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, and 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.


T420000: Thank you :-)

Minnie1015: They just had many spies through the city and one of them caught sight of Mikey and April.


Sekai no Owari

Ch 21

Mikey yelped in fright as yet another bullet whizzed past, so close this time that he felt the breeze. Then to his horror, he realised he heard a crack immediately follow as another bullet whined. Looking down in horror, he saw a brand new hole in the canoe and water slowly pouring in through it.

"Shell!" Mikey yelped.

"What's wrong?" April asked quickly, knowing being shot wasn't something that was new.

"There's a hole in the boat and we're taking on water!" Mikey replied anxiously, paddling faster. He couldn't see how they'd make it. If he stopped to bail water, they'd start drifting again but if he left it too long, the drag from the water would hamper them too much. Another whine from a bullet sounded and Mikey instinctively ducked, feeling it go over his head.

"Mikey, keep paddling, I'll bail the water when it becomes a problem. The wind is picking up and if we're lucky, this guy knows little about correcting his aim!" April told him, putting all her strength into each stroke to keep up with Mikey.

"Okay," he huffed, sweating as he paddled as hard as he could. "Also, just concentrate on making shore, don't fight the current. We can run back up the beach when we get there if we need to."

"Okay," April agreed between strokes.

A few more bullets whined as they slowly pulled closer to the other bank of the river and to their relief the further they went, the wider the miss. Eventually, the shooter gave up, watching impotently from the shore. Several times, April stopped paddling and instead bailed water, returning to helping paddle whenever the water became low enough to not be worth bailing again.

Finally, they reached close enough to shore that Mikey jumped out and pulled the canoe in. Extending his hand to April, he helped her out.

Moments later, packs on their backs and weapons ready, they abandoned the canoe and ran for the submarine.

-:-

His strength flagging, Mikey found himself forced to stop a moment as he huffed for breath, hands on his knees and leaning over.

"Maybe you should rest a moment while I will go for the sub," April offered uneasily; someone had to check and make it quick.

"N-no," Mikey puffed, feeling a little dizzy. All he wanted was to lay down and sleep for the next week but his worry for his brothers wouldn't allow such fantasies. "We can't separate, not out here. Leo would have our heads if he was in his right body right now." He forced himself straight and pushed on despite the overwhelming weariness of his abused body.

"I would think he would have our heads for blowing up the lair and you singing our actions," April pointed out dryly, lifting one of his arms around her shoulder to support him as they walked.

"Heh! He'd understand," Mikey pointed out truthfully as he stumbled along beside her. "Well, maybe not the humming part or the part where you let me press the shiny button, but the abandoning the lair and blowing it up part, he would."

"Yes, you're right... I guess your true fear is," she paused for effect, "Donnie would have your head!"

"For blowing up the lab? Yeah, probably," Mikey replied with a wan smile. He looked up as they picked up speed, almost jogging around the final bend on the water's edge. "There's the sub!"

"Hopefully they are ether inside and the Shell-cell's just not working or we can easily pick up their trail," April agreed, crossing her fingers.

"Donnie!" Mikey called frantically as they neared. "Leo? Raphie?"

There was no answer and Mikey pulled away from April to rush into the submarine.

Gently grabbing his shoulder, April shook her head, "Let me go check. You're in no condition if there's a biter lurking inside or if it's a trap."

Mikey went to protest but then realised she was right. He hadn't even been able to walk the rest of the way here without her help. "Okay, but be careful," he pleaded.

Nodding, she removed her pack and the bo staff, handing it to Mikey to support himself with. Arming herself with her sai, she moved towards the entrance, taking a deep breath.

As she went to climb inside, Mikey looked around. "April?" he called.

"Huh? What?" April turned her head, still keeping a keen eye in the gloomy darkness beyond the sub's hatch.

"They're not in there," he swallowed, motioning towards two pairs of two-toed footsteps leading away from the beach.

"It could be a bird?" April mocked, unable to believe even she'd missed those footprints. She headed back to him, snatching up her gear from the ground. A part of her wished that would be the case.

Mikey just gave her an incredulous look, suddenly understanding how his brothers felt when he made stupid jokes all the time.

Rolling her eyes at him, she sighed, "Oh, don't you dare look at me like that, it was wishful thinking. Besides, you've said things that make that joke seem weak at best." She moved forward but not before looking over her shoulder towards the side, back to where home was.

"Come on," Mikey sighed, pulling out the Shell-cell once more. To his surprise, it finally picked up a signal on the edge of its now limited range. Ever since the city had fallen to the zombie plague and power had become intermittent at best, the cell towers had failed and the range was now limited to a couple of kilometres, which was the distance the Shell-cells were capable of on their own without boosting from an outside source.

"I've got him!" Mikey whispered in awe. "I've finally got a signal!"

"Really? Then let's find them quickly and get as far away from the city as possible," April nudged him on.

Mikey nodded eagerly and forgetting about his exhaustion and sickness, led the way.

-:-

Pushing their way through the vegetation between the river and New Jersey, Mikey actually began to envy April her pants due to all the scratches the shrubbery inflicted on him. Although he kept one eye on the tracker, where he could, Mikey also kept an eye on the faint tracks on the ground and signs of his brothers' passing from broken and bent foliage. As they walked, the smell of old, rotting flesh and maggots assaulted his nose and there were times it took everything in his power to avoid gagging.

Since leaving the sub behind, they'd been walking nearly an hour. They'd started out jogging but their exhaustion began catching up and with Mikey still feeling the effects of his recent sickness after being bitten, April had felt the need to begin supporting him again and they'd been unable to help slowing down to a walk.

At one point, their trail led to the roadside where obviously spooked by the stalled cars and bodies littered about, many with their heads blown off, Mikey could see it divert, going back into the wooded area. He and April had exchanged glances and debated whether to follow the trail itself or try to cross the road instead. Seeing one of the living dead meandering through the roadside carnage had quickly made up their minds however and for a time they'd followed the physical trail rather than the Shell-cell signal.

As Mikey checked the signal on the Shell-cell once more, pleased to see how much closer they were than before, a terrified scream suddenly sounded in the distance followed by an inarticulate shout and Mikey and April took off, racing as fast as they could towards them.

"Shell! Donnie's signal," Mikey huffed, "it's all over the place; like he's running from something."

"Then we should hurry, can you pinpoint the general direction? If we can do that we might be able to reach them faster," April asked.

"Yeah, unless they change direction again!" Mikey answered as he ran, his worry palpable. Somehow, he managed to pick up speed, ignoring the stinging and scratching of the bushes he pushed past.

"Let's hope they don't need to do it too much."

"I just hope they can hold on until we get there," Mikey muttered, feeling sick. Leo and Raph were helpless and Donnie was now only twelve and had therefore forgotten years of training.

"Me too," April nodded grimly, suddenly shivering as a dread started to take over. As scenarios, ones that shouldn't be possible ran through her head. She worried it was zombies. She worried it was that group from the city. She worried about what if they didn't make it in time.

This was all her fault. The way she'd acted towards Donnie during the death row watch was disgusting and she knew it. She knew their relationship was hanging by a thread, she knew such little displays like that would set him off, especially where Mikey was involved. Yet she fell to the training Leo had forced her into, pushing anyone away that could be an emotional tie to the one who was dying.

She should have checked on him once Mikey was out of the woods. She should have done many things differently and now if something happened to him, Raph or Leo, this would be on her head... their blood staining her hands.

Another panicked scream suddenly rang out, echoing through the trees and Mikey looked up startled, recognising it as Leo's voice. "That came... April! Here!" he exclaimed, thrusting his Shell-cell into her hands and yelling over his shoulder as he ran in the direction of the scream. "Find Don! I'm going after Leo!"

"Mikey, wait! You still need a Shell-cell," April yelled at him, waiting for him to turn around before tossing hers to him. It had been turned off to conserve power since they blew up the lair.

After catching April's Shell-cell, Mikey tucked it away deftly and continued running, hoping Leo would scream again or that he'd be able to find the trail or Leo himself. The problem, he mused as he pelted through the woods, was all the trees. They stopped him from running in a straight line meaning without a sound to spur him on, he could lose the direction.

"Please be alright, please be alright, please be alright," Mikey chanted anxiously as he ran.

Just ahead, something stepped out into his path, head turned toward him and Mikey's eyes widened in horror even as he sidestepped. "No!" he shuddered, recognising the rotting flesh and fetid stench. Instinct screamed at him to take care of it so he wouldn't have to deal with it later but at that moment, another panicked scream rang out from close by.

"Let me go!"

Forgetting about the immediate threat due to fear for his distraught brother, Mikey left the shambler behind and drew his 'chucks. Minutes later, he burst out of the woods to the roadside beyond where he saw a crying Leonardo struggling desperately in the firm grasp of a large human male wearing a mask, dragging him back into the woods.

"Leo!" Mikey shrieked in horror.

"Mikey! MIKEY! MIKEY MIKEY!" Leo suddenly screamed as he kicked and hit the human's arms to make him let go.

"Geez, kid, calm the hell down there," the man hissed in pain from the savage attack. He did at least stop dragging Leo away, instead standing there warily as Mikey approached.

"Are you okay, Leo?" Mikey asked, his eyes softening slightly as he looked at his now kid brother.

"Mikey, help me!" Leo begged desperately. "This human's gonna eat me!"

The man suddenly stiffened. "I'm going to what?" He shuddered in disbelief at the thought.

Mikey's gaze hardened again as he shifted it to look up where the man's eyes should be. "I suggest you let my brother go before you get a face full of hot nunchacku fury!" he spat, already advancing on them, his weapons spinning and at the ready. He felt relieved seeing the man was very much alive, though if he didn't do as he said, he wouldn't be for much longer.

"Woah woah woah! If I let him go he will start running again and it's bad enough he almost ran into that," the man motioned towards the road where the slow movement of rotting zombies were advancing towards them. He then turned towards the spinning sound, choking on his words as he took a good look at Mikey, "What the hell? Has the freak show come to town?" As the word freak came out he turned his head back to the road, then sighed, "Huh, I need a better word than that." He gestured towards the biters heading towards them. "They're the freaks and you... What are you? Alien frogs?"

"Ninja turtles, here to kick butt if you hurt even a single scale on my brother," Mikey warned coldly, still advancing, though warily as he didn't want Leonardo to be hurt by the psycho holding him. "And what are you? Some cheap Jason knockoff? Don't you think we have enough real-life horror going on right now with all the living dead everywhere?"

"Hey man, don't diss the classics," the man huffed indignantly before looking down at the younger turtle. "If I let you go, will go run to him and not back to the damn road?"

Leo slowly nodded and the man let him go before arming himself with a makeshift weapon, a hockey stick with an ice pick stuck to the end, "Well, time to take out the trash," he snarled, then screamed out a battle cry as he ran. "Goongala!"

Relieved, Mikey tucked his weapons away and raced forward to snatch up Leo, hugging him close and tight, unwilling to ever let him go again.

"Mikey! You're squeezing me too hard and the human! He is going to eat us!" Leo whimpered.

"No, he's not," Mikey promised with a relieved chuckle. He refused to let go or loosen his hold in case he lost his little brother again. "Geez Leo, why'd you, Donnie and Raphie leave like that? You scared us to death, chibi bro!"

"I'm not a chibi!" Leo protested with a wheeze. Then, somehow managing to turn his head, gazed fearfully at the madman howling in delight, hitting dead humans with his stick. And his brother says he is not getting worked up to eat them both?

Hearing the pain in Leo's voice, Mikey finally loosened his grip and looked into his brother's eyes to make sure he was really alright. Seeing Leo's attention elsewhere, Mikey followed his gaze, seeing what Jason was up to. In horror, Mikey suddenly realised the man was in trouble and didn't even realise it yet.

Standing up, Mikey picked up Leo before he could run away and ran over to the road. "Get on the roof, Leonardo and do not move from there!" he commanded, pushing Leo towards the roof of a minibus.

Though he did as he was told, Leo whimpered, "Mikey, we should run! He's a human."

"Which is why we need to stay," Mikey replied darkly. "He's a human, not one of those zombies. He needs help or he'll be overrun and become one of them. Stay in the middle of the roof. Do not go near the edge."

"Wait, Mikey! I'm scared! I don't like being this high!" Leo called out.

"I know, Leo," Mikey soothed as he drew his brother's katana, "but you're safer up there than down here with the zombies. Stay in the middle and you won't fall off."

Setting his eyes on a zombie advancing on the madman, Mikey raced toward them, hand-springing over the bonnet of an abandoned vehicle barring his way.

The Jason-wannabe whirled his hockey stick before swiping sideways at one of the zombies. He nailed it deep in the eye socket, removing it from play. Then as he was going for the next, he could hear someone approaching and eased up slightly. "So you coming out to play too? What about the kid? He better be safe," the man asked with a genuine concern in his voice, switching from happy killer mood cheerfulness to worry in a split second.

Mikey stiffened slightly at the insinuation. Sure, he'd only had little brothers for the past few days and worse, he'd then lost them but that didn't give Jason the right to suggest he couldn't keep Leo safe. "He's out of reach," Mikey replied darkly, swinging his sword and removing the head of the nearest zombie.

"Good." The man let out a sigh of relief, then went crazy on the next zombie without mercy before moving on to the next and the next.

Mikey cringed at the brutality that somehow reminded him of Raph and quickly stepped out of range. Suddenly another monster popped up from around the back of a truck. Raising the sword to eye level, point aimed at the zombie, Mikey rushed it.

Suddenly, the zombie moved faster than expected, and crying out in fright, Mikey jabbed forward, the sword stabbing through the roof of its mouth and up through its brain. Moments later, he pulled it free, cringing at the gore clinging to his borrowed weapon. "Eww!"

Then he whirled to take on the next.

-:-

April weaved her way through the tall trees with one hand on the Shell-cell and the other clutching her sai; she would have used the bo if she could but she wasn't capable of juggling the weight of the wooden weapon one-handed.

She could hear the faint terrified cries from Leonardo behind and it pulled at her heartstrings, more so by her worry that Mikey wouldn't make it. Then there was the fear of where the helpless baby Raphael was in all this. Was he with Leo or Donnie? He had the disadvantage of unable to flee, unlike the other two who would instead be weighed down by him.

Even as she closed in on the signal, she cursed at how much Donnie was darting around like this was a game of capture the flag, when suddenly, he stopped. She had no idea why but seeing the signal stop dead, she could only fear the worse. In her mad hurry, she jumped over bushes without thinking, swearing profusely as something caught her foot and she slammed into the ground face first, getting a lovely snack of dirt and grass.

April groaned, before freezing in horror as she felt something crawling from her ankle to her pants leg very gently. In a panic, April flashed a look only to see a dead tree root sticking out from the bush – obviously what had tripped her – but it didn't explain the crawling! Her eyes lowered as she paled, letting out a frantic shriek as she kicked her leg, flinging a huge, hairy spider off of her. Breathing heavily, she stumbled to her feet, shivering at the sensation of her skin crawling and the illusion that there might be more.

Quickly brushing herself off, April heard a cry – Raphael - reminding her of what she was doing. Moving forward again she could see Donnie still hadn't moved and her heart leapt into her throat, fearing he might be hurt or trapped.

Standing huffing tiredly behind a tree trunk, Donnie laid his head back momentarily before then looking desperately down at his baby brother as he began to cry, "Please stop crying, Raphie," he whispered. "You'll lead them right to us!" but Raph only continued crying. Donnie pulled him closer, hugging him securely to his plastron and lightly rocking up and down on his feet.

For a moment Raph was mollified but then he sniffled more, starting to cry harder.

"Oh god," Donnie whispered, desperate for Raph to stop. "We'll never have a chance of finding Leo if you lead them right to us." Suddenly, Donnie remembered something he'd seen on TV once and hoping it might help, began humming a lullaby, soft and soothing.

Suddenly, a rustle came from a nearby bush and Donnie's head whipped up, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights as he prepared to bolt. Then April emerged from the bushes and she smiled deeply in relief, taking deep heaving breaths from the desperate run.

"Oh, thank god!" she huffed, "I thought something might have happened when I heard Raph's crying and saw you'd stopped running."

Donnie stepped away from the tree and then backwards, eyes fixed warily on the woman who'd been responsible for Mikey's demise.

"Donnie, we don't have time for games if you're thinking of running away," April started, putting away her sai. "I'm sorry for being so cold towards you in the lab..."

"You're accusing me of playing games?" Donnie interjected quietly, flatly, as he held Raphael closer to protect him.

"Donnie, I'm not one hundred percent certain of what you think of me but right now, I'm more worried about..."

Donnie shook his head sharply, interrupting her again. "You really don't want to know what I think about you right now. My brothers trusted you. Mikey trusted you and yet you... you betrayed us! You led them right to us!"

"Led them? What are you talking about?" April asked fearfully. Was he referring to the group that attacked the lair? Did he really think she was behind that?

"I saw the recording! Only you could have gotten close enough to sabotage the cameras," Donnie explained coldly. "Only you could have doctored the recording."

"I..." April attempted to explain as her heart sank deeper in despair as she realised that yes, he did blame her. For everything.

"You led Mikey right into a trap, not once, but twice!" Donnie spat angrily, not letting her speak. "Then you got him killed and I won't let you do the same to my remaining brothers!" At that, Donnie turned to run and tripped over a rock. As he went flying, his training kicked in and he curled to protect Raph.

Rushing forward before he could get up, she went to his side stabbing the sai into the ground and placing his bo staff respectfully beside him before dropping her pack next to show she was now unarmed. She stepped back, giving him free rein to retaliate on her without her putting up a fight. "This is how much I trust you, Donnie. I always trusted you, even that night when Mikey was so sick. I'm sorry I didn't check on you after Mikey pulled through but it's because I believed in you so much that I knew you'd take care of your brothers while I had to do the shit job that I was told by Leo to never do! Not once that night did I think you were in danger or them since I always saw you as the responsible one..." Tears pricked at her eyes and she blinked rapidly to clear her vision. "It hurt Donnie... when we found out you left, yes, we, meaning Mikey and me! That was the first time in my life I regretted so blindly trusting you because I hadn't realised how much you hated and feared me now and how dangerous that was."

As she spoke, Donnie sat up, his eyes at first on her weapons and pack and then on her as he cradled Raph gently. He opened his mouth to protest but before he could say a word she closed her eyes.

"If you want to hate me, then fine, hate me, I can't stop you. I already lost people before this shit so it's nothing new to me and with you being only twelve now, it means the promise you once made me doesn't exist anymore so there is nothing to break so I won't hold it against you... But either way, right now, you have to stop pointing the finger at me, you need to stop blaming me for things I had nothing to do with and get up and follow me back to Mikey and hope that he made it to Leo in time!"

"How do I know you're telling the truth about Mikey?" he asked softly. Part of him desperately wanted to believe her but with all the warnings from his father, his better judgement said otherwise.

"There is no way I can prove it other than by bringing you to him," April said weakly. "Open your Shell-cell and press the left button, the GPS screen will come on and you will see two signals, mine and Mikey's and yes, mine will be the orange because he and I switched phones when we split up," April instructed desperately. Then she took a breath. "Donnie, please, ask yourself if I was going to hurt you or Raph, would I be stupid enough to make myself unarmed before a ninja I know very well could kill me before I could even blink?"

Donnie looked away uncomfortably, "I don't particularly enjoy violence," he said softly. "I only ever trained because I had no choice."

"I know, you've told me that before," she admitted, "but I wanted to show you I am willing to give you the power over this situation so I can bring you to Mikey. He's worried sick and if I'm this exhausted, right now, he is ten times worse."

Uncertainly, Donnie clambered to his feet, trying his best not to drop his baby brother, then fumbled one-handed at his belt for his Shell-cell.

April cringed seeing Donnie trying to balance Raph. Worse was the moment when the young turtle fixed his eyes upon her and reached out, making desperate sounds for her to take him.

Ignoring the pang in his heart at the realisation that his brother wanted April more than himself, Donnie instead struggled to open the device and switch on the tracking app as he'd been shown mere days ago. Moments later, Donnie found himself staring at the yellow dot on the screen symbolising April, moving around in a small area only a few hundred metres away. Donnie bit his lip as he considered the possibility that maybe April had stolen Mikey's phone and given hers to some ally to gain his trust but realised he had to give her a chance because if there was any possibility she was telling the truth and Mikey was really alive and okay, he had to know.

Without a word, Donnie began striding to where the tracker indicated as April scrambled to pick up her belongings and follow from a safe distance.

Eyes still trained ahead, Donnie called back over his shoulder, "For the record, I never hated you, April, not even when I thought you got Mikey killed. I just never trusted you and I'm still not certain if I can yet."

"Sorry for mistaking that then. Let's just say that experience has taught me that normally hate is not far behind..." April admitted, keeping an eye on each side to make sure nothing snuck up on them. "Besides, I wouldn't blame you if you did. I've certainly seen my fair share of reasons to hate the human race as well... Anyway, I know trust is earned, not given and back then was different than now. I just didn't want to see that because I miss..." She shook her head adamantly and changed the subject. "We should hurry up. I want to find Mikey and Leo and get away from this area as quickly as we can."

Donnie faltered a moment when April mentioned how she had her own reasons to hate her own people and hoped she didn't notice. "Agreed," he replied softly. "I want to find Mikey and Leo too. There's too much danger around here."

"Yes and we shouldn't be rash either," she nodded, ignoring the way Donnie reacted to her comment about how her trust in people was almost nonexistent, especially after what happened in the past twenty-four hours.

Donnie nodded briefly and kept moving, adjusting his grip on a squirming and winging Raph. After some time, uncomfortable, he asked, "What was that you said about a promise earlier?"

Hesitating, April didn't immediately respond.

After a moment and hesitating himself Donnie, couldn't help but prompt, "April?"

April took a breath, "Not long after we first met, like a few weeks after, I tried to pull away from you guys. It wasn't because you were turtles, nor because you're mutants but because I knew if I dared to get close, you would disappear too." April stopped suddenly, looking to the ground. "I lost so much, my mother died in childbirth, my uncle disappeared when I was a kid, then a few years before I met you my father passed away. I never had friends and when I did, I always had trouble keeping them. I guess I was too different, not the popular type, always had my nose in a book. I loved science so most of my time was spent reading fascinating theses on so many subjects... So like I was saying I tried to push you away. Let's just say that you saw right through me and that is when you made your promise." Looking up at Donnie who had stopped to stare at her, she tried to hold the tears back. "You said that no matter what you would never leave me. That from there on out I would never experience the feeling of being alone because you would always be there for me and that if you couldn't for whatever reason, Leo, Raph and Mikey would but that you would go to hell and back before all else to never break that promise. And if I dared to think otherwise, you would be at my door or window every day, every given moment until I was sick and tired of you, just to prove that you are there and I'm not alone anymore."

Donnie didn't know what to say but for the first time since he met her after finding his brothers suddenly far younger than himself and Mikey inexplicably older, he felt the sincerity in her words. "Come on," he said softly. He knew his seeming dismissal of her story would hurt her, yet found himself unable to find the words for anything else after such a heavy admission. "We need to get to Mikey and find Leo."

But this time, when they moved off, he fell into step beside the human woman.

-:-


Comments, thoughts and concrit are always welcome.