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Pacing around the tiny steel cage, The Wolf thought about the type of death that he would suffer. He'd already lost all that was dearest to him, so he was in a dead-end situation. If he managed to get to the end of the tunnel first then his death would at least be a quick one. If Man got there first, The Wolf shivered miserably just thinking about it. The Wolf stopped pacing. His life began to rush in front of him, making him giddy. The tail of The Wolf (or, what was left of it after the Hunter had hacked it off a trophy) was burning intensively, the agony was beyond description. But The Wolf over-looked it, his heart was by far the most painful....

It all began one Summer afternoon. I was at my prime, the Alpha Male. She was pacing at my side, making my happiness complete. We had a litter of cubs, six altogether. They were so beautiful, and I adored them more than anything, any parent would, Man or Beast. So leaving them to hunt was painful for both of us, especially now I think back. Most of the time I'd be welcomed back from a day's hunting by the cubs, and she'd be the biggest cub of the lot, bounding up to me in her lop-sided manner to lick my ear cheekily. She'd insisted coming with me that afternoon, and looking back with the horrific hindsight I now had, I wish I had refused. I can still remember the sun, covering me with warmth like a golden layer of leaves. We'd been hunting for a while when it happened. A mighty bang rang through the trees, destroying the tranquil silence with its unnatural sound. She fell. Another bang sounded. Although it did not hurt me, I fell so what ever it was that was trying to kill us would leave us be. A while later I got up to check on her. She was bleeding from a huge gaping wound in her side, her life flowing away from her like a doomed river. I tried to staunch the bleeding, licking the wound hopelessly, knowing that the wound was fatal. She was dieing, and there was nothing I could do to save her. I was helpless. And so my heart died that day. Time went by, I now lived alone in the forest. All the other packs had either been massacred by Man (as I discovered from a passing robin) or had managed to escape with their lives. I didn't care any more, I had nothing left to save. Nothing left to escape with, nowhere worth escaping to. One day I was hunting in the forest when I saw a little girl in a blood-red cape with a hood walk boldly down the forest path carrying a wicker basket with goodies inside. What is a little child doing in a dark forest on her own, I thought to myself, there was no way I'd of let one of my cubs loose around here alone. My heart stung, remembering that my cubs were dead and gone. I should of let her get on with her business, But being a parent (even though those official duties had been lifted off my shoulders) I felt I should intervene. I stopped the child, asking if she was alright. She laughed brightly, telling me she was on her way to see her granny and taking her some treats. My concern made me ask her where Granny lived, and she told me she lived on the outskirts of the forest and there was nothing for me to worry about, she'd been this way many times before on her own. To make sure she got there safely I went on ahead to the house, and knocked the door. Granny answered the door, and swooned when she saw me (not that I'd blame her, to be honest) so I put her in the closet so she was out of the way, and hopped into the bed wearing the wig. The rest the children of the world already know.

The Hunter lifted the roof of the cage. He grabbed The Wolf by the scruff and threw him onto a white clinical table. Another human in a white coat walked in, carrying a syringe with a long needle. The Wolf moaned softly, his time had come.