Ambitan slowly shimmied through the tunnel that he had previously excavated. Outside as he crawled he heard a gust of wind blow past and knock over what was most likely a haphazardly stacked pile of garbage.
They resemble smokestacks from the bygone days in a sense, at least that's what Ambitan's parents had told him before they had thrown him to the wolves. Could've been worse. Much worse.
He used to have a friend, Ambitan remembers how they would scrounge for morsels and beg for food. They even managed to pull off the only trickery they ever did together. One of them distracted the guard that was on duty for the buckets, while the other dipped in and managed to snag a whole one.
Those were the days of the past though, when but a shred of innocence still remained. That swiftly ended when Marcel's parents were hankering for their next drug fix, practically salivating for a used syringe.
"At what point does it stop becoming about enjoying the drug and more of avoiding the withdrawal?" wondered Ambitan.
So they sold Marcel to some pompous, over-bearing person who claimed to be someone in service to a person who actually lived in the Upper Sector. While that could've been true, such scams were far too common and took advantage of those who actually desired for their children to live better lives.
Ambitan shook his head, clearing it of the stray thoughts that were muddling it before continuing down the tunnel. The sun was setting fast and without any source of heat to keep him company soon enough, in stark contrast to the day, he would be freezing.
He was already bundling himself together in his thin, worn-out rags but they did little to nothing to prevent the cold from setting into his bones.
And as the day carried out, and the light slowly drifted into darkness, the heat rapidly left the surroundings, being expelled and dissipated all around.
When Ambitan finally poked his head back out of the tunnel the sun had already set. The sky was patchy with clouds dotting to and fro. With the darkness though, also came blindness. The light reflect off the moon just wasn't sufficient to navigate further, thankfully enough though Ambitan had taken the route enough times to rely on muscle memory alone, as long as the Gnashers haven't messed it up too badly with their scavenging.
Making sure to stick close to the ground, Ambitan crept around piles of garbage.
Suddenly though, nearby, Ambitan heard the loose rustle and jangle of a metal can. Like someone was digging around in it or something. It wouldn't be too uncommon for someone to still be rooting around at this hour despite it being practically suicide, but nevertheless, if it were to be a more nefarious character then Ambitan would be done for.
So skirting towards where he heard the noise, Ambitan pressed himself even further against the ground, almost slinking through the darkness.
As he approached the rustling grew louder, at times the rustling would as if they too were scanning their surroundings to make sure that nothing had spotted them.
Then as Ambitan was about to turn a corner he saw the source of the noise, nestled inside an almost empty can was a freakishly large rat. Their dark tail slinked out of the opening and trailed off further into the dump.
The rat found brief success and retrieved itself from the depths of the can, in its paws, it clutched a small morsel of food. Following its instinct it sniffed the air, hoping to catch a trace of any threats in the area. But the scent of the trash was suffocating and suppressed any sign of Ambitan's existence, especially since he had been roaming around all day.
Secure in its idea of safety, the rat kneeled over and started to tackle the food, but unknown to it, Ambitan was already stalking up behind it.
The rat leaned down to take another nibble when suddenly its whiskers twitched, catching the slight vibrations that Ambitan made behind it.
Startled, it jumped into action, its paws whirling into motion to hurry it away from this surprise that had snuck up behind it. Whether or not it was a threat can be evaluated later, what mattered now for it was safety and security.
But Ambitan was already prepared for this, rat-catching was a pretty common pastime and this one alone due to its bigger size should be able to feed him for tonight at least. That was if he was able to find the means to secure a fire of course. Hopefully, he would be able to bum off someone else, as long as the price wasn't too great he wouldn't mind losing a battery or two.
Despite how he risked his life for those batteries he found today, in the end, the materials he obtained meant little in the face of his continued existence. And if having a warm meal would benefit him in his mission then who would he be to deny himself that?
So as soon as he saw the rat leap into movement, he too sprung into action, with a quick burst he kicked off the ground despite the sharp lance of pain shooting through his right leg.
He propelled himself forward and before the rat had managed to make much distance, Ambitan reached out with his hand and managed to get a tight grip on the fleshy, worm-like rat tail.
The rat squealed angrily and thrashed around to try and reach its jaws around to get a bite off on Ambitan to discourage him via pain.
However, Ambitan pinched down on its neck with his other hand. With his right he made sure to restrain the movements of the limbs, lifting it off the ground, and then with his left hand, he pinched down on the rat's neck to prevent it from turning its head around to bite.
The bite itself wouldn't hurt too much, the initial pain would sting but overall it wouldn't be too bad. What really posed a threat though would be the bacteria present, the rats were already dirty enough and it eating them carried a certain amount of risk, but getting that bacteria into an open wound was practically a death sentence. The price of medicine was equal to that of organs after all.
So ensuring to practice caution, Ambitan maintained his grip on the rat's neck before twisting and cracking it causing the rat to thrash around in its final death throes as a ratchety breath escaped its lungs. The limbs went slack and the warmth slowly seeped out of its body to escape into the surrounding air.