Rating: Overall story rated T

Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.

Warnings: Overall story contains disturbing imagery such as blood, gore and the like, along with disturbing situations.

Summary: The world as they knew it has gone to ruins. The shadows, once their greatest allies, now harbour threats so great it's safer to risk walking in open daylight and Mikey and April will do anything to keep what remains of their family safe; even if it means abandoning home and everything they knew. This story is AU and a collaboration between sampsonknight and Zelgadis55.

Comments, thoughts and concrit are always welcome.


A/N: Overdue *coughs* yeah, I know. Sorry, just wasn't in the mood to work on editing. Sorry. I hope this long (5,700+ words) chapter makes up a bit for that. Enjoy the last bit of 'domestic bliss' before everything turns to shit.


Sekai no Owari

Ch 17

Clutching the two bags of supplies, Mikey trudged towards the door through the sea of body parts as April pulled them aside. Dropping the bags by the door, he began to help April. After a few minutes, he glanced up, taking in April's equally exhausted form. "Why don't you head inside, I can finish up here," he offered, his voice gravelly with exhaustion.

"I'm okay. With both of us working on this, it'll get done faster. Besides I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone," April admitted, flashing back on the horror of the mob that Donnie even admitted he swore had not been on the monitors a moment before. Then there was the strange whistle she'd heard.

Mikey nodded gratefully; he didn't really want to be left out here alone. Silently, he continued working, dragging the bodies over to the water, knowing there was a drain not far downstream that they'd be washed down. When the zombies first became a problem in the sewers a couple of months ago, Donnie and Raph had worked to uncover the grate so the bodies could wash down it, and install handholds to grab onto in case of accidents.

Briefly, Mikey clenched his fists as he walked back for the next one. He hated this so much. He was sick and tired of living like this and even though he knew how it all started, he wondered just how things had managed to become this bad. Surely someone like Bishop, much as he detested the loathsome human, would have stepped up to do something and yet... the city, the country, maybe even the world for all he knew, was being overrun and overwhelmed by these monster movie rejects.

Even if they had the power to spare to watch movies, there'd be no way he'd ever watch another monster movie as long as he lived, not now that he was living in one himself, and he wondered just how he'd ever found them so fascinating before.

There'd been a few times as a kid he'd watched some, usually as a dare from Raph and he'd often dragged Leo in to watch with him, though he'd never explained why he wanted the company. It wasn't until much later that his fascination had developed. It wasn't until after...

Mikey froze as the once-hidden memory came unbidden once more.

Watching initially zombie movies and then other monster movies had been a coping mechanism, allowing him to deal with what he'd seen.

The real thing being as bad as it was, it was only by watching the cheesy B grade movies with their plastic monsters, fake blood and bad special effects that had allowed him to move past it. The fakeness of it all and lack of smell had allowed him to relegate that child he'd found to a portion of his mind where it merged in with all the make-believe horror and allowed him to mostly sleep at night. Though he still awoke occasionally to terrible nightmares months and indeed years after, he could never remember the details or where they'd come from and he'd eventually forgotten all about it.

Until Donnie brought it up, not realising he'd blissfully forgotten.

Though he'd never realised, his brothers, at their father's behest, had stopped talking about their grisly find around him soon after the incident, not wanting to traumatise him further. It was no wonder Mikey had always been hesitant to kill if he could at all avoid it.

As if in a dream, Mikey moved to pick up the still clacking away decapitated head by the hair. As it tried continually to helplessly bite at him, he stared into its face, watching as it morphed into the face from his memory and he began to shake.

"Mikey, I'm done here. That head is the last one," April called over, kicking the last body into the water with a tiresome groan.

With no response to her, April tilted her head at him and slowly walked towards him, "Mikey, come on let's toss it and get inside, I bet our brothers are hungry by now and Raph is probably screaming up a storm."

Taking a breath, she grabbed the head, then speared it with the sai before he could do anything and threw it behind her into the water. "Let's get inside, Mikey. Now," she demanded, heading towards the door.

His gaze followed the bobbing head until it floated out of sight around the bend. Then slowly, he followed after her, barely remembering to pick up the bags of supplies as he did so.

"Donnie, can you open the door, please?" April asked over the headset, not daring to look back at Mikey.

There was no verbal response, but moments later, the door unlocked and opened, exposing the welcoming warmth of home to them.

April was the first to enter, waiting for Mikey before shutting the door behind them. "We need to clean up before anything else. Mikey, why don't you wash up in the bathroom and I'll use the emergency shower in the lab. We can meet up in the kitchen afterwards to get lunch ready."

"'kay," Mikey muttered, dropping the bags and sluggishly heading off.

Letting out a sigh she headed for the lab as Leo stared at her in horror, eyes fixed on all the blood covering her, "Sis, are you hurt?"

Donnie appeared beside Leo, holding a squirming Raph. He stared after the retreating form of Mikey.

"No, I'm not hurt Leo, it's just the zombie juices," April admitted, seeing Leonardo's face twist in disgust, probably mostly because of how she must have smelled. Not allowing him to comment, April addressed another topic, "Why don't you three head for the kitchen. I'm going to wash up in the shower here and Mikey is going to the main shower to clean up."

Donnie shot April a brief look of disbelief but did as he was told, grabbing Leo's hand and leading him away.

Once they were gone, April rushed to the showers. She wanted to get this done fast and see if she was going crazy or not. It didn't take her long to get the guts and blood out of her hair and off her skin and before she knew it she was out drying herself and putting on a fresh set of clothes she left in the lab for moments when it was best to shower there rather than the shower the brothers were accustomed to sharing with each other.

With her old clothes too stained to be saved, she tossed them in a can, figuring she'd dispose of them later, and made her way to the security station. The first thing on the agenda was to see why Donnie didn't notice the mob.

She sat down and began trawling through the recordings. To her dismay she found herself speechless watching a mob on camera six, just standing there when suddenly the fresh ones turned their heads towards the direction of the lair's entrance. That had been during the first fight she and Mikey were in when the zombies become more frantic to reach them shortly after she swore she heard the whistle.

Biting her lip anxiously, she couldn't see why Donnie didn't catch them, they were there as clear as day. Even so, this was a recording, so was the visual somehow messed up? Was it not feeding the imagery correctly? After checking the cables first she paused, they all seemed fine and according to the tests she ran simultaneously, there wasn't anything out of the norm.

She stared at the screen, thoughtfully. Nothing seemed wrong and yet... the only explanation she could think of was that Donnie had just been overwhelmed and missed it altogether and was too embarrassed to admit it. After all, he was only twelve now and tasked with keeping an eye on a rambunctious five-year-old and a baby at the same time and they had been causing him distraction, she remembered clearly.

Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes, finally realising the other thing that was bugging her. The bodies that should have been out there that weren't.

For starters the one she bashed the head in with the brick. The brick was there but no body. Then the sai. The weapon was near the door which wasn't where she left it and the body that should have been attached to it wasn't there either.

Scrolling back, she shivered as she came across a large time frame of white noise on the camera at the door only. Going forward and back she saw the bodies there one moment, then white noise. Then they were in the water slowly being swept away. Puzzled she played it over and over, checking every camera to see if there was any indication that someone did this.

-:-

Leaving Leo happily drawing at the kitchen table, Donnie walked back to the lab with Raph, figuring April should have finished her shower by now.

To his surprise when he entered the room, he saw her at the computer, going through the recorded footage and fiddling with settings. A chill coursed through him as he wondered if she merely didn't trust his word or if... Donnie emphatically shook his head and walked in, calling, "April?" feeling the need to alert her to his presence.

"Huh?" April jumped in fright, then closed the windows, setting them to the current state showing the live feed, "Oh, Donnie, you scared me half to death! Is there anything wrong? Has Mikey started lunch or came back from his shower yet?"

Donnie glanced at the computer and shook his head. He walked over and handed Raph to her. "No, he hasn't started lunch. Leo's in the kitchen drawing," he said icily. Then before she could say a word, he turned on his heels and walked out.

"Um okay... was it something I said?" April asked Raph in a low voice. Raph only giggled and cooed at her in response.

-:-

Ignoring the soft voice behind him, Donnie headed straight for the bathroom. Reaching the door, he could hear the running water within and hesitantly opened it. Once inside, he closed the door carefully behind him.

"Mikey?" he called softly, walking further inside. There was no answer so he headed towards the old stalls. Someone, probably him, he figured, had long since ripped down the walls between each stall, giving them more room to shower since the original stalls would have felt rather cramped due to the girth of their shells. The outer walls of the two end stalls, however, were still in place, effectively hiding his older brother from immediate view. Pulling off his gear so as not to get them wet, Donnie rounded the corner, seeing Mikey seated on the ground in the corner looking miserable.

Donnie hissed as cold water splashed on him and he immediately turned it off, earning a glance up at him from his weary brother. "Why are you sitting in the cold like that?" he asked, concerned.

"Because the hot water ran out," Mikey muttered back hollowly.

Donnie sighed irritably and grabbed a towel, quickly wrapping it around his older brother. He sat down beside him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of that night. I didn't realise it would still be a problem..."

Mikey shook his head numbly. "Not your fault, Donnie."

"Yes, it is. I knew we weren't supposed to talk about it around you, but..." Donnie sighed again, trying to not twiddle his thumbs. "You're so much older now and I've lost so much of my memories from when I was older. I guess I just figured you'd gotten past it by now."

Pulling the towel closer for warmth, Mikey shook his head morosely. "I'd forgotten all about it, Don," he muttered.

Donnie stared forward uncomfortably, not sure what to say. The old Mikey, he'd have known, but years that shouldn't have existed now separated them. Tentatively, he leaned over and into Mikey's side, hoping he still enjoyed physical contact.

Mikey, for his part, leaned into it; he'd missed this. As he and his brothers grew up, they'd connected less and less. "I didn't want to remember, so I didn't. Funny thing is, we've had worse times in our lives, like when Shredder almost killed Leo and he was in a coma, or when we realised we had to sacrifice ourselves to stop Shredder for good..."

Donnie stared forward blankly, not knowing what Mikey was talking about.

"Or when our last home was destroyed and we were separated, thinking each other was dead... I still remember every detail about those awful times but I forgot about that poor kid."

"You were eleven, Mikey," Donnie soothed softly, "You couldn't be expected to deal with that well. Shell, if Leo hadn't realised what you'd seen and dragged us all away before we could get a good look, who knows how the rest of us would have reacted."

"I guess..."

"I'm sorry I asked such a thoughtless question. I guess, what's happening out there's still a bit surreal. It shouldn't be possible!"

Mikey shuddered, wishing not for the first time that it wasn't. "If you didn't get a good look at that kid back then, you couldn't have known how much... how much all those... I never realised just how..." Unable to help himself, Mikey let out a sob. For the child years ago, for himself, for what was going on now, he didn't know.

Donnie looked up, startled by the sound. He'd never really known Mikey to cry emotionally, at least with the obvious exception of last year. Mostly, his brother tended to get over things fast, instead putting on a happy, cheerful mask, even around him. Even when he clearly wasn't over things.

"The zombies remind me so much of... except they move," Mikey eventually spoke again. "I never realised, only that I felt uneasy for some reason that wasn't just the obvious."

Donnie nodded, making sure to maintain the obviously badly needed contact.

"I guess it's no wonder Leo and Raph didn't want me to deal with the zombie kids, only I never knew about it until April said something a couple of days ago."

"Oh..."

Mikey shuddered again at the thought and then shook his head. "I've gotta get over this. I'm no good to everyone if I can't."

Ever pragmatic, Donnie nodded in agreement. "That's true, Mikey."

It was Mikey's turn to turn startled eyes on Donnie.

"We need you too much, much as I wish we didn't." Donnie sighed again, reminded that their future appeared bleak. "But Mikey, you also need us. I don't know the current you very well, but I know the old, well young, you better than anyone. You've always hidden your true feelings and fears deep, covering them up with a happy smile. Somehow, I doubt you've changed much, based on what little I've seen the last few days. You need to stop doing that, okay? I may not be as I was days ago when I was the same age as you, but I'm still here for you whenever you need me, okay?"

Nodding, Mikey smiled wanly, appreciating the gesture.

"So whenever you need to talk to me, make sure you do, even if you think just because I'm a kid again that I can't handle it because you'd be surprised at what I can handle."

"Thanks, Donnie," Mikey sniffled.

"You're shivering," Donnie pointed out. "Dry off before you catch a cold."

Mikey laughed softly and struggled to his feet, "Yes mum."

-:-

"What are you drawing, Leo?" April asked, putting Raph's food together and placing the mixture into a sippy cup she found at the store. Figuring to get him out of the way with his lunch she could focus on the other meal for the rest of them.

Shrugging, Leonardo kept drawing, "Sis, is everything okay?" he peered up from his drawing, meeting her eyes.

"Of course it is," she smiled sweetly, bringing the cup to Raph and showing him how it worked, "Why do you ask?"

Leo shrugged again, drawing a few circles, "When something is bothering you, you act how Master Splinter did."

"Huh?" April tilted her head at him. "What do you mean? There's nothing bothering me."

"Okay," Leo said simply. Then he was engulfed in his drawing, leaving her staring at him in wonder. He seemed unphased now and content and she had no clue where that even came from or why? Was her confusion of what she discovered, or didn't discover, really showing that much on her face that even a five-year-old picked it up she was bothered by something?

Sniffing at the acrid scent on the air as he entered the kitchen, Mikey couldn't help but accuse, "Who let Leo near the toaster?"

Before anyone could react, Donnie suddenly squawked from beside Mikey, "The toaster's on fire!" He dashed forward, snatching up a tea towel to beat out the fire as he went.

"No one!" April spat out in frustration, trying desperately to pull the cord out that for some reason was tangled and wouldn't come free of the socket. Sadly, thanks to her being too short to reach the damn thing from behind Donnie, she found herself resorted to pulling on the cord.

For a moment, Mikey stared in horror. Then he turned and pelted for the fire blanket kept hanging beside the pantry in case of accidents in the kitchen, usually caused by Leo, and joined his brother and April in taking on the toaster.

Raph cried at the stench even as Leo cheered, "GO go go!"

Hearing the cheers, April rolled her eyes, pulling the cord more, "Mikey, give me a damn hand with this! I can't reach, remember? I'm shorter than you."

Despite the circumstances, Mikey couldn't help but snort with amusement, remembering how for years it had been the other way around. "Sure," he teased once the fire blanket covered the toaster. He reached past her to unplug the toaster as she moved.

Moments later, Mikey dangled the cord in her face as Donnie uncovered the toaster now the fire was out to inspect it.

"Show off!" she snarled, swiping the cord from his hand, "You know I'm a woman and it's not uncommon for guys to be taller! Besides, I remember when you had to stare up my breasts to even see my face. Or was that just an excuse?"

"For some of my brothers, it was," Mikey snickered, then dodged as she swiped at him. "Not saying who though!"

Glaring at him, she rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on, Mikey, we both know it was you and how curious you were. We all know Raph had his stash to satisfy himself, Leo was too shy and Donnie... well, that was what the internet was for."

"Wasn't me who kept walking in on you," Mikey retorted gleefully, poking his tongue out.

As they argued playfully, Donnie pried out the toast and his face fell in disbelief. "Why is there a coloured pencil in the bottom of the toaster? Leo?" he demanded, whirling to face his toaster murdering brother. "I thought Master Splinter talked to you about this! Just the other week in fact!" he stated, remembering a couple of weeks before they turned six.

Leonardo stiffened up then pointed to Raph, "It wasn't me! I was framed."

"The Toasternator strikes again, I see," Mikey muttered sadly, crossing his arms as he stared at Leo. "Guess he forgot his lesson thanks to being five again and I put so much work into that," he moaned.

Donnie looked up at Mikey, perplexed. "Toaster... nator?"

"Explain later," Mikey whispered, bending down to Donnie's ear slit. "It's a dreadful tale of woe, terror and murder."

"And to think I took them as tall tales before to tease Leo," April said dryly. She turned towards the younger turtle, "Leonardo, Raph is too young to have done this, so please don't lie. It will only get you in more trouble."

Nodding, Leo whimpered, "I'm sorry."

"Well, I can't fix this. It's too far gone!" Donnie stated in annoyance. "And I gather a trip to the junkyard is out of the question considering what's out there."

Nodding quickly, April gulped, "That is probably the worst place to go to. There are far too many..." April trailed off then continued without explaining why it was dangerous, "If we need a new one it's easier to take one from one of the local stores. Besides, they'll be new and unused and since the city's not powered anymore, no one else has need of them."

"Well," Mikey announced, changing the subject, "I guess toast's out of the question because I'm not holding enough bread for all of us over an open flame. It would take forever! We could just have buttered bread, there're no spreads left though, or was there something else you were planning to make, April?"

Shrugging, April pointed to a few cans on the side, "Just soup to help to make it a filling meal."

"Sounds good! So buttered bread to dip into the soup then, without the butter since we don't have any of that either," Mikey stated cheerfully. "Need help?" he asked as Donnie sat at the table, glaring daggers at Leo for destroying yet another toaster.

"I think I can handle it. How about you go sit down and relax?" April suggested, trying and probably failing to hide her concern as she wondered if he was okay. Mikey acted fine but she knew him well enough by now to realise it likely to be just a mask he was wearing.

"Okay!" Mikey agreed easily. He went and sat by Raph to play with him as he sucked on his food. As he did though, he couldn't help but watch April, making sure she didn't do anything weird with the food. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was just that he was so used to being the one in charge of cooking that it was hard to simply step back and relax as she'd said to.

"Mikey... stop staring at the back of my head... It's soup. I'm not Donnie," April tilted her head at him with a smirk.

Donnie shot a look over at April, wondering what she meant as Mikey snickered and stated, "Yeah, you're not green enough to be Donnie."

"Yeah, you have me there," she laughed out loud, "I would never boil the soup down to the point there was more on the element than in the pot and add odd things that should never be even considered adding to soup."

Donnie opened his mouth to argue but then closed it again, deciding it wasn't worth it, not when he had no idea what he might have done when he was older. For the life of him though, he couldn't see why he'd have done the things April suggested. He turned to look at Mikey questioningly and Mikey simply shrugged and smiled back.

"Well, it's done," she announced, ladling it up equally into clean bowls, then passing them over with a few slices of bread. "Eat up and Leo, you eat all that soup, you hear me?" she said sternly.

Leo nodded slowly, "All of it?"

"Yes."

"The bread too?" he whimpered, being picky.

"Yes."

"What if I'm full?" Leo asked suddenly.

"Remember all the times we've been hungry?" Mikey asked solemnly, looking straight at Leo. "When our tummies were constantly in pain and grumbling loudly at us?"

"No."

"Do you want to feel that way again?" Mikey asked, ignoring the obvious lie.

"No... but its crawling," Leo exaggerated, hypnotised by the floating processed chicken piece bobbing in the thin liquid.

Donnie sighed in disbelief. "We used to eat bugs crawling on the sewer floor, Leo."

Mikey pulled a face at the memory. He very much appreciated not being that desperate anymore and having access to real food. He chanced a glance at April, hoping she wouldn't hold it against them.

"No, I didn't!" Leo spat in horror before looking up at April who sighed.

"Well, if you're not going to eat it, then you can go to bed and I will eat your lunch instead," April pointed out, leaning forward to pull his bowl toward her side of the table.

"I don't want to go to bed!" Leo cried, grabbing his spoon quickly and slurping up the soup fast before she could take it away from him.

Smirking devilishly April sat down again, taking her time to eat her own meal, "Now I know why my dad had the satisfaction of pulling that one on me."

-:-

"Well, it looks clear to me," April pointed out, scanning the cameras one by one and seeing the passageways were very empty. The clean-up the day before was fruitful and now it was back to the norm and with luck on their sides, no new batch had wandered down to their area as yet. That didn't mean nothing couldn't after they left but it was refreshing not to have to fight at the door or risk the hidden hatch that April felt wary about using after the last couple of times. Especially after yesterday's encounter in the lake

Either way, today, after all the chaos of recent, seemed to be looking up for them and they could go get more supplies and be out longer in doing so without risk of worrying about cleaning duty when they came back. Yesterday's scavenging was more fruitful for Raph, but now they needed to fall back to the original plan and start searching apartments for canned food and supplies that were low in the stores.

Mikey stared uneasily at the screen, feeling as though something was wrong. However, the evidence pointed to the contrary and he figured he simply felt like that due to what happened yesterday. He'd never wanted to go out there in the first place, but just like before, if they wanted to live, there was no choice. Mikey fingered his 'chucks nervously as he nodded. "I guess we should just get this over and done with then."

"Agreed." April stood up from the chair and then kissed Raph on the head, who in turn was upset she was leaving him. "We'll be back in hopefully less than three hours. Either way, we'll stay in range of the Shell-cells."

Donnie nodded. "Okay. Be careful you two," he said, looking directly at Mikey.

Mikey smiled back, "Always."

"Uh-huh," Donnie replied flatly, gazing at his brother in disbelief. He picked up Raph, trying to console him and looked around for Leo, spying his younger brother staring curiously at items on a nearby shelf.

"We'll be fine and maybe if we're lucky, we'll find you a toaster, Donnie; slightly used so you can fix it, to call it your own," April smirked, remembering all the times he came to her for a used toaster. He always refused a new one, preferring one he could tinker with.

Donnie suppressed a sigh; he hated fixing toasters. They were boring, unimaginative and repetitive, especially with how often Leo was responsible for damaging them. He sat in his chair in front of the security station with Raph on his lap and turned away. "I'm ready when you are."

Nodding, April patted Mikey on the shoulder, "Let's get going. It's best not to lose what little time we have." With that she left the room, heading for the exit.

Mikey nodded and followed, glancing back at his brothers longingly as he left the room. As they approached the door, his bad feeling increased and he went to draw his 'chucks, only to change his mind and draw the katana instead.

"Mikey?" April turned to him in wonder, not liking how wound up he was when they weren't even one foot out the door. Before any answer could come or another question from her, Leo's voice yelled to them from behind.

"Wait, wait!" Leo ran forward, panting as he came up to Mikey.

"What's up, Chibi-chan?" Mikey asked in a teasing voice, a part of him grateful for the delay.

"Can you find Raphie a toy?" Leo asked, "Something he can chew on?"

"But he already has one," Mikey teased, crouching down to his eye level.

"Sis's front bumps isn't nice to her or good for Raphie," Leo pointed out innocently as April turned every shade of red.

Mikey turned his head to shoot April an amused look. "I wasn't talking about April's... uh... front. I meant you, Chibi-chan."

"Me?" Leo tilted his head in confusion, "He chews on your finger, Mikey."

"Yup!" Mikey agreed cheerfully. "But he likes yours more! And your head!" he joked, remembering how Raph always used to bite Leo's head off when they were all still adults.

Not understanding, Leonardo shrugged it off, "Please big brother, can you get Raphie a toy? Pretty please with cherries on top?"

"I can't promise, but we'll see what we can do, okay Leo?"

"Okay!" Leo beamed, jumping up and down with glee.

"Leo, how about you head back to the lab and be good for Donnie?" April interrupted. "Also, can you do me a big favour and help Donnie with Raph while we are gone? I promise to see if I can find you a new toy too, so we can finish our game in the fort we can build again in Mikey's room." April smiled, kneeling down as Leo perked up more, giving first her a hug and then Mikey.

"Yeah! I will be good! You will see!" Leo chirped happily before starting to skip his way back towards the lab.

"Here we go. Donnie, open the doors please," April gave the order, turning around to face the door.

"Okay. Opening... now," Donnie replied over the headsets. There was a click and a chunk as the lockdown ended and the door to the outside opened.

Mikey crept forward uneasily and peered out. He saw nothing of concern as the cameras indicated so he stepped out and April followed.

Following behind him, it was only a few feet out when she suddenly froze as her ears started to ring. A wave of horror washed over her.

"April?" Mikey ventured, sensing her reaction.

"We need to get back inside! Right now!" April gulped, looking around wildly. Suddenly, her eyes zoned in on a small black box above the lair's door that flashed with a little green light. She wasn't sure what it was but knew the sound was coming from it.

Mikey opened his mouth to argue, then remembered how she'd reacted similarly the day before and what had immediately followed. His mouth dry, he nodded and began backing up, katana held at the ready as he followed her back inside.

"Donnie! Close the door! Soon as we're inside, close them!"

"O-okay," Donnie replied, sounding a little confused. Raph could be heard grizzling unhappily over Donnie's microphone.

As Mikey neared the threshold, his blood ran cold as he saw runners coming straight at him. Panicking, he pushed at April, trying to get her inside faster and began yelling, "Now Donnie! Close it! Now!"

The doors began closing but too late.

Far too late.

"Shell! Donnie! Close and barricade your lab door! Now!" Mikey demanded as moaning, fresh zombies poured their way in through the still closing doors.

"Mikey!" April snapped out of her daze, coming to the realisation of what was going on, She pushed the noise that was getting to her to aside as she drew her weapon. Her eyes widened in disbelief as the daunting horror of reality hit. She hadn't yet had time to process it as she found herself at the receiving side of one fresh jaw about to take a taste of her. Moving swiftly, she slashed with the sai to knock it away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mikey saw the lab door closing as Donnie huffed over the headsets, "Where'd they even come from? There was nothing on the monitors! Nothing!"

"I don't know," Mikey retorted worriedly as he fought off a particularly feisty zombie. At that moment, the doors, no longer fighting against bodies, finally shut completely, trapping them inside with nearly a dozen zombies, he saw at a glance. He felt sick.

"We need to keep them here and take them down fast! We can't have any wandering or disappearing into the maze!" April yelled at him, finally managing to take one down and just realising the next was at her throat a moment later with no time to breathe.

"Right!" Mikey gasped, having not realised the implications before that moment. He kicked one away from the side of him and slashed his weapon at the one in front. "Donnie! Watch the monitors inside, let us know if any start making to leave this room."

"On it," Donnie's anxious voice came as he planted himself back at the monitor, ignoring Raphael's rising cries in the background.

Taking down another from the swarm that seemed like it wasn't even being dented, April wondered how many there really were? Feeling how each strike was slowing her down, the fresh runners, as she'd already known from past experience, took more effort and strength than the ones that were significantly decayed. Reaching her third zombie, an unexpected sound reached her ears as her heart stood still.

The sound came from the kitchen area. The sound of plastic hitting the cement ground then rolling.

Mikey's head whipped around at the noise. To his horror, he saw Leo standing there and staring terrified at the stinking, moaning zombie hoard in their living room.

"Oh my god!" Donnie breathed over the headsets as Mikey somersaulted from the middle of his attackers and began running towards his helpless brother. "Leo's out there! Fuck! I thought he was with me! There're zombies heading for him! Mikey!"

Mikey's heart pounded in his chest at the words but he'd already seen them and fast as he was, he wasn't sure he could make it in time.

"Leo!" April screamed, turning her head and watching in horror as everything around her slowed to a crawl.

Leo, not sure what was going on, shuddered upon seeing every horror movie Mikey made him watch come to life. They were ugly and didn't smell right and their eyes pierced his soul to the point that no matter how much he wanted to run... he couldn't.

"Leo! Run!" Mikey yelled frantically as he pelted across the room.

He wasn't going to make it!

-:-


Minnie1015: You thought the last chapter was a cliffhanger? How about this one? *chuckles muchly* Hmm... yeah, I guess you could say they have the worst luck, heh. As for someone being bitten? Well, *smiles muchly* it hasn't happened yet.