Chapter 1
She squinted her eyes in the darkness of her crate. A small chick was whimpering and hugging her leg. She made sure her eggs were safe and waddled to the crate side. She listened intently, she could hear humans talking, One had absolute cheerfulness, the other sounded bored and didn't seem as eager for what ever they were talking about. She jumped back at the cracking of wood and shielded her eyes as shafts of light entered the crate. She quickly put her chick and eggs behind her in a corner and faced the humans, ready to defend herself and her chicks.
A hand extended toward her, and in response, she leaped forward and nipped the fingers. She smiled with satisfaction when the hand pulled away and the human yelped in pain. Her moment was snatched away when another hand grabbed her and help her beak shut.
"Easy there. Your alright girl." A male human said. She just glared at him and tried to open her beak. Cries of distress from her chick made her fight the human to get to her chick.
"Mama! Mama!" The chick cried, that's when she noticed the human she had bit earlier was holding her chick. She was sent in a cage and happily cuddled her chick when they were reunited. She then looked around for her eggs, and saw them in the crate still. She ran to go get them but the door shut before she could. She watched as they shut the crate and set it on the counter. She struggled to get out of the cage, she had to get her eggs!
She kept her eyes glued to the crate, even when they picked her up and carried her away. She didn't even notice they left the building until the door closed, blocking her view of her eggs. She felt her chick pull her flipper and looked down.
"What is it Grace?" She asked the young chick, her Russian accent heavy on her words.
"Penguins!" The little Penguin known as Grace shouted, pointing to a small white island with four penguins smiling and waving on it.
"Oh great, another zoo transfer! Why can't Humans make up their minds on where they want us!" The female penguin sighed. Suddenly an idea struck her. "Maybe they'll help me retrieve my eggs back!" Her smile soon vanished. "No, they're like any other penguin, only know cute and cuddly." Grace looked at her mother.
"We can still give it a try, right Mama?" Grace asked her mother.
She couldn't help but smile. "Of course, my little warrior princess." Grace smiled, it was the first time her mother had used her pet name since the incident with her father. The adult female penguin and Grace fell down with a yelp, a wooden plank had been set down and the human was walking across it to the other penguins. The zoo visitors had been ushered away to other exhibits, leaving the only human left was the zoo keeper, who had a bandage on her finger.
"Here you go, another one of you guys to do what ever insane thing you birds do." The zoo keeper said as she set down the cage roughly. What ever insane thing you birds do? Does this mean I'm stuck with a group of looney birds? The female bird wondered, and looked at her chick worried for her safety. The cage door opened up and she cautiously walked out, Grace followed close behind. The minute they were on the fake island the zoo keeper crossed back and pulled the plank away as she watched.
She turned back to the four male penguins. One with a flat head was looking at her with squinted eyes. The other three were staring at her, unsure of what to do. She began to feel nervous about the penguin's staring.
"If you would please stop staring at me like I'm from Outer space, I would greatly appreciate it!" She growled, keeping Grace behind her.
"Skippah, don't you think we are being a bit rude?" A small penguin with a British accent said to the flat headed penguin.
The one called Skipper face flippered himself. "Quick men! Private blew our cover!" Before she could understand what was going on, she felt a sharp pang in the back of her head and fell down cold.