A/N: Hola, mi amigos/amigas! Que pasa?

Sorry, been taking Spanish lately, so I constantly talk in Spanish to A. annoy people and B. practice. For those of you who don't speak Spanish I basically said Hi, my friends! What's up? Anyway, I seriously doubt you guys came here for a language lesson, so let's get to the real reason why you're here.

D.I.S.C.L.A.I.M.E.R.- Dreadful Insignificant Statements Claiming Lonely Author Is Merely Excluding Responsibility

Chapter 2: We Are So Far Past Screwed Now (Aly's Pov)

The truck slowed to a stop. Three seconds later the car door slammed as Officer X climbed out. I heard the crunch of gravel under his heavy duty boots as he walked around to the back.

He yanked the back door open, letting light spill into the dark trunk. I yelped in pain at the sudden light, momentarily blinding me. I felt X grab my cage and start carrying me somewhere.

After my eyes adjusted to the light, I took in my surroundings. We were in a circular driveway made of gravel. Nice, but didn't really help me out. I looked around for anything to that might tell me where Mary and I were. My eyes finally rested on a sign at the end of the driveway that read 'New York City Animal Shelter'.

Animal Shelter? We're at the pound? There is no way this can turn out good.

Officer X carried us through two double doors into a small reception area. It was empty except for a mouse-like secretary sitting behind a desk sectioned off by glass. She glanced up from filing her nails when a bell jingled, signaling that the door had been opened. Her stuck-up expression brightened up instantly when she saw who came in through the door.

"Oh hey sweetheart," She greeted while smacking on gum "Whadja get this time?"

"Good morning, Caroline," X replied back "I caught these two penguins fraternizing in Central Park."

"Penguins? Really?" Caroline said with mild surprise "What'er they doin' in the Big Apple?"

"These flightless birds are nature's rule breakers. They thrill in disobedience. In fact-" X said as he held up Mary's unconscious form in her cage like a prize trophy "I had to tazer this one."

Caroline seemed as if she could care less. At this point I was fuming, ready to rip apart anyone who came too close to me at the moment. I was so angry.

As Caroline continued to smack on her stupid gum, she pressed a button on her desk. A loud buzzer sounded, opening a door to the left.

"We got room in E-five. Put 'em in there." Caroline said.

"Thank you, Caroline."

"Anytime babe. Come 'n see me after ya take care of 'em, m-kay?" Caroline said sweetly. I felt like gagging.

"Sure thing." X called back as he carried us through the previously locked door.

We entered a long hallway with several doors on either side leading to various rooms, and one at the very end of the room, Officer X carried us past all the other doors and directly to the one at the end. He set both of us down to free his hands to swipe a card through a slot. Another buzzer sounded and X quickly opened the door.

Geez, got enough security? It's like a prison. Then again, I realized suddenly, to us it was.

X picked us up again and continued into the room. The room, except for the ceiling, was lathered in concrete. Chain fences sectioned off the different rows of cages. Each cage contained different animals, most screaming insults of some kind or another at X. The noise was enough to drive a deaf person mad.

Officer X came to a halt at a cage in front of a cage in the last row. It appeared to be empty. The light above it, however, was burned out, resulting in the whole cage being cast in a dark shadow, so if someone was in there, I couldn't see them.

Once again X set us down, but this time it was to grab a security card from his pocket. After he found the right card, he unlocked the cage and held it open, eying it carefully. He then picked my cage up, shook me until I was disoriented, and opened it up. Before I could even figure out the difference between up and down, X had me by the scruff of my neck.

X tossed me carelessly into the cage, where I landed painfully on my back. Having the wind knocked out of me, I didn't have time to react before Mary was thrown in and the door was slammed shut. Mary landed next to me, her still body slamming against the concrete.

I gave X a death glare. He smirked as if it were funny.

"You're not going anywhere, penguin." He said, satisfied, before he turned around and walked away.

A low groan alerted me back to Mary. The fall must of woken her up, because she was starting to stir.

"Hey Mary, you okay?" I asked.

At the sound of my voice Mary opened her eyes and propped herself up on her flippers. She looked around the room until her eyes met mine, then she groaned in annoyance as she fell back again.

"Ugh. If I were to ask you where we are, would I regret it?" She asked.

"Probably." I told her. This resulted in yet another groan from her.

"You're in the pound, kid." Came a gruff female voice suddenly from the shadows. I nearly jumped out of my feathers.

"Who's there?" I asked.

A ginger colored figure slowly stepped out of the shadows and into what little light there was. Seconds later, I realized it was a cat.

"Who puts flightless birds in the same cage as a cat?" Mary nearly screamed in alarm.

Instinctively I got in front of Mary, who was still on the ground. I crouched into a defensive position, waiting for the predator to attack first in the fight I could sense was about to happen.

A/N: Eh, not my best cliff hanger, but still. What will happen next? Will the cat attack? Who will win? Will Mary and Aly escape the pound? Will Private save the day? Why am I, the author, asking you these questions when I already know the answers? Find out on the next chapter of The X Cells!

A great big thank you to hardrocker21, hipturtle15, and firegirl101597 for reviewing. You guys are da bomb!

*A bunch of men in black suits with guns suddenly burst in my room*Me-Ah! What the heck! Who are you guys?

One of the men pointing a gun at me- We're da bomb sqaud. Now where's the da bomb!

Me- It was a metaphor! I was just telling my wonderful reviews that they are bombs!

Guy pointing gun- We got a hostage situation here! Arrest her!

*Face- palms before getting handcuffed* Me- Um, well, so much for that. Review and they might let me out of jail... Pwease...