[1101] Into the Alley

A short story I wrote recently as part of my project to write sword and sorcery/grimdark fantasy short stories to develop a world and characters and eventually write a 20K word novella and ultimately a 50K+ word novel.

This is a pretty straightforward story where the main character knows he's being followed so he leads them into an alley. I would love some feedback on my prose, especially on my attempt to use less boring adverbs and more colorful verbs. And just the overall quality of it. I would like to add a bit more of a "gritty" feel to it, although a brief scene like this might just not be the best place for it without it being forced. I'm also not very good at titles and names, so rip me up.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-ceFAi-jwWT-vWaXA7i5eFAQv-KqqL1D06fc__LIRXU/edit?usp=sharing

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Also my critique can be found here: linky

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Edit: I'd really like to submit this short story to a publication or three. I would also like to know if you think it's worthy of that, especially after edits.