Author's note: I'm sorry for being absent far too long. Because I have full-time job now! Yes! I'm doing both full-time and part-time jobs! Graduated and got a job after struggling for years... So yeah, less free time... Thank you everyone (if there's any TT) who is still waiting! This is my late New Year gift!
(Thanks efarraiz TT I'll reply back soon!)
I saw TMNT apocalypse arc already. It's fantastic! Mainly because Raph is finally a main star and I like the idea of Waterworld+Mad Max+Logan combined together. Now on with my own apocalyptic fic...
David is the same David as in LoU, so he's creepy as usual. Some conversations are from LoU script.
The hunters who were guarding the area gathered in the middle of the town, looking around with a gun ready in their hands. They usually faced the unwanted visitor in this time of the year since any survivor would go as far as they could to find something to eat even if they knew they were crossing the dangerous borders. But David's group didn't mind. It was like their place was a trap for their prey since it wasn't too far from the main city. It was convenient to stay close because they could hunt for meats, any type of meats.
That also meant they would meet more infecteds too.
They took the risk, though. Even if they were a few in number but they usually didn't hunt alone. The hunters always went in a small group, trying to stay alive.
Although this may be the first time that the prey was biting them back.
David glanced at the female hunter who was waiting outside with arms crossed, grim expression. "What happened? We heard gunshot!"
David sighed, eventually they would know anyway. "It's Infected."
"What?"
The man behind him shouted. "That creature! It's infected and it got out!"
The female hunter frowned, then she turned to him. "This is bad, David."
He knew. A wild green demon ran around could bring the chaos to his town, a wild little turtle that he convinced the others to catch. He wouldn't let it destroy his town. David sighed. "Alright, I need you to round up everyone who isn't armed and get 'em to clear outta here. We're gonna find him," He paused, averting the eyes from the woman in front of him. "and we're gonna kill him."
That would satisfy them, at least.
She tensed involuntarily. "Oh my god. Then I'll take the kids to the shelter."
David nodded. "You do that."
When she ran off, another man came to ask him. "James?"
Ah. Yes, he had to answer that too. David shook his head. "Dead."
The man looked shocked for a moment, couldn't believe their friend was killed inside their home. He scowled. "Damn. We gotta kill it on first sight. That beast's too dangerous."
He would reject that idea, but not now, not when his people was shaking with fear. He could handle kids later. David nodded. The hunters began to hunt for this new infected.
When David was gone, the female hunter carried his order to move women and children to the safe place. Not everyone was pleased, though. Usually when they caught the prey, the whole group would know. But this time their prey wasn't normal. Worst, no one told them about it.
This was because they followed one man.
"Tired of this shit. He's crossed the line this time." The other lady muttered to her friend.
The female hunter nodded, completely agreed. "I've been saying this for months."
"Why did he take the beast here in the first place? Makes no sense." Her friend complained while taking her son out. They were very protective when it came to their kids. Not only because a few children were alive after the virus breakout, but they also heard an awful rumor about their leader from their children…
"We've indulged him enough. That creature killed our men and now it's infected. Why did he capture it in the first place?"
David, their leader, held too many secrets to himself. It was true that they hunted more food because of him, but some of them were frustrated by his insane demand like insisting them to keep the weird animal. They told him to get rid of it, but no, he didn't. they had to put up with his stubbornness. She sighed, tired or not, she had to help the others to hunt it down. Might as well try to find another group after winter ended. She glanced back, the last child ran out of their shelter which was the old restaurant in the middle of the town. All of children were ready to go to the new safe place.
"Let's clean this mess up...then we can have a town meeting. Put his leadership up to a vote."
Everybody murmured in agreement, so it wasn't only her who couldn't stand him.
All he could see was white.
Everything was covered in white. Mikey could hardly see the hunter in the middle of the blizzard unless they were right on his nose. He had to listen closely to their foot step instead. Sometimes a campfire made it easier to spot the hunter, but mostly he relied on his ninja sense.
Come on, Raph can hit me with eye close. If he can do it I can too.
The frigid atmosphere continued to freeze his entire body. His dirty cloak did little in protecting him from the wind; it was hanging uselessly on his shell. In his perfect state (usually with four pieces of pepperoni pizza), he could use any ninja skills to attack the enemy. But now he was tired, hurt, cold, hungry, and bleeding. It would be impossible for him to fight even a single man.
No, I still can. I just hit that James guy…
Did he die?
Who cares! He shot me!
Mikey sighed. He pushed some pressure on the wound to stop the blood coming out trailing on the white ground. Some ninja he was, leaving a big red sign saying 'I'm here!'.
I just have to get out of here…
But I don't know where I am…
I have to find a way to get out. Leo told me to watch the stars.
The snow's falling pretty hard, and it's not night time. You can't see a single thing.
Then what should I do? I can't let them… them… to...chop me...
His teeth chattering. This was ridiculous. The turtles shouldn't be in the cold weather. Soon he would need to get inside the house to get some warmth. Staying in the blizzard too long and he would turn into turtle-sicle.
Mikey shivered, but this time wasn't from the cold.
If I go inside, I don't know if they're waiting for me...
After trying so hard, you're gonna be a coward now and kill yourself out here?
No! Never! I'm not giving up!
But you're afraid.
...yes.
Of them?
…
Well?
Kuwareru…
No!?
Mikey startled at his own thought. That word… he knew its meaning. Japanese was Master Splinter's native language and he taught all turtles they were little… No, not now, he needed to focus.
But why this word?
He stumbled a little as his foot caught a branch under the snow. His body swayed and his left arm pressed into the wall. Mikey yelped, quickly push himself back to balance. The red from his blood was on the wall. His wound was still bleeding which was bad. He had to get inside-
"What if it bites someone?"
The man's voice in the house made him jumped. Mikey quickly crouched under the window, holding his breath and staying still as much as possible.
"Relax. It's not biting anybody." Another man said.
"I'm saying we could have a real situation here."
He saw the man with a gun shrugged. "We already have a situation and we're gonna take care of it. Now stay focused. Let's find it."
They're talking about me, Mikey thought, not sure if he was shaking from the cold or from the fear he couldn't understand. But one thing he knew was that he became a prey.
They're hunting me down!
Breathing heavily, Mikey moved away from the building. He had to find the escape as fast as he could. His body was slowing down, yielding to the frosty wind. If he stayed outside, he would be frozen soon. But if he wasn't careful, he would run into them.
Two shadows appeared near the wall, so Mikey moved, away from the house and lost in the snow, hoping they wouldn't see the trail of blood.
…
...
Kuwareru…
No, no, no, don't think about it! Think about something else! You gotta find the way out!
The tall shadow appeared before him. Mikey blinked, then side-stepped behind the wall to see what it was. It was the gate made of two poles with a row of wooden paling. Did he really reach the exit? Was this the way out? Was this the right direction?
He stopped on the track when the voice came from the gate.
"This is pointless. I can't see a thing."
Oh great...
"Just keep searching. If it comes through here, we gotta catch it."
"The kids already moved out of old mama restaurant so we should follow them. We should be guarding their shelter. We got an infected running around in the town and we're guarding the damn exit."
"Well, David's order." The man answered with a loud sigh.
"Who chose him again?"
"Look. This monster is deadly and we don't know where it's gonna turn up. Just keep your eyes and ears open."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
It wasn't as if he hadn't been chasing before. Back in New York, the enemy called Kraang hunted for him as well, and sometimes human (that refused to understand he was a hero, not monster). But this time, it was different…
It was different because he was alone.
Mikey was shivering again. They're everywhere. He couldn't go through the gate now. His hands were freezing, bet he couldn't' even take out a Kusarigama. He turned back, swaying a little. He was going to fall to sleep soon.
I can't blind running in the blizzard. Hunters are waiting everywhere I go. I'll find a place to hide, and then sneak out later.
Why can't them… leave me alone…?
Gotta… go...
He decided to find a place near the gate so he could go out after he recovered a bit. Turn out it wasn't easy task. More like he was stumbling around, trying to stay awake and finding a warm place to hide. Before he fell on his knees, he saw the light inside the old building. This time, he didn't hesitate to get in just to take a break from the whiteout. The light came from a half-melted candle; someone lit them and went out. He was lucky that this building was empty.
Huh. Mikey blinked lazily, leaning on the wall since his legs couldn't support his weight. It's good place for me… No human, no hunters…
This place was warm and gave him a little strength back to his body. He was no longer bleeding (or maybe his wound was frozen…) which was a good thing. Staying here for a while would be nice, but he couldn't just stand around like this. He had to find a place to hide in case human came back. His eyes caught a sign of a faded red cross on the cupboard near the counter.
I can't find the hospital…
Yes I really can't, but if i find a medicine...
This will do…!
He reached out, almost tore the door open with exciting and grabbed every bottle inside. Finally, after bad luck he got all day, fought infecteds, being abducted, almost got eaten! If he found medicine, Leo would be okay and he himself would be okay too. He would finally go back to their shelter and bring it back to help his big brother, then asked if Leo wanted earthworm pizza again because that would be only pizza he could make now. Well, perhaps not, if the blizzard didn't stop soon… BUT! Everything's gonna be okay… it's gonna be okay… then he sneezed.
Mikey wiped his nose, dizzy a bit. He blinked several times trying to read the bottle piling in his arms. He slapped his forehead when he saw some of them weren't writing in English. "Arghhhhh… I'm cold. My head hurts... can't think of anything… but gotta remember what Donnie said...Hmm… Antibiotics…?"
Which one? Which one?
"Peni-Clari-what?" He shook it a bit. "It sounds like something explosive in Donnie's lab. How can I know which bottle is the right one?"
He carefully put them down to the floor and picked it up one by one. The sound of small glass bottles chattering echoed through the empty house. Mikey didn't care, though. He just had to grab the right one and get out of here.
But that was when he realized they were all empty.
The group was low on medicine to the point that they almost had none. And when they evacuated, they took all they have and discard the empty ones, or they didn't have any at the beginning.
Panic swelled within him.
"What? No, no, no, no, no, you gotta be kidding! David said he has it. He's gonna exchange it for my deer." He shook it, trying to open the bottle to see with his own eyes. "M-Maybe he keeps it somewhere else. I just have to- just hafto-"
He sneezed again. Hands slipped and broke one bottle on the floor. This time anger and more panic bubbled within him.
No, there's none.
There's no medicine since the beginning.
That's because...
Lying lying lying human lied to me.
Why? Why did he lie to me? I-I-I trusted him before!
I-I-I… Why?!
All I've done… is for nothing…
...
... How...how could you!?
His body was paralyzed with fear, frustrated, too much feeling ran through his mind. When Mikey couldn't take it anymore, he screamed.
It wasn't like David didn't know about gossip around him. Next month he might not be in the leader position, but he wasn't worried. A few talk could convince them again. There was no one else who wanted to step up and carry the burden for them. Too much works and responsibilities. But he liked it; he liked to be in control of situation. Like this time, after they moved out to the shelter, he came with Kyle to check the outer area before dark. He must find Mikey before the night time to ensure that everything was still under control.
"Hey, see anyone?"
Two guards at the gate, Robbie and Mark, glanced at him and shook their heads. Robbie was still young, easy to persuade, Mark was a different story. "Nope."
The curt answer hinted with annoyance. They didn't like to stay in the blizzard and really want the hunt to end. David couldn't blame them. He himself also wanted to capture Mikey again and brought peace to his little hometown.
Suddenly, four men flinched at the scream that was inhuman even to his ears. Alarmed, Robbie swung his gun in every direction. Mark quietly cursed at him and grabbed his shoulder forcibly to stop the young man.
"Did you hear that?" Kyle whispered. He was surprised, too.
"Is that… monster's voice? Goddamnit it's really a monster? This is sick. It sounds like a boy. Like someone tearing its limb off."
Ah, yes, David thought. I almost forget he's just a boy.
"We should go to help just in case it got our children." Mark huffed in frustration, gun ready in his hand.
David nodded slowly. "Ah, yeah… Let's go"
"Is it in that house? The sound came from that house." Robbie tried to look at their house where they kept some supplies, but snow and wind kept hitting his face. David sighed. They had to go in any way because of the blizzard.
Kyle was the one who opened the door, and his body stiffened when he saw something inside.
David quickly moved to see what was inside. He heard a gasp, then the sight of the green creature wearing dirty cloak appeared in front of him. He didn't expect to find him so soon.
Mikey was crouching on the floor, hand reached out to grab medicine bottles before him, some were broken. The grey cloak covered most of his body, or he should call his shell. Mikey was unarmed, well, not entirely. David saw the weird sword and two wooden sticks that killed James hung on his waist. While the others were shocked, seeing the inhuman boy for the first time, David saw that Mikey's arms covered in small cuts, the biggest wound was under the cloak so he could only saw the trail of red on his left arm.
He knew that his name was Michelangelo, he saw him fight fiercely and finish the infecteds with no sweats. He knew Mikey wasn't a normal kid. He thought they would run the dog into a corner, and then the dog turned at bay. It wouldn't easy.
But when he looked into Mikey's eyes. He couldn't help but grin.
Ah. He knew he was going to win.
