Luc waited till 22:00 before leaving the house. He didn’t live far from the rich neighborhood, so he preferred to walk because he didn’t know how many boxes he would return with, and a bicycle was in his opinion a bit impractical. Moreover, it was just a 30-minute walk, no big deal for him.

  He had thought of staying home due to that encounter with that strange horned man, but the reward of these biweekly raids on rich people’s trash was too hard to pass on.

  The first thing Luc saw when entering the rich neighborhood were how 3 large boxes stuck out like sore thumbs.

  “Are those boxes of fridges?! Lucky!”

  Luc didn't understand rich people. They didn't fold their boxes, nor did they have issues to show off what they had bought like this. It worked out for him, however.

  Luc collected and neatly folded the fridge boxes.

  “I need a cart or one of those Lambert backpacks that are bigger on the inside than the outside…”

  These 3 boxes completely filled Luc’s backpack and made him consider only taking 1.

  “Let’s see what else I can find.”

  Luc avoided the well lit areas on purpose, as he didn’t know who could be watching.

  “Microwaves, toasters. What is this? A Roomba? I doubt that it can clean my place though… ”

  There were also many boxes he deemed worthless like automatic litter boxes, lawnmowers and ceiling fans.

  2 fridge boxes got abandoned to make space for the smaller, more practical boxes. Cans and bottles weren’t safe either.

  A door opened and Luc hid in the shadows.

  A man left his house, pressed on something in his hand, and the lights of a fancy white car blinked. The man got in, started the engine and drove off.

  “I wish they sold cars in boxes….”

  Luc scanned the street, but there were no such things at boxes for cars.

  Luc continued until he was getting close to being encumbered and made plans of returning when he heard a strange buzzing sound.

  “Bugs? No, this sounds different.”

  Luc’s curiosity won out and followed his ears to the space between the garden hedges of 2 houses.

  Luc’s eyes widened as he was looking at a light purple energy disk. The disk deformed slightly and a man with red horns stepped out.

  Luc’s body froze, even though he tried to flee.

  Countless thoughts went through his head. But the most important one was ‘run’.

  The man looked different from the one he had seen earlier today, but that didn't matter, this certainly was bad!

  The man turned his head and noticed Luc, who wore a bulky backpack and was holding 2 large trash bags.

  “You don’t live here, do you?” the man said in an overly deep voice. It wasn’t English, but he still understood it perfectly, as if a voice in his head translated it.

  The hand of the man glowed as it stretched toward Luc, who instantly reacted.

  “Take this!”

  Luc threw a garbage bag at the man and ran for his life.

  The sound of clattering cans and bottles, paired with an angry grunt, got heard behind him.

  Luc looked behind him as a strange purple energy in the form of a large hand was extending toward him and gaining on him.

  Luc didn’t blink twice and flung the other garbage bag at it which got grabbed and crushed. The purple hand disappeared, however.

  “Not so threatening now without your ability, eh?”

  Luc went around the corner, confident that his ability to run fast would cause him to lose the horned man, to find the horned man hop out of a purple portal in front of him.

  “Hey come on, that’s not fair…”

  The horned man stretched his arm again, and Luc dove to the side.

  “What do these rich people drink? Can’t they hear something is going on in their street?! Luc complained as purple buzzing energy rushed at the spot he had been moments before and crashed into a red car and set off its alarm.

  It was as if everyone was asleep or couldn’t hear the noise.

  “What’s going on?”

  Another purple hand extended for Luc, but he had no more garbage bags to throw.

  Luc pulled the fridge box out of his backpack, slammed it on the ground, stood on it and refilled it, causing the large fridge to launch him upward and to eliminate the purple hand as it grabbed and crushed the fridge.

  Another folded box got pulled out of Luc’s backpack, which he threw like a frisbee after his refill ability got used on it.

  The folded box, which now had refilled into a box containing a microwave, flew at the horned man while spinning at great speed and landed a direct hit on the man’s forehead.

  Luc made an ugly landing, but he didn't care. The horned man laid on the ground with his forehead bleeding and possibly knocked out. Luc looked around briefly to ensure nobody was really watching and turned around, not knowing that he was being watched.

  Luc just ran. He ran and ran, back home. Locked the door behind him and leaned against the door after putting his backpack down and catching his breath.

  His hands shook and he tried to calm down. It was his third encounter with a strange horned man, and he was sure now; they weren’t human. Were they aliens? What did they want? And why has nobody mentioned seeing them. If he saw 3 on one day, surely others would have seen them too, right?

  “I… I’m calling in sick…”

  Luc didn’t feel like going out the next morning, so he called Jack, but nobody answered the phone.

  Luc crawled over the floor, through empty bottles, boxes and wrappers and got to the table which he used as support to stand ho and sat in a chair and opened the laptop that was on the table.

  It was an expensive laptop which he got for free, it had been the loot of nights like these. But that night had been uneventful, unlike this one.

  He navigated through the laptop and emailed his boss, hands still shaking.

  “Done…”

  Luc clenched his fists to make the shaking stop.

  "It's 23:27, I will get all my uses back in 33 minutes."

  Luc leaned to the side to find a bottle.

  He had the habit of drinking something when he felt tired or uneasy.

  Just 3 uses left, but that wouldn't be a problem, he thought.

  His foot extended and rolled a bottle towards him which he picked up.

  “Water? Well it's better than nothing…”

  The bottle refilled, and he gulped it down as if he had been dehydrated.

  'I need to address this habit' was what he thought when he heard a particular buzzing sound and a purple portal appeared in front of him.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “No, no, no! How did he find me?!"

  A bloodied angry horned man stepped out and Luc instantly dove under the table as a purple hand came for him.

  “I… I need to stall till midnight!”

  Luc was terrified, but the horned man had made a crucial mistake; this was Luc's home, filled with trash, trash he could refill.

  The only problem was that he had 2 uses left till midnight.

  Luc flipped the table and rolled to a pike of boxes.

  “Where are they? I always expected to use this against nosy family members or random bullies, not an alien!"

  Luc was like many men of his age a bit of an idiot, often fantasizing how he would beat up intruders or heroically save an attractive woman.

  Be it lucky or unlucky, he could now act upon this delusion.

  2 boxes of clothes irons appeared, and he took them out of the boxes after refilling them and dual wielded.

  The horned man scoffed and sent purple energy at Luc who dove to the side, closed in and swing his right iron at the man who blocked with his arm.

  A left iron uppercut hit the jaw of the horned man, who staggered and bled even more.

  Luc disengaged, as he only needed to stall. His heart races, not only from fear but also a bit of excitement.

  “Where are my fridge boxes?”

  Luc swung his right iron to deflect a purple bolt and got flung into the wall.

  “Ugh…”

  "Your tricks won't work on me!” The horned man said, with one hand on his jaw and another stretched out, gathering a mass of dark purple and black energy.

  "Heh, seems it worked just fine!”

  Luc pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time.

  "23:35?! A bad time for time to crawl by!”

  Luc hyperventilated and tried to calm down. He focused on the energy ball gathering to find the correct moment to evade.

  He needed to get to the kitchen, grab 2 fridge boxes and survive to midnight. Could he do it?

  The horned man yelled and the ball of death shot toward Luc.

  “Now!"

  Luc rolled toward the door and flung an iron at the horned man, who appeared to have the special ability to take blows with his head as Luc landed a successful headshot.

  The impact made an ugly sound as it also hit a horn, and a demonic scream escaped from the man's throat.

  It struck fear in Luc and just motivated him more to survive.

  Luc tumbled into his kitchen and grabbed 2 folded fridge boxes. He was about to leave when his eyes fell on his broken down microwave.

  “How about a last act of service?"

  The broken microwave got carried under his arm as he unlocked the door and fled outside.

  The ‘thuds’ he heard behind him indicated that he was being followed and purple light coming from behind him indicated that he was being targeted.

  Luc placed a box on the ground, spun around and flung the broken microwave at the horned man, who unfortunately for Luc had learned how to evade.

  A glance at his phone told him that he needed to stall for 19 more minutes.

  “So, uhhm… how about we chat for a bit?”

  "Die…" the man growled as 4 purple hands shot out and came at Luc from 4 sides.

  Should he fling his remaining iron, or should he go back inside to get more boxes?

  His perceived advantage hadn't been as great as he had thought, as his messy house was even messier now and several boxes had been destroyed.

  Yet again, nobody in the street noticed the sounds as the horned man was yelling angrily.

  “Maybe this is also part of his ability? But… that means that nobody is going to help me…”

  Luc flung his iron at the hand coming from his left and ran into that same direction.

  The hand grabbed the iron, crushed it and disappeared, creating an escape route for Luc.

  Luc ran away and turned 180° as a purple portal opened in front of him, allowing him to run back inside.

  “Bottles, boxes, anything I can get!”

  He grabbed anything that was nearby and stuffed them into his large backpack and ran back outside as yet another portal appeared.

  “It would be nice if he used his legs like anyone else…” Luc complained as he flung an empty bottle at an extending purple hand.

  He did not expect it to work as it wasn't heavy, but the bottle got grabbed and crushed before the magic hand disappeared.

  “So it had that weakness…” Luc panted as he tried to catch his breath.

  Luc tried to think of a plan. He knew how to win the moment he could use his ability again, but he had to survive until then.

  He didn't need the bottles to win, only the fridge boxes.

  The horned man wasn't aware of his ability as he had only used it on the irons, and the horned man hadn't paid much attention to when Luc did so.

  “11 minutes…”

  " Stop scurrying around, you can't win this…”

  Luc was afraid, but the appearance of the horned man suggested something different. His forehead and temple were bleeding, and his jaw was a bit crooked. Meanwhile, Luc had collected just a few scratches from diving and rolling around.

  He was aware that getting hit meant the end, however.

  “So uhm, how about you tell me why you're doing this maybe…”

  Luc got an instant answer as countless black and purple energy balls charged up.

  “I should watch less TV… this always works in those TV series…”

  Luc couldn't remember if these energy balls had the same weaknesses as the hands, but he didn't want to find out and ran down the street and pulled out his phone.

  “My phone didn't turn into garbage, did it? I'm sure that was longer than 3 minutes!"

  The expected portal opened and Luc turned around after flinging a glass bottle.

  A shatter sound and an angry yell confirmed a hit, and Luc didn't need a lot of imagination to know that he landed another headshot.

  He knew that he looked silly, running around with an enormous backpack with trash sticking out, but it was needed for survival. Embarrassment was better than death.

  No portal appeared, to Luc's surprise, so he looked back to find that the man was running toward him with his feet clad in dark purple energy.

  “So his portals have a limit, too? Good to know but a bit late…”

  A glance at his phone told him that he needed 3 more minutes. It was enough to set up his plan.

  He ran back to his house and sat down to catch his breath in the door opening.

  The horned man reached at midnight, panting heavily. " Stopped…running around like a rat eh?" He said overconfident as he slowed down to also catch his breath.

  “I decided to fight back!” Luc said as he got up and pulled the fridge box out of his oversized backpack. “I would advise you to not get closer or else!”

  " Else what? You will box me in? Hahaha!”

  Luc pointed the box at the man and moved to the side, carefully to not give away that he wanted the horned man to step on the fridge box he had placed, the first time he fled from his home.

  "Come on, then! I'm waiting!”

  The man taunted as he slowly walked towards Luc.

  The horned man's footsteps made a different sound as he stepped on the box and looked down.

  Luc threw the box in his hand like a frisbee and activated his ability, the moment the thrown box was right above the horned man.

  "Get fridged!”

  Both the boxes responded to Luc's refill ability and blood exploded outward as the horned man got crushed between 2 fridges ‘that came out of nowhere’.

  Luc was out of range of the gore and exhaled deeply.

  The stacked fridges and gory splatter was in the middle of the road and people would surely notice, but Luc didn't care. He went back inside and locked the door.

  Strange things happen on a regular basis in his, but this might be strange enough to gain a lot of attention.

  “I'm definitely staying home after all that…”

  Luc spent an hour cleaning up and reached for an empty bottle but hesitated.

  Careless use of his ability had almost gotten him killed. He couldn't have known that he would get attacked, but that horned man wouldn't have cared.

  Luc yawned and decided that 1 refill should be fine.

  It had been a long day and Luc drank to unwind.

  Loud ringing woke Luc, who rubbed his head and got up.

  “Ugh, it seems I didn't make it to my bed last night…”

  Luc closed the half full bottle, which was spreading a strong smell.

  He sniffed himself, confirmed that he didn't smell all too weird, and opened the door.

  " Good morning, sir, we would like to ask you if you heard or saw anything last night.”

  “Last night?” Luc asked, while still groggy and covering his mouth as he yawned.

  The short man in a uniform stepped aside so Luc could see the barricaded street and uniformed men investing the strange sight of stacked fridges with dark red and red brown gore between and around them.

  “Huh? What's that?"

  Luc tried to get a better look, but the short man stepped in front of him. He stood on his toes to look over the man and observe the men in uniforms.

  “It seems that you don't know anything. We would advise you to stay home for at least today. Notify your employer, employees or clients. We need to ensure that the culprit doesn't claim more lives.”

  “Uhh ok…”

  The short man nodded, left and went to Luc's neighbors.

  Luc kept it subtle but was trying to find out if the neighbors saw or heard anything, but they didn't.

  Luc sighed in relief, was about to go back inside when he noticed the man with the ‘N’ on his cap walking his dog and waving at him.

  Luc waved back and noticed that the man was saying something, but since he was on the other side of the street, he assumed it wasn’t meant for him.

  “What a strange man.” Luc said to himself as he went back inside and refilled a soda bottle. “I also need to use less refills on drinks or… level up…”

  Luc, just like most ability users, were level 0, the base level. Level 1 would have his ability upgrade, level 2 would do the same and level 3 was theorized, but nobody had reached it.

  Some say level 3 become gods, others say it will remove all limitations from your ability, while a large part just thinks it doesn't exist.

  Luc’s ability didn’t have many things he could control, only the refill speed and amount of times he can use it per day, so he would just expect to refill more often as a level, but nobody knew what they would get once they would level up.

  That event of the previous night made Luc consider being more careful about his ability usage and carry boxes around in case this would happen again. He was unsure how wise this was, however, as it might be a one-off thing.

  Luc yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Why am I still so tired?”

  His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

  “What?! 6:39?! Why are they harassing people so early?!"

  Luc put his phone to charge, took a shower and went to bed.

  “I'm not allowed outside anyway, might as well make great use of this.”