It's uncertain if Lunk was more intimidated, unnerved, or offended by your claim, but it didn't matter since at the moment he wasn't visible. Maybe it was some ploy to get you to shoot him while he scrambled this way and that under Ptembridge's clothing, in order to hit Ptembridge himself. Maybe he just didn't want you to shoot him and he was playing hard to get. Whatever, he wasn't about to hurt you like this. In fact I think he just went down Ptembridge's leg. The bird man would probably feel violated, if he wasn't in his nightmare world of his own making.
And then, Lunk bit him.
Lunk was in a weird position. He was not very smart. Smart for a rat, certainly, and smarter in the past, but this
curse of theirs caused their minds to degrade away as time passed. Eating helped. Eating the smart ones helped more. But there was only so much it would do. So far, only their big brother had avoided sinking further into the depths of non-sapience, and several of their kind were lost, turned into animals again. And it frightened him so. He had to eat something soon. Eating Ptembridge was a long term plan, he wasn't trying to do that right now. Rather, it was a strange quirk in their biology that came with their eating of bodies and minds, they remembered certain things every so often. Flashes of lives that weren't their own. And Lunk? Lunk had eaten that doctor. He remembered where the nerves and muscles and tensons were wired, and how the human body supported itself. There were a few weak points that if hit would make the whole thing come tumbling down.
Ptembridge's
reflexes failed him, and Squiggle's mount became suddenly unstable as gravity rushed him backwards, striking the nearby steaming pod before slumping to a halt next to it. Lunk tumbled to the side, his fear taking hold of him again as he scrambled to his feet. He was in so much trouble.
Then, things became much more complicated, and the nearby surroundings filled with rank blood-scented mist as the vat began to open. On cue, the
magic mouth on the vat replied softly:
"PS-7 opening. Please prepare for surgery."The mannequins that would have listened were not present to hear the request. Someone else was though...