Just as a little forwarning, this chapter might be a little disturbing. Read on at your own risk.
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Chapter 4 - Evidence
Skipper slowly cracked open his eyes and looked at his surroundings. First of all he noticed that he was sore and still felt very tired. He noticed that he was sitting in a chair inside headquarters, and he was facing the secret entrance. He turned his head to see three sleeping penguins in their concrete bunks. He let out a sigh of relief, then stretched out his flippers and legs.
He remembered the previous night at this point. He had returned home after Maelie had said that she would send Private back to HQ when the storm died down. He returned to find both Rico and Kowalski passed out in their beds. Figuring they were very tired, he grabbed a chair and sat in front of the secret entrance waiting for private to return. He must have dozed off sometime late during the night, and private must have came shortly after he fell asleep. He shook his head and smiled, wondering what time it was. That sure was some crazy party the previous night.
Skipper walked over to the hatch and popped it open. The sun was shining but the Zoo was empty, so it was before open.
"Rise and Shine, troops," said skipper, still looking outside, "The zoo opens soon." He heard a groan come from Kowalski and had a strange sense of Deja-Vu. Instead of grabbing his air horn, he walked over to his sleeping friends and nudged Kowalski's shoulder. The penguin groaned again and rolled over.
"Skipper?" he moaned, "Wha-a happened?"
"You went crazy after eating too much candy at Julien's party, soldier." explained Skipper, looking into the penguin's eyes. They looked bloodshot and tired, much like Julien's had the previous night.
"I did? Oh, how embarrassing," he said. "I don't feel so good."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. My body aches, I'm nauseous and my head is pounding." Skipper put a flipper on his forehead, it felt warm. He knew his teammate truly was not feeling well.
"Did you have too much candy, soldier?"
"I've had more candy than I've had last night. It never made me feel this way the next morning." Kowalski responded.
"Alright, you stay in bed." said Skipper, patting Kowalski's shoulder. Then he looked down at private, who was rolled over facing away from Skipper and curled up tightly. Rico was sprawled out in his bunk, which was usual for the heavy penguin. Skipper thought about waking them up, but he knew it was a late knight and he himself was tired. He figured the team could pass on training today.
Skipper began to walk across the HQ to get something to eat, when suddenly the door to the secret passageway burst open and a stumbling fur ball fell through. The sound woke up Rico, who jumped out of bed and assumed a combat position.
"At ease, soldier. It's only Mort." said Skipper, holding up a hand to stop Rico from pummeling the poor little lemur. Rico looked confused.
"Skipper!" screamed the small puffball. When he looked up at Skipper, the penguin noticed that his big eyes were puffy and red, and the fur beneath them was matted with tears.
"What is it, lower mammal?" said skipper, as Mort hysterically sobbed on the floor.
"Skipper! It's King J-Julien!" Mort said between sops. The small lemur walked over and fell onto skipper, who grabbed him to keep him from falling.
"Whats wrong with Ringtail?"
"H-He's d-de..." Mort choked on his words as he attempted to say them. "Skipper! K-King Julien is d-dead!" The lemur fell to floor, seeming to loose all the strength he had in his limbs. Skipper gasped and froze. Rico seemed to do the same, his scarred face showing an expression of shock. Skipper wanted to say Ok, so Ringtail wants to play a little trick on us does he? But he cought the words before it left his mouth. He had seen Mort cry before, but he had never seen the lemur sob to this extent.
"What's all the hubbub, Skippah?" said a young penguin who walked up behind Skipper. Private must have awoke at the loud sound of Mort stumbling in.
"Little Ring tail here says King Julien is dead." Skipper said, without looking. His eyes were focused on the convulsing lemur in front of him. "Mort! Are you sure?"
"Y-Yes! I saw his body and the b-blood and his eyes were so empty!" He explained, looking back up at Skipper. Skipper then turned to look at private when he gasped and noticed something strange. He had a decent gash on the side of his head, and there was dried blood staining his white feathers dark red. The ends of his flippers were also stained dark red. All over his feathers were rumpled and dirty.
"Good Lord, Private! What happened to you?" Skipper said to the unaware Private.
"What's wrong, Skippah?"
"Go look in the mirror, soldier." Private obeyed, and upon seeing himself, he freaked out. Skipper said, "How did this happen? Tell me what happened to you last night!"
"I-I don't know Skippah. I went to look for Maelie when she went missing. I found her tinkering with some items, and before I knew it, everything went dark!" the short penguin explained. Skipper rubbed his chin. "Maybe I passed out and hit my head on a rock, sir."
"I don't know. These things just don't add up. Go get cleaned up and we'll go investigate." Skipper responded to his younger friend.
"Aye, aye!"
A few minutes later, Skipper was on his way to the lemur's habitat. Rico, Private, and a still trembling Mort joined him. They had managed to calm down Mort and Rico had wrapped Private's head with some bandages.
On the way Skipper noticed muddy footprints that looked like a penguin's on the floor in the passageway heading towards thier hideout. There were also several streaks of dried blood staining the sides of the passage. He thought about it, but then assumed it was just Private coming back, stumbling, after getting that gash on his head. Kowalski remained in bed, feeling to sick to join the group.
When they reached the Lemur's enclosure, Maurice was waiting for them. His eyes looked as normal as they always were, no sign that he had been crying. Skipper noticed he looked content and undisturbed. Marlene stood next to him, her face looking stunned and her eyes pointed at the ground.
"Is this all really true?" Private said to the short, round lemur when they approached him.
"I'm afraid it is," Maurice responded dimly. "He is over there, in the bushes." The lemur pointed twoards a group of bushes that Skipper faintly recognized, but he was not sure because there were many similar bushes in the enclosure.
"Hey, where's Maelie?" Skipper asked, noticing that the dark furred lemur was once again missing from the group.
"After she saw King Julien's body, she ran off crying. We haven't been able to find her since then." explained Maurice.
"I can't believe he's gone," mumbled Marlene in disbelief.
"Well we're not accomplishing anything standing here. Let's go see Julien." said the penguin. There was a lot of tension in the air as the walked over to the bushes where Julien supposedly lay. Before they got close enough to see, Private spoke up.
"Maurice, do you know how he passed?"
"No clue. Whatever it was, it wasn't natural though. There is too much blood for it to be illness or something." he explained, eyes focused on the bush they were about to go into.
"Guys, I'm going to stay outside. I can't bare to look at him again." Marlene said, looking at the ground. Mort was close by her side, and it didn't look like he wanted to venture into the bushes either. Skipper walked up to the otter and placed a flipper on her shoulder.
"Alright, soldier, take Mort with you and try to find Maelie for me, OK?" To this, Marlene nodded. Skipper turned to Private. "Would you like to stay outside as well?"
The young penguin paused, and then said, "Yes, Skippah. I want to see what happened to King Julien." Skipper nodded, then turned back to Maurice. The remaining group members then proceeded into the shadows underneath the bush.
Before skipper could even see anything, he noticed a rotten stench. It wasn't much unlike the smell that emits when fish is left out too long, but it was much, much worse. It made his eyes begin to water and his stomach do flips. The entire area was filled with the smell of death.
They reached a clearing in the middle of the shrubs, and right away Skipper saw a familiar figure sprawled out on the ground.
"So it really is t-true," coughed skipper, fighting the want to vomit. Rico wasn't as strong, and he quickly hunched over and several items tumbled onto the ground in front of him. Private put his flippers to his mouth and looked like he was about to do the same. Rico continued heaving although nothing else came up.
It wasn't so much the sight of seeing a corpse that was so nausiating, It was the sight of seeing a lifeless friend dead before you. Skipper knew that seeing their friend dead was nearly too much for himself to take. He found himself speechless and a tight knot was forming in his throat as he fought back tears.
The lemur king was sprawled out as if he had just fallen and never gotten back up. He was flat on his back and his face was staring up twoards the sky. His eyes were open, and the pupils in them looked dark and lifeless. His mouth was open a crack and flies were buzzing in and out of it. Skipper's eyes moved to the small mammal's chest, where once white and gray recently groomed fur had been been stained a deep, dark red.
The penguin noticed two gaping holes in the lemurs chest, and more flies were buzzing around them.
The grass around the area was trampled and some branches were broken off the shrubs. Skipper could find pebbles and blades of grass that were covered in red. Julien's fur was matted as well, and looking at his left arm, Skipper could tell it had been broken. What really caught Skipper's eye was a long, curved crowbar clutched in his other hand. Maurice broke the silence that had ensued until now.
"Mort found him this morning when he went to use the restroom." he explained.
"Oh the poor thing," said private quietly.
"As you can tell, this was no natural death. I don't think it was even an accident of any sort," Maurice continued. Skipper walked around the body, trying to keep his cool, and approached the crowbar. It was dented like it was used to hit something fairly hard, and it had a bit of dried blood on the end.
"This crowbar might have been used as a defensive weapon," Skipper commented, eyes locked on the curved metal. "Which means he was attacked."
"That's what I was thinking," Maurice responded.
"And all this disturbance around this area... there was obviously a struggle," continued the leader Penguin. He had watched late night crime dramas on the penguin's Television, and recognized some of the signs that the famous detectives used to draw conclusions. Kowalski knew a lot more about those shows, but he was not here right now to help. Skippers eyes moved from the crowbar up to the lemurs chest.
"These wounds look like bullet holes," he said, pointing a flipper to the two gaping holes.
"What's a bullet, Skippah?" asked Private quietly.
"They're projectiles that are fired from guns." explained Skipper. He had not let Private watch much TV that involved firearms. "I can't believe it..."
"I believe it! Our beloved Julien was murdered!" Maurice said loudly, causing Rico to gasp. He was still hunched over on the ground, his random items in front of him.
"I hate to say it but you're right lower mammal," Skipper agreed. "But who would do such a thing?"
"I have a theory," said a female voice behind Skipper, who turned to see the elusive dark furred lemur. Her eyes were puffy and her face looked drained, an obvious sign that she had been crying as hard as Mort was. She had some black feathers in her hand.
"Nice of you to join us, Maelie," said Maurice.
"Thank you. I have reason to believe the animal who killed King Julien is with us right now." she explained, eyes pointing to each of the penguins and Maurice in succession. Rico gasped again.
"Who?" shouted Skipper, jumping up.
"Private!" she hissed, pointing at the young penguin.
"Me?" Private responded, taken aback.
"Yes you. I found these right here," she said, holding up the black feathers she had brought. Skipper recognized them as penguin feathers. His beak dropped wide open when he saw a few more feathers scattered around the area that he didn't notice before. "And last time I checked, you are missing some of yours, Private."
All eyes pointed to the penguins small body, and sure enough, he was missing several small patches of feathers. Skipper had not noticed the missing feathers until now.
"Julien must have pulled them out during the struggle!" assumed Maurice.
"I concur," said the other lemur.
"That's preposterous, mammal! There are other birds in this Zoo with black feathers." argued Skipper for Private's sake.
"I thought that too, and I was about to let it go. That was until I came here and noticed that your head is wrapped in bloodstained bandages, Private." she explained, her face growing dark. Maurice's eyes changed between Private and the crowbar Julien was clutching on to several times.
"I passed out during the party and fell!" explained Private desperately. Skipper couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing. At least, he wanted to not be able to believe.
"Obviously poor Julien was trying to defend himself and he landed a good hit on you," Maelie sneered. Maurice took a step back from Private and skipper walked back around the body to stand next to the other penguins.
"All of the animals in this zoo have blood flowing through their veins, Maelie." argued Skipper again.
"Yes, but name one who has a new gash the size of Private's." she shot back quickly, glaring at the penguin leader. Maurice did the same.
"Isn't it a little early to be throwing accusations around?" said Private in his own defense.
"I suppose so, but the evidence is stacked high against you." said Maurice.
"Gun-s-shot," said a raspy voice that could only be Rico.
"Rico's right. Julien died of Gunshot wounds," concurred Skipper. "How in the world would Private get his hands on a gun? Us penguins disregard firearms as a form of weaponry, mainly because they're too big for us to hold.
"That's the last piece of the puzzle," said Maelie, more softly and with more anger than before. "But when I find that evidence, so help me, I'll have Joey feed you to the alligators!" Skipper could sense Private shiver.
"I know you're hurt Maelie, but why in the world would you accuse Private of killing Julien? He's the nicest guy around this place." said Skipper.
"I don't know what his twisted little mind is up to," she shot back. Skipper could tell that she was faking how angry she was sounding.
"Don't fight over King Julien's corpse. Ever hear about respecting the dead?" said Maurice loudly. "We need to get him out of here so we can give him a proper burial."
"Agreed, mammal." said skipper. Rico, Skipper and Maurice then lifted Julien's body up and slowly carried out of the bush. Skipper noticed when they picked up the body Julien's hand went limp and the crowbar fell out of it. He had heard on those crime dramas that sometimes the muscles in people's hands tensed up so tight that nobody could pry it open. The shows he had watched involved people holding important items, and he remembers the detectives using it to tell if the victim was holding an item or not when they died. It made Skipper suspicious.
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Sorry for the lenthiness of this chapter, and also it was primarily speech so it was probally boring, nonetheless I hope you're enjoying it! Please Respond!
