As I ran towards where Skipper told me to meet them at, I failed to notice the showboat getting in front of me. I tried to slow down but we collided and tumbled to the ground.

"Hey! Watch it!" I said

"Are you on the way to the party?" asked Alex

"What party?"

"Marty's Birthday! I forgot to let you know you were invited this morning"

"Oh no, I'm on the way to my friends"

He took a second to think, he looked in the direction that I was running, and finally figured it out.

"You're friends with them?!"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Yes! They're psychotic!"

I slapped him with anger and he fell to the ground.

"You don't get to judge my friends, so stay away from me and from them!"

I ran to the Penguins, I looked back to see him staring at me with a concerned look at me but I kept running. I finally made it to the penguins, and as usual, they were waiting for me.

"Are you guys ready?" asked Skipper to everyone

Everyone nodded, except me.

"Mady? Is... something on your mind?" asked Private

"I'm just nervous, what if we get caught or worse?!"

"As long as you're with me, you'll be fine. I can guarantee that" reassured Skipper

"I appreciate that"

We entered the hole that Kowalski spent all day digging into the sewer system. It was disgusting but it was the stealthiest way out of the zoo. As we kept walking, Private broke the silence with a question for me.

"So Mady, why did you choose to follow us?"

"What do you mean why? Cause you guys are my friends"

"I feel like there's a deeper reason" said Kowalski

"Yeah, you know why we're going, but is there anything waiting for you there?" asked Skipper

I took a second to think, all I could think about was my family, when I was separated from them, but they weren't in the south. But I didn't want to tell them that, so I made up a lie that was half true.

"I just wanted to leave, it was getting boring doing the same thing over again"

"If you say so" added Skipper

Kowalski suddenly stopped and there was a manhole above us. Skipper and Kowalski talked for a brief minute, then turned over to the rest of us.

"This is it. Once we're up there, it's low profile" said Skipper

"And what about me?" I asked

"You'll have to wait for my signal to let you know when it's safe to proceed, got it?"

"Yes"

As Rico opened the manhole, we could see the train station barely full, it was past midnight so it definitely helped us.

We carefully made our way across the main lobby, everytime Skipper gave me a signal to safely reach them. As I was making my way to them, I heard screaming coming from the other end of the building.

"Uh Skipper? We have a..."

"Not now Mady, we gotta keep moving"

"But..."

"No buts! Now move!"

I stopped in my tracks, I was afraid of what could've caused the screaming, was I seen? No, I couldn't have been. So then what was making the humans scream?

I turned around and saw what caused the humans to scream, it was the showboat, and he was with his friends.

This idiot, I wanted to kill him but from the looks of it, he was gonna kill his best friend.

I tried to run to the Penguins to warn them but then the lights suddenly turned off and there were lights coming from outside.

I quickly hid under some benches near the main area. They were surrounded, I saw the Penguins join them in the circle, I wanted to run in and protect them but I also didn't want anything happening to them or me.

I saw the showboat talk to the humans, and I had every reason to try and tackle him to the ground, but should I?

"Hey! How you doing? Yeah, you know what? Everything's cool..."

"I'm gonna kill this guy! He's an idiot, he's... what's that one human doing?" I said in a confused tone.

I saw a human approach him as he had his back turned, as he turned back around, the human suddenly kicked him where the sun doesn't shine.

"Oh! Would you give the guy a break?!"

"Serves him right for being an idiot" I said while letting out a giggle

I saw that he kept trying to talk to the humans but it didn't look like it was working in his favor, then I noticed something that he or the others probably didn't.

I saw the humans about to shoot him, I did what I thought was most logical, I jumped and took the shot for him.

As my body slid across the floor, I briefly saw the Penguins quickly running over to me, the showboat also tried to run towards me but he was shot shortly after.

The Penguins surrounded me as my vision was getting fuzzy, I had a hard time thinking straight.

"Madison! Why did you do that for the hippie?!" shouted Skipper

"Private always said... to be nicer to others... so that's... what I... did" I responded in a drowsy tone

"Madison, you stay with me! Don't you dare fall asleep! That's an order!" shouted Skipper

"Is this... what I'm feeling? Huh... It feels... funny... I'm sorry... I can't... stay awake..."

"Madison? Madison!"

Those were the last things I heard before I fell asleep, there was nothing but a dark void, then suddenly a memory.

A stormy night, a sudden flood that swept me away, and then a branch that smacked me in the face.