A Nighttime Excursion

It was a new moon, which was the first part of why Sewer believed it was safe enough to head for the surface. He was walking down the storm drains as the runoff from a recent light shower flowed down the drain, but his big scaly feet didn't mind the cold, dirty water. A sensitive nose searched for food and he stopped at a spot where the grate was large and he was able to rear up on his hind legs and push the heavy grate up and aside to climb up to street level, claws digging into the concrete and leaving  grooves as he pulled the rest of his body up and finally his whole tail was lifted clear of the grate.

Sewer left it sitting open, he wouldn't be up long and it was his escape route. The DSNY would be coming by in a few hours which left him plenty of time to scavenge the dumpsters on this street. There had been a time when Dr. Andrew Maury would throw out spoiled food with the rest of the world. Now others garbage was his food. He stretched his neck up and scented the air before turning to walk toward a hole-in-the-wall Italian joint that always tossed pots of uneaten chicken and shrimp alfredo out in their trash. It wasn't the pasta he was after, though. The pasta brought rats and it was them he was after.

His claws left small  grooves in the concrete where he pushed off on each foot and his tail dragged along the sidewalk. He fled a car's bright headlights, turning his face away from their high beams and ducking into an alley as the car sped by. As the taillights faded in the dark, Sewer stepped back out and growled before yelling after the car in his rough gravel voice. "Whatcha trying to do, blind me?"

It was another night in the city as Sewer kept walking the abandoned street.