the cause of the rat's state, Alex heaves a sigh of relief. But then he remembers another problem.
Why was it running towards me like that? Was it attracted to me? No, that can't be it. What do I have that can attract a rat like that? It must have been running from something. Probably a dog or a cat. Heh, what a bad day for that rat. Set on fire, then chased by a dog, only to be killed by me.
After coming up with the reason for the rat's behavior, Alex wipes the blood off it's corpse and places it into his backpack. He's already come up with a plan on how to use it.
Alex wouldn't eat the rat. No matter how hungry he gets, he won't resort to something that vile. However, there are plenty of people in Rifield that would. So, he plans to trade to someone with less dignity than himself. And those types of people tend to congregate in one place in Rifield.
Alex chuckles to himself as he says out loud, "I really love Tetanus Town."