The rat is extraordinarily happy to see him, and Gregor sees he’s not alone. There are two of them. Their names are Fangor and Shed—they argue over which rat should eat him and which one should have Boots: “I will allow you the entire boy if I may have the sweetness of the pup to myself” (82) Fangor says. Gregor perceives the rats as terrifying: “they were a good six feet tall… but worst of all was their teeth, six inch incisors that protruded out of their whiskered mouths” (83). 

Based on their smell, the rats are able to detect what he and Boots each had for dinner—the Underlanders’ concern about his smell at last makes sense to him. Gregor realizes that the Underlanders had been trying to keep him alive, that they had been his allies the whole time: “He went from attempting to evade them to wishing desperately that they’d find him” (84). He decides to stall for time and asks the rats if he has any say in this. The rats are amused by his bravery—to actually stand up and say something to a rat. Usually, people cower and plea for their lives.