Chapter 7: What the..?!
Carrying the girl to the safety of the rooftops he was just about to place her down on the ground to check her over when he was blasted out by a loud scream and she began to wriggle and thrash about in his grasp, making huge efforts to free herself.
"Calm your ass down, I'm not gonna hurt you!" He tried to hold her steady but something had to give. And it appeared that the 'something' was her as she fell heavily onto the floor with a thud.
"Ow!" she cried, rubbing her leg "You just did"
"That was an accident - if you hadn't been thrashing about so much it wouldn't have happened!" replied Raphael gruffly.
She got up and glared at him "Well if you hadn't had hold of me in the first place I wouldn't have been so jumpy!"
"You were being attacked and would have been raped if it wasn't for me, I just saved your ass so a thank you would be nice"
After dusting herself off her eyes met his for the second time but on this occasion they'd softened a little. "Thanks" she mumbled.
"Good, least you got some manners" She opened her mouth to offer a quick come-back but upon seeing him pull out his sais she stopped; those things looked lethal "I hate having the remains of scum bags on my weapons" he muttered wiping them clean
She swallowed and took a step backwards "You...you.. killed them?"
"No...gave them a pretty good beat down but unfortunately they are alive to see another day and hurt another person - does that make you happy?"
"No. Of course not..." Finding the edge of the roof she let her hands make contact with the bricks "What are you...? Some sort of hero?..I mean you are a good guy right?" She was looking at him with caution.
He nodded re-sheathing his weapons "Sure...I help people should they need it, and, in the case of you; you seriously needed it".
She paused briefly before asking a question to which she really wanted an answer: "What was that place before..and why were you there?"
Raphael figured he'd turn it around back on her because he had a few questions of his own: "It's called TCRI. And actually I'd like to know why were you there?"
She shrugged her shoulders "I honestly have no idea. They just took me off the street and locked me up...I don't know these people and I don't know what they wanted with me".
This huge reptile was now looking at me like I was insane. I wasn't really sure whether he believe me or not but quite frankly I didn't particularly care. I just wanted to get away, get back to the hotel, have a long hot bath and order lots and lots of room service.
"Took you?" He was frowning.
"Yes. Right off the street, I was in the park just minding my own business and they took me, kidnapped right in front of people but no-one batted an eyelid. Nobody cares here - everyone just looked the other way"
I swore he smiled to himself - that made me annoyed. He had no business to mock me. I had been through so much and felt like I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown; if he hadn't been so huge and scary looking I swore to God I would have smacked him at that point.
"That's New York for you, least we're not all like that"
I coughed nervously "So... what exactly are you?"
He chuckled "Thought the shell would offer a big hint and don't you dare say tortoise cos I ain't one of those"
"I actually had a tortoise, as a child, but he was a lot smaller, walked on four legs and he couldn't talk..so..."
"There ain't no-one like me; like any of us. Let's just say for the purposes of ending this conversation that we're a little unique"
I nodded "Yes, I can see that..." Moving along the wall but not taking my eyes off him I willed myself to get safely to the fire escape and find civilisation; human civilisation.
"Where do you think you're going? My brothers will want to talk to you and I want to show one of them in particular that I'm not a screw up" And with that he strode over to me; fixing my eyes with his own "So you little lady are coming home with me"
"What!? No!" I couldn't move any further, by now the roof edge was pressing into my flesh and panic was flooding my whole body "You can't do that! I want to go back to my hotel!"
My protests were lost on him as he picked me up and swung me over his shoulder like he had before. I could hear myself yelling but he chose to ignore it and took me over the roof tops like he was Santa and I was a sack full of toys. It was not the most comfortable experience but things were about to get much worse. At ground level we stopped at a manhole cover.
"What the...?" Yet again I found myself lost for words as I looked at him blankly.
"Yes we live underground and no you can't know where...it's the only sanctuary we got" And with that he put something over my head so I couldn't see.
"This is kidnap!" I protested tensing up as he picked me up.
"It's not kidnap" The smell of the sewage system stung my nostrils as he waded through water "I'm only borrowing you - I'll bring you right back here once we're done"
I felt like it went on forever but then the smell dissipated and I heard a door open and close and finally felt myself put down on what appeared to be a sofa. The bag was pulled from my head so I could take in my surroundings. And indeed it was a sofa. A sofa sitting next to another one and two chairs in what appeared to be some sort of lounge area.
I looked at him "Underground?" I asked, feeling sick with worry.
"Yep, underground. It's the best place - well, apart from when Mikey is down here with you"
Best place? Not for me it wasn't. A horrifying realisation hit me. I was trapped. Even if I did get out of here I wouldn't have a clue where I was going and would most likely die. I didn't want to die...well, not today anyway, and definitely not like this. I felt myself beginning to shake and didn't know whether it was through the cold or the fear of what was to come.
"You thirsty?" He casually walked off to another room and opened what looked like a fridge. I stayed quiet and tried to focus on my breathing. "I take it that's a NO then?" The door was slammed and he came back into the lounge carrying a can of something before sitting down on one of the chairs.
"So.." He popped open the can and stared at me "You have a name then mystery girl?"
I nodded. My mouth felt so dry.
"Which is...?"
"Rosie" I croaked "Rosie Taylor"
"You're not from round here are you Rosie Taylor?"
"No..I'm from England...I won a holiday...so that's why I'm here..." Looking at my hands I could hear my mother saying 'I told you so' in my ear over and over again...oh my God, my mom, I'd forgotten. I clocked the phone on the wall in the corner and got up "Does this thing work?" I asked
"Yep, course it does..why?"
"Can I? Can I use it?"
I snatched up the receiver and quickly dialed.
"Sure, so long as you don't call the cops - hey, why am I bothering? You wouldn't be able to say where you are because you don't even know" He smirked and let out a deep growl of a chuckle.
Phoning the cops hadn't even crossed my mind - but perhaps it was something I could try after my call to my mom...though he did have a point; I didn't know where I was and would they even believe me if I said about being taken by a big reptile.
I put the phone to my ear; it was ringing. I tried to swallow but couldn't; it felt like it was sticking together. After 6 rings the answerphone clicked in so I left a message; all the while trying to sound calm and composed when inside my head I was screaming. I'd asked her to text me, but of course she would not be able to - the kidnappers still had hold of bag and in it my phone! Luckily the hotel had my passport; which meant at least I would still be able to get home.
"What's going on?"
I looked over to the door and clocked the figures of three more giant reptiles. For the tiniest of moments I'd forgotten that there were three more. The one with the blue mask was standing at the front and frowning. I dropped the receiver but quickly snatched it up and put it back in the cradle. I couldn't stop my hands from shaking.
"What do you think bro; I found her and bought her back here. Shocked are we that I could do what you couldn't?"
"No Raphael, not shocked, just surprised...surprised that you bought a stranger back to our secret lair" Extra emphasis was put on the word 'secret'.
"Not to worry older brother, I blindfolded her, so she has no idea where she is - see, I'm not as dumb as you keep making out so give me some credit"
"We've had girls back here before bro, it's all good" It was the one in the orange mask who was talking now; and looking at me in a very unsettling way. What on earth did these things have planned for me? Suddenly here with all four of them...I didn't feel so safe.
"Look" I began "Why don't you just show me out and you can go back to doing what you do and I can get back to what I do" I tried giving them a confident smile telling myself not to let them know that I was so afraid.
"She won a holiday, bad luck to get grabbed don't you think? She won't be no trouble" The one in the red bandana was looking at me now. The door was behind the other three - I'd spotted it - just had to get them out of the way..then perhaps I could sneak out...
"No I'll be no trouble, no trouble at all..quiet and complying..that's me all over" I smiled again.
"Why does she keep grimacing like that? do you think she's in pain?" Orange mask asked purple who in turn began to look a little closer; and then he moved striding forward and towering over me.
"You hurt?" I glanced up at him and shook my head, but because I was suffering involuntary spasms bought on by fear it probably appeared like I was having some sort of fit "You sure?" I nodded again and let out a little squeak.
Orange mask bounced up to me "I'm Mikey. The fun brother!" He stuck out a hand; I just stared. So, he smacked me on the shoulder and whispered to the purple one that he thought that perhaps I was a little cuckoo.
"She's probably suffering from shock. I'll sort her out..can't have her all jumpy can we?" Purple then proceeded to lean in so close that I could feel his breath on my face "If you want to come and lie down we can check your vitals"
"Perhaps she needs a little sugar? May make her better" Orange mask was looking at me in that strange way again.
At that point blue pulled out two large swords "You sure that's necessary D? I'm sure she'll be fine as she is"
Oh my God, they were going to eat me! And that was the last thought I had as my body finally gave way, the lights went out and I hit the deck.