Shadow Mutation (Book Seven)

Chapter 33: Thinking About the Future

Zilla rushes to Casey's side, reaching him at the same time as Raphael. Raphael puts his guns down—Zilla doesn't recall why he has two, but Casey's is missing and she figures that's the simplest explanation. Raphael taps Casey's cheek, trying to stir him, while Zilla focuses on what she needs to do.

The wound is exactly as she expected. It seems like a normal bite at a glance, but she can feel the shade within it and wastes no time extracting it. She curses herself as she works, curses him. Why would he tackle a stag like that? Hasn't he learned by now that she can't get hurt?

"You work fast," Raphael comments.

She huffs. "It's necessary," she says. "Can you get a bandage or something? I've gotta focus."

She's aware that the snarling and honking and other animal noises have died down. She should have snapped out of it. She shouldn't be so rattled by everything that's happened, and yet, seeing Wallace like that, she remembered what nausea felt like.

The last of the shade leaves Casey's wound just as Raphael returns, followed closely by the other Hamatos. Looking at their faces, at the way their eyes droop and they breathe hard, she knows that they aren't going to stay awake much longer.

"It's over," Leonardo says. He's better at hiding his exhaustion, but even then he seems drained. "Is Casey going to be okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine. I got to him fast," Zilla says. Raphael tugs Casey's shirt sleeve up and wraps the wound.

Silence hangs for a second. Then, a mournful sound fills the air, low and slow like a funeral dirge. Beast Mode huddles next to Wallace's body, her chin on his stomach as she mourns. Zilla floats towards her and Beast Mode snarls, standing over his body as she glares at them with her bright pupil-less eyes.

"I'm not going to touch him," Zilla says. She couldn't. "I'm sorry. We didn't want this."

Beast Mode eyes her, then the turtles and their weapons. "Do they want to hurt me, too?"

Zilla glances back at them. "Only if they think they can't trust you."

The lioness ponders that for a second. She growls low in her throat, unthreatening. "He used what mutagen he could to help me. There is only a little bit left. Not enough to save me."

"Maybe we can find another option."

"No. I am tired, and without my master..." She mews. "I want to go with him."

"Nala..."

"Will it be quick? Like the blue one promised?"

Zilla swears she feels a lump in her throat. "Yes."

Beast Mode lays back down over Wallace's body, resting her head on her paws and closing her eyes. "Tell the one with the grey mask that I am sorry for hurting him. I was just trying to protect my master."

Zilla nods. She turns to the turtles and clears her throat. "Raph, she says she's sorry for hurting you," she says. Raphael's eyes widen a little. "Leo, she...uh...she wants to..."

Leonardo's eyes fill with understanding. He approaches Beast Mode, curled up and quiet like she's taking a nap, and makes it quick. She disappears into a pile of dark fur, covering Wallace's body in a shroud of her own making.

Leonardo blinks hard as he turns back to his team. Destiny takes him in her arms, hugging him tight and surrounding him with her wings. Donatello and Michelangelo bow their heads, Michelangelo wiping his eyes with the back of his arm.

The warehouse is eerily quiet, that grainy yellow light illuminating the now-abandoned desk and papers and the piles of shadowy feathers and fur scattered everywhere.