Okey-dokey, I'm back!

As I explained last chapter, the next four will be from one turtle's perspective alone. These events are basically happening around the same time for each one of them.

And the first turtle up is Donatello!

Let the horror begin…

Beta read by Janajyo.

Disclaimer: Thanks to that stupid copyright infringement law, I cannot claim the TMNT as mine.

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New York City. November 26, 2306 AD. 11:47 AM.

Drawing his bo staff as the hairy creature came closer, Don kept his eyes on it while scanning the room out of the corner of his vision, determining a way to get past it.

His time was cut in two, however, as it suddenly leapt at him. Moving as quickly as he could to the right, Donny was still unable to avoid the sharp teeth that nicked his arm, drawing a little blood.

Paying the wound little mind for now, the purple-clad turtle swung his bo staff at the animal's stomach, using his opportunity while it had yet to reach the ground.

There was a meaty thud as a hard vibration traveled up through the ninja's bo staff. Hitting the floor, the creature immediately recovered, flipping its head back in Donny's direction. It looked very angry.

In a flash, it was rushing at him again. Jumping in the air, Don spun around and tried to kick it. Unfortunately, while his foot hit it solidly in the mouth, the strange animal didn't give up, choosing to open its mouth and bite down on the side of the turtle's foot.

Yelping once, he tried to bring his bo staff down on the thing's head. However, the animal moved away at that moment before charging right back at him. The blow sent Donny back, his shell coming into contact with a broken mirror with a crash, breaking off and casting a few loose pieces to the floor.

Raising his head, he found that his attacker was coming at him yet again, mouth wide open. Ducking his head back to the ground just in time, the creature beat his body against the wall as it jumped for his head, finding plaster instead of turtle.

While it was recovering from its contact, Don rolled away, moving as fast as he could.

But it wasn't fast enough.

Seconds later, animal-like green eyes were drilling into him, revealing most, if not all, of its character. There was an intense hatred there, as well as determination. And once again, much like an animal, there was a thick and heavy bloodlust- the desire to feed.

Only, unlike the animal it so reminded Don of, there was also some manner of intelligence, though hard to see, indicating that this thing possibly knew of the pain it put its victims through.

And it enjoyed it profusely.

Mind suddenly thrown back to the breakfast conversation not too long ago, the teenager recalled Callis' story, specifically the invasion of the Ardors.

Though the creatures attacked and extinguished most of the life on earth with a beastly manner, there were parts of it that had been planned; planned by something of an intellectual nature.

Donatello was beginning to feel that this thing fit that description, that it was an Ardor.

While the turtle was frozen in place, the Ardor moved towards him, slowly now, contemplating its moves. With a burst of speed, Donny swung his bo staff at its head as hard as he could.

Only the tail end of the stick connected. But that small piece broke off with a loud crack. He didn't think he'd hit it that hard.

Surprised, the creature fell back, scratching at its hairy black head gently with one clawed hand, giving Don all the space he needed to get out of the room. Equally shocked, he nevertheless came around quickly enough to get up and leave.

After growing accustomed to the bite on his foot, which hurt like shell but didn't seem to have hit bone, and able to move faster, Don looked behind him only to find the Ardor fast on his heels.

Tapping into every bit of his stored speed, the purple-banded turtle turned his attention back before him and ran towards a door that lay dead ahead of him.

Flinging it open, he raced inside and shut the door, positioning his shoulder against it and grasping the handle, as if in hope to pull it past its frame and further towards him, until his knuckles were white, jamming it shut. Outside, he heard the Ardor sniffing at the door, then growl. For a few moments, it was quiet… and then something hit it from the other side. Don froze as the door shuddered; he hadn't been expecting it to be that strong.

Preparing himself for another blow, he remained in the doorway, quickened breaths slowing as he calmed himself. The louder the target, the easier it is to catch.

He waited two minutes, expecting to at least hear it again outside, but never did. Confused, Donny loosened his grip slightly; his fingers appreciative for the rest, and placed his ear against his side of the door. He heard nothing.

Still not sure if he was safe or not, Don opted to remain in his current position… for the moment. He didn't want to leave until he was sure what kind of enemy he was facing.

My brothers… He suddenly remembered. Raph and Mikey, at the very least, were still out and about in this place; and he was sure that Leo, by now, would've come out looking for them as well. They were out there, along with Don's new friend.

And who's to say that there aren't more of them?

That's when another horrid thought struck him. What if they'd already come into contact with these Ardors- his, or other ones entirely?

I have to get out of here. With this thought in mind, as well as the poetical hopes that there might be something useful in this room that could aid him in his task, he turned around.

Suddenly realizing that he'd made the same mistake twice now, he prayed that he'd gotten lucky and that there wouldn't be a little demon in the room waiting for him.

Instantly, he wished for the bloodthirsty Ardor.

Despite the darkness of the room, his eyes had become adjusted enough to make out his surroundings. He was in a closet, judging by the small space, though a fairly large one indeed. Attached to a bedroom, it'd be any woman's dream.

But here, it better suited the needs of a malevolent, and from what he'd seen so far, cannibalistic race. Now, Donny was sure that what he'd just come into contact was an Ardor.

For this room implied the work of a species evil, and hungry enough, to fill it with the bones of its victims.

In the pulsing, angelic blue light, the bones cast off eerie shadows. Though he was positive that there were at least a hundred or so skeletons in here, very few seemed to be intact; it was impossible to tell where one cadaver began and where another ended. Heck, Don wasn't even sure if he was looking at one skull or two; the skeletons were in so many pieces.

And from what Don could tell, they were all humanoid.

First thought being to bolt out of the room and vomit what little he'd eaten today, he forced himself to stay put. Leo was always talking about knowing your enemy; a strategy that was extremely important; he figured now might be an excellent time to put it to use.

Hands shaking slightly, Don crouched down and retrieved what looked like a human rib. Lifting it to his face, he examined it.

Oh, God…

He'd been right. These Ardors, or at least whatever had put these bodies here, had fed upon them. Mostly, the bone looked to have been picked clean; it could've come to this state by decomposition.

But Don didn't think that so many bodies could've gone unnoticed for years without someone finding them.

Besides, there were bite marks on the bone fragments. They'd been chewed. Like when a man throws his hungry dog the remains of a turkey leg, it'd been chewed.

Disgusted, Donny tossed the rib from his hands. What kind of thing would do something like this?

Shaking his head, the purple-clad turtle stood. Gotta find my brothers… He'd have to think about this later.

Taking a deep breath, he headed back for the door. Just as he was about to open it, he turned back, looking sadly upon the skeleton memorial, arranged with as much care as road-kill.

He didn't think that their deaths had been peaceful. And he was worried that his and his family's might end up matching it.

He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let a monster, or monsters, get away with mass murder. It wasn't right.

Nodding his goodbye, Don opened the door and walked out, closing it quietly behind him.

Finding himself in the tunnels of the mansion once more, Donny started forward, ears picking up noise in the distance, looking for any signs of trouble. Not even an hour before, he'd been roaming these hallways like a tourist in a museum.

But now, he felt more like he was in The Shining.

As if that thought alone had jinxed him, he recognized the sound as a scuffle… not too far in the distance. Around the corner came an Ardor, claws digging into the carpet as it tried to halt its sharp turn.

It was about to head off in the opposite direction when it froze. Sniffing the air, it turned its head to him before completely facing him.

Somehow, Donatello knew this wasn't the Ardor he'd faced earlier. While an animal's memory wasn't always the best, they usually remembered simple things that had happened only moments before. Besides, it was alien. He had the feeling that if it could come to Earth and successfully wipe out life on it, it would remember seeing him.

The Ardor looked somewhat confused. For a while, it just stared at him, like it was surprised.

Then, he heard a yell, which was followed by an angered war cry. It didn't take a genius to identify the voice as a certain red-clad turtle.

"Raph…?" Donny said, wanting to know what was going on, wanting to know what had happened to his brother.

His speech had obviously broken the silence. Immediately, the Ardor's head snapped back in his direction. Growling, it's black lips slowly peeled back, revealing those sharp teeth.

Then it headed in Donny's direction.

Groaning, he grabbed his bo staff, backing up and getting ready to move, all the while becoming aware of his injured foot, which was making its pain known once more. "Not again…" He mumbled.

As the creature burst forward, Donny took off, careful to check where it was through his peripheral vision as he moved.

Coming to the hallway he'd gone through earlier when he'd been looking for his brothers, Don was tempted to go into one of the six doors. They'd checked out okay, or at least, they'd been better than the scratched up room and the closet.

But what if there were Ardors in there too? It was hard enough escaping one with all of his body parts still intact; two or more would be harder to handle.

However, he didn't have to worry about making that decision for very long. The next thing he knew, he could feel his pursuer's claws piercing the back of his right thigh.

Crying out, Don hit the ground. Looking back, he watched as the Ardor slashed with one clawed hand while remaining latched onto him with the other. Then, it opened its mouth and lowered its head.

Terror swimming laps in his veins now, Don thought of the skeletons, how he'd wondered what kind of death they'd had. If the Ardors were like many of the wild predators he could think of at the moment, not only had the victims quickly become part of the food chain, but they might've joined it while they were still alive.

"I'm not gonna be your buffet table, pal!" Donny yelled, swinging his leg into the wall so hard that he cried out.

The Ardor, unprepared for the blow, hit the wall solidly, its head coming into full contact with the doorknob. Donny heard a crack as the body of the alien species went limp, falling to the floor.

Breathing heavily, the brainier turtle watched its figure for a few moments before mentally pronouncing it dead, his eyes never leaving the corpse until that point, fearing that if he did, it would be alive and feeding upon him in seconds.

Once he was sure it would be taking a permanent dirt nap, Don examined his flesh wound, hissing as he touched it, the bruise that was starting to form not helping any. It stung badly; the claws had gotten in deeper than he would've liked, but not so bad that any major blood vessels or arteries had been hit. He wasn't losing a dangerous amount of blood, nothing worse than a fight with the Foot.

Minus the fact that a ninja had never tried to eat him.

Rising to his feet, Don leaned on a wall for support, limping slightly as he made his way through the hall, in search of his brothers. As he was wondering if Callis and his servants knew about this, he was struck by a sudden chord of confusion.

The blue light pulsing above him, irritating as it was, was supposed to keep the Ardors away. So why were they here? Had they found a way past it? Or perhaps they'd developed a new defense system against it?

Don shook his head, thoughts buzzing through it with migraine force. He knew nothing, or at least very little, about these creatures. How was he supposed to figure them out?

All he'd been able to figure out so far was that they were hostile, alien, and fed upon anything that seemed to get in their way. And while that was enough to arouse the need to stay away from them, it wasn't enough to determine how to stop them, besides cramming a doorknob through their skull.

Rubbing his forehead, Don looked up, unconsciously searching for a source for the flashing light. What am I gonna do?

Taking a deep breath, his mind slowly cleared, working to his advantage once more. Find your brothers; stay alive.

He'd work out the kinks to this mystery later.

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So… how was that? Short, I know, but you must consider that it was rather lengthy, being from only one person's point of view. That was a lot of story there. Had I made this chapter from everyone's point of view, it'd be over twenty pages!

And while I love long chapters, suspense builds horror and this is a horror story. Plus, it would make the chapter cluttered. And how much fun would that be?

Oh, and if you think Don is pretty concerned for his family at the moment, imagine how much Leo will be going through…

So, please review! Next chapter will be up in ten days!