Gaston [-]
Well that's ominous.
You decide to check around the news and sites for other cities. You're on the east coast, so let's start there. Pittsburgh...
...Yeah. Posts about it on Pittsburgh news organization social media accounts and regional forums.
Washington DC?
...Yes. They've at least got a strong military presence to help them.
Miami?
...Yeah. ♥♥♥♥, there's FISH like this too.

Ok, what about the west coast. Los Angeles?
...Yep. Maybe somewhere in the desert.
Las Vegas?
...Yeah, them too. Theirs look a lot bonier, from the pictures. As in they're skinnier, and also some of them have what looks like exposed bone in places.

You don't bother with other west coast cities, instead switching to Europe. Maybe a timezone ahead of you is unaffected?
London?
...♥♥♥♥, they've got it too.
Is... is this global?

Knocks [-]
You shrug. What else can you do?
Guess you'll want a pipe or something longer than a knife at least. The sewer worker has a steel rod, he's got the right idea.
The noodles you got as payment are sitting just fine. It pleasantly takes your mind off the situation to think back at the wonderful food you polished off just a few minutes ago.

Dirk [-]
You approach the noodle boss a moment after he delivers the bad news.
You: "Hey boss, think you can show me to the toilets? Wouldn't be surprised if what we saw down there can crawl their way up here too."
His eyebrows shoot up at this, and he glances back towards the kitchen.
Boss: "...shiiiit, really? I thought that was some urban legend ♥♥♥♥. Yeah, right back there, on the left."
He points back to the corner, where there's a small hallway leading to a single unisex bathroom. It's a pretty small shop, after all.
Heading in, everything seems fine. Sink is DEFINITELY too small for those rats you saw to fit through. Even rats have limits.
Toilet is an option of course. The water is still and you don't see any bubbles or leaks or other disturbances. Yet.

Misha [-]
You: "Can I just hang around here for a bit? You appear to have the control part of these animals pretty well covered."
Wonderful Kung-fu Noodle Man: "Why do you think I told everyone to get their asses inside?"
Guess that's a yes. You go lean against the wall and try not to hyperventilate too much. Haven't ever seen someone die right in front of you. Especially didn't expect it to be that, violent.
Suddenly a shrill beeping comes from your pocket, and you nearly leap out of your skin before your higher brain functions realize that's your ringtone.

Gaston [-]
You: "Looks like this ♥♥♥♥'s global. Same thing happening all over the world."
Going to the Wikipedia page on this, you find... not much, really. It's all scientific stuff about the eclipse itself. Okay, let's try searching "eclipse myths" then.

Hm. A lot of different stuff. A couple mentions of dogs or wolves uh, eating the sun? You don't think these dogs were that powerful though.
Also some about dragons or frogs. A lot of myths include mystical animals eating the sun, apparently.
Or a sun god being mad. Nothing that really lines up with sick looking rats or dogs, or animals in general.

Suddenly you notice. It was quiet before, just a few people worriedly talking, but now you could hear a pin drop. It makes you look around a bit, and everyone seems to be looking at you, still processing what you said.
Mostly blank faces with their mouths open, a few people showing fear or discomfort. One of the girls off the street speaks up.
Street Girl: "Is this... like... the rapture? Did we get left behind?"

Knocks [10]
Well, no use in sitting still and feeling sorry. There's creatures afoot.
You head into the back of the shop and look around. Nothing in the kitchen, but that looks like a janitor's closet. Opening that...

Aha. Brooms aplenty, and even some hollow steel poles, about 5 feet long. Thick enough to be sturdy, but not so thick it's unwieldy. Perfect. Testing the fit of your knife, it looks like it'll rest snugly on the end, just need to secure it...
Aha again, some twine and duct tape on the shelf. Perfect. A quick tight wrap with the twine, followed by a tight double layer of the tape. Preliminary tests seem like the knife is rock solid. Should be good for now.
Turning around, you see the boss man watching you carefully with his arms crossed. He looks your weapon up and down for a moment.
Boss Man: "You know how to use that thing?"

Dirk [1]
Hm... Not much to work with in here. For now, you shut off the water and drain the rest of the toilet, then look around for a way to block it up. Hm...
Really, not much to work with... For now you cram a roll of TP into the hole as firmly as you can. You don't really expect it to do much, but it's better than nothing. The toilet itself is one of those commercial ones without a proper lid, but you find a metal bucket lid that will have to do for now. You tape that over the bowl, and after consideration tape a second thick plastic lid over top of that. You won't say that no rats will get through that, but they'll have their work cut out for them at least.

Washing your hands off, you head back out to where the Boss is talking to the homeless man by the supply closet, with a uh... a homemade spear, you guess.

Suddenly you freeze. Something just clicked in your head.
Your eyes dart straight down, to a large 6 inch diameter grate on the floor, covering a drain pipe.
You hear scratching come from it.

Misha [-]
Trying to call your rampaging heartbeat, you walk over away from the rest of the group and pick up your phone.
You: "You motherfu-"
James: "Holy ♥♥♥♥, Misha thank ♥♥♥♥. I just killed that ♥♥♥♥ deer."
James? He sounds scared. He continues before you can speak up.
James: "I went over to the window to see it, and the ♥♥♥♥ thing charged at me, smashed through the glass door and got in the house, started chasing me around and making freaky scream noises.
I ran upstairs with a chair and threw it down on the crazy son of a ♥♥♥♥♥ when it came after me, broke its legs on the way down. ♥♥♥♥ wouldn't stop screaming and jerking at me, I had to get a brick and ♥♥♥♥ brain the thing.
What the ♥♥♥♥, is this what rabies does? Is it contagious from the air?"

Gaston [-]
You: "I dunno, I was never big on bible study."
This does not seem to calm her down any, and a moment later she clasps her hands, shuts her eyes, and proceeds to praying. A few others join her.
Back to research.

Rapture... gist of it seems to be all the "chosen ones" and "true believers" and such will be taken up into heaven to be with God and Jesus, while all the sinners stay on earth and endure the end times.
Well, you don't think anyone's been sucked up in a pillar of light, or vanished in a puff of smoke...

Knocks [-]
You: "Well back in my day I used to fight over a dozen men over rat carcasses. Starving in the Guatemalan death camps, you had to fend for yourself."
He gives you an even stare as you give you spear a quick shake, and slowly blinks.

Boss Man: "Uh huh."
You are both interrupted from the sewer worker, franticly on his knees at a grate in the middle of the kitchen.
Sewer Worker: "Hey hey hey, WE NEED A WEIGHT ON THIS!"
The boss immediately rushes into action, having forgotten about you in an instant.

Dirk [-]
Your foot goes over the grate as you drop down into a crouch, pulling a big strip of tape free and getting one edge of the grate.
Dirk: "Hey hey hey, WE NEED A WEIGHT ON THIS!"
You keep taping the other edges, shifting your foot as you have to. In the small cracks between your foot and the grate, you think you see movement below, but you don't dare to move your foot to find out.
Suddenly the bossman is back, with uh... an empty metal trash can? That's, not really heavy. You look up at him confused, then realize he has a thick 50lb bag of rice slung over his shoulder. That's a start.
He puts the can over the grate, then drops the bag in with a thunk. Then runs back to the storeroom, and moments later returns with two more bags.
Ok, yeah, that'll do. You hope.

Misha [-]
You: "How the ♥♥♥♥ should I know if this is contagious I cheated biology off of you every test, genius.
I just saw a bunch of dogs tear a woman apart, whatever it is it isn't just that deer of yours. I'm in a little noodleshop with some crazy murderhobo so I should be safe. If you can get your ass over here you should probably be gucci."
Genius: "♥♥♥♥. Ok. Yeah. Uhhhh ♥♥♥♥, ok.
Yeah, I'll come to you then. ♥♥♥♥, what did you say, murderhobo? What? You sure that's safe?
Whatever, I'm on my way."

You give him the address and then hang up. Sounds like something's going down in the back. ♥♥♥♥, you just said it was safe, too...

All
It's subtle, but people start noticing noticing a repeating vibration. A jitter every half second or so, like something hitting the ground a ways away repeatedly.
The attentive also notice it's getting stronger, bit by bit, with each shake.