Skipper placed a flipper down on the motionless bird only to recieve a small shake as a answer.
"Abby? what happened?" Skipper's voice trembled with worry. Abby never looked up to him but breathed slowly "they never left Skipper. they still had a flipper over me the whole time i was here. they are still with me."
Skipper looked down at Abby and saw how she looked so drained and how all cuts were on her spots. "what happened Abby?" Abby took ahold of skipper's flipper and started to cry. "it's in my bunk." Skipper looked over to the others and moved his head telling them to see what it was. as the three made their way over to the bunk Kowalski lifted up a small metal plate. "there is only this disc drive here Skipper." Skipper sighed, "what happened?" Abby cried out in a soft voice "it's the curse of these stupid spots. if i was just normal and didn't have them i wouldn't have to be here. They came, here, and did this to me." Skipper sighed, she had been through so much and now this.
"Private take Atticus over to Marlene's untill we come to get you. he doesn't need to see this." Private nodded and left with Atticus in his grasp. "Kowalski take the disc and try to pull the information off it." Kowalski nodded and walked off into his lab with the disc. "and Rico, could you clean this mess up?" Rico looked around and coughed up a wash cloth. Skipper's eyes never darted away from Abigal as he thought of how he should do this. "Abigal, we need to get you cleaned up. can you get up?" Abby nodded and tried to slump herself up on the wall. Skipper helped her the rest of the way up and let her lean on his side. "your okay, your going to be just fine." Skipper said as they made their way to the wash room. going through the lab and another door they entered a dark room. flipping on the lights there in front of them was a shower. as Skipper looked at Abby who looked more dead then alive, Skipper thought how he could handle this. "Abigal, i need to clean you up, can you get in the shower?" not even answering him, Abby waddled over to the shower and sat down on the floor. taking this as her okay, Skipper turned the nob and let the warm water pour over them. not minding that he was getting wet in the process, Skipper grabbed a wash cloth and some soap from the wall to start on his mission of cleaning his teammate. rubbing the cloth and soap together Skipper saw how Abby looked almost zombiefied, glassy eyes, little to no movement, pailed colored and how she just looked completely drained of life. setting down the soap, Skipper raised one of her flippers and started to gently wash away the dried blood. not even acknowloging the pain, Abby let skipper wash her up. Skipper almost gasped at what he saw, there was a cut that was going all the way through Abigal's flipper and it was wide enough that he could slip his own in it. Skipper didn't know how someone as sweet and kind as Abby could be treated so hatefully. placing the flipper down he went for the next one and saw that this one was missing large patches of feathers and flesh. continuing on his cleaning he began on her stomach.
this didn't look any better then the others but it just seemed worse to Skipper. everyone of the black dots that covered her belly and chest had a 'X' carved out on it and it wasn't a thin cut at Abby to make sure she was fine, Skipper saw the look he had only seen once on her face before. she looked not scared or horrified but she looked sad. if the water wasn't running Skipper would have seen all the tears that she was sending out but they weren't of the pains she felt every time she moved, no they were for something much deeper.
holding the cloth up to the water, Skipper watched as the water drip off a bright red. Abby saw this to but she only sighed and closed her eyes.
Skipper turned his gaze back to her and he almost kick himself seeing her like this. leaving her alone was the worst thing he could have done.
"Abigal, i need to get to your back." Abby never opened her eyes but nodded. Skipper slowly lifted her up and let her lay upon his shoulder as he started to whip her back. Skipper didn't know how it could get worse but seeing her back white spots, Skipper was proven wrong. these cuts were much deeper then the front ones Skipper noticed and saw that these ones were covered in something. rubbing at them gently Skipper watched as the feathers that covered her back side slide off in large black clumps. then Skipper knew what had happened on her back, she had been burned.
feeling a slight grip on his shoulder, Skipper looked over to see that Abigal was squeezing his shoulder and she had her eyes shut tight. returning to his job, Skipper rubbed lightly and watched as more and more feathers fell to show burned skin. soon he was finished and Abby only had half of her back feather, the rest were gone down the drain. placing her down Skipper ringed out his cloth, which was now a perminate red.
Abby knew how bad she looked and that only showed how bad she felt but the water felt good against her cuts and burns. giving a small smile Abby could feel herself being placed back against the shower's wall. opening her eyes, she saw Skipper was in front of her and was coming close to her face. as he cleaned her face, Abby could feel how he was trying not to hurt her and how this was hurting him more then she wanted.
lifting up a flipper, which was very difficult and painful, she pushed Skipper's flipper away from her face. "hey, you okay Skippy?" Skipper looked a little amused by this statement. "shouldn't i be asking you that?" the two penguins started to laugh lightly still unaware that they were still in the shower together for so long. as the laughing subsided, Skipper and Abby both thought of the situation at hand. Skipper took this moment of silence to turn around and shut off the water. Abby was a little dissapointed that he had turn off the water, it had made the pain a little bit manageable. as Skipper turned around he lifted up Abby and opened the door for them to walk out. once out, Skipper pulled out a towel and began to dry them both off. as he finished himself and went on with Abigal,
then he saw that her wounds were bleeding again. taking the towel, Skipper placed it around Abigal to soak up the blood. "come on, Kowalski can bandage you up better then i can." helping her to the door, Skipper watched as every step they took only made the towel turn even more red. as soon as they made their way to the lab, both Skipper and Abby found Kowalski hovering over a small computer that had the disc coming out of the side. "Kowalski,
can you bandage her up?" turning around Kowalski saw the two and how the towel was almost a dark red. "place her on the table." as the two males helped her up onto the table, Kowalski saw how dangerously she was loosing blood. pulling out his medical kit Kowalski worked his know knowledge on her cuts and burns.
after what felt like a life time, Kowalski said "there, finished." looking her over, both Skipper and Kowalski both thought she looked more like a mummy then penguin. her whole front and back were covered with white bandages and her flippers were rapped up completely only making the mummy look more noticeable. Skipper would have laughed if it weren't for the fact why she was like this.
looking at Abby's face Skipper saw a few bandages over her left eye and under her beak but other then that her face looked fine. Skipper watched as Abby took slow deep breaths as she had her eyes closed, indicating that she had fallen asleep while she was being bandaged.
"help me put her to bed Kowalski." as the two lifted up the bird and they walked out into the main room to see a worried looking Rico sitting down on a cement block. seeing that they were carrying Abby to her bunk, Rico ran over to it and started to fluff her pillow and he spat out a extra blanket. "good idea Rico." Kowalski said as he and Skipper placed her down on her bunk. "the more comfertable she is the better she'll heal." as Rico covered her up with the blankets Skipper remembered that Private was still at Marlene's. "how about you two go and get Private and Atticus back here.
." as the two left with out a word, Skipper looked down at the female. she looked surprisingly peaceful considering what had just happened. Skipper placed a tender flipper on her own, he was beatting himself up inside for leaving her and letting it come to this. looking over at the lab door Skipper remembered what his teammates had told him that was on Abigal's bed.
leaving her to her dreams Skipper ventured to the lab. once inside the lab Skipper looked over to the far end of the room to see a small computer was sitting up on a table. Walking over to the computer, Skipper saw that Kowalski had only managed to download a short video that was labeled 'Test 1'. Skipper pressed the video and watched it begin to play. the scean was an old cave lit up with only a few candles. as the screan moved, it showed a small penguin with black and white spots. "Beginning to test the cursed one with male subject Burk." suddenly a very large Male penguin came into the screen and he had a look that showed both hate and pleasure. "No Please! I wont do anything wrong! Please!" Skipper listened to the voice, it was indeed Abigal's but it sounded so much younger; one of a child. "Shut up! Or I will make it even more unpleacent." Suddenly Burk on standing over the young Abigal and holding her down. "No Please! Don't! STOP!" Skipper shut off the video, he didn't need, or want to, see more. Skipper already knew what was happening during the rest of the video from what Abigal had told him.
Skipper didn't move for a moment, he just stood there looking into the disc and at what was inside. after what seemed like forever, Skipper turned and left the lab. once back in the main room, Skipper looked over to the fish door to see three and a half penguins come out. Private was still holding Atticus but he was fast asleep and from the looks of his puffy eyes he had been crying . "how's she doing Skippah?" Privated asked with much worry in his voice. " better then when we found her but it's hard to say now Private." Skipper looked up at the clock and saw that it was 100 hours. "it's late. lets go to bed men." as everyone jumped into bed, Skipper looked over as Private held Atticus. "how about he sleeps with me Private. you could use some sleep tonight that doesn't involve a baby waking you up every two hours." Privated didn't answer but he handed over Atticus willingly. as Private jumped into bed, Skipper crawled into his and placed Atticus down on his chest feather. closing his eyes, Skipper placed a flipper over the chick and fell into a restless sleep.