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Kowalski…

It was that voice again! It echoed through Kowalski's ears.

"Kassidy?" he called into the dark landscape.

"Kowalski, run! RUN! He's after you! RUN!"

The tall penguin ran blindly into the darkness. Heavy footsteps padded behind him. He couldn't see anything. Then he hit a black wall. He was trapped. His unseen enemy came closer and closer.

"Kowalski, help me!" It was the sound of Kassidy's voice.

"I'm trying… I'm trying!" Kowalski raced down the shadowy hallway. He nearly tripped.

Kassidy was lying in front of him. She was in a pool of blood. Kowalski felt something wet on his flipper. He looked at it.

Blood! Blood was everywhere. It rose up into a swirling sea. Kowalski gagged as it washed down his throat. The iron taste throbbed like poison through his veins. Then the whole room went black.

"Kowalski!" Skipper's voice was like a lifeline pulling him out of the inky blackness.

Kowalski opened his eyes slowly. Skipper was leaning over him with a worried expression on his face.

"You were yelling 'Kassidy' in your sleep. I thought you've gotten over that incident." His leader said as Kowalski climbed out of his bunk.

"I-I don't know…" Kowalski rubbed his eyes, trying to bring himself back into reality.

"Well, sleep or not, it's training time."

Kowalski wiped his brow. He felt wetness on it. He looked at his flipper, and gasped. There was blood on it!

He closed his eyes, but when he looked again, it was gone. He groaned and put his hands in his flippers.

"Keep it together, man! It was only a dream." Skipper shook Kowalski out of his thoughts.

"Yes… only a dream. I'm sorry, Skipper. I don't know what got into me." Kowalski said.

***

Before Kowalski knew it, it was night. He dreaded climbing back in his bunk, dreaded returning to that horrible world where dark creatures stalked his every move, where black and red dominated every other color, where Kassidy's voice called to him, seducing him to help a sister who he hated.

But Kowalski, almost robotically, slid under the covers and into his bed. His mind was buzzing with the need to not close his eyes, but somehow the room went blurry, and he was drawn into that dream world once again.

This time Kowalski was in a silver hall. Kassidy was waiting for him at the end. Her eyes were blurry with tears.

"Kowalski," she said. "I've been waiting for you."

Then the lights went out. Kowalski heard a door slam behind him.

"Kassidy?" he called.

"Kowalski!" it was Private's voice.

"Private?"

"Don't wake him up, Private. Unless you want to tell him?" It was the gruff voice of Skipper.

"Buttons!" That was Rico.

"Shh… You don't want to wake him… wake him… wake him…"

"Huh?" Kowalski's head snapped up. He looked around. Where was Kassidy? Where was the dark, twisting tunnel? He climbed out of his bunk.

"Now you woke him up!" Skipper raised his flipper to slap the young penguin.

"What's going on? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Rico groaned.

"Kowalski," Skipper laid a flipper on the tall penguin's shoulder. "There's something you need to see."

***

Skipper led him out into the park. Lying under a bench was the limp body of a penguin. Blood had stained her once beautiful white feathers, and her eyes were open, free of the ambitious fire that once blazed within them.

"Kassidy…" Kowalski whispered.

***

That's the end of chapter one.

Till next time,

~Lukos