Chapter 2


Raphael sat in the firelight wrapping a nasty gash in his upper arm, glaring across the fire and through his companions to where Shredder sat bound tightly to a tree in the darkness. It had been an interesting afternoon.

The night before they had not gotten very far in the thick darkness that had descended rapidly in the jungle and made camp early. Shredder had been fairly passive, refusing to eat what little foliage the turtles determined was edible and being generally belligerent, but submitting to being tied to a tree where he promptly fell asleep. Raphael was convinced it was a ploy and refused to sleep, keeping watch with a sai ready. But even he fell asleep after a while. Only April stayed awake late into the night while all the combatants slept heavily. She lay on her side close to the dying fire, examining the face of her sleeping companions. The turtles' faces were smooth and green and infinitely innocent in their sleep. She felt secure, even in this strange world, surrounded by her friends. What was making her nervous was not the strange unearthly calls of unseen creatures echoing through the trees, but the man tied to a tree just outside the circle of light. He appeared to be asleep too. She could just see the outline of chest rising and falling rhythmically, and see his profile slumped forward. She had to admit she was with Raphael on this one. She didn't trust Saki for a minute, and lay tensely expecting him to leap up at any moment and slaughter them all. But eventually she, too, fell asleep.

The next morning they set off in the baking heat of a jungle sun. They had reached the foot of the mountain and started off across a flat, steamy jungle plain. With the flatness, the mountains in the distance that marked their destination, and the strange white city fell away from view. All they could see was the rubbery greenness of oily tropical leaves and ropey vines flowing over impossibly tall, thick-trunked trees. They had eaten some berries in the morning, Shredder again refusing to eat, but had yet to find some water. They trudged along blearily in the heat, sweat glistening on the turtle's domed heads.

"You doing ok, April?" Don asked, coming up beside her.

She brushed wet strand of hair out of her face, "I'm pretty thirsty."

"Ditto," said Mike.

"There's got to be some sort of river in this valley," Don insisted. "These hills have to drain somewhere, and its too damp in this jungle not to have any water."

"Maybe they don't have water here," Raphael suggested.

At this remark, Shredder snorted. Everyone turned to look at him as they walked. His face was as flushed as April's and slick with sweat. He sneered down at Raphael, but continued to walk forward. Raphael stopped. "You think that's funny dumb ass?"

"Raphael..." Leonardo warned, urging Raphael to continue walking.

But Shredder stopped too, chest heaving, straining his bound hands, and glared down at Raphael. "I do, turtle. I found your remark quite entertaining."

"Really?" Raphael said. "Enlighten me. There could be no water here. You don't know anything about this world...or do you?"

Shredder pursed his lips. "You simply revealed your profound ignorance of dimensional travel. The vegetation here has obviously progressed along the same evolutionary track as earth's and is, as far as I can tell, carbon based. Chemistry doesn't change dimension to dimension. There is water here. But I couldn't expect your primeval little acorn of a brain to have deduced that."

Raphael's body literally swelled with rage and he started toward Saki when the world seemed to settle the debate for them. The breeze that had been almost inaudibly whooshing through the trees all morning died down a bit, and beneath that stratum of sound, was the gurgle of water somewhere near.

Raphael seemed to forget his anger and start instinctually toward the sound. Even Shredder couldn't suppress his eagerness as he followed through the trees. The group emerged on the soft sandy bank of wide, shallow sparkling river. Momentarily loosing their reason everyone plunged forward, fell on their knees and drank from the cool water. April was only mildly shocked when she lifted her head after taking in a first, icy drink and saw that Shredder knelt next to her, knees planted wide apart to steady himself with his arms behind his back. She watched out of the corner of his eye as he grimaced, leaning over pulling at his wounds. Then his lips brushed the water and his face relaxed into something like ecstasy. He put his whole head under and came up with a splash, his black hair plastering his face. His eyes drifted to April and she realized with some alarm that she had been staring. She edged away from him and continued to drink.

When they had drunk their fill, they stood and stretched in the sun. Shredder was still kneeling and drinking. Raphael narrowed his eyes and walked over, giving his legs a little kick, "Come on tin-grin."

Like a flash Shredder's left leg swept out and tripped Raphael into the water. Before the turtles could react, he rolled onto his back and managed to slip his bound hands under his feet to the front and leapt up. Leo and Don started forward, but even with his hands tied, he managed to do a leaping kick which leveled them both. April stepped backward and screamed as he came at her, but she was too slow. In a moment he was behind her. Shredder threw his arms over her head and brought them around her, pulling her tight against his chest.

Raphael struggled out of the water with a roar of rage and sais drawn. "Let her go, Shredder!"

Shredder contracted his arms, squeezing April's chest and she cried out. The four turtles stopped feet away. "Lay down your weapons or I'll crush her ribs."

The turtles hesitated. April could hear Shredder's heart thudding in her ear and felt his muscles quivering around her. She was frightened, but something in the way his breathing wheezed told her he wasn't as strong as usual. She felt he was putting on a bit of performance. Still...looking Leonardo in the eye she nodded slightly and winked.

"Shredder, if you harm a hair on her head..." Mike growled as they all laid their weapons down.

"Back away!" Shredder ordered and then shuffled forward, pushing April to where the weapons lay on the ground. As they walked, she could hear his cracking voice in her ear. "Woman, you will pick up the blade and cut my bonds. If you so much as try to nick me, I'll crack your bones. Do you understand?"

April didn't say anything, but was gaining confidence. She could feel his arms trembling with exertion just from this slight effort. Shredder knelt and bent forward so she could grab the blade, and as he did so, he couldn't contain a gasp of pain. They stood and as they were backing up, April began to saw at the vines. But she could hear Shredder panting and gave the turtles a look which they motionlessly acknowledged.

She continued her sawing for another few seconds, and then, after a quick calculation, brought her elbow with all her might down hard on Shredder's stab wound in his side. Shredder cried out, and as she thought, he doubled over and released his hold on her. She slipped out underneath his slick arms just as the turtles surrounded him. Don brought his bo down hard on the back of Saki's neck and he went down with a kind of gurgley moan. He lay still in the sand, and blood blossomed through his bandage again.

Raphael was shaking with anger. "Let's just roll him into the river now and be done with it."

April was leaning on Mike's shoulder and had to admit she almost agreed. Leo sighed, "As much as I'd like to, we can't just..."

"Oh yeah?" Raph growled. "Well maybe in THIS world killing evil, murderous bastards who just tried to kill April is actually considered an ok thing."

Leo just shook his head and walked over to the water to drink some more. The rest of the turtles gave each other a look that quietly voiced dissent but shrugged and went to drink.

Raphael muttered something inaudible under his breath and reached down grabbing the unconscious Saki by the shoulders. He drug him to the river and thrust his head into the water. "Wake up, you son of a bitch, we're moving on!" He pulled his head up and then dunked it again, holding it under water. The turtles just watched and didn't comment. Suddenly Saki forced his head above water with a gasp, eyes blinking, face pale. Raphael released his head with a slap and walked off to brood.

The rest of the day they moved slowly and cautiously, eyeing Saki carefully. Donatello had retied his arms extra tight, despite his gasping protests. The bandage on his side was soaked with blood, but Don didn't move to fix it, and no one suggested that he do it. It was clear Saki wasn't doing so well. Between the concussion that morning and the wound that was bleeding freely and not being redressed, his body was beginning to flag under the injuries. April watched out of the corner of her eye as he flinched every couple steps, and she could hear his irregular breathing. Every time he slowed Mike gave him a push and he stumbled, but remained silent and impassive. April got the impression that Shredder had a become a problem that might go away on its own...

That night they sat around the fire and Raphael dressed the scratch he received in his tumble into the river. "That ugly son of a..."

"Let it go," Leo said glancing to the shadows where Shredder sat tied.

"No, he's just going to do it again tomorrow. I say, just a quick flick of the sai, and problem solved..."

April listened and folded her arms over her chest with a sigh.

Don shook his head. "Just because Splinter isn't with us, doesn't mean we revert to being barbarians."

"Barbarians!" Raph hissed. "Look, capital punishment is perfectly legal and he's earned it about thirty times over and then some."

April decided to venture an observation, "He's pretty sick..."

All the turtles gazed at her as if she said something that should never have been spoken aloud. "Looks fine to me," Leo said slowly.

"Sure," said Don, tilting his head a little.

April looked from face to face a little surprised. So this was how they were going to do it? Let him die from fever or blood loss? "I'm surprised at you guys..." she said a little chidingly.

Leo sighed. "I won't kill him. But there's no need to play doctor, either."

The rest of the turtles were silent. April was a little shocked and a little amused. The turtles couldn't stand to break their oath not to take life, but would do little to stop it from trickling away. She gave them all a bit of a glare and clucked her tongue.

"Well," she said standing. "I'm not going to be a party to death-by-malpractice. I'm going to see if Mr. Saki is interested in eating some berries." The turtles looked a little sheepish.

"Don't go near him April," Mike began.

"Oh, I'll just stand back and toss," April said. And grabbed some of the tart, plump berries they had foraged that evening.

She stepped out of the light of the fire to where Saki sat bound by a thick tangle of vines to a tree. His head drooped on his chest and as she neared some of her former amusement fled. She could hear him wheezing, and he lifted his head slowly. He really did look bad. She knelt and scooted up near him. "Shredder? Do you want to eat?"

She could see his eyes glittering in the firelight. "No." he said gruffly.

"Come on," she urged softly. "They don't really care if you hunger strike. Fight another day and all that."

His face remained impassive but his eyes stayed on her. She looked right back and tried to read the expression on his face. "Come on," and she moved to toss a berry as his mouth but stopped under his gaze.

Without really thinking what she was doing, she leaned in and offered a berry to him. He looked at the berry kind of warily, then his eyes traveled up April's body to her eyes again. She realized she was holding her breath and leaned in further to place the berry on his lips just as they parted to accept it. She drew her arm back quickly and scooted away.

He chewed the berry slowly, his eyes closed. After a few moments, he opened his eyes. "Miss O'Neil," he said quietly. "I have to...have to get away..."

April shook her head, stood up and walked away stiffly without looking back. Although, as she was walking back to the fire she realized that his request was based in the reality of life and death.