Lost in the Fight

Chapter 12 - Separation Anxiety

Well, I guess that's one thing to be thankful for . . . Donnie thought bitterly while trying his best to ignore the know-it-all voice now sounding off inside of his head. That voice was not so helpfully reminding him of the many detrimental consequences of untreated broken bones, including permanent nerve damage, which very well could have explained the lack of pain. Then, there was the potential of muscle and ligament damage, physical deformities, avascular necrosis, severe arthritis, loss of mobility in the limb, loss of the limb altogether –

Okay, okay! You seriously need to stop thinking so much! Donnie mentally chewed himself out. He certainly didn't need any more voices filling his head with negative thoughts. He already had enough problems with voices in his head as it was.

Squeezing his eyes as tightly shut as he could, he cursed his bad luck.

Even if he somehow managed to get himself unchained, his chances of getting away were pretty slim. Unless he came up with some sort of miraculous way to completely incapacitate his captors, it was not very likely that he was going to successfully escape on a broken leg . . .

Might as well scratch escape plans two through twenty off the list . . .

Overwhelmed by the sheer hopelessness of the situation, Donnie let a low, wheezy-sounding groan slip out, which inadvertently drew his nearby enemies' attention.

Upon hearing and seeing that the turtle had regained consciousness, the two hairy behemoths quickly made their way over to him.

Smooth move, Genius . . . Donnie silently berated himself over his own stupidity. Then, his brothers' voices just had to chime in as well . . .

"You're supposed to be the smart one."

"Here I thought Mikey was the bonehead of the family."

The haunting words spoken by Leo and Raph the night of Donnie's fall from the fire escape had the genius turtle suddenly wishing that the know-it-all voice inside of his head would come back to drown them out. He much preferred that voice over the sound of his two older brothers' voices criticizing him. At least with the know-it-all voice, he only had to –

Another voice inside of his head stopped him from finishing that last thought. The voice of reason.

Okay, you're about to get your shell cracked by two bloodthirsty monsters and you're busy thinking about which voice in your head you like better? What is wrong with you? You really are the bonehead of the family!

"Well, look who finally decided to open his eyes." Tiger Claw's deep, intimidating voice echoed throughout the spacious warehouse, or maybe it was just echoing inside of Donnie's pounding head. It was difficult for the purple-clad turtle to tell due to his debilitated state.

Weakly lifting his head up, Donnie was instantly struck by a temporary case of acute vertigo that plagued his vision and made everything around him look lopsided. The injured turtle let his head fall back down again and closed his bleary eyes, hoping that a moment of rest might help him to regain his sight and the ability to think straight. What he really could use right about now was a reset button so that he could start the whole day – or maybe even the whole month – over again . . .

In the meantime, Tiger Claw continued to edge closer and closer to the turtle. Donnie was vaguely aware that the feline mutant was now standing only a few feet away from where he was hanging. Grizzgore remained a couple more feet behind his superior, but the massive bear was still disconcertingly close.

"You have caused us far more trouble than you are worth, young one. Because of your injuries, we were forced to enter this filthy warehouse or else you would have bled to death before we reached Master Shredder's lair. Then, we had to wait around for you to wake up from your little nap. I do not appreciate you delaying our mission," Tiger Claw rasped resentfully as if he truly believed that the turtle was the one at fault for the horrific injuries that the two inhumane beasts had inflicted upon him.