Warning: Violent scene and a hint of cannibalism. There will be some violence towards one particular character and if you read and don't like what you see you can skip until chapter 23, or 24, or 25, I'm not sure… I'm sorry!
Author's note: I'm actually not familiar with the rating system so I think this chapter is semi-M rating just to be safe. Some conversations are from LoU script.
Off topic, Life is Strange 2 is coming! So happy! And, uh, I discover Beyond: two souls and spend 7 hours in watching it… great game!
And, yeah, I'm sick again… and depressed... because I don't sleep well. Pretty sure it's not migraine but my head hurts anyway. I'll leave you a mega cliffhanger before disappear for a month. I know, I know, another excuse. But bad thing happened and I'm very sad right now...
It was a lie, at least that was what he thought.
He lied.
It wasn't on purpose. Many years passed and a few things slipped off his mind. It wasn't helping when he lost every time whenever his brothers put up the vote. Mikey this, Mikey that. Why was it always be his fault? Didn't they know he can get mad too?
So when he got a chance to get back at his older brother he immediately jumped at it. Stupid King of the Mountain game. Everything had to be about Leo and not him. Why not him? Leo was always right and he was always wrong.
He didn't mean to lie.
But when Mikey left him behind and followed Raph and Donnie, didn't bother to turn back and see the flash of hurt on Leo's face. It was a good feeling to be on A-plus team that he totally forgot about the promise that two turtles must be on the both sides to even the odds.
He didn't mean to leave Leo alone.
Mikey felt like he geared up everything to march to war. He hid his body under the gray cloak he previously got from Leo and didn't forget to tear the fabric a bit to wrap his scar on his arm. He didn't want someone to see it and mistook him as a clicker. Being green was difficult enough to deal with a human. Mikey shivered a bit. Human clothes were rare in this area. They scavenged everything they could find and left a little for those who came later. Mikey didn't blame them. Human tried to survive, and so was he. Mikey grabbed the bow, arrows, and one of Leo's katana to hunt. Thankfully Leo taught him many things about camping and survival skills during the time they were traveling, though it was different when he had to be on his own, alone, without his brother watching his back. He must collect foods as much as possible. He didn't know how long he could come out like this.
It had been approximately twelve hours since Leo was down. Mikey had a debate with himself whether he should go out to find medicine or stay by his side. In the end, his stomach decided for him. He left all supplies beside Leo's bed and a note to tell his brother where he went in case Leo woke up.
Mikey really, really wished Leo would wake up soon. He would hunt something and hurried back to Leo. He didn't like leaving his big brother alone in the basement. Clickers might come after him, Kraang zombies too. Mikey thought as his feet stepped on a thin layer of fresh snow. It was cold and quiet. There were some sort of small community nearby, and the houses. Everything was too quiet. There was no sign of life here, no sign whatever, only death. Mikey shuddered at that thought and quickly moved into the forest, hopefully, he could find something to eat.
He glanced at the pouch at his belt. He did the weapon check this morning since he had to be prepared. He only had ten ninja smoke pallets left so he must use it for emergency only. Mikey tried not to stare at it too long because it looked like normal egg and it made his mouth water because he was craved for fried egg. It felt like years since he had one.
He wondered if he could have used one of them during their previous crisis. But he realized it was no use. He got bitten because the stalker suddenly fell from the ceiling, and Kraang zombies pushed Leo off the edge by surprise. Ninja smoke pallets wouldn't help them.
No, it won't change anything.
Still, if I try harder…
Focus. If you don't, we're all doomed.
Next time he won't hesitate to use the bomb to get out of the situation. Mikey took a deep breath and looked for a sign of animal, bow and arrow ready in his hands.
One of the good things that happened after the world's apocalypse was there were no human's boundaries. The trees grew in the city and sometimes he saw a wildlife on the road. There was no pollution which made animals came close to human's area. As he walked passed the trees, the quiet forest rewarded him with the lone deer, scraping what was left on the tiny plant on the dirt. Mikey spotted it immediately and hid himself to find the angle to shoot. A deer. It had to be a deer. He remembered back in Northampton when Leo was out to hunt and came back limply to the house, telling them to go camping in the forest. That was where everyone saw the magical deer; the same deer that guided Leo back to be their strong leader again.
Mikey looked at his cloak. It was gray like the one Leo had in Northampton, and he had bow and arrows too. He pretty much looked like Leo.
I look like Leo. Does it mean this deer will guide me too?
Nah, it'll be our dinner.
But what if it leads me to, I don't know, the reinforcement?
Come on, you're not Leo. You can't do that.
Mikey hung his head at that thought (he began to hate his negative thoughts so much it never said anything good!). Once he cleared his mind, he took an aim and shot. The arrow hit the target and the deer quickly ran away. Mikey jumped and followed them. A second arrow should take it down.
It's leading me into the forest. Is that a good thing? I haven't seen Raph or Donnie in months. Wonder when they will come to look for us.
I miss Donnie… he should be here with me. He'll know what to do…
Yeah, in the end, I still want Donnie to be here.
But he did want Leo to be with him too. It wasn't that bad when they spent the time together. Leo may be bossy, but he always knew what to do. It felt weird at first because they were never close. Leo felt like he was on the top of pillar and Mikey was on the ground looking up at him...
It'll change. After this madness ends, everything between us will change...
Mikey panted as the deer ran out of his sight. How can you stay alive? Mikey wondered, following the trails of blood on the white floor. It led him into the collapsed wood factory. This was a new territory. The familiar view disappeared as the trees and wood factory came in sight.
"Oh great. This place is not creepy at all." He told himself, gathering his confidence. There were too many hiding places. He didn't want to stay until he ran into clickers or hunters. Facing the great enemy alone wasn't in his plan for this afternoon. Right. He was alone, without his brother's aid, so might as well get this over with. Mikey stopped when he saw the deer fell dead on the snow outside.
Gotcha.
Successfully hunt it down, Mikey was about to inspect his prey when ninja instinct told him he wasn't alone. It was like someone or something was watching him. Mikey turned around quickly and aimed at the large tree in front of him.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
If it was a clicker, he would surely fire before it reached him. But the sight of two men stepping out behind the tree, holding both hands up as a surrender pose caught him surprised. Real human? Not clickers? Mikey held his aim, didn't want to lose his chance to shoot if they were hunters. Had to be cautious when meeting a new human being.
"Hello...we just want to talk." The middle-aged man with mustache waved at him. Mikey widened his eyes. It had been so long since he found a decent human who didn't want to gouge him. He kept his aim and remained silent though, wondering if his cloak covered all his inhuman skin.
The other man looked very cautious. When Mikey didn't respond, the first man offered a smile. "Um, name's David, this here's my friend James. We're from a larger group - women, children. We're all very, very hungry."
Mikey quirked his eye ridge. The wheel in his head tried to figure out what they wanted. They were nothing like Henry and Sam; they looked too kind to a stranger like him. Mikey was sure these men could take his prize by force judging from the rifle on David's back. They just chose to be fair which was weird because most of humans he found were never fair.
"Yeah, me too." He meant the hungry part. He didn't want to share the deer since he was the one who shot it.
David spoke again with a soft voice. "Well maybe we could, ah, trade you for some of that meat there."
The wheel in his head was working overtime or he began to lose his mind because this time his 'angel and devil' formed into little Mikey on his shoulders. The little Mikey with the crown was on his right, and Turflytle was on his left.
'Wait, what? What are you?' Mikey mentally asked.
'I'm the devil who speaks your thoughts, buzz buzz.' Turflytle proudly presented himself. 'What do you think you're doing? You can't trust human! Remember last time you trusted Chris Bradford, buzz buzz?"
'But you trust April and Casey right?' Little Mikey with the crown tilted his head. 'They look kind. I'm sure they can help us!'
Mikey turned left and right to see them on his shoulders. 'I am going insane. Why do I see both of you outside my head!?'
'You imagine us, buzz buzz. Nothing's wrong with a little creative, buzz buzz. We'll keep you company until Leo wakes up, buzz buzz.'
He began to understand why Raph was annoyed when he did buzz-buzz thing. 'Go away! I don't wanna see you right now! I need to focus!'
Turflytle pouted. 'Oh all right, buzz buzz.'
'And Turflytle, aren't you supposed to be a good guy? You're superhero!'
'Nah. I'll stick with evil this time. It's cooler, buzz buzz.'
'Did you mean I should be a bad guy?' Little Mikey with the crown whimpered as he was about to cry.
'No, no! I didn't mean that - just go away, both of you! I really need to stay sane now!'
Turflytle shrugged and disappeared, while little Mikey lingered for a moment. 'You trust Henry and Sam. Not every human in this world is bad, you know.'
'...yeah, I know.'
And then he disappeared. Mikey sighed as he regained what was left of his sanity. He realized that David was still talking to him.
"What do you need? Weapons, ammo, clothes-"
Mikey asked before he could stop himself. "Medicine! Do you have any antibiotics?"
Both men were quiet for a moment. Mikey just asked for antibiotics. For Leo. Since he couldn't find the hospital. This should be the best way. A trade for medicine. He was so desperate that he asked the first stranger he met. But why did he feel like he did the wrong thing? David glanced at his buddy, perhaps sending a signal? Or they just realized his only company was seriously injured. Oh god, they knew. They knew they knew they knew-
Thankfully, David interrupted his thought. "We do. Back at the camp. You're welcome to follow us-"
"No!" Mikey yelled, keeping his aim on David. He did a mistake once, now they knew he had an injured companion, he wasn't going to do it again. "I'm not following you anywhere. I can't… I-I… just get it for me and we'll trade here. I'll wait."
Mikey didn't bother to hide his desperation for medicine. He tried to stay calm, and focus, like Leo would do, but he couldn't. He needed it so Leo would get better. He really, really needed it.
David turned to order James. "Two bottles of penicillin and a syringe. Make it fast."
James looked back at Mikey one last time with distrust, and something told him that they knew. They knew another thing about him. Of course, it was obvious. He was using only three green fingers to hold the bow. Mikey's blood ran cold. The cloak couldn't cover all of him, shadows did. But this was broad daylight in the middle of snow forest, of course they would notice he was different.
They know, but they still agreed to trade with me.
I guess they're desperate, just like I am.
David still acted normally, as normal as a human could be.
"Hey kid, he's probably gonna be awhile. You, ah, mind if we take some shelter from the cold?"
Mikey hesitated, but the cold was biting his skin, digging through his bones. What should he do? What would Leo do? But this human seemed...kind. They just wanted some meats. He lowered the bow and gestured to the deer. "Bring him with us."
David drags the deer inside the wooden house. Mikey followed him, not sure if he could trust the man yet. David still treated him like a human kid, and he just called him 'kid', so it was probably okay. David sat down to build a fire. Mikey wanted to hold out his hands close to the fire but too afraid to show his hands. Luckily, David broke the ice first.
"It's, uh, may I ask what happened to your hand?"
Well, that's subtle.
Under the cloak, Mikey was fidgeting his hands. "It's always been this way… Err… I mean, there's chemical thingy exploded and since then my body...changed."
Yep, not a lie, just save some unnecessary details. At least this time I'm not an alien from outer space.
"It changes your skin color too?"
"Umm, yeah." He made sure not to reveal his body or more questions would come.
"I'm sorry to hear that," David said with sympathy. "You know you really shouldn't be out here all on your own. You're just a kid."
He preferred David to ask about his mutation than that. Yeah, he shouldn't be alone. Well, he wasn't entirely a weak kid. He was sure he could hold his ground if clickers or hunters came. But until Leo was healed, he would be alone for a while. He didn't prepare to be alone for long, just as long as it was needed. Mikey didn't answer and got close to the fire as much as possible. He wasn't talkative like his usual self as he didn't fully trust the human.
Apparently, talking was the best way to get through the time as David asked him again.
"What's your name?"
Mikey blinked and looked up a bit. David looked at him in the eyes. He didn't know what he saw in the man. Still debating inside his head. Turflytle said he couldn't trust human, but some part of him wanted to trust someone, someone that was willing to help him.
"Michelangelo."
The heavy silence dropped between them. Finally, David averted his eyes. "I understand it's not easy to trust a couple of strangers. Whoever's hurt, you clearly care about them. I'm sure it's gonna be just fine."
Of course they knew. But his kind words eased the ache in his heart a little. Mikey nodded slightly.
"Yeah…"
And they waited.
Mikey was nodding off when he heard a familiar disgusting sound, clicker's noise. He quickly stood up and saw David was already at the window, looking out to see their direction with a gun in his hand. Mikey gulped. He was too relaxed to be with the stranger with a gun. He was so careless that he almost felt Leo's disappointed gaze on his shell, except it wasn't possible because Leo was still lying in the basement waiting for him. His hands were on the nunchucks at his side. The noise grew closer, coming from every direction. This was definitely a large horde of clickers.
He knew he shouldn't scream but he couldn't help it when a clicker entered the house. David didn't hesitate to kill it. It was just a start. More infected approached them. The man shut the door and put a tarp on the deer.
"Damn. James's not back yet." David moved quickly to guard the window. It was good to have at least one adult; they always knew what to do. "No matter what, we have to keep them out. Let's hope they don't find him. Cover the windows."
Mikey didn't protest as he put the nunchucks out, ignoring the worried stare from David.
"You can fight, right? You need a gun?" David asked.
"No, I'm good."
Mikey didn't want to explain why he fought with a piece of wood. He didn't need to. He just had to show David how this worked. The clickers came to the window and tried to get in, but Mikey hit its head hard enough to send it to the ground. A sickening sound echoed through the house, mixing with the gunshot sound. He could hold them on his own which made the human actually impressed. The first wave passed but the distant noise told them the infected kept coming.
David glanced outside and shook his head. "Nothin' over here. Oh lord, there's a whole lot of 'em comin' at us. We're gettin' outta this room." He kicked down a boarded-up door nearby, making an escape route. "Alright, kid. This way."
Behind the door was the passage into the old factory. David gestured his hand. "Follow me. Through here."
Mikey frowned. He was entering another unfamiliar territory again, and even worse, with the human he just met fifteen minutes ago. He hated this. "Okay. Do you know where you're going?"
David chuckled, holding the rifle on his side to run. "I've never set foot in this place."
"Oh..."
A moldy smell hit him before he stepped inside. The factory was very old but large. The stairs connected to the messy working area. David ran up to the stairs and whispered to him. "This way. Stay close."
Mikey was wondering if he was too obedient to follow every order from David, but he thought it felt right like he had an older guy taking care of him. He felt safe, even though he saw that David wasn't a really good shooter; he missed a lot, and that didn't sound good because it meant Mikey had to rely on his skill only to get them out alive. But then the clicker's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Shit. They're in here too? Keep a lookout for those things." David muttered. "We need to find a way outta here. There's gotta be a way outta here."
They ran to the door that led them to the corridor. Clickers were still nearby as he heard a cry from them; man and woman, once humans, were following them. Mikey shuddered and took a step back. His foot caught on something, making he yelped and fell ungracefully on his butt.
"Hey kid, watch yourself - oh shit."
Mikey blushed at his own clumsiness. But when he put his hand behind him to get up, he found something. A corpse.
"Ahh!" Mikey scrambled to his feet, trying to get behind David. It looked like someone already fought those things and lost. Not a good sign.
David sighed. "Ah, Lord. I've been lookin' for these boys..."
Mikey took a deep breath. Don't panic. It's just a corpse. You've seen a hundred of corpses before. Don't get a nightmare because of it. Leo's sick and you have to focus.
Heh. I bet that piece of advice is from little Mikey in my head...
"You okay, Michelangelo?"
Mikey startled a bit because he felt like it had been forever since someone called his name. "Umm, yeah, yeah, I guess. Just - want to get out of here as fast as possible."
They were in another room on the second floor. David turned around and grumbled. "It's a dead end. How on earth did they use this building?"
"There's no way out?!"
"I'm gonna look for an exit. Keep your eyes open."
Mikey got his weapon ready. This was the first day without Leo by his side and he already ran into trouble. But he couldn't die here. He had to go back.
Something was crawling on the roof. Mikey wiped his head at that direction and whispered. "Did you hear that?" David turned to him. They both heard an odd infected noise above their heads. "It's coming from the roof!"
"I know!" David hissed, taking a rifle out.
Mikey spun his nunchucks nervously. "That thing can climb!? Oh wait - of course it can."
But when clicker showed itself, he was shocked to see the strange creature so large it almost twice his height. Any feature that was used to be human was gone. It didn't look like human at all; it was like a faceless monster. It didn't run fast like clicker, maybe because it had the heavy body. The biggest infected he had ever seen.
"But I don't know that thing can!" Mikey squeaked. "What is that!?"
"It's bloater!" David started shooting. The bloater lost the balance and fell to the ground. The fall didn't kill it, however.
"Bloater? Huh, yeah, it looks like it's ready to explode." Mikey stopped for a short moment. "...umm, don't tell me..."
"Yeah, it can explode!" David reloaded the rifle. "I know you're good with your weapon but don't get too close. It can shoot a spore."
Oh great. A zombie that can shoot. Great. "Yeah, okay."
Mikey ran around to distract it while David shot, but many empty cartridges passed and it didn't go down. This creature was tough. Tougher than any clicker he had fought. David would run out of bullets soon. Mikey switched to Kusarigama to do some ninja trick. There was only one enemy. He could do this. He could restrain it with the chain.
"What're you doin?" David yelled from the side.
"Keeping him in one place so he can't chase us around." I can do it. I've done it millions of times, He thought as he threw the chain to wrap around its torso and pulled, but it didn't move at all. Instead, it began to walk slowly and dragged him along. Mikey tried to pull again but the bloater was stronger than him.
"Uh! He's strong!"
"Hold him like that!" Even if the chain didn't stop it from walking toward David, the bloater was definitely slower than before. David kept shooting at its head but the fungus plate didn't break. The human took a few steps back. "Oh god…"
Mikey tried to pull again, but he heard a weird noise from bloater, like something whistled in the air. When Mikey looked up, he saw the first spore shot coming to him. Mikey yelped as he jumped out of the way.
"Ahhhh!"
The chain around it loosened. Kusarigama fell on the floor uselessly. Bloater was free again and walked to him. Not good. At all. Mikey rubbed his forehead furiously and ran again. "Okay, Mikey, think!"
For some reason, mini Turflytle and little Mikey were back.
'Ah, it's our turn again? Buzz buzz.'
'Umm, not really good timing, Mikey-me.' Little Mikey with a crown rubbed his arm nervously when he saw the bloater shooting spore at David.
'Huh? Wait! No I didn't call you! But… did you just give me a nickname? Like me giving a nickname to myself? Oh wow, kinda awesome. I can give a nickname to myself.'
Turflytle and little Mikey looked at each other before Turflytle went to the window, pretending to see something interesting outside.
'What're you doing, Turflytle?' Mikey asked.
'Finding your focus, buzz buzz. I think it's out of the window, buzz buzz.'
Mikey slapped his forehead. 'Oh shell! Right. Focus! How can I beat him?'
Turflytle flew back to his shoulder and tilted his head to look at the large infected. 'If I look from this angle, he looks like the Creep, buzz buzz.'
'Ooooh. That walking plant-eating mutagen? I remember him.' Little Mikey said excitingly. 'Plants share the same weakness.'
Mikey looked at the younger version of himself with mouth hanging. 'I don't know. What is its weakness? Master Splinter? He threw the Creep over his shoulder once… Leo? Raph? Ninja kick? Pizza? Umm, no, normal plants aren't afraid of them so...fire?'
The light bulb in his head turned on as both of his imaginary friends grinned before disappeared. With a new determination, Mikey slid on the floor to get Kusarigama back and ran toward the man.
"David! I have a plan! Can you hold him off for a sec?"
David glanced at him for a moment before reloading his rifle. "What's your plan, kid?"
Mikey grinned. "One crispy rotten mushroom coming right up."
He switched the weapon quickly to show the sickle blade and shuriken in his hands. David raised his eyebrow at the strange weapon but decided to ask about them later.
Mikey spotted the can of oil on the floor near two corpses. Trying not to think about how they died, he grabbed the can and shook it a bit. There was some oil left so maybe he could do this. He swung the chain to the beam above its head while David shot. Then he jumped.
He was kind of break every rule that human could not do with his flexibility.
David looked at him, surprised to see that he could jump so high in the air. Holding the chain tight, he opened the can and let the oil spray all over the infected. Mikey made sure it stayed away from David as he did a middle-air flip to get on the beam. Then he snatched four shurikens, and with a little spark, the shurikens were on fire. Mikey sprang from above and threw shuriken at the infected. The sharp edge pieced into the fungus armor that protected bloater's body. Mikey saw a molotov one time in New York in this world. He knew how it works.
"Eat this!"
Oil and fire gave an impressive effect on bloater as it screeched. The plan worked. Fire made it struggle, its skin was melting, but it was still too stubborn to die. While it was burning, it shot two spores at him. David gasped and got the rifle ready. But Mikey threw smoke pellets at them before it reached him. The yellow spores exploded, mixing with purple smoke from pellets. Mikey leaped to the side to avoid breathing spores. This time he used his speed to get close enough to sweep its legs and ran back before it could shoot spore at him. Bloater's skin burned and finally caused an effect on it as it fell on the knees. And finally, it slumped to the floor. David shot it head repeatedly until it died.
David shot it head repeatedly until it died.
"Wow..." Mikey panted. He threw, jumped, and threw until it was finally dead. He even used two precious smoke pellets. This thing was definitely tough, tougher than any clicker. He was actually glad that he didn't fight it alone.
"Never seen anyone fight like you before, kid. That's really somethin'." David complimented like an adult did to a kid, and in this situation he was that kid. But he didn't mind at all, as long as he wasn't alone. The whole building was suddenly quiet. David glanced around to check for more infecteds and walked back to the door. "You know, I think we did it."
"We did? Like, it's really dead? No more clicker or bloater?"
"I'll check."
David waited for a few moment to make sure he didn't hear any clicker noise. Mikey looked up at him hopefully.
"No rotten mushroom?"
"No rotten mushroom." David chuckled, rubbing Mikey's head with odd affection. "What'd I tell ya? Alright. Let's head on back, check on that buck of ours."
On the way back, Mikey thought about what happened. His mind still didn't believe that he took down the most dangerous infected he had ever seen. But he wasn't fighting alone, David was with him. Even if he was the one who finished it, he wouldn't be able to do it alone... Turflytle and little Mikey in his head were still arguing whether or not they could trust David. Mikey was grateful, at least, that he had David back then. He couldn't fight that infected alone. After he got medicine, he probably came back to visit their camp. They seemed to be a nice group
They return to the deer cabin and crouch by the fire, resting after the fight. James surely took his sweet time to come back so Mikey sat down by the fire, waiting again. David spoke to him in a good nature. "You handled yourself pretty nice back there. Ha, whew, I say we make a pretty good team."
"Nah. We got lucky," Mikey replied. He felt more comfortable with this human than before. It felt good to have a leader again. To have someone to tell him what to do.
David laughed. "Lucky? No, no...no such thing as luck. No, you see... I believe that everything happens for a reason."
Mikey just listened. Philosophy was never his favorite; it was more like Leo's or Donnie's. But he didn't deny that listening about this topic made him miss Leo. Mikey was sure his big brother would be enthusiastic to join in. The man took a few minutes staring at the blank space behind him like he was slipping from the present and thinking about the past.
Then David tended the fire and said quietly "Really, I do. And I can prove it to you." the human cleared his throat and looked at the fire intently. "Now, this winter has been especially cruel. A few weeks back, I ah...sent a group of men out - nearby town to look for food. Only a few came back."
Mikey listened to him, blinking. He wasn't sure what David trying to say but he remained silent, listening. David gave him a small smile.
"They said that the others had been, ah, attacked by some kind of freak using weird weapons." David looked at his hands that held the nunchucks a moment ago. Mikey felt a chill ran down his shell. Maybe it was because of the cold…
"And get this, they said a freak, green creature, attacked them."
His eyes widened.
David met his eyes slowly, keeping stoic expression.
"You're good fighter, I can see. I'm sure you can survive out there just fine. You can hunt your own food. But we're not as good as you are, and we have more mouths to feed. So, you see? Everything happens for a reason."
…
Mikey felt like the time froze. David tilted his head when he saw Mikey slowly stood up and took a step back, his lips quivering.
"Now don't get upset. It's not your fault. You're just a kid."
David spoke with calmness as usual, but this time it was cold, detached. When human didn't move, Mikey took his bow and arrow, aiming at David who was sitting near the fire and not even looked at him like he was just chilling around.
'Everything happens for a reason.'
It's not true. He didn't mean it like that. He was just - just…
He wants to kill me all along.
Perhaps he was shocked by what he just heard from David that he didn't hear a step behind him. It started with a gunshot, a direct hit to his back. Mikey yelped with pain as he hit the ground. Gritting his teeth, he didn't register their words as he used another ninja pellet for distraction, and to give enough time for him to overcome his pain to move to the beam above. The commotion broke out as the men yelled and coughed. Mikey took a breath and shut his eyes for a moment. The snow and a few trees outside weren't a good hiding place. Maybe he could go to the roof just like bloater. He still had ninja pellets left so he should be fine. This was emergency, after all. He must escape from this place as soon as possible. Then, perhaps, he would ask himself why this kind of thing happened to him later.
Suddenly, the gun rang as the bullets his shell again. They shot Mikey five times on his back. He remembered the first time he got shot on his shell when he was with Henry and Sam; it hurt like burning fire, and that was only one bullet. How could they find him up here he didn't know. It hurt so much that he screamed and fell to the white ground, unable to move for a second. That was enough time for the group of men to come and hold him to the ground. Someone kicked him on his shell and cursed angrily. Mikey inwardly grinned. He hoped the man's foot broke.
"Get him!"
"Don't kill him, James!"
"He won't. Look, we shot him and he just refuses to die. But what's the difference? We'll carry him back anyway! The meat will be still fresh."
"Don't we carry him in pieces? It's easier."
"Nah. Too messy. He's just a kid. Lightweight as shit."
"Damn. That means not enough meats."
"Fuck! How can he survive the shots? He should've been dead by now!"
"Oh my god." One man took off his hood that covered his bald head. "What is this? Is he that freak in the town?"
Mikey gasped as he tried to breath. Four men were putting their weights down on his arm, legs, and his shell to make sure he couldn't move. His shell still hurt. Pretty sure he had a real permanent dent on his shell by now. These men were crushing his lungs, but he trashed his body as much as he could to get free.
"Let me go! You can't do this to me! Just let me go!" Mikey shouted. Some men looked at him astonishingly as if they didn't expect to see him talk. "You don't understand! I-I have to go back. He'll die if I don't go back to him!"
"Who? There's another freak like you?" The man named James sneered.
Mikey clamped his mouth shut. Shell, shell, shell, I messed up again!
"Heh, antibiotic isn't for yourself, right?"
Mikey growled at James. He had enough. Mikey was angry and hurt. He felt betrayed too as he looked at David in front of him, holding a rifle with a blank expression. Mikey poured all emotions and turned them into his strength.
"LET ME GO!"
"Damnit! Just hold him!"
"That's what I'm doing! Are you kidding me? Is he really a kid? Like I'm holding an elephant!"
"I SAID LET ME GO!"
"You're making a lot of trouble, Michelangelo."
Warm voice seeped with venom, he wiped his head to the man and glared at him.
"Don't say my name, you mustache sadist! You tricked me!"
"There's a reason, kid. I'm sure you'll understand." David said with patience like he was explaining thing to a child. "I didn't believe their story until I saw you. I just want to make sure it's really you."
"Agh! My nose!" One of their men got hit when Mikey could move his arm and broke the man's nose with his elbow. He could do this. He could get free and come back later to kick their asses. He shouted again.
"LET GO!"
David sighed, walking toward him. "Time to put you to sleep..."
Mikey widened his eyes.
"Wait! No no no just let me go you can't do this he needs me-!"
Whack!
