[quote]Flor jumped to the railing the boy sat on, just as he was about to reach him, he leapt again toward Maria and landed behind her. Flor leapt to the railing next to her, but lost concentration as the boy screeched, and nailed the railing, tripping onto the floor Maria and Moth were on.

Moth pushed himself forward slightly, and let momentum carry him as he nearly tripped down the stairs.  He barreled into the Grit on Maria's back.  He clutched a bare shoulder with one hand, and the small creature pivoted to face him, eyes wild.  With his own face showing no sign of emotion, Moth moved in one smooth arc and slapped it as hard as he could across its cheek.

Fueled by instinct and fear, Maria backed up and slammed her back, and the boy with it, against the railing, once - twice - three times. A shred of rational thought managed to escape the blockade of terror, and, using it, Maria slipped out of her jacket faster than a cat could sprint across a room, then tried to pry the Grit-child off of her jacket with all of her strength.

Meanwhile, in the infirmary:

Vincent sat next to the robot. "Hello, hello. Things have gone to hell in a hand basket and we're kinda caught right inside the Wall, and I'm sure your definition of safe may very well be different than ours." He kept his tone light and nonchalant, ignoring the sounds in the stairwell behind him. "Is this whom I think it is?"

"Vincent, we need get moving to the others. I've no idea what that Grit just did, but it doesn't sound like we're going to enjoy it." Walking up to the bot, Kat put her hands on its head, twisted the head and janked it clean off. She flashed a grin, adrenaline pumping through her as she handed Vincent the head. "Now let's go!"[/quote]

Moth manhandled the Grit child, and the smack of his hand across the creature's face rang out in the stairwell. The boy's head snapped to the side with the impact -- and then he lunged with a terrible speed. The child drove his sharpened teeth deep into Moth's forearm, scraping bone and drawing a mouthful of blood. He would have continued his assault, except Maria thrashed him suddenly against the rail and forced him to release Moth.

The Grit yelped and scrabbled against Maria's coat every time she flung him into the railing, and his claws had ripped long gashes into the candy-filled coat. Maria was suddenly gone out of the coat and yanking at it instead; the boy dug in deeper, latched onto the coat, snarling, claws ripping savagely at it, unwilling to let it go. He spilled candy on the floor, furiously trying to search through the pockets while shoving at Maria. He wanted the pink stone, but all he found were wrappers -- and he was getting madder.

Meanwhile, Kat was rushing down the stairs with Vincent not far behind, a robot-head heavy in his arms.

< [i]Oh it's such a relief to hear a human voice[/i], > the queen's voice said through a speaker in the robot head. < [i]I hear a commotion, are you under attack? What sector of the Wall are you in? I can send you an escort.[/i] >

The boy glanced over to where Kat and Vincent approached; alarmed, he flung the coat over Maria's head and shoved her into Flor. While they were occupied he launched himself at Liam, throwing him to the ground, and bounded through a door into the next room -- beyond which was the outside of the wall, where the masses of Grit were howling.

The child rushed and leaped across cafeteria tables and benches, past the open food storage that he'd ransacked earlier, and stopped at the emergency door at the far side, where something huge was scrabbling and snarling on the other side. The boy examined the locks on the door and struggled to yank them open, uncertain how they worked. He screeched a high-pitched wail, and a mass of feral voices howled just outside the door.