Penguins of Anarchy IV: Endgame

Thirteen

It was the third day. Dreemo and Felly had been exhausted before; now, with Drake, Gostt, and especially Camo driving them relentlessly forward, they felt as if they could collapse dead at any moment. Riker was only conscious a quarter of the time, and each time he passed out, Glyphton worried he was dead.

Even Camo was aware that the group was made up of dead penguins walking. No one had energy left. They trudged at an agonizingly slow pace, and could go no faster. The shifts they took carrying Riker were getting shorter and shorter each time, to the point that no one could help carry him for longer than ten minutes at a time. A few times Camo or Felly would have to literally drag Dreemo, who seemed almost as half-dead as Riker. Though none of them spoke much, Dreemo was the quietest of them all besides Riker.

Camo faithfully led the others onward. Despite being exhausted as well, he had more stamina than any of the others—perhaps besides Gostt, who kept any complaints he may have had to himself.

Drake was now able to walk under his own power, and helped move Dreemo along more than anyone now that Felly was even weaker than he. He had given up on trying to encourage his nephew; Dreemo was just as dead on the inside as he looked on the outside. It nearly brought Drake to tears to see how far Dreemo had fallen—even further than Drake himself had ever fallen. He knew it was because Dreemo wasn't raised to be a fighter like his uncles and father were, and because he had a purer heart than they did—or at least he used to.

The scenery never changed. Snow, trees, the occasional rabbit or wolf. Drake and Camo dreaded the thought of encountering another tiger; they were quite certain that, in their condition, they would be a fairly easy meal.

Night finally came. "Let's take a rest," Glyphton groaned.

"We can't," Camo replied without hesitation as he continued to march forward.

He heard a thud behind him. He saw Glyphton facedown in the snow. Felly and Gostt lowered Riker's stretcher and sat down. Drake and Dreemo quickly followed. Camo stared back at the others, who were all completely spent. With a growl, he walked back to them and yanked Glyphton out of the snow to keep him from suffocating. "We can't stop," he insisted. He looked at the others. "We can't afford to stop!" They didn't even seem to hear him. Felly fell onto her back, and Dreemo looked unconscious.

"It's not by choice, Camo," Drake replied wearily. "They can't go on anymore."

Camo looked ready to explode. "I don't care! Whenever a soldier says they can't go on, they can always go a little further. Now come on!" He started dragging Glyphton forward, but Glyphton yanked himself from his grip and lay sprawled out in the snow. Camo kicked him in the side; Glyphton didn't respond. "C'mon! You want Riker to die? We've got to keep going!"

"Stop yelling!" Felly shouted angrily. "Just give us a few minutes!"

Camo trembled with fury. There wasn't a chance in the world he was going to stop. He wasn't about to lie down and die here like a coward. Giving up on the others, he began sprinting ahead, despite the fact that his conscience was screaming at him to stop—and so was Gostt. "Camo, hold up!" Gostt shouted as he chased after him. Camo shook his head and tried to ignore the masked soldier as he continued recklessly running forward, tripping over logs and rocks but getting right back up.

Camo glanced back and saw that Gostt would soon overtake him. He willed his cybernetic legs to go even faster as he sprinted up a snowy hill. As he reached the top, Gostt grabbed his leg and yanked him to the ground. Camo flipped onto his back, yanked Gostt down with him, and started punching him in the face. However, Gostt was stronger than he, and quickly overpowered him, pinning his arms down.