That night in town, Ranger Tucker is awakened by the telephone. Burt tells him the National Guard is in town to evacuate everybody above 5,000 feet, where the radiation is the strongest, making all animals aggressive and attacking people. As Tucker hangs up, he hears something rattling and gnawing. He turns on the kitchen light, finds the room empty, and gets a plate of ham out of the refrigerator. But as Tucker goes into a drawer for a knife, some rats jump onto the table. Tucker tries to stab them, but a couple of rats leap on him. Tucker runs upstairs to wake his wife, Rita. They hurry outside and get into their car and escape before several dogs can kill them.