Manfredi and Johnson.

Chapter 24 – Keep holding on.

…

"Johnson!"

Suddenly, it was as if time stopped.

Skipper's expression was one of pure shock as he looked at the one eyed penguin. Even O'Hara seemed shocked, as if he couldn't believe what he had done. As if he hadn't planned all of this.

Manfredi was the only one who moved. He jumped up and ran to his old friend and kneeled next to him.

"Johnson?"

Johnson's belly and chest were covered with blood. It slowly began to drip on the floor, covering the dirt that was left of Rebecca's blood, who had died on that very spot.

The one eyed penguin coughed. Blood came out of his beak as he did that.

Manfredi shook his head. "No…" he said, his eyes wide with shock. "Johnson…. Why did you do that?"

Johnson opened his single eye and looked at his young friend.

"Manfredi."

His voice was weak and croaky. As he spoke, more blood came out of his throat. His breathing was hoarse. There was blood in his lungs.

Tears filled Manfredi's eyes.

"Manfredi…" Johnson had difficulty speaking. As more blood covered the floor, his life was slowly flowing away. "Get out of here."

"What?" Manfredi said.

"Please, Manfredi…" Johnson whispered. "Go. Make sure you're safe."

"No!" Manfredi cried out. "I won't leave you!"

"I want you to be safe, Manfredi," Johnson said, his voice weak. "I swore I would keep you safe. No matter if it would kill me. Please, leave this place."

"How do you expect me to go on like this, Johnson?" Manfredi cried out. He looked at the blood that covered the floor. "This is all my fault." He sobbed.

Johnson grabbed his flipper. "No!" he said. His hoarse voice sounded louder now. "I won't allow you to think like that. Don't become like me, Manfredi. Please… please… keep holding on. You'll be allright."

But Manfredi shook his head wildly. "No!" he said. "No, I won't be alright. You can't die, Johnson, I need you. You're my best friend. You're like a brother to me."

Johnson coughed again. Blood was slowly filling up his lungs with every breath he took. He couldn't hold on much longer. He had to let go eventually. He had to stop struggling to stay alive.

"Manfredi, listen to me," he whispered. "I'm giving up my life to safe yours. This is my choice. You deserve to live, far more than I. Manfredi, brother… promise me you'll stay alive. That's all I'm asking."

Manfredi swallowed a lump in his throat. His eyes were wet with tears. He held Johnson's flipper tightly. Slowly he nodded.

"Y-yes, Johnson," he stuttered. "I'll stay alive."

Johnson smiled weakly. Then he turned his head and looked up at the ceiling. There was the pipe O'Hara had been standing on when he shot Rebecca.

This was the place. At this very spot where he was now waiting for death to come for him, his beloved Rebecca had done that same thing. Only she hadn't lived long enough to say goodbye.

He wanted to take one more breath, but thick, red blood blocked his lungs.

"Re… Reb…" he stammered.

"What?" Manfredi said. "What is it, Johnson?"

But he saw that Johnson wasn't talking to him. The one eyed penguin was looking up at the ceiling, seeing something that the others couldn't see. And for a moment, Manfredi saw happiness in his green eye.

"Rebecca…" he whispered so softly that Manfredi almost couldn't hear it.

"Johnson?" Manfredi said. He shook is head. "No…"

Johnson's eye closed slowly. He stopped moving. Manfredi could feel power flowing out of the flipper that he was holding.

The whole room was silent. They all looked at Manfredi and Johnson, forgetting to fight.

Kowalski was the first one to move. He carefully walked up to the two penguins, and kneeled next to Johnson. He checked the one eyed penguin's pulse. Then he shook his head.

"He's gone." He whispered.

Manfredi started sobbing.

Zoey's eyes were wide with shock. "Oh…" she said. She covered her mouth with both her hands, slowly shaking her head.

Skipper looked down at the ground sadly. Even his eyes were filled with tears.

There was a long, painful silence in the room. Even O'Hara and his henchmen didn't say a word.

Manfredi held Johnson's flipper tightly, afraid to let go. He didn't dare to open his eyes. He was afraid he would feel more hurt if he saw Johnson's face now.

He was dead. His good friend Johnson, who he had always looked up to, who had been like a big brother to him, who had always protected him. He was gone forever.

And… it was all O'Hara's fault.

Manfredi looked up. There was an anger in his eyes that had never been seen before. He finally let go of Johnson's flipper. It fell next to Johnson's limp body, right in the one eyed penguin's blood, that had finally stopped flowing out of his body as his heart had stopped beating.

Manfredi stood up. The expression on his face never changed. All he could think of was Johnson's death. And who had been the one to shoot that gun? Who was responsible for Johnson's death? Manfredi now knew it wasn't him. And it wasn't Johnson himself. It was O'Hara.

O'Hara had destroyed Johnson's life on purpose. Just for fun. And now he had killed him.

But did he really think he would get away with it? The thought of that almost made Manfredi laugh.

Oh no. O'Hara wouldn't escape. Not this time. Manfredi would make sure of that.

Skipper finally looked up, as if he could feel something was wrong.

And as he looked up, he could see Manfredi had stood up with a hateful expression on his face. The young penguin was walking across the room, in the direction of O'Hara.

Skipper suddenly knew something bad was going to happen.

"Manfredi…" he said.

Kowalski now looked up too, and saw the same thing as Skipper did. And he too had a bad feeling about this. But still he didn't move. He didn't stand up to stop Manfredi.

"Manfredi?"

As Manfredi walked, he picked up a knife that someone had dropped on the ground. It was probably Rico's. The knife was almost big enough to be a sword for Manfredi.

"Manfredi!"

Skipper's voice echoed through the room. Everyone looked up, but nobody moved as they watched what happened.

O'Hara looked up too. His eyes grew wide with shock. Manfredi ran and jumped, swinging the knife high in the air. O'Hara never moved. He just stood there. As if he was petrified. His eyes filled with shock, he looked at Manfredi jumping towards him.

Ten, there was a flash of steel. The horrible sound of something cutting through flesh. Spatters of blood.

O'Hara's head rolled over the ground.