A/N: I love this series so far! I managed to plan the most of the story to really go past at least 20 chapters! With that said, this is in the POV of a new character whom will be important to Allard's journey. I'll explain the last part of last chapter two chapters from now. So, enjoy this chapter and finally, next chapter will be the famous penguins!

Chapter 2:

Taken Away

I never felt this scared in my life.

Usually I get this feeling when I do things I'm not used to or if everyone is watching me. But now, I was so scared that I was actually shaking. Also not usual, because I was used to the extreme cold of Antarctica, but when I'm this terrified, I always feel like I lost all my feathers.

This time, I was scared of death. I was scared of being taken away from my parents and never being able to see them again. The thought of it made me sick, it made me realise that the world is a cruel place. I never wanted it to happen.

Ever.

It all started this very morning. Everything was going normally, just like any normal day we had. Who knew that even on a day like this, evil can still hide undetected. Us penguins did what we usually do; the younger ones would stay at home with their dads while our moms would go fishing. My mom was a great fisher; the best actually.

Then, they came.

We didn't it expect at all. It just came so suddenly, like a flash of light in the darkness. We were overwhelmed, outnumbered and unprepared. It was like the stories we were told, the ones about how these humans would take us far away from here, never to be seen again. We passed them off as urban legends or myths, because we never actually saw them.

I always wondered why there were so many penguins on guard. They always tell me that they were defending against leopard seals or antarctic wolves, never these hunters. But now, we couldn't handle them. We had to flee, just like in the stories.

So here I was now, running as fast as I could with my parents, away from our village that now comparable to hell. We needed to get as far as we could, but we knew that there we hunters following us, ready to shoot us with that terrifying metal stick that made any penguin it hit fall unconscious.

We suddenly turned and ran to a big pile of rocks a few hundred metres from our village. It look pretty secure, maybe enough to hide in as we waited for them to just leave us be. When we made it, they asked me to go in first and stay quiet.

"Come on mom! Come on dad! Get in before they come!" I said to them, gesturing them to join me by extending a flipper. They just stood there and looked on at me with sadness in their expression.

Then my mom spoke, her next words breaking my heart. "I'm sorry Sophia, but we need to help the village from those hunters and we need you to stay here," she said, the sentence dripping with sadness. "We don't know what we would do without you, and I need you to be safe. Please, stay here and don't follow us no matter what..."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't what to do. Did she really say that? I know mom and dad would do anything to keep me safe, but abandoning me to do it? What should I say? I was at complete loss for words so my reflexes took over.

"NO! Don't leave me! They'll take you far away if you let them see you! Please don't leave me!" I pleaded, but it was no use. They gave me one final kiss on the forehead and left.

"We promise we'll come back. We pro..." My dad never finished that sentence, as he got hit by something puffy and red on his right side, and instantly I knew it was the hunter's sleeping stick. I ducked into the shadows of the rock pile, abiding to what my mom told me to do. I never saw where she went, and that worried me.

Then, a big, burly human covered in a lot of something furry and white came into view. Over its shoulder hung the devastating sleeping stick. I watched in horror as it picked up my now-unconscious dad and placed him into a cage that had many other penguins. Then, I almost screamed when I saw my mom was in there as well.

"That should be enough," the human said, its voice sounding male. "Let's get these penguins to New York ASAP. I want my pay already for being in this horrid wasteland for so long." He then picked up the cage and a few other hunters followed him, all holding cages carrying penguins.

When I thought the time was right, I climbed out of the shadows and followed them as quietly as I could. I ducked behind rocks and snow banks as they headed towards the water not too far from the village. In the water was something I have never seen before.

It was made of the same material of their sleeping sticks; metal. It was floating on the water ever so gently and there was a pile of fish in it. Nets were hung from long poles that stuck out of it and in the center there was a big box that a human could fit into, I think.

"Hurry up! Load the penguins on the boat already! I think I'm getting frostbites!" The hunters nodded and put the cages on the metal floating thing, which I think they called a boat. Then, one of them entered the big box and a great, big noise sounded from it. I never heard it before, but it sounded like a mix between growling and thunder or something like that.

Then, it started to move, away from where I hid. I had to think fast. Should I stay and hide? Or should try to get on before it goes away? If I stayed and hid, I would never be able to see my parents again. If I tried to get on, they hunters might take me as well.

Or worse.

Instinctively, I jumped out and started calling to them to see if they would wake up and get out. The hunters turned around, but to my surprise, ignored me. I couldn't swim after them, because I was still young and I didn't have my swimming feathers yet. Swimming after them now would just be plain suicide.

I watched helplessly as the boat disappeared into the distance. Gone like the wind as story said. Tears then flowed down my face to the realisation that my parents were gone.

Forever.

"Or are they?" I thought, a glint of hope lighting up my spirit. The hunters mentioned another place, somewhere other than Antarctica. What was it? New something. New Town? New Village?

"New York!" I said when my memory finally came. "If I can get to New York, I may be still able to find them," I said softly to myself. Then the thought came to me. How in the world am I going to get to New York? Better yet, what is and where is New York?

My thoughts were ended when a sudden gust of warm air hit me on the back of my head, a slight rumbling sound following after. I froze in place instantly. Slowly, I turned only to stare straight into the eyes of death. Behind me, standing twice as tall as me, stood a penguin's worst enemy.

A leopard seal.

A/N: Well, that's it! I wonder if you can estimate when these events happened as well as the ones in the next. So, as always, R&R to support this epic series!