Chapter 10
Wednesday, November 24, 1999
Chapter 10

"April!" Michaelangelo kicked through the front door and glanced around with a worried look. "April?! Splinter?!" He moved toward the hall where he heard rustling in the kitchen. Two wolves were snacking on an open box of cereal. "Gah! Hey, that's my breakfast!" Mike flailed his arms at them. The two wolves licked their chops and bounded out the side exit. The kitchen was a total disaster. The lower cabinets hung open, everything that was on the counter top was now littered all over the floor. Broken dishes rested every which way, and what really upset Mike most was, the Klunk kitty-lookalike-kitcat mug was now shattered in a jig-saw puzzle of pieces. Taking over April's reaction in her absence, Michaelangelo fell on his knees in the heap of destruction, letting out a quiet sigh in defeat.

April pulled herself away from the door and looked to Splinter. God, he looks awful. When it got quiet enough, she opened the door a tiny crack, peeking out into the living room. It looked safe.

"Splinter?" She whispered. "I think they're gone."

Splinter looked up with a dazed expression.

"They may be gone, April. But I still sense much danger to come."

April hung on the door handle. "I hate it when you say things like that."

Grabbing Shadow's lead baseball bat, she opened the door fully, daring to head outside. The house seemed too quiet. All the wolves had decided to leave. But they sure were sloppy wolves! Their beautiful couch had scratch marks in it, the TV was knocked over on its side, possibly broken from the fall, her little knick knack display on a wall unit was scattered and some pieces missing, the pictures on the wall were off the wall and crashed to the wood floor.

"My house." A tiny gasp escaped her lips. Splinter appeared at her side, placing a hand to her arm in sympathy. April heard a low sound coming from the kitchen. "Is that Shadow? She was heading for the kitchen, Splinter."

"I have no idea, April. I would not judge too quickly after that invasion of wolves."

With bat in hand, she inched her way to the door. April kicked it opened and jumped forward, startling Mike.

"Yaaaaaah!" They both screamed. The bat swung down but Michaelangelo quickly dodged it and crouched in the corner.

"Oh, Mike!" The bat dropped with a clang as she rushed to his side, embracing him as if he were a child. "I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, dudette. I'm cool." His voice sounded shaky. He tapped her arm and returned the hug.

April stood and ushered him back out to the living room.

"Where are the others?" She stared next at the wide cuts and scratches. "My God, Mike, what happened to you?!"

Michaelangelo looked down with a sigh.

"Aaaah, long story. I'll live. The others are still out there with Casey. We got separated. I just came to check on you guys and was going right back out." He paused and looked around. "Where's Shadow?"

"You haven't seen her?" Michaelangelo shook his head. "She was in the kitchen when the wolves came in."

"I didn't see anyone in there."

April suddenly got a chill when she noticed Mike was the only one she found in the kitchen.

"Oh, God, Mike! Are you sure?!"

"Well, ya!" His voice squeaked. "Heck, the cupboards were wide open, cabinets flung apart, ya know! Places where a kid like her would hide in! I saw no one! Maybe she gone out the back door or something!"

"What?!" April started to pace around frantically. "God, that means she could be anywhere!"

"Damn!" Michaelangelo yelled as he marched toward the front door. "I've got to go back out-"

"Wait, Michaelangelo!" Splinter raised a hand and slowly walked over to him. "We are coming with you."

April spied the walkie talkie on the floor and snatched it up, placing it on her belt. She grabbed a coat for herself and Splinter.

"Let's not waste any time."

Leonardo kept walking in circles, every so often collapsing near a tree to rest. The battle wounded him deeply but he still had enough strength left over to keep moving. He looked down to find his walkie talkie and clicked on the communicator again. "April? This is Leo. Come in, April."

Several miles away, his voice came out near her belt. April quickly grabbed it.

"Leo?"

"April!"

"Where are you now?!"

"I'm heading south past the clearing. Currently near the hunting grounds." The voice was crackling.

April closed her eyes with a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God you're alright. We've got Mike with us. He returned to the farmhouse."

"Good. I'm glad he's alright."

"Where's Casey and the others?"

"I'm not quite sure. We were attacked and got separated out here. Don headed east and Raph went toward the west by the frozen stream. Umm...." crackle "As far as I know, Casey was left in the clearing. To the north." There was a brief pause. "Are you alright?"

"For now." April could feel tears approaching. "We were also attacked. At the house. It was like an invasion of wolves all of a sudden. They attacked us without warning. And there's something else." He heard her sigh. "Shadow's missing. We can't find her."

Leonardo returned the same sigh.

"She may have headed toward the clearing, looking for us. She couldn't have gone far. I'll head back that way and try to find her."

"Alright, Leo. We'll go get Casey."

"Be careful around him, April. He's not his normal self." The line went dead for a few seconds. "April?"

"I'm still here. Is he dangerous?"

"He's confused, April. Not dangerous, but very confused." She fell silent again. "It's best to look for the others instead."

"Okay, Leo. Good luck. Report back if you find Shadow or anyone else."

"I will, April."

Leonardo put the communicator back to his belt and started to walk off down the trail. Finding a child may not be as easy as it seemed. Children get lost at camp sites every day. This was nothing new. It's happened before. Leonardo thought back to a past camping trip they went on in the upstate area of New York. A malfunction of the fire alarm due to an electrical storm sent the campers spreading around like they were wild fires themselves, shrieking and bumping into one another. It was hard for Leo and his brothers to keep a low profile since the other campers were looking for help to anyone they found. Shadow's group of yelping girls split in all directions of the woods, similar to what Leo and his brothers did when escaping the wolves. April was a basket case as a team of searchers went out to round up the lost campers. Shadow was eventually found by a forest ranger and taken back to the campsite to two very relieved parents. Leonardo was on his own with just a walkie talkie and his two feet to get him through the dark forest. He had the courage to face it alone. He had the power to fight back. He had the optimism of finding Shadow even if it killed him.

1:46 am was the time on Don's watch. He rested quietly up against a large tree, sighing gently. The snow drenched him even more. How much wetter can one get? The forest seemed to be resting around him as well. The tiny, bluish-green light shined brightly from his digital watch. He closed it again, replacing his wristband over it.

"Got to keep moving."

Donatello resumed walking through the thick woods. Machinery caught his keen ears. Following the sounds, he reached a spot where the trees were deliberately cleared for a small but active factory. Men dressed like lumber jacks roamed the outer area. Was it a diversion? This didn't look like a wood-shedding place. He caught sight of them carry a large body. A familiar-looking body. The voices carried over to him.

"That's not him. But this guy is also cursed. Damn it, I know he's out there."

"Let's bring him in anyway."

Donatello slowly emerged from tree to tree, inching his way up to the building. At the entrance, he sucked a gut inward against the wall. He was risking being seen big time. The inside sent a chill down his spine. His utmost nightmare had finally come true. Test labs, large scientific instruments, men in lab coats, microscopes the size of observatory telescopes filled the warehouse. A gasp almost gave him away when he saw they brought in Casey! They found him! They must have tracked him down somehow. With the technology they have, it must have been easy for them.

"Oh, this can't be happening."

Raphael climbed down a steep, dirt hill until his body gave up and tumbled the rest of the way. Dirt mixed with blood covered his opened scars and gashes. The snow did some help on cooling the burning sensations when claw met flesh on him. He stood up with a clumsy walk to him.

"I'm on the main road." He mumbled when he saw the path was wide and clear. He heard the sound of a horse nay to the right of him. "Kate?" There was no horse in sight. Instead, a huge barn was no more than 20 feet from where he stood. It was the ranch him and Shadow went to earlier. Raphael made the attempt to drag over to the stables.

The horses were all closed in their stalls for the night. The place was empty and the lights in the nearby houses were all shut off. Raphael didn't care. It was an emergency. He went straight to the door and banged on it as hard as he could. A man answered it that he couldn't really recognize until he got a good look.

"Yes? Who are you?" It was Tom.

"Tom. It's me, Raphael. Think you might have a few minutes to spare?"

The rest of the household woke up. Kate sat with Raphael in the bathroom, tending to his cuts. He had to tell them, even show them he was a mutant. The shock part passed, the questions died down and now, he was considered a friend than a threat. A small boy looking about two years old was also up, running around and would occasionally poke his head in to stare at this huge creature.

"Who's that?" Raphael smiled to the shy boy who'd run away when made eye contact.

"Oh, that's Andy, my son." Raphael looked to her quickly.

"You're married?"

"Widowed." Kate looked away.

"Oh." The peroxide was applied on his cheek with a painful sting. "Ouch! Damn, that hurts!"

"Sorry." Kate said with gritted teeth.

"No, I'm more sorry for you. About your husband." She nodded without answering. "So, how did he-"

"He was attacked by a pack of wolves." There we go with the wolves again. Damn. Raphael nodded. "They were after his horse, not him. He wouldn't let them have it so he tried to fight them off. He got bit up very badly. All they found was his horse and some torn clothing. The horse was hurt beyond repair and died within a few days. We felt the same way for my husband."

"That sucks."

"All I have now is my son, my brother, his wife and the other horse owners in the sharing community here. We're all a family on this ranch. We don't talk much about my husband because it's too painful to rehash on. We try to forget and move on. But with all the wolves out there, it's hard to put it off."

"What was your husband's name?" Raphael stood and watched her face in the reflection of the mirror.

"For future reference?"

"For the hell of it."

Kate sighed deeply. "Jack Russell."

"Oh, damn. This is not good."

Donatello got somewhat of a tour with the friendly shadows protecting his figure from being seen. Casey was brought to a large examining table, still in beast form, by a group of people. They looked like deranged scientists, the type that would love to get a hold of Don and his brothers to see what makes them tick. He assumed these were the same type that have tried to discover the existence of Bigfoot, Nessie, and even UFO sightings. Unsolved Mysteries would love to interview these jokers. Donatello remembered each had a walkie talkie. He quickly reached for it, hoping the people didn't think shadows could talk.

"Leo, come in Leo." He whispered directly into the speaker.

"This is Leo." A crackle came through. Donatello cringed to it.

"It's me, Don."

"Where are you?"

Good question. Donatello looked around to find a name of some sort to help the others when finding him. He read one sign with the abbreviations of F.U.C. Oh, great. What kind of name is that?

"Some warehouse called....oh....Fuc."

"What did you say?" Leonardo thought Don just cursed him out. "Can you repeat that?"

Donatello looked around some more before spying the full title. "Federation of Unknown Creatures." He bit his lip. "Sorry, that was the acronym I just gave you. I'm at some warehouse called F.U.C. Fuc, I guess." Leo could hear him snicker a little bit.

"It's probably pronounced, 'Fuc.'" Leo changed the 'u' to a long vowel sound. Donatello looked to the communicator. Was he saying it right? Who knows. The name itself was ridiculous, aside from the abbreviation.

"It sounds Greek to me." Donatello joked before getting serious. "Whatever the hell it's called, it's where I am. And so is Casey."

"Casey's with you?"

"Not with me." Donatello watched them wiring up their friend with tubes. "Under no free will."

"Was he captured?"

"Yeah, I'd call it that."

"What are they doing to him?"

Donatello was getting nauseated. He almost fainted when he saw in horror what they were doing to Casey. Stripping him down nude and shoving thick tubes and strapping suction devices all over him

"Ever have nightmares of what scientists would do to us? Well, this particular nightmare has come true."

Leo ignored what he said. "Just stay with him at all times. Don't let him out of your sight, no matter what."

"Easier said than done." Donatello looked again, seeing the place swarm with people he feared. "Think I'll stay here for another 7 hours."

"What?"

Donatello swallowed back a lump. "Nothing. I...just....gads....you guys better hurry up over here. Pronto. East side. This is not good at all. This place is creeping me out."

"We'll work our way over there as fast as we can."

Donatello heard the connection close on him. He slumped against the cold wall and watched as his friend was being treated like a guinea pig under the hot lamp on the cold slab of steel of an examining table.

"Casey, much as I can't stand you at times, no man deserves to be treated that way." He paused for a moment. "No beast for that matter."

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