Chapter 6

Being Alone

In front of her there was a huge building with the three high towers. The two towers between an armored gate were probably for the guards and they belonged to a big wall which was surrounding the building. The third tower was rising from the building inside the wall. Even the bricks were black, it was a scary view.

It was the Denmark Prison. The most terrible place maybe even on the whole world. Nobody has ever escaped from there. Even if someone tries to, he will be dead in a second. The black building looked like a Devil's castle on a background of the murky sky and lightenings.

The puffins led her to the armored gate, she looked down. There was no chance for escape, it was over. They told a password and the gate opened with a creak. They were on a courtyard now. The pavement was grey like before. When Katherine raised her head she saw a lot of guards standing on the top of the wall which was around the prison. A double door opened and they entered the bloodcurdling building.

"Look what we found" the leader puffin said to the guard puffins.

"What or whom?" Katherine corrected him.

"Okay take her from me I can't stand her any longer" the leader puffin said and pushed her to the guards "Goodbye, hopefully, we'll never meet again" he said and quickly left the prison.

"Hopefully" Katherine said to herself. Fortunately, she already had a plan. When they led her further she kicked the two puffins which were holding her flippers. Then she made a dodge from the third puffin and cut a rope which was tying her flippers by puffin's dagger.

"Catch that prisoner!" a puffin yelled and more guards joined them.

Katherine slipped to a dark corridor to lose them. She hid in the shadow of a corner while the puffins ran further. The problem was how to get out. There were so many guards and there was no chance to slip through unnoticed. She closed her eyes to concentrate. She didn't know where she should go. She's never been inside this prison. Once she was on this island with Skipper when the puffins caught them, but they escaped before they entered this scary place. What to do now? Better question, what would Skipper do? She looked up, there wasn't any ventilation tunnel.

Suddenly she felt very dizzy and she almost fainted. What was wrong… She realized that she fell onto her knees. She stood up and slowly walked through the dark corridor closely to the wall, she could faint at all time. It was like a maze, a lot of corridors and corners. She heard the steps, the puffins were near. She thought that she got rid of them… She leaned against the wall to not be noticed. Slowly, she stepped back far from the steps.

"Are you lost?" she jumped when she heard a voice behind her back. She turned and felt a pain in her flipper "Only a second and you'll fall asleep" one of the puffins said. They hurt her flipper by a syringe. It was probably a poison, Katherine felt dizzier and fell onto her knees. The view in front of her started disappearing, she closed her eyes. The puffins grabbed her and led through the corridor. It looked like everything before; gloomy and made by the grey and black bricks.

"Where should we lead her now, sir?"

"Let me see… Oh, I have an excellent prison cell for her. When she wakes up, you'll lead her downstairs. She has the important information" someone said. Katherine couldn't open her eyes, every part of her body was in pain, she was slipping into a nightmare… But she still could hear the conversation "No questions, it's classified" that someone said.

Katherine opened her eyes a little. She could see a corridor with the entries to the prison cells. But they didn't stop at any of them. It was a long walk and they were deep inside the prison. Katherine felt less and less force. It was really bad, especially when they were climbing up on a stairs. Katherine already knew that they were leading her to the top of the tower. When she was in the military she was learning about a lot of prisons; the towers are always the most guarded places.

Finally they got to the top. Katherine almost fainted but she knew she had to keep the consciousness. She felt relief when the puffins cut a rope which was tying her flippers. They opened the prison bars of the one of cells.

"See you or not. Later. It'll be not your last nightmare, it's just began" a puffin laughed and pushed her into a cell. She lost her balance and fell down. She heard steps of the puffins, they finally left. But she wasn't able to move. She was laying on her stomach on a cold, dirty floor. She was slowly falling asleep.

But then she felt that someone picked her up and carried her somewhere. She couldn't see who it was. She fell asleep…

Skipper was sitting on the edge of the HQ's platform with raised head. It was a day, a morning. But it looked like a night. The sun still hasn't showed its life-giving sunbeams. The only difference was that the clouds were grey, in the night they're black. But it wasn't a consolation. The wind flew from the north, Skipper turned there. It was the direction from which the shadow came. But in that case it wasn't from Denmark. This time, the military was wrong. Skipper had to inform them about it. He stood up.

"Are you leaving?" he heard a voice.

"Yes" he replied and turned to Private.

"Why? What will it change?" Private asked.

"I have to talk with my old friend, there's a lot of problems connected with Team A's failed mission. I think they already know that Denmark is not the lair of this" Skipper said and turned. Kowalski and Rico went out of the HQ.

"Skipper wait, we need some orders" Kowalski said.

"Now it depends on you Kowalski. Until I don't come back, you're the leader"

"O-Okay. According to my calculations, we have 10 percent chance of survival…"

"Kowalski, stop calculating, trust your instinct" Skipper said.

"Excellent, trust my instinct. I trust my brain not a gut"

Skipper rolled his eyes and jumped out of the penguins' habitat and slipped towards a zoo gate. Though the zoo was opened, nobody came to visit it. For the two weeks the zoo was totally deserted. Even in the Central Park there was quiet, all animals hid in their caves and lairs. Skipper looked at the trees, nowhere was an annoying squirrel Fred.

The problem was how to get to the main HQ. When he walked along the street he didn't notice any buses. On the streets there were only a few parked cars and newspapers which were carried by the wind. He has never seen New York City like that. The lights were going only from the windows of the buildings were people were watching TV. They didn't have anything else to do. Sluggards. Of course, it was easiest just to sit down and do nothing, who cares that the world is destroying by the dark something? That's the humans' explanation. Skipper thought.

There weren't any other option, so he walked up to an entry with a board: Subway. The subway was always full of people who want to get to their work offices. But this time it wasn't the same. Nothing was the same. There were only about ten people waiting for the subway. They looked bored. They were yawning and reading the old newspapers which wind brought to them. Again, everything looked so lifeless…

Finally, the subway arrived and a door opened slowly. Why… why even the machine had to look lazy? Skipper quickly slipped under the sits but it wasn't necessary... Humans won't see him even if he sits in front of them. The subway rode to a next station, it was going to be a long journey… or not. The subway suddenly stopped.

"The last station: New York Center. Leave the subway, please" a voice said and the doors opened.

"Excellent" Skipper said ironically and left the subway. There weren't any other quick ways to get to the central HQ. He had to walk.

Excellent, it was really nice to walk through the spooky streets in the total darkness. But though nobody was there, he had to be careful. He could expect everything. He walked through a dark alley between the old buildings, nobody could see him there. But was it a good choice? He heard a noise behind him but when he turned there was nothing, just the trash bins.

Skipper felt as if someone was watching him. At all time he could see a pair of the scary eyes in the darkness. Was he afraid? No. Why not? Skipper left that thoughts, he had to be ready for an attack. The noise again; it wasn't his imagination. He immediately turned and slowly approached a garbage container. What was lurking there?

Skipper stood there for the while, nothing happened. He decided to ignore it and he went further. But no, he couldn't ignore it, someone was watching him. He looked up. On the buildings' roofs there weren't any birds. So where was that someone hiding?

Meanwhile the penguins were sitting in the HQ. Kowalski decided to do an experiment and Rico went to get some fish. Private was sitting in his bunk hugging his lunacorn. His headache was slowly passing. He looked at the window, even the view of water behind the it was scary. He moved deeper to the shadow of his bunk. He didn't feel safe. He wanted to talk with someone.

But with whom? He had to tell someone about his dream. He wanted to go to Kowalski's lab but he prevented himself from it. No, it was obvious that Kowalski wouldn't believe him or just yell to leave him alone. What about Rico? He'd just pretend that he's listening. Private felt tears in his eyes. What was wrong? He decided to go outside. He climbed up by a ladder and went out of the HQ. The sky didn't change. He looked around the gloomy zoo. Only he and Rico were outside.

"Want fish?" Rico asked.

"No, thank you Rico" Private replied. Rico shrugged and went inside the HQ. Private was alone... again. He looked at the zoo's gate, it was closed now. He remembered when he met an owl in his dream. The owl was sitting there, he had to talk with it. But how?

"Please, I need a help" Private said and looked up. Help? But help with what? He realized that he doesn't know what he really wants. He had got so many questions. The owl said to look for the answers on his own. How? Private sat down.

What about Marlene? He could visit her, now. Something prevented him from that. Why? The same question again. He looked at the buildings which were far from him, somewhere in the center of New York. They were rising from the sinister fog like the murky rocks from ocean. Somewhere there was Skipper... And Private realized what he wanted, what he needed... What he needed to feel save...

He needs Skipper...

Skipper walked up to the rubbish bags which were laying near a door of an old building. The game has ended. He wasn't afraid and he approached the door. Something or someone was there, behind that door. He grabbed the handle and pushed the door... nothing...

And suddenly something jumped to him...

Hm... weird, isn't it? I have questions for you, the first: who helped Katherine? the second: Who/what attacked Skipper?

Okay, anyway -

Review please!