Death in the Zoo
Chapter 16 - The Road Ahead

Skipper sat on the windowsill of an open window, watching his unconscious teammate lay on a table on the other side of the room. It had been several hours since they had rushed Private into the veterinarian's clinic, and the air was now cool and crisp. The whole place seemed eerily silent... much like the night after Julien had died. The penguin noticed the lack of emergency sirens and cars on the streets.

The animal doctor had done everything he could for Private. His assistances had all gone home and most of his equipment was put away for the night, so he had not been able to do as much as Skipper had hoped. In the operating room, the veterinarian first had used some antibiotics to ward off infection, then he removed one of Private punctured lung using a steady hand and a sharp knife. Skipper had watched the whole incident, cringing when he saw the man poking around in Private's chest. When the doctor had finished with that procedure, he did his best to sow up the gaping wound and stem the bleeding. He couldn't do much about Private's internal bleeding though, that would have to stop on its own.

Now Skipper looked down at his fallen comrade laying in a bed much like the one the team had found Julien playing in when he had visited the clinic. The penguin's face looked peaceful; his eyes no longer were open in blank, but rather closed as if he was sleeping. Skipper liked the sound of that. Private was sleeping, that's all.

"You haven't left his side since he got here," Maelie stated. Skipper looked over to see the female lemur climbing up onto the windowsill next to him. He would normally have been startled at the voice, but he was quite done with the feeling of being scared.

"No penguin left behind," Skipper returned, solemnly. He looked back at Private, listening to the quiet beeps from the heart monitor not far from him. His pulse was slow but steady. "I'm not leaving until he wakes up."

Maelie let a few moments of silence pass between them before responding. "That's very caring of you."

"Yeah."

"Where's Rico and Kowalski?" The lemur asked. She still looked terrible, but the swelling of her eye had gone down and her bleeding had ceased.

"They went back to HQ," he explained. "To do something about Maurice's body." Maelie nodded, then looked over at the wounded bird.

"He was very brave." Maelie said after a moment. "He defended me all on his own, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to hold off Maurice forever."

"He's always been like that." commented Skipper.

"Yeah?"

"Yup. He never backs down when a friend is going to get hurt." the penguin explained. Maelie looked uneasy a the word 'friend'.

"I still don't know why he considers me a friend," Maelie said, "I used him to save my own skin."

Skipper looked up once again at the mammal, this time a little surprised with his new friend's words. "What do you mean?"

Maelie took a deep breath. "The reason I came here was because I knew that Maurice was going to try to get back at Julien some day. I didn't know to what extent, but I knew that Julien was too naïve and gullible to realize it. I found all of Maurice's stuff at the party... the alcohol, fake blood and even the pistol."

She paused for a second, staring into the dark room.

"Go on," Skipper urged.

"I tried to sneak it all away and dump it into a dumpster, but Maurice caught me. He tried to throw a rock at me, but I ducked and it hit Private by accident. Then he grabbed the pistol and held it to my head, saying that he would kill me if I said anything to anyone. I was scared, but I knew that his target was Julien, not me. I remained calm and followed his orders.

He told me to pluck some feathers from Private and ruffle him up a little. He thought I didn't know what he was really up to, but I did. As soon as I got away from him I went to warn Julien, but he wouldn't do anything because he was so drunk. I tried to drag him away, but I fell directly into Maurice's trap. I tried to fight him but he was too powerful for me."

Skipper marveled at Maelie's words. So the brown hairs they found at the crime scene had in fact been Maelie's, left there from the struggle.

"And he used the Powerline to kill Julien?" Skipper suggested. Maelie nodded.

"Then he told me that I didn't tell everyone that Private was the one who did it, he was going to kill me." Maelie said, finishing her story. "I complied to save my own life... but I very nearly cost Private his."

"You should have come and told us earlier. We would have believed you."

"I know... but I was so scared." she said sadly, closing her eyes. Skipper didn't want to admit it, but he could relate to how she was feeling. He decided to get off the subject.

"You said something about knowing that Maurice was going to get back at Julien," he said. "Why?"

Maelie took another deep breath and looked back into the darkness. "About three years ago on Madagascar, we had a very kind old king. One day he was stricken with an illness and passed away a few days later. As we had been doing for as long as we could remember, the lemur elders set up a trial for any lemur who thought he or she was good enough to become leader.

Not many tried... it was a very grueling and rough journey through the deepest jungle in dangerous areas. Two of the group were Maurice and Julien. Maurice had been raised by one of the most combat savvy lemurs in all of our group—and he showed it. He was built for surviving the tough trials. Julien, on the other hand, didn't really have any skills. He pledged to the challenge out of stupidity and want.

Maurice made quick work of the competition as soon as it started. Before the group of lemurs even set out into the wilderness, Maurice blackmailed most of the competitors and they all dropped out. Julien, of course, didn't believe any of Maurice's threats and stayed in, leaving only him and Maurice.

The two of them disappeared into the jungle for three days, then returned. They had equally completed the challenges set by the elders and by some miracle Julien was still in the running. The fact that they both survived made the elders choose to have them fight as a form of a tiebreaker.

You see, when Maurice was very nearly an adult his Parents were eaten by a pack of fossa. He couldn't bare the loss, and his hate soon grew for everyone. He felt like he couldn't trust anyone and he felt as though it was everyone's fault that his parents were killed. If he had become king, he would have surely destroyed our civilization and we all would have been slaughtered by the fossa."
She paused for a second.

"So what happened at the fight?" Skipper asked, enveloped in the lemur's story.

"Of course Julien got the crap beat out of him. He couldn't defend himself in any way, and Maurice would have won easily if I hadn't stepped in." Maelie explained.

"What did you do?"

"I climbed to a high branch and threw a durian at Maurice, which knocked him out. The elders were confused but took it as a sign from the Sky Spirits that Julien was meant to be king."

Skipper looked at the lemur sitting next to him. Her eyes seemed to be blank and distant as she reminisced. Maelie continued.

"When Maurice woke up, he wasn't very happy," she said. "He was even less happy when Julien made him his royal assistant to the throne for being such a 'good sport'. And every little thing Julien did to annoy him from day one has only added to his hate."
"So he plotted his revenge?" Skipper commented.

"Yes. I had no idea he would go to this extreme, though." Maelie said, seeming to return mentally.

"That lemur was deranged," Skipper said softly. "He was going to snap one day."

Maelie sighed. "He did, but now he's dead." She suddenly looked unnerved and she looked at her feet. "I killed him."

Skipper wasn't sure how to respond at first. He hadn't really thought of it before; Maelie had ended Maurice's life with the air pistol. He was so full of hatred each time he saw the lemur, even the sight of his lifeless form had repulsed him. Now his mind was more clear, and he wondered if Maelie was indeed a murderer now too.

"Yeah you did," Skipper returned finally. "But it was either him or you."

Maelie sighed again. She was not taking the idea that she had actually ended someone's life well. Skipper continued.

"Maurice had already killed Julien, very nearly killed Private and was about to kill you." he explained. "If you hadn't pulled that trigger, you would be lifeless on the floor. You killed Maurice to protect yourself and Private."

Skipper words seemed to have a calming effect on the dark furred lemur, and she looked up him. Her green eyes were moist and she sounded as though she was on the brink of tears as she spoke. "I just wish I could have done that to save Julien..."

"You did all that you could." consoled the leader penguin. "You even came all the way here from Madagascar to try to protect him." Maelie nodded, her eyes seeming to light up a little.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Once again the eerie silence of the night enclosed in on the pair. Skipper listened to the soft rhythm of the heart monitor and thought about what he had just heard. He knew the lemur wished that her story didn't have to end the way it did—he that sense it in her voice. She wished Julien was still alive and Private was unharmed. Oddly enough, Skipper wished the same.

"I hope he'll wake up soon," said Maelie suddenly, breaking Skipper's thought. She gestured to Private. Skipper only nodded. "Hey Skipper..."

"What is it?"

"Do you hate me for what I've done?"
Skipper glanced at the lemur, who seemed to be very serious. "No."

"You're very forgiving," Maelie said, making Skipper arch a brow.

"Don't get used to it, ringtail." returned Skipper, making Maelie smile slightly.

The two then continued to sit on the windowsill in the dark of the night. The air seemed to have a lighter feel now, however. All of his questions had been answered, and the void inside of him seemed to be filled. He no was no longer longing for something that seemed out of his reach... no longer confused, angry or scared.

The penguin felt a slight smile pull at the corner of his beak; the future looked promising. He thought again about how the zoo would no longer be the same without Julien, or Maurice for that matter, but he knew that they would manage to move on. He felt at peace with what had happened over the last week.

He remembered watching Rico storm out of the holding pen they were being held in earlier that day. He had really used Rico to satisfy his nerves... something that he would make sure to never do again. The leader penguin couldn't stand to see hatred from one of his team towards him. The experience had been enough to chisel him to his core and he had begged Rico for forgiveness.

He remembered the feelings he had experienced when he saw Julien's empty eyes. He had experienced them again when he saw Private's... something he wasn't quite sure how to explain. He thought he had disliked Julien ever since he had first come to the zoo, but now he realized that Julien had been a friend to him. He was devastated by Julien's loss almost the same as when he thought he had lost Private.

He hadn't lost Private though. Private was going to recover from his wounds and the team would return to their missions in no time. He knew Private would have limitations and wouldn't be able to do anything close to what he had been able to... but at least he was alive. His bones would never fully heal and his chest would be scarred for the rest of his life... but at least he was alive. Skipper was happy about that.

Several more hours passed and Skipper could start to feel the exhaustion pulling at his eye lids. The sun began to rise behind him, filling the room and the surrounding area with dull gray morning light. Skipper turned to the sun and took it in, allowing it to warm not only his feathers but his soul.

He was finally at peace.

The End

AN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AN

Well that's my story. First off, please review for me! It would be great to hear what you liked and didn't like about my story! This is actually my first fanfiction I've ever written all the way through, so i'd love to know what I can improve upon.

It's been a great pleasure writing this story. In the five weeks it took to write it, I have recieved 2,000 hits, nearly 60 reviews and 15 favorites. Thanks to everyone for taking such a big intrest! Also hoping you guys enjoyed reading.

About my OC: I didn't really put any time into developing my character. I kinda picked the first name that sounded cool to me and thought up her apperance in the space of five minutes. In my opinion she turned out to be a great character with a mysterious background, though!

About the Storyline: When I started writing my story I wasn't really sure where I wanted to take it. I had a basic idea but I didn't know how the characters would change and what not. My first idea was to have Maelie kill Julien, but that would make the story too predictable. At the last moment I decided to add a twist with Maurice, who i wasn't planning on including very much. I like how it turned out though, but that's why most of Maurice's character is in the last few chapters.

The story focuses mostly on Skipper as I felt it would be easiest to write if I focused on the leader of the group. I tried to include all the penguins, but it seems that Kowalski got left out and is mostly a flat character throughout =(. Rico is also semi flat, but at least he had some conflict.

I tried to keep the story focused around Skipper but I had to change characters from time to time for effect (Private defending Maelie for example)So I hope that didn't confuse anyone.

Thanks again for reading :). I should have another Penguins story posted soon, but I'm going to put more work into it so just keep checking back.