I'm just sitting and minding my own business when the Biter's scream explodes in my ears. Sure, I hear them all the time, but when you're at home and not expecting it, then it tends to freak you out a little. I leap to my feet, dislodging the TV remote off my leg, and frantically look around. Don, Leo and Mikey heard it too. They're all looking freakishly freaked out. How did a Biter find the lair? I'm sure the question is running through all of our heads when Don pales and races to the lab. Of course. The girl. Don will protect her. We need to protect ourselves.
"Biters! Here?" Mikey says weakly. I think he speaks for all of us on this one. I grab the handles of my sais and yank them out of their sheaths, the blades flashing in the light. Mikey and Leo pull out their weapons too and we press our backs together. The Biter's screams are multiplying and surrounding us, the horrible smell of rotting flesh smacking me in the face. It takes all I have to not gag and keep my guard up. They could attack from any side. Sounds like there are more than just a few freaks circling us. The dim light of the lair doesn't help either. They could be in any shadow, any place where the light refuses to show. I narrow my eyes and glare harder into the dark. I might just be able to see something. I concentrate on the shadows and grip my sais tighter when something shifts in the dark recesses of the shadows the Biters seek refuge in. I know they're there and they know I know they're there. Why are they hesitating? I slide my foot out a little and wait for one to boldly make a move and be stabbed in the head by my sais or Leo's katanas or Mikey's kusarigama chains. Our new friends exchange a few moans and groans before one shuffles into the light. It's missing an arm and one of its eyes are hanging out of the socket. It's internal organs have become external, seeing as how they drag after the Biter, and it's skin it torn and missing in chunks. It has a grayish tint to it and its hair is matted with blood. Biters don't bleed, so the trail behind this one is more of decomposing flesh and tiny pieces of skin. I set my jaw and wait for it to come closer.
I swear it grins with its disfigured face, but who knows, and it shuffles forward quicker. It doesn't see us as a threat. Yeah, well come any closer and it'll see how threatening we can be. I see a charred and bloodied hospital uniform. This is one of the old ones who died in the first bombings. I thought those were all gone, but apparently not. I smirk and point my sai at it. It sees this as a challenge and snarls, rushing at me suddenly. Then all the other Biters explode from the dark and fly at us. I stab one in the face as it lunges at me and use it as leverage to push myself off the ground. They're swarming, teeth gnashing and arms flailing. I grab onto a pipe near the ceiling and pull myself up, my eyes scanning the army of Biters. The battle plan is simple; kill them all. I grin and leap into the sea of Biters, my sais outstretched and my eyes catching every movement. A couple lunge after me as I kick off of their faces, leaping around the room. I stab some in the head, roundhouse kicking more, vaulting onto my hands and using them to twist the necks of the Biters I hold. I laugh maniacally and viciously stab my sai blades into more heads. More bodies fall. And more appear at the entrances. They fill every inch of the room. I glance at my brothers, still grinning like a maniac, and make sure they're okay. Mikey has retreated to the ceiling and is looking throughout the army of Biters with a look of doubt plastered on his face. Leo is a couple feet away from him, his eyes suggesting that he's deep in thought. I roll my eyes and cling to the pipes on the ceiling again, my eyes angrily sweeping the Biters.
"The whole Horde!" Leo shouts. The Horde is an extremely large group of Biters that kill off survivors, and then the newly made Biters join the group and make it even bigger. Their dead faces look blankly at us, their cold eyes locking onto us.
"Leo, you'd better come up with a plan soon, 'cause if you don't, we're Biter food!" I snarl.
"I'm working on it!" Leo grinds his teeth together in frustration, his brow furrowed. Mikey sticks his tongue out at a Biter and immediately jumps back as it reaches for him, causing him to come closer to the roof of our home. I growl and swing down, still holding onto the pipes, and kick a couple in their faces. More reach for my legs, but I'm on the ceiling before they can even touch me. The few Biters I kicked are staggering back to their feet, large dents in their skulls. The Biters start to get impatient and growl at us, wanting their food on the ground. I glare at Leo, who is still thinking of a plan.
"Come on, Leo!" I yell at him. "We need a way out now!"
He shoots a glare at me and his gaze shifts around the room. He seems to be calculating an escape route with his mind, seeing how he's muttering under his breath and shaking his head from time to time. I'm beginning to get impatient too. Mikey sits back and watches the Biters. He's never really liked them. Well, none of us have, but he hates dealing with them a lot more than the rest of us. His eyes are clothed with reproachfulness as the Biters mull around, waiting us out. They exchange groans, glancing at us from time to time with their dead eyes. There's no emotion or feeling in them, just frosty blankness. Like they don't know what they're seeing. I kick myself mentally and remind myself they know exactly what they're seeing. They're hungry, their teeth wanting to sink into our flesh and tear us to pieces. That'll never happen. I taunt them by dangling my feet just out of their nasty reach and glaring at their bloodied faces. These things are hideous. Most are at least missing a limb, and if not, they're missing chunks of skin and facial features. One looks like a living skeleton. Wonder how it got to looking like that. Maybe the Biters stripped it till it was all bones and then it came back to life as the ultimate creepypasta. No, now I see it still has a thin layer of muscle and skin. Another is missing an arm and half of its face. Literally. Brains are showing. I pull my feet up, wondering if they have enough mind left to figure out a strategy. I suddenly remember Donnie. It's gone quiet in there- too quiet. Did the Biters get him? I must've paled considerably, because the look Mikey shoots at me says this plainly: You okay? No, I am not okay. Donnie could've been eaten by creeps like these! I shift uncomfortably and stare at his lab door, waiting for some kind of signal. One doesn't come. I weave my way through the pipes twisting around the ceiling, making sure to stay out of the reach of Biters, and make my way to Don's lab.
"Raphael! Come back!" Leo hisses. I glare daggers at him and ignore his voice.
"Raph!" Mikey gasps. "Look out!" I glance down and see a Biter hand grasp my ankle. Crap. I shout out as it yanks on my ankle, wondering how it reached the ceiling. I can't let it bite me. I kick at it with my other foot, hitting my mark, causing the Biter to release my ankle and fall to the ground. A splintering crack echoes in our ears as it hits the ground, it's head snapping backwards. It struggles to its feet, it's head lolling to the side uselessly, and I realize I've broken its neck. If it was a normal person, I would've freaked out, but this is a Biter, so who cares? I scramble further along the pipes and glare back at the fallen Biter, who makes a gurgling noise and shuffles along like nothing happened. Freak. It makes weird noises, probably from its broken neck, and disappears in the crowd of Biters. More are making bold attempts to get to us. Some stack themselves up until they can reach the ceiling and others just jump lamely, arms outstretched. I skitter along the pipes, coming closer to Don's lab. More Biters are grasping the pipes and pulling themselves up. This is bad. Leo seems to finally figure out his plan and kicks a Biter down off the pipes. His eyes finds mine and unspoken words pass between us. Get Donnie and get out. That's his plan? Pretty pathetic. I shrug mentally and nod, punching a Biter down from in front of me. I back away, making sure I don't fall, and clench my hands into fists. The Biters are coming up on waves now, their eyes lit with excitement and their bloody hands reaching for us. I roundhouse kick one out of my way and make a run for it. Until another hand grabs my ankle again. I gasp and kick the Biters face, panic starting to eat away at my mind as more hands wrap themselves around my feet. No! I rip my feet out of their grip and bolt along the pipes. I vault off of one pipe with my hands, twisting through the air, out of reach the hands that grab at me. I latch onto another pipe, quickly drawing myself up so I don't get bit.
"Guys!" Donnie's voice finds its way to my ears amidst the screams and shrieks of the Biters.
"Donnie!" Leo shouts. "Get the girl out of here! NOW!"
"But-"
"NOW!" Leo stabs his katanas through more Biters and whirls around to face another group. Donnie nods reluctantly and I notice he's carrying the girl in the same manner that he carried her the night we found her. He manages to slip from the room out of our emergency exit before any Biters get to him and the girl. They're safe. I yank my sais out and drop to the floor, and before the Biters have any idea what's going on, all of them around me are dead. My sais drip with the black, old blood that the Biters don't need. It only gets on our weapons when we stab their brains, and frankly, it's quite gross. I smash my foot into the stomach of another and duck under a scabbed, torn arm. I aim for the heads. They can't move without a brain, so you use your weapon to kill it and they fall immediately. I throw one of my sais at one Biter, ducking under more, and stab more faces. Biters fall. Shrieks cut off abruptly. I retreive my sai and vault off of the ground, flipping through the air. I drive my sais through more Biters heads midair and land on my feet, flinging out my arms and being rewarded with falling bodies. Killing what's already dead. I start to laugh like a maniac again and murder more; more flood from the entrance and join the onslaught. I lost count on how many I've killed somewhere around forty three. Something like that. Screeches torn from Biters throats make my ears rings, but I focus on eliminating the endless waves of Biters. I hear Mikey and Leo exchange shouted words, but I can't understand it through the orchestra of screams. I grin and slash more Biters. This is fun. I feel a hand grab my shoulder and whirl around, stabbing automatically. I don't watch the Biter fall, but instead leap off of the ground and into another frothing sea of Biters. It's madness. It's insane. It's amazing. I stab another and see Leo and Mikey making their way, slowly but surely, towards the exit Donnie took. I start to do the same.
I fight my way through the army of Biters, ignoring the shrieks and screams. My happiness dissolves as I see the ocean of Biters we have to destroy to get out. It's huge. I start to have second thoughts about how sane I am as I barrel through the crowds, stabbing and slashing at heads. The smell of the Biters is overwhelming, but I can stand it right now. Mikey looks a little green- well, greener than usual -and Leo looks close to the same. We have to get out of here. I let out a shout and try to clear a path to the doorway when an explosion rocks the ground. I stumble and fall to my knees, much to my dismay, because right then, a Biter lunges at me. Everything goes in slow motion as a million thoughts shoot through my head. An explosion? Am I going to die? Does it hurt to be turned into a Biter? Why an explosion? I've had enough explosions in my life. Now this? I brace myself for the teeth to sink into me. When they don't I look up and see Leo fighting off the Biters. The ground is still shaking, but despite that, I jump up and join him. Mikey is dropping onto Biters from the ceiling and smashing their skulls with his nunchucks. The Biters are being crushed by rocks from the explosion, and Leo barely misses becoming a pancake. Mikey shoves me out of the way of a good sized chunk of rock and we're tumbling along the floor, rolling into Biters. Leo is following us and making sure we don't get bit or crushed. I heave Mikey off of me and jump to my feet ready to defend against Biters. What I see shocks me; Biters running and screaming, rocks crushing large amounts of the freaks and the Biters running for the way they came to escape. I let my shoulders fall a bit and glance at Mikey. He's fine.
"We have to catch up to Donnie," Leo says breathlessly. Mikey nods and I agree silently. Whatever saved us must've worked, because all the Biters are gone. Only the dead bodies remain, and those are starting to smell something awful. Well, more awful than they already did. I turn on my heels and walk out of the exit Donnie went through. If I were him, I would've headed straight to the Nook. But he has the girl with him, so scratch that. The Nook is a secret hideout we have, but it's hard to get to, and if he's carrying the girl, he can't have gotten to it. I make a list of where he could be in my head. The woods. The ghost town in the fields. The empty water tower that we sought refuge in when the bombs first fell. The list goes on and on. Mikey, Leo and I are in complete darkness as we race along the tunnel that leads to the surface. I can only hear their pants as they run and their footfalls. I know this tunnel like the back of my hand. Every curve and dip in the floor is familiar. I run my hand along the stony wall and turn sharply to the left, focusing on getting out. I turn my attention back to my brothers, who are following me, and realize that Mikey's footsteps are off. I assume it's his left(but who knows, we're in a dark tunnel) and know he hurt himself by the way his gait is lopsided and unbalanced. I promise to point this out to Leo when we reach the surface and continue to map out the tunnel in my mind. We should take another slight left, then the floor should start to slope upwards. Then with a right and a door, we're at the surface emerging from under a grassy hill beside the woods.
We do as I planned and soon I'm shoving at the door to the outside, which is still loose from earlier use. It slams into the side of the hill and a spray of dirt flies through the air. I breathe in fresh air and move aside, allowing Leo and Mikey to climb through the exit. I immediately glance at Mikey's left foot, which, as I predicted, is hurt. It looks swollen and is a nasty shade of purple. He's keeping his weight on his right foot and is biting his lip. I have no idea how he managed to run that far with a possibly sprained ankle. I glance at Leo, but he hasn't noticed and is scanning the pine woods to our left swaying in the breeze. The sky is gray, as it always has been since the bombings. The sun has long since rose and is peeling across the sky, glaring at us with its light. The grass is a yellowing and dry, seeing how it hasn't rained in about three months. The thought of rain reminds me of how far we just ran and how dry my throat is. I swallow and glance in the direction of the woods, knowing a stream is hidden beyond the outskirts. I clear my throat and wait for Leo to notice me. His blue eyes are dark and have a faraway look in them, suggesting his thoughts have wandered. I roll my eyes and wait a little bit longer, not knowing that somewhere in the woods a shadow is watching us with curious eyes. I clear my throat once more and when Leo glares at me sharply, I motion to Mikey, who is gazing at the sky, probably wondering why it turned gray so long ago. Leo sees his ankle(finally) and immediately goes into Donnie-mode. See, whenever Donnie's not around and one of us gets hurt, Leo takes over. He knows the basics to health stuff, and Mikey and I don't, so that's that.
"Mikey!" he says, exasperated. "Why didn't you tell us you were hurt?" Mikey responds with a sheepish grin and sets his gaze on the ground.
"'Cause we were running from the Biters," he mumbles. "And I thought it could wait."
"Well it can't wait!" Leo scolds. I keep on the lookout and lean against the steep hill, my gaze traveling the landscape. My eyes linger on the edge of abandoned New York City, where we fled from our home just now. We're maybe a mile or two from the city, and I still have no clue how Mikey managed to run that far with his leg. I turn my gaze back to Leo and Mikey and see that Mikey's sitting down while Leo is examining his ankle. A faint scream finds my ears. I jump a little, but not enough for my brothers to notice. I shift my weight impatiently while Leo swears, causing Mikey to flinch, and glance at my blue banded brother, surprised.
"We left everything at the lair!" he defends himself. I realize he's right, and there's no going back now.
"Do you s'pose we could go to the Nook and drop Mikey off?" I suggest.
Mikey's expression turns outraged. "Drop me off?! I just ran two miles with this foot! I think I can handle it!"
"Yes, you did run two miles, so that means you made it worse! We're taking you to the Nook and you're going to stay there until we come back!" Leo argues. Mikey scrambles to his feet and winces when he puts weight on his left foot. Leo nods at it as to prove his point and turns around, getting ready to make the journey to the Nook. Mikey's gaze turns to me pleadingly but I shrug. He needs to rest his ankle, and if taking him to the Nook is the only way to do that, then he needs to go. Leo starts to walk towards the woods, so I follow. I hear Mikey's lopsided footsteps and know he's coming as well. The dry breeze makes our mask tails whip in the wind and I think about how epic we must look. I mean, we just escaped a whole army of Biters, climbed through a secret tunnel in a hill and now we're on our way to a secret hideout. Not weird at all. Two years ago, if someone told us that we would be fighting for survival against zombies and saving humans, we would've laughed and said they were a lunatic. Not anymore. In fact, we'll probably believe anything now. If some random person walked up to us and said that our world was about to get a lot weirder with vampires and ghosts, we'd probably start preparing for that. That's how crazy this messed up world has gotten. Most of the survivors are creeps who like killing people, but some are like the girl. Innocent. Alive. Young. I can't believe how young some of these survivors we've saved are. One time we were combing the streets of New York City for survivors and found a kid who was just twelve fighting off a mob of Biters with a knife, and she was winning. Of course we helped her, but, as always, she freaked out at the sight of us and ran before we could explain or blink or do much of anything else.
We're well inside of the woods by now, ducking beneath low pine branches and sticking to the shadows. The Biters are probably not far, a mile at the most. We need to move, but Mikey's slowing us down. I glance back at him and see he's struggling to keep up. I bite my lip and wait for him to catch up. Leo halts as well and casts a dark glance into the woods behind us. The screams of the Biters have grown a little louder, not close, but closer than comfortable. Mikey limps as quickly as possible until he reaches us and I see the defeated look in his eyes. He knows he's holding us back. I glance at Leo, but a solution doesn't seem to surface in his mind. The Biters will catch up to us unless we think of something. Leo slides his arm under Mikey's and helps him along. I trail behind them, feeling useless, and pull out my sais, ready to fight off any unwanted attention we may be drawing. It's unbelievably cold, the wind not helping with the frosty air. It seems like yesterday was summer. It probably was. Now that I think about it, we haven't been up here in more than a month, so it makes sense it's fairly chilly. Or freezing. I start to shiver. I catch glances of the sky through patches in the pine tree canopy, allowing me to see it's more gray than usual. It might actually rain today. That would be good for nature, but bad for us. If it starts raining it's going to become twice the chill, and that would practically freeze us to the ground and serve us up to the Biters on a silver platter. We need to go faster. I can smell the rain now, knowing its close. We'll never make it to the Nook in time. I glance behind us nervously and jump at every sound.
A twig breaking, a pine needle falling, the breeze ruffling the trees. I put my guard up and my gaze shifts around us. Everything seems suspicious now. It's so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The cold is getting to me now. I shiver as more noises, small as they are, break out like thunder. We're making slow progress. Another Biter's scream cuts through the air like a knife, and I know it's way closer than before. I grit my teeth to try and stop them from clattering together and turn to Leo and Mikey.
"Guys, the Biters are almost here!" I say. "Think you could hurry it up a bit?"
Leo glares at me. "If you were hurt you wouldn't want to be hurried."
"What I'm saying is that we need to find a hiding spot!" Another scream, closer, rips through our ears.
"We can't!" Leo's voice is angry. "Does anything around here look like a hiding spot?"
I grip my sais tighter. "No! Just hurry up!" Leo and Mikey do pick up the pace, but it's not fast enough. The Biters are closer than before. They've probably reached the tunnel and picked up Mikey's injured scent. That's the thing about these freaks. They can smell any kind of injured person and track them for days. It really sucks. If we can get to the Nook, the Biters won't be able to get there, because like I said before, it's hard to get to. Suddenly my mind freezes and I breathe in sharply.
"How are we going to get Mikey up to the Nook?" I ask Leo. I see the realization in his eyes as it dawns on him. Mikey's injured. He can't climb. He can't get to the Nook.
"I'll carry him." Leo sets his jaw with a determined look and ignores my snort of disbelief.
"You? Carry him? Seriously?" I mock.
He shoots a sharp glance at me. "Now is not the time, Raphael!"
I shrug and turn my gaze away, smirking. There's always time for being a jerk just for the sake of being a jerk. Another scream shatters the silence.
"You might want to hurry up with carrying him, 'cause the Biters are almost on top of us!" I snarl, casting a dark glance into the trees behind us. I shoot a quick look at Mikey and see his pupils have contracted with fear. He hates those things. He wraps his arms around Leo's neck and catches my gaze. Baby blue eyes lock on green. I reach for him through my thoughts and tell him it's going to be okay. He must've seen something in my eyes or the way I gave him a small nod, because he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. I can tell he's summoning up his courage to be able to fight the Biters when they catch up. Key word: When. Not if. They will catch up, and when they do, we have to be ready. We might as well gain some distance before we have to face the ugly hordes of Biters. I swallow back the lump in my throat, knowing I might never see Donnie again, and if I do, it might be with only one brother and not two. Or alone. I breathe in the crisp air deeply, ignoring the chill that fills my body, and start to climb a tree. I know Leo and Mikey are on a different one, making their way up to the high branches to have another advantage on the Biters. There, in the lofty limbs of the trees, we can jump from tree to tree and make more progress than a bunch of shuffling cannibal freaks. The Nook is at least ten miles away, if not fifteen or twenty. We never bothered to measure it. It's a long way. A flurry of pine needles fall beside me and I know Leo's jumped into a different tree now. I follow his example and scurry up the rest of the trunk before leaping into another tree.
Wind rushes at me and colors blur past me as I freefall before landing silently on the next branch. I don't waste a second when I land, immediately jumping into the air again. I do a backflip this time, grabbing the next branch with my hands and swinging into the air again. I'm as silent as the breeze that washes over us; in other words, I'm dead quiet. Mikey and Leo are the same. I turn my head for a brief second and scan the land and trees behind us. In the distance, in the field where our secret exit is, I see the Horde shuffling faster in this direction. My stomach flips and I quickly jump to another tree. The Biters are faster than I anticipated. I land in a tree with my hands, using them to push myself into the air again. I land and depart a tree branch in a split second, keeping my eyes and ears keen to the world around me. If there are any stray Biters wandering and they manage to catch sight of us, they won't leave us alone. It's not uncommon for Biters to stray from their groups; they could've just picked up a faint scent and wandered off to follow it before losing their group and realizing the smell belonged to an animal or something. It happens a lot. I leap off of another branch, landing and leaping constantly now. Land. Leap. Land. Leap. My feet hit a branch, but instead of jumping into the air again, the branch splinters underneath me and I'm suddenly falling. I gasp and flail my hands out, barely missing the branch I made a wild grab for. I hit a thick branch and the air is knocked from my lungs. I slam into another and finally jarr to a halt on the ground. I gulp air into my abandoned lungs, rolling over onto my plastron. I scramble to my feet and immediately start to climb a different tree.
I can't afford to waste anymore time than I already have. The Biters should be even closer by now. The sun is dipping in the sky, casting a golden glare over us. I wipe sweat off my brow and start to jump again. The air rushing past me cools me down a little, but with the burning feeling rushing through my veins, it doesn't really help. We should be close to the Nook by now. Wait, scratch that. There's the halfway mark we established a year and a half ago. It's a pile of rocks set in the middle of a clearing that may look pathetic, but it's helped us coordinate ourselves towards our home a lot. We still have a ways to go before we can rest a bit and then start looking for Donnie. A ways to go before we can be safe and trust our surroundings. Right now, every tree could serve as a hiding place for Biters or the criminals who survived the bombings. We've run into a couple before, and trust me, it's not pleasant. For us or them. The first time we ran into one was when the world had just been tilted off basis and everything exploded into chaos. In other words, almost two years ago. Now might not be the time for disappearing in a memory of that day, but then again, who chooses what they can think about? If you can, then I envy you. I certainly can't. I begin to lose myself in the memory, still leaping from tree to tree, and my mind wanders to the day we ran into the psycho in the woods.
TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT
"Leo should stay here." An expression of worry is plastered onto Donnie's face as Leo tries to walk to the other side of the room. He has to stop several times before he reaches the wall, and when he does he leans against it and I can see him struggling to conceal a pained look. I shrug and direct my gaze away. It's been four weeks and Leo's burns aren't getting any better. I snatch my cloak off of Donnie's desk and throw it over myself. Donnie grabs my shoulder as I start to walk to where Mikey's waiting for me at the entrance to the lair. "Let him down easy, okay? And I'll be right there." He turns and starts to make his way over to Leo to assess his progress. This is the first time he's been able to make it all the way across the room. The burns on his legs are the ones that affect him the most. Donnie's had him walking around every day to help heal them, but it doesn't seem to be working. I think the only reason he made it all the way is because he wants to prove he can come with us. He can't.
"Donnie!" I call after him. "Maybe you should stay here with Leo." Donnie turns around and opens his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. "We both know that Leo will just try to come after us, and what good would it do if he ran into some Biters?" The name of the monsters that rose from the ashes makes Donnie flinch. More softly, I add, "He wouldn't be able to fight them off." Donnie frowns but hastily agrees with me.
"Fine! I'll stay!" I nod stiffly and turn back around, nearing where Mikey stands.
"Donnie's staying with Leo," I explain shortly. He nods and makes his way out of the entrance to the lair when he trips and stumbles on something. I look down and see a disembodied hand that was carried here by the rivulets that used to carry water but now carry only one thing; blood. Mikey gasps and jumps back, ramming into me. I shove him off and glare at him.
"Watch where you're going, shellbrain!" I snarl. He huffs and I see him cross his arms out of the corner of my eye when I turn around and try to find a way over the stream of blood. We could walk through it, but who would want to voluntarily splash through blood? Not me. I roll my eyes and leap over the narrow river of blood. I land safely on the other side and look back at Mikey, beckoning him forward. He obeys reluctantly and jumps, wobbling a little when his feet touch onto the concrete where I stand. I don't hesitate a second before turning and stalking along the wall. It's been quiet ever since the bombs. Like a still pond was disturbed by a pebble, creating a ripple and splash before becoming calm and silent again. Only a different silence, a haunting one. On quiet nights in New York City, you could still hear faint sounds, like a horn honking, people talking, TVs broadcasting. Now the only sound is the wind and screams carried by the breeze. The coppery, metallic smell of the blood is driving us all mad. I stop walking so quickly that Mikey almost runs into me. Lucky for him, he halts as well and jumps back a foot for good measure. I shoot a glare at him and inch forward, pressing my shell against the wall and peeking around the corner. I heard something splashing around, and when you live in an apocalyptic world, you start to always expect the worst. I keep my eyes slitted as I look around the corner. There it is, a nasty Biter who just so happens to be wandering around. Wait, it looks hurried by the way it keeps stumbling. Did it smell us or is it running? And if it's running, then from what? I see a flash of terrified blue eyes and realize that the person isn't a Biter, but a real person with humanity still hidden inside.
The girl- yes, it's a girl, did I forget to mention that? -is headed straight towards us, and by the look on her face, she doesn't want to deal with a couple of green skinned freaks right now. I grab Mikey's arm and yank him towards the darker shadows. He obliges and we watch her pass in her hurried fashion. She doesn't seem to care that she's sloshing around in blood, and by the looks of it, she can't be any older than fifteen. Some of the survivors have been making groups in the buildings near the outskirts of the city, waiting for the military to let them out of the quarantine that has been placed over New York. It's just New York, too, nowhere else. We still haven't figured out who bombed the city, but we know they had some pretty gruesome intentions. And shouldn't the planes have been spotted? The fact that several planes made an appearance at the bombings have led us to believe that the military is in league with whoever did this. Which brings me back to my point; the girl is deep inside of the city, which makes me think that maybe the military isn't picking people up and saving them. If the girl was part of the camps set up in intact buildings, then she would've stayed to be rescued. What if the groups aren't safe anymore? I shiver at the thought and glance down the tunnel again. It's empty. I quietly jump over the next rivulet of blood and don't stop to see if Mikey's following. I know he is by the soft patter of footsteps trailing behind me. We need to go surface and find cover in the ruins. One good thing about ruins is that you have many hiding places. One bad thing is that they're ruins in the first place; always prefer solid buildings rather than crumbling piles of bricks and melted caulk. Some places could look stable but could collapse underneath of your feet, and it's no fun falling into a pit that could be infested with Biters.
Fortunately, we're ninjas, so we know how to test the ground first. And even if we skip that step, as in worst case scenario, running from Biters, then we can just grab the edge of the hole and swing ourselves back up. If there isn't an edge within your reach, then you're dead. Moral; life is tough for those who try to survive in apocalyptic conditions with zombies. My train of thought has wandered as my search for a manhole cover or just a hole in the tunnels continues fruitlessly. Apparently Mikey and I have entered the part of the sewers that survived the most. The streams of blood aren't even bloody around here; we must be out of the Horde's territory. There's too many Biters in the Horde for even for us to fight off. We discovered the Horde on one of our unfortunate nights out into the world above. We were scavenging for food and supplies, struggling to survive, Leo unconscious in the lair from his burns, and on top of that, the Horde found us. We escaped by the skin of our shells and didn't find anything useful either. It was a slow, hungry week after that, and even when we summoned up the guts to make another shot at finding food, we only found a couple canned items and a bag of pasta. Not very appetizing, but we'd have to make do. The next week was slightly less hungry, but just as slow. I hear a snap in the darkness and jump to a halt. Mikey does too. I slowly turn my head and meet my brother's gaze. His eyes are wide with fear and he's trembling slightly. I glance around frantically and see only the girl that rushed past us, staring at us in fright about ten feet behind us. I stumble backwards; neither of us knew she was there. Mikey does the same and the girl turns and bolts, crying out. Okay, even though that's how most people react, it still gets annoying. I snort and we continue on after determining the snapping noise was her dropping a can of food. It's no good now, seeing how it spilled out, but Mikey still scoops it up and tucks it into the satchel at his side. Whenever you have the opportunity for food, take it.
Never waste anything. You never know when you might run out of food, and if you do, you'll wish you'd picked up the scarce, decaying food littering the streets. Did you know cheese itself is a mold? If you eat cheese, then surely you can eat mold? It's the same thing. In my opinion. Well, it didn't used to be, but certain circumstances will make you desperate enough to eat anything. My eyes catch a strip of gray light that faintly beams into the dark through a crumbling manhole circle. The cover is nowhere to be seen, probably tossed away somewhere above waiting to be retrieved. I grab the remaining rungs jutting out of the wall and steadily climb them. Mikey and I are both silent, probably not wanting to pull up a painful topic. And everything is a painful topic, so it's best just to keep our mouths shut for now. I glance around and climb out of the manhole, helping Mikey up due to the last few rungs that are missing from the wall. He thanks me with a nod and we continue. The light that used to inhabit my brother's eyes has long since vanished; a blank darkness remains and seems to haunt my brother. I tell myself that he'll get over it and to give him time, but we've given him a few weeks. Same with Leo. Neither seems to be improving at all. Donnie seems to be forgetting things more easily, and I guess my tempers sort of gone dot a bit. I don't get as angry with my brothers as I used to. I hope that'll pass too; it's easier to be angry than it is to feel. The city is abandoned, the sky gray and most of the small buildings reduced to ash. The larger ones have been burned down, but they still remain, just crumbling and cracked. An acrid smell still remains and burns my lungs; not as badly as the last week, but badly enough to make me cough a bit.
The wind moans as it gusts past us and spreads an icy feeling on our skin. I draw my cloak around myself and set my jaw. It doesn't stop the chills from erupting on my skin and the threat of shivering crouches nearby, waiting to attack. I hear a loud rustle and shoot a glare at Mikey, who shakes his head as if to say it wasn't him. Goosebumps rise on my flesh as I turn my gaze back to in front of me, where a lopsided shadow is limping slowly towards us. Mikey gasps as it steps out of the shadows and it takes all I have not to run. It's flesh is gray and it's jaw sags open almost dementedly. It's eyes are set on us and many chunks of muscle have been, well, removed. It's hair is stringy and reminds me of the skinny creature Gollum from Lord Of The Rings. It's definitely disgusting enough to be a match. I swallow back my fear and draw out my sais. I eye the Biter warily as it limps forward, drooling and having muscle spasms at random intervals. I start to shiver from the cold and throw my sai at the Biter's face. It hits it with a sickening thunk right between the eyes and the Biter drops to the ground instantly. I slowly walk over to its fallen body and pull my sai out of its face. Flakes of dead muscle flutter from the blade and I wince, quickly stumbling back over to Mikey. Someday we might get used to killing these things, but not yet. This person had a life before it was morphed into a bloodthirsty monster. I don't stop shivering and Mikey and I continue on through the city without a word. Things have gotten distant between us. We might share a nod or glance, but we never talk unless necessary. I hope that'll change soon. I can't stand to see Mikey this down, but Donnie told me to give him some space, and Leo doesn't really have a chance at speaking to Mikey. He doesn't talk much. In fact, Mikey hasn't said anything but literally two words for a month. Yes and no.
He's like a magic eight ball but without the fancy ways of saying yes and no. More like a magic two ball. I sigh and sneak a glance back at him. His baby blue eyes are clouded again, like they usually are, and his expression is blank. His expressions are always blank or fearful. My heart aches just by looking at him but I continue on like nothing happened. A faint bark finds my ears. There used to be a bunch of dogs around, but lately, there are none. Maybe all the dogs aren't gone yet. Most of them ran down south after their owners died. Some of them stayed to fight off Biters, but they got killed and eaten by Biters. They don't turn into the monsters like people do, they just die and rot. It's strange because other animals turn into Biters and only try to bite other animals like them. If a cat gets bit it'll go after other cats. If a bird gets bit it'll go after other birds. If a dog gets bit it just gets bit. Simple logic. My feet brush through the ash that blankets most of the ground like snow. We're almost to the edge of the city now, where the scorched lands of the fields stretches on for a mile or two. Maybe a couple more blocks before we reach the brittle dirt of the fields. Like I said, they're scorched, so grass doesn't grow there. Instead a dry dirt takes its place and always makes little clouds of dust every time you take a step. I glance down a dark alley and see a bloody furred cat stalking around a dumpster with its lid torn off and hanging from the hinges. It sees us, it's yellow eyes catching onto our movements. It hisses and whirls around, streaking back to the shadows in the alley. That was probably a normal cat. Biter cats don't run. They just ignore us and walk right alongside us before eventually falling behind. We don't bother to kill them. I mean, why would you? Wasting time and energy killing something that can't hurt you is just idiotic.
Mikey and I reach the edge of the city and step into the fields. I kick up a cloud of dust out of spite and stare at the horizon, where the tips of pine trees make a dark wall along the whole distance. Rocks litter the ground, some sharp and some smooth. I make sure to avoid the sharp ones. The air is thick and dry in my lungs as I breathe, forcing me to choke slightly on it. I forgot how different the field air and the city air are. The sun scorches down on us, burning into my skin. The heat makes the distance look like it's moving slightly. I wipe sweat off my brow and glance back at Mikey again. His movements look almost robotic as he trails after me. Dust floats in the air behind us before sinking and settling back down. I drag my gaze away and try to ignore how hot it is now. The buildings offer shade and cool air, no matter how wrecked they are, but out here it's desolate and desertlike. I have the faint feeling that we're being watched, but then again, when do I not? It seems like everytime I turn my head my skin prickles and I get the uncomfortable feeling that there are eyes trained on me, but whenever I turn, nothing's there and I determine myself to be going insane. I probably am. I shake my head to clear my wandering thoughts and shift my gaze from the horizon to a hill up ahead. It's steep and tall, a brown shrub withering at the base of it. We could carve it out and use it as a new hideout. I ponder this idea and judge it to be quite possible. It could work, even if it is a little cramped and low roofed. I mean, the hill is tall, but you'd have to leave at least a two feet of dirt in the ceiling to assure a stable roof, and by then, it would be way less tall. I make sure to keep this hill in mind but scratch it from the list of possible new homes.
Not that we have a list. The only other place I can think of is the ruins of the Empire State Building, and that's where a couple survivors are making camp for now. They would probably freak out at seeing green people with shells seeking refuge in their home and stab us a few times in the head like they've done to a couple groups of Biters before. We have no other options for now. Which is why Mikey and I are searching in the woods. By now the trees have grown closer and we're probably only half a mile away from the treeline that promises shade. I start to walk with more of a purpose when I think of the pine needles blocking out the sunlight. Only a bit more land before we can lean against tree trunks and soak up the shade. Suddenly something distracts me from my quest to reach the trees. Okay, that sounded lame, but something I see does distract me and I skid to a halt. A giant cloud of dust is slowly approaching us from our left, and as I squint to get a better view, I see a group of Biters running at us. Panic wells inside of me. I whirl around and grab Mikey's arm, yanking forward as he catches sight of what I saw. A gasp of terror is all I hear from him as we break into a dead sprint towards the trees. Our cloaks fly behind us, streaking out and flapping. The Biters are running fast, way faster than we are. Donnie said something that'll make sense right now about how they're so fast. Something about muscles and how they don't need oxygen because their blood doesn't run. Something about how they never get tired. I don't really stop to remember, seeing as how I'm running for my life. I gasp for air and shoot a fearful glance at the Biters pursuing us. By now they're behind us but gaining distance steadily. I shove Mikey in front of me, causing him to stumble, but he recovers quickly and probably runs even faster than before.
If they get me first they won't bother to get Mikey unless he attacks and tries to save me, which undoubtedly he will, so I shout a few words of instruction at him. "If they get me-" I gasp in a breath. "-you have to keep running, got it? Don't-" I gulp in more air. "-try to save me!" I don't wait for confirmation before making sure he stays in front of me. My baby brother doesn't deserve any of this. Nothing he's ever done should've submitted him to this world of terror. I have to make sure he survives, even if it means jeopardizing my life. I pant harshly and cast a terrified glance at the Biters. By now they're only thirty feet from us. The trees are at least a hundred. If we can just make it and climb a tree, they can't get to us because then we can jump. Like in the city. But in woods. Instead of rooftops you have tree branches. It's the same thing, more or less. I might never find out. The trees are now fifty feet away. Not far. My lungs and legs burn, my muscles screaming at me to stop. I've always liked horror movies, I've just never wanted to actually be in one. And that's what's happening now. It's when the zombies are chasing the protagonists and one falls. The other tries to save him. They both die and then the others back at the base wonder where they are. That's probably how this scene is going to play out. I choke on the air and drive straight into a coughing fit, really hating the fields more than ever now. The dust flying from Mikey's feet is drifting right into my face, choking me up. My eyes water as I fight the coughs and stumble. It's over. Like I said, one guy falls, the other tries to help, they both die. I recover from my stumble and dare to sneak a glance at the Biters.
I know, I'll probably end up seeing the hand that grabs my arm and pulls me to my death, but I can't help it. I look behind me and see the Biters, seven feet away, shrieking excitedly and running faster now. I gasp for breath and dive into the trees, immediately grabbing a trunk and hauling myself up into the branches. Mikey does the same and we're well in the trees before the Biters can grab at our feet. I lean against the trunk, coughing and hacking as I try to find my breath. How are we still alive? The odds of us surviving that are lower than zero, and we still did! I mean, they were seven feet behind us and we still escaped! Adrenaline pumps through my veins and I start to laugh. My eyes are probably wild and Mikey probably thinks I've finally snapped and gone insane, but seriously! WE'RE ALIVE! I throw my head back and laugh until my stomach aches and I have to stop or I'll probably pass out, and when I do stop, I see Mikey's grinning and it looks like he's trying to suppress laughter as well. His baby blue eyes have a bit of their old sparkle, but not enough to convince me that he's actually back to being the old Mikey, the one I know. I start to laugh again, and by now the Biters are gone, defeated, wandering back to the fields to find some less elusive meals. I high three Mikey and we start to venture into the woods now. The trees are probably safer than the ground, and from where we are, there's not much shade. Oh well. I decide to play it safe for now and we stay in the branches, getting stabbed by pine needles and burned by sunlight. We keep quiet and just walk on the branches for now, jumping a bit when we have to. I keep my eyes peeled for Biters and possible new homes, but right now, unless we want to sleep in a tree, there's nothing.
I'm still grasping at the fact that we survived when I hear twigs snapping beneath us. I freeze, as does Mikey, and listen for a moment. Yeah, those aren't animal footsteps. That's either a Biter or a surviving person. I hope it's the latter. I crouch on the branch that I stand on and peer into the pine needles below. If it is a person, then we don't want them to see us. If it's a Biter, then we'll go in and kill it. I harden my stare into the pines and see someone pass underneath. Just a quick snatch of sight, but it's enough to tell me it's a real person. I glance over at Mikey and see his eyes trained on me. I give him a quick nod and start to pick my way through the branches again, hating the way my feet stick to the tree slightly because of the sap. I hear the footsteps below pause and my eyes widen. The person heard us. I freeze again and hold out my hand to signal Mikey to stop. He does and we wait. I hear a clicking noise that sounds like a gun being loaded and cast a glance at Mikey. There's no doubt that he heard it too because of the fearful glint in his eyes. We have to get out of here. Mikey seems to agree, seeing as how he starts to silently jump into another tree. I do the same and steady myself by grabbing a branch above me. I'm still silent, besides the couple of pine needles that fall to the ground. Apparently the person saw this, because he shouts up at us.
"Whoever ya are, I know you're there!" then the sound of ground being trampled underfoot. "Show yourself!" There's no use in trying to conceal ourselves anymore, so Mikey and I start to run along the branches. This guy sounds like he doesn't want to be messed with. We flee in the branches, leaping from tree to tree. I hear the man pursuing us, panting as the ground slopes uphill slightly. Pine needles lash at my face as I run, trying to keep balance and not fall. If I fall who knows what could happen. That man down there has a gun, that's for sure. And if I fall right in front of him it's not like he's going to help me up and ask me what my name is. He sounds more like the 'shoot first ask questions later' type of guy. My theory proves to be right when I hear the gun be shot, ducking instinctively and immediately checking to see if Mikey's alright. He is, thank goodness. I keep running with Mikey beside me and the man is falling behind. I can hear it. Suddenly Mikey's foot slips off of the branch he's on and he starts to fall, but before he can get at least ten feet from the ground I grab his hand and yank him back up. These precious moments have allowed the man to catch up. We start to run again and my running falters, the effect of me looking down at where the man must be. This few seconds that I waste looking at him costs me big time. The man sees me too and his eyes narrow. The fact that I'm green and have a shell doesn't seem to faze him as he raises something in his hands. Then comes the loud bang of a gun being shot, the searing pain in my right shoulder, and the strangled cry that's torn from my throat.
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"Raph! Come on!" Leo shouts. I jolt out of the memory and try to calm my beating heart that feels like it wants to escape my chest. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and realize we've reached the Nook. The cliff rises in front of us, stony faced and dark in the fading light. The ivy that crawls up the side looks weak and flimsy, but actually, it's as strong as iron. I jump out of the tree and latch onto the ivy, scaling the wall like a spider. Leo and Mikey are already halfway up, and I catch up to them in no time. Of course, the extra weight of Mikey is dragging Leo down, but he still manages to make it to the rock ledges that jut out of the side of the smooth cliff face. I'm already up at the top of the ledges by the time he does, though. I find the hand holds carved into the rock and start to climb as quickly as possible. The sun has gone by now, replaced by a black sky and no stars. These days it's just the sun and sky. No moon, no stars, no constellations. Just a dark sky at night and a gray sky and ball of fire at day. That's how it's been for a while. The fact that I haven't seen any stars in about two years reminds me of the way we used to gather underneath the sewer grate back at the lair when we were little and try to make out the stars in the sky. One time we tried to sneak out to see them but Splinter caught us, and after that, we weren't allowed out of his sight for a whole three weeks. By then he trusted us not to try sneaking out anymore, but we still tried to catch glimpses of the stars through grates. We never really knew what they looked like before we were fifteen and Splinter let us go to the surface.
We knew what stars were. Donatello made sure of that. Every time we would get together and try to see the stars he would launch into this speech about how a star is a fixed luminous point in the night sky that is a large, remote incandescent body like the sun. He was the most fond of stars. They always fascinated him, to the point where he would stay much longer under the grate than the rest of us would, gazing up at the stars. Now they're both gone, Donatello and the stars. I reach the larger ledge that the Nook's entrance is on, setting myself on finding the six foot tall two foot wide slab of rock that slides out of place. I run my hands along the cliff wall until I reach a slight incline, then taking both hands I push the rock in. I lean my body against it, forcing the rock to slide in about an inch and then I focus on getting it to move to the side. I shove the rock hard and it makes a crumbling noise as it obeys and is pushed into the wall beside it. Donnie designed the entrance to have to be pushed in and then to the side before anyone could get in. Pretty clever of him. A warm, golden light spills out of the entrance as I get it open all the way, rushing over to help Leo and Mikey up. Mikey thanks me with a nod and Leo looks too exhausted to even summon up a sign of indication. Mikey slides off Leo's back and wraps an arm around my shoulders. I do the same and help him into the Nook, Leo following behind. The moment we enter, the cold air from outside seems to dissolve and is replaced by warmth. Candles are set up everywhere, some burnt down, some still tall and others just normal. The smell of wax fills the Nook, and I don't even have the chance to get Mikey over to the opposite side of the room, where a hallway branches into our makeshift infirmary before our father is rushing at us, a worried and relieved look on his face. His brown, black and white fur looks more dull than last time we saw him, and his whiskers are drooping slightly. He has a deep, worried crease between his eyes as his eyes find us, Mikey limping while I help him through the room and Leo, exhausted, staggering behind us.
He helps me take Mikey to the infirmary while I explain what happened. When he hears about Donnie he interrupts with an alarmed tone. "So you know nothing of Donatello's whereabouts?" I shrug and lay Mikey down onto one of the four mats in one of the caves.
"Well, I mean, I kinda made a list in my head," I add when I realize my father is eyeing me. "He could be at the old water tower, or somewhere in the woods, or the ghost town in the fields, or..." I trail off when I realize my words are pointless and cast a long glance at the ground. I only turn my gaze up when Master Splinter turns around and reaches into one of the carved out shelves in the wall to find medical supplies for Mikey. I slip out of the infirmary quietly and hurry towards my barely used bedroom. We never really stay at the Nook, always out searching for survivors or fighting off the Horde. I close my door quietly and try to think of more places my brother would've gone. The woods doesn't seem like a liable option, seeing how there's no shelter, and the ghost town in the fields is ravaged by Biters at least twice a day. Any survivors seeking shelter there die in a matter of seconds after the Biters swamp the streets, picking off any straggling survivors and weeding out the groups. Donnie wouldn't have gone there. Which leaves the water tower, which last I checked was packed with survivors trying to live. He couldn't have gone there either. Suddenly something Donnie said earlier this week worms its way into my brain and I try to grasp the thought. He said something about a system...Dang it! I can't remember! Where did he say it was? I slide down the wall and sink to my knees. I stare at the opposite wall in a far away fashion, not blinking and racking my brain to remember what Donnie said. Something about systems...and underground! Yes, he said something about underground systems.
Does that mean tunnels? Maybe a different maze of caves somewhere? I jump to my feet when a word runs through my mind. North. He said 'north underground systems', so that means he's somewhere north in underground tunnels for all I can guess. I fling my door open and run to where Leo's room is. I slam his door open and find him sitting cross legged on his bed reading a book in all Japanese.
"Leo! Donnie said something about north underground systems, so that means he's north and underground!" I say breathlessly.
Leo doesn't answer for a minute and then raises an eye ridge. "When did he say this?"
"Well...Monday?" I cross my arms and glare at him. "Come on, this is the only lead we've got!"
Leo sighs. "Fine."
I glare at him for a moment more before turning and leaving him to mark his page and join me. I didn't bother to remove my cloak, so I still have it on. I hesitantly venture into the infirmary and clear my throat uneasily.
"Yes, Raphael?" Master Splinter turns to me and fixes his brown eyed gaze on me.
"Leo and me-"
"Leonardo and I," Master Splinter corrects me. I resist the urge to roll my eyes and nod.
"Alright, Leo and I are going to look for Donnie." I turn and start to make my way back out before Master Splinter calls out to me.
"Be careful, my son." I stand still for a second before nodding sharply and sweeping through the cave systems, finding my way back to the main room to wait for Leo. The candlelight flickers as I lean against the entrance to the Nook, my eyes trained on the golden light. What is taking him so long? I kick at the floor and restlessly start to pace. Donnie could be in trouble, or worse, dead, and Leo doesn't have the decency to show up and go look for him. Y'know, the more I think about what he said the less probable it seems. I mean, what are the chances that he had time to go up north and carve out another system of caves in the ground? And why wouldn't he tell us? I stop pacing and close my eyes. If Donnie's up north, would he have dared to venture into the ruins of Canada where even larger groups of Biters roam? We know of one group that's at least three times as large as the Horde, and if Donnie went to Canada, then he's going to die for sure. This thought doesn't help to decrease my growing fears, and if anything, it's only made them rise higher. I'm yanked out of my whirlpool of thoughts by the appearance of Leo, which I hear because of his dragging footsteps. Alright, I'd rather pitch myself off of the Empire State Building and into the Horde than admit it, but I kinda feel sorry for him. He's had to run with the extra weight of Mikey for a while, then get to the Nook as well. I could do it just as well, maybe even better, but I'm glad it was him and not me who had to. Like said by some random dead guy, 'better you than me!' I glare at him, as if the power of my eyes will bore into him, but he doesn't really notice.
"Took you long enough," I mutter.
"Nan demo," he mumbles. I purposefully knock my shoulder into his when I walk past him, smirking and exiting the Nook onto the ledge. I feel Leo's eyes on me but ignore him, starting down the cliff wall. I get about seven feet from the ledges in a few moments and jump the rest of the way, landing on the cool stone and immediately starting to leap from ledge to ledge. I hear Leo following behind but don't care to look at him, seeing as how the only thing I would see is his arrogant face. I reach the ivy slinking up the cliff and in a matter of minutes I'm at the very bottom of the cliff. I throw a glance up at Leo and stroll of into the woods, not bothering to wait for him. I drift into the shadows subconsciously and slit my eyes, making sure light doesn't reflect off of their glassy surfaces. Not like there is any light. Without a moon or stars, it's literally pitch black outside. You only have four senses to guide you, and thankfully we know how to use our senses without sight. We were taught how to do that at an early age and have improved our skills in the years that passed. We were only fourteen when the Biters attacked, and in the two years that dragged by, we've perfected the art of being a ninja without sight. Thankfully, we only need to use that skill at night, and even if the sun goes "away", like it sometimes does, we can still find our way. The sun disappears once in awhile, just vanishing from the world. It doesn't happen much, but when it does, it gets extremely cold and the Biters can't move as quickly as they usually do. We use those times to attack the Horde, cutting down its numbers and trying to wipe them out.
Unfortunately, the sun appears before we can kill them all, and then have to retreat or die. And trust me, when people say do or die, that's usually the case with us. By now I'm deep in the woods, far from the treeline that I left Leo at. I pause and wonder if he's following me or if he turned around and went back up to the Nook. I dismiss the thought quickly. It wouldn't be like him to just shrug off the opportunity to save someone, especially if that someone's his brother. In fact, it would go against his Splinter Jr. protocol. Suddenly something slams into me and I bite back a gasp of surprise. I tumble through the mud, instantly scrambling back to my feet. Was that Leo? A survivor? I swallow hard. A Biter? I bend my knees a bit and hold my fists up to my face, preparing for another attack. What I get chills my bones. Shrieks torn from throats. Excited shrieks. I start to back away from where I was attacked and bump into a tree trunk. Or at least I think it's a tree. I whirl around and scramble up it anyway. Relief spreads within me as my fingers b use pine needles and I grab the first branch. However, before I can do anything else, a hand wraps its bony fingers around my ankle and yanks on me. I yelp and grip the branch tighter, kicking at the hand. I really wish I could see right now. Terror is starting to build inside of me. Where did the Biters come from? I mentally kick myself. It's the Horde, the ones who were following us. I said they would catch up and they did. We walked right into them! I realize with a devastated feeling that there is no "us". It's just me. Leo, who could be far behind trying to catch up or calling my name, wondering where I am, I left behind. Mikey's at the Nook. Donnie's the whole reason we're out here.
None of my brothers are around. No one to help me. Another hand grabs my other foot and I find it harder to keep from being pulled into the mass of screeching Biters. The fingernails of the hands dig into my flesh, but that's the least of my worries. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart, and use one hand to grab my sais off of my belt. If I go down, it's with a fight. A fight the Horde will definitely remember. I let go of the branch and stab the Biters that hold my feet. Their grips loosen as I fall to the ground, rolling to my feet in an instant. I roundhouse kick a Biter down and drive my left sai through another, yanking my arm back immediately and stabbing more. The Biters are on me, wave upon wave snapping their jaws at me and grabbing with their bloody hands. Suddenly I see what looks like a normal teenage girl, her hair falling on her shoulders and no blood staining her clothes. I would've thought her to be normal, if her skin wasn't a bit gray and the bite mark on her neck wasn't there. I don't waste time thinking about how she must've been a survivor until recently and kick her down, stabbing my sai through the back of her head and jumping at another. Suddenly a Biter grabs my head and shoulder, wrenching them aside so it can have a good bite at my neck. I choke out a cry and try to stab it, but another pair of hands grab my arm and then more find my legs. This is it. I can't fight them off now. I brace for the bite, but that doesn't help when it comes. The Biter sinks it's teeth into my neck and bites down hard. I scream. They're really living up to their names now. I thrash in their grips, kicking some and then pulling my arm from their grasps. I stab the one that's still digging it's disgusting teeth into me and scramble away from the Biters.
Most of them know I'm bit and back off now, but some lunge at me again. The bite's gone numb. Now that I think about it, the Biters might be smarter than they look. Notice how they don't go for the arms and legs, always for the neck or head. Maybe because they know you can't amputate your own head. Or anyone else's, for that matter. I don't know how it really works, but I'm guessing that the Biters spread an infectious disease with their teeth. I don't know if it's in my blood, but if it is, there's no hope for me. I never should've left Leo behind. I take my sais and kill the Biters still after me. Suddenly the ground shakes and I fall to my knees. I start to tremble and cough up some blood. It's black. I can almost feel my terror escalate inside of me, my stomach churning and my head feeling, well, light. I might just be unstable at the moment, but the ground seems to dip and then I'm thrown to the side. No, this is real. The Biters are shrieking and running around in a directions. I let myself go limp, deciding that if I die it would be better than being a Biter. Several gunshots ring in my ears. The sound of metal sliding through bodies. I groan as the numbness spreads from the bite slowly. I hear a couple of shouts, pausing before yelling again. Maybe this new guy has a phone. We lost ours a long time ago. I feel blood bubble past my lips and cough again. It's choking me. I try to fight the fit of coughs that racks me, in case this guy is unfriendly, but I can't help it. My eyes flutter. My chest is numb by now. I'm having trouble breathing. I cough. I regret coughing, seeing as how I only choke more. I stir feebly as a shadow looms over me. Someone mutters, then hands grip my underarms and start to drag me. Wait a second. If this guy was unfriendly, why wouldn't he just kill me? And if he is friendly, then why doesn't he see I have a bite and kill me? Either way I should be dead right now.
The numbness reaches further along my body.
I try to fight the impulse to black out.
I fail miserably.
TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT
I'm awake.
I wish I wasn't.
I shift my weight and groan as a sharp pain stabs through me. I squeeze my eyes shut tighter and my hands fly up to my head, a feeling like fire tearing through it. I sit up and groan, reluctantly drawing my hands away from my head. I have no idea where I am, but that had better change soon. Wait a second. I got bit! I scrabble for a hold to pull myself off of the cot I woke up on, seeing how my legs don't feel like cooperating today. I don't find one and end up gripping the side of the cot and hauling myself off. I clench my teeth together, holding back a cry of pain as my sore and battered limbs hit the cold ground. I curl up to fight off the nausea that threatens to attack, moaning softly. I start to shiver violently and wish I hadn't left the cot. Am I a Biter? If not, how did I survive? If I am, why can I feel pain? From what I know, Biters feel no pain. Seeing how I stab them in the arms or legs or stomachs and it doesn't affect them in the least. My hand reaches up and brushes the bite mark. I wince and finger it, trying to make an image of it by feeling it. Well, it feels swollen and hurts. Besides that, it just a bite mark. I wrap my arms around my legs and lay huddled on the ground. A cold breeze is making my teeth clatter together. Chills spread through my body and I faintly make out the sound of footsteps. Far away footsteps. I feel like I'm a hundred miles away as the nausea claims victory and attacks me. I groan and empty the contents of my stomach onto the floor. The footsteps become more hurried and then I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn my gaze up and warily eye the teenage boy that grins at me and says three words.
"My name's Tim."