Author's Note: Whoa, I'm really getting into typing this story again. Anyway, this is a typical day of the brothers hunting for food. But they aren't the only ones hunting...and there's eyes in the sky watching for them.

Chapter 3: Good Game

"Mikey, you stay close and be alert." Leo warned. "We don't want to alert the animals…or anyone else who might be watching."

Michelangelo nodded, crouching behind his brothers as they hid behind a fallen piece of building. It was rare that he was taken out on hunting trips; usually one of the brothers stayed with him while the other hunted. But despite the dangers, they still needed fresh air and sunlight…they just knew to avoid any surveillance machine or something similar. He glanced out from behind Raphael's shoulder and saw the targets: two deer. Leonardo caught a few chickens yesterday and some rabbit, and now they were in the mood for bigger game. He would always turn his face away because he didn't like watching animals die. But hey…they had to do everything they could just to survive.

"Two does…they'll feed us for a few months, won't they?" Raph whispered.

Leo nodded, pulling out a few knives. "Yeah…three or four months tops…just as long as we make them last."

The two deer were oblivious to the three turtles watching them, and they just munched on some grass that came up from the cracked pavement. They seemed to even ignore a few mutated skeletons that lay strewn around the streets. They figured many animals hid themselves or had some sort of immunity to the virus to be able to survive. Did they also have some strange immunity? Is that why they lived while everyone else died? No time for questions…the hunt was about to begin.

Leo waited for them to lift their heads up at just the right angle before they acted. Hunting was always a waiting game, and the most patient hunter would have his kill. Raph often let animals get away because of his impatience and still-present temper. Mikey didn't have it in his heart to kill animals…the last time he had to kill one for food, he wouldn't eat for days. So Leo often put himself in charge of hunting. If Donnie were still with them, he would probably be the most effective hunter. He knew how to set up traps, the right type of bait. Well, Donnie was a hunter already…just not for wild game.

One of the deer lifted its head up and looked into the distance; now was their chance. Leonardo whipped out one of his knives and quickly threw it. The deer didn't know what hit it until the blade penetrated its skull and the tip jutted out the other side, and the animal dropped dead instantly. The other deer bolted, and Raph made his move to chase it. Mikey trailed behind him, but he would still look away once Raph killed it. He couldn't watch anything else die.

"Mikey, cut it off!" Raphael commanded. "Don't let it get away!"

Michelangelo nodded, running ahead armed with a bow and arrow. He was often in charge of supplies, ever since he found that backpack in the store when they first relocated. He got ahead of the deer before pulling out an old smoke bomb and throwing it in the deer's face, momentarily blinding it. At that moment, Raph lunged forward and stabbed the deer with his sais, killing it. The orange-banded turtle managed to keep his breakfast down this time.

"All right…deer meat for months." The red-banded turtle sighed. "Now let's get these-"

"Raph!" Mikey suddenly interrupted, pulling him down. "Shh! L-Look!"

Raph didn't know why his baby brother pulled him down and started freaking out…and then he saw it. The mechanical clanking against the pavement, almost matching something walking on it. It took a few moments but then it came into view…a robotic drone with the head of a Mouser and the body of a bug-like robot. It had a camera inserted into its head, scanning the area, and it walked up to the deer. They recognized the drone…it belonged to Donatello. He was looking for them still. They figured maybe he would think the deer died of natural causes…at least Mikey didn't use one of his arrows, or they would be found out.

"Raph, what do we do?" Mikey asked in hushed panic. "If Donnie finds us…"

"He WON'T find us, Mikey." Raph muttered, pulling out his sais. "Not if I can help it."

"No Raph!" The younger turtle stopped him. "He'll know we destroyed it! We can't let him know we're around!"

Raph contemplated on the issue. He could destroy the drone so they could get out of there…but that would alert Donnie that they were alive and nearby. If he didn't, the drone would probably stay around and they couldn't sneak away. He didn't want to risk Mikey's life…so he would wait. It took a few moments, but the drone finally scampered away. He waited until it was completely out of sight before he grabbed Mikey and the deer.

"Let's go home…" The red-banded turtle muttered. "Leo'll get worried."

"Is that…Rahzar and Fishface?" Mikey asked, holding back the urge to vomit.

The turtles stared in horror at the liquefied bodies of Rahzar and Xever, both having suffered from more mutations before dying. As much as they fought with them and even though they were enemies, they felt sorry for them. It would probably just get worse as they explored the now-quiet Foot Clan headquarters. Donnie kept a portable TV with him to keep track of how the virus spread. It now wiped out half of Europe and made its way into Russia, China, and Japan.

"What else do you think we'll find?" Leo asked in a quiet voice.

"I don't know…" Donnie muttered. "There's no telling if Shredder or Karai escaped before the virus got here. If they're alive…I don't know, maybe they'll want a truce until a cure's found."

"Them? A truce?" Raph asked before scoffing. "Like that would ever happen, even with half the world dying."

They kept on walking and climbing the floors. Donatello insisted they wear some sort of protective clothing to keep from catching the disease, which included gloves, masks, goggles, and boots. Donnie was still working on making custom hazmat suits because of the airborne nature of the virus. They stepped over a few dead Foot soldiers before coming upon the doors to the Shredder's throne. Leo and Raph grabbed at the doors and forcefully pried them open.

"Anyone here?" The blue-banded turtle called out. "We're not here to fight!"

No answer. The turtles walked inside with flashlights and started searching. But the moment Mikey shined his light on the throne, he screamed and dropped his flashlight. "G-Guys! Look!"

The other turtles shined their flashlights in Mikey's direction before gasping. There was Shredder…his body half-melted and eating away at his armor. All that remained was his skeleton and sloughed-off skin, a panicked look in his face. They shined their lights around the floor and found another grisly sight…Karai. She underwent a grotesque mutation, her bones enlarged and jutting out, and now all that remained was jelly covering muscle and bone.

"O-Oh my God…" Donnie choked out. "T-They're all d-dead…"

"…She's dead." Leo mumbled before going to the wall and slamming his fist into it. "Splinter found his daughter…and now she's really dead!"

Mikey removed his mask to vomit on the floor, and Raph just stared like a frightened little kid at Shredder's body. Not even the Foot Clan was safe…and apparently the Kraang weren't safe either, as they all went back to where they came from and because they found dead Kraang everywhere. A sudden ringing echoed throughout the room and Donnie pulled out his T-phone.

"April, what's wrong?" The purple-banded turtle asked frantically.

"Guys, come home right now!" April shouted. "Splinter…he's showing symptoms!"

"Where have you guys been?" Leonardo asked in a raised voice, starting on cleaning his deer. "I thought you were ahead of me getting home!"

Raphael snorted, throwing his deer to the ground and gathering the cleaning supplies to prepare the meat. "Cut us some slack, Fearless. We would've gotten home sooner if we weren't hiding from one of Donnie's toys."

The blue-banded turtle's eyes widened as he slowly sat down the filet knife. "He had one of his drones out at THIS time of day? That's breaking the pattern…he must be getting desperate."

The red-banded turtle nodded bitterly, getting out a butcher knife and the tools needed to skin the animal. "Desperate isn't a strong-enough word Leo…he's freakin' obsessed. He's not gonna stop until we're all dead, and that means he's gonna send out more 'bots."

"…I wish he wasn't so far gone…then maybe we could talk some sense into him." Leo murmured, spraying blood off of the meat with water. "But this whole thing did more damage to him than we ever considered…Mikey didn't even suffer this much from it." He let out a sigh and decided to change the subject. "Where is Mikey, anyway?"

Raph jerked his thumb towards the stairs. "Went to the restroom. Says he's gonna go there and then fetch some cheese from the shelves."

"That cheese isn't expired, is it?" Leo asked in slight disgust.

"Workers never got to turn off the cooling system, so everything's surprisingly still good." The red-banded turtle shrugged. "I need to go up there and grab another pack of Marlboros."

Leo sighed and pinched between his brows before going back to skinning and cutting up his deer. "Raph, I really need to talk to you about your smoking addiction…before you give yourself lung cancer or give me and Mikey emphysema."

"Shut up, Leo…"

The moon radiated its light into the sky and onto the ruined pavement, as well as the coagulating puddle of smeared deer blood that lay on the asphalt. A few bugs crawled around and a feral dog walked up and smelled of it…but the dog soon disappeared in terror at the approaching shadow. The dog got a few feet before a shurkien with the symbol of the Hamato clan sliced through it, breaking its weak ribs and tearing through its arteries before sending it to the pavement.

Not that it mattered to him.

He examined the cold night scenery and smelled the air, even though his sense of smell was damaged due to the constant exposure to noxious fumes from the various chemicals he played around with in Baxter's old lab. He smelled of nothing…but then his eyes noticed the drying blood on the ground. He walked forward, the tip of his Bo staff scratching on the ground, before kneeling in front of the blood and touching it. Hmm…still drying. He brought his fingertips to his mouth and tasted it, something he wouldn't be caught dead doing long ago. His eyes shifted to the smear patterns leading down a street until it stopped due to the lack of blood.

He let out a quiet chorus of cold, crazed laughter, and it made a small echo in the desolate landscape. "You're closer than I thought, brothers." He pressed a switch on his staff to reveal the long, rust-spotted blade. "I can't wait to see you all again…VERY SOON."

Ah yes…Donatello certainly looked forward to finding his brothers.