Brando is the one who broke the silence first, but only after he was certain that they were safe. He sighed and pressed his head to rock. “I know this is going to be funny later. We’re going to laugh about being chased by rodents, because it’s very funny.” Brando’s voice rose, a little hysterical. “But that was terrifying, right?”
Tabby laughed. Glen managed a giddy chuckle. Tabby gestured to Glen’s leg. “You okay?”
During the pursuit, Glen had fallen, slipping on a loose stone. He barely managed to scramble back to running before a rodent swarm reached him. He had to kick two away from his ankles.
“Fine,” Glen said. “One of them nipped my pants, but it didn’t go through.”
“Thanks be.”
After a few more moments to breathe, Tabby sat up. “Let’s not discount the fact that those things have paralytic venom. This could have been bad. If one of those had gotten you, Chuck –“ Tabby shivered. “Just one bite could have slowed you enough for the rest to catch up.”
“But since we’re okay, this is extremely funny.” They all exchanged relieved grins.
Brando stood, holding his hand out for his crewmates. Tabby and Glen rose with him, but at once, Glen’s knee gave out.
Glen barely realized he was falling before he was back on the ground. The only thing that kept him from completely collapsing was Brando, crouching to brace in time.
“Shit –“ Tabby jumped to his other side, her eyes flown wide with alarm. “Which leg?”
“It didn’t break skin, though.” Glen stared for a moment, confused. But when he reached to pull the pant leg up, he winced. “Oh.” The black fabric was soaked through with blood. “It broke skin. I didn’t even realize – I didn’t feel anything.”
Tabby sighed. “Yeah, that’d be the paralytic venom, Chuck!”
