The plan worked perfectly, or, well, parts of it did, anyway. The part that worked was the actual reaction. Chris felt the impact of the rat hitting the point of his readied sword, which then did what any pointed object was meant to do in a situation like that. But -- and this was a big but -- the impact didn’t stop there. A rodent of that size moving through the air wasn’t about to stop moving so simply.
He had to let go of his sword again. Just like last time, it had been an effective hit, but not a critical one, and the rat was still very much alive when it crashed into Chris, sending the two to the ground.
The rat snarled and gnashed its teeth, aiming for Chris’ neck, and without his sword, it was all Chris could do to, well, keep that from happening. His hands were wrapped around the rat’s neck and he was pushing away, but it was still getting closer with each effort.
“Uh, guys? Help?”