For Halloween, I had to write about something. I came across a phenomenal and I mean amazing Youtube series known as Club Penguin Shutdown. While the characters of Club Penguin Shutdown aren't going to be in here, I still feel like I need to waddle on and have penguins in here.


The writer found Peter sitting alone in the cafe shop.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh. It's just that some time ago, I was in Nevada evading sound monsters."

"Sound monsters?"

"You know, monsters that hunt by sound. Their weakness is a high-pitched frequency. And a nuclear bomb."

"You're traumatized because of that?"

"No. I found survivors in Nevada. They were holed up in a barn and I promised to get them out of there."

"What happened?"

"Some cult leader told me that if blow up Nevada with a nuclear bomb, it would save everyone. She said that I made a wise decision when I followed her orders."

"Wise decision my ass." The writer said. "Peter, did you even try and save the family during all of this?"

"I had to follow her orders!" Peter yelled.

Everyone in the cafe shop stared at them.

"Whoops," Peter said to himself.


Peter trudged through the snow. He was freezing cold and needed to find shelter. The ruins of what looked like a city appeared on all sides of him.

"Hey, boss!"

Peter turned in the direction of the sound. Several penguins carrying guns aimed at him.

"Oh shoot." He muttered.

"I found a stray one!" One of the penguins said.

Peter saw an opening to run.

"Hey!"

BLAM! Peter was shot in the shoulder. Everything blacked out.


Peter awoke with his hands tied to find himself with 5 other penguins. Two yellow penguins, two blue penguins, and one orange penguin. The two yellow penguins were interrogating the prisoners.

BLAM! One of the blue penguins was shot in the head.

"Glory to the Blue Line! Glory to the Blue Line!" The remaining blue penguin shouted.

BLAM! The last blue penguin was shot. Peter was approached by the yellow penguin.

"A simple question." He said. "You will tell me how to get out of this hellhole. So talk, or take a bullet to the brain."

Suddenly, the orange penguin got up and stabbed one of the yellow penguins in the stomach. When the other yellow penguin turned around to see the noise, Peter quickly subdued him.

"Thanks," Peter said as the orange penguin cut his binds.

The orange penguin didn't say anything as he gave Peter the knife.

"For me?"

The orange penguin nodded.

"Can you speak? At all?"

The orange penguin pointed to his ear and signaled that he was deaf.

"Oh, I get it. But can you read lips?"

The penguin nodded. He then showed Peter an escape hatch.

"Just so that you know, I don't know any sign language," Peter whispered.


The two found themselves outside the holding cells of the other prisoners. The orange penguin signaled to Peter that he was going to the left. Peter went to the right and knocked out a guard. The two continued upstairs to find more multi-colored penguins being held by yellow penguins. After Peter knocked out all the guards, the orange penguin pulled a lever, freeing all the prisoners.

"Dane!" One small ball of puff said as she embraced him.

"Dane?" Peter asked.

While Dane did sign language, the Puffle translated.

"Yes, my name is Dane." She translated before switching perspectives. "I'm Swirls, his Puffle."

"Um, Peter?" The teen introduced. "Anyway, what's a Puffle?"

"They're pets for our penguins." Swirls translated. "But first, we need to get out of here before we can explain everything."

As the three made their escape, Peter found a marvelous discovery.

"Yes! Snow Gear!" He said, grabbing the parka and knit cap.

The three made their way outside to see the yellow penguins shooting at escaped prisoners.

"Okay, stay out of sight," Peter whispered.

The group snuck past guards, taking them out whenever they needed to until they were off the perimeter.


"Nice work, everyone," Peter said.

"We aren't far from home now." Swirls said.

"So what happened to this place? And who were those guys that attacked us?"

Swirls didn't answer Peter's questions. "We're here."

The group arrived at a hotel. Inside was a family of four penguins. One old male penguin who was blue, one middle-aged female purple penguin, and two young female pink penguins.

"Dane? Who's the new guy?" The youngest penguin asked.

"This is Peter. He's a very strange penguin." Swirls translated.

"Not a penguin," Peter said. "I'm a human being."

"What's that?"

The penguins behaved very similarly to humans now that Peter got a better look at them. They were also quite intelligent too. but this was no surprise to him.

"Someone who doesn't have flippers, just arms." He said, showing his arms.

"Fascinating." The older penguin said.

"Okay, now that everything's all cleared up? What happened to this place? And who were those guys that captured us?" Peter asked.

"Slow down, please." The middle-aged penguin said. "The penguins that attacked you are from Unit 631."

"Unit 631?"

"They were meant to help out survivors of Penguin Isle."

"So what happened to Penguin Isle?"

"We don't know. One day, everyone was doing their business just fine. Then, the bombs fell. Thousands of lives have been lost, and those that did survive became horrifically mutated and started attacking penguins. Unit 631 was called in to help. But, no help arrived for them. They became insane, started capturing other survivors and we don't know what happens to them next."

Dane could answer that.

"I know what they did to me. They threw me into an arena." Swirls translated.

"What's that?"

"For 2 minutes, you must avoid heavily mutated penguins."

"How were you able to survive? Aren't you deaf?"

"I developed some tactics to stay alive. That's how I was able to live even though I can't hear."

"So can I get your names?" Peter asked.

"Violet." The older of the two young penguins said.

"Clementine." The younger of the two penguins said.

"I'm their mother." The middle-aged penguin said. "My name is Lazuli."

"Kim." The old penguin said.

"Oh. If you're asking, I'm Peter."

Violet went over to the radio station in the hotel.

"We need batteries." She said.

"Please mom, let me go out with Violet and Dane," Clem asked.

"No, you're too young." Lazuli said.

"I'll go," Peter said.

"Before you go, take this," Kim said, giving Peter a handgun. "Who knows what might be out there."


The three arrived at a store that was picked clean.

"Figures," Peter said.

"Down!" Violet said.

The group got to cover. Peter peeked over the cover to see two green penguins beating up on a red penguin.

"Help! Somebody, please!" The red penguin wailed.

Peter quickly got up and shot one of the green penguins in the neck. The other green penguins ran for it. As Peter looted the corpse of the green penguin of its bullets, Dane and Violet helped the red penguin up.

"Thank you! Thank you!" He said.

The red penguin went on his way. The group continued to loot more stores for food, water, and batteries.


The group returned to the hotel carrying bags of supplies.

"Let's hope this lasts us for a while." Lazuli said.

Kim placed the batteries in the radio and called out for survivors.

"Hello, is anyone out there?" He called out.

"Hello?"

"Yes, there are seven of us trapped in here and we need to get out of here."

"Okay, we'll send you a helicopter first thing tomorrow morning. Can I get your coordinates?"

As Kim gave the coordinates, Peter noticed Lazuli letting out a dance in victory.

"Mom, that's so embarrassing!" Clem said. "You're doing it in front of the new guy!"


"I can't believe we're finally getting out of here," Violet said.

Suddenly, the group found themselves ambushed by Unit 631.

"So you're the one who broke our prisoners out." Their leader, a yellow penguin carrying a tuba said. "Kill him."

BLAM! Peter was shot in the stomach. As everyone was dragged away, Peter was shot again two more times.


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"poke him!"

"no, you poke him!"

Peter awoke.

"Ah! Zombie, run!"

Two young penguins ran for their lives. As Peter made his way out of the room, an older penguin called him out.

"Great, good job scaring the kids, lad." He said.

"Um, who are you? Where am I?"

"In paradise, can't you tell?"

Peter looked around and saw several blue penguins patrolling the building with guns.

"You're in the Blue Line, kid." A blue penguin said when he was asked.

He remembered the Blue Line. The penguin group he saw get killed by Unit 631.

"That's good and all, but I need to get back to the base of Unit 631," Peter said. "My friends are captured there."

"No! You aren't going there." A Blue Line soldier said.

Peter paused for a moment. "Really?"

"Not alone."


Dane awoke in a prison cell. Twelve other penguins had their backs and fronts spray-painted with numbers. As Dane was dragged to the front, he could only focus on one mouth at a time.

"Wait, this one already has a number!" One yellow penguin said.

"Welcome back, 61!" Unit 631 cheered.

Dane was escorted to the arena, he kept his head low as the other penguins headed out. An announcement came from the Tuba Penguin.

"We are ready to begin our daily game of keep away! Cast your food bets!"

The tuba penguin pressed the red button next to him. In front of Dane, a cargo container opened, revealing hostile mutant penguins.

"Run! Run!" One of the yellow penguins cheered.

Dane ran to the back of the arena, but he was shoved forward by a yellow penguin through a fence. As a mutant penguin jumped onto him, Dane wrestled it off before running away.

"Run faster! Run faster!"


"Okay, I see two guys," Peter said.

With a squad of three other Blue Line soldiers, Peter and one other Blue Line member took them out silently.

"Alright, move up." One soldier said.


30 seconds left. Dane shoved a green penguin into a mutant penguin's clutches.

BLAM!

A mutant penguin charging for him was shot by Peter. He and one other Blue Line soldier broke in the arena.

"Look! That bastard!" The Tuba Penguin pointed.

Peter shot all the mutant penguins attacking the contestants and Dane.

"You okay?" Peter asked as he helped Dane up.

Dane nodded.

"Get the guns! Get the guns!" One yellow penguin shouted.

The Blue Line soldier took out a smoke grenade and shot it, unleashing a cloud of white gas. The mutant penguins ran for the entrance.

"Let's go," Peter said.

As the mutant penguins swarmed Unit 631, the two other Blue Line soldiers met up with Dane and Peter.

"Dane!" Swirls cheered.

Lazuli, Kim, Violet, and Clem were also with them.

"Let's move!" Peter said.

With him leading the way, Peter shot through 631 troops and mutant penguins as the group made their way out. There were two cars outside. Peter and the Blue Line soldiers got in the first car, while Dane, Swirls, Kim, Lazuli, Violet, and Clem got in the other one.

"Remember, follow us!" Peter shouted. "You know how to drive?"

"Yes," Lazuli responded.

As the cars pulled off, the Tuba Penguin and his comrades got in their cars to chase them.


Gunfire came from the 631, as the group was being chased. Peter aimed at the tires to slow them down. One car crashed into a pile of debris.

"Turn on the lights." The Tuba Penguin said through the radio.

The lights on all of Unit 631's transportation lit up. The Blue Line and the group were marked for the mutant penguins.

"Hang on!" One Blue Line penguin shouted as he plowed through the mutants.

Peter turned and aimed his gun to shoot at the lights. The car closest to Lazuli's car had its light out.

"Use the fireworks." Lazuli said.

Kim held the fireworks while Dane lit it up. The former aimed it at the back of the car. The fireworks landed on the hood of the 631 car closest to them. The mutant penguins now charged for them.

"How many cars left?" The Blue Line soldier asked.

"There's one of them left!" Peter said.

"Let him get close to us."

"What the? They're slowing down?" Violet said, noticing exactly what Peter's car is doing.

As Unit 631's car caught up with Peter's, the gunner leaped from his seat and tried to stab Peter. Peter grabbed the knife off of him and shoved the penguin overboard. The driver of the last car tried to shove Peter's car into debris. The driver of Peter's car tried to counter it. Peter quickly took out his phone and aimed its flashlight feature on the driver, marking him to the mutants. The mutants finished the driver off.

"Oh man, thanks." The Blue Line driver said as he made his way in front of Lazuli's car.

Peter noticed another car approaching them at top speed.

"Look out!"


Peter regained consciousness. As he looked around, the other three Blue Line soldiers died in the crashed. Violet was held at gunpoint by the Tuba Penguin, and Dane, Lazuli, Clem, and Kim, were forced to surrender their guns. Peter quickly aimed his gun and shot the Tuba Penguin in the foot. The Tuba Penguin aimed at him, but Violet shoved him out of the way to take the bullet. Peter quickly aimed the gun and shot the Tuba Penguin in the head.

"Violet!" Swirls said as everyone ran to her side.

"Violet, don't die. Don't die." Lazuli said.

There was nothing anyone can do right now. Peter tried to apply pressure on the wound, but this was not enough. Violet held onto him.

"Don't... Don't... save me..."

"Violet..." Clementine said.

"I'm sorry... for bringing you... into this world..."

Violet's grasp on Peter's hand weakened. She slunk down on the ground. Peter checked her pulse. Nothing. Dane, Peter, and Kim hung their heads. Lazuli and Clem burst into tears. Silver buried herself into Dane as the latter comforted her.


Violet was buried in the snow. No words were said as the group was forced to carry on.

"Look!" Clem said.

A helicopter flew overhead of them, ready to pick them up. A blockade of cars prevented them from going further. The group was forced to travel on foot. However, Lazuli was dragging behind.

"Lazuli! Come on!" Peter shouted.

Peter noticed a gunshot wound on Lazuli's leg.

"Oh no..."

The penguin got inside the truck and repeatedly pressed the horn. Mutant penguins charged for her.

"Mom, no!" Clem shouted.

The helicopter landed, troops of varying sizes ran up to greet them.

"Mom's over there! We have to save her!" Clem shouted.

"We got to go, now!" A troop said.

"But Lazuli's in trouble!" Swirls said.

"She made a very wise decision! It was for the best!"

Peter thought back at his conversation with the writer in the cafe shop.

"Wise decision my ass," The writer's voice said in his mind. "Peter, did you even try?"

Peter went up to Clem.

"Hang on. I'll go get your mother."

Peter shot at the mutant penguins surrounding Lazuli. The mutants then charged for him. Peter shot a car, which triggered the alarm. Lazuli limped her way to the helicopter while Peter covered her. As the limping penguin got on board, Peter took one last glance at the isle. He then boarded the helicopter along with the others.


"Don't worry." A soldier said to Swirls looking over an unconscious Lazuli. "She'll be fine. In a few moments, a whole new world will open up to you."

Swirls looked up. "The world I knew was never this way."

Peter looked out the window. He was safe, but at what cost? The helicopter flew the group out of the desolate and mutant-ridden peninsula.