Viand
part 3
As the four brothers contemplated each other and their current plight, Don said quietly, "I'm going to have to second Raph's sentiments."
"We're not dead yet, bro'," Mikey said, his voice upbeat. "If we gotta go out as worm poo, we go out as worm poo."
"That isn't going to work, Mikey," Don said softly. "There's only a very small chance that we could work our way out of that end at a time when the worm didn't have anything else to leave behind. Earthworms aerate the soil by ingesting it as they tunnel, but the soil they take in passes through their systems; all of the way through."
Leo's eyes widened as he caught on to what Don was saying. "It refills the tunnels it digs."
"Exactly," Don said. "Even considering how far underground this thing is, if it were leaving behind hundreds of gigantic empty tunnels under the city, something would be bound to collapse. It isn't leaving empty tunnels. If we go out with the castings, we'll basically be buried alive."
Raph sat down with a hard thump and Leo began pacing. Mikey's eyes were wide as he passed them over each of the brothers, momentarily forgetting how much his burns hurt.
"Oh man, I'll never watch Tremors again," Mikey moaned lowly.
"We can't go out the way we came in," Leo said in a determined voice. "We can't go out the only other logical direction. There has to be other exits. How does this thing breathe?"
"Through its skin; that's one of the reasons it has to stay moist," Don answered. "No lungs, no breathing passages. It doesn't have ears either. The only conceivable way out is through its reproductive system. Sorry Raph," he added as an afterthought.
Raph scowled at him but didn't say anything.
"Where is that located and how far do we need to travel to get there?" Leo asked.
"The ovaries are between half and three quarters of the way along its length," Don said, eyes narrowed in thought. "If we continue along this path inside the intestines, we'll come across them."
"I thought ya' said we could go out through its pores," Raph said.
"We probably could," Don said. "If we stimulated them enough, the worm would open up to release us like it does with sperm. We'd still have the problem of coming out against a solid barrier of earth."
"So what, you want it to lay us like an egg?" Mikey asked.
"If it thinks that it has produced eggs, it will create an enclosure that's something like a slime tube filled with fluid. Once that's formed, the earthworm will move forward out of the tube. As it moves, the tube passes over the female pore and picks up the eggs. In theory anyway," Don said.
"You're saying that the earthworm moves on and leaves the tube behind?" Leo asked.
"Exactly. The tunnel around the tube won't be filled with castings and we can then cut our way out of the tube," Don explained.
"Supposedly that gets us out of the worm," Raph said, "but still leaves us with the problem of digging our way out of miles of dirt. We ain't got any way of knowing where the damn thing is gonna drop us off either."
"If we stay in here, we're gonna have to keep running to avoid getting digested by something," Mikey said.
"We'll buy ourselves a little more time by being outside of this thing," Leo said. "There will probably be enough moisture seeping through the dirt to keep us hydrated, which is better than we can get in here."
"So does that mean we're gonna go with Don's idea and pretend ta be eggs?" Raph asked.
"We were hatched from eggs once before," Don said with a grin, "this won't be anything new."
"Ya' know something, Donatello? We're gonna have a conversation about your sense of humor once we get out of here," Raph told him.
"Looking forward to it," Don said as he stood up.
Reaching down, Don helped Mikey to his feet as Raph got up. Instinctively, all three turned to Leo.
"You good, Mikey?" Leo asked.
"Awesome dude," Mikey said, lifting a thumb.
"Then let's get out of here," Leo said, leading the way further into the intestines.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Mikey asked, "Is it getting darker in here?"
"There aren't as many light sticks," Don said. "I imagine at some point towards the tail end there may not be any at all. We might have to break out our flashlights."
"On the bright side, Raph won't have to look at the egg sac we're gonna have to crawl into," Mikey said.
"Trust me goofball, you're going in before I do," Raph growled.
Mikey swallowed his next jibe when he saw Leo halt and lift his hand. Immediately, his brothers all stopped and became instantly vigilant.
Several yards ahead of them, something moved along the walls. No one even breathed as they stared into the darkened gloom.
Once more there was movement in the shadows and then something slipped into the dim glow provided by a grouping of light sticks.
"Isn't that one of those blobs we ran into when we first woke up?" Raph asked, his voice low.
"Yes," Leo whispered. "I think they respond to vibration. Don't make any noise; we need to see how many of them are over there."
More motion from the darkness drew their gaze and they saw several more blobs move into the light. They were crawling slowly along the inner walls, sucking up detritus stuck there from something that had moved through the intestines.
"There doesn't seem to be very many of them," Don whispered. "They might have gotten trapped in here by accident."
"Maybe we can get past them without drawing their attention," Leo said quietly. "If we move slow and don't make a sound, they probably won't notice us."
He started forward, moving as silently as the mist from a cloud. Before he made it four steps though, Don's hand shot out to grasp Leo's arm, pulling him to a stop.
Leo turned his head to look at his brother, his brow furrowed.
"Don't move," Don whispered. "Something else is there."
Suddenly a form flew across the room and landed with a dull smack on top of one of the blobs. The blob writhed beneath the attacker, shrilling out a loud buzzing sound as it fought.
The light sticks showed them a cylindrical shaped object, brown in color, with multiple long spindly protrusions sticking out of its primary mass. The protrusions were jointed in two spots along their length, looking almost like legs.
As those legs tightened around their captive, the blob reared back from the wall, giving the Turtles an excellent view through its partially transparent body of the underside of its attacker. While they watched, an opening appeared in the attacker's belly, running almost the entire length of its body.
The dark red interior was lined with suckers, much like those on a squid. Though it was difficult to see, the suckers appeared to be moving.
When the opening clamped down on the squirming blob, the captured creature let out a final high buzz and fell to the floor. Within seconds, the spider like thing had completely devoured its captive.
Suddenly, the air in front of the Turtles was filled with flying spiders. With unerring accuracy they landed on the remaining blobs and quickly made short work of them.
Stunned, the brothers watched the noxious feast with both distaste and dread. Then Don noticed that there was still one blob left, apparently unnoticed by the attackers.
"Leo," Don whispered. When his brother glanced at him, Don indicated the remaining blob with a nod of his head.
The creature was in a section of the space that was nearly devoid of light. In the dark, the blob hadn't moved since the attack began, almost as if it sensed the impending danger.
Other than a faint slurping sound, the space quieted. One by one, the spidery objects flew upwards and out of sight.
Complete silence fell. The Turtles didn't move, all of their eyes glued to the remaining blob. After about five minutes, the blob began to slide along the wall, coming slowly into the light as it did so.
With incredible speed, a spider thing flew through the air and pounced on the remaining blob. To the four watchers, the high buzzing sound of the victim almost sounded like screams of anguish. Its terror was short lived as the spider quickly consumed it.
Soundlessly, Mikey slipped away from the bundle of light sticks that he'd been standing near. In deep shadow, the four brothers moved closer together, leaning into a huddle so they wouldn't need to raise their voices.
"Bugs inside of bugs," Raph said in a harsh whisper. "Maybe I'm having a nightmare."
"I wish you were," Don said. "I'd rather pinch you and get hit for it than to be trapped in here."
"They hunt by sight," Leo said. "Movement attracts them, but only if they see it. I don't think sound plays a factor, but it's best we don't test that theory."
"Are ya' planning on going in there?" Raph asked incredulously.
"We don't have any choice," Leo hissed.
"Great, we have to move so we can get to the whatsis to escape, but if we move we get eaten," Mikey said. "I think I played a video game just like this once."
Leo unsheathed his katanas and said, "You guys stay right here, I'm going to make a safe path."
Raph grabbed his wrist. "Ya' can't slice your way through those things, there are way too many of them."
"I'm not going to fight my way through," Leo said calmly. "I'm going to extinguish the lights so they can't see us walk past. Don, how sensitive do you think these light sticks are? If I slice a few off the wall, will the worm react the way it did when Raph cut into it?"
Don thought about it for a moment. "I don't think so," he said. "You yanked on a couple of them pretty hard earlier when you were trying to keep us all from being smashed against the walls. It didn't seem to notice that so I'm thinking it'll be just like a haircut; there won't be any sensation at all."
"All right," Leo said, taking a deep breath. "If I'm not attacked I'll keep going until I know we're safely past these things, or I've reached an area that looks like it might be our target. Once I've started, count to twenty and then follow in my footsteps in five second intervals. Donny, you start after me; I'll need you to call me back if I pass what we're looking for."
"Okay," Don said.
"I'll bring up the rear," Raph offered, releasing Leo's arm.
Leo nodded. "Stay quiet and stay invisible," he reminded them.
Without waiting any longer, Leo ducked into the darkness, disappearing completely from sight. The remaining three brothers strained their eyes in an attempt to see him, but the first indicator of his location was a faint swishing sound.
Immediately following the sound, an area previously brightened by light sticks went black. Holding their breath, the Turtles waited for a response from the worm, but it appeared Don's assessment was correct because nothing happened.
Another section of lights were extinguished without rousing the spider things. Leo moved with the skill gained from years of practice, completely silent and imperceptible. Counting to twenty slowly, Don started after him, remaining on the dark path that Leo had forged.
When it was time for him to move, Mikey whispered, "Here's goes nothing."
"Bonehead," Raph muttered.
Raph slipped his sais from his belt and after five seconds, followed Mikey into the dark. He couldn't hear his little brother in front of him and had to grin; it was amazing how silent Mikey could be when properly motivated.
Keeping his mind focused on his brothers helped Raph to not think about the things they were trying to avoid. He didn't like bugs and cared even less for anything that even looked like a spider.
Don moved behind his older brother, trying to emulate the pace Leo was setting so that he wouldn't step on Leo's heels. He gauged his speed based on how quickly the twinkling light sticks blinked out in front of him.
So concentrated on watching the lights being extinguished, Don almost didn't notice something looming up in front of him. It was the change in air current that made him pull up short and freeze.
One of the spider things had flown down from above and come to rest on the wall right between Leo and Don. It was likely that the new dark spot on the wall was what had lured the spider because it didn't react to Don's presence.
That didn't help with the predicament Don found himself in. At this close range, if he moved the thing was bound to see him. Even if he remained frozen in place, in a couple of seconds, Mikey was going to be right up against him.
Jabbing it with his bo staff would just call its attention to him that much faster. With a grimace, Don slowly reached for his small backup knife as he tried to determine exactly where he should cut the thing.
Don's hand was only partway to his belt when something else moved in front of him. The object was much larger than the spider and moved a whole lot faster.
The sound of fine steel sliced through the air and through the spider, cutting it neatly and almost silently in half.
As it fell to the ground, Leo pressed in close to Don and whispered, "There's a spot that narrows into a tunnel up ahead. Keep going until you're inside. I swept it with my flashlight and it's empty. I'm going to watch for the others."
"Okay." Don circled around Leo, stepping over the dead spider as he moved.
Staying on the dark path, Don found the tunnel by nearly running into the wall on one side of it. Reaching forward, Don felt around for the opening and then went inside, stopping when he was a few feet in.
It wasn't long before Mikey joined him and then Raph and Leo appeared. Taking a chance, Don fished out his flashlight and shone it ahead of them. The tunnel was short and empty.
"Keep going," Leo said. "I don't want to be in here if this is another collapsing tunnel."
Don led the way but when he reached the end of the tunnel he stopped.
"Quit holding up the works, Donny," Raph grumped. "Let's move."
"We can't," Don told him. "Leo, we have a bit of a problem."
Working his way past Raph and Mikey, Leo inched up next to Don and looked into the chamber ahead of them. The floor sloped down from the tunnel's exit and was filled with a grayish colored liquid.
The pool extended from wall to wall in a chamber that was at least thirty yards long. On the opposite side was another opening that was higher than the liquid, but it was unreachable.
Don didn't realize that Raph was leaning over his shoulder until he heard his brother grumble, "Let me guess. Acid?"
"Probably," Don said.
Reaching into his belt, Don extracted one of his smoke pellets and dropped it into the liquid. It didn't even have a chance to sink before it completely dissolved.
"Turtle luck," Raph said calmly, as though he'd just proved a point.
Looking around, Don searched the ceiling and walls of the chamber and noticed immediately that there were two ventricles high up on opposite walls. They appeared to lead into a different portion of the worm's body, and Don could guess where they went.
"Do you see those openings?" Don asked, pointing towards one of them. "I think those will take us into the ovaries."
Mikey wedged his head in between his brothers so he could see what they were all looking at. "Great," he said. "How do we get up there?"
"Could we use the light sticks and climb?" Leo asked.
"There's too much distance between some of 'em," Raph pointed out. "We could leap from one ta the next, but I don't know that I want ta depend that much on their strength. Falling means a lot more than a couple broken bones."
While they were talking, Don dug out his Shuko spikes and slipped them onto his hands.
"Hold on guys, I'm going to try something," Don said, stepping away from the opening and pushing his brothers back as well.
Bracing his feet on the ground, Don sank the spikes from one of his hand claws into the wall. When nothing happened, he dug in with the spikes on the other hand.
There was still no reaction and Don yanked them loose, turning to his brothers. "We can climb up using these. They aren't long enough to touch any nerves in the worm's skin, but they're plenty long enough for us to get a good solid grip."
"I hope you're right, Donny," Raph said as he pulled on his own set of spikes. "I'm not gonna be too happy with ya' if I end up taking an acid bath."
"Hang onto my belt while I make sure this outer wall is safe," Don said once they were all ready.
Raph got a solid grip on Don's belt as his brother leaned out of the tunnel and slammed his spikes into the wall. There was no response from the worm so Don pulled away from Raph and began to slowly climb, digging his toes into the spongy skin to help anchor his body.
One by one the other Turtles began to climb, concentrating on their grip and trying not to think about what was directly beneath them.
Reaching the outer lip of the ventricle, Don pulled himself inside, finding it easier to remain on his knees rather than trying to stand in a space that was only four feet high. Turning around, he watched as Raph neared the entrance.
A low rumble caught them off guard. Don looked over and met Leo's eyes, his own wide and frightened.
"Keep going guys, faster!" Leo urged.
"You're almost here," Don called to Raph, yanking his spikes off. "Reach out and I'll grab you!"
Raph lifted a hand and lunged towards Don. Just before their hands connected there was a loud roar and the worm jerked into motion.
With a yell, Raph swung away from Don, his remaining claw hand wrenching loose from the wall. Don threw himself onto his stomach and made a grab at his brother, but wasn't fast enough as Raph lost his purchase on the wall and began to fall towards the pool of acid.
TBC….