Letting go of his weapon with his left hand, he grabbed the thing by the neck and yanked it off him.  The claws did more damage as he ripped them free, and red numbers flashed across his interface. He throttled the thing, shaking it while squeezing with all his considerable strength.  Its neck snapped, and it stopped struggling.  He hurled it at the remaining three vermin.   They looked at him, then at the corpse, and decided on the easier meal.  One of them grabbed hold of its dead brethren and began to drag it away into the darkness.  The other two followed, walking backward and baring their teeth at Allistor.

When he could no longer hear them scurrying away, he waved away the experience notifications on his interface and turned to face the woman behind him.  He had one hand clamped to the wound on his leg, trying to stop the flow of blood.  She looked down as she said, “Thank you… Allistor, right?”   She didn’t wait for confirmation. “You’re hurt.  We need to stop the bleeding.”

Reaching into her own bag, she pulled out a small jar and a rag.  Then she said, “Take off your belt and wrap it around your leg, twist it tight.

Allistor shook his head. His health bar was down to seventy percent and was ticking downward slowly. A blinking icon on his interface indicated a bleeding debuff. “Later.  Those things were called scouts.  Which means there are probably more of them down here somewhere.  Let’s get you out of here, then we can fix my leg.”

She nodded and took the frightened little girl by the hand.  With Allistor’s light leading the way, the three of them walked side by side back to the junction and went left.

“I’m sorry,” Allistor said as he limped along. “I don’t think I know your name.”

She smiled unsteadily, her teeth white against her tear and dirt-stained face. “I’m not surprised.  I know your mother, but the last time I saw you in person was at one of your little league games.  You were maybe… ten? But your mom has… had… your picture on her desk. I’m Nancy.  And this little bundle of snot and tears is Chloe.”  She smiled as Chloe wiped her runny nose on a dirty sleeve, leaving streaks of snot-crusted dirt across her face.

“Nice to meet you… err… again.” Allistor couldn’t shake hands, with one on his leg and the other holding his weapon.  Chloe gave a halfhearted wave, looking over her shoulder fearfully.  They picked up the pace a bit, moving as fast as Allistor could with his injured leg. It was only a few minutes before they reached the ladder leading up to the manhole.