No Escape

Chapter 24

Warning: This chapter is going to sound graphic.

Donnie motioned for Mikey and Raph to carefully place Leo on his operating table.

Under the harsh florescent lights of the lab, his brother looked even worse than he had in the pit, if that were even possible. Donnie asked Mikey to go and boil some water, to fill up multiple hot water bottles, and to bring in as many blankets as he could find to help Leo's hypothermia.

Raph held Leo's hand tightly clenched in his own, as Donnie ran around his lab, grabbing bits and pieces of medical equipment that he hadn't accounted for when he had readied his lab for Leo's arrival.

Master Splinter, April, and Casey had all been horrified at the condition in which they had brought Leo home in, but the point was that he was alive- for now- and Donnie intended to keep him that way. Master Splinter was being comforted by both April and Casey in the living room, waiting patiently for the outcome of the many operations that Leo would have to endure.

Donnie looked at everything that he was going to need. "If you're going to stay in here Raph, you and Mikey need to wash up and wear masks." Donnie said briskly, as he placed a mask over his face and washed his hands and arms thoroughly with antimicrobial soap. He quickly pulling on a pair of modified rubber gloves, then he checked Leo's vitals as he hooked him up to a heart monitor.

He pulled the ventilator machine close and opened Leo's mouth before gently inserting the ventilator tube down his brother's throat, so that the machine would breathe for him. Donnie's hand grabbed at the needle that was sticking out from Leo's chest and pulled it out, replacing it with a tube that would drain any access air or fluids in his brother's chest. The tube would need to stay in place for the next three days, and after that he could remove it.

Moving down his brother's broken body, his finger gently scraped along the inflamed, puckered, swollen, and careless stitches that ran from just above Leo's hip, to halfway down his thigh. Donnie took up a scalpel and began cutting through the stitches.

Puss and blood rolled out from the wound, as the stench of infection and rotting flesh assaulted his nostrils. He choked back the bile that rose in his throat, and fought back the tears that stung his eyes. He needed to be calm and clear-headed if he wanted to save Leo's life.

"Donnie, what is that smell?" Raph asked, covering his nostrils over with the mask.

"Leo's wounds are badly infected and some of his flesh has died." Donnie answered grimly, as he gathered up a sterile cloth, and began thoroughly cleaning the wound and removing the sticky, yellowish puss and blood, before picking up a scalpel and cutting away the dead flesh. When he finished this gruesome task, he set about threading a needle, and painstakingly, sewing his brother's damaged flesh back together; one small, careful stitch at a time.

His fingers ached by the time he finished stitching up his brother's side and leg. He had stopped counting after he reached 500 stitches. He quickly glanced at the clock. It had taken him just over two hours to stitch his brother up, and he wasn't even close to being done yet. He moved his attention from his brother's side, and focused on the burns that covered his brother's hands and arms.

The burns were not that serious, but they covered a large enough area that they needed to be taken seriously. Leo's flesh was raw, red, and blistered. Donnie carefully cleaned the burns, removing the dirt and bits of debris that clung to the burns. When he had finished, he put a topical ointment on his brother's burns, and carefully wrapped them lightly in clean, linen bandages.

Donnie quickly checked the heart monitor, and was glad that his brother's vitals seemed to have stabilized. Raph was clutching Leo's hand as tightly as he dared. Mikey, whose face was pale and somber, talked to Leo with quiet determination, giving him quiet encouragement and comfort.