Marty rolled over in his sleep. His legs twitched. He rolled over again. His nostrils quivered and his ears flattened against his head.

The smell. It is inescapable. Where's Alex? I can't get out! Concrete…humans…bit the hand. What hand? I didn't bite anybody's hand! Alex! Where are you? I'm sorry, Alex! I'm sorry I messed up your life so bad! Come back! No, help! Alex! Alex, the people…they're coming! They're coming for me…to take me away! Don't let them take me away from you again! Alex! Allleeeex!

"Ahhh!" Marty jolted awake.

"Ahhh!" screamed a gardener, dropping his hedge shears.

"Marty! Are you alright?" Alex's head popped out of his doorway. He saw Marty lying in the grass, shaking.

"Ahhhhhhh!" the gardener saw Alex and screamed again. He turned and fled as fast as his legs would take him.

"What was that all about?" Cora walked over.

In a flash, Alex was at Marty's side, "Are you okay, buddy? What did he do to you?" Alex glared at the quickly departing gardener.

Marty coughed embarrassedly, "Nothing, It was just another stupid nightmare. That's all."

"Are you sure?" Alex stared into Marty's aqua-green eyes.

"Positive." Marty nodded, getting to his shaky feet.

Gloria gasped from beside her empty pool, "Marty, you're shaking like crazy! What happened?"

"Oh, no!" Melman cried, "what if it's Parkinson's disease?"

"Melman, you're not helping!" Gloria scolded.

Marty looked as though he wished he'd stayed asleep. "It's nothing, come on, just forget it."

"You're having nightmares again?" Alex asked Marty.

The zebra sighed, "Yeah…but I can handle it, guys." Then Marty looked at Alex and tried to hide a smile, "Uh, did you sleep in your clothes again, Alex?"

Alex looked down. He was still wearing the suspenders! He looked at Marty. "Speak for yourself, Popeye the Sailor Zebra!" he teased.

Marty grinned like himself again, "I call it the 'Sea biscuit' look!" He modeled his sailor clothes.

Cora joined him. "Look! I'm a sea-horse!"

"And Gloria's a mermaid!" Melman added. Gloria smiled appreciatively and struck a mermaid pose.

All of the excitement of the past few days, coupled with the relief to be back home flooded out of the animals as they danced around the zoo yard. Alex shook his head; they were all being very silly!

"What is going on here? Why are there numerous quadruped animals here?" a voice chattered from a tree. Another voice answered, "That is a zoo! That is where the humans observe captured animals!"

"I am aware of that, Gwendolyn, but all the animals went to France or Brazil or someplace, did they not?"

"Africa."

"That is the one! And why are they wearing various sundry garments?"

Alex, Cora, Gloria, Melman, and Marty all looked up into one of the trees in Central Park. Alex groaned inwardly.

Squirrels.

One squirrel was plump and short. The other squirrel was thin and…short. They stared down at the animals from their lofty tree branch.

"They have discovered us! Shall we allow them to be honored by our continued presence?" the thin squirrel asked.

"Don't bother." Alex muttered.

The plump squirrel turned to her companion, "I believe they would fail to appreciate the numerous intricacies of our elite conversation."

Marty frowned indignantly at the squirrels, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh!" the thin squirrel fell dramatically into the plump squirrel's arms, "The ignorance! I can't stand it! Conversing with the ground walkers!"

The plump squirrel patted the thin squirrel, "It is okay, Robert. It's not their fault that nature never allowed them to evolve to our physical and intellectual capabilities."

"Why do you always force me to go through this, Gwendolyn?" the thin squirrel, Robert, moaned, holding his head, "They are so…" he looked down, "beneath us!"

Gwendolyn glared at Robert, "Do you honestly wish every single creature in this city to think we are uppity? Remember the instance with the pigeon?"

Robert groaned, "At least pigeons have the decency to leave the ground once in a while." The squirrel glanced pointedly at the five animals standing in the zoo beneath him.

"We don't have to take this!" Alex said irritably. He turned around, "Let's go, Marty. Why are we listening to them, anyway? Squirrels are notoriously lousy welcomers."

Robert watched in horror as the animals turned around, "How awful! What pathetic tails!" he wailed. He twitched his own long, full, bushy tail, the envy of all the squirrels on the East Side.

Cora swished her full tail, "Who were those rude animals?"

"Squirrels." Alex sighed, "They think they own New York. Between them and pigeons, it can be hard to get any peace."

Cora glanced back at the tree, "Seemed kind of prone to hysterics."

Melman shook his head, "Neurosis is the number one cause of a short life span among animals."

Alex, Gloria, Marty, and Cora all stared at Melman.

"What?" Melman asked, "It is."

Suddenly, the moans from the tree went quiet.

A smell got stronger.

Marty's legs tensed.

Alex grinned in spite of his thoughts about squirrels, "The people, Marty! The people are coming!" Alex said happily.

Marty forced a smile while at the same time trying to make his legs hold still. This "flight instinct" stuff really stinks! He thought, barely able to keep it in check.

Alex was too focused on the figure headed toward the entrance gate to notice Marty's struggle, "Here they come! Places, everyone!"

Each animal went to their respective enclosure. Cora climbed over Marty's fence to join him in his pen.

The animals stood expectantly in their cages.

Alex fidgeted in anticipation.

Cora stood next to Marty.

Melman tried to look as sick as possible.

Gloria sat on the ground next to her empty pool.

A man opened the gate and two other men followed him inside. Alex could hear bits of their conversation floating to him on the soft, smoggy breeze.

"So we'll work…reptile house…today." One man was saying.

"Good…but can…tear down…old lion stage…build new zoo theater?" another man asked.

Alex gulped.

"No…boss said…reptile house today." The third man replied.

Alex sighed, relieved.

The men talked as they walked to the old reptile house, "Hey, look at that! I think the zoo had a visitor last night!" one man pointed to Cora's bed in the garden. There was a Cora-sized flat spot in the flowers.

"Ahhh!" One man looked up and happened to see Melman, neck hanging over, tongue hanging out, standing crookedly in his pasture. Alex almost laughed at Melman's ridiculous pose. He obviously wants some attention! Alex thought.

"It's a…an animal!" the man continued crying.

"AhhhhhH!" the second man screamed even louder than the first.

Marty accidentally bumped into Cora, "Sorry!" he whispered, unable to keep from tensing up. Cora glanced worriedly at the zebra. He looked as though he might bolt at any second.

The third man hissed to the second man, "Get the phone. Call the manager, and get a guard in here!"

The second man nodded and dashed to the office.

"There's a giraffe here, but how?" the first man scratched his head.

Alex stopped smiling and posing from his pedestal. These were not the right kind of people, and he doubted very much that they had any steak to give him. Steak. Steak! I'm really getting hungry! This isn't good…

Alex could feel his body complaining about his lack of sustenance. For a brief instant, he saw two unconcerned steaks working on the reptile house. He blinked. No! Not now! He stared as they resolved themselves back into humans. But Alex knew it wasn't over.

The lion jumped down and ran into his house, hoping against hope that his hunger would wear off. Not again! He thought desperately. He sat alone for a few minutes, trying to clear his mind of the awful Marty-chase on Madagascar only two weeks previous. What really terrifies me…is that it is starting to sound good again! Alex fought his hunger down. But it suddenly intensified.

He caught the scent of all kinds of prey waiting just outside his brick house. The lion's heart sank. His friends were worried about him. Go away! Please! Run far, far away! Alex wished as hard as he could.

"Alex?" Gloria's voice asked, "What's wrong, honey?"

Alex sighed. She might smell like dinner, but at least she didn't sound like it, "What's wrong? I'm hungry, that's what's wrong!"

Melman's concerned voice asked, "Oh, Alex, you mean…?"

Alex replied, "Yeah. So I'm not coming out. Ever. Bar the door, tranquilize me to kingdom come, do what it takes!" Alex pleaded, "And then get out of here before something bad happens that I can't control! Go back to Madagascar, go somewhere…far from me."

"Alex," Marty's voice came drifting into Alex's house like a two-week-old memory, "I'm not going back without you. It wouldn't be home."

It was all Alex could do to keep from crying. Why does our friendship have to be like this? "I don't want to hurt you!" Alex yelled, "Don't you understand? I couldn't live with myself if…if…" He trailed off, unable to finish the gruesome thought.

Marty's voice sounded determined, "Stay right here, Al. We'll come up with something to help you."

The lion sighed at his best friend's voice, "I doubt you can. This…curse will probably be with me for the rest of my life."

Alex could imagine Marty's face as the zebra replied, "Don't worry. If there's a way to fix this mess, I'm going to find it! I promise!"

"I hope you do." Alex sighed unhopefully, "You have no idea how much I hope it."

"Right back at you!" Marty said, "But I think I have a plan…"

Marty eyed the vine-covered brick wall. On the other side lay Central Park. The zebra glanced across the zoo at Melman.

"Hey, Melman! Come over here!" he called.

The giraffe ambled over, "What is it, Marty?"

Marty put up his hooves, "Wait right there, okay?" He went to Cora, who was standing by Alex's cage. "I'm gonna need your help, you up to it?"

Cora shrugged, "So far I've hijacked a boat, overthrown poachers, snuck through the busiest place on the planet, and broken into a zoo. What's next?" She grinned at Marty, "I'm in!"

"Great!" Marty said, "Okay, guys huddle."

Cora, Gloria, Melman, and Marty stuck their heads together in a circle. They talked quietly among themselves.

"What?" Melman cried, "I don't like this idea…what happens if something goes wrong?"

"It's not foolproof, but it's all we have." Marty admitted.

Melman shook his head, "It's a big risk..."

"Do you have a better idea?" Gloria asked.

"No." Melman sighed, "I don't."

"Then let's do it!" Marty said enthusiastically.

Cora glanced toward Alex's house, "The longer we wait, the worse it'll get."

"Right." Melman relented, "Let's get it over with."

The giraffe put his head out over the wall. Marty and Cora slid down his neck to the ground.

"All right." Marty said, "Now where do we go?"

Melman stood up as tall as he could and scanned the park. He nodded and replied to the equines, "Go down that path, take a left, then take the second right. Keep going until you reach the pond."

"Thanks Melman!" Marty and Cora dashed down the trail.

"Good luck!" Gloria and Melman called to them.

Marty ran with Cora at his side. As he ran, he forgot he was in Central Park. He forgot he was in New York City. He was suddenly thousands of miles away, running through the jungles of Madagascar towards a blue pond in a pristine clearing.

"Marty?"

Marty snapped back to Central Park in time to see the pond rushing toward him.

"Ahhh!"

Unable to stop, he skidded into the pond, splashing ice cold, dirty water all over himself.

Surprised, cold, and embarrassed, Marty jumped out and shook himself to try to get dry. Because of the clothes he still wore, only his face and mane dried out. "Man, there is nothing like a little cold water in the morning to wake a person up!" he said to Cora.

Normally, she would have giggled, but she was in "mission mode". Cora blinked, "Marty, we've got a job to do."

"So let's get to it!" Marty joined her on the sidewalk. He scanned the area around the pond. "There's one!" he pointed to a stand selling hot dogs and warm drinks to the die-hard Central Parkers. Strings of sausages hung from the canopy of the stand. The steam rising from a cup of coffee looked very appealing.

Marty realized that the combination of being wet and being in Central Park in the dead of winter was making the zebra cold.

Cora scrutinized the stand, "How are we going to pull this off? We don't have any money, and even if we did, we don't speak human!"

Marty looked thoughtfully at the bushes behind the stand. He glanced at Cora, "I think it's time we pulled out some penguin moves!"

"Penguin moves?" Cora frowned.

"Come on!" Marty grabbed Cora's hoof and pulled her into the bushes next to the path.

They snuck along the bushes until they were directly behind the stand. Marty and Cora peeked out of the bushes.

A jogger jogged up to the stand, "I'd like a hot dog and some cocoa." The jogger said.

"Hot dog for breakfast?" Cora asked Marty, "New York is a strange place!"

"That's nothing!" Marty whispered, "you don't want to know what they eat for dinner!"

"Coming right up," the man running the stand said cheerfully. He opened a drawer in his stand and took out a hot dog bun. He knocked a mustard bottle to the ground, then bent to retrieve it, "What would you like with that, sir?"

"Now!" Marty hissed. He and Cora burst out of the bushes. They each grabbed a string of sausages and ran.

"Hey!" yelled the man at the stand, no longer cheerful.

"Run as fast as you can!" Marty yelled to Cora as they dashed back toward the zoo. They soon left the out-of-shape stand man in their dust.

Cora grasped the slippery sausages with her front hooves as she ran on two legs, "I'm not used to running like this!" she puffed.

Marty nodded, "This is how you run in New York!"

The zoo wall loomed ahead.

Marty and Cora skidded to a halt in front of it.

"Melman! We're ready!" Marty called, more than ready to get rid of the meat he was holding.

There was no response from the inside of the zoo.

Marty's senses went on alert, "Melman?"

Something was wrong.

Cora's ears pricked, "I hear something!"

Marty listened. There was some odd commotion that could barely be discerned over the normal city commotion.

"it's coming from that way!" Marty gestured with his head.

The two followed the wall until they were just around the corner from the zoo entrance. They peeked past the corner.

Quite a scene met their eyes.

Melman and Gloria were sitting in two large iron cages, no longer wearing their disguises. News cameras and reporters flocked around. Tourists and New Yorkers alike were gathering at the zoo in Central Park East. More arrived every minute. The New York City Mounted Police had been called in and were trying to perform crowd control. Zookeepers stood near the cages, attempting to keep people away from the animals.

"Oh no!" Marty gasped, "What are they doing? Where's Alex?" Remembering what happened last time Alex had been confronted by people, Marty gulped. He tried not to think about it. Alex is okay, he has to be. He's probably in his house; he said he wasn't coming out.

"I'll bet Alex is still in his house." Cora said, echoing Marty's thoughts, "Somehow we've got to get these to him!" She held up the sausages and shuddered at the smell.

The smell of the meat was getting to Marty as well. Strange, steak never affected me this way in all the years I lived at the zoo. But I guess it was because I didn't know what it was made of. "Right, let's go take these to him!"

"Wait!" Cora cried, "We can't just waltz in carrying a bunch of sausages!"

Marty took his awful smelling string and tossed it around his neck like a scarf, "Why not? That person over there is doing it." Marty pointed to a young lady wearing a reddish-brown scarf made from chenille yarn. It was lumpy, resembling sausages.

Cora sighed, "This is so gross." She tied the sausages neatly around her neck. They smelled like things that Cora didn't want to remember.

"Okay, now we're ready!" Marty announced.

"If nothing else, we'll confuse them." Cora added.

The two linked front legs and strolled into the crowd, blending in. None of the people in the crowd seemed to notice a couple of very hairy and strangely-dressed individuals making their way to the front of the crowd.

Halfway to the front, Cora stopped. She shut her eyes and frantically unwound her sausages, "Marty, I can't…the memories…the awful memories…"

Marty nodded, "No problem, I'll take them." They bothered him, but Marty got the feeling they bothered Cora more. He added Cora's string to his own. They continued on.

Finally, they broke through to the front.

"When I say 'Go!', run for the entrance gate!" Marty instructed.

"Yes, sir!" Cora smiled.

Marty watched.

The policemen moved, leaving an open path between Marty and the gate.

"GO!" Marty bolted for the gate, followed closely by Cora.

"What? What was that?" the policemen said as Marty and Cora dashed toward the zoo gate.

"Catch them!" one policeman yelled.

Marty looked back to see a mounted policeman riding hard after them. In his head, he heard the policeman saying, "Bit the hand! Bit the hand!" Marty shook his head, "No I didn't!" He ran faster, not noticing Cora falling back.

The mounted policeman caught up with Cora and passed her, pulling his horse in front of her and forcing her to stop. Other policemen arrived and surrounded her.

Marty looked back again when he reached the gate. He saw what was happening. "Cora!" he yelled.

Cora called back, "I'll be okay, Marty! Get that food to Alex! It's our only chance!" She was visible in the circle of policemen for an instant. Marty's sea-green eyes met Cora's blue ones. In that brief instant, Cora conveyed to Marty what choice she wanted him to make. The zebra nodded sadly and hurried into the zoo to find his best friend.

Alex was asleep in his brick house, dreaming of steak. He had heard the men when they'd come to take Gloria and Melman away. But he had not allowed himself to leave his house to help them. It was too dangerous; for them, for the men, for him.

The lion awoke to a delicious smell.

"Alex?"

Oh, no! It's Marty! "Marty?" Alex croaked.

"Yeah! I'm back, Al!" Marty said to the darkness of Alex's house.

Alex's claws sprang out. Marty smelled even more delicious than he had earlier. Alex groaned, "Go away, Marty! Please!" the lion pleaded. He didn't know how much longer he could control himself.

"I've got something that will help you! At least until we can fix whatever it is that is making you this way…" Marty said.

Alex covered his face with his huge clawed paws, "It's too late, Marty."

"No it isn't, Alex."

Something long and skinny, like a rope, dropped into Alex's doorway. It smelled like meat.

"Marty?" Alex asked questioningly as his mouth watered.

"Go for it. It's for you." Marty dropped the rest of the sausages and backed away from the brick building.

"Where are you?" Alex asked. He didn't want to accidentally harm his friend.

"I'm out of the way." Marty reassured the lion.

Alex's muscles bunched. His hunger had no reason to wait any longer. The lion's eyes narrowed dangerously. His nostrils twitched as all of his senses focused on the string of cylindrical objects. All of the pent-up energy released as the big cat pounced on the sausages. Alex grabbed them in his jaws, piercing and slicing them and gulping them down. Gradually, the hunger in his stomach subsided, and the savage voice in his head faded away.

The lion sat back with a satisfied sigh.

"How's it going in there?" Marty asked.

Alex answered, "Great, Marty! Juuust great." He smiled, "Thanks so much!" The lion was enjoying the feeling of a full stomach.

"So, you're okay now?" Marty asked hopefully.

"Yep, for now." Alex replied.

"Okay, then! Let's go save Glo, Melman, and Cora!" Marty exclaimed.

Alex sat up, "Cora's in trouble? What's happening?"

"They all got captured by the people! We've got to help them, come on!" Marty's voice cried from outside.

"No." Alex said in a small voice, "I can't. I'm not leaving this building."

"What?" Marty was flabbergasted. He hadn't gone to all the trouble of getting the sausages just to have Alex spend the rest of his life sitting alone in a brick cave! Marty sighed.

"Fine." Marty said, appearing in Alex's doorway. "If you won't come out, neither will I." The zebra walked into the lion's den.

"What are you doing!" Alex yelled, "Get out of here!" he tried to push Marty out, "It's too dangerous in here for you! What if I get hungry again?"

Alex realized to his horror that his claws were still out. They had made holes in Marty's leather jacket.

"Aggh!" Alex backed away from Marty and sheathed his claws.

Marty was undeterred, "You will get hungry again. But I can't avoid you just for that! I can't live constantly afraid of you, but I can't not be around you! And you have got to stop worrying about me!"

Alex closed his eyes and swallowed, "But you're not safe…"

"No one's safe a hundred percent of the time!" Marty exclaimed, "Not me, not you, not anyone! But if we're always worried about everything, we'd be acting like a bunch of Melmans!"

"I see your point." Alex said, imagining a world full of Melmans. The lion shook his head, it wasn't a pretty picture. "But you would be safer if it weren't for me."

"And a whole lot lonelier." Marty added.

"You've got Cora." Alex pointed out darkly.

Marty crossed his hooves, "That's not the same, and you know it!" Marty looked upset, "You and I've been best friends for years, Alex! I can't even remember a time when I didn't know you!"

Alex sat in a corner, far from Marty. He stared at the floor, "Well, that time is over, now. We're too different." Alex wiped his nose, trying to cover a tear that slid down his face.

But Marty noticed.

"Al, I'm not going to let you give up." Marty said softly, "But right now, someone's got to help the others."

Then the zebra left.

Alex sighed. Why does it have to be this way? Why did I have to be born a predator, and Marty to be born a prey animal? If only he was a lion, or I was a zebra, we could be friends forever! Poor Marty. He doesn't understand how hard it is for me when I get hungry…or does he? With a start, Alex realized something. Ever since they'd gotten to New York, Marty had looked as though he was ready to run away. When things had gotten tense, he'd started shaking. I wonder if Marty's dealing with these "natural instincts" as well? Alex stared at the empty doorway. The light of early afternoon shone just outside, while Alex sat alone in the darkness.

Marty's out there, doing who-knows-what, trying to help the others in spite of everything else. Alex realized. His instincts tell him to run away from me and the people. But he ignores those instincts because some things are more important. Like our friendship.

Like Gloria, Melman, and Cora.

Light filled Alex's blue eyes with courage, "If Marty can do it, so can I !" The lion jumped to his feet and strode purposefully to the exit. He poked his head out and looked around. No sign of Marty or the people.

Alex bounded to the gate. He pushed it open, despite its being locked. The lion looked right, then left. Alex thought he caught a glimpse of something small and striped disappearing in the distance up the sidewalk.

"Marty!" Alex yelled, but the zebra couldn't hear him.

"Looking for someone, Psychotic Lion?" an overconfident voice asked from the ground. Alex looked down.

There stood the penguins, loaded with shopping bags.

"I'm looking for my friends, they were kidnapped by the people. Then Marty ran off to help…"Alex was interrupted.

"Save it, Kitty. We saw the whole thing" Skipper said slyly, "Better yet, we heard the whole thing. We know where the people are taking them."

Alex nearly grabbed the penguin, "Where?"

Skipper pointed, "The Bronx Zoo!"

"Thanks!" Alex said, and started running off the way Skipper had pointed.

"Halt!" Skipper ordered.

Alex reluctantly stopped, "What?"

"You don't know where the zoo is!" Skipper pointed out. The other penguins nodded.

Alex smelled something…odd. He sniffed harder. The lion could smell the scent of animals that had just passed by in that direction! "I'll figure it out." Alex said, puzzled by his new ability.

Skipper continued, "Wait! You'll need our help once you get there, to free your companions, then to make your escape!"

Alex hesitated for half a second, "Okay, whatever, but let's hurry!" He and the bag-lugging penguins ran for two blocks before Alex stopped again.

"Wait a minute! The subway would be faster!" Alex cried. He looked around, "There's a subway station on 68th street! I saw it on a map in the last subway I was in! I'll bet it would get us to the zoo!" Alex scanned for street signs. To his delight, 68th Street was right across 5th Avenue! To his despair, there were about fifty cars driving between him and his objective.

"Not a problem." Skipper said. He reached into a bag and pulled out a bunch of brightly-colored umbrellas. "People won't hit anything with their cars if they can help it." The penguin reasoned. He distributed the umbrellas amongst the group. "Skipper, may I have a yellow one?" Private asked. Skipper sighed and handed him the yellow one.

Alex took his two umbrellas from Skipper. He wasn't going to ask where and why the resourceful penguins had gotten them.

Six umbrellas opened, startling several drivers on 5th Avenue. They were further astonished to see a figure holding two umbrellas being followed by four more umbrellas. The four on the ground appeared to be walking by themselves, and dragging shopping bags! The group of umbrellas reached the other side, and life in Central Park East resumed normality. At least, as normal as it usually was.

Alex closed his umbrellas and handed them back to Skipper. He spotted the subway station and headed for it.

Once again, Alex was on a mission to find Marty.