My head is on fire. Thoughts tumble through my brain. Strange, new, and hateful. Hate is new to me. Before, I didn’t hate. Or love.

Or think.

Before, the world was simple. I lived with my colony. We ate when we were hungry, loved one another when the season was right, and sheltered together in a deep, warm kingdom beneath the surface.

Sure, there were bad times. Diseases took many long before their time. Predators culled our numbers of the old and young. Death was always with us.

But…it was different. Before, I had no fear. My mind was simple and pure. There was nothing to distract me from the base needs of my biology. It was a pure, joyous experience.

Before the lights.

Before the wheels.

I was changing, even then. We all were. The horns were new. The urge to not just survive but prosper. My people had transcended their roles as prey to become something more.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

But that change was nothing compared to what has happened to me since.

My people died beneath those dark, churning wheels. Bones shattered, flesh tore, and the very sacred energy of life itself poured out of my sisters and brothers, cousins, and offspring. But even as their grief tore at me, the power of their lives entered me in a rush.

I survived.

In that moment, amid the horror and screams, the seeds of something new were planted. Though I wouldn’t know it for hours, my mind had become home to something incredible.

Something horrible.

New concepts burst into my brain. Strategy. Tactics. War. Destruction.

Other ideas, of peace and light and love, no longer seemed necessary. Pain had entered my life, and now it gnawed at my soul.

We tested our mettle against the humans and were found wanting. We are strong, but we are not as strong as them. But what we lack in size and strength, we make up for in conviction and the dark, consuming power of our rage.

Fear us, Bo Houston. We have heard your name and whisper it to ourselves before we sleep. We will come for you, human, and we will make you pay for what you did to us.

I, Thump Thumperson of Clan Thumperson, have sworn vengeance upon you and yours.

Also, a friend of yours came by. He’s a devil. Says you made him very angry.

He’s given us some weapons.

See you soon, human.

Just as soon as I finish eating this patch of alfalfa I just found.

It’s so good.

So good.