In the City

°.

The wind was slightly shaking the trees as the group of five 动物 went over the 草 in the cover of the trunks' shadows.

Marlene would have preferred that Private had stayed at the oak but he had 说 he wanted to help. Rico had wanted to come with them, but Mason had been adamant that he stayed in 床, 床上 for two 更多 days. Finally Rico had 给 in. Marlene had been puzzled of the intensity with that Rico wanted to stay at Private's side…

As they approached the streets of New York they noticed at once that something was wrong.

Marlene, Private, King Julien, Maurice and Mort looked at empty streets, abandoned cars and broken windows. A paper flattered by.

"What happened here?" Marlene asked, greatly perturbed.

The others didn't answer. They continued their way through the streets. With the houses in which's windows was not a single light, Manhattan seemed to them like a ghost town. What ever had made the humans disappear, it must had happened in the last two weeks… 'Or', Marlene thought and looked through a broken window into a room that was completely messed up, 'it could have just happened in the last few days.'

Suddenly Private stopped. They first noticed it when Marlene looked back. Private stood still and looked down the 街, 街道 as if he was fixing something, but actually, he looked into emptiness.

"Private?" Marlene asked. "What is-?"

"Skipper" Private whispered.

"What?"

"It's Skipper."

They walked back to him.

"What do 你 mean?" Marlene asked.

Private still starred at the point down the street. But as Marlene looked this direction, she couldn't see anything unsettling 或者 extraordinary.

"Skipper was here" Private 说 quietly.

"What?" Julien asked disbelieving, but with a hidden worried tone in his voice.

"Private, I know that you're afraid of Skipper. We all are. But that doesn't mean that everything strange we see has to do with him" Marlene said.

Private turned his head to her very slowly, his eyes stayed focused at the point down the street. Just in the last moment he let them 移动 and looked into Marlene's eyes. She realized what she had just 说 wasn't very standing to reason.

"So 你 think that Skipper made up this mess?" Maurice asked and lifted his head to the high rising buildings.

Private nodded.

"But how should he have been doing that?" Julien asked in a how-ridiculous-voice "At least, he's just one little stupid penguin!"

"No, he isn't" Private said, still very quietly, as if he feared someone else could here him.

There was a moment of silence, in which everyone took an anxious look around. How could one 企鹅 crash so many windows? Expelling so many humans?

"I think Private might have a point" Maurice 说 "we should go on, but we should be careful."

And so they continued their way through the city. Behind every corner they expected Skipper standing there, ready to slid them to pieces. Then they found the first body. Marlene suddenly stumbled back as she walked around a car and found a man lying on the ground, his 衬衫 ripped open and dirty from dried blood. His eyes were wide open; his expression showed surprise and terror.

Everyone got a very bad feeling in one's stomach. They found two 更多 dead humans, another man and a woman. Both had died in their cars as the two vehicles had crashed into each other.

After 10 分钟 of walking, the five 动物 arrived at a supermarket. Goods like vegetables and fruits were still quite fresh. And the fridges were still on power. But it seemed like the market had been abandoned only a couple of days ago.

Now they became really afraid. Suddenly, all they wanted was to be back in their tree, 安全 and sound.

The lemurs went on the 水果 bar, Marlene searched for 支撑, 海岸 晚餐 and Private took as many sardine cans in his flippers as possible.

Then they went back in direction of the Central Park.

As they reached it, an explosion was heard, far away. Hastily, they searched for cover in the shadow of the trees. Soon, they saw were it had been: on the other end of the park, in the streets behind the zoo's walls, were high flames shooting up into the sky. They could hear the people screaming even from this distance.