Untruthfully
Prologue:
Calathea
"new beginnings"
Disclaimer: I do not own the series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and ViacomCBS and Nickelodeon. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me, unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.
Summary: Life had been simple. Shay had moved out of LA to Montana's deep northwestern woods with her kids. She had a ranch and house. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than LA. Shay, however, hadn't planned on hosting a bunch of mutant turtles that stemmed from old comics, movies, or shows. Just how far will she and her kids go to protect them from their tight knit community?
Notes: Hello new readers! I hope y'all are strapped in tight, because it's gonna be a bumpy and wild ride for this crazy concoction that's been rolling around in my head for a while now! Apologies for labeling the story under the cartoon header, as there wasn't an option in the film department. This will take place under the "BayVerse" depictions rather than one of the several cartoon series, and chronologically takes place a few years after the second film's timeline.
Other than those quick tidbits, please enjoy! And don't forget to subscribe to the story if you liked it, and a review is such a lovely thing to receive, wink-wink.
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I could spend a lifetime lookin' for something
Waitin' for the one, but it's never comin'
Miles and miles, but I can't stop runnin', can't stop runnin'
'Cause when I'm at my best, I just see imperfections
Counting up my debts, never counting my blessings
Always out of reach, but it's right there in front of me
Right there in front of me, am I always gonna be
Chasing my shadow?
Chasing my shadow
Drinkin' on my back porch, dreamin' we'll get out
Scuffin' up my white Vans, sneak out of your house
Just a couple kids, tryna figure it all out
Actin' reckless and stupid like life is a movie
-"Shadows" by X Ambassadors
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Montana was a big state. There was no denying or sugar-coating it. It was the fourth-largest state in America, with a vast and complimentary combination of long, rolling plains to rugged forested mountains that seemingly went on forever and rivers that carved snaking trails up and down the length of the state. The Missouri River was perhaps the most well-known body of moving water, starting out in the western sector of the Rocky Mountains, before it sluiced all the way down the length of the United States to meet with the Mississippi River down south.
The state of Montana was known, largely unofficially, as "Big Sky Country", and it certainly showed without disappointing that boastful name in the least. It was known for hosting a number of delights—including several federally protected national and state forests, such as Glacier National Park and of course, the northern and western sides of the infamous Yellowstone National Park. Tourism was rapidly becoming one of its fastest growing sectors as a result.
Montana was home to a variety of many species, dozens that were critically endangered and others that are slowly but steadily creeping their way back up the ranks. It still contained and catered to a number of resources, including ranching and lumber and mining. With its impossibly large swathes of untamed wilderness, it was a beast that had yet to yield to the will of man, and perhaps it never would. One could even argue it was one of the few places where the West never truly died, even when there were modernisms in abundance that are sprinkled in a few tiny civilized pockets throughout its vast stretches of land.
Montana was a gorgeous place to settle, to raise kids in, to retire in, to enjoy Nature in.
It was, however, not everyone's cup of tea.
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"You know who I feel like right now?"
"If I ignore you, are you still gonna tell me?"
"I feel like Nurse Batman—"
"Oh, lord, here she goes."
"From that one John Mulaney standup. The one who joked about being allergic from work."
"Isn't he that white dude who looks like a boring average guy, but has done a ton of drugs throughout his life?"
"Yep."
"And you're going with Nurse Batman, huh? Girl, tch."
Georgina White clacked her manicured fingers along the countertop, one eye tracing over customers in the gallery, the other sidetracked by her smaller companion. Thin as a twig and short as hell, one would never know just by looking at Shay Kenway that she had once served in the military.
That was not a road Georgina herself could ever hope to accomplish in her life. She had only wanted one thing and one thing only: to become a fashion design icon. She had even made it halfway through it all when she'd moved to New York City right out of high school.
Her dreams had been dashed, however, part of the way through her schooling when her mother grew too sick and needed live-in assistance. Her mother's Huntington's disease had also triggered early onset dementia. To make matters worse, Georgina's mother became one of the unlucky few who also developed psychosis. At times, her mother didn't even know who the assistant nurse, or even Georgina herself, were. It was a near-thankless job and made her yearn for the days she remembered as a child with her mother again.
Plenty of homecooked meals and cookouts with neighbors and friends; lazy sunny summer days spent down at a lake or river; cozy nights by the fire during winter, all snuggled up together under a blanket and drinking hot cocoa.
Georgina was pulled from her nostalgic trip down memory lane as her shorter friend bumped her hip against Georgina's.
"You're dozing again."
"Girl, I am not. You're the one who's borderline narcoleptic."
"I'm a perpetually exhausted dinosaur and I don't sleep. The exact opposite definition of a narcoleptic. I don't fall asleep at random, and I sure as hell don't go to sleep when I need or want to."
"Mm-hmm. Whatever you say, chickadee." Georgina took pause as a customer came to the counter and had to take the next several minutes to help them out. From the corner of her eye, she spotted an elderly pair flanking Shay.
Minutes melted away and before long, they were back together again behind the register counters, chatting quietly amongst themselves.
Her friend could be a scruffy and short little thing, true—but she was steadfast and loyal, and Georgina knew she could count on Shay to help out when the going got tough.
Georgina was quite sure it had something or other to do with her military training. Life wasn't always easy, but it was easier to endure with Shay at her side.
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One way to know when summer was in full swing was when the sun didn't seem to match how the day felt. The sun rose early, around five or so, and it was quick to climb its way into the sky and it lingered for so long, that by the time night fell, it was nearly nine or ten at night.
It was still nice and bright out by the time Shay left work in downtown Whitefish. She took the familiar route that fed her through the mountains that rose around the town, heading back toward home that was on the other side of the mountains.
But first, she had to pick up her kids at her parents' place.
Shay's parents lived on a prosperous little property off Route 93 near the small town of Olney. The neighbors they were abutted against had actually owned the home her parents currently resided in. Back in the seventies, the Wattsons had raised their family, and as the years went on and the children left for their own lives, the Wattsons sold the property. They halved the land they owned and built a larger house next to the annexed section of land they left to new owners. The new owners…
They hadn't been kind to the Wattsons' original house. A destructive and sad combination of untreated agoraphobia, hoarding, bipolarism, and even more between the married couple had ostensibly led the house into ramshackle conditions. After the second pair of hands to own the house had left, a real estate agency took over the home, hoping to restore it for a better price tag on the housing market. Instead, it sat for several years without a lick of work being put into it and eventually drifted into foreclosure.
By the time her parents bought it up several years back, there had been plenty of work that needed to be done.
The front porch had shifted so dangerously over, that it threatened the entire foundation of the rest of the house. The carpets within the house had been burned, stained, waterlogged, and worse as the years swept by, leading to the desperate need of replacement. The walls in the bedrooms had been flushed over with gaudy paint that had to be erased completely. The previous master bedroom had suffered the most—so badly, in fact, that Shay's father had to rip it apart down to its bare bones foundations, which further led to the discovery of a colony of bats that had been living in the walls of the upper floor of the house and in need of permanent eviction.
But the land—nearly two acres—had been good on its own. It was a riverside property and had sold at a fairly decent price considering the amount of work that needed to be done to the house proper, never mind the actual land itself. A run-down greenhouse was restored, and a hydroponic system was installed for further efficiency. The workshop was now in full swing, providing her dad a productive way to repair old milkshake and mix machines from the early 20th century. Her parents had later added in a fully furbished chicken coop and later on boasted a newly built barn with a pair of horses.
Shay pulled off the two-way highway and into the steeply sloping driveway that consisted of her parents' property entrance, her back aching from a long day at work.
Just want to go home and fix myself a drink. Maybe I should go to the bar with the kids. I can get a drink; they can get some dinner. Win-win.
Stillwater Bar, which sat at the edge of Stillwater Lake, in which it fed into the Stillwater River, was a lovely little communal watering hole, so to speak. Locals from Whitefish, Olney, and even as far as Eureka, came to enjoy some time off at the place. Kids and pets were welcome, of course, and there was the strip of parking and lounging space for families to enjoy during the day. That wasn't even including the drop-off point many utilized to drive their watercraft into for a day of watersports, fishing, and relaxation.
The Stillwater Bar was literally a thousand-foot walk away from Shay's parents' place and the close proximity had her seriously considering her options for the night.
Cook dinner or get dinner cooked for me. Me, oh my, what a difficult decision, she thought as she threw her truck into park and launched herself out the door.
Tank, a boastfully large Great Dane that could have been Scooby-Doo in another life—if only he had the spots and pointed ears—greeted Shay as she pushed through the back door of the house. He boofed and barked at her in glee, leaning his heavy yet lean frame into her while his tail thwacked against her thigh.
"Maaaaaaaa! Daaaad, you in here?!"
The lacking noise of music or movies coming from the front greeted her, already telling her that the house was empty.
The river or the barn it is, then.
The barn was where she found them, eventually. The chickens in the coop all flocked to the fence line as Shay passed them by to make her way to the barn, and she greeted them with affection as she did so.
"Ohhhh, Marsala, you're getting big! Hey there, Florentine. Awww, Nugget, did you miss me? I know you do, girl. Hey, Vindaloo, I hear you bawking at me. Bawk-bawk back at you, bitch. Paprikash, you looking sharp as ever, you hawk-faced baby, you!"
Shay heard the horses before she saw them. A pair of geldings, bristling with coats that were shot through with gold when presented in the right lighting, trotted along with bobbing heads.
Korra, Shay's daughter and eldest child, sat comfortably in the saddle as she rode in circles around the paddock. Shay's mother watched from the sideline, directing her granddaughter as she rode on the back of the larger of the geldings.
"Easy now—don't take in too much of Mocha's head, but don't give him too much of it, either."
"I know, Nonnie!"
"Gee, really? You know all this? Because you keep doing the same thing over and over, even when I tell you not to do something."
"Nonnie!"
"Listen to your elders, don't sass them!" Shay called, immediately jumping into the light jabbing humour her mother was delving into. Korra immediately twisted in the saddle to look at her mother, a mixture of delight and annoyance painting her face. Shay clambered over the fence rather than walking around to the gate and landed on the other side.
"Moooom!" Korra whined at Shay, dragging out the name as much as she could. Shay's youngest, Castiel, stood beside his grandmother and watched his older sister until he saw his mother.
In a flash, he skirted around the edge of the horse paddock toward Shay and bowled into her with a crushing hug. Shay laughed, a small amount of energy rejuvenating her from the mere contact. She ran her hands through his curly hair, feeling it snag between her fingers as she did so.
"Hey, baby—you have a good day at school?"
"We did, we did—but Mom! Mom, Mom, Mom! There was a bear there! We saw it, looking at us through the window! Miss Gassen nearly had a heart attack and-and-and then, and then, she had to call the principal, but they couldn't do anything about it! Mom, it was so big! I think it could have eaten me in one bite!"
Shay laughed, but her gut clenched at the thought. Bears weren't uncommon in the area—black bears especially, but then there were the grizzlies. Attacks were exceedingly rare, of course, but to hear about one being right in front of her son's first grade window…
If a bear had wanted in that room, there would have been very little anyone could have done about it.
"Was it black or brown, baby?" Shay pressed, feeling her anxiety building at the thought as it culminated further in her head.
"It was brown. I'm sure. It was pretty big, too. I don't think it was a cinnamon bear, though."
Grizzly, her mind unhelpfully provided. But it could have been a cinnamon bear. Just a brown variant of a black bear. Easier to scare off. And everything in the world looks big to a small child.
Grizzlies weren't pleasant. Grizzlies were more aggressive than black bears. Grizzlies weren't easily scared off like black bears. There were separate tactics encouraged by people confronted by the two species: stand your ground with black bears; try to slowly and quietly walk away if a grizzly is in the area to avoid contact. Grizzlies could fuck up more people, even without the presence of little cubs to protect. That was just how the grizzly bear do.
And yet…
And yet, there have been more and more sightings lately up in the mountains where they lived, and it didn't settle her nerves in the least. Gotta keep my pistol locked and loaded just in case.
Shay was better at keeping her pistol at the ready than bear mace, at any rate.
"Did Miss Gassen have her bear repellant in the room?"
"I…I don't know. What's that?"
"Like Mommy's gun. Or that special spray I keep in the car."
"Oh. I don't know."
It didn't hurt anyone. He's fine.
Shay smiled through gritted teeth and stooped to hug Cas and picked him up in the process, holding him close even as her heart pounded. He immediately coiled around her like an octopus; arms and legs wrapping around her tightly and clinging without relenting their grip.
"That sounds scary, seeing a bear at your school, right outside of your class window. But I'm glad to hear no one got hurt."
"You'd be sad if I got hurt, wouldn't you, Mommy?" Cas mumbled in her ear.
"Yes, I would, baby. I would be so sad if that had happened. I'm glad it didn't, and that you or anyone else weren't hurt."
Shay's mother was inside the paddock now, helping pull the gelding Korra was riding on to a stop. The other horse stood hitched to the side—this one affectionally called Duke—pawing at the ground. Mocha was calmer as he stood attentively in his spot as Korra swung herself out of the saddle and down to the ground. She began to lead Mocha back into the barn and she shot Shay a look and waved as she disappeared inside.
Korra came trotting over and joined the hug session with her younger brother, arms tight as she squeezed Shay's middle.
"Hey, Mom. How was work?"
"It sucked. I'd rather go back to school."
"Wanna trade places with me, then?" Korra snickered.
"Desperately," Shay said with a groan. "I so wanna Freaky Friday my life right now, you have no idea."
"Well, too bad. You're an adult, you have to work."
"Wow, savage. I'm struck to the core, you little shit," Shay remarked in a bland tone, even as a grin split across her face. Korra snickered again as she released her hold on her mother. "How was school for you? Did you hear about the bear?"
"I heard. Sounds like it sucked, since they missed recess because of the bear. But things were fine where I was, just boring."
Their conversation dwindled as they met up with Shay's mother, who filled Shay in on matters after she had picked them up from school.
"Did you hear about the bear?" Shay's mother finally asked as Shay put down Cas, much to his chagrin.
"Kind of hard not to hear about the bear, since it's the only thing you three are talking about," Shay responded honestly.
"No, I meant if you'd heard about it back in town."
"Nope. No one called, and if they did, it didn't get through to my cell. C'mon, you know how shit the reception is out here, Mom."
Her mother smiled understandingly. "Right. Sorry, I meant to call you myself, but Korra wanted to ride Mocha, but I'd only let her after she'd finished her homework."
"Did she," Shay pointedly asked, shifting a look toward her daughter.
"She did, but she whined about it most of the time."
"No dessert tonight then, got it."
"MOM! That's not fair!"
"You wanna lose privileges for the rest of the week? You know my policy on whining and bitching, girl."
Korra shot her mother a dirty look. "This is so unfair."
"Life's not fair. Nobody fucking likes a whiner. Especially out in the real world."
"You whine all the time!" Korra pointed out with a huff.
"I'm an adult, I suffer the motherfucking consequences, it's too late for my old ass. You're young, you can change things up."
Cas giggled hysterically at his mother's side, while Korra shot him a dirty look as well. Shay snorted as she grinned down at her son. "Stop laughing, the same standards apply to you as well, boy."
"Are you guys staying for dinner?" Shay's mother interrupted as they passed between the workshop and the chicken coop. Cas darted toward the coop's fence line, waving to the begging chickens within and cooing at them. Korra huffed and crossed her arms over her chest in a dramatic fashion.
Shay sighed. Oh, to be a young and dumb pre-teen again. She did not miss those cringe-worthy days. She also didn't envy her daughter having to go through them herself.
"Nah, Ma, we ain't staying. I'm still deciding on leftovers, delivery, or the bar."
"I have some bread, if you want to take that with you. I'm due to make some more anyway," her mother pressed, a hinting tone in her voice. After a moment's deliberation, Shay agreed to take the leftover homemade bread. As soon as they hit the back door of the house, Shay directed the kids to start gathering their things and to pack themselves into the car as soon as possible.
As they scuffled around the house, Shay settled at the breakfast nook in the kitchen, her aching feet thankful for the respite. "Where's Dad?"
"Fishing. Or picking huckleberries. Or both. I don't know, I think he took some of the local kids with him."
"Over at Martin Lake? Or did he go somewhere else?"
Shay loved that place. It was quiet, secluded. Took a bit of time to get to, but it was all worth it. Even the incredibly steep hill covered in loose gravel and stone and dirt that led to the lake's shore didn't deter her from enjoying the place. It was a great place to fish for trout, to swim, to enjoy the quiet and solitude away from prying eyes.
"I have no idea the name of the lake," her mother answered in an honest, blunt manner. Which was to be expected; Shay's mother did not fish. She did not hunt. She did none of the bloody work that entailed to the wilder lifestyles of Montana's rugged living.
Shay, on the other hand, was her father's daughter. She thoroughly enjoyed the hunting, fishing, skinning, gutting, and cooking of any approved wildlife she could get her hands on. She was far from squeamish when it came to all the dirty work that entailed to getting dinner on the table, straight from the woods or the lakes and rivers.
"Eh. If he brings back a lot of berries, save me some? I'd like to add some to pancakes this weekend."
"I'll try, but you know he likes to make homemade jam and stuff with it as soon as we can get it."
"Hide it or something, I guess, then. I'm not retired like you two, I don't get the luxury of galloping through the woods at any given moment to go berry-picking. My days off are pretty much spent stuck at home."
"I make no promises," her mother responded in an 'I wash my hands of this weirdness' sort of settled tone, just as the kids came tromping through with their bags slung over their shoulders. Shay twisted on her stool to face them, looking them up and down.
"You got everything?"
"Yes." They answered simultaneously.
"I mean it, you got your books, your pencils, homework?"
"Ye-e-es, Mom."
She shared a look with her mother, before sliding off the stool and onto her feet. "All right then, let's get going."
"Bread," her mother called, and Shay paused to be handed the half-carved loaf. It smelled deliciously like rosemary and was still plush with freshness. She waved goodbye and barked at the kids to say their farewells before they all filed out the back door to the truck.
"Soooo, dinner ideas?" Shay announced when everyone was buckled up in the truck. "We could go to the bar—"
"Pass," both the kids said instantaneously.
"Wow, okay. That was fast."
"You never let us go in the water after."
"Dude. I let y'all go swimming, like, all the time. You're both darker than me at this point. Plus, we got shit to do at home! You guys still got fishing with Poppy to look forward to, remember? Maybe before we do all that, we can get in early and swim around a little."
"Promise?" Cas pressed, bottom lip puckering a little as he stared at the back of his mother's head hopefully. Shay glanced at the kids in the rear-view mirror.
"I make no such promises, but I can certainly try to get us in there. If not, we can go swimming in the river after we go fishing. Maybe we can bring Evergreen and Chief too, so they can run around like hellions with Tank."
"Evergreen really likes water like Chief," Cas pointed out with a gleeful gleam in his eyes. Shay fiddled with her phone for a moment, plugging it in and putting on a playlist as the truck registered its presence. She turned down the music while the engine rumbled. She threw the vehicle into gear and backed out of her spot and headed back toward Route 93.
"Yeah, she's turning out to be a proper water dog, all right."
Chief was the family's oldest dog, a German Shepherd with a love for his family and water in almost equal measures. Their household's cats either held him in contempt for being what he was or were completely neutral on his existence, as cats were wont to do. Evergreen was the newest household addition, a rescued Irish Wolfhound that had come from an abusive home before being surrendered to the local Whitefish animal shelter.
As a result, Evergreen was extremely skittish around men and would only respond positively to women. But time has allowed the large dog to heal, and since coming to Shay's house, Evergreen has grown to adore Cas to no end and could often be found loitering around outside the boy's room. She also enjoyed relaxing with Korra or Shay and was slowly learning to actually enjoy being a dog.
It helped that Chief was an excellent teacher for the younger dog to learn from.
Home was a good fifteen minutes away down the 93 from Shay's parents' place, and an additional ten minutes off the highway and down a hardpacked dirt road. A gated dirt driveway was the only indicator to an outsider that there was something further down the way. The hardpacked dirt road itself continued around a bend and looped around back onto Route 93.
Shay got out, letting the truck's engine idle as she sauntered toward the heavy gate. Undoing the chain and swinging it open, she returned to the truck's cab and drove through. She stopped inside, got out again and returned the gate and chain to their proper places.
It was a tedious process, and one Shay hoped to one day rectify with an electric gate one of these days.
The house was less than a minute down the dirt road, well hidden within the swathe of trees that engorged Shay's property.
The entire place consisted of thirty acres of forest and clearings that fed right back into the Stillwater State Forest, a clean stream that provided fresh water to the house, solar panels and gas tanks from the previous owner, a work shed half the size of her parents', a root cellar, and a greenhouse. The house itself was 3100 square feet in total, with a second-story deck that encompassed an entire side of the house, accessible only from Shay's bedroom. There were four bedrooms in total, with three bathrooms, a decent sized kitchen, a spacious living room complete with a fireplace, and a roomy office space that Shay had turned into a combined library, game, and artist studio room. (That room alone was incredibly cramped with all the bookshelves, TV stand with storage, squashed loveseat, and computer desk, but it was cozy enough for them all when they crammed inside it.)
There were some amenities Shay had desired but didn't get when she and the kids moved in: a basement, a mud room, an actual library space, a walk-in closet—for herself, or even one of the kids, it didn't matter—but those things and plenty of others could be added on at a later date.
Some of the more minor ones she's already instated within the last several years was a chicken coop just like the one at her parents' place as well as a small barn and two paddocks. Shortly after the barn had been built, Shay purchased a pair of Appaloosa horses and a pair of LaMancha goats only just within the last nine months and has been slowly working with them all.
It was a beautiful start to a new life for the little family.
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The rest of the evening for Shay and her kids ran its course through familiar routine. Shay cobbled a quick dinner together for them all. She allowed for some downtime with them afterwards. Closing in around eight, she had them take showers and dressed for bed. Shay read bedtime stories to both.
When all of that was said and done, she kissed them goodnight, and was back downstairs in the living room close to nine.
"Time for Mama to unwind," she declared to the quiet of the living room, stretching upwards with an arm upraised until she wobbled on her tiptoes. Something popped satisfactorily in her back and she lowered back down, plopping into her usual seat on the couch. Chief and Evergreen remained where they were on their dog beds, although Chief raised his head and stared at Shay as though contemplating joining her.
Shay turned on a movie she'd been wanting to watch on Netflix for a while and allowed herself to relax. Time whittled away as she watched and sipped at her mixed drink. A small buzz began to build up at the back of her thoughts as she shifted her attentions between her phone and the film.
Towards the end of the film, however, it began to freeze and buffer. Shay switched her focus, proceeding to wait several minutes. She hoped it would resolve itself, but instead, it kept a steady pattern. She jumped into troubleshooting, turning her PS5 off and then back on again, hoping it simply needed a reboot. That took an extra several minutes alone.
In the interim, she surfed the internet, looking for answers.
She began to struggle getting her browser to open one website while the PS5 rebooted itself.
The frustration dug in a little deeper beneath her skin.
Stupid, shitty internet reception.
Living in as beautiful a place as the area Shay and her family did came with some tradeoffs. Due to their position nestled in between a mountainous and heavily forested region, it made for a place rife with poor reception for internet. Even with the top tier internet package settled in place, Shay still struggled with the speed of it.
All the troubleshooting in the world with her devices wouldn't do much good if she didn't go to the source.
I might just have to reset the router. Maybe that'll help move things along. Ugh. I just want to finish my movie!
Was that honestly too much to ask for?
Shay got up and stretched, yawning as she did so. She dragged her feet across the hardwood floors as she pattered quietly in socked feet toward the game and art room. It was close to the front of the house, and in the late night quiet, she could hear things better without the activities of the day.
Something thumped and Shay ground herself to a sharp halt, ears perking as she straightened, immediately alert.
The hiss of a voice talking in hushed tones alarmed her. She glanced at the stairwell that led upstairs to the bedrooms and narrowed her eyes.
It didn't sound like one of her kids. Shay crept closer, making a minor detour toward the wooden cabinet that stood sentinel next to the front door. She eased one of the doors open and pushed aside several layers of coats to reveal the backside. She fumbled around, mostly going off of touch, until her fingers brushed against cool metal.
Shay slowly eased the pistol out of its holster and after checking the chamber, she crept toward the game and art room. She pressed her ear gently against the door, lips tugging further down into a frown as she listened in.
"—we need hurry up, we can't stay for much longer—"
"—I know, I know, but patience is a virtue, and the internet is incredibly slow out here—"
"—Uh, guys, not to break up this little moment, but has anyone else noticed how quiet it's gotten in the last few minutes?"
The voices didn't sound anything like her children. Three distinct voices, all male. Possibly dumbass teenagers. Possibly burglars. Either way, it was a surprise and not a pleasant one at that.
The safety clicked off the .45 in Shay's hand with the swipe of her thumb. She could hear the pounding of her pulse with the rush of blood that roared in her ears. Her heart hammered away painfully against the back of her ribcage and the palms of her hands were slick with cold sweat.
Now or never. Not today, fuckfaces.
One hand on the knob, the other tightening on the grip, Shay counted to three in her head. Twenty seconds of courage to do something outrageous and stupid.
The door gave way with ease as she burst through the threshold, pistol rearing up in her hand, finger on the trigger and barrel pointing at several figures looming in the dark.
"Get down on the ground, motherfuckers! NOW!"
She smashed a hand on the light switch—
—and she froze.
The sight that greeted her took several long seconds to ogle at and to wrap her head around.
Not people. She wasn't staring at actual human people. She took in the green scaled skin, the cobbled-together outfits, the enormous frames—the fucking shells—and then there were the weapons. None of them guns.
Perplexed and alarmed expressions flashed across the four faces opposite her, along with a burst of irritation and embarrassed trepidation. They stood there, the five of them, frozen in their respective spots in the room. One of them moved, just enough to give a three-fingered wave to her.
The movement alone seemed to break the spell that held Shay. She carefully lifted her finger up off the trigger, flicked the safety back on, and stooped to put the gun on the ground. Her eyes never left the four across the room from her. She saw them return the favour of unspoken trust, however, and each of them lowered their own brandished weapons or fists. She lifted her hands up in a show of compliance, to let them see she was unarmed.
"Uh…hey there. Let's just, uh…all take it easy, huh? Gun's down, ain't got anything else up my sleeves. Okay?" She swallowed down the hard lump that pulsed painfully in time to her heartbeat. "I just…have a question."
The four looked to one another in turn. One stepped forward while the other three lingered behind him.
"And what's that?"
"What the fuck are y'all doing in my house?"
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