Author's Note:

Hmm…it's been a long time. (Sassy smiles sheepishly) I hate to admit, but I actually had to go back and re-read my own story in order to write the next chapter. So my deepest apology goes out to all of you. Forgive me? I have a myriad of excuses (all of which you don't want to hear) but I'd have to say that writer's block played the biggest role. Finally, I just told myself, "Sassy, you're doing this for you. It's your hobby, your relaxation, your story. It's just a bonus if you can entertain a few people along the way."

So I got over it. And consequently, sat down and wrote the next two chapters straight through.

Okay, enough from me. I hope you enjoy.

SASSY

Disclaimer:

"Oops, I did it again
I played with the turtles
Got lost in the game

Oh baby, baby…

Oops, you think that I own them
That I created four little gems
I'm not that innocent"

(My apologies for that one. I don't know what got into me.)

"A hero cannot be a hero unless in a heroic world."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

CHAPTER 7: CHAOTIC

DONATELLO

Until the age of sixteen, the whole sum of my ninja fighting experience had been with my brothers. Sparring nearly everyday, we learned the intricate moves of battle, growing steadily more and more skilled. Soon, it became more like dancing than fighting. We were good, and able to predict each other's moves. There was fluidity – the type that came from fighting with a partner equally practiced, equally talented, equally driven.

And then came the first battle with the foot.

Suddenly, it was a whole different ball game. Don't get me wrong; they were skilled. But their moves were choppy, unbalanced, and fraught with youthful inexperience. As strange as it sounds, it was hard to adjust to – like a batter swinging too hard at a change-up pitch. More difficult to predict. That, and the fact that it was no longer a one-on-one fight. Each of us had to learn to deal with at least three fighters at one time. One went down, another was there to take his place. Yes, ninjitsu took on a completely different meaning. Stamina, and a lot of brute strength, became the name of the game. The fluidity was gone. And I remember feeling like I was starting all over.

I almost had to laugh – because after quite a few years, that same feeling of unpredictability was returning. This fight wasn't just going to be a different ball game. Heck, we weren't even playing in a ball park anymore. Our opponents had no weapons, no skill…but the one thing that they did have was an urge to kill like none we had ever dealt with before.

Oh yeah…and we were out numbered nearly fifteen to one.

RAPHAEL

I held the sais firmly in my hands, stroking my thumbs up and down the prongs. The metal was cold, the tip honed to perfection. Adrenaline shot through me, anticipating the give of flesh and bone as it yielded to the hard steel. I could feel my heartbeat begin to pulse in my eardrums.

Fighting was imminent. And I was in the mood to kick some serious ass.

"Raph, stay to my right," Donatello ordered, taking a few steps away from me. "Casey, behind us. Watch our backs and take anyone that gets through."

"Uh…right." Casey's answer was full of uneasiness. In any other situation, I would have given him crap for being scared. Mr. 'Backyard Brawl' afraid of a few little psychos? But I suppose he had a good reason – the guy was weaponless. In our rush to leave his apartment, we hadn't taken the time to search for his bat. Or anything else useful for that matter.

Not a smart move on our part. Because fighting without a weapon meant fighting closer – and that didn't help the odds of being bitten. And according to Don, just one little bite was all it took…

"Hey Case, maybe after we're done here, you can buy me the three beers you owe me from that pool game," I said, shooting him a sarcastic smile.

"Like Hell, Raph. It was only two, and you know it."

I didn't have time to retaliate. The screeching got louder, and the dim light of the tunnel revealed a pack of raging, ferocious...well, zombies. That was the best word I had to describe them. Anything human about them had been lost; replaced by primal, animalistic bloodlust. Many of the faces were mutilated beyond recognition, hair matted with various shades of crimson. One, the first to reach me and slightly ahead of the rest, only had a single good eye - the other was hanging from its socket. It drummed up and down against the man's cheek as he barreled toward me.

For once in my life, I realized that I wasn't going to be the biggest freak in the fight.

Deftly ducking the man's flailing arms, I spun,taking him down with a kick that nailed him from behind. The forced wrenched the loose eyeball from its precarious attachment, sending it smacking into the wall, then rolling swiftly away down the tunnel behind us.

The sight would have been disturbing, if I'd had time to think about it.

The full group of people hit us like a tidal wave. So much for holding up a defensive wall, taking them out one by one. I hit the next attacker hard in the ribs, using the sai in my other hand to slice across her neck. Before I knew it, two more women were nearly on top of me. I kneed one in the sternum, then backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling into her older partner. The second woman's bruised lips contorted into a scream of surprise. With one sweeping movement, I had her pinned to the tunnel wall, forearm across her neck, a sai impaled in her stomach. Warm blood ran down through my fingers. I withdrew the weapon, then pushed her aside.

It was nice, not having to worry about ethics. Didn't have to worry about the motto, 'put 'em down, but don't kill 'em.'That was reserved for the Foot, for street punks, for youth who's only major crime was to be misguided. That certainly didn't apply here. Because in all actuality, these people were already doomed. Destined to die from this crazy virus.

Nope, there saw no point in being gentle.

I spared a split second to search for Don and Casey, but they were lost in a swarm of pure chaos. There were people everywhere – whirling, thrashing, screaming. God, there had to be at least forty of them…

I started moving backwards, trying to clear myself more room to fight. It was dangerous to be this crowded. We needed to spread out, to move some of them back into the tunnel the way we came. I kept fighting, brutally, yelling obscenities and trying to draw attention to myself.

"Com'on you ugly freaks! Get your asses over here and play with me!"

It worked. One after the other broke from the main group, following my hasty retreat. Having more room, the first few went down easy. A couple of spin kicks. No sweat. But then, I realized that I had a bigger problem. Literally.

An absolutely massive man was eyeing me hungrily. His lips were curling up and down, saliva dripping down his chin. Puncture marks on his arm flared an angry red, rippling with the movement of his muscles. The guy had to be at least three hundred pounds. Twice my size. And charging at me with the speed of a freight train.

My eyes blazed. With a quick twist of my fingers, I reversed my grip on my sais, the tips now pointed downward like daggers.

I was going to skewer this guy. Nobody gives me a look like that and gets away with it. You know what they say – the bigger they are…

So concentrated on the huge bulk that was barreling toward me, I never anticipate the hit that surprised me from behind.

Suddenly the weight of another man pounded onto my back, his arm wrapped around my neck from behind. Where the hell did he come from? The force of his jump sent me sprawling forward, my right knee twisting, the skin scraping off my thigh when we both went down. I didn't have time to yell, because before I even knew what was happening, my head collided with the cement.

Streaks of orange shot across my vision, and I nearly plunged into unconsciousness. I shut my eyes, tried to get my bearings, tried to ignore the burning pain in my knee. I was laying on my side, my attacker half under me, half still draped on my back. He wasn't moving.

But that was the only good thing. I panicked inwardly when I realized that I was no longer holding my weapons.

Shit. Must have lost 'em when I hit the ground.

When I finally opened my eyes, I realized that a dark silhouette was hunching over me, reaching for my neck. Instinctively, I brought my free hand out in front of me. I just barely had time to catch the giant man's weight as he moved on top of me. He straddled my side, pushing the air out of my lungs and leaving my gasping. My hand pushed desperately at his chest as he tried to lean downward.

A moist warmth blew onto my face. Breath…and saliva. Death. Clenching my teeth, I willed my arms to hold the man's bloody teeth away from me. Vaguely, I heard a muffled cry from Donnie, but it was some distance away. Too far to offer me any help.

I drew on my anger, letting it drive me. Leaning my hips to the right, far enough to generate the force that I needed, I brought my knee toward my chest…

And used every ounce of strength to throw my left leg into the man's side. Momentum and gravity shifted the advantage back to me. The man bellowed loudly, enraged, but moved just as much as I needed. Tucking my shoulder, I barrel rolled out from under him.

Staggering onto all fours, I decided that it was time to go back on to the offensive. With a snarl, a lunged. There was only one way that this guy would go down…and I knew exactly where it was. As we came together again, I wove my fingers into the man's hair, pulling his head forward. With the back of his neck exposed, I brought my other elbow down as hard as I could.

The man's vertebrae cracked like an eggshell. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Feeling slightly disembodied, but victorious, I was back on my feet. My right knee was throbbing, pulsing in a steady cadence with my heart. But it wasn't broken. If it was, I wouldn't be able to stand. Would I? I willed myself to forget about it, getting ready for the next one.

I didn't have to wait long for another opponent. Two women rushed me from the left, while another man came from directly in front of me.

In a matter seconds, three more bodies littered the floor. Raphael eleven, Zombies nothin'.

"Raph!"

It was Casey. He was sweaty, and a little bloody, but otherwise uninjured. And he was holding my sais.

"Lose these?" He tossed them across the tunnel, both at the same time. I caught them easily.

"Thanks bud. I knew we brought you along for somethin'."

Like we had so many times in the past, the two of us fought side by side, making our way back towards Donatello. Slowly, but methodically, the sewer was beginning to clear.

When we finally reached Don, he was finishing off the final three. They were male, young, all wearing shirts with the Greek letters TEK across the front. He took the first one down with his favorite move, a knock to the head with his bo, followed by spinning the weapon across the back of hand, then forcing the opposite end into the guy's stomach. Perfectly executed. But what it didn't take into account was how fast the other two guys were rushing him. And how tired he'd gotten, having to deal with more attackers than either me or Casey.

Before he had time to turn, one of the guys managed to wrap an arm around his shoulder. The second guy jumped onto both of them, throwing Donatello backwards into the wall.

Without thinking, I was already in motion. The sai left my hand in less than a second, soaring across the tunnel and embedding itself in the first guy's neck. His face froze. With blood spurting rhythmically from the wound, the man fell soundlessly to the ground. I was about to throw the second sai, when I realized that I didn't have to. Donatello rolled to the side, crushing the second guy between his shell and the cement wall.

I sheathed the weapon, letting out a sigh of relief. Casey whooped loudly. We were clear.

Or so I thought.

When Don turned back toward me, I felt my face go pale. What I saw paralyzed me.

Donatello's hand was pressed to his neck, blood weaving its way slowly between his fingers. His eyes were wide with terror.

Oh god…it looked like he'd been bitten.

Well, there she is folks. Thank you all for being patient with me, especially to those that sent me encouraging emails. You make the time spent worthwhile. As always, I'd love a review…