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