Camaraderie: ch. 3- Ghosts of Kowalski's past

This chapter will be told in Kowalski's point of view. Also, there is death in this chapter and a lot of shouting. The rest of the story will get a little more intense and DRAMATIC.

Chapter 3

"Okay, I was raised in a small animal populated area in outskirts of Bayfield, Wisconsin. I lived with my father who had escaped a polar bear and a few hunting humans in his old zoo. Thirteen years ago, four friends were separated. Thirteen years ago, I held my limp friend in my flippers. Thirteen years ago, I ran away from home, never looked back, and met Skipper. So here's what happened that summer to me, Nat, Emma, and…I think his name was Izzy or Iggy. I'll call him Izzy. Here we go…"

JUNE, THIRTEEN YEARS AGO...

"Whoa!" I dodged the pinecone thrown at me by my best friend, Emma.

The four of us were standing on our heads, trying to play a game that Emma invented. I was terrible at it.

"You're supposed to catch it with your feet." She laughed, wiggling her squirrel toes.

Blood rushed to my head and I fell over."Well some of us have webbed toes and short legs." I grumbled.

"So, that would just be you then?" Nat said, waving her fingers tauntingly. Izzy the otter laughed as he helped me up.

"Okay, let's not be mean to him" Izzy reasoned.

I broke into a smile; I couldn't stay mad at my friends.

We chased each other around the park and laughed, getting closer to the human city.

"KOWALSKI!" The stern voice of my father echoed in the park. "WHY are you going near those humans? You KNOW you were told to stay away!"

I trembled, my friends broke into protests, but I was dragged away by my father.

"Ow, OW!" I yelled, he threw me into my room and slammed the door.

I sniffled and talked to my mom. Well, kind of. I never knew my mother; my dad refuses to talk about her. I don't think she's dead, I think she's lost and looking for me.

"Hey Mom, Dad yelled at me again. I know that if you were here, you'd protect me. Yesterday, he broke that Chemistry set I found in the garbage near the city. One day, I'll leave this place and look for you; and I'll bring along my friends. There's supposed to be a circus coming, I think I'll check it out. Well, goodnight Mom."

I rolled over and fell asleep.

"MORNING SLEEPING BEAUTY!" Nat's voice shook me from my dreams about being a giant ninja.  "No time to waste, we've got to get to Izzy's!"

I stumbled out of bed and followed her to the river where Izzy lived with his mother. Izzy and Emma came out with a plate of fish; my stomach rumbled loudly. I reached for one, but Nat slapped my hand away.

"Natty!" I whined, my stomach rumbled louder.

"Fishletoe." She said; we all stared at her and she sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's like mistletoe. So if you want one, you have to kiss Emma."

"What?!" I stared at Nat while Emma giggled. "Aww, fine! Anything for my breakfast."
She told me to close my eyes and lean forward. I did as she instructed and waited.

SMACK!

I was thrown on my back by a pile of mud and worms which now covered my face.

Nat and Emma were shaking with laughter while Izzy covered his mouth, clearly trying not to betray a snicker.

I scooped off the mud and hurled it at them. Emma dodged it, but Nat was hit. She tumbled backwards into the water.

"AHH! HELP, I can't swim!" she gasped for air. I was too horrified to move.

Izzy swiftly slid into the water, placing an arm around the lemur and pulled her out.

I apologized repeatedly, but she simply smiled. "I'll get you for that." She whispered harshly.

I was about to respond, but was stopped by my friends gasping. I turned and came face to face with my father. His face was contorted with rage and disappointment.

"Are you TRYING to kill someone?! What's wrong with you? You weren't supposed to leave your room. No more meals for the rest of the day." He growled, pulling me to our tin house.

No more meals? I thought. I haven't even eaten anything today.

Later that afternoon, I was playing with my broken test tubes when I heard a tap at my tiny window. It was Emma.

"I'm grounded for the rest of the week." I groaned, rubbing my hungry belly.

"Stuff your beak with this then." She smiled, shoving a basket of fish into my window along with a bowl of water. I happily gobbled my meal and slurped the water.

"Thanks Em, you're a life saver." I mumbled with my mouth full.

Emma's smile faded into a frown, "I'm sorry we tricked you."

I gulped and laughed, "What are friends for?"

We smiled at each other for a while until she had to leave.

I fell asleep on a full stomach.

TAP. TAP

"Wally, wake up!"

I groaned and turned on my other side.

"Seriously! This is an emergency!"

I turned to my window to find Nat's tear stained face staring at me.

"What happened?" I asked, bolting to the window, my heart thumped.

"He's gone. I-Izzy was t-taken by h-humans. I was on my tree when I saw them come and take him and his mother. I tried to stop them, but they kicked me away."

I growled, "Pull me through the window."

She tugged my flippers and I squeezed through my window.

We rushed to the riverbank where Emma was waiting for us. Izzy's home was destroyed and the Otters were gone.

"We'll look for him." I said determinedly.

"They went to the human town." Nat trembled.

"Kowalski and I will go; you make sure that no one else is hurt." Emma said confidently.
Nat nodded in agreement and sat where Izzy's home once was.

Emma and I walked through the forest; we heard noises as we approached the town.

"Hey, the circus is here." Emma squealed.

"Focus on the mission." I told her, "We have to find Izzy."

The circus tent looked inviting, but we couldn't be distracted. I was about to say something to Emma, but she was already entering the tent. I sighed and ran in. Humans were laughing and pointing at trapeze artists and silly animals. Emma had a disgusted look on her face.

"Look at what they're making him do." She growled harshly, pointing at a penguin in a cage.

The penguin was eating his fish, then regurgitating it, and forced to eat it again. He looked like he wanted to attack the human.

My beak dropped, I couldn't believe it.

Forgetting that humans couldn't hear me, I screamed, "STOP! Can't you see he wants to be free?!"

The penguin looked at me and smiled, his beak had a scar on it. Someone heard me squawk and Emma and I rushed out and didn't stop until we reached the forest.

"I'm…sorry…" I panted.

Emma patted my back consolingly. I showed every sign of wanting to return, but she pulled me back towards home.

We heard a twig snap and we froze. Voices reached us, they were men. A bang echoed and we ran, but crunching noises indicated we were being followed. Another bang resounded and Emma screamed. I ran ahead before I realized she was not with me. I ran back and saw her on the ground, clutching her chest which was bleeding.

"N-no…NO! EMMA!" I picked her up and carried her on my back. I ran back to the familiar patch of trees we played in. Nat yelled with joy and ran towards us. I saw her face pale when she saw Emma.

Emma's breathing was ragged. I saw my father approach us; he looked at the young squirrel with sadness.

"Nat…Wally...keep…close…friends…uungh." She no longer moved. Nat and I buried her where we used to play. Nat was crying; she now had no family except for me.

My father looked ready to kill me. He shoved me in my room and screamed that everything was my fault and that he never wanted to see me again.

I didn't want to be terrified of him anymore. I grabbed a bag that Emma made me for my birthday and a canteen.

I squeezed out of my window with difficulty and ran to the riverbank. My canteen filled and a few snacks packed in my bag, I turned away from my home and walked east.

"Wait!" It was Nat. "I'm going with you!"

She was carrying a brochure from the circus.

"Can I have that?" I asked.

"Sure, but did you hear me?" She whispered, "I have no family, nobody cared about me except for you three. And I might find Izzy."

I agreed to let her follow me, and so we set off eastward. We edged our way around the city and continued on.

Nat and I chatted about our lost friends and family. I told her that I was going to find someone to free that penguin from the circus. We traveled for miles, trying to avoid humans. I assumed we were in Indiana by now, but Nat wasn't listening, she was staring dead ahead.

Two humans were packing up their campsite and chatting. Nat and I jumped up into a tree to hear them better.

"Oi!" the bigger man said, "What did you do with 'em?"

"Wha?" the shorter one asked.

"Otters you found back in 'Consin."

"Wisconsin? Yeah, I sold them to a guy who was taking them down south, New Mexico, maybe."

Nat and I stared at each other for a while. I knew she wanted to look for Izzy, but I wanted to find my mother whom I thought was somewhere out east.

"Good luck. I hope to see you again one day." She told me, giving me a big hug which I returned.

"I'll be waiting. Emma always said that the things we lose come back to us in the end. I think she got that from a movie." I said.

I watched her hop from branch to branch as she left. I felt empty, like I'd just lost my childhood. I am now an adult, I have to take care of myself.

I traveled for days, until my food and water supply ran out.

Dizzy. I collapsed on the dirt, my stomach growled. I thought it was over, until I saw a pair of orange feet land in front of me. I tried to see who it was, but I blacked out.

"Lucky we got to him, eh?" a male's voice reached my ear holes.

I opened my eyes to find myself in some sort of secret base.

"Bone, Johnny Bone, Commander of the Antarctic Penguin Force." The penguin smiled, his brown eyes gleamed.

"I don't know, looks kind of scrawny." Said a shorter penguin with a flat head that looked two years older than me.

"And you look a bit well around the middle." I shot back.

He chuckled, "I'm Skipper. And who might you be, soldier?"

My eyes grew wide. "Kowalski's my name, and I'm not a soldier."

"Yet." Bone said.

They explained that they needed more soldiers on the Force. I accepted right away, and I told them that I wanted to be a science guy.

So, they put me on Skipper's team as lead strategist and Skipper's options man. I met Dennis Manfredi and Lenny Johnson who were also on the team.

Even though I was the new one, they let me pick the first mission. I remembered the
circus penguin and began planning.

My first mission was tracking down the tent and coming up with a plan to rescue the penguin. We found the tent in Oklahoma. I felt odd being so close to where Natty might be. My plan went off without a flaw. We managed to take the penguin to safety and add him to our team. I noticed he had a Mohawk.

He couldn't talk so I tried to ask him yes or no questions. Through questioning, I found out that his name was Rico and he was taken from his home and put in a circus when he was younger. We welcomed him to the team with open flippers.

I felt another odd sensation. I was home…this was my family now...I was, for the first time in a while, happy.