Chapter 6: Gone

                                    

                                          
It was my turn to watch over the dudette. She lay on the couch with her back to the edge and I. I watched as her skin slowly grew over the bones and muscle that had grown from her back and tail area. She looked pretty cool now.
                          
Her ears had moved from the sides of her head to the top, and had grown to become dog ears. They were black, like her hair. The inside was a dark grey, the fluffy parts tipped in black. Hard stubs grew from the back of her head, peeping through her hair, which was now out of its braid and fell to the base of her tail. Her nose had melded with her mouth to become a short snout.
                          
We had all been busy caring for her, and Donnie was more exhausted than all of us. My eyelids felt really heavy. It was hard to open them after every blink. I don't remember falling asleep.
                          
*
                          
I wandered out of my room, eyes squeezed shut in a yawn. It was my turn to watch over the girl I had saved. I wasn't so sure I had saved her, now that she's going through some kind of mutation. I wondered if it was my fault.
                          
As I walked into the lounge area, I saw Mikey asleep. Enraged, I ran down the steps and shook him awake.
"Mikey! Why?! Why would you fall asleep on watch?!" He started awake.
"Wh-wha?" He mumbled. Then his eyes grew wide as he realised what he had done. "Oh jeez Leo! I'm so sorry!" He leapt up. I forgave him easily, however, as another yawn escaped my lips. We were all tired.
                          
I turned to check on the girl. She wasn't there. Immediately fearful, I woke Raph and Donnie. "She's gone!" I yelled. Donnie was up almost instantaneously. Raph needed encouragement, so I got Mikey to jump on his shell a little, like he used to when we were little and it was Christmas. When they were in the lounge area and geared up, we looked for clues.
                          
We searched for a solid hour or so. After a while, Mikey and Raph had given up. I knew Donnie was close to giving up as well. His advanced scanning gear wasn't working. Eventually, he leaned against a wall nearby. "Leo, it's no use. She's gone," he mumbled to me. I knew he was right, but we had to find her.
                          
"You guys know she can't be seen up there," I pointed topside. They sighed and nodded. We decided to search the tunnels. As Donnie moved, I heard a squelch sound. Everyone froze, looking at Donnie. He had frozen, shell to us.
"Dude, you have green on your shell," Mikey observed the obvious. I looked closer. It had some sort of shape to it, but Donnie had smudged it. The matching patch on the wall wasn't any better. We searched along the wall to a small tunnel that lead to the newer areas of the subway. There was the girl's green blood, trailed down the wall in a handprint.
                          
We went up the tunnel to the subway. It was turning dark when Mikey had been on watch, so it was getting to be late at night. She would have been able to get out easily. So will we. We climbed out into an alley near the subway exit. There was another handprint on the wall here. There was more blood on this one. Donnie was beginning to get worried about the blood, and frankly, so was I.
                          
We began our search on the rooftops of New York.