TMNT: Infected Chapter 1

Chapter One: Infected

"Nnn… Eurgh… Waaa!"

"Will you shut up already!" Raphael smacked his youngest brother's head with a three-fingered hand and turned over onto his shell.

All four brothers were sharing a room in the farmhouse so that April and Casey could have two separate rooms, which was great for April – and Donatello, as he didn't want the humans snuggled up in a double bed – but not so great for the turtles as a whole. They hadn't shared rooms since they were tiny and it was a shock to the system having to put up with one another's habits now.

Raph stared out of the window at the moonlit night as Mikey continued to toss and turn and talk in his sleep. The youngest turtle had always been an animated sleeper, heck sometimes the others could even hear him through the sewer walls back at the lair, but he seemed even more agitated in the unfamiliar surroundings of the farmhouse. He swung his arms and muttered something unintelligible, which woke Leonardo.

The leader of the four rubbed his mask-less eyes and turned over on the couch so that he was facing his brothers. He'd been given the privilege of the couch due to his injuries, which were healing 'quite nicely' according to Donatello. Leo yawned and stared at the thrashing Mikey before moving his blue eyes to Raph,

"What's he doing now?" he mumbled.

Raphael shrugged, "Beats me… I'm pretty sure he was fighting a pizza before, though."

They smirked at each other, teeth gleaming in the dark room and then Leo sported a more serious expression,

"Why aren't you sleeping?" he turned onto his side, a grimace momentarily twisting his features as his leg jerked slightly, "Did Mikey wake you?"

Raph shook his head, "Nah, I was already awake," he dragged his hands down his face, "Guess I was thinking about-"

"-Splinter?" It was Donnie. He was lying on his front next to the window and his brown eyes almost seemed to glow in the moonlight. He coughed into his pillow and spoke again, this time with a slight croak, he was almost sure he was getting flu due to being so close to the draft of the window, "I was thinking about him too."

"Come on, guys," Leo tried his best to sound convincing but ended up sounding a little deflated, "Sensei will be fine, he always is! …Right?"

Before the others could answer, Michelangelo sat bolt upright, eyes still closed, and shouted, "Don't put the pizza in the bathtub! It'll drown!" he then flopped back down and began snoring softly.

The others simply stared at him, completely dumbfounded by the inner workings of Mikey's brain.

Morning came like a slap in the face; Casey Jones tried to block out the morning sunlight with his arm and when that failed, rolled over only to find that he was already on the edge of the bed. He flopped onto the floor like a dead fish and yawned widely before getting to his feet and making his way downstairs.

April was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast – with the help of Mikey of course – and Leo and Raph were seated at the small wooden table in the centre of the room, polishing their blades. Casey sauntered into the room, inhaling deeply, and a smile spread across his face as the unmistakable aroma of bacon filled his nostrils,

"Mmm, smells good, Red."

The redhead flipped some bacon onto a plate and smiled, "Well don't get used to me making breakfast every day, this is a one-off."

The teenage boy shrugged and sat down beside Raphael, who was now arm wrestling his brother.

"Where's Dorkatello?" Casey asked as he took a huge bite of toast.

Raph forced Leo's hand to the table and shrugged, "He's probably doing something sciencey somewhere."

A loud sneeze alerted them of Donnie's arrival to breakfast; he shuffled into the kitchen, shoulders sagged and eyes red. His purple mask hid the dark circles under his eyes but the rattling cough that escaped him revealed his sickness to the others as he slumped down into the chair between his brothers.

"You okay, Donnie?" Leo glanced between Donnie and Raph with concerned eyes.

"Yeah man, you look like shell." Raph smirked at his own joke, which won him an accusing glare from Leonardo and a gap-toothed grin from Casey.

April handed out the bacon and toast and Mikey brought some unidentifiable brown liquid to the table as they joined the group. He poured some into a glass, its thick consistency taking an awfully long time to drip into it, and offered some to Donnie in an attempt to cure whatever it was that seemed to be ailing his intelligent brother.

"Here, dude, have some of my special juice. I made it from some old apples that I found outside in a big pile of leaves. I call it Lapple! Get it? Leaves and appl-"

"-We get it, genius." Raph barked.

Donnie took one look at the brown goo and slapped a hand to his mouth, "No, thanks Mikey. I'm good."

Careful not to touch the offending liquid, April pushed it aside and put her hands on Donnie's forehead. His eyes glazed and he turned an unusual shade of pink as she spoke,

"You're really hot," Casey rolled his eyes as April diagnosed the turtle, "Do you feel nauseous?"

Donnie nodded slowly, "Only after seeing Mikey's juice." He faked a smile and took April's hand from his head, "I'm fine, honestly."

"He's just got a cold! Geez!" Casey spat through a mouthful of bacon, "I bet he just wants some attention from Apr-" his mouth snapped shut as Raph and Leo glared at him.

"Not cool, man," Mikey shook his head solemnly.

"Tch, whatever."

"I'm okay guys," Donnie's voice cracked a little but he was determined to play it cool, "Casey's right, it's just a cold." He bit his lip as Casey made an 'I told you so' face but continued to act as if nothing was wrong, even though he knew fine well that something definitely was.

After breakfast, Leo decided some training was in order; his leg was still too painful to train but he didn't want that to stop his brothers from continuing to practice. The four of them stood in the clearing in front of the house, along with Casey who had agreed to take on Leo's role only with hockey sticks instead of katana. Raph and Casey had teamed up against Mikey and Donnie and now had them on the run as the less aggressive pair flipped and rolled around the clearing. Leo rolled his eyes and shouted,

"Donnie! Mikey! You need to attack at some point you know!"

"We're choosing our moment!" Donnie squawked as he clumsily hopped out of reach of an incoming hockey stick.

He looked towards his teammate, who had been cornered by Raphael, and noticed that Mikey didn't look like his usual self; his face was contorted into a look of something not unlike pain and even from fifty yards away, Donnie could see beads of sweat on his youngest brother's face. Donnie was about to shout over to him when Casey suddenly appeared before him, hockey sticks raised like swords. The turtle took out his bo staff and held it out a little shakily, his hands clammy with perspiration.

"Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just because you've got the sniffles," Casey swiped his sleeve across his face and grinned toothlessly.

"Wait, Casey," Donnie's eyes were still locked on Mikey, who was now sneezing loudly, "Mikey is-"

"-Don't think I'm going to fall for that old trick, D."

Donnie rolled his eyes, exasperated, "No, you idiot, I think Mikey's si-"

Before he could air his concerns, Donnie had been knocked to the ground with a large hockey stick and was face-down in the grass. He coughed and spluttered as he got to his feet and ignored Casey as he danced wildly around him victoriously, instead making his way to Mikey.

The youngest turtle was leaning back against a tree as Raph circled him like a lion stalking it's prey; Raph looked like his was enjoying the hunt way too much as Donnie interrupted.

"Come to save your comrade?" Raph twirled his sais, "I can take you both on!"

After coughing a few times, Donnie responded, "No, Raph. I think Mikey's sick too."

"Am not!" Mikey wobbled where he stood and sniffed loudly, "Hey, why is the world moving so fast?"

Brown eyes looked into green as the older brothers silently diagnosed Mikey. Leo and Casey joined them, both looking to Donatello for answers,

"What's wrong with him?" Leo asked as he moved to help Mikey stay upright.

Donnie sighed, "The same thing that's wrong with me, I think. He seems to be showing the same symptoms that I have: he's delirious-"

"But you're not delirious," Raph injected.

"I was last night! I thought the moon was watching me! Judging me…" Donnie shivered at the memory of his deluded mind.

"O-kay…" Leo leaned away from Mikey as he started coughing again, "So what is it?"

"Some sort of flu-like virus I think. It's probably nothing, we'll be fine in a day or so."

"Yeah dudes," Mikey grinned and gave the others a thumbs-up, "We'll be fine."

That's when Michelangelo fainted.

Night had fallen and Mikey and Donnie weren't the only ones who were feeling under the weather, Raph and Leo seemed to have also caught whatever was ailing their brothers. Luckily for April and Casey the virus seemed to only effect turtles, or at least non-humans, and so the two of them had ended up as temporary nurses for the ninja.

The four brothers lay in various places in the living room; Mikey, being the smallest of the turtles, was asleep on the armchair, Raph had opted for the floor, Leo had pushed two dining chairs together to create a makeshift bed and Donnie was sprawled on the couch, long legs dangling over the armrest. Now and then one of them coughed or sneezed but snoring was the main activity as April replaced the cold towels on their foreheads, taking care not to wake them in the process.

She sat down beside the couch as Casey perched on the end, next to Donnie's head,

"What do you think it is?" he asked, concern betraying his calm exterior.

April shrugged, "I don't know. I hope it's nothing serious. We can't exactly take four giant ninja turtles to the hospital."

Casey nodded, "Right. I mean, how would we even get them there?"

"No, I mean- Never mind," April shook her head, exhausted from the day's work. She eventually nodded off, chin flopping onto her chest, as did Casey.

They were both woken a few hours later when the moon was at its highest; shouts and bangs and screams filled the dark room. It sounded like a very clumsy burglar had stumbled upon a sleeping Rottweiler and decided to see if it could ballroom dance. A lamp shattered as April squinted into the darkness, only able to see shadows as they flailed wildly. She got to her feet, feeling blindly for the edge of the sofa,

"Guys? Are you there?"

"April! Get back!" It was Raphael's voice. It came from near the dining table at the end of the room, "Someone's in here!"

"Who?!"

"Some random guy!" Casey's voice now, "I've got him! Put the lights on!"

April stumbled across the room and felt for the light switch on the wall, finally finding it after several attempts. The room was suddenly blindingly bright and for a moment all she could see was bright white spots in her vision.

"Who are you?! Why are you here?!" Casey was facing away from April, his arms tight around someone, pinning their arms to their sides.

"Casey its-"

"-How do you know his name?!" Raphael shouted at the stranger.

"Raph, you moron, it's me!"

The room fell silent as Leonardo's voice spoke up. April rubbed her sleep-deprived eyes and walked over to where the commotion was taking place. There, trapped in Casey's vice-like grip, was a young guy aged around fifteen with short, shaggy, dark hair that hung over his forehead and bright blue eyes. He looked utterly confused as he stared towards Raphael. Except it wasn't Raph. Where April had assumed Raph was standing was instead a muscular teen with short brown hair and piercing green eyes. Eyes that now flicked towards April,

"What?" It was definitely Raphael's voice but why was it coming from this stranger? This human.

"I… um…"

"Raph?" Casey's grip slackened on the dark-haired boy and he managed to wiggle free.

"What?!" the muscular guy held out his hands, equipped with sais, "What the shell are you staring at me for?!"

"Err… guys?" April swallowed thickly as who she guessed was Leonardo and Raphael turned to look at her, "Why are you human?!"