I searched the area around Charlotte.  Sure enough, there were hundreds of rodents lurking in the areas where humans weren’t active.  They nested in rafters, walls and piles of rubble.  Some were apparently getting courageous enough to venture into people’s living spaces, climbing onto tables and into discarded clothes and beds.

“Hey. Could you pass on to Coil that I need about four hundred full-grown cats delivered to my base at earliest convenience? Actually, let’s make that five hundred. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Cranston!”