Timbers & Rivers (Leorai)

Chapter Ten

"Humans have always been better at killing any other living thing..."
- Dmitry Gluhovsky

The Hamato clan, the teenagers of eight, walked through the crowded 'streets' of their home 'village', Katrina. All 'towns' looked makeshift, made of scrap metal, rocks and sometimes wood. Homes were one room, a fairly large one of you're lucky, and about five people lived in them. They were stacked on top of each other and had scaffolding to get around. There were about ten bars in each town, each one very big and had a large sign or paint sign to know where it was.

The markets were okay, they looked normal-ish. There were basic stalls with guns layer out in one, ammo or gun parts in another, armour in another and meat. There were pigs near a meat stall, in a cage. People usually drank heavily diluted mead or wine. There were usually fireplaces around everywhere with roughly ten people sitting around, some playing guitars or singing.

There weren't many children, for most babies were born with birth defects or died quickly. If there were children, there were about five or six per group.

Anyway, on with the story!

The gang made their way through the crowds towards the medical ward, where their father, or sensei, was resting.

On their way, they heard two soldiers speaking: "The Dark Ones are no ordinary mutant, they're Homo-Novice, ahead in humanity's evolution. You know that saying, 'survival of the fittest'? We have lost."

The other soldier scoffed and crossed his arms. "Yeah right!"

"Look! Fully grown soldiers, trained in battle, now they have lost their minds, become catonic! They are always there, even if you can't see them!"

By then, all attention was on Leo. The said turtle shrugged nervously and hurried on ahead, holding in a smirk when the others hurried to catch up.

"Speakin' of Dark Ones..." Raph began but was interrupted by Donnie.

"Why aren't you like the soldiers?" The purple banded turtle asked. There was a small chorus of agreeing noises and nods.

"I dunno, maybe because I didn't point a gun at him?" Leo said. It wasn't entirely true, but not a lie either. At first Leo thought that the Dark One didn't attack him because he didn't draw a weapon, but quickly dismissed the idea.

"Him? Leo, IT almost killed you!" Karai exclaimed but Leo gave her a disappointed shake of a head.

"He didn't nearly kill me. The AIR did." He argued.

"Seriously? DUDE IT RIPPED THE GAS MASK FROM YOUR FACE!!" Raph shouted, earning looks from a couple people.

"Yeah! You could've DIED!" Donnie cried and Mikey looked like he was ready to yell as well.

"Well I didn't!"

"Leo!" April yelled, disapprovingly.

"Why the heck are you siding with it!?"  Casey shouted and Leo glared to the side.

Leonardo crossed his arms and stormed off through the small-ish crowd.

"Sass-o-nardo." Raph grumbled and crossed his arms angrily.

Karai's gaze softened when she saw a sad look on Leo's face before he stormed off. She was supposed to support him, like a girlfriend, not side against him. So this is what he meant by 'They won't believe me'. She thought regrettably.

"Jeez, am I he only one who feels bad?" She said softly and narrowed her eyes at the small nods she got in return, except for Raphael.

"Whatever. Let's just go see father already." He growled.