Chapter 10: A New Home
When Private wakes up, stars cloud his vision and he has a terribly ferocious headache. He only assumes the worst has happened. That his nightmare he hoped had been only a dream is a reality. On the bright side, he doesn't think he's dead. He rubs the back of his head and sits up the best he can, working around his doughy belly. All is dark, and there are small holes in the wooden walls of his prison that allow a little light. Straw lines the floor and swishes around, making him itchy. As he searches for a way out he hears…voices? Private remains quiet to see if they are familiar, hoping that one of them is his mother.
"Kowalski! Analysis on this strange, intruding object!" barks a commanding voice.
There is a short tapping before another voice responds. "It appears to be a wooden crate, sir."
This must be "Kowalski". And apparently, Private is in a wooden crate.
"Kaboom?" asks a third voice.
"No, Rico. No kaboom…yet." Says the first voice. The way they imply "yet" scares Private. Are they going to blow him up? Would they do something so terrible? Private wants to burst out of the stuffy box, tell them that he is no threat, but fear forces him to stay. In fact, Private is unable to move. A statement from Kowalski saves him from the torturous ways of the other two voices.
"Skipper, sir, there is a possibility this crate is filled with fish!" Kowalski says, sounding overjoyed at the thought.
Mmm…fish. Private thinks of the salty tang and his stomach growls. His mouth waters as well, but his stomach is loud and most concerning.
"Gah!" Skipper's voice yelps. "It's growling! Kowalski, options!"
"Kaboom?" Rico asks more insistently, before Kowalski even has time to open his mouth.
"Yes, Rico. But only one stick of that T.N.T. got it?" Skipper orders.
Private panics and finally calls, "'Ello? Who's there?"
There is a pause, followed by a few murmurs of discontent. Finally, Skipper is loud and clear, telling the other two to crack the crate open. There is a ripping sound and the wall in front of him falls to the ground. The sudden light bouncing off the concrete ground blinds Private for a moment, until his eyes adjust. Private finds himself staring at three other penguins, each taller than him and with the same colored eyes. There is one, flat-headed, with a round belly, and only a few inches taller than Private, that talks first.
"Alright, you've got five seconds, spy! Who are you and who do you work for?" He demands.
He is Skipper, Private can tell by his voice. He tackles Private and they double over into the surrounding water. Private struggles to the surface with Skipper on his tail and drags himself ashore.
"I-I'm sorry, sir! I don't mean to intrude, nor do I know what you're saying!" Private defends.
Skipper scoffs and crosses his flippers, "A likely story for a spy."
Private doesn't rightly know what a "spy" is. He just knows that Skipper seems to think of them as some kind of enemy. A tall and skinny penguin taps on a clipboard with a pencil and then taps his chin as well. He writes something down and passes the clipboard to Skipper. Skipper grins, kind of menacingly, and looks up at Private. The whole time, another penguin of medium height with a scar on the left side of his beak and his feathers atop his head styled in a mohawk has been staring Private down and growling. He doesn't seem to talk, but if he did, he would probably be saying some nasty things. He mutters a couple things that are audible but not understandable.
"Stand down, Rico." Skipper says to the growling penguin. "We have another way to make this spy talk."
Private gulps. Somehow, this doesn't sound very friendly. Rico laughs, but in an evil way. Kowalski, apparently the one with the clipboard, is grinning as well. They push little Private down to the ground and slap him in the side of the neck. Everything goes fuzzy and fades black while Private's brain shuts down on him. His last thought is that he wished his mom was there. She would have protected me… he thinks.
Later, Private wakes up completely incapacitated. The others have tied his flippers and feet together, covered his mouth, and blindfolded him. Private's senses are useless, except for hearing and smell. He can tell that Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico stand before him and converse about what they're going to do. Private is not familiar with half of the names they call their forms of torture, but he's not sure that he likes them.
"I say we go with The Burning Dip." Skipper says.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Sssssssss…" Rico adds, impersonating a fryer.
Private quivers and whimpers. They couldn't do something so lethal as to fry me, could they?
"Um, Skipper, perhaps something less…opposing means?" Kowalski proposes. Private sighs in relief. At least one of them doesn't fancy his death. Well, at least not as much as the others.
"Kowalski! There are no 'un-opposing' ways of torture!" Skipper scolds Kowalski.
Kowalski cowers behind his clipboard and goes silent. There went Private's last defense. He's on his own now. Private makes a few muffled noises through the handkerchief to show that he is awake, and they look at each other.
"Rico, take the blindfold off and the hanky out of his mouth." Skipper ordered.
Rico did so, and Private could see and speak again. He is in a concrete room, where the door is on the far side of the room and many unknown machines that buzz surround him. Private stares ahead to the three penguins that think he is the enemy. He sits there, wondering when he'll be released. Or fried.
After a long staring contest, Skipper says, "So, you say you're not a spy, huh?" he rubs his chin and circles Private. He looks him over, like Private is some sort of gem, in silence. He even takes a poke at Private's belly. "Yeah, I don't think someone would send a kid to do a man's job."
Private ponders this for a moment. Well, I suppose I'm not technically an adult, but I know how to look after myself. Private contradicts in his head. He doesn't argue out loud because he knows that if he does, they'd probably shoot him on the spot. He holds his breath, waiting for a verdict.
"But," Skipper interjected, "Let's keep him under lockdown just in case."
Private looked at him in disbelief. Lockdown?
"B-but, Sir I…" Private begins to argue.
"No buts!" Skipper scolded.
Private snickered in spite of the rising tension. Skipper ordered Rico and Kowalski to untie him, but put him inside of a metal barred cage. Private stood on his feet and held the bars in his flippers. All of a sudden, there was a push on the container and he was being moved. He was pushed out the door and into a main room, where there were holes carved into the wall, a T.V. in the corner, a stereo, and a set of stairs leading up to a periscope. Private turns his head to the other side of the room. There is a concrete table, where Skipper sits with a mug that has a salmon occupying it. He takes a sip of what smells like coffee and sets it back on the table.
Kowalski and Rico pull up cement blocks as chairs and sit down too. Kowalski sketches on his clipboard and Rico busies himself with his doll's hair. Private sits down in the middle of the cage, with nothing to do but stare at the clock and study his surroundings. He looks at Skipper and decides to make small talk.
"Um…so, is this your home?"
Skipper stirs, but doesn't answer.
Private decides to try another question.
"Is that your telly ovah there?" he asks, pointing to the television.
Skipper glances over and nods. Private sits quietly for a moment, rocking back and forth on his back. He uncurls himself and leans back, propped up by the ends of his flippers. He taps his toes together awkwardly. He remembers that his favorite show is on. He blushes in embarrassment when the thought of his next inquiry.
"M-may I watch it?"
Skipper glared at him, and Private looked away.
"Er, um, n-nevah mind."
He falls silent for a while, until he falls asleep. Then, he snores.
The other three penguins tower over him, looking at the clock. It reads seven o' clock.
"Definitely a kid." Skipper says. "A man stays up 'til ten."
Kowalski finishes sketching on his clipboard and says, "Skipper, if I may make a suggestion," he starts, "perhaps our team could use and addition."
Skipper scoffs, "Addition? Kowalski, we can't just go around picking up orphans off the street!"
Kowalski isn't cowering this time and argues. "Skipper, need I remind you that Rico was one of those 'orphans'?" Kowalski reasons.
Skipper backpedalled and stood in shock. He remembered that Kowalski was right. Rico had come to them from a very hurtful past. He came at about age eighteen a couple years ago. His eyes were hurt and not trusting, and his scar on the left side of his beak was fresh. He wasn't able to speak, and if he could, he wasn't outgoing in the first place. Soon, he softened up though, and Skipper and Kowalski learned that he was just a big kid. Skipper accepted him because of his appetite for destruction and his specialty with weapons.
Now there was a similar decision at hand. Kowalski watched Skipper's eyes return to meet his. Skipper's gaze was cold, but Kowalski wouldn't give in. Kowalski was Skipper's best friend, more like brother, and he wasn't about to let his best friend make a foolish decision. Rico stepped in too, giving Skipper a death stare.
Skipper finally sighs in defeat, "Fine. We'll take him in."
Rico lets out a "Yay!" and Kowalski smiles.
"Rico, make a bed for the…private." Skipper orders and Rico walks over to the wall that has three slots in it, and up-chucks a stick of dynamite to toss into the air. When it explodes it creates another bunk where Rico throws up a pillow and a green blanket. He smiles at his accomplishment, puts his flippers on his hips and puffs out his chest.
"Good job." Skipper says, patting Rico on the head.
Private began to stir in the cage, and found Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico looming over him with creepy grins pasted across their beaks. Private's eyes widened in fear that they may have found out what torture they were going to use on him.
"'Ello, what's all this then?" Private asked, very frightened.
The other three penguins help him to his feet.
"We've decided to accept you onto our team." Kowalski explains.
"Team?"
"Yeah," Skipper says, "team. We're a cohesive penguin unit. Commando unit. Are you in or out?"
"Um…in?" Private says, more like a question because he wasn't sure how to answer.
"Great. What's your name?" Skipper asks like a quiz.
"P-Private." Private replies.
The other three step back.
"You're serious?" Skipper asks.
Private nods, unsure of why they were so surprised by his name. He never even thought twice about it. He supposed it was sort of unique.
"And you haven't had any military training before?" Kowalski follows up.
Private shakes his head. He had never met any military penguins that he knew of. The other three exchange glances, as if not sure if they are making the right decision, until Skipper breaks the awkward silence.
"Welcome to the team, Private. I guess your rank will be easy to remember. You're a private."
Later, the penguins have a big celebration to welcome their newest teammate. They had fish, smoothies and watched movies all night until they crashed. Private got to know his new friends, and they got to know him as well. Now, Private felt that he could leave the whole "Mr. Tux" thing behind him. But, he still thought of his mother, and wondered about her every day. Maybe they would cross paths again someday. For now, however, Private only dreamed of seeing his mother and Uncle Nigel again.
The End! How did you like the story? ^^ BTW, thanks for the reviews! It really keeps me motivated to write more whenever there are reviews! So, thank you for reading and please tell me what you think of the story! See ya! -Kittypig