*I would like to state a couple of disclaimers before I go any further. First of all, I conceived this story last year before the incredible tragedy a few months ago in Japan. This fic is in no way an attempt to emulate or recreate the devastation that changed so many lives overseas.
Secondly...I love suspenseful disaster movies. Who doesn't like to get their heart racing? With Refuge, however, I attempted to take a more realistic route. A common theme in these "end of the world" movies is to take a disaster and blow it out of proportion, until it becomes the worst case scenario you can possible imagine (and most of the great "escapes" and unlikely survival tactics are questionable at best).
I did my research with Refuge (read, a lot of research) in order to write not only the most likely type of earthquake that could hit New York City, but what the effects of said earthquake would be. Now that my speech is done...please enjoy the chapter. ;)
Leonardo crouched low to the ground in the living area, not even daring to breathe as the earthquake continued. When the electricity went out he was tempted to immediately search out an alternate light source, but common sense told him to stay put until the shaking was finished. The blue-masked turtle could hear things falling, both in the living area and in the adjacent rooms. The loudest crashing of all made him stiffen. The direction seemed to indicate that it had come from Donatello's Lab.
His heart kept racing as the rumbling faded away, and it was replaced with a plaintive wail.
Olivia!
Leonardo shook off the remaining goose bumps as he climbed to his feet, and felt around on his belt for his phone. He opened the screen so he could use what tiny illumination the back light provided. He had taken one step toward the kitchen, when the door was flung open with a tremendous bang. The figure behind it was in such a hurry that the blue-masked turtle was nearly run over by him.
"Sorry!" Donny's voice rang out as he tried to move on.
Leonardo caught him firmly by the arm. "What are you doing? Is everyone all right in there?"
"Far as I could tell! Excuse me, bro, I have to go double-check the gas line!"
He instantly let go of his younger brother. "Do you need help?"
"No - just look for Mike and Becky!"
Raphael and Jenna came out of the kitchen before Leonardo could call anything else after the purple-masked turtle. The young woman was carrying a real flashlight, and Raphael was trying to calm down a crying Olivia.
Despite what Donny had said, Leonardo couldn't resist looking them over himself. "You guys are okay? No one's hurt?"
Raphael shook his head. "I can't help feeling like we ought to be doing something, Fearless." His tone was even, but the red-masked turtle's posture communicated his nerves loud and clear.
"First get Olivia calmed down if you can. We do need to act quickly, but we have to get everyone together first."
Leonardo turned as he heard another crash come from the second floor, which was followed by rapid footsteps and a shout.
"Mike, watch the glass! I'm fine - don't go hurting yourself!"
Leonardo nearly took Jenna's flashlight so he could run upstairs, but Mike's voice carried down to them before he could make his move.
"Hey, guys! Is everybody cool down there?"
"Yeah, Mike, we're fine!" Leonardo called. "What's going on up there?"
"We're on our way down!" Mike answered, and the beam of his flashlight filtered over the railing. "Just had a little mishap."
"Or a big mishap!" Rebecca announced ruefully.
In the sparse glow provided by Jenna's flashlight, Leonardo saw Mike's hand hovering protectively around Rebecca's back as they made their way down the stairs.
"Where's Donny?" Mike asked at once.
"Checking the gas line," Raphael replied. "Does anyone else think we should be checking on him?"
"It might be-" Leonardo didn't get to finish his sentence before Mike cut him off.
"Beck, you are bleeding!"
"It's just my hand, Mikey, and it isn't very deep."
"How would you know? You can hardly see it in this light."
"Right, okay," Leonardo interrupted decisively. "Jenna, go in the kitchen and find a towel or something to help Becky keep some pressure on her hand. Raph, you stay here for a minute and keep trying to settle down Olivia. Mike, you can come with me; we should get a few of the electric torches. There ought to be a fair amount of juice left over on them from the Congo."
No one argued. As he and Mike slipped down the hall to the largest supply closet, Leonardo flipped his phone open again. Concern for Calley and all their friends on the surface was hitting him like a load of bricks. When he traced a finger across the keypad, he noticed that he didn't have any bars that would indicate a signal.
Oh shell, why would that happen?
The blue-masked turtle glanced up to find Michelangelo staring at him.
"This is a really big deal, isn't it?" The normally jovial quality to his brother's tone was non-existent.
Leonardo shook his head. "We don't know anything yet, Mikey. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have to concentrate on what we need to do."
Michelangelo nodded grimly, and Leonardo put his phone away so that he could take his own advice.
They each gathered lanterns in both hands and carried them back to the living area. In the increased light that the torches provided, Leonardo scanned everyone more closely. With the exception of Rebecca's left hand, no one appeared to be hurt. Leonardo wanted to look around the rest of the Den to start assessing the damage, but the urge to check on Donatello was strong.
"Leo, have you got any signal on your phone?" Raphael asked suddenly.
Leonardo focused a longer gaze on his red-masked brother, and realized how shaken he truly was. "No, I just checked too."
When Raphael's shoulders slumped further, he knew exactly what he had to be thinking.
Calley, Karina...They have to be all right. There's no reason to assume the worst. We don't even know how strong the quake was.
"Everybody stay here," Leonardo instructed. "I'll be right back."
The blue-masked turtle cut through the hall to get into the utility room where Donatello was working. Leonardo hesitated in the doorway as he watched Donny get to his feet and retrieve the flashlight he'd strategically positioned to illuminate his workspace.
"What's the deal, Don? Is it fixable?"
"I wasn't trying to fix it," Donny said quickly. "I had to make sure that the automatic shutdown valve kicked in, Leo. One of the pipes feeding the gas line has ruptured." He dusted off his hands and strode to meet Leonardo. "We need to get out of here."
"I was thinking that we should get some idea of how much damage the Den suffered, so we have a clue of what will need to be fixed before we return."
"No, Leo, forget about checking for damage. We have to get out of here!" Donatello swallowed sharply, and forced a quieter tone. "If we don't leave soon, we might not get the chance to."
"Are you expecting the worst?"
"I don't know what to think, but that earthquake didn't feel minor. Even a moderate quake could cause serious damage if the epicenter was in the wrong position, and that's not taking aftershocks into account."
"You think we're going to ha-"
"Leo, I can't say anything for certain, except that it would be in our best interest to get above ground as soon as possible!"
Leonardo exhaled deeply. "Okay. C'mon, we need to talk to the others."
Nerves skyrocketed through the blue-masked turtle's body like fireworks going off in succession as he took a stance in the middle of the living area to speak to everyone at once.
"Guys, we have to leave, and we don't have any more time to lose. We need to pack some things - just the essentials. We can only bring what we can easily carry."
The room was frozen after his blunt announcement with the exception of Donatello, who was nervously shifting from one foot to the other.
"This isn't a drill," Donny added. "We need to leave the Den as soon as we can."
"What's essential?" Mike piped up. "Are you talking like an overnight bag, or like a ten-day camping trip?"
Donatello shook his head. "Pack what we'd need to survive, and anything small enough that you can't live without." Without another word, the purple-masked turtle made a bee-line for the Lab.
"Now move!" Leonardo commanded to snap the others out of their daze.
As Raphael headed for the stairs, Leonardo caught him by the shoulder.
"You're going to have to pack for Karina too."
Raphael threw a glance at Mike and Rebecca, who were already climbing ahead of him. "Are we coming back here, Leo? What did Genius tell you?"
"We don't know anything for sure yet, Raph, except that the danger is too great to stay. Get Becky's help packing if you need it, or I can send Jen upstairs too."
Raphael nodded. "If one of 'em can just take Liv off my hands for a few minutes, that would be help enough. She hasn't let go of me since the shaking started."
Leonardo gave him a pained look. "Poor girl..."
Donatello's cry of exclamation cut off anything else Leonardo could have said.
"I'd better go check on him, Raph." Leonardo spun around and ran back toward the Lab.
He couldn't stop the gasp that erupted when he saw the state of his younger brother's workspace. The room was only partially illuminated by the light of a couple of lanterns, but the damage was obvious. Leonardo mutely looked around at shattered glass and metal. One of the computers was still intact on the desk, barely hanging on by the power cord. The other monitors were in pieces on the floor. The blue-masked turtle couldn't help staring at the naked wall where the screens had been positioned for several years. It took him a few seconds to stop digesting the damage, and look over at Donatello, who was digging through a pile of debris where shelves used to stand.
"Donny..." Leo's voice was so strained, he wasn't even certain if his brother had heard him.
"Leo, don't you need to get some things together?"
The flat emotionless tone of Donatello's voice worried Leonardo more than if the turtle had shouted at him.
"Do you need help?"
Donatello shook his head slowly. "I...I'm not sure where to start. It's hard to say what we'll be able to use."
Leonardo bent down to his level on the ground. "Try and concentrate on what we can't replace readily. I'll help you look through this stuff, okay?"
"It's fine, Leo, you should focus on your own things first."
As Donatello massaged his temple with his free hand, Leonardo realized that he was clutching what looked like his scanner in his other hand.
"Is your scanner..." Leonardo's throat constricted as he went to ask the question.
"It got crushed. It could be salvageable, but I need to get a look at it in better lighting."
"So...then we can't track the others, can we? We have no way of finding them," Leonardo murmured.
"Not as of this moment," Donatello replied stiffly.
"And we don't have a cell signal."
"I'm getting interference on the boosters. It might be a different story when we make the surface, but if the cell phone towers have suffered damage, it could be difficult to achieve a signal at all."
"Okay, one thing at a time," Leonardo reminded himself out loud. "First we have to get out, then we can concentrate on tracking down the others."
"It's broad daylight up there, Leo, and we don't have the van. We're going to need to get some clothes on to help us blend in. I'm not sure about camouflaging our faces, but we can cross that bridge in a little while. In the meantime, you need to get packing."
With difficulty Leonardo left the lab, and trudged in the direction of the room he shared with Calley on the ground floor. With surprise he realized that his Master's walking stick wasn't in its normal place of honor on the wall, and he immediately bent down to search for it. The blue-masked turtle gripped it reverently when he located the stick in the shadows on the floor, and only then felt Mike's eyes on him.
The orange-masked turtle's face was suddenly heavy with understanding. "You don't think we're coming back, do you?" he asked softly.
"Nothing is certain, Mike. Don wants us to prepare for the worst, so that's what I'm doing."
Michelangelo looked over his shoulder. "I brought a couple of bags down for Beck and me, and now she's helping Raph. He's got way too many things to do. Should I be thinking about provisions, Leo?"
Leonardo hesitated, and nodded. "We can't afford to be loaded down though, Mike. Don't pack very much. We should still be able to either buy or forage things from the surface too. I know that Karina always keeps a few bottles prepared for Olivia, so make sure you bring all of those."
"What about water, Leo?"
"Again...I don't think we should burden ourselves too much. Get some bottles pulled together, but be frugal with space."
Mike's brow furrowed, then his eyes actually brightened a little. "We still have filters left over from the Congo too. Want me to pull a couple?"
"Do that, and see if Don will let you help him. His Lab is in shambles, and I'm pretty sure he's overwhelmed. I've got to get things packed for Calley and me."
Michelangelo turned for the Lab without even answering him, and Leonardo continued down the hall to the bedroom. As the blue-masked turtle bent down to retrieve the duffle bags they stored under the bed, he was met by something else. The flicking tail startled him at first, until he realized that it was Tiger.
The turtle dropped on his knees by the bed, and pulled the comforter up off the floor so he could get a better look at the animal.
"Tiger, c'mon," he coaxed gently. "Come out. It's okay, you're all right."
The feline only meowed in response, and Leonardo tried to reach her under the bed.
"C'mon. You have to come with us, so you've got to get out of there."
After a few more seconds of encouragement, he felt the cat brush his arm on her way out. She stared at Leonardo with yellow eyes, as though demanding an explanation for what had happened. When she showed no further interest in moving, the turtle set her down on top of the bed, and scratched her ears reassuringly.
"Didn't think we'd leave without you, did you? This team doesn't leave anyone behind."