I didn't know what to think when a black hamster with a white stripe across his nose appeared. Billy. His cheeks bulged with food. And he stopped when he caught sight of me. He turned to look back the way he'd come. Checking for the others? I thought I'd understood what John was getting at in his hamster speak, but now I wondered, had he meant only himself.
Even though I hoped that that wasn't the case, I took a step back, readying myself to run.
Billy shook his head with a muffled squeak. "Not hurt." He said pulling out a couple of the dry cheerios from his cheeks and pushing them towards me. "Bad night, Alpha?" He glanced over his shoulder again. "No others come. Me here. Not long. No Hurt" he looked back to me.
If hamsters could cry I would have been trying to hide tears. I hadn't truly thought Billy would go against me, to have it confirmed, relaxed some of the tension.
Some of it. I took a step forward to take one of the cheerios. "Bad Night. Bad time. Bad everywhere."
He nodded. "Not Good, Tried Not Hurt. Tried. Beta look out. Safety Me. Had Fight. Safety."
I hated this hamster speak. It wasn't as clear as I wanted it to be. My nose twitched as I nibbled on the food. "Beta Look Out?"
"He Here Many Seasons. Alpha Here. Bad Alpha here. Wants all Food, Wants All Others Alpha Him. None say Not Alpha." His ears wilted. "Not want hurt. Safety me. But You Alpha. Want Help. No Help No food. Bad. Survive Need. You. Me. Others."
Yes, I definitely hated this hamster speak. But, I could understand it after a fashion. Billy hadn't wanted to hurt me, but he had to because if he didn't John was going to hurt him. John ruled here, and to go against him would mean probably getting the same treatment I had just received.
"You Danger, Come Here?"
He nodded. "You Alpha. Alpha Needs Protect."
"Alpha Needs You Survive. Understand Fight Bite Fight." I cared more about his safety then my own. My crew took priority over my needs.
"Tail. Tail Only. Small Hurt."
I squeaked out a laugh. Come to think of it, he had only come after that nubby thing of a tail. "Others think same you?"
He shook his head. "All Mad. All Mad mad mad mad. Me Quiet. See. Hope. All Mad." he cocked his head. "Hope one. One Not Madmad. Suns wait. See. Mad. Scared. Mad Bad Gathering. All Want Burrows. Homes. Here Many Suns. All Scared Be Here Many Suns More."

#Henry
 

They may have called me Alpha, but with John acting like the leader, I was pretty sure I'd just fallen to the Omega slot.

I couldn't stay where I was for long, Lisa would be along any moment. I forced myself to move up to the higher reaches of the tunnel maze so that my wounds wouldn't be visible to the humans below. And if I understood John right, if my injuries were discovered, I wouldn't survive for long afterwards.
Especially if I had nobody on my side.

My ears laid back at that thought as I crouched down in a Y-shaped pipe towards the back of the store. How had John managed to take control so completely? It was John! Billy hadn't even wanted him as part of our crew until I convinced him we needed more muscle for our heists. And now? Now Billy was letting him lead? How had this gotten so messed up?

~Hey Fishy Thief, How goes Hamster life?~ Lisa called from below as she entered accompanied by the bell ringing from above the door.
~Oh it's a hoot and a half.~ I replied back as normally as I could. Should I tell her?
~More like a squeak I would think, unless you've learned to imitate an owl during the night?~ I could see her looking upwards searching for me as she gathered her stuff together to begin her morning chores.
~I'm trying to, haven't managed the sounds, but I do have the staying up all night thing down.~ Since I'd been chased around the whole night by John and the others. ~Are Hamsters nocturnal?~ I hadn't asked that before.
She shrugged, ~The normal ones are. The human ones? Not always. Why?~
~I.... just found it easier to stay up all night.~ It's easy to be wide awake when you're being attacked. ~And I noticed there seemed to be more of us around at night, running through the tunnels and such.~
~To each their own I suppose. I never really paid attention before. Are you going to become nocturnal now?~ She sounded faintly anxious as she moved to give us Human Hamsters food. I didn't dare go down to grab breakfast with her over there. Come to think of it, I probably couldn't go down there while the store was open. How was I going to eat?
~What, are you worried you won't have anyone to talk to?~ I asked.
~Huh? No! I have plenty of others to talk to!....You're just one of the more interesting ones.~
I chuckled mentally. Oh yah, my life was interesting though I wouldn't talk about it right now. I had to understand first, understand how John had managed this. How he'd turned everyone against me. ~Sure, I'm interesting. Just because I sleep for days on end one time...~
~It's not that.~ She said flatly, staring down at the hamsters. I could tell she was searching for me. ~You sound different...are you sure you're okay?~
Well, my friends had just tried to kill me. ~I'm fine, no ill effects from that Lisa. Perhaps you just haven't heard me sleep deprived before?~ I remarked. ~I was trying to get some zzzs when you walked in.~ I couldn't let her know that my crew had turned against me. No, I would do my best to convince them...of what I didn't know. I had no idea what John had done or said to get them on his side. I needed to find that out first.
~Oh by all means, sleep away the day.~ she said sarcastically ~don't let me keep you up.~
~I wasn't going to for much longer,~ I replied back, my ears suddenly perked up as I heard faint scratching along one of the side tunnels. What was that? Shouldn't everyone be getting breakfast now?

#Henry

More bites quickly followed, harder and harder. I struggled, but Jessa and Billy held me down in place.
What was this!? "Stop? What? Wait! Pain!" I squeaked, struggling to get away. They were attacking me? Even Billy?
If anything my squeaks seemed to encourage them. Billy went for my tail, nipping at the stubby point, Jessa my ears and my head. The others took everywhere in between.
A torrent of words, full of anger assaulted me. "Long time!" "Where you?"  "Slowslowslowslowslow" "Die! Die!, We all die!" "Noises all the time." "Barkbark!" "Alpha bad!" "No good alpha" "Bad risk." "Badbadbad"
In many ways their words hurt worse then the bites, but in reality, the bites were on fire, and my increasingly louder shrieks only encouraged them to bite harder. I twisted, finally nipping back at them, managing to get enough wiggle room from my feeble counter attack, using my teeth wherever I could to get free. I broke into a dead run, feeling the blood all along my body. I could hear the others giving chase behind me. John tackled me before I made it more then a foot down one of the tunnels. I rolled with him, biting as hard as I could and rolled free as he released me, only to encounter the others.
Their squeaks had no words now. Anger and Fear drove them to attack me. I couldn't reason with them, not with them this riled up.
We raced through the various tunnels, me taking whatever turns I could when they presented themselves to me, but whatever I tried, I couldn't shake them. They came like an avalanche. Larry and Sue managed to squeeze around me while I was fighting Billy, managing to block me in the narrow corridor. Billy got me onto my back, and John went for my throat.
He froze as the bell above the door dinged, announcing the first of the employees arriving to work. John chirped an order and the others fell back. He glared at me with his eyes a crazed mixture of red and black. "No attack daytime," he said, stiffly, "No notice with hairless. None. Night come. You runRunRUN! Continue. No die, but Run you fight."
The others had already disappeared, but I nodded, rolling cautiously to my feet. "No notice. None." I repeated softly, feeling like my mind's voice should be as parched as my throat felt.
"Hairless no notice." he warned me again, backing away. "Hairless notice, you dead."
I closed my eyes, listening to him make his way back down one of the tunnels. I could hear myself softly squeaking, from the multiple wounds running like fire all over my body.

#Henry

John chattered at me, almost like a growl. "Beta here long long time. Seasons change, change, cool, wet, hot hot, cool."
Definitely John then, he'd been a hamster the longest. 
I turned to the others. "All well? Eat much? Long here?"
John answered. "Find small female first, when hot hot, she barkbark, chase chase barkbark."
I sat back. Why was john answering for them? Surely the others could speak, I'd heard Larry talk. I shook my head. The barkbarks? A dog? Sue had gone after the dog stuff. So the female of John's size had to be Sue, which made the curly haired female, Jessa. Mentally I winced. Jessa had always kept her hair short like a guys. She'd hated long hair, and now, she had to deal with it as a hamster.
John continued his litany when I stayed quiet.
"Quick, quick next come in heat hot, Big male big female few suns apart storm wet soon ago.~
I nodded, I could follow that, though as a fish I had no idea about what the weather conditions were like, I got an idea of the timeline. Larry, Billy, and finally Jessa had come, and if they were talking about the storm I thought they were, they'd been together for at least a month before I'd been shifted.
"Good good, Happy all together. Soon home, soon fine good. You all speak yes? Good?" Nobody spoke up and my ears wilted. I looked to Billy first, then the others. "Bad Alpha, Bad gathering. Not again. No. Ears hear better now. You good?"
John nodded again speaking for the group. "Good soon yes." 
As one they moved forward, surrounding me and pressing in. At first I thought they were giving me some sort of group hug, but then I felt the first bite.  

#Henry

The midget hamster led the way through a series of tunnels, connecting stations -boxes that connected three or more tunnel sections-, and yet more tunnels, like the cops were after him. I could barely keep him in sight he moved so quick.
It surprised me to finally see him stopped in one of the connecting stations when I finally caught up to him. He hopped back and forth from foot to foot. "Wait, wait here. Find others. Back soon. Stay! Found you!" He zipped through the tunnel to the right before I could respond.
That was fine with me to wait. I crouched down, my sides heaving. If this hamster wasn't Larry, he certainly did a great impersonation of him. I certainly hadn't seen any other hamsters his size be the same ball of energy that one did.

I didn't have to wait long, though thankfully my I'd managed to catch my breathe before I caught the scratch scratch of multiple rodents approaching through the tunnels.
He appeared first, just as hyper as when he'd left, coming out of a different tunnel like a rocket, circling around me seven times before the others appeared.
There were four of them that stepped from the tunnel the midget had come from. Four! Could it be the five of them were my crew? Had I finally found them?  Cautiously they approached.
I straightened, my nose quivering. They all smelt of walnuts. Was it possible. The five of them smelt the same, did that mean I smelt of walnuts too? Was that how they'd been able to tell themselves apart?
The numbers even fit. two females, three males. But beyond my guess about Larry, I wasn't sure who the other four would be. Two of them, one male, one female, were the same size as me. Though their fur wasn't the reddish color mine was. The male was totally black, with the exception of a white stripe like a lightning bolt by his nose, and a white line down his chest. The female had the longest fur I'd seen on a hamster, curling around her and making her look super soft, with a light brown and white coloring. The other two new comers also a male and female were about double the size of the midget hamster. But smaller then me. The male was grey, while the female was a creamy colored.
I really would have to ask Lisa about the different hamster sizes.
Larry, I was sure it was him now, returned to the others, moving even when he was holding still, his ears, nose, eyes, constantly going different directions.
Their noses all twitched as they caught my scent. Surprisingly the grey male spoke first. I'd expected the black one to talk. "Same scent, smell sixth, you sixth? Alpha? None others alpha, you be alpha, I beta, Beta." He repeated significantly.
Obviously I got that we were unable to say our names in this hamster language. Though the beta, thing. Billy wouldn't ever refer to himself as second in command. John though...he would think himself as such. "I Alpha, You beta? Beta strong, hold much when gathering?" John was the strongest out of us and took pride in that fact.
His cheeks puffed out. "Hold much yes." He said tensing up, everyone else had done so as well. Even Larry had stilled. Yet, I couldn't see why they were tensed. If this male was John, that had to make the bigger black one Billy. The females, though, remained silent.
"You all well?" I asked cautiously, my perking forward. "Good? Eat much? Long time here? All Well?"

#Henry

Surviving

He exhaled, "Are you constantly going to harp on me about that?" He felt his way further back into the alcove as the wind shifted sending the hail into the entrance way. "How long is this storm going to last?"
"A while." I replied. "Possibly into tomorrow." I could leave him here, he wasn't dressed for the storm, but I could easily disappear.
He'd freeze if the temperature drops any lower. We need to find a way to keep him warm.
He should learn to wear an extra coat.
It was nearly 80 degrees earlier today, how would he have guessed that a storm was coming?
Again the signs were clear. There'd been signs all day.
Humans don't know them.
Obviously. How they managed to be so prevalent was beyond my comprehension. They knew so little about the weather, were so poorly protected.
We adapt, but again, how are we going to keep him warm?
I snorted. I wasn't about to curl up around him.
Well, it may be the only way, unless you know how to build a fire.
Did I look like I knew how to build one? It looked like you hit sticks together and flames appeared.
Or rocks, you nearly got the concept down.
Not enough to build something.
Well, why not ask him?
I shook my head, also moving back as the wind shoved the snow stones further in. If the human couldn't track well enough to find his way back to his own kind, what would give you the idea that he'd carry fire making tools?
I'm being optimistic.
"We'll need to get warm." I said to the human? "Do you have a way to build a...fire?"
"I'll be fine." He replied, tersely.
So much for optimism.
He didn't say no.
He didn't say yes. "You won't be fine if it gets any colder. Do you have a way to build a fire? I do not." Why would I need to build one when I had my fur coat to stay warm?
"I don't. I don't need a fire." 
He's wearing shorts and a t-shirt, of course he needs a fire.
I cocked my head, watching the hunched figure. "Really?"
"We don't have anything to burn. Any wood would be wet."
I snorted.  Could he not smell the leaves that had blown in here? There was stuff to burn.
We just need something to cause a spark.

Catchya on the Flip Side!

Danny  

Take Cover!

"Are you going to tell me why we need to take cover?" The human asked, not doing much to speed his progress. If he wasn't part of my other half's pack I would have left him to fend for himself. Besides, it should have been obvious. I glanced back just as a heavy gust of wind slammed into us. "Run."
The clouds boiled over the horizon like a wolf pack after a wounded deer.
Now the human listened. He took off at a run, nearly leaving me behind. I raced after him, but he managed to stay ahead. Stupid human, I couldn't lead him to a safe spot if I was following him.
Well, we are on the track team together, we race all the time, he's competitive like that.
He should learn to lead when it's appropriate. And this human form was clumsily. Slow.
Not if you used to it.
Which I wasn't. I changed to my form, now easily taking the lead with my legs jack knifing back and forth. I could hear the human right behind me, but behind him, I heard it. The sound of frozen water hitting the ground. Hard.
Hailstones
I didn't care about the name.
I turned to my right spotting an alcove in the rock and dove in, panting, the human right on my heels.
Like the tidal wave in the endless waters, the storm hit our spot, sending us into near darkness.
"Whew...next time you say we have to move, remind me not to question it." the human breathed. I could see his grey form leaning against the rock wall of the cave.
I snorted, changing back into the human form so that I could continue talking with him. "Next time, don't wander from your group." I said stiffly, listening to the wind send the hailstones against the side of the mountain. This storm wasn't going to let up anytime soon.

Catchya on the Flip Side!

Danny

One of the midget hamsters, no more then a couple inches long, came towards me through the tunnels like he was on a race. He made me think of Larry, always quick with everything he did. Though the chances that this hamster was one of my crew were pretty slim.
Lisa had been right, the number of hamsters fluctuated everyday, in so much, that I was never quite sure that I saw the same hamster twice. They came in all different colors, patterns, and sizes. My hopes of figuring out which of them were my crew were going slimmer by the day. It was entirely possible that they had already left the store, it was even more possible that I wouldn't run into any of them until we were all human again.
I knew that I could have asked Lisa what my friends looked like, if they were still here, but that felt like giving in. Surely I could figure this out on my own. Did I not know my crew better than anyone else? But, if Madam Shan could make Larry into a slow tortoise, what could she have done to the others to make them unrecognizable? I mean, I would never have looked for Larry as a tortoise. So trying to find them as hamsters, I really felt like I was searching for a needle in a haystack.

I moved over to the side of the tunnel to let the little guy run past, it wouldn't surprise me if he'd just clamber over me otherwise. He didn't seem opposed to that idea.
On the verge of passing by, the little guy whirled, nose twitching and sniffed at me.
His and my ears laid back at the same time. What did I smell bad or something? To me, he had a faint scent of walnuts, odd since we didn't get those when Lisa fed us.
His ears pricked as he sat back and began chattering at me. Squeaking and grunting.
It took me a moment to realize...I could actually understand him.
"Sixth, you the sixth? the last, you Alpha right? Right? For group? All six all six. I quick run tell others I find sixth if you sixth."  He stopped squeaking then, waiting for my response.
Sixth? I lifted my ears. There were six people total in my group. "You part of sixth?" I asked cautiously, weirded out that I could understand this hamster. I mean, I'd tried talking to others, but like talking to the fish, I hadn't gotten any intelligible responses from them. "I part of sixth yes, search find, look for sixth."
He ran around in front of me, squeaking in excitement. "You sixth! Found you! You squeak. Alpha, recognize voice. Found you! Come come!~ He took off like a bullet from a gun, skidding to a stop at an intersection. "Alpha! come come! Found you! Go rest sixth. Fast quick! Come!"
I followed, admittedly a bit numb. Could it really be possible that I'd actually found someone who knew of my group? Was this hamster part of my group? If so, I didn't recognize the voice. Which bothered me more than it should have. If this hamster could recognize my voice, why couldn't I recognize his?  

#Henry 

A Sudden Problem

I broke eye contact with the human as a, as my other half would say, electrical charge rushed through my body.
"We have to move." I said tersely, pulling the human after me.
"What? Why?" He asked, jerking his arm in a feeble gesture of rebellion.
"We need to take cover."
"From what?! It's blue skies."
I growled under my breath. Did these humans not know anything? Could they not sense the change in the air?
We can be rather dense, especially if the human doesn't like the outdoors as much.
They should learn to like it more then. I glanced over my shoulder. Otherwise they would continue to miss the signs. We had to find cover. Now.

 Catchya on the Flip Side!

Danny

Had I ever thought it would be easy to find my crew? Yes, a part of me had been that naïve. A part of me had expected my crew to be the only people who'd become hamsters. I mean, how many others would be stupid enough to rob from a pet store like I'd been?
A lot apparently. Only when I managed to get to the central tank for 'breakfast' did I actually see how many hamsters roamed the tunnel systems with me.
~How many people steal from your store?!~
Lisa looked up from placing food in the trough that ran along the full side of the central tank. She grinned ~More then you thought would, didn't you?~ She asked.
I jumped from one of the many tunnels that emptied into the central tank, pushing through the sea of bodies to go for my own portion of green looking cheerios, fruits, seeds, and veggies. ~Well, yah. How many hamsters are in here?~
~It varies from day to day. Anywhere between twenty and seventy I suppose.~
~And they've all stolen from this place?~ I couldn't believe it.
She winked at me when I looked up. ~Is it hard to believe that others see the same target you did?~
My ears laid back. ~Yes.~
She shrugged ~Alright, I admit you're the first to attempt as big of a job as you did. But there are a bunch of thieves willing to palm the smaller items.~
~Still, hamster stuff? What would they want those for, are they planning on feeding the park's squirrels?~
~Don't ask me why they take it,~ she replied, shutting the lid. ~You're the thief, not me.~
~Yah, and as one, it doesn't make sense why there would be so many thieves!~ I called after her.
 
#Henry  

The maze of tunnels I'd glimpsed at while I was a fish, truly were a maze. Up, down, back, forth, loop de loop, dead end. Lisa honestly had had too much time on her hands when she created this network to run around the entire store.
Of course, I didn't know for sure that she'd created it, but she knew it much better then I did.
Somehow or another she always knew where I was. And the constant check ups to see if I was alright, were getting on my nerves.
I hated being babied. I barely tolerated it from Billy, and that was only on certain occasions.
Just because I fell asleep for four days, didn't mean that there was anything wrong with me, but Lisa insisted upon checking in on me constantly.
This time though, I was refusing.
~Fishy Thief~
~I'm fine, Lisa, stop mothering me.~ I replied as I moved along the higher reaches of the tunnel system. How could I expect to find my crew if she insisted on calling me down every two minutes to make sure that I was alright? I could see her now, looking upwards anxiously, though her eyes hadn't yet found me.
~I'm not mothering--~
~Says the girl, who insists she watches everything I do. Come on Lisa. Even your mom says I'm fine.~ Madam Shan hadn't even come over to look at me since I woke up. Obviously that meant I was fine.
She glared up at the maze, her hands moving to her hips.
Well, it was true. I hadn't had a repeat experience of my marathon sleep cycle. Beyond being a hamster, I felt perfectly normal. ~I haven't slept longer then a normal hamster would sleep since then have I?~
~No..~ came her grudging reply.  
~Great, now that we have that agreement that I'm fine, you can get back to work, and I can wander around this maze until my sentence is up.~ I said, circling around behind her. This section lead to the actual hamsters in the store, didn't it? Two dead ends later told me I'd been wrong.
She huffed. ~Just be careful okay.~
I rolled my eyes ~Yes Mom.~ It wasn't like I had anything to worry about in here.

#Henry