Allen and Volke hear the attack on Xavier, and all hear his, "Damn!' when he got bitten.
(Since it's silenced, no one heard his gun though.) Allison kills both rat NMCs she hit.
Allen growls a bit and shoots with deadly accuracy, getting close to Xavier to bludgeon and shoot the rats. (crit on the first with the stock, 20 damage becuase of weapon finesse, then I rolled a 15 on the other rat, 13 damage if it gets hit
Volke's shot tears another apart, leaving one last rat NMC that runs away, heading east instead of south.
"That hurt." Xavier says, as he pops several of the blood pills. "We should continue towards the big one. We'll leave the rat and any like it for the cleanup and misinformation crew."
Allison nods as she loads two shells into her gun, keeping its internal magazine of 6 fully stocked. While she could reload quickly if need be it was easier to just keep up outside of combat.
Xavier looks bemused for a moment.
"Well, I was thinking we should let Agent Artillery open up. Then we follow after. Plus we should stay near the entrance. The NMC is going to come rushing straight out, and I don't want to be run over."
"Time for the big guns?" Allison asked as she shouldered her shotgun and unfastened the machine gun. She checked it over, locking the belt feeder in and making sure that nothing was jamming the spinning barrels. She aimed it around in front of her, making sure she had the feel of how it moved then smiled. "Say the word and I can fill that hall with lead."