You wake with a start, drenched in sweat despite the morning chill.
Your dreams were a chaotic jumble of frightening images; you remember looking up at a man in a surgical mask holding a scalpel as two orderlies strapped you down.
"This won't hurt a bit," the doctor said as he began cutting into your chest. You pulled free of the restraints and slashed your claws through the doctor's throat, bathing in a euphoric state of feral bliss as his blood rained down, staining your brown fur with a speckling of dark crimson. Another human dead by your hand. It felt right. Just. You can still feel the phantom pain of the blade as the dream slowly fades. You groan. Another day. Another chance to change the world. And it's a weekend; no lessons and no work. You have the whole day to yourself.
On a whim, you retrieve the stealth device you liberated from the humans' stronghold, flipping the heavy black square over and over in your hands as you examine its circuitry. Why not, you think to yourself as you slip it into your pocket. You never know when you might need to disappear.
A sharp knock comes from your door. Mourning the passing of your all-too-brief period of peace and quiet, you quickly throw on some clothes and open the door. Dena stands there, panting and out of breath.
"I'm sorry, Klel, I didn't know where else to go. My dad was yelling this morning—he woke me up when it was still dark out. One of the adults didn't come back from the humans' warehouse last night. I think it was one of his friends. He kept talking about 'making them pay.' I waited until he calmed down before I came out of my room. He tried to pretend like nothing had happened. He wouldn't even tell me the truth." Tears well up in her eyes. "How can we keep living like this? What if my family disappears next?"