'It's been 4 weeks since 'the incident' and I still can't help but feel guilty about what happened… Hopefully soon I can get rid of this aching pai-'"WOAH!"Cried a penguin whose thoughts were interrupted when he fell down a hill. "Not the smartest move, Kowalski…"said the penguin to himself, as he brushed the sand off his make-shift cloak. Wandering through the desert, one realizes he needs something to protect him from the elements. Kowalski found an old potato sack and knee pad and, using his inventive skills, turned them into something useful for him.
Once he was thoroughly done with his brushing, he continued his wandering and thinking. That's all he's been doing for the past 3 weeks and 6 days: walking and thinking. He hasn't eaten in a month; his stomach's cries of sorrow going unheeded by the intellectual. His body was becoming weak, and he needed to find something he could eat. But he ignored the growling of his stomach and kept on.
He didn't even know where he was going, it was as if his body was set on autopilot. Psh, please. One's body doesn't do anything without the brain thinking for it to do it. Thought Kowalski, when the random notion came to mind. A lizard scurried by, and the penguin watched it; noting its movement patterns and its physical features. As it began to blend into the sand, Kowalski continued.
He began to feel a bit queasy and decided to rest for the day, as the sun was high in the sky. He went up to a small shrub and looked under to see if any other creatures were hiding beneath. Seeing as there weren't, Kowalski crawled under and wrapped his shroud over him like a blanket. His mind still racing with thoughts, equations, and questions as slumber fell into his eyes.
The bird had a strange dream that night. It was rare that he had any dreams, but one as bizarre as this had never occurred before. He was standing back in his habitat at the zoo, everything completely fine. But then there was a bright flash followed by a loud boom. He crouched to protect himself from the blast, even though he knew it wouldn't do anything. When the smoke cleared, half the zoo was a steaming crater, with Kowalski standing in the middle of it.
Now the strange part happens, six bodies, which should have been eradicated in the blast, clawed their way out of the debris, and dragged their torn bodies to the penguin's location. Three of those six corpses were the bodies of his teammates; the other three were his neighbors; an otter, and two lemurs. They stared at him with lifeless eyes and Kowalski felt a sudden pain in his spine. He dared to look back and saw Private, the youngest of his friends, ripping out one of his vertebrae. The others began for his body as well. Skipper grabbed onto Kowalski's flipper and began to pull it out of its socket; Rico somehow coughed up a hacksaw and took it to his leg. Julien began to claw into Kowalski's chest as Maurice was pulling his feathers out. Kowalski couldn't scream because Marlene was shoving a paw down his throat trying to rip out his esophagus. Kowalski could only cry as his undead friends tore him apart. Just as they were reaching for his heart, he woke up.
His breath was heavy, the feathers on his face were matted, and there was a throbbing pain in his spine. He felt his back with his flipper and noticed two small indentations in his skin. He felt again, and found that the holes were oozing. Bringing his flipper to his face, he sniffed and tasted the strange substance. It was snake venom.
Luckily for him, Skipper made everyone on the team build a tolerance to all types of poison and venom, so he'd live, but he needed to somehow get the venom out or else it would get infected. And that wouldn't be the best thing for a bird with a weak immune system.
Kowalski got out from under the shrub and felt the hot sun beating down on him immediately. He coughed and started on his way. Judging by the sun's location he was heading south. He didn't know where exactly he was, but as far as he knew, there was no human society for thousands of miles. The penguin climbed up onto a rock to see if he could find anything useful. In the distance, he swore he saw a city. Or at least, a miniature city. I'm hallucinating, that has to be it. There's no way a "Tiny city" could exist, that's just preposterous. He passed it off as a mirage, or even a side effect of the venom, but decided to go in that direction; hoping to find something of use.
Several desert animals passed him by. A kangaroo-rat, a sidewinder snake, and a desert fox. The latter had tried to make a meal of the aquatic bird, but Kowalski took him down with several quick jabs at the fox's pressure points. It was more difficult than it usually would have been.
As he was walking, he noticed that the "Miniature City" wasn't going away, or staying the same size. It actually seemed to be getting closer. His walking for half an hour without rest was beginning to get to him. He heard something move on his left, and quickly turned to see nothing.
When he turned around, he was met with the gaze of a tiny kangaroo rat. "Hiiya! You don't look like you're 'roun from these parts. I def'nitely never seen any type o' bird with feat'er patterns like yours. An' why're you wearin' that silly thing? Las' ah checked, an'mals don' wear no clothes," said the little rodent. It was carrying something, but Kowalski couldn't make out what it was. Whatever it was, the rat was waving it all around as it talked.
"Hello, my name is Kowalski. And yes, as you could tell, I'm not from here. I come from New York, up northeast. I am a penguin, a species of bird indigenous to the cold deserts of Antarctica. And this thing I am wearing is to protect me from the harsh weather of this desert," said Kowalski as he finished introducing himself. The Kangaroo rat just cocked it's head.
"Kowalski, huh? Weird name for a weird bird. Anyway, the names Crandon. It's a pleasure to meetcha." 'Crandon' thrust out his paw for a handshake, which Kowalski nervously shook. As he was shaking the rodent's paw, pain surged in his back. As high his tolerance was, the venom was still affecting his body albeit very slowly. Kowalski drew back his flipper and gasped in pain. He fell to his knees as Crandon looked at him worriedly. "What's wrong bud?" Asked the rat, "I squeeze too hard?" Kowalski shook his head and pointed to his back. Crandon moved the cloak and saw the snake bite, three times the size it was when Kowalski last checked."Geez, look at the size of that snake bite! How long you been lettin' this fester fer? It looks horrible!" Kowalski just moaned in pain. "Wowee, I'm gunna hafte miss my game to help out a stranger, but that's just the type of guy I am."
Crandon used the thing he was holding to give Kowalski some support. Well, not so much support as Kowalski being carried by it. This Kangaroo Rat has strength that is not normal for his species… thought Kowalski. The rodent began in the direction that Kowalski was originally headed. He seemed to be going toward the mirage of a city.
"Wh-where are we going?" Kowalski asked as he looked ahead. "To the place that ev'ryone goes to when they wanna have fun," said Crandon, "Now don't you worry, we'll be there in less time than it takes for a rattler to strike." Kowalski groaned at the statement. "Sorry, hehe, I forgot."
Crandon's approximation of when they'd get to where they were going was less than correct. They've, well Crandon has, been walking for about twenty-four minutes and it didn't even seem that far. Kowalski was just looking at the shadows going up and down as the rodent hopped along."…So, what's a bird like you doin' in a desert like this?" asked Crandon, trying to make conversation to clear the hot, awkward air. "I'm trying to find my way," Kowalski replied. "Way to where?" "I'm… I'm not quite sure," Kowalski's thoughts began to trail into the reasonings why he was wandering the deserts of Texas.
"Well it's kinda stupid to be travelin' in the desert without knowin' where you're goin'," Said Crandon, "It'd be wise to know yer destination before headin' out on the trail." The words sank into Kowalski's brain like a rock in quicksand. The small rodent was right, he needed to learn where he was going in order to get back home. Home seems like the last place I'd want to go. His spine was shot with pain as he fell off the object he was being carried on. Kowalski finally made out what the thing was: A bag. A long slender bag that looked like it held a club of some sort… As he began to black out, Crandon came into view "Ooooh, we need to go much MUCH faster than this if we ever wanna save yer life." After that was said, Kowalski's mind faded to black.
When Kowalski woke up, he bolted upright in the bed he was in. He looked around, wondering where he was. He looked down and saw his torso covered in bandages. His cloak was neatly folded on the bedside table next to him. And Crandon was sitting other side of the room. "Ha! Ah almost thought you wouldn' make it. But you pulled through! Yer one tough bird, ya know that?" Crandon basically exploded with glee. For not knowing Kowalski long, he sure got attached.
"Where am I?" inquired Kowalski. For some reason, he had a feeling he wouldn't like the answer.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't one of Mr. Tux's buddies." Said a voice coming from a doorway.
"The Amarillo Kid?" said Kowalski. If he had a drink in his mouth, he would have spit it out onto Crandon's face.