A/N: I don't have much to say, so thanks to reviewers and ENJOY!

Chapter 5:

Worries

Sara cried on my shoulder as we sat in a cramped cage.

The place was dark, filthy and filled with penguins of different species. I wondered why these people need so many penguins for, why they hunt us for. If they had no good reason to, then it would seem that these hunters are heartless and cruel.

I looked down to Sara, my wife, and comforted her as her tears rolled down my waterproof feathers. That stuff they put us down with seemed to have worn off, but even so I felt drowsy and disorientated. The rocking of the big, metal boat really didn't help lessen it.

I looked around for any means of escape; but there was nothing. I had no idea how to pry open the locks on the cage nor knock it off from the top of the other cages. The situation seemed like hopeless.

I could only hope that our daughter Sofia isn't here somewhere.

I looked around at the others who were with us. Some panicking, some sulking, some still asleep from that hunting stick. There were so many, all of different species. I couldn't even comprehend the number of species there are here.

Gathering enough courage, I asked, "Where are these hunters taking us?" I mostly said it to air around me, just so more penguins could hear my question. The noise ceased almost instantly, filling the room with deafening silence.

"We all want to know the same thing," replied a Macaroni Penguin opposite us. He looked pretty beat-down, so I assume he had fought one of the hunters before he was captured.

Then, the dank room filled with chatter that was sparked by my question, mostly about them imagining the worse things a penguin could ever imagine a hunter do. "I know where we're going," yelled a random penguin amongst the barrage of voices.

Eyes turned to a small, Adele Penguin in the corner. He was pretty small - probably a bit shorter than Sara - and looked nervous. I could barely see his light blue eyes from where I was, and he spoke with a pretty young voice.

"Where?" I asked him, since the activity instantly died down when he spoke.

"They're taking us to their homeland and selling us to different zoos or aquariums," he answered, a hint of fear in his voice. At this point, Sara had calmed down some and was now intrigued with this new information.

"What's a zoo?" she asked. I could really adore her ability to switch to a positive mood when even a glint of hope shows itself. It was why she was my Sara.

"I don't exactly what it is," he said, nervousness dripping from his tone. "But from what I heard, it's like a prison." He shivered from the thought.

"So, we're being imprisoned? For doing what?" I asked. It seemed pretty illogical for human to put us into prisons when they're the ones doing the bad deeds. It was ironic actually.

The booming sound of metal sounded across the room, shushing us all down. The pitchy drag of metal followed after and came with the smell of fish.

Fish that was fresh.

Fish that was caught straight from the deep blue.

Fish...that we needed.

A small, human figure then came into view, in his hands were the fish we smelt. A second figure, that looked shorter than the first, came dragging a larger metal can that was also filled with fish.

"Come on Tyler!" said the second figure. He sounded young; a teenage boy most probably. "Will you please help me with this?! It's so darn heavy!"

"Just a sec Skyler, I need to give these out first," said the first. He too, sounded young; he sounded almost like the second boy. They both stepped into the little light that illuminated the center of the room and revealed their faces.

Both looked strikingly similar; they both had blonde hair - the first figure wearing a fringe just above his right eye, dirt brown eyes and had clear apron things, possibly to keep their clothes from getting wet.

The one named Tyler gave out the fish he had in his arms, five each for every cage. The hunters were kind of organised in their captures, putting only five penguins in each cage. The bigger penguins - Emperor Penguins for example - had only one in each cage, making the number of Emperors in the room very less.

When the fish in his hands were all given out, he went over to the large metal can the one named Skyler was dragging and picked up more fish. "Consider yourself, helped..."

Skyler scowled at him as he resumed handing out the fish. He made it to our cage and put the fish through the gaps in the cage. We all hungrily took them and ate them greedily.

"It kinda sad how these penguins look so helpless," said Skyler.

"What do you mean?" asked Tyler.

"Well, look at them! All locked up in a small cage with other penguins they may not even know and eating fish like they never ate any before." I couldn't believe my ear holes. Is this human actually feeling sorry for taking us?

"Of course they didn't. They hadn't had anything to eat since the hunters took them two hours ago."

"Come on Ty. Don't you feel this is a bit...I don't know...wrong?" Skyler said as he stopped next to the cage I was in. When I saw his face, it showed a face of pity. I always thought humans were cruel and demented, but his face showed something more than cruelty.

It actually showed he cared.

"They're just a bunch of birds," replied Tyler, almost like he didn't even care. He continued giving out fish as Skyler continued on his argument.

"How would you feel if I locked you in a cage? Just look at these guys. They didn't deserve to be taken from their homes like this." He then reached into the cage I stood in and stroked my head feathers ever so gently. To be honest, it actually felt soothing and reassuring.

"Just shut it and do your job. We need to do this ok? It's the only darn job we could get, so don't mess it up with your pity!"

"Have a heart Ty. I know you know this is wrong. Admit it."

Tyler sighed. "Fine, whatever. I think this is wrong too, but if we don't do our job, they'll kick us out and we can't get enough money to help mom!"

"What's going on down there!" a muffled voice asked. The two turned to the door they came in from in surprise.

"Nothing sir!" Skyler answered. Now, his voice was dripping with fear. Did these humans fear those other humans just as we fear them?

The voice echoed again, this time not as loud and demanding, "There better not! If I see even one penguin escape, you can both kiss your pay goodbye!"

The sound of footsteps on metal then echoed the room, getting softer as they progress, signaling the owner of the voice from before disappearing back to where he came from.

"Told you to keep your mouth shut," said Tyler after a few moments. "Now please, just help me finish this up so we can go."

Skyler nodded blindly and helped Tyler hand out the rest of the fish. When they were done, they left from where they came in from without another word.

"Heh. Humans that feel pity," a voice said right after the two boys left. I looked around for its source and traced it to a Classified Penguin diagonally below me on my left.

"Yeah, I know," I replied to him. "I always thought humans were evil, but they are a different story."

The penguin turned to look at me, a jade green piercing my ice blue eyes. "No man, not that. They are pitiful humans, which means one thing."

I gave it a small thought. "That not all humans are not as cruel as we thought they were?" I offered.

He did a faceflipper, making Sara laugh a bit. "No. Pitiful humans mean we can use them to help us..."

"Escape?" finished Sara. He nodded.

"Exactly," he said. "Name's Crazy Daze by the way." he added, giving us a small but great salute.

"Why Crazy Dave?" I asked. He simply shrugged. "O...k. I'm Jay. Jayden Snowfeathers."

"Pleasure to meet you Jay," he replied with a smile.

"I'm his wife, Sara Snowfeathers," added Sara. He smiled back at us.

"Pleasure to meet you too miss..." he answered. "So are you in, or out?"

"For what, escaping?" He nodded. I looked at Sara and she gave me a nod. "Well, if you are sure you know what you're doing, then I guess...we're in."

A/N: Ooh, they have a chance of escaping! If you hadn't guessed it yet, these are Sofia's parents. Plus, don't think I wouldn't make use of the new human OCs I made. They will have a great contribution to the story later on. Till then, R&R!