Note: Thanks for all the good reviews and I´m glad you like my sequel. It will get more and more dark in the later chapters, so watch out. This is dedicaded to my passion for gothic and vampire movies and I also add some ideas from ´The Crow´. But this chapter is a very cute and touching chapter to bring a little hope for the penguins, before they get deeper into the world of darkness and death. In the next chapter the whole story will be explained, so I hope this one is not so much confusing. Enjoy and review
3. Help For A Broken Penguinchild
"Private?" Skipper asked cautiously, hoping that he was right in his assumption. But he just heard a desperate cry. Skipper slowly walked up to him and watched as the little penguin pressed anxiously against the wall. "No, you´re just a ghost. You are dead!" Private screamed and wept in despair. "No, Private. It´s me, Skipper. Don´t you remember me anymore?" asked the leader, but his voice sounded kind of sad.
He wondered why Privates reaction was so anxious and resistant. "No, you're not Skipper. Skipper's dead He will not come back Never agian. Oh God, I can´t bear this anymore. Why are you doing this to me. Please, just leave me alone?" cried the little penguin into the black mist that once was a clear sky. Private was totally dissolved and agitated. The closer Skipper came to him, the more the little penguin was trembling from fear and attempted to evade him.
"Private, you need to calm down. Everthing´s fine now. I'm here to help you." Skipper said softly, and came a little closer. Private withred like he was in pain, emotionally or physically and looked like a picture of misery. He knew that the leader was not alive anymore and that Skipper right in fron ot him was just a hallucination, which should cause the old memories to make him going through hell again.
Just as when Skipper died the little penguin suffered a nervous breakdown, which he never really recovered from. Private felt these terrible memories came back to his mind. He hoped so much that he would be able to forget these horrible images any time and to leave behind the pain he suffered back then.
"No go away. You can´t be the real Skipper, because you're lying buried in the Central Park. Why are you going to do to me now?" Private mumbled and covered his face with his wings. The frightened Penguin wasn´t able to belive that his leader had returned, because this whole new world just showed him misery and pain, so he had no hope left.
Skipper didn´t know what to do, because he never had expected this reaction at all. He could hardly see anything because it was so dark in this street, but he managed to grab Privates flipper. "Private, listen to me. ... I'm not dead. Can you feel my heart? It´s beating again, I´m alive, just trust me, like you used to before I died." Skipper murmured softly and pressed Privates flipper on his chest and fixed it with his own flipper so that the little penguin could feel his heart that would be the only way to proof Private that his leader was alive again.
At first, the little penguin resisted and tried to pull his wing back, but then he could feel Skippers heart beat on his chest. Private fell into sudden silence, he felt Skippers heartbeat and that he was breathing. This was not a dream, the little penguin thought suddenly. This was the last thing he had expected in these dark days, like a new spark of hope, he´d lost for months. His face was just surprised and got filled with rising happiness, he hadn´t been feeling for a long time.
All of the sudden all his doubts were forgotten. "Skipper, you're really here?" Private asked with a trembling voice. "Yes, it's me. I'm back." Skipper said just glad that the little penguin believed him after all and his eyes got filled with a few tears. As quick as a flash Private jumped at Skipper and almost suffocated him with his hug. Skipper felt Privates tears were soaking his feathers.
"Shh, Private. It´s allright. I'm here." Skipper muttered softly, stroking Privates back to calm him, because the little penguin was just crying his eyes out from joy. "Oh Skipper, you're back. You are alive again." Private whimpered and couldn´t stop his tears flowing from his eyes. He felt Skippers soft feathers, and listened to his heart beat. That was the the most beautiful sound that he´d heard for a long time. Now he felt Skippers paternal affection again, just as when he had declared him as his son. "Private, relax. Now explain to me, what happened here? Where is everybody?" asked the leader, hoping that he would get an answer to all his questions now.
The small Private detached himself from the embrace and took a nervous look around. "We gotta get out of here quickly. They can hear us, they are always on the lookout. Come on, Skipper." whispered the young penguin suddenly and the leader looked at him confused. "Where shall we go. And who are ´they´?" Skipper asked, who knew nothing now.
But he trusted Private and followed him quickly. Private ran back to the main road, where Skipper had his terrifying encounter with Marlene. But when the little penguin went into the light of the streetlamp, the leader got a huge shock. Private totally looked abused and neglected. His white feathers were dirty and on his abdomen, his chest and his back he had some deep cuts that were bleeding. His movements were very cautious, as if he were seriously injured and had a few broken bones.
"Private, what happened to you. You look terrible. Are you in pain?" Skipper stammered horrified when he saw the poor condition of his little son. "I'll tell you everything. But first we must get out of here." Private muttered and took Skippers flipper to take him along. As fast as possible in Privates bad conditon both ran along the road and turned into another side street.
This was not quite as frightening as that that street where Skipper found the little Private. The small penguin quickly turned to a mere brick wall where a few graffiti had been sprayed on and there was a large trash container that was full of old garbage. Next to it there was a small box. Private glanced around and shoved the box to the side and released a small hole in the wall. "Quick, you have to crawl through there." Private whispered nervously, stepping aside so that Skipper was able to slip through the hole.
The little penguin followed him quickly and put the box back in front the hole, so no one could follow them. On the other side of the wall, Skipper found himself in a tiny, tiny room, which was more like a mousehole. That was Privates secret hidding place, the leader thought and looked around. Skipper felt almost like inside a prison, it was so narrow here. Stale air rushed into his nostrils and dust swirled with each step he took.
In the center of the chamber stood a small, burning candle, stuck in an old wine bottle that was used as a candle holder. In the corner there was a small bed of old newspaper and a few rags that served as a blanket. Apart from a small, old pillow Privates favorite stuffed animal, the Lunacorn, laid there, dirrty and old. In the other corner stood a pair of old plastic bottles that were filled with water and an old rusty pot was standing next to a small bowl.
Otherwise there was nothing, not even a window. The floor was dusty and cold, just like the rest of Privates hideaway. Skipper was so absorbed in thoughts that he frightened, as Private was suddenly behind him and put his flipper on his back "Welcome, in my humble shelter." Private said, looking sadly at his shabby home. The little penguin waddled slowly to his bed and sat down. He groaned and gasped in pain, because every move he made hurt.
He was also tired and completely exhausted, so he had deep edges under his eyes, which made him look even worse. Skipper was immediately at his side to take care of his injuries. The leader was very concerned about Private, because he looked like the misery itself and skipper waited before he made any further questions, because the health of his young friend he was now more important than any explanations. "Private, you're hurt. Let me take a look." muttered the leader, worried and let his flippers glide over Privates body to examine him.
The little penguin groaned in pain as Skipper touched his injuries, even if the leader was trying to be very gentle. He was not a doctor, but he could rely on his instincts and provide the most serious wounds. In addition, he´ve let show to him some first aid tricks by Kowalski to help his team in an emergency.
"Ouch, that hurts so much." Private whimpered softly. "Hold still, I will just help you." Skipper said quietly, dabbing gently his bleeding wounds with a cloth. After he wiped away the blood, Skipper started to examinate the little penguin for fractures. Fortunately, he found none, but he noted that Private was totally emaciated. The little penguin coughed and gasped for air. Apparently he was very sick, because Skipper felt that he had a fever.
"Private, you all right?" asked the leader concerned, putting his flippers on Privates forehead to check on his fever. "I don´t know, I don´t know what I should feel. I'm doing so bad for a while now, Skipper. But what am I supposed to do? Until now I had no one to take care of me. But now I finally have you back again and that's the best thing that happened to me for months. " murmured the little penguin sad. The leader took Privates old blanket and wrapped it around his body, because it was freezing in here, what was not the best for improving his condition.
After Skipper had provided Privates injuies as good as he could, he sat down beside him on the bed and took him into his flippers and pressed him firmly close on his side to keep him warm with his body, because the young was penguin shaking with cold. The leader felt that Private snuggled up to him and sighed. He didn´t want to admit how bad he felt for the little guy. He was sick and injured and no one cared about him, he still couldn´t imagine how all this could have happened. Private had to fight for survival all alone in this city of darkness, without a friend at his side. But now the leader hoped finally to get answers to his questions.
"So Private, can you please tell me now what is really going on here. Where is everybody? What happened and what is this darkness in which we find ourselves. And who are all these creatures creeping around here? " Skipper asked softly. Private sighed, because it was very difficult to talk about it. "Skipper, it's a very long story that is so incredible that I would consider it even for a joke, if I had not even seen by my very own eyes. And believe me, I would rather die than to witness it all again." Private replied.
"This is something you shouldn´t even think about, and now please tell me everything you know. From the very beginning. I finally wanna know what's going on." Skipper replied curiously. "Well, well ..." Private started and prepared to live through all the pain he has suffered since a small eternity again. But at least he was no longer alone and with Skipper around him he got new strengh. "So ,..." Private started again and was about to tell his leader a story so horrorfing that made the worst horrormovie look like a junior´s TV show...