Roberto had not moved from the cage floor, even when his cage had been picked up and moved. He wouldn't have seen where he was regardless - his prison had been cloaked with a black material, engulfing him in darkness. They had been in the machine - which he'd heard a worried capybara call a truck - for several hours, before it had slowed to a stop. Then light had poured into his eyes, but Roberto hadn't seen the outside before they had covered his cage.

The animals were now silent, likely in troubled sleep. But Roberto couldn't sleep at all. He had been sobbing his heart out, ignoring the occasional mutter of 'Shut up' from a fellow prisoner. Roberto was still curled up in a tight ball, wings and talons huddled close, his tears never slowing down. My dad. My mom. Talitha...

Roberto could not get the image of his mother out of his mind. Alessandra had been in a position very much like how he was now - curled up on her side, wings and talons pulled close. Blood had continued to leak through her wing feathers, from a wound he suspected was on her stomach - he had never seen the full wound. Her eyes had been closed - never again would he see her sea-green eyes. Never again would he see Ramon's amusingly troublesome mop of crest feathers, nor would he see Talitha's smile.

A question was repeating in his mind. Despite never seeing Ramon's body, Roberto knew, in his heart, that his father had perished. But then he envisioned Talitha, flying away and shrieking. Was it possible that she had escaped? Then Roberto shook his head. Who was he kidding? Of course she was gone. She had to be.

Roberto was sure that his tears had formed a patch of water on the floor - they had left damp trails on his cheeks, and he had dents in his feathers from lying on the floor for so long. A stiffness had set into his bones, from a combination of not moving and for the cage floor being uncomfortable and cold. He had to get up, so Roberto tried to find the will to do so. He groaned as he slowly sat up, leaning heavily on the wall and using the bars to pull himself up. Roberto clung to them, afraid to let go in case he collapsed again.

I feel hopeless. It was absolutely true. His family was gone, he was on his own in who knew where - his situation was dark. And Alessandra's blood stains were still in his wings. He couldn't get rid of it - there was no water in the cage, and speaking of, he was feeling the dehydration creeping in. His beak felt like it was filled with sand - dry. And the hunger was gnawing in his belly, so intense it made him feel sick. He would have been, had his stomach had something in it. But he hadn't eaten since last night - in the excitement of the morning routine change, they hadn't stopped to eat breakfast. Desperate to forget what had happened, and feeling an urge to know where he was, he took the bottom of the black sheet and lifted it.

It was almost pitch black - it would have been had it not been for a gap on the higher wall, where hard light poured in. The sound of laughter and music was audible but faint, blocked by the transparent sheet that filled the wall gap. Occasionally, the feet of two-leggeds would pass, and Roberto felt a rush of terror. Then he remembered the word being said before, the one birds had shrieked as the machines had arrived. Humans. Then Roberto recalled the scary stories his parents had told him about 'Humans' - tales of trees being obliterated, of humans slaughtering jaguars just for their pelts and stealing baby monkeys away from their mothers. Setting vile traps, like the metal teeth that closed on an unsuspecting animal's leg, or luring them into a hidden cage...

Roberto shakily rose to his feet, and suddenly the cage beneath him jolted and swayed. He seized the bars, falling backwards, as he realized that his cage was hanging on a hook, suspended from a long chain. Wiping his still-teary eyes, he told himself to pull himself together. He had to stop crying, no matter how upset he felt.

Careful so not to rock the cage, Roberto pulled the edge of the sheet back up, to look around once again. In one corner, there were some steps leading up to a rectangle in the wall - he remembered hearing 'Door'. On the floor, there were many cages - many empty, but others had animals. Birds, reptiles, amphibians, other Amazon animals - all stacked in cages. A million questions entered his mind - who had they been captured by? He stiffened at the thought of poachers, but this was incredibly likely. Who else would want dozens of exotic animals?

Roberto tried to find an escape. He gnawed desperately at the bars, and tried to figure out how to open the cage door - but a lump of metal stopped it being opened. Roberto then slid down the wall, onto the floor again, as he realized that it was pointless. He was trapped. Roberto began to cry, yet again. He didn't care about the muttering animals in the room, didn't care that he was humiliating himself. He was going to die, surely. He found comfort in this thought - he'd be with his family again, wouldn't he?

But then he wiped his tears. He couldn't give up - his family wouldn't want that. They'd want him to live.

At that moment, there was a creaking sound, and Roberto grabbed the edge of the sheet to look. Suddenly, the animals jolted awake, and sank into the darker corners of their cages, in deathly, terrified silence. A human was walking down the steps, a box in it's hand. The box had a flickering flame, which casted a light around the dark room. Roberto sank to the back of the wall, praying that the human wouldn't come his way. But through the lifted sheet, he saw the human suddenly change direction, and walk straight at him. Suddenly, the sheet was torn off of the cage, and the box of light was thrusted upwards, right near his face. Roberto stumbled, blinded briefly, before squinting upwards. His big blue eyes then widened, as the human's face loomed at the cage bars.

He was grinning with his yellow, as well as blackening teeth, and Roberto almost choked at the vile smell of his breath. It smelt like smoke, and ash, but even more acrid. A sour, bitter smell was also present, making Roberto's stomach lurch. Then, to Roberto's horror, the human reached up, and seized the top of his cage, lifting it off the hook. Roberto was thrown to the floor as the human then made for the door, carrying his cage with him. He tried to stand, but the human wasn't taking care while carrying it - he kept falling over. Then they were heading up the steps, and then yellow light hurt his eyes as the door was thrown open.

Roberto didn't arise from his place on the floor until the human placed his cage onto a large, wooden thing on four legs. He peered, trembling, out of the cage, terrified to see where he was. They were in a small, cramped room where objects took up most of the floor. A female human sat on the left, and Roberto smelt the acrid smoke he had observed from the male human's vile breath. He then spotted the source; it looked like a twig, but it was grey-white at the end, a trail of smoke rising from it. Metal cylinders, broken and twisted, covered a smaller platform between her and a box - the human's eyes were glued to it, which showed moving pictures. Roberto blinked in confusion - this was all so alien to him. The box showed a sandy floor, with a large net stretching from one side to the other. Four female humans were on the sand, two on each side of the net, hitting a ball from one side to the other. Screaming humans - hundreds of them - were crowded around in stands.

"Come and watch the volleyball!" Shouted the female, in a raucous voice. Roberto flinched at the sound of her. She sounded hoarse, and he had a feeling it was something to do with the smoking twig she was inhaling.

"I can't, I gotta take this bird to my brother." Replied the male, who was searching for something. The female sighed, and turned around, rolling her eyes.

"Are you sure about giving him this one? We don't know what it is, it could be worth something. I mean, the truck for the other animals arrives tomorrow..."

"Come on Renata, it's just a little blue bird - like he's gonna be worth a lot." The male chuckled, but Renata looked worried, looking at the little bird in the cage.

"Are you sure it's wise to give him another bird, after what happened to the last one you gave him?" She was frowning with concern.

"Of course it's wise! My brother just needs a little help with money on the stall, and the bird'll help with that." Roberto listened, with incredible fear, barely understanding. So many of these words were foreign to him: volleyball, stall, money? He didn't have a clue what these words meant, but he knew he was in serious trouble. Suddenly, the male human whirled round, grabbing his cage. "I'll be fourty minutes or so, okay?"

"Bye." Renata replied, before twisting around and gluing her gaze back to the box with moving pictures. Then the door slammed, and Roberto saw the outside for the first time. He was immediately curious - but terrified at the same time - at what he saw.

He'd heard Manaus mentioned earlier on. And now that he remembered it, he recalled his parents telling him and Talitha about it. He was surrounded in every direction by mostly brown blocks - buildings, he remembered. The sound of human voices sounded from every direction, loud and hurting his ears, which were still fuzzy-feeling from the explosion hours earlier. The sound of music was present in the background, and he was immediately drawn to the sound, since music was something he loved most. He remembered his mother's lullabies...

Roberto shuddered, and felt the lump rising in his throat, felt the tears threatening. He shook himself, trying to not think about her songs, occupying himself with the surroundings again. Humans swarmed around them, their knees occasionally knocking against his cage. Desperately, he tried to see the rainforest - but found none. Artificial light shone harshly from above, casting unbearable brightness against the black of the sky.

It had been about fifteen minutes before the human finally stopped walking through the swarm of people, and had finally turned toward a building. Roberto shrank downwards as the human went straight for the door, terrified of what was going to happen. It was quieter around here - less humans, but there was something creepy about it. The human knocked on the wood of the door, and waited. Several seconds passed - then he heard footsteps, and then the door creaked open.

A female human stood there, with a furry creature in her arms. The animal resembled an Amazon animal called a margay, except it was smaller and had a slightly different pattern. It was a brown colour, with thin, black stripes marking it's pelt. Long, white whiskers twitched from its muzzle, which had a scar on one side. A pair of enormous amber eyes were fixated on Roberto, and the creature hissed at him, making his skin prickle with fear and unease. The human was bony and short, with spiky, cream-yellow hair that was too pale to be natural. She was ivory-skinned, with icy blue eyes, and sharp features. "Hello, Pablo." She said, in a somewhat high-pitched, scratchy voice. Drawings marked her arms and shoulders - red flowers, words, and something that he thought was a human skull on her colllarbone.

"Lacey." The male human - Pablo - nodded in greeting. He held up the cage, and Roberto flinched as Lacey's icy blue gaze turned to him. "Here you go - Patricio wanted another, didn't he? And this time, don't let that thing near it." He glared at the animal in Lacey's arms. The animal spat at him, before leaping down and stalking into the building with a lashing tail. He thrusted the cage toward Lacey, making Roberto stumble. "This is the final bird I'm getting him." Pablo warned, meaningly. "If this one dies - or if that cat eats it - I'm not giving him another. This is the third one in four months."

"I know, Pablo." Lacey looked annoyed. "Besides, it's not the cat's fault. It was Patricio, for forgetting to close the cage. Look, just give me it." She took the cage, a little roughly, and Roberto staggered once again. "Say hello to Renata for me." Then Lacey slammed the door, and carried Roberto into the house.