This all originated from a borderline-nightmare I had. What was believed to be retromutagen turns out to be a virus that kills almost all life on Earth...and the few survivors include the turtles. Left alone, the brothers have to do what they can to survive this post-apocalyptic world...but it's hard when you're on the run from one of your own. This is a drabble, but if it gets good reviews, I'll write more.
They felt alone all over again.
How long had it been? Almost a year? It felt more like a century…though they stopped counting when they finally gave up on keeping track of time. It only seemed like yesterday when they saw Baxter Stockman on television advertising his "cure" for the mutants roaming around New York…or, as he proclaimed them, "monsters". Donatello was instantly interested; did Stockman manage to create a retromutagen before he did? He figured he could get a hold of it and use it on Mr. O'Neil and Timothy, maybe even all the mutants that hated them so they would be less of a threat to them.
But of course…Stockman proved to not have the brains that Donnie did.
The so-called "retromutagen"…it ended up evolving into a powerful virus that spread through the general population via the mutants he tried to "cure" as a televised demonstration. In one day, over half of Manhattan contracted it…and all died within two or three days. The victims would undergo what looked like a mutation…and within those two or three days, their bodies would liquefy from the inside out, the virus literally destroying their genetic material. In just a week, it spread to the rest of the state…then followed the Eastern United States…then the entire country…then half of the planet…then it was clear just about no place was safe from this invisible killer. Even the Kraang were vulnerable to the disease; any that didn't get infected returned to Dimension X and never came back, much to their somewhat-relief.
So why was it they survived?
Leonardo stared around at the barren landscape that was once Madison Square Garden…noticing the deformed bones scattered along with the debris of fallen buildings and wrecked cars. For once the sun was out…but he was anything but calm. Even though he and his brothers were possibly the only ones left on the planet…he always had to have eyes in the back of his head. Sad to be hunted down by one of your own.
They never expected Donnie to be the one to snap…but everything started to go downhill when Splinter contracted the disease from contaminated water. The purple-banded turtle forced them all to wear protective gear as they tried to make the process less painful…because the genius knew he couldn't find a cure in just days. They left the room when they could hear the rat convulsing and gurgling…followed by his semi-liquid remains collapsing onto the floor. Whatever was left of him they burned on a pyre and placed in a jar. Though Mikey had nightmares, they were able to cope because they had each other.
But then…April became infected.
Donnie feverishly scrambled to find some sort of cure or treatment, but they all knew it would be in vain. This time, they didn't have time to leave the room as they watched the redhead's watery blood gush from her mouth, nose, and pores. Her body proceeded to sink in on itself…Mikey didn't stop having nightmares for months…
It only took about a week after April's demise to notice that Donatello lost all touch with reality…he stared mumbling incoherently…he began shouting at them to shut up when they didn't say a word…he started throwing scalpels at them…and then…things took a turn for the absolute worst when he found Casey and stabbed him to death, shouting that it was all his fault April and Splinter died. Still having Casey's blood fresh on his body…he turned his attention to them…and started telling them it was all THEIR fault now.
It was now about four months since their last encounter with Donnie, one that they barely survived. They always had to keep on the move…their new "home" was an abandoned Wal-Mart, where they had all the canned food they could eat. If that wasn't enough, Leo and Raph took turns going out and hunting for game such as deer or birds to cook up and eat. They even found an area in the basement to grow a makeshift garden and eat from it. Cooking was one of the ways Mikey kept his sanity…but sometimes he told them he missed Donnie even though he was crazy and would try to kill them.
Leo breathed a tired sigh as he stared at a fallen billboard that was covered in the spray-painted words "THE END IS NIGH". Well, it wasn't far from the truth; every day felt like the last. He knew during their time of hiding that Donnie probably built machines out of Baxter's old lab to hunt them down and slaughter them…but he would protect Raph and Mikey…even if it meant shedding his familial blood. That thought haunted him as he could still remember Donnie's sing-song voice from their last encounter before they moved to their current location.
"I'm comiiing for yoooouuu, big brooootheeerrr…"
