Oh wow, where does the time go! So sorry that this update has taken so long. Oh and sorry about the ending of this chapter. I had to end it there...the voices made me :)

Still don't own them...the voices have spoken!

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Chapter 4: For My Life To Save

Casey was already steering the battleshell in the direction of the address Don had gave him. Sweat started to trickle down his neck. There were nine cemeteries in a ten mile radius that Leo could be buried.

He didn't want to think about if Leo wasn't at one of these graveyards.

Mikey and Don took turns talking to Leo. They both tried to keep their older brother calm, which was hard to do when they barely could hold their own emotions in check.

Raph just watched as they passed the communicator back and forth. His teeth were clenched so hard that his jaw hurt. He wanted to talk to Leo too, but he doubted anything he could say would help with keeping anyone calm.

Casey brought the vehicle to a stop outside a set of dark iron gates. They were overgrown with thick vines and one of the gates was off it's hinges.

"Ok, the shovels are in the toolbox," Don said as he pointed to the back of the battleshell. He gathered four flashlights and everyone filed out of the vehicle.

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Leo could hear everyone shuffle around. The doors being opened and then slammed. Mikey sounded out of breath when he told Leo that they were getting ready to search the first cemetery and he would keep the communicator in his belt until they were finished. He had been told that the device only had thirty minutes of time on it, and the back light on his had already faded. He didn't know how much time was on it. How much longer he would be able to hear his family's voices.

Donny's voice sounded muffle as he told them what to look for. Dirt that had been disturbed, plants that had been recently trampled…anything.

Leo's heart squeezed painfully at the desperation in his brother's tone.

He tried to settle down and wait…and pray that he would hear the sound of dirt being shoveled away from his tomb.

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Everyone scattered in different directions, a flashlight and shovel in hand. They knew what to look for and they hoped they would find it in time.

Leaves and dead vines littered the whole area. Several monuments had been vandalized and others were so old that the name and date were no longer visible. Raph stomped through the graveyard, his eyes carefully scanned everything that the beam from his flashlight hit. The only time he took his attention off the ground was to look up and track the beams of the others' lights.

He was just about to give up when he saw a pile of leaves by a tombstone. They were misplaced, piled high in an area that didn't have a tree. His heart skipped several beats as he ran to the grave. He crouched down and started to move the leaves out of the way. His breath caught in his throat when he saw freshly dug dirt under the pile.

"Leo," he barely breathed out.

He stood quickly and started to dig. He didn't call out to his brothers or Casey. At the moment he had forgot all about them. He didn't remember until his looked up and saw Casey shoveling dirt out of the way.

"Please, please, please," Raph's thoughts repeated.

They were only a couple feet into the hole when Raph's shovel hit something fleshy. He could feel the blood drain from his body.

"Oh no…no, no, no!"

Raph dropped to his knees in the shallow grave and carefully removed the dirt with his hands. His mind was screaming but his throat felt so dry and closed up that he didn't think another word would ever escape.

He quickly wiped the dirt away and revealed a shoulder. Then there was an arm.

A human arm. In a tattered t-shirt.

Not his brother…not Leo.

Raph fell on his backside and couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips.

Not his brother.

"Raph?" The concern in Casey's voice must have got his attention.

He roughly rubbed a muddy hand down his face and took a deep breath. "We must'a stumbled on a body dump," Raph said as he scrambled out of the grave.

Casey's frowned at the sight of the partially covered man. "We should call somebody."

Raph nodded. He took out his phone and dialed the number for the authorities. He knew they would not be able to track his phone, so he left an anonymous tip on where to find the body.

He was just putting his phone away when Donny and Mikey found them. Donny was talking on his phone. Raph knew he was talking to April or Master Splinter. Mikey had the communicator out and was talking to Leo.

Raph grabbed the device from his brother.

"Leo?"

He got no answer.

"Leonardo?"

Raph sighed when his blue clad brother responded.

"We're comin', bro. You got that? Hang tight."

Without another word he handed the communicator back to Mikey and took off in the direction of the entrance. There was only fifteen minutes left on the communicator. It took them about ten minutes to check that cemetery and they had eight more to go. Raph glanced at Donny and knew that he had done the math over and over in his head. It wasn't adding up.

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The batteries in the flashlight that Hun threw in the casket had finally went dead. The darkness closed around Leonardo like a fist. He tried to latch onto Mikey's voice as he talked to him. They were on their way to the next cemetery. Raph tried to reassure him, but he couldn't help the feeling of dread and fear that was suddenly washing over him.

Mikey was still talking but his voice started to fade. Like it couldn't make it through the thick blackness that was all around.

Leo squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will his brother's voice to come back. But it drifted further and further away.

The ropes around his wrists and arms felt like they were constricting. He twisted and turned, tried to loosen the grip that kept tightening with every jerk. The gag in his mouth seemed to come alive, it tried push it's way further down his throat. The darkness conspired with his bonds…trying to cut off his air supply. Suffocate him.

He started to thrash in a panic. The ropes cut into his arms and wrists. He ignored the warm blood that was running from the wounds. All he could think about was getting out. Getting out of the thick blackness that was squeezing the life out of him.

He didn't hear his brother anymore. Just his heartbeat thundering in his ears.