Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fan Fiction ❯ Bad Places III: Ruin ❯ 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Part 2

Without thinking, Leo grabbed April's hand and tried to pull her to her feet. He wasn't strong enough but he did get her attention and as she glanced at him, she followed his look to several buildings away. Her night vision was nowhere near as acute as his but she had no problem seeing the moonlight gleaming on the fangs and claws of the demon galloping towards them. Stumbling to her feet, she followed Leo as he tugged her towards the edge of the rooftop. She hesitated when she saw how high they were, but finally leaped the narrow gap to the next roof.

"Come on," Leo whispered harshly. "April, you have to run."

She nodded, but she'd never leaped over rooftops like he had. Alone, he might have been able to outrun it, but with her slowing him down, he knew it would catch up soon. The electric hum he'd heard before now turned deafening. If the screamers below started climbing up the walls, he wouldn't know until they were right on them.

Dodging vents and tv antennas while maneuvering over the occasional sloped architecture was hard enough without a layer of ice over everything and a monster on their heels. He leaped with the easy confidence that years of practice had given him, but April hesitated over every gap, distracted from the easy jump by the ground several stories below. He wanted to scream in frustration but kept his temper in check. He couldn't afford to lose control and besides, he remembered how he used to be paralyzed with fright only a few feet in the air.

He spotted a flat roof just up ahead and drew his swords. They would make their stand there. Thinking that the demon was at least one building over, he turned and nearly fell off the ledge. The demon's fangs missed him as he slipped backwards, his upturned swords slicing the white belly completely by accident. Blood dribbled down the blades and onto his arms, but the cuts weren't deep and it landed easily on the next roof, right next to April.

She threw herself to the side as it lunged at her, its claws scrabbling noisily on the ice. Its jaws snapped where her head had been, then missed again as she grabbed a pipe jutting out of the cement and pulled herself forward, jumping to her feet again. This time she landed on a thick sheet of ice and her feet slid out from under her. Her fall saved her life as its claws swiped over her head, but now she couldn't move and she was right in front of its face. As if in slow motion, she watched as its eyes rolled back in its head, its jaws opened as wide as they could, and it drew its head back to strike.

Blood splashed her face as a sword caught the demon just under the jaw, forcing the head up and slicing deep into the skin. Its roar of pain made her ears ring, and another sword stroke along its face splattered her clothes with blood and with part of its eye. Startled out of her shock, she tried to escape to her left but it slammed a heavy paw down beside her, not trying to block her in but inadvertently doing so as it faced off against the feeder-like creature with the long claws.

She quickly crawled to her right, standing up behind Leonardo. For several seconds nothing happened. Leo and the demon both stared at each other, both breathing hard. Slowly, trying not to provoke it into acting, he gently pushed one of his swords into April's hands.

"Leo..." she whispered, holding it shakily. "I can't...it's too fast..."

"You can," he whispered back, not looking at her. "Just stay out of my way and strike when you have the chance."

About to ask her if she could hear anything crawling up the walls towards them, he had to dodge right as the demon moved again. Its massive paws, more like hands with claws, curled into the ice, letting it turn faster. Its tail swung around as it slithered after him, moving as fast as a cobra. Although half-blinded, it kept its one eye turned towards him, and Leo guessed that it could hardly hear anything either.

It swiped at him, he ducked and tried to cut its paw off, but only a couple of severed fingers hit the roof. Arterial blood spurted over the cement and ice as it screamed again and turned, whipping its tail around and hitting his shoulder. As he fell, he inwardly cursed. He'd become so slow that now that he faced an old enemy, he felt like he was made of lead. He hit the floor sideways, nearly cutting himself as he landed awkwardly, but he managed to get his sword up between him and its fangs as it dove down at him. His sword neatly cut its mouth straight down the middle, and as it reared up again, its lower jaw flapped uselessly in two pieces.

It roared again as April's sword cut down into its tail, but the bones and muscles near the base were extremely thick and the blade stuck fast. She yelped as it wrenched the sword from her hands, twisting sideways to face her again, but she had no time to move out of the way.

She didn't have to. Turning around made the demon present the stuck sword right in front of Leonardo, who used it as leverage to pull himself onto its back. Using all of his strength, he rammed his sword deep into its neck, then jerked the sword up once, hoping to cut its head open. But this was not the game with its natural adrenalin boosts, and when it reared up on its tail, he lost his grip and slid off its back. He landed on his feet and jumped out of the way of its claws as it came back down, but now neither he nor April had a sword. They both backed up towards the ledge, but there was no way they could cross to the next roof without one of them being snatched back.

Enraged by pain, the demon turned, coiled its tail under itself and lunged. Leo shoved April out of the way and tried to follow, but its claws gouged into his neck and shoulder and its weight dragged him backwards. When they landed, he could feel its claws digging in deeper, feel his blood rushing out. His body ran cold even as he grabbed its arm and tried to force it off of him. The ice helped him slip away but the claws buried in him refused to budge. He had to tear himself free, scrambling backwards with one hand clamped over the wound.

He expected another bite or slash, but he heard it scream again and looked up. April had managed to get around it and jerk on the sword stuck in its tail. The demon instinctively whipped around, raising its claw to strike...and instead fell over on its side. Its tail thrashed against the cement, it howled pitifully as its mutilated snout rubbed against the ice, and then it lay completely flat, dead.

Thinking that April had somehow cut its throat, Leo got to his feet and staggered around its body. To his surprise, April stood with nothing in her hands and a steaming puddle of blood and entrails around her feet. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the two long gashes in its belly from which its insides had suddenly spilled, hurled from its body as it turned too fast.

She breathed hard, her body shaking as she nudged its bloody paw. With a relieved breath, she looked up at him and immediately froze in horror. "Oh God, Leo..." Stepping closer, she pulled off her scarf and pushed it against the profusely bleeding wound.

"It's not that bad," he lied, "just messy. We have to get out of here." He was proud at how his voice didn't shake and how he didn't tremble as he retrieved his swords. "Are those things still in the street?"

She looked over the roof's ledge and nodded. "Not as many. There's no one left down there for them to...um...yeah. Just a handful of the big ones eating..." her voice trailed off.

"Good," he said. "We can get by the big ones." He walked over to the fire escape attached to the side and gestured for her to follow. "Stay with me and don't make any noise."

"Where are we going?"

"To the lair--wait." He fumbled for his shellcell and tossed it to her. "Call Casey. Tell him to stay put and stay quiet."

He scanned the alley while she made the call, but she didn't take long. With one hand keeping pressure on the blood flow, he made his way as quietly as he could to the last level. He winced as he let the ladder drop, but to his surprise it wasn't as loud as he expected and nothing came running around the corner. He was in luck; the static hum drowning out most of the noise wasn't just affecting him. They spotted a manhole not five feet away and, though it took both of them to lift the cover, they were safely inside the maze of New York's underground tunnels before anything noticed them.

"Whoa..." he mumbled, grabbing her arm to balance himself.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she put her arm around his shoulder. "Dizzy?"

"No...not that. The static, it disappeared suddenly." He wondered if he would hear it again as they passed by open culverts but there was nothing except April's nervous deep breaths and the melted snow dripping down the pipes.

"You think maybe it had something to do with those monsters being here?" she asked.

"I don't hear anymore screams," he said. "It can't be a coincidence." He pushed down harder on his wound, wincing with pain, but the blood stopped welling up over his fingers finally. "Call Raph, let him know we're coming and to keep everyone inside."

She nodded and flipped the shellcell open again, her breath frosting in the air as she waited for an answer. A moment later Raphael's face appeared on the screen.

"Leo, it's about time you--holy crap, April, are you okay?"

For a moment she didn't know what had startled him, but she caught her reflection in the dark parts of the screen. Demon blood still covered her face and shoulders. She dug a handkerchief out of one pocket while she answered. "I'm okay, I'm okay," she said, "none of its mine."

"But what happened--?"

"I'll tell you about it when we get there," she said, wiping her face as best she could. "Leo said to tell you to keep everyone inside."

"No problem," Raph said. "Where's Leo? Is he all right?"

"Um...no, not really." She glanced at him but Leo shook his head, not in the mood to talk to his overprotective siblings. "He got a pretty nasty slash, but I think it's stopped bleeding."

"'Slash'?" Raphael echoed. "What the hell? April, what--?"

"Just turn on the tv," she said. "We'll be there soon enough. And don't let anyone go out, those things might be running around somewhere."

She clicked the shellcell off and stuck it in a pocket, then finished wiping her face and hands. "I can't wait to take a shower and get this off. I'm soaked through."

Leo glanced at her with a faint smile. "You did pretty good up there," he said softly. "I don't think I would've survived alone."

"You saved my life first," she argued, wringing her handkerchief out. "Everything happened so fast, I couldn't follow you half the time. You and thing were just...so fast."

"No..." He shook his head but stopped as it pulled on the gash in his shoulder. "I felt like I was fighting in water, and with all that space to fight...it was a lot easier killing them in cramped hallways."

As she put her ruined handkerchief away, April opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. After another minute, she tried again.

"I owe you an apology," she whispered.

"For what?" he asked. "You haven't done anything--"

"I have..." she said. "Ever since you came back--not from the farm, I mean, from Stockman's dimension--I've treated you like one of his experiments."

Feeling extremely awkward, he lowered his head a little. "It's not your fault. You saw me kill all those people."

"It wasn't just that," she said slowly, considering her words carefully. "That was one of the bigger things...but it wasn't just... It's little things, really. The way you tilt your head, the way you walk, even the way you stand, they're all different. It's not even that noticeable, but it's like you're more alert, more aware. It's like when Klunk's stalking a mouse."

Like a predator, he thought. "I hadn't noticed," he said.

"I know, that's what made it so hard. You were just so scary, even though I knew you wouldn't hurt me." She smiled suddenly. "I guess I'm kind of glad that thing attacked."

"'Glad'?" he repeated. "That thing nearly killed us."

"Yeah, but...I realized something. If you hadn't stopped it, I'd be dead. And if I hadn't learned a little bit of how to use a sword, we'd both be dead. You're still scary," she said, looking at him to make sure he knew that hadn't changed, "but you're the scary guy between me and the bad things out there."

He smiled in understanding. "Don't let Raph hear you say that. He thinks he's the scariest turtle around."

"Tch," she scoffed. "He's a big softie. He cries at old movies."

Laughing hurt so he forced himself not to, but he listened as April continued to list all the things Raphael tried to hide so he wouldn't be teased. Her babbling helped both of them, calming her down while providing him a kind of focus as they walked, something to take his mind off the throbbing pain along his neck and shoulder. He knew the would couldn't be fatal or else he'd be dead by now, but with breeders running loose in New York, he couldn't afford a serious injury. By the time they spotted the lair's main entrance, both of them were starting to shiver as the blood on them turned cold and started to freeze.

The moment they walked in, Leonardo was surrounded by his siblings and father while April excused herself to take a hot shower. Splinter gently forced Leo's hand away from the wound. To his relief, although it was still bleeding, it flowed sluggishly.

"Sit down," Splinter ordered him, leaving him on the couch while Donatello disappeared into the sick room to gather up bandages and, Leonardo feared, a needle and thread. Behind him, Raphael grabbed the afghan off one of the sofas and lay it over his brother's lap.

"Dude, what happened?" Mike asked, sitting down next to him. "That doesn't look like a sword wound, that looks like claw marks."

"They are," Leo said. Now that he was safe and able to relax, he felt exhausted and hurt and cold all at once. He sighed and leaned back, wincing as Splinter pulled what felt like tiny shards out of his shoulder. He glanced at one and recognized the demon's pale shade of white. It must have lost fragments of its claws when it hit him.

Before he could answer them, though, the images on the television caught his attention. The lair became quiet as they watched an aerial view of several feeders and screamers running along the city docks before vanishing into the darkness. He didn't know how they did it. One moment he saw them grouped in their familiar packs, the next moment they seemed to melt into the shadows.

But they weren't ninjas, he thought. How did they disappear?

A disturbing thought ran through him. With the beginnings of a major tension headache coming on, he glanced at Raphael. "You've got to get it sealed up," he mumbled.

"Huh?" Raphael stared at him and leaned closer. "Say what?"

"The stream..." Leo said. "Block it, cover it, something."

Raphael looked at the tv again as the news channel replayed the tape of breeders disappearing around the docks, then looked over at the stream that ran through the center of the lair. And remembered the last creature they'd fought in the game, a gigantic demon that swam through blood.

TBC...