Lost

If We Make It Home

"Mikey," I shake Mikey's shoulder lightly. He's been sleeping all damn day. This is really gonna fuck up our sleeping schedules when we make it home- if we make it home. "Mikey," I shake his shoulder a little more aggressively. "It's going to be dark soon and we should see if there's anything out here to eat before we go back in the sewers."
"Five more minutes!" He groans and he rolls over. Now he's facing me and his arms are wrapped around my thigh like it's his teddybear.
"Mikey, we gotta go." I grab our masks off the branch. They're dry, finally. That only took all fucking day.
I tie mine on first and then I drop Mikey's on his face. "Let's go." I say, trying to be a little stern but Mikey still doesn't budge.
I sigh and I tie his mask on for him and then I straighten it a little.
"Is that the pizza man?" I gasp, trying to sound and act excited.
"Where!?" He yells and he jolts up, nearly hitting his head on the low hanging branch.
I knew that would work. Now that my leg is free I can finally stand up and stretch.
"Ugh!" Mikey groans loudly. "I can't believe I fell for that."
I stand up and I stretch my legs and arms and then I stretch my back. That feels really good.
"That was so not funny," Mikey says and he looks at me with a pouty face.
"It was a little bit," I say with a laugh.
"Come on and get up. You have to help me find some berries or something that we can eat and won't kill us."
"Do we need to put water on that?" Mikey points to the fire, or where the fire used to be.
"No, it's been dead for hours. I couldn't exactly get up to find more wood."
"Let me guess, it was alllll my fault." He says playfully.
"Damn right it was," I nudge him and I walk deeper into the woods. "Come on."
Mikey yawns and then he follows me.
"So, how are we getting across the river? Are we swimming again?"
"Fuck the river." Mikey laughs at me. "My tail almost froze off."
"Yeah, that was cold. How are we going to get back to the city then? We can't just walk across the bridge."
"I was thinking-"
"Oh no."
"Shut it, Mikey, let me talk. We go up to the bridge and hide in the bushes until a semi or something drives past and we just jump on it. When we get in the city we jump off."
"And then?"
"Then when we figure out where we are and we go back into the sewers."
"It's a good thing Splinter didn't make you the leader."
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" I turn around and I glare at Mikey.
"I'm just saying-"
"You think my plan sucks don't you?" I turn my head back around and something blue catches my eyes.
Hey, I think it's a blueberry bush? Maybe.
"No...I'm just saying that I think there is a lot that could go wrong, that's it."
"Like what?"
"There's no truck, we get caught on the truck, we get see by passing cars, we get seen in the city, we-"
"Okay! Damn, I get it." I pick a handful of blueberries and I hand them the Mikey. "I suppose you have a better idea?"
"Hmm..." Mikey trails off as he throws a berry up in the air and catches it in his mouth. "Nope."
"That's what I thought."
"It's starting to get dark." Mikey says and I shove some berries into my mouth. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I started eating.
"We will have to wait for a while, at least until traffic slows down." Mikey grabs some more berries and he shoves them all in his mouth.
"Hey," I say and I step towards to him. "You got a little something," I say and I point to the corner of my lip.
He rubs his fist over his mouth and he looks at me with an adorable, innocent smile.
"Did I get it?"
"Nope." I fold my arms over my chest and I shift my weight so I'm standing on one leg.
"How about now?" He asks after he rubs his fist across his mouth again.
"No- here." I say and I take one more step towards him.
I lick my thumb to get it wet, then I hold his chin with my other two finger. I rub my slightly wet thumb over the corner of his lips and on his cheek.
"There." I say as soon as I wipe the blueberry stain off of his face. "Why the hell are you lookin at me like that?"
His chin is still resting on my fingers and my thumb is on his cheek, near his lips. His face looks weird. Weirder than usual I mean. His pupils are big, like a fucking crackhead.
"No reason!" He says with a big smile.
Budum...budum..budum budumbummbudum!
Suddenly I become VERY aware of my heart pumping. Why the hell is it going so fast?
I look from his eyes to his lips, witch are still holding that adorable smile of his, and then back to his eyes.
What the hell is this feeling? It makes me want to puke.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." I take my hand away from him and I turn my shell to him. I grab a last handful of berries and I sit down.
Mikey plops onto the ground next to me.
"Raphie?"
"Hm?" I say with a mouth full of blueberries.
"How much longer are we going to have to wait?" I glance at him and I can see him hugging himself. "I miss home," he whispers.
"Don't worry, we'll be home soon." I playfully elbow him and he looks up at me and smiles. "It's almost dark, soon traffic will slow down and we can head towards the highway."
"What do you think Icecream kitty is doing?"
"Probably chillin out in the cooler."
"Haha," Mikey mimics a fake laugh. "Good one."
"What?"
"'Chillin in the cooler.'" He laughs again, this time it was a real laugh.
"Mikey, you idiot." He only laughs again and I look down at the ground. "What do you think Spike's doing?"
"Hm, I think he's off on the magical quest to save a princess-"
"Mikey," I groan and I roll my eyes.
"He's probably sleeping or eating spinach."
"I hope someone's taking care of him."
"Don't worry, I know someone is."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
"Raphie?"
"Stop calling me that."
"What do you think everyone else is doing. Leo...Donnie, and Sensei?" I can tell Mikey's mood dropped. His whole tone changed from his normal upbeat self to a sad little kid.
"Probably lookin for us." I answer honestly. It's true, knowing all them, they are worried sick.
"I wish there was a way we could tell them that we're okay and that we are on our way home."
"Me too Mikey," I take a deep breath then I slowly let it out. "We should start walking to the road."
"Okay," Mikey says and he gets up. I stand up too and I take one more berry. Mikey grabs another whole handful. "Are you sure we don't have to our water in the fire or something?"
"That fire is deader than we'll be when we get home."
"So it's like dead dead," Mikey laughs and then he puts the last of his berries in his mouth. This time he manages to keep his face clean. At least I think so, I don't know it's hard to see anything besides the orange of his mask and whites of his eyes now. I can see a little bit if the blue in his iris reflecting the moonlight.
"Let's go," I manage to say and I start walking through the tall grass and the trees. Mikey follows in my footsteps. "Stay hidden, okay?"
"Mhm," he hums and we walk the rest of the way in silence. It was probably about a ten minute walk from where we were up to the highway.
We are both crouched down low behind a tree and some shrub that's only a few feet from the highway.
"How about that truck? We could jump on the back of that." He points to an empty flat bed truck that's coming down the road.
"No. I think the driver would see us and there other cars driving too close behind it."
"Oh okay." We sit there for only a few minutes before another truck flies past us. I'm starting to think this idea may not work. These trucks are fucking fast all these idiots are driving like they're in The Fast and Furious.
"Hey Raph."
"Yes, Mikey?"
"When we get home you can blame it all on me."
"What the hell do you mean?"
"I know you don't want anyone else to know that you're still afraid of cockroaches...so we can tell them that I led us the wrong way."
I deter my attention form the road and I turn to Mikey.
"Hey, we aren't doing that."
"Why not?"
"I'm taking the blame for this. I mean it was actually all my fault."
Mikey opens his mouth to respond but before he can I cut him off.
"That truck," I point to a red semi that just came flying around the corner about a mile down the road.
"That one? Do you have a plan?"
"Run and jump when I say."
"That's it!?"
As the truck gets closer I can tell for sure that it's a flatbed, and even better yet the top half of the flatbed has some building equipment stacked on it. There's no way the driver will be able to see us and there aren't any other cars coming yet. Besides if there are maybe we could hide in the equipment.
"Get ready!" I warn, the truck is almost to us.
"I'm scared!" Mikey cries out loudly.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen." I grab Mikey's hand and I hold it in mine. I give his hand a squeeze and in return he gives me a slight nod.
The truck is so close..."NOW!" I yell just as the cab of the semi passes the bush.
Mikey and I both throw ourselves out of the ditch, Mikey lets out a scared cry as we watch the equipment go flying under us.
We land just barely in the edge of the trailer, and Mikey almost falls off the back. My foot is dangling off the trailer. It's only centimeters from the blacktop.
I kick the both of us backwards as hard and fast as I possibly can.
My shell hits a big piece of metal, pain shoots up my whole body from when I hurt it in the sewers and from when Leo knocked me onto my shell. Mikey falls down and lands on my leg. As soon as his ass hit my leg he had both of his arms wrapped tightly around my neck.
That only happened in a matter of seconds but it felt like minutes, goddamn.
"I didn't think that was going to work." I say in shock and I wrap my arm around Mikey's shell and with my other hand I hold onto a strap that wrapped around some of the equipment.
"Raph!" Mikey scolds me.
"I was joking!" I laugh. "See I told you that it would be okay."
"I'm still mad at you."
Oh come on, is he pouting?
"That was the scariest thing I've ever done." He huffs out. "And you have the nerve to joke?"
"You a fuckin hypocrite now?"
"Hmph, so how do you suppose we're gonna get off of this thing now?"
"I don't know, tuck and roll?"
"If I break my shell, I'm blaming you."
"It'll be all my fault," I clarify. We are starting to get into the city now. We have to get off soon, since it's still early in the night people are still bumming around.
Mikey laughs quickly. "Yeah, all your fault."
"Ready to tuck' n roll?"
"NO!"
"You gotta get off my leg. The truck is slowing down we can probably just jump. You'll be fine, Mikey."
"Okay," he whispers. He gets off my leg and he crouches down on his own two feet. I do the same as him.
"On three." I say and he nods. There's an alley coming up soon. "THREE!" I yell and I throw myself off into the air. I tuck my head under my shell and I roll onto my back. There's a loud crash that came from next to me.
"Really?" Mikey says. He's laying flat on his back and his legs are straight up in the air against a garbage dumpster.
"So my timing was a little off." I laugh and I stand up. I walk over to Mikey and I extend my hand out to him.
"No," he slaps my hand away. "I don't want your help."
"Fine." I huff and I cross my arms over my chest. Mikey's face drops and he gives me an annoyed expression. Then he sticks his hand in the air. "That's what I thought." I grab Mikey's hand and I pull him onto his feet.
"Let's get onto that roof." He points up a fire escape.
"Good idea."
We climb up the fire escape. We have never been this close to the edge of the city. All the shit we have to deal with is always right in the middle of the city.
"Hey!" Mikey says and he points north.
"What?"
"Is that the pizza place?" I squint really hard. Only Mikey would be able to spot a small pizza place like that from miles away.
"Yeah, it is."
"So we just have to go south?"
"Yeah."
"Can't we just stay on the rooftops?"
"Mikey." Mikey turns and looks at me. Then he looks around. Since we are on the edge of town the buildings are scattered. There's no way we can just stay in the rooftops. And it looks like there are a few bars on this block too, and it's more of a residential area.
"Oh. I guess not."
"Come on."
We climb back down the fire escape and when we land on the concrete there is a manhole cover at the end of the alley.
Mikey and I walk over to it and I lift it up. Mikey climbs under it and he descends down the ladder. I follow after him then I put the manhole cover back.
Back into the sewers we go.