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