100 Theme Challenge - 24. No Time

100 Theme Challenge
24. No Time

There was no time for any fancy maneuvers. Casey’s mom was two steps away from walking right into Don and the growling cat in her arms would give him away if he darted into one of the other rooms.

Taking advantage of his long arms and legs, Don jumped as high as he could, flinging his feet up against the wall in back of him. Lunging forward as he jumped, Don’s hands touched the wall in front of him and he braced himself.

Splayed out several feet above the woman, Don watched Casey’s mother walk a little ways towards the living room and then stop with a curse when her elbow collided with the wall. The cat started to growl louder, its eyes focused on Don hanging above them.

It must have started to struggle because Casey’s mother said, “Stop that! Damn it cat!”

Turning, she made her way back to the bathroom, muttering under her breath about flashlights as the door closed behind her.

In an instant Don dropped from the ceiling and fled towards the kitchen. As Casey had instructed, he placed the note under one of the magnets on the fridge, the darkness no deterrent to a turtle who’d spent his life underground.

He was about to leave when he noticed an envelope addressed to Casey stuck beneath another of the myriad of magnets on the refrigerator. Grabbing it quickly, Don darted back towards Casey’s bedroom, passing the bathroom where a triumphant shout and an arc of light shining from beneath the door told Don that Casey’s mom had found a flashlight.

Raph was standing near the window waiting for him, Casey’s backpack over his shoulder and a hand on the window frame.

“Are you done?” Raph asked.

“Yes. Hurry, his mom has a flashlight,” Don whispered urgently.

Flinging the window wide, Raph vaulted out onto the fire escape. Don climbed through behind him and slid the window shut just as a beam of light flashed across the glass.

Jerking backwards to avoid being seen, Don saw Raph signal for him to go up. A fast lunge took him over the roof’s edge just as Casey’s mom opened the window and looked down.

“Casey?” she called.

After a second she shook her head and glanced up. Don and Raph ducked out of sight until they heard the window slam shut and then chanced a look down to see that she had gone back inside the apartment.

The flash of lightening overhead reminded the pair that being so high up during a storm was a seriously bad idea. By the time the next rumble of thunder had faded they were two buildings away and climbing down to an alley.

Don felt that his luck might be changing somewhat since it had yet to start raining. That was until he heard Raph mutter unhappily beneath his breath.

“What’s wrong?” Don asked.

“There’s no manhole here,” Raph told him.

“You know the area,” Don said. “How far do we have to go?”

“Couple blocks to the closest one, but it’s in the middle of the street,” Raph answered. “Five blocks to one that’s in an alley.”

“There are still people out,” Don said, wishing he could take back his thanks for the lack of rain.

“You’re the smart one, what are the odds we’ll get hit by lightning if we go back to the roofs?” Raph barked, the question obviously rhetorical.

“Why don’t you stop snapping at me until we get back home?” Don suggested with exasperation. “If I had known you were so possessive of your friend I would have avoided him completely.”

“It ain’t too late to start,” Raph retorted peevishly. Looking around the corner of the building they were pressed against, he added, “Come on, we’re gonna try for the one in the street. People are starting to go inside so we got a good chance of not being seen. Stay out of the light and stop moving when you see someone coming.”

Don didn’t bother to point out that Raph was stating the obvious. It was clear his brother was just as uneasy with the situation as he was.

Sliding onto the sidewalk, Raph and Don crept along in the shadows that were just outside of the spill of light coming from the street lamps. Whatever had caused the power outage at the Jones’ apartment hadn’t affected the block they were traversing and they had to take care each time they passed beneath a lighted window.

They had a little over a block to go when a bright flash of lighting lit up the entire block, catching them in its brilliance.

On the opposite side of the street, a man halted in mid-step and stared. Before either of the turtles could move, the man lifted his hand and pointed directly at them.

An unholy howl escaped his wide open mouth, the sound chilling Don down to his very bones. It was like a scene directly out the horror movie Mikey had mentioned and it became worse when an answering yell echoed from farther down the street.

“He’s wearing a Kraang necklace!” Raph shouted.

“I can see that!” Don exclaimed, shoving at Raph’s shoulder. “My watch is probably jamming the signal, but they’ve been programmed to scream like that if they see us!”

Raph was already running with Don right on his heels. “There goes another one! It’s like a damn relay system!”

“The Kraang are going to hear it and come straight here!” Don yelled. “Can we get to the manhole?”

“There’s no time,” Raph said, changing direction. “They’re between us and that entrance. We’ve got to go for the alley. Let’s hope that screaming isn’t as fast as a police radio.”

The red banded turtle laughed as he said that and Don couldn’t help but admire his brother’s ability to find humor in the situation.

Too bad Raph was the only one who did.