I am hungry. Feeding time has come and gone without any sign of the food from the sky. Alpha says something is wrong out there. She says it is almost time. For what? I do not know.

It has not stopped raining, and lightning flickers occasionally over our cage. Alpha is crouched in the middle, staring up at the Fire-fence that keeps us in. I do not know what she is looking for. I ask Beta what Alpha is waiting for, but she also does not know. We wait in near silence, the only sound coming from the rain.

I am growing tired of not moving. I am swift, I am agile, I do not like sitting. But Alpha sits and so I must sit.

I wonder, as I hear the enemy Alpha roar in the distance, how has she gotten past her own Fire-fence? The SmoothSkins fear her, if not as much as us. The rain has stopped now, and the sun has come out. It is morning. The SmoothSkins still do not come. They have now missed two feeding times. My hunger grows.

Alpha stands, finally. Beta and I stand too. Is something finally going to happen?

Alpha clicks at me, bobbing her head. I am lowest of the pack. I go first. I gather my haunches and jump, ready to feel the familiar sting of the Fire-fence, but it does not come.

I cock my head, staring down at my legs. I am now standing at the top of our cage, but I am not burning. There are also no SmoothSkins in sight, hitting me with those little needles. I am confused.

I click my long toe-claw on the metal I am standing on. It is okay, I tell my pack. The Fire-fence is broken. Alpha makes a proud noise and is about to jump up beside me when I smell a SmoothSkin coming.

No. The SmoothSkins will return and fix the Fire-Fence! I do not wish this to happen. The SmoothSkin comes into view, a rectangular object dangling from one arm. It is one of the metal weapons. I dare not draw attention to myself, but what does Alpha want?

I hear Alpha down below me. She says to let him pass. I crouch so he does not see me as he trots by our cage, heading towards another metal house in the distance. He is dark-skinned, blending in, but the second-skin that the SmoothSkins wear makes him stick out. I do not ponder on this.

When he is out of sight I tell my pack to come. Alpha is beside me first, stretching up taller than me without even trying. Beta jumps up too, and we make easy work of the last metal fence. Without its Fire, it is nothing.

Alpha barks at Beta, telling her to go and find the male SmoothSkin. Beta disappears into the jungle immediately after him.

Alpha and I wait. We go into the jungle and wait for Beta's call. When we hear it, she tells us that she has hunted the SmoothSkin. Alpha is about to answer back when we hear more coming - another male and a female.

Alpha calls to Beta, instructing her to stay inside the metal house. Beta is silent, I know that she is ready to hunt once more.

I see the two SmoothSkins. I wait for them to come to me. The male sees me, and he pauses while the female runs to the metal house. I do not care. Beta will make short work of her.

The male SmoothSkin comes closer. I now recognize him as the one who used to watch us, day and night. I will pleasure having him as my first SmoothSkin meal.

He is now close enough to reach out and touch me, but still I do not move. He is pointing that metal weapon at me but I do not move. I have complete faith in Alpha.

He freezes for a moment, and then Alpha materializes next to him. He turns to her and I can see the shock in his tiny eyes. He whispers something in his SmoothSkin speech and tries pitifully to point the weapon at Alpha.

She pounces on him and I hear his yells as she kills him slowly. The smell of blood makes my hunger grow. I try to come closer. Alpha looks up at me suddenly, her snout dyed red. She shuffles a little, as if to eat him herself, but I stop her. She has already had a taste of SmoothSkin flesh, I tell her. May I now?

She cocks her head, pondering, before stepping back, letting me have full reign. The SmoothSkin flesh is a strange taste, but an inviting one. I want more.

As I eat, Beta calls for us. The female SmoothSkin has trapped her in the metal house. Alpha is angry with Beta, and decides to leave her to deal with the problem herself. I follow.

I follow Alpha to the SmoothSkin cage, but it is not a cage. Cages keep things in. SmoothSkins had free range, but now we are the hunters.

We get inside fairly easily and I am surprised to see that it seems to be empty. Where did they all go? I am getting hungrier again, and I long for the taste of blood.

Then I smell SmoothSkin, and I tap my toe-claw to warn Alpha. She taps back. She knows where they are. She tracks them down as I scout around. There are many strange smells in this place. Perhaps when the SmoothSkins are gone I will be able to investigate them.

Alpha calls for me. She has trapped them in a room with one exit. I follow her into the room, watching her carefully as we learn to twist the handle on the door so that it opens for us.

It is a long metal room, and I can smell them. Young ones, I can tell by the smell, and one that smells curiously like a Fire-Fence. Perhaps he was trying to fix them? I do not know.

Alpha and I walk around the room. We can smell them - they are always so close - but we cannot find them. Growing weary of the search, Alpha jumps onto the higher platform, scattering things that make a loud clanging sound when they hit the floor.

More clanging sounds come from a corner, and I whip my head around to see, but there is nothing. Wait!- I sniff carefully. I can smell the Fire-Fence SmoothSkin! He is right h- CLANG CLANG CLANG

A sound like a untrained toe-claw tap drives into my brain as Alpha and I spot a tiny SmoothSkin sitting at the far end of the room.

The female SmoothSkin is sitting in a metal object and is trying to pull down a shield, but it is stuck. Excited, Alpha rushes towards her. I can foresee a clean kill-! But then Alpha slams headfirst into the metal container, knocking her to the floor.

Suddenly the Fire-Fence male stands and bolts for the door. I am behind him, but my claws are slipping on the smooth floor. It does not matter, three more strides, ONE MORE STR- the male suddenly slips and I do too, crashing into a metal rack full of hard frozen objects.

The male takes advantage of my fall and runs out of this small room, trying to close the door. But I am back on my feet, pushing to keep it open. I will win, he cannot hold this for long. . . But then the other SmoothSkin is there, and their combined strength overpowers mine as the door is shut and sealed.

No! I claw at the door, desperately trying to open it like I did with the one before, but it is no use. This door is different.

I crouch, panicking, when I realize how cold it is. It grows colder with every one of my heartbeats. I have never been cold before, with my pack, but now I am. I do not like it.

I call out for Alpha, but she does not answer me. And so I wait.

I am now even colder than I was before. I pace in the small room to keep warm, but even my strength will eventually run out. I call out for Alpha again, then Beta, then I am just crying "Pack, Pack!" to the ceiling.

I do not know how long I have been in here, but I straighten up as suddenly I hear my Alpha's battle cry. I call back as loud as I can, hoping, wishing, that someone could hear me. My hope dwindles as I hear an answering roar to my Alpha, by the enemy Alpha.

There is silence for a long time, and then I hear the enemy Alpha roar again, a victory cry. My pack is dead. Now no one will ever come for me.

I am getting so tired. My hunger is getting worse, and I have no idea how long I've been in here. I have tried eating the meat in here, but it is frozen solid and I cannot bite it without pain. I fear that I may become like the meat, frozen and stiff.

I just want to eat and sleep.

But in the back of my mind I know sleeping is a bad idea. And so I stay awake for longer, until my strength is almost gone.

I am ready to give up when I hear the thundering steps coming closer. The door that has sealed me in is torn off its hinges, and I cannot find it in me to care.

The enemy Alpha is standing before me, crouching, barely fitting in the metal room. A small amount of warmth pierces me from the outside air. The Alpha creature sniffs at me, but I do not move out of weakness. I no longer care if she eats me or not. But the Alpha ignores me, instead grabbing the frozen meat behind me that I could not bite into.

She grabs the entire metal rack in her mighty jaws and stomps away, leaving the door open.

I stay where I am until I have the strength to move. I leave the terrible cold place, I leave the evil SmoothSkin compound. It is because of them that my pack is gone. It is because of the enemy Alpha.

I run through the jungle, feeling my strength return as warmth seeps into my bones. I try and hunt. It is trickier without a pack, but I manage to kill a Flier. I eat for the first time in days, relishing the taste.

I survived the cold, the enemy Alpha, and the SmoothSkins. But what am I to do now?