Grief welled with the loss of more than just a companion. My little firefox had become a friend, a saviour in my darkest hours. Pain blossomed and grew with the blame I placed upon myself for his sacrifice. It intensified, morphing and twisting into rage at the beast for taking him from me. It burned until I could no longer hold it within.

With my roar of revenge echoing like thunder around the valley below, I placed a farewell kiss on Sparky's nose and gathered the scattered arrows from where I threw them in my haste to reach him.

The beast's tracks disappeared into an easy to follow trail through the woods. Too blinded by anger, I gave no thought to the danger or how I would kill it when I found it.

Through trees, over open expanse of snow covered slopes, across fast flowing streams the beast led, its blood trail stark against the pristine white. Around the mountain I followed. And then it was gone, the trail ahead stopping abruptly at the edge of a steep ravine. As I inched closer, I saw evidence of its frantic scrambling to find purchase. Not satisfied with the evidence, I peered over the edge, spotting the black dot of its body spattered on the jagged rocks below.

I felt both disappointed and relieved.

Light flakes of snow swirled and drifted, mimicking my emotional turmoil, and without the heat of rage fuelling me, I began to shiver. Tired, cold, and alone again in a frozen, desolate world.

At first I thought I imagined it, that my mind had finally broken under the strain, but after wiping my watering eyes, I scanned the base of the mountain again and saw it clearer. The first sign of intelligent life. Billowing, black smoke rose from a partially snow-covered ship. The breeze stirring the snow brought confirmation with the smell of burning gasoline.

The descent was treacherous at best. Numerous times I lost my footing and slid several metres on my backside. And yet, all the way down, a niggling doubt pushed my excitement aside and kept me from calling out or otherwise making my presence known to the figures I could see moving around.

Having reached a plateau above the ship, I hid behind a few boulders so I could watch them, thinking their behaviour would help assess them as friend or foe.

I gingerly peeked over the top of my hiding spot and got my first good look. "Shit!" I swore fervently, softly enough that only I would hear. Seeing a dozen or more scaly beasts like the one that attacked Sparky was the last thing I expected to see raiding the ship of supplies.

I didn't need further proof of their intentions. They were uncivilised devil spawn. Vermin. What I did need was a way to get rid of them once and for all, so I watched them while my mind raced to come up with some sort of plan.

They worked as a team, methodically going through the storage crates for things they could eat and leaving the rest broken and discarded in a heap. At regular intervals, a small ball of flame would erupt from the ground beneath a fuel container they must have damaged when they tossed it aside – this resulted in a similar plume of black smoke to what I'd thought were exhaust fumes – which the beasts avoided. Despite being out of the fire's range, they jumped in fear with every small burst.

Between their grunts and clicks of chatter, I could hear a male voice calling out. His whimpers sounded weak, muffled. I scanned the area I thought the sound came from, and at first I saw no sign of him, only a growing pile of food and supplies the beasts had stacked. One of the beasts approached and deposited a sack from its shoulder onto the top of the pile. It crouched, moving something aside as it did, and roared in the panicked face of a man half buried among the food hoard.

I closed my eyes in anguish. It was no longer about me and my revenge.