"Jana."

I don't pay any attention to her.

"Jana, stop."

I can see red spots on the wall.

"Jana, yer bleedin'. You split yer knuckles again."

I keep pounding my fists on the concrete, ignoring her. I gotta get it all out of my system now; if a guard sees me like this and thinks I have marwol then I'll be in some deep shit.

I'm starting to tire, the pain in my fists that had been numbed by rage returning. Turning away from the wall, I flop down onto the glorified gym mat that's all we've been given for beds. Apparently this place was populated on short notice and they didn't have time to furnish it properly. Utter bullshit, in my opinion, but that's nothing new. Pretty much everything I've heard a guard say has been bullshit. That's just how it is here.

"Are they gonna freak about the blood on the wall?" she asks.

"Na. They don't give a shit if we're bleedin'," I reply, inspecting my bruised knuckles, "They're the ones that cause the bleedin' mosta the time."

I glance up at her bruised face. Seems like everyone's got bruises in here, from the guards or from each other. For Maddy it's practically routine that someone'll take a swing at her soon as we get outta the cell.

We both look up as we hear the door of the corridor open.

"EVERYONE UP!"

I fight to keep the snarl off of my face and the yellow out of my eyes as we get to our feet and stand by the bars. As we're so close to the door, we're always in the first few. Maddy goes first, turning around and pushing her hands through the gap between two bars so that the guard can fasten the cuffs around her wrists, then lifts her feet one at a time so that they can be loosely shackled together. The guard lets her out of the cell and chains her by a metal collar to the wolfblood in front of her. And then it's my turn.

It took a long time for me to stop fighting this, and even now my hands shake as he fastens the cuffs. I'm not going to cry, I decided that a long time ago. They chain me to Maddy, and then the wait begins.

Because we're always in the first few, there's always a wait as the lines grow behind us. Of course someone lunges, yelling, at Maddy, jerking the chain at my throat and then being pulled off and bashed over the head by a guard while my friend stands staring with rage in her eyes, unable to staunch the bleeding from her nose. I listen to the clash of chain and the shouting of those who haven't given in yet as I stare down at my plimsolls, fighting back the wolf, still shaking uncontrollably.

"ROLL CALL!"

I close my eyes; I can't do this.

"Two-three-zero-nine!"

"Present."

"Two-nine-zero-one!"

"Present."

"Three-two-seven-seven!"

"Present."

"Three-two-nine-seven!"

"Present."

"Four-three-seven-zero!"

"Present."

"Five-eight-zero-three!"

"Present."

"Six-zero-seven-two!"

I say nothing, hunching my shoulders and curling my hands into fists.

"Six-zero-seven-two!"

I'm not just a number, and I refuse to answer to one. There are footsteps down the line, drawing closer and then pausing beside me. A hand lashes out and grabs the front of my jumper. I open my eyes to see a woman's furious face.

"Can you read, girl?"

I nod slowly. They grab me by the hair and force me to look down at the number printed on my light grey jumper.

"Well? What does it say? Answer me girl, what does it say?!"

"Six-zero-seven-two," I mumble.

"Six-zero-seven-two. So next time I call you, you answer, don't you? Don't you?!"

"I'm not jus' a number! My name is Jana, an' I ain't answerin' to anythin' else!"

She lets go of my hair and slams her fist into my face. Blood trickles from my nose.

"DO YOU THINK I GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU SAY YOUR NAME IS?!

A snarl comes over my face.

"Don't you growl at me, girl! And answer me when I ask you a question: do you think I give a shit what you say your name is?"

I'm silent, glaring at her with yellow eyes. After a few moments she gets impatient and slaps me across the face, repeating the question.

"...No."

"Do you think that the warden gives a shit what you say your name is?"

"No."

"That's right. Nobody gives a shit. So shut the fuck up about it."

She lets go of my jumper and walks back to the front of the lines.

"I'm not taking any shit from anyone else, so you all better answer the register."

She takes the clipboard from another guard and makes a mark on it with a pen.

"Six-zero-seven-three!"

Silence. Her eyes scan the lines, reading the numbers on our jumpers, and then settling on Maddy.

"Six. Zero. Seven. Three."

Maddy looks up, and then back at her feet.

"I… Present."

"Answer promptly next time. Six-eight-nine-zero!"

"Present."

This is one of the worst things about this place; losing our names. My mother named me Jana; it's the only thing I have left from her and the only thing I have left of mine.

There are others that refuse to answer to numbers, and they get the same treatment that I did, the same treatment that I get at every roll call. When the guard has checked off the last wolfblood on the list, they open the door and order us out. We start to move, dragging our feet and chains. Out of the corner of my eye I see the shocker in the nearest guard's hand. Those shockers are the only things keeping us in line, and he knows it; that's why he's gripping it so tightly, that's why he reeks of fear. There are wolves in this line who would tear him to shreds at their first opportunity, and others who would pass him by without a second glance if they could make it to freedom. Some days I don't know where I stand.

When we reach the gates to the courtyard, it's the same process in reverse. They remove the collar from my neck and push me through the first gate, and I lift my ankles to be unshackled before they remove the handcuffs.

The second gate opens and I step out into the concrete yard. There's dreary grey buildings on every side, but at least I can see the sky. It's the only opportunity that I get to see it, and it feels like a small ray of hope. They only let wolfbloods from the same age group out together, and it looks like the boys are already here. I scan the crowd for my packmate and spot him standing on his own. Our eyes lock, and he starts to walk over. Maddy appears at my side, and we head over to meet Rhydian. None of us run, although we want to. It's too suspicious if we run. As we walk, we silently rub the blood from our faces and necks.

When the three of us meet, we embrace each other without a word. As we break apart he gives us a half-hearted smile, one eye bruised purple.

"What 'appened to yer face, Rhydian?" asks Maddy.

"Held up roll call again."

I nod. "Same 'ere."

Maddy quickly glances over her shoulder towards the guards.

"So. Ya got any new ideas?"

"I dunno. It keeps coming down to the fact that the only way would be to organise a mass riot."

"An' no-one would give us a chance ta ask 'em ta help."

"Exactly."

"There mus' be a way!" I say desperately, "There's gotta be a way out!"

Rhydian puts his arm around my shoulders.

"There is, Jana. We just haven't found it yet."

I lay my head on the shoulder of the boy that I've come to see as my brother, fighting back tears. We've tried to escape three times now, and failed miserably every time. The thirst for freedom constantly threatens to drive us all insane, and I don't know how much longer I can cope.

After the thirty minutes we're allowed to see the sun is up the chains are put back on and we're hauled back into the windowless corridor of cells to be fed. Lunch is the same as breakfast, the same as every meal we're given. Low-quality dried dog food. They give it out in metal bowls most days, but sometimes they won't bother and just chuck our servings through the bars, or not feed us at all. It's gotten to the point that I can feel every one of my ribs.

Maddy and I have long since thrown away any dignity when it comes to eating this shit; it's this or starve. The guards won't do anything if we're starving, so in simple terms it's dog food or a slow, painful death. Some days I'm not sure which to go for.

I eat fast, both to get it over with quickly and to make sure that my bowl is empty before the guards take it off me. When I'm done I sit on my blue mat and chuck my bowl across the cell from me to the door, Maddy's clattering after it.

"Pick them up."

I don't look at the man standing on the other side of the bars. He's perfectly capable of picking the damn bowls up himself.

"Pick them up!"

I glare at him, veins tingling.

"Don't you flash your eyes at me, girl. You too. Get over here and pick up those bowls."

"Why can't you pick 'em up? Yer right en front of 'em!" I snap.

"Because I don't want to," he sneers, "so you're going to do it."

"We're not yer fuckin' slaves!" Maddy shouts. The man pulls out his shocker and taps it against the bars.

"Don't make me come in there."

I look over at Maddy, and we both get to our feet, walking over to the bowls and shoving them through the bars into the guard's hands. The smirk on his face makes me want to tear him to pieces, but he's still got his shocker out. Maddy stomps her way back over to her mat as soon as he's gone, but I stay by the bars until there's only two guards left, patrolling over the other end of the corridor. I walk over to the other end of the bars, kneel down next to the shallow metal dish bolted to the floor and scoop some of the metallic-tasting water into my mouth with my hands.

"Hey!"

I don't look up.

"Hey you! Red wolf!"

"What?" I snap, still looking down at the dish.

"Why do you stick up for her?"

I glare over at the wolfblood two cells over from us on the other side of the corridor, and recognise her as the one who tried to attack Maddy this morning.

"Why wou'n't I?"

"Because she's the one who got us into this mess!"

Oh lord, not this shit again. My blood boils as I spring to my feet.

"It weren't her fault! How fuckin' stupid are ya?"

"Don't you call me stupid!" She yells, "Face fucking reality mate, it was her DNA-"

"DO YOU THINK I WANTED THIS?" roars Maddy, who has appeared beside me, "DO YOU THINK I WOULD JUST GIVE IT TO THEM?"

The girl bares her teeth and we growl back, and then all at once my blood boils over and I'm a wolf, snarling and snapping, Maddy and the other girl doing the same, rearing up against the bars and not caring that we're causing a scene.

"GET DOWN!"

I don't realise that the guard is right in front of us until he's yelling in our faces, but we ignore him in our rage.

"GET THE FUCK DOWN!"

We continue to throw ourselves against the bars, but don't see him draw his shocker.

A sharp pain jolts into my shoulder and I yelp, jerking away from the bars and backing away to a safe distance, Maddy following.

"Now turn back."

We obey, and they move away. We sit down on our mats. I rub my shoulder where I was shocked.

"Did they get ya?" I ask.

"Nah. How bad's it?"

"Jus' a tap, it'll settle inna minute."

She nods, then starts absent-mindedly picking at the stuffing in a hole in her mat. She begins to scratch at her lower back with her other hand.

"Don'" I say, "you'll set me off."

I slip my hand under the back of my jumper and feel the four marks on either side of my spine. Six-zero-seven-two, burned there so that they can still identify me in wolf form. I shudder at the memory of that first dark moon when they branded us like cattle.

For hours we're left in our tiny cells, pacing, punching the walls, trying to rattle the bars, knowing that there's nothing we can do to get out.

Dinner, of course, is dog food. We're hungry again by this point, but our rations are never enough. When the meal is over, we're chained up again and there's another roll call, so I have a bloody nose by the time we're taken to the toilets. When we get there they unlock my chain from Maddy's collar, wrap it around my throat and lock it in place, then remove the handcuffs.

I can remember a time when flushing toilets were the most fascinating thing in the world to me. When I was enthralled by the human world. When I thought that I could find myself a place there. Now, of course, that's impossible. Even if they let us go free they'd never look at us in the same way again, I'm sure of it.

I knock on the cubicle door and they unlock it from the outside, watch me wash my hands in cold water and then cuff my wrists again and chain me back into the line.

There's another few hours of boredom in the cells before lights out, when the florescent lights all shut off at once and plunge us into total darkness. We're forbidden to speak or move around too much, and the result is a foreboding, still, silence; a sharp contrast to the forests that I grew up in.

During the night Maddy and I push our mats up against each other's and curl up together. Any reservations we had about doing this died long ago; we need each other to keep warm in our freezing cold cell and protect ourselves against the sheer loneliness that the darkness brings. The guards have gone from the corridor now, monitoring us via night vision cameras instead. As always it takes a long time for us to fall asleep.