When I wake up, I feel warm and safe, wrapped in something fuzzy and toasty with delectable warmth.
Wait! What?!
I shoot up and swivel my head around in panic.
I've spent many nights in the woods and not once did I wake up feeling warm and safe. And that's because I'm no longer in the woods. Instead, I am in a squat, low ceiling room lined with old bricks.
What the- Where am I?
My eyes frantically scan every inch of my new surroundings. I lay on a thin cot, a patched quilt draped over my lower body. A steel chair sits close by, a dull shade of grey paint peels away at the legs. The walls are decorated in numerous drawings colored in with bright shades of orange and green. It's graffiti. Other than that, the room is bare of any other furniture.
How did I get here?
That's when I remember what had happened; leaving the woods, riding with a gang of motorcycles, witnessing an attempt to free a criminal, the garbage truck-
Oh my god! Now I remember.
I lay there for a bit, clutching my racing heart, mulling over all of the events from that night.
That night?! How long have I been out? Hours? Days? I have no idea.
All is silent, except for the soft pings of dripping water and a few voices.
Wait! Voices?!
Yep. Definitely voices. And not just one, but two. Maybe even more. They come from a wide, crescent exit that leaks with a bright, welcoming light.
Reluctantly, when I've built up the courage, I flip off the delicious warmth of the quilt and tiptoe my way to the voices.
Okay. I know what you're thinking; this'll be my second time jumping into something without any thought of the consequences. Okay, so maybe not my second time. Maybe it's my third… or fourth. Whatever! Who's counting, anyway. The point is that this isn't my first rodeo and certainly not my last.
A little reckless you say? Hell yeah! Am I proud of it? That's debatable p.
I guess it has something to do with me being, you know, lost. Not literally, although I still have no clue where I am. I just have this strange thirst for knowledge. My curiosity takes over every fiber of my being with every little something that comes along. Whether it's good or bad.
Oh god. I just went all spiritual mumbo jumbo on you, huh? Trust me, I didn't like it either. I gotta fix that.
I continue my journey forward when my jaw drops open at the strangest sight I've ever seen. Outside of the room I had confided in, is a completely different world. It's tall and wide, well over fifty feet and stands firm in a wide circle. Rusting pipes shine with water, crisscrossing over my head like a basket of writhing snakes. Million upon millions of drawings dance on the walls in an array of madness. Chandeliers, traffic lights, even Christmas light ups wink in a rainbow over the cinder block walls. The strangest things I have ever seen lay around me in a random pattern; a couch made of old pizza boxes, a corner that glows blue with the fluorescent lights of multiple screens alight. Another section is filled with neatly trimmed trees the size of house cats. Red lanterns stream above them. And the most interesting of all, a long concrete water slide flows into a wide pool of green water. I stare at it all.
What am I to think of it all? Do I think of this as art, junk, a mess? Or should I just drop the fact that it matters because loud words suddenly reach my ears?
I snap my attention to a crowded group of people huddled in front of a television screen. I duck behind a thankfully nearby pillar, hoping no one had seen me. When I hear no one coming after me, I peek out my head to see that they're still glued to each other, their gazes steadfast to whatever it is that's in front of them. Four large shells face me; one blue, one red, one orange, and one looking like a dismantled computer mixed with a toaster and somehow put back together.
The turtle people! So it wasn't a dream.
I curse under my breath as I step around the pillar and hide behind another, one that's closer to them. I can now decipher what they are saying.
"Come on. Show me something, buddy." A familiar voice says. I shiver.
That's the one who had tried to confront me and went after me when I tried to run off. The one I convinced myself isn't a hottie, even for a turtle.
Son of a bitch!
"Look there!" Another voice joins in. They all fall quiet. And for a second I think they've found me, but then they resume. I sneak a peek at them. The purple one says in a hushed whisper. "It looks like...residue from a teleportation event."
Teleportation what?!
"Yeah teleportation event residue, man. It's the worst." Another voice says, their tone inquiring more youth compared to the others so far.
"Does that kind of technology even exist?" A third voice says. His voice is gruff and harsh like it's grating against a rock, or he's just trying to imitate Batman. Either way, it's rough.
"Baxter Stockman's been working on this kind of technology for years." The purple one says matter of factly.
Baxter Stockman? Like, the motorcycle guys' Baxter Stockman? He's connected to these turtle people and somehow has something to do with teleportation. That's a little strange.
Yeah, that's the understatement of the entire goddamn century.
"Before the files were erased, I was able read a few emails on Baxter's iPad and it was just full of information about Shredder and the Foot Clan. It was like a virtual playbook." A feminine voice says.
My brows furrow in confusion. I don't remember there ever being a girl turtle. I slowly take a glance out and notice a woman standing by.
Is she a friend of these turtle people? She must be or else she wouldn't be talking to them so casually.
"Donnie, I need something. What do you have?" She asks as she turns to the purple one.
He lifts a single finger in thought and begins to rummage through numerous drawers. The turtle boys watch as he pulls out a black square.
"Fully plug-in-play." He says and presents the object.
Is that a flash drive?
The lady snatches it from his hand playfully. "Thanks, Donnie." She says, her voice fading as she makes her way to what has to be a large exit. The turtles trail behind her. I do, as well.
If the woman is leaving, I can follow her out when those turtle people aren't looking. It's a plan. Not a solid, foolproof plan, but a plan nonetheless.
I dash to the pizza box couch and crouch down, my back pressing into the grease-stained cardboard. Their footsteps come to a sudden halt and me being all too curious, I lean forward and find them all watching the woman turn back to them.
"The sun is up. You can't go outside, you'll be seen." She says. She looks at them with sympathy as each one reacts in their own different ways; the red one clenches his hands into fists until his knuckles turn white, the orange one's eyes finds great interest in his worn out shoes, the purple one fiddles with something in his hands uneasily, and the blue one stares upwards in a longing gaze.
I almost feel pity for them. Almost.
"Uh, who's that?" The woman suddenly asks.
I catch her staring at me and whirl myself around.
Fuck!
"What?" I hear the red one ask.
"There's someone behind your guy's couch." She says.
She's seen me. Shit! She's seen me. I need to leave. Now!
My eyes flick to and fro for a way out. The main exit is obviously out of the question along with the water slide. There are multiple tunnel entrances paneling the walls and I have no idea where they lead to, but it's something. And something is better than nothing.
"Oh! That's the other problem we were talking about." Purple's voice rings out.
Anger fires up within me and I suddenly feel the need to grind my teeth together.
Oh, so I'm a problem now? I'm not the one who was kidnapped by a bunch of giant ass turtles and brought to God knows where for God knows how long. I'm obviously nothing but an inconvenient weight on your shoulders, so I'll just excuse myself and get the hell out of here.
I jump up and run for it, sprinting away from these creatures.
"Get her!" I hear someone yell, but I don't look over my shoulder to see who it is exactly. It doesn't matter.
I aim myself for the room I had been in earlier and find an exit on the other side of the wall. I zoom through it and find myself in yet another bedroom. I don't have enough time to inspect it as I race out of there.
The floor shakes with the pounding footsteps behind me, sounding to be at least three pairs of feet. I don't slow down.
In front of me lies a tunnel. It glows with a gloomy, grey light and reeks of sewage, but it's a way out. And as I get closer, it gets brighter and bigger, as if calling to me. I follow it like a moth to a flame.
I'm gonna make it!
BAM!
Fuck! I'm not gonna make it!
A large mass lands right in front of me and I skid to a stop. The large red-banded turtle stands in front of me, the muscles in his biceps tighter than the string of a bow. He glares down at me with mossy green eyes, his lips curled into a snarl. If I wasn't so pumped up on adrenaline, I probably would've cowered under his frightening gaze. But I am, and nothing's going to stop me from getting the hell of this shithole.
I try to step around him as fast as I can, but he's too quick. He snags my arms and pushes me back, gripping my bicep with a large, three-fingered hand that could snap my bones in two. I slap at it fervently, but I might as well be hitting a brick wall because he doesn't flinch. He simply huffs and begins to pull me away from the tunnel.
No! I'm going to get out of here even if it kills me!
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that's exactly what I plan to do. In a flash, I reach over and sink my teeth into the tough, leathery skin of the giant reptile's forearm. I bite down as hard as I can into the flesh until he shrieks out a pained cry and finally lets me go. I run past him and through the entryway and continue forward without ever looking back.
The red one's anguished cries bounce off of the brick walls.
"AAGH! She bit me! She actually bit me!" He shouts.
I don't dare to look back, although a little part of me wants to see the damage I had inflicted on him. But I know, regrettably, that he'll be fine.
I keep my eyes ahead of me as I round a corner, water spraying at my feet. Blood pounds in my ears, my arms swing by my sides, brown water flies at the back of my feet. And for a second, a strange, uplifting feeling sparks in my chest.
I'm almost out! I'm almost out!
"No you don't." An all too familiar voice says behind me and before I can even react, I'm thrown up into the air and slammed onto something hard. I yelp in surprise and see the garbage-riddled ground sway beneath me and a pair of large feet walking with a turtle shell facing me.
What the hell was that?
It takes me barely a second to realize that the blue one had not only caught me, but swung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and was taking me back to whatever it is they call their headquarters. I kick and scream and bang my fists against his hard shell, writhing in his grasp. He simply adjusts his grip on me and treks through the tunnel entrance I had just left in my dust.
"Let go of me!" I shriek.
My legs strike his plastron until my toes are aching. My fists bang onto the hard surface of his shell until they bruise to purple and blue. I won't stop. I won't stop fighting until he lets me the fuck go.
Sooner than I realize, we are enveloped in the same yellow light from before and I'm flopped down unceremoniously onto a springy surface.
I'm back in the room.
I sit up and come face to face with all four of the turtles. The orange and purple one look at me curiously as if peering through the bars of a caged predator. The red one glowers, clutching his bleeding arm. And the blue one's brows furrow in a sort of frustrated manner, as if struggling to solve an impossible puzzle.
"What do you want with me?" I ask spitefully as if I'm spitting out poison.
They all share a look as if deciding who's going to speak up first. Of course, it ends up being the blue one. He kneels down and I scoot myself away from him slightly. He doesn't seem to care, or he's just really good at hiding his emotions.
"Listen. We know you're scared and a little shocked, but we're not going to hurt you." He says in that calming voice of his.
Yeah right, I think to myself bitterly.
"Yeah, but she sure likes to hurt us." The red one speaks up, his face contorting into a snarl.
"Leave her alone, Raph." The orange one piped up. "She's just scared." He shoots me a smile and waves childishly. I don't return it.
"Why did you bring me here?" I ask.
"We had to." The purple one says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"That doesn't explain why." I say back.
The blue one's sparkling ceruleum eyes flicker uncomfortably and his mouth turns into a thin line.
Did I say something wrong?
"Mikey, can you get Sensei to come in here? He's better at explaining it." Blues says after a moment of collecting himself. "And Donnie, can you tell April that she can leave? We can handle this." The orange and purple ones leave with curt nods and I'm left to stare at the two remaining strangers in awkward silence.I thrum my fingers against my thigh, the exertion from earlier draining out of me.
Don't get any ideas, reader! I'm not going to relax and let these bozos do anything to me. I'm going to get out of here… somehow. But now's not the time. If I were to attempt another escape they'd be ready for it and catch me quicker than last time. The only reason why I almost outran them those two times was because I had the upper hand with the element of surprise. I will not be given that opportunity again.
I'm not sure whether I should say something or remain silent. I'm dying to ask questions, but my pride gets the best of me and shuts me up.
In a few minutes tops, the two have returned and a shadow casts across the floor. Whoever this "Sensei" is, he's shorter than the reptiles who tower over me. When the one known as Sensei appears, my mouth drops wide open.
I'm right about him being shorter, but that's where my assumptions end. The creature that stands before me is covered in long grey and mousy brown fur, swathed in an ancient robe with his slender, bony hands clasped in front of him, his claws grazing over the hairs of his knuckles. His large, black eyes gaze at me as his giant worm-like tail drags behind him. A smile tugs at his snout and he hums to himself, stroking the thin beard trailing from his chin.
My heart nearly stops.
Okay, I may have seen an attempted escape of a criminal and four walking, talking turtles. But now this! A giant rat man!
Blue dots appear out of the corner of my eyes and I realize that I've stopped breathing. I try to force air into my lungs, but it's as if someone had stuffed my throat with cotton. I continue to gawk at the rat man all the while struggling to breath and not scream.
"Do not be frightened." The rat man says in a serene, male voice.
Frightened?! I am beyond frightened! I am above and beyond frightened! If there was a word that could express the turmoil ripping my innards to hysteria, I'd use it. But as of now, I sit there like a deer in the headlights.
He takes a step closer and I quickly huddle back, crowding myself into the corner of the bedpost. He stops in his tracks as he notices that his words did little to calm me. So he remains where he is, black eyes gleaming.
"Dear child." He says. "As you can see we are not ordinary creatures, but if you will take my word and trust in it, you will know that we do not mean you any harm."
At this, I look him square in the eye and can't help thinking that maybe he's right. If these people wanted to hurt me they already would have. And if they didn't want me or had something to offer, they wouldn't have come back for me that night on the interstate. They would've just abandoned me, left me alone to try and forget what I had seen and go about my day as if I hadn't nearly got run over by a garbage truck for saving an unconscious man's life.
Without my consultation, my cheeks burn up.
Dammit! I feel like an idiot. God, how could I be so fucking stupid?
These people have been nothing but polite (short of it, actually) and all I've been is a pain in the ass (again, short of it.). Slowly, I uncurl myself from the corner of the bed, showing them that I am willing to listen.
I still may not trust these strangers, but I will no longer act out the way I have been. In other words, I won't try to run away, punch, kick, scream, or bite.
"Thank you, child." The rat man says. "May we express our gratitude in exchange for your cooperation, if I may so boldly ask?"
I nod my head, mainly because I don't know what else to do, and let the rat man continue.
"I hope you do not mind if I enlighten you with why and how we came to be so that you will be able to understand our current situation." Says him.
I shrug my shoulders.
As you know, ever since the rat man came in I haven't been able to speak a single word. Even if I wanted to speak, which I do, I know for a fact that I can't. Perhaps it's because of my initial shock from when he had entered and my little dilemma with my lungs. That's the only logical reason I can think of, so it has to be it.
"May I begin?" The rat man asks. I don't answer right away, but my mind is made up.
Remember what I told you about how my curiosity gets the better of me? How my taste for adventure and life threatening situations gets me into pickles nearly impossible to break out of? Well, this is one of those times. The second he mentioned the word "understand", I was all for the idea of being told of "how they came to be". Although I can't understand anything and everything that happened to me in the past couple of weeks, I could at least know what happened to them. And it's better than nothing, right?