Allistor fought the urge to cover his ears as the painful waves of sound washed over him.  Keeping his eyes on the boss, he launched himself forward, jamming the spear point down the big rat’s throat.   He twisted and pushed, then yanked the weapon out and drove it back in again.  As he pushed the head backward, one of the alpha’s foreclaws swiped at his leg.  Three deep furrows opened up on his thigh and blood sprayed.   Ignoring the pain, he gritted his teeth and leaned into the spear.  A moment later there was a pop! as his spear point broke through and drove into the alpha’s skull.   It twitched a few times, then went still.

A scream from Amanda made him spin around, his weight on his injured leg.  The pain made him see spots for a moment as he tried to find her.

One of the rats that had charged into the flames had somehow managed to drag itself forward far enough to reach them.  A slimy trail of burnt skin and blood stretched out behind it all the way to the flickering flames.  It had latched onto Amanda’s calf and was trying to drag her off balance.

Michael jammed his sword into the thing’s eye, killing it instantly.  Then he and Ramon pried the thing’s jaw open to free Amanda’s leg.   Nancy cast a heal on her and handed her a potion.  Then she turned and did the same for Allistor.

The fight leveled up everyone but Allistor.  He was still a few thousand points from level nine.   He sat with his back against the wall as he munched on some of Sam’s beef jerky and drank iced tea from a bottle.  Though his health bar had only dropped about a quarter from his wounds, he’d lost a good bit of blood.  He watched the others loot the remaining bodies as Amanda came to sit next to him.  He shared both food and drink with her, smiling when she made a nom, nom, nom sound as she chewed the jerky.

“Gotta remember to watch your back,” he offered casually.

She took a drink to wash down the jerky and replied, “I was busy trying to heal your dumb ass.  Once again you let the beasties bite you.”

Chuckling, he said, “Technically, it slashed me.” He pointed to the three cuts in his leather pants.   Each one was a good six inches long.  Lilly was going to need to repair those for him. “You’re the one that let herself get bit.”

She gave him the evil eye for a moment, then snorted, “I suppose that’s true.  Hurt like a bitch, too.  Hurt worse when they pulled those teeth out.”

Allistor nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it always hurts worse on the way out.”