For a long time the only background noise was the distinct lack of silence, then suddenly the sounds of doors being opened again. Mikey's bag was moved, and then it seemed none too gently dropped to the ground if the distinct sound of his shell hitting solid earth meant anything. There were three other similar sounds, then the engine came to life, but this time the noise quickly faded away. In the silence that followed the sounds of wildlife could be heard, birds chattering, mostly. The noise of the engine had long since gone, when a groan could be heard. It was too deep in tone to be from anyone other than Raph.
The view still couldn't get anything but utter darkness through whatever materiel Mikey's bag was, but a stirring of confusing babble could still be heard, then a cry of shock as he must have realized his predicament, which most likely was the same as Mike's. There was a great tearing noise, then another cry, though this one sounded more relieved, as Raph's voice began to say, "Guys, hey you in there, oh please tell me you're not dead." There came another tearing noise, then Raph saying, "Leo," very loudly. A quick pause of silence as presumably Raph was checking his brother over, then suddenly bright light as Mikey's bag was torn open. "Mikey!"
The look of relief on Raph's face was palpable, he reached down to place his hand on what could possibly be Mike's face before nodding in content and moving on to the last bag.
Raphael himself was covered in blood. The wound on his arm had clearly not been bandaged, as he had blood all down his left side, which he seemed to be taking no notice of.
The camera now had a perfect view of the last bag, which must contain Donatello, and him bending down and using his sigh to slice through the bag. What he found inside made Raphael scream again.
Donatello was covered in blood.
Like Raph, Don's wound had never been bandaged and the head wound seemed to have sapped all the life out of Donnie. Raph began saying Don's name repeatedly, scooping him up into his arms and jamming his fingers so hard against his throat he would most likely have bruised there.
All of the turtles were well aware that head wounds were known to bleed the most. It was very likely Donnie's could have bled him out from such a place, and indeed the amount of red covering his face was beginning to suggest as much until Raph finally released a shaky breath he probably hadn't realized he'd been holding. He kept Don cradled in his arms and began looking about himself for the first time. The lingering fear on Raph's face heavily suggested he did not like what he was finding.
There were the obvious thoughts that must be going through his mind as he sat there cradling his injured brother and looking at unfamiliar surroundings, like wondering how they could make it out of this. Raph glanced down at his brother again muttering, "Come on egg head, we're going to need you on this one."
After the initial shock wore off Raph hopped to business, tearing up the rest of the bag that Don had been in and using it as bandages for first Don, then attempting it on himself. He wasn't making much progress on himself, and his constant cursing seemed to finally arouse Leo, if the groan from off screen meant anything. Raph looked up and about at the sound, then smiled slightly while calling out, "bout time sunshine."
Leo muttered something indistinct before a quick intake of breath and, "oh my gosh!" He could be seen scrambling on screen, his fingers ghosting over Donnie, much more gently then Raph had. "He's alive," Raph grunted as Leo's hand peeled back the bandages.
The eldest hissed in outrage at the damage as he replaced the bindings, then glanced about taking in the still unconscious Mike, then his full surroundings, then to the struggling Raph.
"Here," he said in exasperation. It was a testament to the situation that Raph made no protest as Leo sidled over and tightly wrapped the wound. "What do you think happened?" Leo asked in an almost casual tone of voice as he tried to wipe away some of the dried blood from Raph's arm.
"Not sure," he grumbled reaching up and smacking Leo's hand away, then began rubbing at the wound himself. "I just remember seeing something big headed right for us, was moving way too fast to be normal. Then my arm was stinging, then I woke up in a sack."
Leo nodded along, waiting until he was done before muttering, "same."
Both boys began taking in their surroundings, yet again. Light was beginning to paint the trees around them giving soft light to the unknown forest, and making the ninjas feel ill at ease. Leo was eying Don with worry, trying to figure out how much blood he'd lost and still throwing looks Mikey's direction, it could only be imagined from this viewpoint what being thrown across the roof would do to their skin, even as thick as theirs. Add to that what seemed an odd hitch to the camera holder's breath, and Leo was one worried turtle.
"Alright," Leo said, beginning to get unsteadily to his feet, trying to hide the fact he was favoring one. Raph rose with him attentively either for his plan, or for him to fall over it was unclear. Leonardo went on anyways, "Alright, let's at least try to wake up Mikey, we'll leave Don asleep for now, and then start heading east. I don't know where we are or why we were dragged out here, but that way should be a start on getting us back home."
Raph nodded and began making his way over to his baby brother, blocking out most of the camera so that you couldn't see what Leo was up to. Raph made a face as he bent over and muttered, "Yeesh, what happened to you?" Before reaching over and beginning to shake him. "Mikey, hey come on Mike rise and shine. Don't tell me you got even more sense knocked out of ya? There'd be nothing left!"
Raph's continued shaking finally aroused a response in the form of another groan, Mikey's hand coming up to bat away his brothers, "Yeah, yeah."
Raph chuckled slightly, "I know, five more minutes, but I ain't the one who's going to carry your shell, so up and at um."
Mike groaned again, tried to roll over, then cried out in pain. "Whoa!" Raph snapped just as loudly, then suddenly Leo was there again as well, hovering over the two and demanding to know what was wrong.
"My ribs," he huffed, his breaths coming in short pants, "feels like someone chucked me face first into a wall," from this angle you could see his knees bunching up like he was trying to curl in on himself, "then dragged me through a river of Lego's."
Both brothers winced in sympathy, though confusion as they yet knew that Mikey's description wasn't too far off. "I know Mikey," Leo said calmly, soothingly, "but we got to get you up and moving. We're a long way away from home, and Don needs some medical help, all of us do really."
If there was one thing you needed to say to get those boys moving, it was mentioning one of the others. Well that and food. Still tensed and panting, but with the help of the other two he managed to get to his feet and do a 360. "Oh man, is he okay?" Mikey must have spied Don, now leaning against a tree and still in shadows. "He'll make it," Leo said with confidence, "the dried blood makes it looks worse than it is. I'm sure once we get some food and water into him he'll be good as new."
He sounded so confident that for a moment the other two seemed to believe him. It is presumed that Mikey nodded or made some other silent form of agreement, because nothing more was said as the three went to their fallen brother.
"Don't suppose you know what happened or what attacked us?" Raph asked as he bent down and lifted Don gently into his arms, wincing as it pulled on the new scab on Raph's arm.
"No," Mikey said in disappointment. "You guys went down, I saw Don bleeding really badly, then something hit me from behind. That's all I got." Mikey's weight shifted towards Leo, probably expecting a reprimand, like that he should have been better prepared, but no such thing came. Leo was already going on ahead, though looked back when he sensed those blue eyes on him. His smile was brighter than the sun cracking through the leaves as he responded, "No one blames you Mike, we were all caught off guard, and I would never yell at you for checking on one of us. Let's focus on getting home, then we'll piece together what happened."
Mikey's body finally seemed to relax, and he began after Leo, Raph seemed to bring up the rear. They walked in silence at a much slower pace than one would ever have guessed at, but between Leo trying to hide the fact that he was limping, Mike's odd gate from trying to protect his damaged ribs, and Raph keeping up with a couple hundred pounds of dead weight, it was a miracle they were moving at all. They hadn't been walking long, before Mikey suddenly sped up and whispered in Leo's ear, so quietly that the mic hardly caught it, "anyone else feel like we're being watched?"
Leo nodded without changing expression, and Mikey turned enough to see Raph minutely doing the same. Mikey blew out a puff of air, then his arm moved to wrap around his torso in discontent as he muttered, "great, thought that was just me."
Leo said just as quietly, "I saw tire tracks back where we woke up, but decided not to follow them as they seemed to be the most obvious way to get us out of here."
"Yeah, couldn't have that," Mikey grumbled, sounding more like his normal self, if still slightly breathier.
"Most obvious way to get us caught in a trap," Raph said from behind, which actually managed to shut Mikey up.
They actually continued in ninja silence, the timestamp in the corner displaying hours passing by and night truly falling before any noise was made again, in the form of Don groaning. They all froze up then, hunkering low into the bushes nearby as he came back to consciousness.
Mikey seemed to have chosen to be on the fringe of things, constantly spinning in place and probably on guard as the low voices in the background caught there last brother up to speed.
Don seemed okay for the most part, Mikey turned around and the camera finally had a chance to focus more clearly on his face to show he was several shades paler than was normal for their green skin, but talking none the less as he said, "well I did see something but I never got a clear sight of what it was. Just, big. You guys alright?" He finished, beginning to stand on his own and obviously noting how they each carried their own injury.
"We'll live," Leo said shortly, "now that you're awake, we can pick up the speed a bit."
"Leo we've been walking for hours," Raph reminded, "and we still ain't got a clue where we're even going."
"Got a better idea?" He snapped right back, some of his frustration beginning to bleed into his tone.
"I do," Mikey offered.
Three pairs of eyes turned in his direction, one curious, the other indulgent, and one exasperated to hear this.