The Speed of Darkness
Chapter 35 – Anguish

MANFREDI HAD LOST TRACK OF THE DAYS.

He had tried to pay close attention to the time that had passed. He looked for signs that the day was ending and night was beginning. He tried to take in any hint of a sunset or sunrise. He listened for when Rico and Skipper swapped shifts at wheel of the boat. Then, he tried to piece these events together into a time line. Unfortunately for him, though, he found himself drifting in and out of sleep fairly often.

Sometimes he would fall asleep in the evening, and wake up in the evening. He couldn't tell if it was the same day or the next day, though. Sometimes he'd fall asleep when Skipper was at the wheel, and wake up when Rico was. Sometimes he'd only be out for a few seconds. Either way, he knew it had been at least a week since they had set off from the New York harbor.

He didn't want to be immobilized for this long. He figured if the shock didn't kill him, it wouldn't have surmised him for more than a few days. Now, he had been in this coma for almost a week. Hell, if Skipper hadn't been feeding him, he would have died of hunger by now.

Even though he was mentally active the robotic penguin still couldn't muster up the courage to move; it hurt far too much. He wanted to move, though. After all, there must be some reason he was still alive. He wouldn't have survived that shock if there wasn't something behind him, pushing him forward. Whether that was something spiritual or just the hardiness of his own body, he didn't know. Either way, he would never be able to avenge Johnson if he couldn't move.

Johnson. He couldn't stop thinking about him. With so much empty time to fill, he let his mind roam free. He started with the only thing he could think of: his fiancee and child. He remembered Sarah's emerald green eyes, clean beak; the ivory egg. Normally the memory would have torn at his heart, and made him cry. Now, however, he was already broken, laying on the cold planks of the helm of this decrepit boat. Rather than feeling the need to cry, he felt some strange warmness at the memory of his loved one. Her smile, her eyes gleaming in the Arctic sun. The feeling was foreign to him.

Each time he heard Skipper's voice, though, his thoughts were torn away from the warm memories and plunged back into the depths of his nightmares. Each time Skipper spoke, he found himself standing in the entrance to the Penguin Army's base, ready to run back in after Johnson. The scenario replayed in his head like clockwork. It was like a horror movie he had seen many times already, but yet still scared him.

Briefly, he wondered when he should tell Skipper about what had happened after they had been separated on that day. He thought back to when they were sitting in the alleyway in New York, and Skipper had so willingly told him his story. He remembered denying Skipper the same privilege, and that he would spill his memories when the time was right.

Maybe now was the right time. He hadn't wanted to bear the retelling of the memory. He tried to push it to the back of his mind, but now that his mind was unleashed, he found it impossible to not dig back up. He could barely move, but he knew now was the time to confess.

Finding some courage, but still expecting the resulting pain, he slowly pushed himself up onto his flippers. Sliding back a few inches, he propped himself up against the wall that was behind him. His muscles convulsed at the sudden excursion. He hadn't realized he had grunted loudly and attracted Skipper's attention.

The robotic penguin's vision flashed, and he caught a snapshot of Skipper, standing over him. His brow was furrowed and his head was cocked to the head in confusion. He was saying something, but for some reason Manfredi could only a loud ringing in his ears. Now was the time.

He reached a shaky flipper up to his mechanical eye and pressed it firmly down. Something clicked, and his red vision faded to blackness. Moments later, he was seeing his own memories, almost reliving them. He knew that on the other side of the vision, though, his eye was projecting the same image. He felt a flipper adjust his head slightly before he lost the feeling throughout his body entirely. He knew Skipper had adjusted the projected image to be at a better angle. Slowly, the robotic penguin slipped from reality entirely.

Moments later he felt a cool wind, heard an distant explosion, smelt blood, and knew he was reliving his past...

"Manfredi!" Skipper called, the clutching the glowing cylinder tightly in his hands. "We've got to go. Now!"

"I'm not leaving without Johnson!" Manfredi called back, heading away from the flat-headed penguin. The building around them was collapsing, and there was no time to argue.

"Johnson is dead, let it go!" Skipper shouted, looking desperate. "Now c'mon!"

"No penguin left behind!" returned the larger penguin as a large chunk of the ceiling fell between them. It broke apart on the concrete floor, sending debris everywhere. Manfredi shielded his face from the shards of rock, and then looked at the newly formed barricade of concrete. The entire ceiling had collapsed, separating him from Skipper entirely.

He thought he heard Skipper shouting something to him through the rock, but he was already running back into the unstable building. An explosion went off near him, and sent him stumbling sideways a few steps. His leg got caught on something soft, and he tripped head over heels. He looked back at the obstacle to see a bloodstained penguin body. A chill ran up his spine as he got back up, and then continued down the corridor.

The base was made of a lot of long, concrete pathways. The had been designed that way for maximum vision while walking down them and shorter travel times around the base. Unfortunately for Manfredi, that plan was also making it extremely hard to navigate to where he thought Johnson might be. He ran as fast as he could, holding his flippers over his head to shield himself from any falling rocks. Many of the passageways had already been destroyed by explosions or blocked off by cave-ins. Fortunately, he knew the base well, and weaved his way around the collapsing structure to get to the soldier's quarters.

Many of the small, porthole-like rooms had already been obliterated. Fortunately, Beta Squad's had remained mostly intact, and Manfredi, Skipper and Johnson's cabin was still safe enough to enter. Manfredi ripped open to hatch door and saw Johnson sitting inside, hunched over something.

"Johnson!" he cried over an explosion. The smaller penguin whipped around. He was clutching his journal against his chest and looked terrified. "We need to get out of here, now!" urged Manfredi, grabbing the shorter penguin's flipper.

"There's no way we can get out of here," shouted Johnson, dodging a rock that fell and blocked off the entrance to their cabin as they re-entered the hallway. "I'm so stupid for coming back."

"No time for feeling sorry now. There must be a way out," returned Manfredi, glancing up and down some passageways. He knew of only three routes that would take them out of the structure: the main entrance, a hatch in the roof, and the back gate to the firing range. Knowing the main entrance was already collapsed and the hatch would probably not be accessible, he devised the quickest way to get to the back of the fortress.

"This way," he instructed to Johnson, who was still holding his journal tightly. The pair made their way back down the corridor Manfredi had entered from. Sparks jumped from broken power lines, sharp rebarb stuck out of shattered concrete supports, and water from smashed water mains pooled around their feet. Most of the routes Manfredi had taken to get here were now blocked. It slowed them down, but they moved as fast as they could.

They rounded a corner as fast as they could and saw their goal. The back gate. Manfredi had never been more thankful in his life to see sunlight. It was locked with a simple chain link gate, but it was nothing he wouldn't be able to break down. It was then when he heard a voice.

"Manfredi, wait!" The burly penguin stopped and spun around, looking for the source of his name. His eyes came to rest on a penguin with a flat head and crystal blue eyes, his foot trapped underneath a rock, and his face bloodied. Manfredi recognized him instantly as Caspian Fishslader.

"Can you give us a hand?" the Sargent called. A few penguin soldiers were near him, trying to yank the concrete away. There were also a few other penguins that were trapped.

"Why would I give you a hand?" shot back Manfredi, turning to make his escape. Johnson was already beating on the gate at the far end of the tunnel, trying to free the lock.

"Wait!" called Caspian again, more desperately. "You don't understand!"

"Understand what?" returned Manfredi, "that you killed my family and tried to take over the world?"

"No, no! There's going to be a massive explosion here any minute now. There's no way you could get out of range in time!"

"What?"

"The sun was hooked up to a giant reactor that converted its raw power into useable electricity," explained a penguin to Sarge's left. He was tall with red eyes, a black beak, and yellow feathers on his brow. The white feathers on his chest were stained with soot. "The Sun was the main power source, but its container was the main heat sink. The reactor is overheating and going into a critical meltdown because it was not properly disengaged before the Sun was removed. We're all going to be vaporized unless we get into shelter as soon as possible!"

Manfredi glanced around him as another explosion rocked the foundation. His eyes fell on the fish freezer that he, Skipper, and the other penguins had painstakingly built. He recalled making the concrete walls as he was told – twelve inches thick with steel rebarb and plating for support. It would be plenty of protection.

"Johnson, this way!" he called to the small penguin, who was hopelessly beating on the gate's padlock. Johnson complied, and the two made their way to the short steel hatch that led into the freezer. Manfredi yanked on the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"We need the sargent free to get in there," shouted the black-beaked penguin as another boulder landed near him, completely crushing one of his comrades. He gasped and began working more frantically to move the boulders off of Caspian. "Its eye scanner activated; only his eyes will let us in!"

Manfredi looked at the fancy lock on the door. He knew it had been implemented to stop the penguins from sneaking extra rations. Even with the place falling apart, Manfredi was sure it was still active. He wished it didn't exist. Without another thought, and knowing getting into the freezer was their only hope, he ran to help free Fishslader.

The boulder that was crushing the leader's foot was large, but with Manfredi's strength, they were able to roll it off. Caspian cried in pain as he looked at his smashed, webbed foot. Manfredi and the black-beaked penguin wasted no time, however, and dragged him across the floor as an explosion went off behind them. Manfredi wasn't sure if any of the other penguins had survived it after he felt the heat singe the feathers on the back of his head.

The black-beaked penguin shouted something to him but his ears were ringing from the explosion. He knew what was to be done though, and hoisted the Sargent up to the eye scanner and watched as a green light illuminated near the top of the door. As it did, though, the scanner itself received a power surge and detonated. Fishslader was unable to pull his face away in time and received the brunt of the explosion, while Manfredi felt a few shards of glass puncture his shoulder. Fishslader cried in agony, holding his face, as Manfredi dropped him to the ground.

Johnson pushed his way through the trio and pushed the door open, falling into the cold room behind it. Manfredi followed the red-eyed penguin into the freezer and looked behind him. There were no other penguins; they had all succumbed to the blast. There was only the Sargent, rolling on the ground just outside the door.

The tall penguin called something to him, but his ears were still ringing. The tall penguin then reached out for Caspian, attempting to pull him into the safety of the bunker-turned-freezer. Manfredi thought for a moment that he should shove the other penguin out of the way and close the door in the Sargent's face. He looked down at the weakened penguin, his foot broken, his face blackened. Some great amount of compassion overtook him, and he reached into the hallway to pull the penguin into the bunker.

"Manfredi, leave him!" he heard Johnson's voice too late. It was faint as he slammed the hatch shut, spinning the latch on it as fast as he could to secure it.

As if on cue, a massive shock wave cut through the freezer, knocking Manfredi off balance. A great rumbling followed, and several of the large ice blocks that were hanging from the ceiling crashed to the ground. The door hatch bowed inward from the force of the blast, but it held. As quickly as the explosion came, it left. And only silence took its place.

Manfredi's memory faded, flickering out. His red, flashing vision came back and he saw Skipper sitting on the floor next to him, his face solemn. He got up and turned to look at the robot-penguin.

"That's all that happened?" he asked, obviously wanting to know the rest. Manfredi tried to respond, but the searing pain returned in his face and limbs. He wanted to let Skipper know that he'd be able to show him what happened to Johnson, just not now. He was already fading into sleep – the act of projecting his memory for Skipper to see had been exhausting. He would rest for a while, and then project the rest for the leader penguin.

Skipper's concerned face faded into nothingness as peaceful sleep overtook the nostalgic penguin.

~Author's Note: WOW! I have been dieing to write this chapter since about the time I started writing this story. Manfredi's story will be told in three parts; this is part one. I was going to make it one giant chapter, but after realizing how long this chapter is already, I've decided to split it up.

Anyway, hope you guys are enjoying and that you please review! I really look forward to any reviews I get, no matter how short! Thanks again for reading, though, and check back soon.