Chapter Twenty Midnight Awakenings

It was the early hours of the morning when the sound of a speeding car echoed throughout the neighourhood. As the driver slammed on the brakes, the burnt rubber left a cloud in its wake. Time was of the essence as two men jumped out and looked around.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Andrew asked Kyle.

"Yeah I'm sure, we gotta find her. He said it was bad."

"Who said?" Kyle looked at his friend and paused.

"I'm not sure. I think he said his name was Dan. He said an unauthorised hit had been placed on her and gave me an address. He wasn't sure exactly where it had happened." Andrew ran his hands through his short brown hair.

"Man, this isn't exactly the smallest neighboorhood around."

"I know dammit!"

Sarah's eyes slowly fluttered open. She found herself on her stomach and slowly managed to roll over onto her back. Through a piercing headache and blurred vision she looked around. The fight was long finished and she knew she was alone.

"Donnie?" She tried to call out and found she had no voice. She attempted to try again as a flashback hit her and her body siezed up.

She had seen the katana coming her way and she had rolled to one side, taking hold of her assailant's feet, pulling them from under him. She knew she was not done yet and tried to stand. Her assailant had flipped back onto his feet and turned to face her. Without warning, he reached foward and pulled the blade from her body. Her legs gave in at the knees and she fell to the floor in a heap.

"What should we do?" She heard someone ask.

"Let the bitch bleed to death." Anger filled her. As the adrenaline pumped through her veins, she found herself rising to her feet, to the amazement of anyone close enough to see her. Her eyes narrowed as she set her sights on her target. She watched as her assailant raised his weapon. As he struck at her, she found the energy to evade his strikes and offered some of her own. She watched as the katana finally landed on the ground beside its owner. Panting quite hard, she double blinked to clear her vision.

"Behind you!" She heard Donnie call out. As she turned, the hilt of a katana struck the side of her face, near her temple, throwing her off balance and she fell to the ground again. This time, she was unable to get back up.

Sarah paused for a moment as the memories faded, trying to regain her strength. She knew she had lost a lot of blood. She looked ahead and could see the street light, knowing that her only chance was to make it there, hoping that someone would find her before it was too late.

Andrew and Kyle looked around in vain. Nothing. There was no sign of her or a battle.

"Maybe someone's toying with us?" Andrew offered.

"No, it bothered him, I could tell. This guy knows her. We gotta find her."

"Shit... it's like finding a needle in a hay stick. Okay, one more pass, then that's it and we move on... agreed?" Kyle took a deep breath. Maybe someone HAD played them.

"Agreed. Let's go."

On her stomach, Sarah half crawled, half dragged herself to the light. She was fighting to stay conscious. The hard ground and broken glass cutting into her body. She faught off the pain from her abdomen, which had now started to numb her a little as shock finally started to set in. Her body finally gave up and she stopped just short of the light, her arms stretched out infront of her.

"Let me just check this alley one more time.."

"There's nothing there man, we checked already." Kyle's head tilted to the side as he got closer. That wasn't there before and he wondered how they could have missed it. He ran across the street and landed on his knees. He could see the outline of someone. He pulled out his flash light and shun it around.

"Hey man, get yer ass over here!" He called in a panic. He put the butt of the flash light in his mouth as he turned over the figured infront of him. The side of Sarah's head was covered with blood as well as her lower body. Kyle looked at Andrew as his friend was now by his side. Andrew reached in and gently tilt Sarah's head to the side checking for a pulse.

"She's alive... barely."

Kyle stared blankly at the wall. They had been here for hours and Sarah was undergoing emergency surgery. He looked over to Andrew. The news had not been good. It had started with a concussion, deep lacerations and then the stabing. The sword had gone straight through her side, slightly damaging an artery. The internal bleeding had been stopped for now and they were now repairing what they could. A blood transfusion had already been done, with several more to go. The doctor had told them that the surgery was risky in her poor condition. The two men looked up as a doctor approached them.

"She pulled through and is now in recovery. I suggest you two go home and get some rest. I'm sure the police will want a word with you."

"I'd rather stay." Kyle added.

"There's nothing more that can be done for now. Go home and rest. You've had a long hard night. If anything changes we'll give you a call." The doctor paused, "you know, she has you to thank for saving her life. Now the rest is up to her. " The doctor turned and headed in the direction he had come from. Kyle let out a sigh of relief as he collasped in the waiting room chair. Andrew looked at his friend.

"You know, I think Casey has a right to know."

The phone rang a few times before the answering machine picked up.

"You know the deal, leave a message..." Casey's voice was interrupted by Sarah. "or contact us at 555 5478."

Donna stirred as she slept on the couch. She had stayed up as long as she could before surrcoming to a long deep slumber as her body still healed itself . The phone rang once before the machine picked up. The caller was greeted by April's perky voice.

"Hi, we're not here right now, please leave a name and number and we'll call you back. Byeeee!" The caller remained silent, then took a deep breath.

"Case, it's Kyle, I dunno how to tell you this but... we're at Bellevue. Sarah's hurt real bad. She's in the I.C.U..." the voice trailed and the machine stopped recording.

Kyle took a deep breath as he ran his fingers through his short brown streaked hair. What he had said had been right. They had moved her to the Intensive Care Unit only moments before. He looked up as Andrew approached him.

"That's the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"Did you get through?"

"Nope, just the machine." Andrew nodded, acknowledging his response.

"There's nothing more we can do and we can't stand around looking like this." For the first time that night Kyle looked down at himself. His hands, arms and clothing were spotted with blood. Her blood. He let himself be dragged out of the hospital that night. His friend snapping him out of his daze and back into reality.

A few hours later, Jesse looked down at the sleeping female turtle infront of her. When Sarah had told her, she was not shocked, though a little surprised. After what had happened to her this past week, Jesse took the news well. There were four brothers, that much she knew and now a female? Why not? She asked herself. Sarah had chosen at that time not to mention the other three sisters.

She had slowly gotten up to go to the bathroom and had been alarmed when she did not see Sarah. Something must have gone wrong and she knew that there was only one person who could help her. She reached out to touch the turtle, then hesitated. It still took some time getting used to. Donna was woken as Jesse gently shook her. It took a few moments for Donna's eyes to adjust to the dim light.

"She's not back yet..." her voice trailed as Donna shot to a sitting position.

"What?"

"I checked. She's not here. It's 3am..." she paused as something caught her attention and then Donna followed her gaze. The light to the answering machine was blinking.

"How long has it been like that?" Jesse inquired.

"I'm not sure." She reached over and hit the play key. Kyle's message replayed itself. Jesse moaned as she let herself drop into the couch, her knees going weak from what they had just heard. Donna stood there for a moment, her mind going blank. She turned and sat. A few minutes later as the information hit home, tears streaked down Donna's face as she covered her face with her hands. Through sobs Jesse turned to Donna.

"What are we gonna do?" Donna paused as she recomposed herself the best she could. Her mind started to race as she searched for the answer.

"Call April... she needs to know." Donna stood. "There's only one person who can help us. Will you be alright alone?" Jesse nodded her head. "I won't be long I promise. In the mean time call the hospital and get an update."

As she came to a storm drain and the light from the street shone down on her, Donna looked down at the piece of paper in her hands, the very one Donnie had given her a few days back. Once she hit the t-junction, she knew where she was. She looked down as she came to the hatch of his underground home. She slowly climbed down the ladder and looked around. She was surprised to see Splinter waiting for her.

"So you know?"

"Indeed I do my child, though fear not, I sense he is still alive and well, as for Sarah, I feel she has a long road ahead of her." At the mention of her name, Donna broke down again, falling to her knees just in front of him. He looked down at her as he gently placed his hands on her head as she wrapped her arms around his lower torso.

They had had a pleasant evening the night before. Roasting marshmellows around a bonfire, the boys had told ghost stories. April was the first to retire for the night, followed by Leo who wanted an early start, then finally Mikey. Raph and Casey had gone inside to watch a late night kung foo flick, only to have fallen asleep on the couch. The lights were out and the television flickered as the local station had closed for the night. Their slumber was interrupted as the phone rung. Casey opened an eye then slowly rose to his feet to answer the newly installed phone on the kitchen wall.

"This had better be good!" Silence. Casey double blinked as he heard someone trying to control their breathing. He was about to hang up when his gut told him not too. Not too many people knew about this line and for it to be a prank was too much of a coincidence.

"Hello?" He asked. Nothing. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" The person finally spoke in a low hushed voice.

"Is April there please?" She asked quietly. Casey's eyes narrowed with suspicion as the voice seemed familiar... it wasn't the voice, it was the accent! "It's important, is she there?"

"Who wants to know?" Casey demanded. He heard as the girl fought off a sob and waited for her to finish.

"I'm a friend of Sarah's..." at the name, the tears feel freely once again.

"Is everything okay?" There was no answer. "What's happened? Is she okay?" As he rose his voice, he noticed Raph watching him, one eye open.

"There's been an accident..." his eyes closed and he reached for a chair to support himself "she's at Bellevue, we don't know how bad it is, Kyle didn't say..." her voice wavered before the line went dead. Casey stood there, his mouth open and dry, not sure what to say. He double blinked again as he felt Raph's hand on his shoulder. He turned to his friend.

"Get ready, we're leaving."

"That bad huh?"

"What do you reckon!" Casey snapped as he headed for the stairs. Raph paused for a moment as he had never seen him like this before. It must be bad. A few moments later, he heard a cry from April's bedroom, followed by a shriek. He raced up to see April clutching onto Casey, sobbing into his shoulder. Mikey pushed through as the others had heard the commotion.

"Dude, what's goin' on?"

"Sarah's in hospital - it's bad." Mikey's jaw dropped as the colour drained from his face.

"We gotta go - NOW!"

The ride back to the city had been done is silence, except for an occassional sob from April, who's hand had been held the entire time by Mikey. An hour into the ride she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He gently nudged her awake as they reached the hospital car park just after dawn.

"This is it for us dudette, call me and let me know?" She nodded. She watched as the three turtles snuck off to a nearby alley, toward the closest manhole. Casey took a deep beath as he pocketed the car keys.

"Let's go." He turned to his friend and firmly took her hand as they walked into reception.

Donna took a deep breath as she looked down at the sleeping figure infront of her. Sarah's central lines and various monitors tore into her soul. The image of seeing a loved one hooked up to various machines left a permanent imprint in her mind. She knew it was something she would never forget, no matter how hard she tried. She had heard that her condition was stable and she knew that she was receiving the best care available. Private health insurance saw to it that Sarah received a private room.

She looked up as she heard a commotion outside. She knew she didn't have much time left. She gently took Sarah's hand and held it.

"They'll pay for this I swear it!" She vowed in a low voice as she kissed the back of it. Tears streaked her face, as they rolled down her cheeks. She remembered the red rose she had brought with her and gently placed it in her hand before laying Sarah's hand across her stomach. She could hear footsteps and turned to leave, heading for the balcony. Her hooded cloak flaping around her.

April and Casey slowly made their way down to the ward that the nurse at reception had lead them to.

"She's stable right now. I believe you can thank your friend for that." She pointed to a sleeping figure on the couch. "He's been here most of the time." Both Casey and April looked to see who it was in the dimmed lighting. Casey's eyes widened.

"Kyle?" At the mention of his name, Kyle's eyes opened as he had just dozed off. He rose and hugged his friend.

"I'm sorry man... that we couldn't get to her sooner. We couldn't find her at first.." his voice trailed as Casey placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, the nurse interrupted them..

"Only one at a time." Knowing that Sarah was only on the other side of the wall, April burst into tears once again. Casey tried his best to comfort her.

"Want me to come with?" She slowly nodded.

"I don't think I can do this alone." The nurse nodded as she had seen this once to many times. As she opened the door, a slight breeze caught Casey's attention. He quickly looked to Sarah, noticing the rose immediately.

"What the hell?" He raced to the window and as he looked down the building, at the corner of his eye he caught a flash of black and purple.

"Someone's been here."

Chapter Twenty One Coming Soon!