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Chapter 3 - Dumpster Diving

The second we felt the wind on our faces we ran, down some stairs onto a sidewalk that bordered a wide street. Wherever we were, it was cooler than where we lived with our kidnappers. Much hotter than what we found comfortable, but at least we were not incapacitated, just a little sluggish.

Despite the hour, cars were driving on the road, but we did not see any people walking on the street. It was dark, but the sidewalks were well-lit. Using my nose, I chose a direction that smelled like food and loped with Tee padding barefoot behind me in a hospital gown.

My nose took us to a 24-hour McDonald's. We had no money, but I figured there would be lots of food littering the parking lot. I also hoped we could get directions to the train station or at least figure out where we were.

The parking lot adjacent to McDonald's was U-shaped with the McDonald's nestled in the middle butting up against the street. It was empty except for a few cars parked around the back, and a human sleeping behind an industrial-sized trashcan. As expected, there was lots of perfectly good food in the trashcans and on the ground.

We could live for months without food, but no one said it was comfortable to go without. We got hungry just like everyone else.

We found a shadowed corner and quickly ate our fill, careful not to attract attention.

Tee rubbed his round tummy and complained about how he ate too much, while I racked my brains trying to figure a way out of the mess, we were in. We needed to find out where we were and how far away, we were from a train station. Maybe Tee could go inside the McDonald's to ask, but he would surely attract attention. Barefoot children in hospital gowns opened in the back attracted a lot of attention. So did white dogs.

"We need to find you some clothes. Do you have any good ideas?", I asked.

Tee kept rubbing his tummy and looked around. 

"Let's try the doors of the cars and see if one is open. You can stand guard and I will try the doors.", Tee said.

When it came to sneaky plans, Tee was the best. He was a true opportunist at heart and had sticky fingers. Breaking into cars and stealing would not bother him one iota.

The fourth car he tried was unlocked. Quickly Tee crawled into the car and started rummaging. Whoever owned this car was a mess and there were all sorts of interesting things strewn about. Mostly empty food containers, but there were clothes too.

Frustrated that I could not supervise what Tee was doing, I paced back and forth in my little hiding place where I had a good view of the parking lot.

What was he doing in there?

I was just about to leave my concealment and investigate when I saw a human male come out the backdoor with bags of trash.

"Runt. Going to the big trash thing.", I thought.

I saw Tee poke his little head up. He was probably trying to see where the human was.

"Tell me if they come to the car.", Tee thought.

"Don't do anything stupid.", I thought.

"What's that supposed to mean? I don't do anything stupid. If it weren't for me, we would still be locked up in that creepy place.", Tee thought.

"Quit arguing and stay focused.", I thought.

"You are the one that started it.", Tee thought.

Our arguing was disrupted by the two humans yelling at each other.

"Sir, you need to leave.", said the employee.