Welcome to Part 7

X)

The Loads We Bear

Prologue:

(Donnie's POV)

I had to admit living under a glowing orange dome was – interesting to say the least. The twilight colored light kept the plants inside from growing so large that they couldn't be controlled and it seemed to have a calming effect on the people as well, for most were very friendly and even talkative.

It was kind of weird

People weren't usually concerned about striking up random conversation these days unless it pertained to emergences, food/water or their survival. But the citizens of New Manhattan were well equipped to deal with such things which left them to actually live a little in their free time.

It was probably about as close as we would ever get to seeing the world like it had been before the outbreak. But for us it was just another strange new experience.

One we'd have to experience later

"Anything?" Leo's voice asked from my gauntlet.

"We're almost there." I told him as I looked down at the address again that was supposed to be where April and Casey had disappeared from. "What about you?" I asked knowing that he and Mikey were out trying to track down the woman Bishop had asked them to find.

"Nothing yet." He announced before I could hear Mikey call to him from a distance. "Stand by." He added and I lowered my arm as the line was ended and looked around to find Raph dropping down beside me again.

"Well?"

"He's working on it." I told him simply.

"Hey boys!" Zira suddenly called and we looked over to find her perched on another rooftop above us where she was currently watching something with interest. "Come look at this."

"Why did we have ta bring her again?" Raph demanded as we started toward the female alien.

"Because I'm not sure what will happen if we're too far away from each other." I informed him truthfully as I raised my right hand in emphasis. Though I had now covered the mark with a wrap he still knew I was speaking about the soul chain.

"Right." He stated sourly before reaching out to stop me from jumping up to join Zira and I turned to look at him as he thought over his next words. "Ya would – tell us if it was – hurtin' ya – right?"

I gave him a stern look in response which had him immediately backing up his accusation. "Don't look at me like that, they say that a doctor is his own worst patient and I'm not gonna let ya hide somethin' like that."

I couldn't help but smile a little at his concern and finally nodded. "Nothing's wrong Raph, the old one hurt like hell but Algernon seemed to have fixed it." I stated truthfully and added just for the sake of his sanity. "I'm fine, I promise."

"Okay." He finally agreed as Zira called for us again but he just waved her off. "But ya better let me know if anythin' does happen." He ordered sternly and I laughed before nodding once again and jumped up to the rooftop above us where I found Zira crouched near something on the edge.

"What is it Zira?" I asked as I walked over to kneel down as well only to find a really big scratch mark on the wall in front of me. I had to run my hand over it just to make sure it was real.

"It's fresh too." She stated curiously and I looked at her again.

"How can you tell?"

"I'm a predator." She explained simply. "I can see heat signatures."

"That's – helpful." Raph admitted solemnly.

"Where I come from; food is classified as something you eat that doesn't eat you first." She continued informatively. "It pays to have some decent tracking skills in your arsenal."

"So – can you tell what made these?" I asked her; pointing at the claw marks again but she just shrugged.

"I'm not familiar with this planet's biodiversity." She said simply and I sighed before asking another question.

"Can you track it?"

"That I can do." She admitted as she got to her feet to look around.

"Okay I admit it." Raph moaned as she led the way down to another building when she zeroed in on something. "She might be a little bit useful." He confessed sourly and I smiled before pushing him ahead of me as we followed her.

…

It took another hour for her to finally pin-point the source of the claw marks which gave me enough time to call up Leo again and let him know that we had found something interesting and were following the trail.

However what we ended up finding at the end of said trail was the same thing we were originally looking for. As we ended up arriving in an area of ritzy apartment complexes where an entire wall was missing from the highest level of one home; that just so happened to be April's.

"Gees!" Raph proclaimed in shock as we looked around the destroyed living room. "What happened?"

"Something angry." Zira explained as she pointed out more claw marks all around the room.

"Okay lets –" I started to take command when two glowing orbs caught my attention. "RAPH!" I yelled just before a huge creature tore through a hole in the nearby wall with a roar but thankfully my brother had had enough of a warning to turn around and catch the thing in its charge, though not enough to stop it.

Zira and I managed to dodge out-of-the-way as they slid across the floor and through another wall and I quickly followed after them as Raph finally managed to get a footing and threw the creature away.

"You okay?" I asked as I jumped through the hole with my staff out and he nodded while retrieving his own weapons and we stood facing the thing while it got back to its feet with a growl.

However before it could attack again a laser suddenly hit it in the side; forcing it to focus on Zira as she continued to fire off rounds from her gun causing the thing to roar and charge her as well. But she just gracefully flipped over its back as she changed the setting on her weapon and fired again.

This time the creature actually reared back from the blast and fell through another wall causing the ceiling to collapse all around us. Though thankfully there wasn't another level above the apartment or we were going to have some serious explaining to do.

"Okay so maybe she's a little more useful." Raph admitted as we rushed back in to help with the mess and attempted to find a way around so we could locate the thing again.

But just when we thought we'd found a way in I heard a strange whistle from outside followed by a displeased growl from the creature before it busted through another wall to escape the building.

"Damn it!" Raph complained as we discovered that the mess was too thick for us to follow and so we quickly picked our way out of the rubble to the other side of the apartment where we could still get out and made our way up to the roof. However by the time we got there the thing and whoever was calling it were already gone.

"Just when things were getting interesting too." Zira sulked as she walked up as well and holstered her gun in annoyance before punching me in the shoulder.

"Ow! What?" I demanded sourly causing her to place her hands on her hips and look at me sternly.

"You never told me you had cousins." She complained seriously.

"What are ya talkin' about?" Raph asked turning back to look at her as well.

"You really didn't notice?" She proclaimed before waving a hand in the direction the thing had escaped toward. "That thing had a shell – itwas a turtle."

Hope everyone has a good 25th

;)