Chapter 14

"Don?...Raph?" Mikey called out

He looked all around the dark lair, calling their names and hoping they were there. After a few minutes of searching, he gave up. Sinking to the ground and sighing.

"Where are you?" He asked

They had to have gone topside, but when? They could have been looking for him for hours, Mikey thought about it, 'If I go up there and look for them, they might come back down and we'll never find each other. But if I stay down here, who knows when they'll be back'. Mikey sighed, these turn of events aren't getting any better.

He turned toward the door and waited, hoping that his brothers would soon return.

….

Leo heard someone fall to his knees, breathing uncontrollably. He looked down and saw Raph was on the ground. He could he was having trouble taking in the sight, seems to be having trouble breathing as well. He wouldn't be surprised if Raph's having panic attacks, the sight of the city was pure horrifying. People lying dead on the streets, Buildings on the verge of collapsing, Leo even saw limbs lying around.

"Jesus Christ" Leo heard Don say

"I can't do this" Raph stammered

Don knelt down next to Raph and tried to help him up. 'Weird, the one with the toughest outside, has the weakest inside' he thought

Leo sighed, "Its ok Raph, Go back to the lair, me and Don will stay up here and look for him" Leo said

"Yeah, and if Mikey manages to get back to the lair, then you will be there to get him" Don said

Raph nodded, then began to crawl back in the tunnel, "I'm sorry" Raph said softly

"Don't be sorry…You aren't ready to face this situation…We understand" Leo said with a smile

"I'm not sure if I can ever handle this situation" Don said, "But I'll manage"

This didn't make Raph feel any better. He jumped down on the sewer floor and looked up at his brother.

"Ok now if we don't find Mikey in the next two hours, we'll come back down" Leo said

Raph nodded, "Good luck" Leo said

"You too" Raph added

Don knelt down and closed the sewer lid, then pushed down on his crutch to stand up. "Are you sure you're up for this?" Leo asked

"No" Don said, "But let's do this"

….

Mikey reached into his bag full of medicine and pulled out a flashlight, the only source of light in the lair was a single candle and that wasn't much. Mikey flicked the flashlight on and illuminated the side of the lair the flashlight was pointing at. He saw the bathroom door was busted open, but the inside was untouched, he carefully maneuvered past the broken pieces of ceiling that rested on the floor and made his way to the bathroom. He walked inside and flashed the light on the sink, he turned the faucet on and watched the water fall, and he smiled, placed his hand underneath the water and felt it wash over his hand.

He lifted his hand and rubbed the water on his face, washing off all the dirt and grease.

…..

Raph watched as Don closed the sewer lid, and then was embraced by darkness. He began to slowly walk toward the lair, then felt a sharp pain in his stomach, fell over on his hands and knees and vomited. He groaned, not being able to get the sight of what was up there out of his head. He wiped the vomit off of his mouth and stood up, taking a deep breath and starting to walk to the lair.

The images of those dead bodies and limbs lying still lingered in his head, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, feeling his feet touch the cold ground with each step he took.

Then he stopped, turned around and faced the lair door, placed his hand on the lever and pulled down and the lair door slid open. He walked in and sighed deeply, then the wound of running water hit his ears, he squinted his eyes to try and see in the dark.

"Hello?" He said

The water stopped, then he was faced with a bright light, he shielded his eyes from the light.

"Raph!" He heard

Then the bright light moved away from Raph, Raph looked up and saw an outline of a turtle standing in the darkness.

"Mikey?" Raph said

The outline ran up to Raph and wrapped his arms around him. Raph looked and saw the orange mask staring him right in the face.

"Oh my god" Raph said

Mikey moved away and looked at him.

But all Raph could think about was Leo and Don, "No" he said softly, running pass Mikey and opening the lair door.

"Raph?" Mikey said

Raph ran out of the lair and down the dark tunnel, jumped on the ladder and quickly climbed up, ramming his shoulder into this lid and sticking his head out.

"Leo!" Raph said, but looked around and saw that Leo and Don were gone.