Note: Heyo, peeps! After this chapter, the following ones are going to be shorter.

Private's body fell rapidly into the electric powered machine. Finally he hit the bottom blades with a PLOP. In that moment he prepped himself for being ground up. The সেকেন্ড past-nothing happened. Still, the razors dug into his back. The পেংগুইন laid there-stuck-shaken.
What had just happened? Was this real? Would he open his eyes-still in bed? It was worth a shot. His eyes slowly opened. Nope, still in the funnel. All over his body, he was covered in guts and blood. He was startled at first, but soon was certain they weren't his. They were too cold.
He heard his name. A petrified voice called for him. It was familiar. "Private!" It screamed. He knew what he was going to say, but nothing came out. He was just too traumatized to speak. His pitful attempts turned out to only become tiny squeaks. His eyes burned as the lights above flashed on. Two faces stared down at him.
"Private!? Are আপনি all right?" Skipper called. Private shook his head agonizingly.
"Yes, but you're alive!" Skipper pointed out.
"Can আপনি get up?" He asked his injured friend. Private shook his head. Skipper sighed."All right, Rico, grab hold of my legs." Rico did as he was told, and lowered Skipper into the "hot zone". The penguins stretched, and pulled. Once Skipper drug Private closer, which involved screaming, he grasped both of the private's flippers, and tugged him up with him.
For the way to their room, Skipper carried Private, nuzzling him close. He stroked his back to calm him from his terror. At last, they reached the room. Rico stayed with Private, while Skipper decided to go investigate their সেকেন্ড dilema.
Down the stairs he went. Unforunately, to reach the সেকেন্ড staircase, he had to pass the dining room. The same hallway he had been spooked him almost a মাস পূর্বে was the one he was travelling down once again.
There was a blunt answer to his question, when he saw Ms. Williams' door flung open. Every one stared at him, when he came in.
"It seems আপনি took your time." Ramona snarled.
"Sorry, but one of my men was in danger. I had to rescue him." Skipper shot back. Ramona rolled her eyes. "So what happened here?" He stood back, and gestured to the bed. Ms. Williams laid stiff. Her eyes were open, but never blinked. Her beak was opened in the way it would look like if she was trying to scream অথবা breathe for air.
"Does she have a pulse?" Skipper asked.
"No," Todd ব্যক্ত gravely.
"This murderer is getting bolder and bolder." Skipper shook his head, and contuined investigating.
The other team took over searching the body, while Skipper looked around. A chest sat at the foot of the bed. Skipper curiously dug through it deeper and deeper. He did so-until something caught his eye.
It was an old newspaper. The front page was inscripted:
Timothy Williams Dies In a Hunting Inciddent
Nearly keeling over, himself. Skipper took a gulp, hiding his discovery.
"Say, Ramona, how did আপনি know, Ms. Williams?"
"I know-knew their son." She ব্যক্ত gravely.
"Oh, do আপনি happen to know how he died?"
"His father and him went hunting, and there was a miss-fire."
"Okay," Skipper nodded.
Later that night, at dinner, Private stared at Skipper as he shoveled down আরো and আরো "fish". Skipper turned to him. Private gasped.
"Come on, Private, eat." Skipper ordered. "It's good." Skipper said, taking a bite out of it. The meat had clearly been cured. Private almost got sick. He thought for a second, why was Skipper trying to get him to eat so bad? Maybe, he was intending to plumpen him up.
"No thanks," ব্যক্ত Private, attempting to keep calm.
"You have to eat something Private! It's not like আপনি to skip out on a meal." ব্যক্ত Skipper, who actually sounded concerned.
"I just can't eat right now. I'm not hungry." Confessed Private. Skipper nodded. There was a interminable lack of discussion-until জলপাই spoke up.
"So, Rico, how are things?" She asked.
"Huh?" Grunted Rico.
"I was just going to ask if আপনি wanted to go swimming tomorrow night."
"Oh, sure."
"Great!"
Once they were finished, Ramona ordered her team to খুঁজুন for আরো evidence. When they did as she said, she approached Skipper.
"Hey, can I talk to আপনি alone?" She whispered in a strangely desiring tone.
"Uh-sure." Skipper stammered.
The two penguins headed up the stairs. Skipper stopped, when they reached the শীর্ষ of the stairs, but Ramona went to her door.
"Wait, I thought we were going to talk." ব্যক্ত Skipper.
"We are." Winked Ramona. She opened the door for Skipper. The room was dark. Only candles lit it. With a grin, Ramona shut the door behind her.
"Skipper," She ব্যক্ত in a voice he hadn't heard in so long, "we have some catching up to do." He gulped. She started rubbed his shoulders.
"Come on, Skipper. If we're going to work to together we need to get along."
"Uh, Ramona, have আপনি been-"
"Hush," She whispered. She pressed her beak to his. She ran her fins through the feathers on the back of his head. He tried to pull away, but she wouldn't let go. He attempted to escape her grasp one আরো time-only harder. She retreated.
"I'm sorry! I just can't do this right now! What's your problem-one মিনিট আপনি hate me, and the পরবর্তি you're… স্নেহ চুম্বন me?! This is a crisis situation, and you're … ugh!" Skipper shouted as he left, and slammed the door behind him. Ramona glared after him-hurt and filled with anger.
When Skipper got to the door of his room, he heard Private and Rico talking. With his earhole to the door he listened in.
"Skipper's scaring me, Rico." Private gulped.
"Yeah," Rico nodded.
"I... think he's the...." Private admitted, while Skipper listened closely with astonishment.
"Nah," Sighed Rico.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just being silly." Private shook his head.
"Yep-a-doodles!" Rico smiled.
Skipper waddled in, catching them off guard. Private was seemingly petrified. Rico trembled.
"Hey, boys-what's… uh going on?" Skipper asked.
"Nothing," Private said.
"All right. Well, I have to make a phone call." Skipper said.
"A phone call?" Private repeated.
"Yeah, I just need to talk to some one."
"You can talk to us, Skippah." Private perked up.
"No-I mean-there's a certain পেংগুইন I need to call, okay?"
They nodded, and left Skipper again. Their suspiciousions grew, but they followed orders.
In the middle of the night, Private woke-up. All his feathers were drenched in sweat. He gasped. What seemed as echoes followed his gasps.The familar sounds of Rico's snores were gone. Skipper's low breathing and murmuring weren't there either. He was alone. অথবা was he?
The floorboards from outside the door creaked. An eerie voice called out his name.
"Private, come on out! Ready অথবা not-here I come!" A voice called. Private knew that voice. The sound of a ছুরি sharpening ran chills down his back. He rushed in the chair. Feet were visibly moving from the slit underneath the door.
Private covered his eyes, and kept them that way. Then, he heard breathing. Private knew he was coming closer. The footsteps got louder and louder. The chair gently rocked the frightened পেংগুইন back and forth.
The footsteps stopped-along with Private's heartbeat. He knew some one was behind him. Something reached out to him. A bone-chilling flipper landed on his shoulder.
"It's all right, Private, I'm here." Skipper whispered. Private turned, and what he saw made him gasp.
Private jumped. He searched around. Thank goodness-he was in bed. But his calm state-of-mind was briefed দ্বারা the sight of Skipper towering over him. Skipper patted Private's back.
"Are আপনি okay?" He asked. Private nodded-his eyes wide with terror.
"You need to get আরো sleep, soldier. We've got a long দিন of investigating tomorrow." Skipper yawned, and headed off to bed.
দিন 28
The পরবর্তি দিন was as cloudy as the দিন it followed. Something about Skipper that দিন was off. He was extremely caring for his two friends. But the strangest mood Skipper was in the morning, when he woke them up. Instead of his usual barking orders to wake up, he woke them up gently.
"Private," Skipper ব্যক্ত softly. "Up and at 'em."
Private wearily opened his eyes, and sat up immediately. He rubbed his temples to feel ready for the day. "Aye, aye, Skippah!" He saluted. Skipper stared into Private's eyes with sorrow.
"Skippah, are আপনি all right?" Private pondered.
"Yeah, what about you? আপনি had a rough night."
"I'm fine," Private reassured Skipper. There was a pause.
"What was your dream about?" Skipper asked. Private was petrified. Was Skipper on to him? অথবা was he just concerned?
"Um, well, it was sort of like my other nightmares."
"Which were?" Skipper questioned.
"About a murderer trying to-" Private sighed. Before he finished, Skipper brought him into his flippers. Private rested his head on Skipper's chest.
"I promise, no one is going to hurt you." Skipper whispered. Private nodded with tears in his eyes. Just when Private thought he was warm and নিরাপদ in his big Skipper's flippers, "you know, I'd never…"
"What?"
"Nevermind," Skipper said.