"WHAH? HUH? AAAAAAH! OW!" Lynn woke up with a big shock and instantly stood up...only to hit her head on something hard above her and fall down again.

Puzzled, she lay down in her spot for a few seconds, coming to terms with what had happened, even though she'd remembered little. She recalled pain and dogs and One-eye... One-eye! No! Dad! But she knew he wasn't here...wherever she was.

But something else caught her attention even more than her strange surroundings. Why do I have this thing around my neck? What is wrong with my right eye...why do I see...different? She shook her head, thinking that it was maybe the side effects of her hitting her head. But it stayed the same. The colors she saw with her right eye were  different than the ones she saw with her left: She hadn't even seen some of these in her life before, she didn't even know they existed. However, gradually, the unknown colors started to fade, until her right eye had somehow adjusted itself to her left, though the bright colors she saw with it still seemed more vibrant than before.

What she also found strange was this feeling near her right eye. It hurt a bit, but also felt really cold and unnatural. What is wrong with me?

Lynn got up again and wanted to pace to and fro, but whatever strange and pretty dark area she was in would hardly allow her to even stand without having to hold her head low.

Where am I?

She sat down, hunched to spare her painful head, and looked around. She was in some kind of unnatural-looking (and -smelling) area that she couldn't get out of. It was long on two sides, and short on two others. One of the shorter sides of the thing wasn't dark and without holes like the rest, however, and there was a strange, wiry structure blocking the way. Light fell through the wires. Lynn first expected these things to be bendable, but as she pressed her paw on one of them, they didn't bend. They felt strong, way too strong for any wolf paw or even jaw to manipulate, and they somewhat reminded her of the material One-eye's fake eye was made of.

Lynn sniffed it, inhaling the sharp and strange scents of the area around her, and looked through the things that also reminded her slightly of a fence.

She was in a space that was sort of like the smaller thing she was in, but much, much bigger, big enough for a human to stand up in, and there was no sign at all of a natural light source.

The area was filled with strange structures and things Lynn had never encountered before, and all smelled of humans. She backed off with sudden realization and tucked her tail between her hind legs. A human den? I'm in a human den! She started to pant and her hackles rose. Oh no...how am I going to get out of any of this? I can't even get out of this small den. What am I going to do?

She sat down, afraid, and whimpered. Where is One-eye? Where am I? Am I far away from home? AND WHAT IS UP WITH MY EYE?!

She felt with her right front paw over the area where her right eye was...or had been. With a yelp she withdrew her leg. That didn't feel like my coat at all!

The young she-wolf looked down. On the bottom of the smaller area she was in lay some strange, flat and thin white things with black markings on it that made crackly noises as she moved. She ignored those, but there was also a small, round object.

Lynn smelled it. There was water inside of it, and it reminded her an awful lot of a small, really small pond, hardly bigger than two average-sized wolf legs together.

I'm so thirsty...and water is reflecting...so I can see what's wrong with me...but this is human water! It must be poisonous!

But...surely just looking in it won't kill me?

She bent for her head wards over the circular-shaped item and looked, but she instantly pulled back her head. I'm...no...I can't be...

She felt tears appearing in her good eye. She was maimed...she'd lost her good right eye and now it was replaced with this.

I'm like a small and brown clone of One-eye, minus the deformed paw and hunchback! Why does this have to happen to me?

"WHY?" she barked out loud.

"Hey, hey, keep yourself together, will you?" a light voice with a strange accent said.

Lynn stiffened and tried to sniff up the air, trying to identify what was talking to her, but there were so many unfamiliar and unnatural scents in the stinking air that she couldn't make it out.

"Up here," the voice pointed out. Lynn looked to the top of the space she was in, but saw nothing but a dark-colored side of the area.

"Here!" Lynn followed the voice and suddenly saw a small, black paw, coming from above the upper part of her area. Whoever it is, they are on top of me!

"Uh...hello," Lynn said shyly, ears laid back. She'd never been allowed to talk to anyone. One-eye had told her how dangerous strangers could be, that they might be after her like someone had been after her dad.

The paw pulled back. "Good, you've found me. What is your name?"

They will take you, they will make you feel at home, they will cherish you, and then they'll stab you in the metaphorical hunchback and show that they're just like ANYONE ELSE IN THIS BLOODY WORLD.

Lynn heard One-eye's often-spoken words when she asked about strangers ringing in her head. She suddenly felt stupid that she'd spoken already, otherwise she could've pretended she had some form of speech impediment.

There was some sound of claws moving and fur ruffling above the young she-wolf, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Come on, I know you're there."

Lynn didn't answer.

The voice spoke again, but it didn't seem angry or bothered at all. "Then you don't speak. Your choice. I'm Leyta, by the way. I'm a vixen."

Vixen? That's like a she-fox, right? I don't think I've met a fox before. Well, unless you count that furious one that attacked us when One-eye and I discovered our territory for the first time.

"You're probably wondering what you're doing here, right? You sound like nothing but a pup to me. Shame."

I am. And where I am? And what's wrong with my eye? And what is this thing around my neck?

"Well, sadly enough, I can't help you much, either." Leyta moved around in her area above Lynn's some more. "But I do know that we're in the lair of a poacher."

"What's a poacher?" Lynn said, instantly placing her paws on her jaw after she was done. One-eye is going to be so mad, stupid! And she's just trying to deceive you into thinking that she's alright!

"So my sudden presence didn't turn you into a mute," the vixen said, rather sarcastically. "That's good. A poacher is...well...they're kind of like human hunters...but they hunt stuff they're not supposed to hunt, often outside of hunting season. They captured me, and you, as well. And tons of others, though sadly enough they're all gone." There was a small hint of sadness in her voice. "Gone where, you want to ask? I don't know. Some, mostly the ones that might not raise enough money when sold alive, will be killed and mounted. Others get sold alive. I'm not sure when it's my turn, and, when I get sold, in what state. Brrr." She shivered.

Lynn hesitated. Leyta didn't seem as bad as One-eye had claimed all strangers were, but maybe she was just trying to lure the she-wolf into a false sense of security. Still, she couldn't do much. Lynn suspected that she was also in a small space she couldn't get out of. Leyta wouldn't be able to hurt her if that was the case.

"Are you in a...thing like this, as well?" the wolf dared to ask, whispering.

"What? A cage, or a Käfig, as humans like to call it? Yes, of course I am. The humans only allow their dogs to run free in the den."

Lynn forgot all of her carefulness. She can't get out, and, even if, she can't get in my...cage to hurt me. I might be locked up, but this is also a safe place to protect me from strangers, at least.

"So...uh...Leyta?"

"Yes?"

"What is this...thing around my neck? It feels so weird and it just...doesn't belong there!"

"That's a collar, silly, how come you don't know what that is? All animals that get brought here wake up with one around their neck."

"But a collar is for dogs! Tame dogs!"

"Or for prisoners like us. Tell me...pup, which I assume you are, are you a wild dog? One of these runaway mutts? There's been so many leaving their homes to go live in the wild the past years, it's crazy. Almost drove me out of my territory."

Wild dog? I'm not a worthless dog! I'm a wolf! But...what I said probably made her think I'm one...great.

Lynn puffed out her chest and perked her ears up. "I'm a she-wolf," she said proudly.

"Are you now?"

"Ye...yes."

Leyta made more noises above Lynn's head.

"Will you quit that? Your claw noises are annoying," Lynn complained.

"Tell me your name, and I might just stop," the vixen replied.

Lynn hesitated. "Joney," she lied, using the name of her sister.

Leyta seemed to fall for it, however. "Joney, huh? Well, nice to meet you, Joney. Glad to have some more company in this eerie place."

"But...is there a way out?" Lynn wanted to know.

"There is a way, but there is also not a way. No way you'll make it out alive or without being sold on the black market. Wolf pups are valuable, you know."

Am I valuable? One-eye sure didn't treat me like that. But I can't be mad at him... there's something he's not telling me about his past that causes him to act like this... I just know it.

"So don't worry, I don't think you'll be made into a taxidermy mount, then."

That's good news...but I don't want to live as some kind of pet or zoo animal or whatever they're going to sell me to, either! I'm a wild wolf...I have to get out of here.