Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters, but I do own Alex the penguin and a lot more characters who appear in this story.

Alex continued her journey, losing track of how many days it's been since she left the zoo. All she does now is walk and walk and walk some more. She's gotten in the habit of taking breaks when the sun was high above her head and after a few more hours of traveling that day, she finally finds somewhere to sleep for the night.

For a very long time now, she's been sticking close to a road that seemed to go on forever. Every few days, she'd seen the word exit on multiple signs whenever a road would branch off the main one. But for the most part there's nothing but trees and the endless road and cars speeding past her.

She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to keep this up. She was starting out each day later and later, so exhausted from all the walking that sometimes it's well past noon before she finally got moving.

And she went two or three days, at least, without eating, but to her luck, she was able to find plenty of puddles around to quench her thirst because it has rained several times since she left the store.

Every time she spotted an exit, she'd leave the main road to explore the area beyond it, for some food. The first time she did this, she was hesitant about leaving the road, afraid she'd never find her way back. But hunger encouraged her and she was glad she took the detour because the scent of food led her to a garbage can filled with discarded scraps.

It wasn't her proudest moment, but she was so hungry that she found herself not caring that she was eating trash. Now every time an exit would open up, she'd go find something to eat. A few times she's ran into other animals, a couple of rats, a lone possum here and there, or a pair of racoons. They were all shocked to see a penguin, but they weren't really unfriendly and most seemed very eager to share a meal with her. They even wanted to hear about her travels, though most of it was now walking.

Finally, one day a huge sign loomed up in front of her and she recognized the word Georgia from the map Grace showed up and excitement ran through her. At last she felt like she was getting somewhere, but she knew she still had a very, very long way to go.

She got off on the next exit and looked around for a food place. While she was eating, two rats came up, approaching her slowly, seeming wary of her. She smiled and gave them a friendly gesture. She even pulled out a half-eaten hamburger and offered them some.

They flashed her a grateful look and devoured their share within a few bites. As she ate her piece, they asked her where she was going.

"New York," she answered, and they widened their eyes, surprised.

"That's a very long way from here," the biggest rat told her.

"I know," Alex replied. "But I have to find my father. He left my mother and I when I was just a baby."

"Why not hitch a ride in a car?" the smaller one suggested, surprising her. "It'll be faster than walking."

Alex stared at them. Why hadn't she thought about that? That would be a lot better than walking and exhausting myself.

Hope rising inside her, she thanked the rats and then went in search of a car heading toward New York. She stopped in front of a store and spotted a map hanging up. Craning her neck, she gazed over it, recognizing the states she still needed to go through to get to New York. She took a deep breath and she braced herself for the next stage of her journey.

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