Chapter IV: What to Do Now?
Raphael woke up with a start. Sitting up way too fast, he winced as the makings of a hangover started to make its way through to his now pounding head. Stumbling as he got up, he was woozy…his body shifting back and forth as he made his way to the couch.
Head in hands, he took a full minute to realize just where the hell he was…shuddering as realization came into play.
"Shit," was all he could whisper.
As he mindlessly flipped the TV on, he was greeted once again with nothing. Hypnotized by the static of the television set, a thought kept popping in his head.
'What to do now?'
As his eyes glanced across the rows of pictures on the walls, memories of visits…birthdays and celebrations…chuckling softly to the thought of the only choice he had. Something he was used to doing.
Go out.
As he softy paddled his feet to the doorway, he looked over the apartment once more behind him. As if this was the last time he'd ever see it…as if he was burying a part of his family after closing this door.
'Maybe I am.'
Before he left he went to the closet and retrieved one of Casey's good ole' baseball bats.
'Can never be too careful.'
He also grabbed April's cell phone. He didn't know why…it just felt better to have it with him.
And with that he left and closed the door. The sound of that door closing signified it. No words were needed. It was a goodbye to April and Casey, forever.
As he shuffled his body down the flight of stairs, through the shop and unto the street, he kept remembering a conversation he had with Mikey.
He had asked the baby bro why he had looked up to him so much. Raph always thought it was strange and confusing to pick him, of all people, to look up to. The remembrance of Mikey's answer made Raph put a soft smile on his face.
"Well Raph you are kinda fun, in that grumpy 'crazy as hell' kind of way."
He remember the sly smile on his baby brother's face, as Raph couldn't help but laugh at that.
"But mainly…cause you never give up Raphie. It's like you're our secret weapon. We can be near death's door, crazy things can be going down…and yet you keep fighting. And that makes us not wanna give up. I just…always thought that was cool. Because it's like…you know…you make us think that there's always hope."
And that smile that Mikey beamed always warmed Raphael's heart.
Hope. Tears threatening to slide down once more, he squeezed them shut as he silently said to himself.
"Okay Mikey, I won't give up."
Looking into the empty sky, across the soundless valley of New York, he started his trek.
Walking from block to block, his stomach rumbled as he stumbled into a nearby restaurant. Searching through the fridges and freezers, he found a few snacks and bottles of both water and soda. He took a knapsack nearby and filled it with all sorts of food and drinks.
'Hehe Mikey would have a field day with all this food.'
He started off on foot, searching one building to the next. Throughout the day he searched one block then another, looking through all sorts of stores, restaurants, and apartments.
One was a electronics store, filled with the vast array of phones, stereos, and computers.
'Donny would be in geek heaven with all this stuff,' silently wishing his brainiac brother was here.
Don definitely would have had fun with all of this, softly smiling to that.
Continuing his search, he looked high and over going from one apartment to another.
Apartments both nice and crappy, clean and dirty…some were of single men and women, and others were the now empty remnants of a family lifestyle.
Raphael's thoughts couldn't help but float to who these people were. As pictures of old and young, family members in all sorts of happy poses…smiles floundering across the mass array of pictures…echoed from his eyes to his mind, his thoughts always kept going back to his own family.
Splinter gathering them up for story time, all of his brothers cuddling with each other as his father's soothing voice placed them into slumber.
Leo and him being playful when they were kids. Strong, eager games of hide and seek resulting giggles and laughter between the two.
Donny showing him how a certain machine worked. Raphael liking the manual labor as Donny became more and more fascinated with how it worked. The teases that had between each other during each of those trips in his lab.
And Mikey…well pretty much every moment with the little midget was memorable.
Clearing his throat, he kept thinking on what he could or should do next. This 'walking from block to block' stuff didn't seem to be doing much of anything. All he found was stone and glass, nothing living. Not even a single animal, hell not even any bugs.
Although he would be usually fond of that notion…now he wouldn't mind to see even one damn fly.
'What the hell would Leo or Donny do? They're the smart ones.'
He was growing more and more pissed off…the stress of the day growing more and more in his gut. Each look, each turn, each building he found more and more nothingness. His body was getting hotter, his mind becoming more and more frazzled. Standing at a crossway in the street, Casey's bat in hand…screw it!
With a roar he bashed the nearest car…like an animal Raphael began whipping the bat from one windshield to the other, glass flying across the pavement as his assault just grew and grew more violent. He turned his attentions from one car to the other, his violent interactions turning to glass storefronts, light posts, anything and everything that was breakable.
Yelling and cursing, he was letting loose. He wanted and needed this, to spend this unkempt energy festering in the bowels of his soul. Walking into an electronics store, he couldn't help but grin.
'Fuck it. I'm going to have fun.'
He knew this wasn't helping, and he knew that this didn't achieve anything. But he DID need this. With bat in hand, he smashed every damn computer screen he could see. TV's, VCR's, monitors, lights hanging off the ceiling…it was like a blue light special in which everything must go.
When he was done, bits and pieces of glass and debris littering the ground of the store, he stared and stood like a zombie, for a full minute doing not one single thing.
And then from inside the store, with a roar like no other, he threw the bat at the large glass window covering the front of the store. And with a loud crash that echoed the tomb-like nature of the city, the bat harmlessly stumbled onto the pavement. As Raphael slowly walked out, turning around and grunting at the damage of the demolition he achieved, he slowly picked up the baseball bat.
And with that…aggressions taken out for a good, a solid 10 minutes of bashing…reality crept his way back into his subconscious. Tired of walking, he smirked at a nearby car.
Donny, at one time, had taught him how to hotwire a car. Raphael remembered marveling at Donny about this, asking with hints of amusement just how in the hell Don knew about that. With blushes and shyness echoing his face, Donny stuttered and said he learned from experimenting.
Raphael softly smiled. Donny could always surprise him. He was quiet, but could have a solid sense of humor. An anger that rivaled even his own, and moments of wickedness that he seemed to only share with Raphael. He didn't know why, but maybe because Raph didn't make much of a big deal of it. He would smile, tease a little…but nothing much else. Raphael was always in awe of his brother's intellect, and his sweet nature made it so damn easy to just hang out with.
'Donny deserved to win the fuckin' Nobel Prize of something…instead of being stuck in a damn sewer.'
With a few tries he finally got the car to start. With a little smile he said to himself,
"Thanks Donny-boy."
And with the bat in the passenger's seat, he put the car into gear and pulled out. He guided the vehicle through the pathways of parked automobiles, as hour after hour passed by and light faded more and more.
When he needed to eat, he ate. When he needed to drink, he drank. When he needed to…you know…he did in whatever bathroom was nearby. Although honestly when it was number one, he just freely did it out in the open.
'Not like anyone's watching,' he mused bitterly and yet humorously.
An idea popped in his head. He remembered a movie Leo had made them watch. A survival story.
His older brother always made them watch those types of flicks…Leo just kept telling them on how 'this is how it should be done' and 'that is what honor's about', etc. and etc. But Raph hadn't minded it, he actually liked the movies his bro had picked out.
Him and Leo…actually liking the same thing...
Softly smiling at that, Raphael remembered that in one of those flicks, there was a guy was alone in a city. Much like he was now. The guy would paint on billboards. On it would be information like who he was, telling where to contact him, writing down phone numbers and such.
'Huh…Why not?'
Heading to a hardware store, he grabbed buckets of red paint and hefted them to the trunk of the car. He spent the rest of the day going from billboard to billboard. Sometimes he would just run from rooftop to rooftop, jumping over crevices with buckets of paint in hand. And each one read the same thing.
I Am A Survivor
Name: Raphael
Contact Me By Phone
555-4794
He would usually not want to get attention. What with the whole ninja 'we live in the shadows' lifestyle. But if someone notices him, anyone…
He used April's cell phone number…since he had…well trashed…the phone booth at home.
As the light started to dissipate he needed a place to stay. He didn't want to return home…he wasn't going to give up hope of finding out how this happened, where his family was…he didn't want to return to a home of empty ghosts and deathly silence.
There was a nearby department store…why now?
But before he settled down for rest…he figured why not do a little shopping? Grabbing a cart, he maneuvered through the store. Moving from department to department, he chucked in more food, cereals, drinks, and even headed to the DVD section.
Ooohhh how Mikey would envy him now? One stop shopping!
He didn't know if he was already going a little stir crazy, or it was just the fact his mind needed a little break…and a part of him didn't even care.
With the cart now over-filled with food and DVD's, he grabbed a few blankets and sleeping bags. Walking over to the wall of TV screens, with prices littered all around with promotions and savings, he opened up a DVD, putting one of them in. He didn't really care what it was, as long as it was some kind of noise to dissipate the horrible silence that filled the city all day.
He dumped the cart full of snacks, drinks, and DVD's in front of his sleeping bag. And curling up, he mindlessly watched one film after another, half paying attention and half lost in his own dull state. And finally he went to sleep.
As he woke up, he felt lazy and didn't wanna move. He decided to watch one movie then another, going through packages of DVDs as he stared longingly at April's cell phone.
As the hours went by, he decided this was enough for today. Getting up, he thought of visiting another site.
The Foot headquarters.
As Raphael drove, mind glazing over the silent surroundings and the knobs of the radio being turned…only to elicit static and more nothingness…he mused on how pointless most of those battles were.
'Here we were, trying to be good guys and save the world. Fighting the Foot, monsters, aliens…And for what? For everyone to disappear? What the fuck was the point of it all?'
He couldn't help but laugh out loud, and for some reason he couldn't stop laughing. The irony of it all, the ridiculousness and horribleness of the situation seemingly deteriorating his will to keep going on.
And as his laughter died down, he pulled up to the Foot Headquarters. Heading in, the towering building looked like everything else in this vacant city.
Dead.
Walking around…memories of past battles…him and his brothers being the 'heroes of the day' and shit. He was half suspecting some evil mastermind behind all of this. Some maniacal madman holding up at the Foot stronghold, saying as Mikey would put it 'James Bond wordiness' of taking over the world…blah blah.
But yet again, nothing. Raphael, weirdly enough, was more sad that there wasn't any madmen here.
At least it would make some semblance of sense. At least there would be some meaning.
Evacuating the headquarters he continued in his car…then he saw a lovely red Porsche. Slick, as if it hadn't been touched let alone driven. Raphael couldn't help but smirk as he put all of his baggage from one car to the other, hotwiring and firing it up.
He liked the sound of that engine. He roared through the city, the wind whipping through his face.
As he drove during the day, continuing like he did yesterday, it was hard for his mind to stay clear and calm. He knew he wasn't the most put together guy to start with…but as chokes of laugher escaped from his lips…he wasn't sure just how long his sanity could last.
As an evil smirk played on his face…he decided to have a little fun. With a swerve to the left he bucked against a parked car. And with a swerve to the right, he bashed into the front corner bumper of a truck.
The feel of adrenaline perked him as he pushed on the gas even more. Picking up speed, he started driving more violently.
As speed picked up, his swerving picked up. Sides of cars gritted with metal and sparks erupted, he crashed through fruit stands and fire hydrants.
He yelled out of the window, "Hey Mikey, you always said it'd be great to be a in real life car chase. Whoooo man you were soooo fuuuuucking riiiiiight!"
As the car went up the hill, he decided to do something crazy, stupid, and fun!
He sped up as fast as he could and then jumped out of the car, rolling away and watching the Porsche sore through the air and tumble.
Raphael watched in awe and fascination, whooping like a kid in a candy store as the car crashed over and over again. And as the gas spilled out, a spark erupted, and all of a sudden an explosion erupted.
"Oh shit!"
He ducked as the heat pressed into him. Instead of being horrified at the stupidity of what he had done, all he could do was whoop and cackle. Laughing at the audacity of it all.
As the flames licked the sky, smoke billowing into the heavens…Raphael walked by it marveling at his creation. He couldn't help but smirk and say,
"Ho-ly-Shit! Hehehe that was awesome! Damn you guys should have seen that!"
He turned around, almost half-suspecting someone to be there. Quickly pushing it away he continued walking and searching.
'Hey it's like they say,' Raphael thought with a half crazed, half 'mournful of his actions' look on his face,
'Life sucks…then you die.'