Death in the Zoo
Chapter 15 - Last Hope
Skipper felt icy darts run up and down his spine at the sight of the lifeless body laying on the ground in front of him. He shuttered and turned his head away from the eyes that still seemed to glare at him.
"We're too late!" Kowalski stated.
"I...I..." Maelie muttered. She was still staring at Maurice laying in front of her. She began shaking violently, loosing her balance and falling backwards, eyes never leaving the dead lemur.
"ugh!" Rico suddenly rasped. "P-private!" He quickly waddled over to the corner of the Headquarters where Private's unmoving body lay.
"Oh, no!" Skipper gasped, moving to where Rico now was kneeling next to his fallen comrade. "Private..."
The young cadet's eyes looked blank and his beak was slightly cracked open, allowing the slightest trickle of blood to drain out of it. Skipper realized how he looked just like Julien had when he saw the lemur's body laying in the bushes. He could feel his eyes starting to well up with tears.
This couldn't be happening. Private couldn't be dieing! He couldn't!
Rico suddenly let loose a loud, hoarse cry of pain and sadness. He sounded like he was choking on his breaths as he took them in. He was visibly quivering.
Kowalski, who looked on the brink of tears, walked over and knelt next to Rico. He placed the side of his head to Private's torn chest and listened closely.
"Skipper!" He cried suddenly, turning his head to look at his unstable leader, "He has a pulse!"
Skipper felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders; Private was still alive. The weight came back as soon as he glanced back at the young penguin's wound.
"We've got to get this patched up!" Kowalski continued. Rico, who calmed down a little, responded by regurgitating a spool of bandage and a few other medical supplies the penguins kept just in case. Kowalski grabbed them from the ground and was about to start attempting to close the wound when Skipper stopped him.
"We don't have the right tools to do something like this!" He stated seriously but shakily. "We've got to get him to the doctor!"
Kowalski looked at the leader penguin and spoke. "The zoo has been closed for a while now, nobody is there anymore!" His voice had a sense of panicking in it that Skipper only heard from the intellectual when he could not think clearly.
"It's our only hope!" Skipper returned, throwing up his flippers. "Sitting here arguing won't do a bit of good. We've got to move! Rico, help me carry Private." The heavyset penguin responded quickly by moving over to Private's feet and grabbing onto them. Skipper walked around to his head and grabbed onto his arms near the shoulders. Together they lifted the small penguin up and started making their way out of the HQ through the main door. However, Kowalski went in a different direction through the fish plaque exit.
Maelie was finally beginning to get a hold on reality once more. She looked at the the penguins leaving and followed, knowing they would need her help to get to the animal hospital in time.
Skipper and Rico managed to get carry Private for some distance but his limp body soon began to grow heavier and neither penguin could continue for very long. They wouldn't be able to continue all the way to the clinic this way. It was on the other side of the zoo and they needed to get there before it completely shut down. They needed a better plan.
Right when Skipper noticed that Kowalski was now missing, the a manhole above them opened and the intellectual's face could be seen in the failing evening light.
"Good, I caught you!" He said. "Hoist Private up."
Skipper complied without asking why. It was awkward, but they managed to lift Private all the way up to Kowalski. With a display of strength, he managed to pull Private's limp body onto the surface. Skipper and Rico quickly jumped out of the tunnel after Private was safely above ground.
"Alright now help me get Private into the cart!" Kowalski said, already ready to lift his comrade up again. Skipper looked and noticed a zoo golf cart, engine already running, only a few feet from them.
"Kowalski, you're a genius!" Skipper exasperated. Rico and Kowalski were already moving Private to the cart, quickly but gently. Skipper slid over to the cart and climbed onto the floor of the vehicle.
Together they were able to hoist Private once again. They were unable to get him all the way onto the seat, but they Skipper stayed with him on the floor of the cart. Kowalski took the wheel of the cart and Rico operated the petals. They had used this method many times many times before to operate the zoo golf carts.
"Hang in there, soldier," Skipper said to the unconscious Private as the cart began to move. They quickly gained speed and began to make excellent progress through the Zoo. Kowalski's excellent motor skills and Rico's quick reaction times made it possible for the two to navigate around the many obstacles.
The group rounded a building when suddenly Kowalski shouted, "Hit the brakes!"
Rico complied, slamming the brake pedal to the floor. The cart skidded to a halt, turning sideways and nearly flipping over. Private was nearly flung off the cart from the force, but Skipper held onto him.
"Status report, Kowalski!" Skipper called up to the tall strategist.
"You will want to see this for yourself." He returned. Skipper hopped up to the seat and his heart sunk at what he saw in front of him.
The entire area in front of them was full of animals, blocking them from getting to the the zoo veterinarian clinic only one hundred feet away from them. Most of the animals were there: the gorillas, the chimps, the elephants, and several groups of small animals. Some were holding tools that the zookeepers used to maintain the zoo, obviously with the intention of using them as weapons.
"No..." Skipper said quietly. The entire way was blocked with armed animals glaring at them and getting ready to attack. Skipper could hear many shouts from the group about Private. Skipper hopped up onto the hood of the golf cart and began shouting as loud as he could.
"Get out of the way!" he pleaded with the animals. "We have to get Private to the doctor!" The animals quieted down a bit at Skipper speaking and they all glared at him.
"Oi, why would we listen to you blokes?" Joey the kangaroo said, gripping a garden rake in his paws and looking furious.
"Private's been stabbed! He's going to die if we don't get him to the doctor before it's too late." returned Skipper, hoping the animals would listen. They were burning vital seconds sitting here while Private was taking his last breaths.
"Private's a murder!" shouted a flamingo. Many sounds of agreement came from the crowd."Private didn't... Look! We don't have time for this. Please, he's dieing!" Skipper returned. The animals didn't look like they would be complying with Skipper's request anytime soon.
"Good riddance." outed an animal near the back of the crowd.
"Private was framed!" Skipper fought. The riot wasn't pleased with his words, and they began to grow loud again.
"We don't want your lies," said one of the elephants. "we want you and your murderer out of our zoo!"
"Please! Maurice was the one who killed Julien." explained the leader penguin. The animals in the crowd responded as though they didn't believe a word he was saying. Maurice was right—the angry mob wasn't going to stop until Private was banished... or dead. Many of the animals continued to move closer to the cart, posing their various weapons and ready to strike.
Suddenly, another zoo cart whipped around the corner the penguins had just rounded. Skipper heard the squeal from the tires as it skidded out of control. It slammed into the side of the penguins' cart and a lemur was thrown from the driver's seat into the other cart.
Maelie scrambled to her feet, payed no heed to Kowalski or Rico and stood up next to Skipper on the front of the vehicle.
"Please, let Skipper get through! Private is going to die unless the doctor sees him!" She yelled in much the same way Skipper. Hearing the words from her mouth had a soothing effect on the crowd. "Private didn't kill Julien! He was framed, Maurice did it!"
Suddenly a lot of faces in the mob changed from expressions of anger to expressions of concern. A few animals lowered their weapons and began to move to the side. Maelie was the one who had spread the rumors about Private in the first place. After hearing her say what contradicted what she had said before, they were more convinced. What was even more convincing, however, was the bloodstained bandage wrapped around her body. Soon, a wide enough path was cleared for the cart.
"Rico, gas it." Skipper heard Kowalski call from the driver's seat. They proceeded quickly, nearly knocking Skipper and Maelie off of the cart. They grabbed onto latches to keep themselves from flying off.
"Thank goodness you showed up!" exclaimed Skipper. Maelie nodded silently, a serious look on her face.
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The veterinarian slowly made his way out of the office, sipping a cup of coffee and holding some papers in his other hand. He walked out the door of the clinic, turning to lock it.
It had been another long day. The tall Indian man couldn't wait to get home to see his wife and kids. He calmly locked the door, and suddenly he heard a loud screech behind him. Startled, he spun around spilling coffee on his white shirt.
What he saw amazed him; one of the zoo golf carts stopped not far from him. He became scared when he saw no one in the driver's seat and not a soul around who could have been driving it. A chill ran up and down his spine, and he slowly began backing away. What he saw next amazed him more than the vacant cart. A group of animals was crowded behind the cart and chattering loudly. Unsure of how all the zoo animals got out, he slowly inched towards the emergency animal control phone posted on the wall not far from where he was.
Unexpectedly there was suddenly an explosion not far from his feet. He jumped and nearly lost his balance, catching himself on the wall behind him. He looked down to see what had made the loud noise and saw three penguins and a lemur standing, looking up at him. What was odd was the lemur was wrapped it what looked like bandages!
He recognized them—they gave him trouble each time it was time for their checkups. One of them always seemed to run away but show up later that day, and usually he lost consciousness sometime during the day. He wasn't sure how or why, but he did. He looked at the one that was nearest to him... its eyes looked sad and wet. But wait, penguins can't cry.
The penguins inched closer and he noticed that two of the penguins were holding another penguin, one that he hadn't noticed before. He grimaced when he saw its bloodstained feathers and the gash on its chest. He knelt down, setting his papers on the ground, and looked closer at the small penguin.
He wasn't sure how the penguin had gotten it, but he had an openly bleeding chest wound and he could tell the penguin had fallen unconscious from shock. He was even more unsure about how the animals knew to bring it to him, or even where to find him! It didn't matter though, the small bird was loosing blood fast and if he didn't act now it would only have a few more minutes to live.
"Come here you," he said, reaching down and scooping up the wounded soldier from his comrades' arms. He checked for a pulse, and upon finding one made his way back into the clinic he had been so eager to leave only a few minutes ago.
AN ~~~~~~~~ AN
Sorry about the time it took to get this chapter out. I was pretty busy all weekend so I didn't get much of a chance to write until now. I should have this finished by the end of the week though (emphasis on should)
As always, thanks for reading and reviewing! This was a fairly unimportant transitional chapter until the next one, so I'm sorry if it didn't relieve any suspense :p
