Liz: A TMNT Story

Chapter 7

(this chapter takes place right after the Turtles have taken back the city. I know, a lot of jumping around in timeskips, but I wanna keep things interesting...)

Liz's P.O.V.

I shivered a bit in the thin blanket around my shoulders, pulling my tail closer around me as I cowered against the wall in the sewer. I didn't understand how I had been able to survive this long, as the invasion continued on the streets above. I usually just slept the whole day and night, scrounging around for bits and pieces of leftovers. My open wounds had scabbed over, but every time I touched a former gash, my hand always came away sticky with puss. My arm constantly ached, especially when the air was cold. I walked with a limp, my ankle still swollen and bruised.

I suspected I needed some serious medical attention, but who would be able to help me? 1), every person in the city had most likely been mutated, and 2), I was an ugly green mutant. Anyone who saw me would either think they were crazy or would scream in terror and run. Well, except for that turtle I'd seen on the rooftops, but I hadn't been able to find him the few times I'd been strong enough to meander the tunnels. He would've been the only one that could've seen me. But the mysterious Leonardo had disappeared, probably held captive or killed by Shredder.

I curled into a ball as I heard blasts echo through the grate from the street. I began shaking fearfully, my ears ringing as my overactive hearing picked up on the gunshots.Pink lights flashed through the storm drain above, making small light patterns against the wall. I heard shouting, and metallic clashes, and peered up over my thin blanket to watch an explosion of maroon light erupt into the sky. Me eyes widened, and despite my terrible condition, my curiosity once again got the best of me.

I shuffled to the grate, wincing as my sore muscles screamed in protest and my ankle threatened to give out. I eventually grabbed hold of the rusted bars, holding myself as I watched the scene unfold.

The pink light seemed to be focused into a massive laser, shooting into the darkened sky and funneling the storm clouds. I frowned as I saw huge figures a few yards away, shadowed by the twilight, fighting the aliens in robotic suits. My eyes instantly narrowed as I saw a Kraang bot shoot wildly at one of the figures. A large shadow passed over the street, and the small battle stopped momentarily, as a makeshift blimp sailed over New York City, straight into the swirling vortex. As soon as the aircraft disappeared, the fighting resumed, and a Kraang laser came dangerously close to the grate I was looking through.

I yelped, falling to the floor in panic. What had become of me? I looked down at myself, remembering a calmer, happier form of me, wishing I could go back to those days. But I'd been morphed into a skittish lizard girl, afraid of her own shadow, and I had come to terms with that fact months ago. I'd come to terms with the reality that I would never see my mother again, or the outside world, for that matter. I was confined to the shadows, whether I liked it or not.

Another hot, angry tear slipped down my face, but I wiped it away stubbornly. No more crying. No more pitying myself, waiting for someone to find me and finish me. I willed myself back onto my feet, and forced away the grimace that fought its way onto my face as I tried to put weight on my ankle. I ripped a piece of fabric from my blanket and tied my grungy hair loosely behind my head. I then tied the remnants of the tattered cloth around my injured arm--it hadn't served much of a purpose anyway. I breathed in and out once, deeply, before I began to stagger down the sewer tunnel, finding a piece of pipe and old zip ties. I fashioned a makeshift cast out of the trash, crying out occasionally as I eased it onto my foot.

A few more paces down the tunnel, and suddenly the path took a right turn, leading me onto old, rotted subway tracks. I sniffled a bit as I maneuvered my way around the splintered frame of the rails, before I looked up and spotted turnstiles.

I dragged myself up the stairs and post the turnstiles, before tripping down yet another set of stairs. I blew the hair out my grey eyes as I looked up. My eyes widened as I took in my surroundings.

The floor dropped a few feet into a small pit, where a broken TV lay beside some torn beanbag chairs and pillows. A shattered pinball machine was tipped over not far from me, and a tire swing hung by one rusted chain over a small pool of water. The walkway branched off into other rooms, and a few traditional Japanese screens hung off their hinges, singed in some places. A sort of wooden climbing wall was suspended in the center of the room.

I shook my head vigorously. Who would build an entire home in the sewers? I crawled over to another room, already too weak to pick myself back up. My hands trembled as I turned the knob, swinging the door open.

It looked like a bedroom. The walls were painted a dark hue of cerulean, the cobalt bedspread mussed, as if someone had just gotten out of bed. A thin layer of dust covered everything in the room though, so I figured no one had been in there in a while. At the foot of the bed was a broken sword, it hilt chipped and the blade dull. I stared at it in wonder. It looked identical to the one that turtle had used that night on the rooftop. I glanced at the desk across the room, and glimpsed a few photographs. I shuffled over, swiping one of the pictures and gazing at it in shock.

It was the turtle, the turtle with the blue mask, surrounded by 3 other mutants of the same species and age, all with differently colored bandanas. I glanced at the girl next to the group of mutant teenagers. Red hair, a yellow shirt, crystal blue eyes, with a huge smile as she leaned up against the turtle with a purple mask. My breathing came in short breaths, as I tried to make sense of the photo. She knew these turtles? She was friends with them? She was friends with Leonardo? I suddenly felt dizzy. The photo slipped out of my hand, crashing to the floor. I recognized her.

"April?" I whispered, as if my red-headed friend could somehow hear me through the photograph.

Oh! Plot twist! Liz knows April! I know the picture I attached doesn't have April smiling, but it was the only picture I could find of all of them together.