Chapter 15-Ambush At The Cabin!
The turtle brothers left the church area altogether and ran down the same path they had used to get to the church in the first place.
However, one of the mob members had managed to spot the quartet leaving the area, and she alerted the others before chasing after them. The three older turtle brothers already knew that this was going to happen, so they readied their weapons and kept Mikey close to them.
"Here they come! Stay behind us, Mikey!" Leo alerted as he aimed his gun and started firing, only for the hits to cause the first hostile to transform into the same mutants that the turtle brothers had encountered before.
"What the shell!? What's wrong with these guys!?" Mikey cried out in horror since this was his first time seeing this happen.
"You don't wanna know, bro, trust me…" Donnie told him grimly before he took out a hostile nearby.
Despite successfully taking out a handful of the mob members, more continued to pour out of the church.
"Come on, we need to keep running!" Leo commanded before he and his brothers resumed their run for their lives.
Soon, the turtle brothers had reached the village. By this time, the weather had took a turn for the worst; the winds had increased and caused the rain to become heavier.
"H-Hey! Can we take shelter and rest until the weather stops, dudes!?" Mikey asked in a slightly loud tone since his brothers wouldn't be able to hear him through the strong winds.
"Wish we could, Mikey, but we gotta keep moving!" Leo answered sadly.
"Yeah! We gotta keep dat mob off our shells!" Raph agreed.
"Besides, we can use the weather to our advantage; the winds will help to mask the sound of our movements, keeping the mob from hearing us as we move around…!" Donnie pointed out, even though he was concerned that the low temperature of the weather might affect him and his brothers due to being cold-blooded.
Mikey sighed, but he didn't protest because he knew that Leo and Raph were right, so he continued on through the village with his brothers. Just then, the quartet stopped and took cover behind a house when they saw more hostiles patrolling the village.
"What now, Fearless?" Raph hissed.
"Stealth attack…" Leo answered in a whisper before he carefully snuck towards the first hostile and quietly took him out.
Raph and Donnie followed his lead and took out two more hostiles through the use of stealth attacks. Despite feeling scared, Mikey decided to help his brothers by sneaking up to one of the nearby hostiles and tripping him over with low sweep kick before quickly signalling his brothers to take him out.
"Nice work, bro…" Leo complimented Mikey softly.
"T-Thanks…" Mikey replied shakily with a nod.
The turtle brothers continued on until they had reached a large door, leading to another part of the village. As soon as they had opened and walked through it, the hostile mob suddenly appeared close behind them.
"Oh, shell! They've found us!" Mikey exclaimed.
"There's too many of them! Run!" Donnie cried out.
"Hurry, across the bridge!" Leo commanded before he and his younger brothers dashed towards the bridge
Just as they were halfway across, they saw Luis burst open the cabin door and signalled them to get inside.
"Hey! Over here!" Luis called the turtle brothers over to him.
"C'mon!" Raph shouted as he and his brothers picked up the pace and headed straight towards the cabin.
By the time they had reached the other side, the mob had increased in size due to more hostiles coming in from all directions. The turtle brothers reached the cabin, with Leo locking the gate behind him to block the mob, and they all darted through the door before Luis closed the door and locked it with a metal across it.
The turtle brothers took a moment to catch their breaths before Raph looked up and glared at Luis.
"You!" Raph said darkly before he stomped towards the human male, who started walking backwards to get away from him.
"Hey…Listen, about earlier, I-"
"Yeah, about dat…" Raph interrupted him before he pinned Luis to the wall, took out his handgun, and aimed it close to his head.
"Raph, no!" "Calm down, we still need him!" Leo and Donnie demanded, placing firm hands on their red-banded brother's shoulders.
"Are ya kiddin' me!? He's not just a coward, but he's been keepin' secrets from us too!" Raph accused, astonished to hear that Leo and Donnie don't want him to harm the human male.
"Err, bros…? Who's this…?" Mikey questioned with a raised eyebrow, changing the subject to stop a fight from breaking out.
"Ah, I see you've found your missing brother…!" Luis chimed with a Cheshire Cat grin as soon as he saw the orange-banded turtle.
"Yeah, my name's Michelangelo, Mikey for short…Who are you?" Mikey greeted firmly with his arms folded, not wanting to let his guard down in front of someone he didn't know.
"Name's Luis Serra…Encantado…" The male human introduced himself.
"Great, we all have names…Now, tell us…Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Leo demanded, immediately getting back to the point.
"Don't make us ask twice…" Raph warned whilst standing next to Leo with his gun aimed closer at the human male.
"Very good questions, unfortunately…" Luis answered before he moved his head to the right and signalled the turtle brothers to look out the window.
The quartet followed Luis' line of sight before their eyes widened when they saw the mob break through the gate and slowly walk towards the cabin!
"Oh, shell…They're here!" Donnie alerted with wide eyes.
"In that case…Here, help me!" Luis said before he and Leo hurried over to a drawer cabinet and started lifting it up, slowly revealing a secret tunnel.
"In here, quickly!" He then told Mikey hastily.
"Go on, Mikey…" Leo commanded.
"B-But-"
"We'll be alright, go on!" Leo pressed, cutting off his youngest brother.
"A-Alright, be careful…" Mikey said reluctantly before he crawled into the safety of the hole. Leo and Luis then lowered the drawers down before they, Raph, and Donnie readied their weapons.
"Ok, it's game time…" Luis said confidently.
"Barricade all the doors and windows; we need time to prepare!" Leo commanded.
"Hordes of them against five of us…Oh, and let's not forget – this mob is made up of monsters…" Luis warned the turtle brothers whilst the all blocked the doors and boarded the windows.
"I think we already knew dat ages ago, ya bonehead!" Raph criticised just as he finished boarding up a window.
Once the windows were all boarded up and the doors were barricaded, the turtle brothers and Luis searched the cabin for any weapons or ammunition that they could use to help fight the mob, and then they reloaded their guns just as the mob started to pound on the blockades.
"You done warming up, now? Hope you've stretched!" Luis chimed.
"Yeah, we're ready! Now, if you'd shut up, we'd be good to go!" Leo snapped.
"Lighten up, ninja boy…!" Luis replied.
Soon, the hostiles broke through the barricaded door, and they all charged in with weapons of their own.
"Here they come!" Leo shouted.
The group went straight into action; Leo used his katana swords to parry and block the first hostile's pitchfork before finishing him off with a gunshot to the head. Raph used his shotgun to take out three hostiles at once as soon as they started ganging up on him in a line. Donnie and Luis stood by the windows and aimed their guns through the gaps in the wooden planks before shooting at the hostiles outside.
Then, through a gap in the boarded window, Donnie noticed someone walking towards the house with a long ladder and stood it up against the wall, which could only mean one thing.
"They're coming up through the top window!" Donnie alerted the others.
Hearing that, Raph rushed up the stairs just as one of the hostiles was about to climb through the window.
"Hey! Get out!" He shouted before he blasted the hostile out of the window with his shotgun. He then grabbed the ends of the ladder and pushed it away from the window ledge, causing it to fall backwards and make the hostiles fall off and land hard on the ground.
"Hey! A little help here, amigos!?" Luis cried out when four hostiles began to surround him.
Raph saw this happening from above, and he jumped off the edge and landed on the hostile with a flying press.
"Nice landing!" Luis complimented.
"Heh, I watch a lot of wrestlin' matches back home…" Raph told him before he and Luis readied their guns when the fallen hostiles stood back up and their heads changed to mutated tentacle heads.
"Urgh, seriously!?" Raph exclaimed in annoyance before he and Luis reloaded their guns and started attacking the hostiles again.
Suddenly, something large smashed through one of the boarded windows. The turtle brothers and Luis looked over to see a large man with a bull's head as a mask carrying a heavy hammer.
"Oh, great! Another minotaur!" Leo exclaimed.
"Yep, we've got a big one on our hands!" Luis agreed before kicking back a hostile.
"Kinda busy right now, though!" Raph told him as he blasted three more hostiles in a row with his shotgun.
"Hey, our guests will think we're rude! So much for service with a smile, huh!" Luis teased before killing the same hostile with a bullet to the head.
"Do we look like we work in hospitality!?" Donnie questioned in annoyance before shooting down another hostile.
"Well, I guess bullets work just as well…" Luis answered in agreement to Donnie's demonstration.
"Everyone, head upstairs! We'll cover more ground from there!" Leo commanded.
The group immediately ran upstairs, with Raph coming up last due to keeping the bull man back with his shotgun, and they had gathered near the stairs before releasing a combined attack on the bull man and the hostiles behind him. Despite taking out the weaker hostiles, the bull man was still advancing towards the group until he had reached the top and started swinging his large hammer.
"Watch out for his hammer!" Donnie warned as he dodged the first swing.
However, Leo wasn't quick enough and had been hit by the hammer, sending him flying a few feet before hitting the floor with a grunt.
"Leo!" "Are you ok!?" Raph, Donnie, and Luis asked in concern as they hurried over to his side.
"Y-Yeah, barely…" Leo answered with a groan. Luckily for him, his shell took most of the impact and reduced the risk of severe injury.
While they were continuing their fight with the bull man, more hostiles quickly entered the cabin like a plague of rats.
"There's just no end to them!" Donnie cried out in terror.
"What da we do, Leo!?" Raph questioned before taking out another infected hostile.
Just as Leo was about to answer that…
BANG! "Guys! This way, hurry!"
He and the others heard the sound of a door slamming open and Mikey's voice calling them over to his side. They looked behind them and saw their escape route, thanks to Mikey.
"Come on!" Leo commanded as he dashed towards the door just as more hostiles appeared in the cabin.
The group dashed out of the cabin and ran across a wooden walkway until they had reached and passed a huge wooden portcullis above them. With the mob coming closer, Leo aimed and shot at the chain holding the portcullis up to bring it crashing down to the ground, stopping the mob from chasing them even further.
With the ambush now at an end, the group could finally relax for a few minutes and catch their breaths.
But then…
"Cough! Cough! Gasp! Cough!"
The sounds of coughing and gasping were heard from Mikey, who was keeping himself upright with one hand on the wall and using his other hand to cover his mouth as he coughed.
"Mikey!?" Donnie called out worriedly as he hurried over to his immediate younger brother.
"Gasp! W-What's happening to me!? Cough! Cough!" Mikey gasped as he looked at his shaky hand, the palm of which was splattered in red blood. When his older brothers saw it, they were horrified.
"Oh, no…" Leo whispered with dread on his face when he remembered that he had experienced the same symptoms hours earlier, meaning that whatever was ailing him was happening to his baby brother too.
"Michelangelo…is this the first time that you've coughed up blood like this?" Luis asked in a serious tone as he examined the blood on Mikey's hand for himself. Mikey looked at the human male and nodded nervously.
"Hey, ya wanna start explainin'?" Raph asked suspiciously.
"Well…the cough, and the blood - it is caused by something called a…'Plaga'…" Luis answered grimly.
"A what-now?" Mikey questioned anxiously before he and his brothers looked at each other in confusion and fear.
"Ok, look…You saw those 'People', right? Well, you have the same thing inside you…The same thing that's made them like that…" Luis specified as he walked towards the closed door and pointed at it. He then turned back around and spoke again.
"This, what you're experiencing, these symptoms…they are only the beginning…"
"No…I-I don't wanna become like them…!" Mikey cried out in fear.
"We won't let that happen, Mikey…" Leo instantly told him.
"You are, well, lucky though…" Luis told them in a more positive tone.
"What do you mean? Are you saying that these symptoms that Mikey is experiencing right now are still early…?" Donnie questioned.
"Correct…You see, at this early stage, the parasite – the plaga…it is possible to remove it…with a surgical procedure…" Luis answered confidently.
"S-Surgical?" Mikey squeaked, now feeling more scared than before.
"That's right, and all you need is some know-how…" Luis answered before he opened his shirt and revealed the scar on his chest to the turtles. "And, oh yeah – the right equipment…"
"Wait. You, too!?" Leo questioned in shock, with his younger brothers looking at Luis the same way.
"But wait a minute, our plastrons are quite thick…I doubt that a surgeon will be able to cut open Mikey's chest and extract the parasite with a normal scalpel…!" Donnie pointed out in concern.
"No worries. See, I have a plan…But you're going to have to trust me…" Luis told the turtles as he slowly started to walk away from them.
Leo and his younger brothers looked at each other with unsure expressions on their faces. He knew that he and his brothers did not fully trust Luis since he had a shady past as a researcher as well as having unknown intensions in this location, but at the same time, they were low on options and they were going to need as much help as they can get now that Mikey (and Leo himself) was in great danger.
With everyone's minds made up, Leo looked at Luis and nodded to say that he and his brothers were willing to trust him, for now.
"Great! We're partners, then!" Luis cheered with a clap and a fist pump as he started walking away again.
"Hey, why are you-"
"No time for any questions. The clock is ticking!" Luis interrupted Leo.
"Why are you helping us in the first place?" Leo asked again.
"Because it makes me feel better. Let's just leave it at that…I'll contact you later…" Luis answered him bluntly before he continued his walk whilst waving his walky-talky.
The turtle brothers watched him go and disappear into the darkness, not knowing that he would soon encounter an old enemy of theirs.
/
Luis' side…
After leaving the turtle brothers, Luis walked down a long path whilst he flicked and tossed his lighter around. He then slowed down when he saw someone standing on top of the rocky wall to his right.
"Hey, ya got a smoke?" Luis asked cheerfully.
"I do. The kind you like, even though I do not smoke them myself…" A female voice answered him before she knelt down a bit, revealing her true identity.
It was Karai, the leader of the Foot Clan!
"Now, where is the 'Amber'?" She then questioned emotionlessly.
"Unfortunately, it is not on me at the moment…" Luis answered sadly as he walked towards the wall, whilst Karai stood back up.
"And you really should be telling me what a good job I did. Bust my backside and managed to hide it right before I got caught…Which is why I'm still alive!" He then added as he climbed the wall to try and reach Karai, but he slipped a bit as he said his last sentence.
"Did you forget our deal, Luis? I would help you leave this place as soon as you have delivered the Amber to me. In other words, no amber, no 'protection'…" Karai reminded firmly as she knelt down again.
"Heh, heh, heh…Such a stickler for small details, huh Karai?" Luis teased with a soft chuckle before he spoke again as he held out a hand for Karai to take.
"Ok, then…I'll go get it now. How about that?"
Karai thought about Luis' offer for a moment whilst staring down at him, with her face as still as a doll's. She then reached out her hand and grabbed Luis' hand before pulling him up to the top of the wall.
"And there's something else I need to get too…" Luis stated as he look back towards the distance, with thoughts about the turtle brothers on his mind.
/
Spanish translation:
Encantado - Delighted