Sun Mote Copse Better hit the deck like the card dealer

Alyx kept right on screaming until finally, someone noticed. She felt Niamh startle awake, though to her, it felt a bit more like an earthquake, and that gave her pause for just a second before her burning flank robbed her attention again and she blubbered helplessly. Even Niamh's soothing tongue wasn't able to calm her the way it normally did. Ordinarily, she'd have melted into a puppy puddle by now, but little Alyx was inconsolable.

She didn't know that she had an audience outside or that Niamh was worried—she felt vibrations through her body as Niamh mumbled and then hollered for Phox, and she felt the thump-thump-thump of his approaching paws right in her bones. All of this stimulation served to quiet her crying so that soon she was merely whimpering and sniffling, although it still really hurt.

A keen pair of eyes might be able to pick out a smear of bug guts on her swelling flank or a clump of bright yellow honeybee fuzz intermingled with her black hairs.