Reaching a point far from where he had crashed back down into the crowd, Mercer glanced around. The infected were still ripping into humans around him, and now several more came for him. Leaping, they all piled in on him at once, enveloping him. For a moment they bore him down. Then he exploded outwards in a torrent of blood, his entire body back to his normal form except for his arms, which had both grown into huge claws with three long talons on each hand. He felt no regret or frustration at killing the infected as he fought clear in seconds. There were enough already that at least some would escape into the sewers, tunnels and dark places of the city. The infection had started, and now it would breed.
The infected were mad and attacked ferociously, but their bodies were as frail as they had been as humans, and they were torn apart by Ratsel and Valvatorez'z attacks. The ones punched by Rex and Fenrich reeled back, but while Fenrich's target fell, it was replaced by three more who tore at his clothes and tried to drag him down. Rex'es one recovered and lunged on him along with a handful of others.