revivalproject | What do vegan zombies eat?

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What do vegan zombies eat?

WHO: Leo and YOU
WHERE: all around Temba
WHAT: zombie invasion
WHEN: zombie invasion
WARNINGS: zombie invasion (...likely some gore and violence)

A: Early Invasion

In a way, Leo is almost... relieved. Okay, so that's a weird thing to feel when there are literally undead monsters walking around, but the thing is, zombies are a simple problem. He doesn't have to worry about zombies betraying him, or debating him about innocent until proven guilty, or any other moral quandaries. Zombies want brains. Leo doesn't want his brain to get eaten. This math is simple.

And while it's more than a little disconcerting now to be suddenly cut off from his powers, it doesn't slow down Leo that much. Well, maybe in the literal sense, now that he can no longer teleport, but for actual fighting, Leo has always depended more on his swords and his martial arts than his magic. So cutting zombies down isn't really an issue for him, especially when they're the slow, shambling kind.

It is, however, pretty gross. Leo cringes as he brushes some rotting flesh bits off his arm.

He's here because he heard someone calling for help, or because he saw someone fighting the good fight. Either way, he's here to help!

(And also look for Donnie, because of course they got separated again. But hey, kill two birds with one stone!)

"Need a little help?" he calls out, approaching. "These guys are a little too awake, huh? Never heard that phrase about sleeping when your dead."

B: Late Invasion (cw: tied up zombie brother)

Leo shouldn't be out here. He should be sheltering in the mines, like everyone else.

But here he is, moving with ninja speed and stealth toward one of the abandoned houses. He has a rope slung over his shoulder, and casts furtive glances around to see if he's being followed.

He's pretty good at catching when he is being followed, but with all these zombies around, it's possible to avoid his detection and see what he's up to.

Which is, admittedly, pretty suspicious. What is he doing?

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"It could be, I mean... who knows? I mapped it out the last time we were here and the layout is really strange, reminiscent of circuit boards." Donnie pats at his bag, pausing. "...maybe it's better I show you when we're not in danger of getting eaten by things."

He blinks then. "Where were you headed anyway? Did you need to get something?"

Reminiscent of circuit boards? What did that mean…?

But Leo’s contemplation is abruptly brought to a halt by the question. He knew he would have to tell Donnie about what he’s been up to eventually, but now that the moment is here… He has no idea what to say.

Is Donnie going to think he’s cracked? That he’s completely lost it? Leo isn’t entirely sure he hasn’t, himself.

But… It’s Mikey…

Leo stands like a deer in the headlights for a moment, then he looks away, grinding his teeth together as he thinks of what to say.

“…Something like that,” he settles on, to buy time.

Oh, that is certainly a shift. Donnie's not the best at reading people but it's quite clear that Leo's hiding something, or at least reluctant to talk about it. After these past weeks he can't help but wonder what his brother could possibly have to hide from him. It's concerning, to say the least.

"Leo..." he says, head tilting. "We need to move."

Right. The zombies haven’t come around yet, but the moment one of them notices the turtles, there will be dozens of them. They can’t stay in one place.

Leo nods, then reaches out to take Donnie’s hand. It wouldn’t be good if they got separated.

“Yeah,” he says. Then, “I… know somewhere. I’ll show you.”

Donnie frowns, but he lets Leo take his hand because the physical connection helps ground him, his fingers tightening slightly around Leo's grasp.

"...." He's not sure what to think about his brother's sudden hesitation, but he nods, letting Leo lead him along. "...okay."

If he can't trust Leo then who can he trust?

Leo is thankful that Donnie trusts him still. He wonders if he’s about to torpedo that.

He stays quiet as he leads Donnie along, so they don’t attract attention. There isn’t much to talk about yet, anyway. Besides the shambling army of the dead, there’s nothing stirring in the empty city.

Finally, they come upon the house, mostly in tact other than some boards Leo hastily nailed to the front windows. He leads Donnie to the front porch before finally dropping his hand, turning to face him and rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“I’m gonna be honest… This is probably going to freak you out,” he says. He doesn’t think it would be right to let Donnie in on this without warning.

The quiet for all its practicality just seems more unsettling for some reason. But that's mostly because there are things out there, and knowing that they're drawn by sounds as well as movement, just makes the situation so much more tense than it probably is.

Donnie can't help but squeeze Leo's hand a little tighter the longer they continue on, anxiousness growing for the suspense of whatever big reveal waited for them. He reluctantly lets go when Leo does, flexing feeling back into his fingers as he looks none too eager at that preamble.

"I don't know, I already had something of a freak-out earlier so um, how much worse can it get, right?" he says, smile all too false, crumbling quickly at the edges.

Ah yeah, that seems… bad. Leo feels bad about doing this.

“…You don’t have to come with me,” he says, reaching for the doorknob. “It’s cool. I’ll do what I need to and come back.”

And then Donnie never has to know what’s in the house and they can just move on like this didn’t happen.

Maybe it's just a bad case of separation anxiety but the moment Leo proposes that and moves to reach for the doorknob, Donnie practically latches onto him again.

"N-no, it's fine, I'm... I'm okay I'm okay. We're together, right?"

Please don't leave him out here by himself, please don't shut him out..!

Oh shoot-

The absolute panic in Donnie’s voice makes Leo grab back onto him, too, if nothing else than to reassure him that he’s not going anywhere.

“Whoa, whoa- it’s okay, Dee, it’s okay!”

He grabs Donnie’s hand again, giving it a squeeze.

“We’re together. Right.”

It's silly. It makes him feel like they're five again, sneaking out of the familiarity of their lair and daring to venture out by themselves in the dank, dark tunnels beyond.

Nodding like he's trying to convince himself, Donnie squeezes Leo's hand back, taking a deep breath as he tries to calm himself. Who's nervous? Not him, why should he be nervous? Nice to know his overthink's back and working just fine!

He really just doesn't want to be by himself again if he runs into that particular zombie, and while he's not sure he wants to see what Leo's got hidden, at least he won't be alone.

Well, Donnie is still holding on, but he’s not freaking out… verbally.

Leo sighs, then nods, turning and opening the door. Inside the house is dark, and it looks like a fight or some other disturbance happened at some point, because a lamp is broken and some of the furniture is knocked around.

Leo glances back at Donnie, then pulls on a smile, haggard and tired and fake, and steps inside.

“Heeey, Miguel,” he calls out. “I’m back.”

From one of the bedrooms comes the unmistakable groan of a zombie.

There is absolutely nothing good about this situation and the smile Leo gives then is not in the least bit reassuring. Donnie's grip tightens even more when his brother calls out that nickname.

Oh no...

The sound that responds just makes that unease grow even worse. This is the exact opposite of how he'd wanted to feel, but leaving is out of the question.

Besides, there aren't any questions here. The moment Donnie processes that name, he knows. Leo's certainly got guts to have gone so far, but it's still comparatively better than having to decapitate family. Donnie had avoided the problem altogether by running away, but now...

His feet seem frozen, legs locking in place. Is this really how he wants to see his little brother?

It definitely wasn't an easy thing, when Leo first encountered him.

Mikey isn't the only one of their family and friends that Leo has seen as a zombie, of course. He's run across their dad a few times, and Draxum twice. He's pretty sure he saw a Todd in a hoard once, and he remembers running away from a shambling April, trying to convince himself it was someone else, someone he didn't know.

All of them hurt, seeing their wretched forms and dead eyes, and it hurt when he witnessed someone else taking them out, but he kept telling himself that it simply wasn't real, like the storms. A trick, trying to make him despair, to feel like his family was truly dead and gone. And he knew it was true, because he'd seen them over and over, like duplicate enemies in a video game.

But when he came around a building and saw Mikey...

He'd heard others behind him, some of the others out looking for supplies. They weren't looking to fight the zombies directly, but right where he was, Mikey would be in their way. Leo knew, if he left him there, that they would cut him down to get past. It was the sane and normal thing to do, and the thought of it had turned Leo's body to ice.

He thought about doing it himself. At least he would make sure it was fast. But as he pulled out his sword, he looked at the groaning, stumbling form of his little brother, and he knew he wouldn't be able to.

So he used himself as bait and coaxed the zombie away. Eventually he wrangled the thing to one of these houses and got him inside. Locked him in an inner room, then got some rope to tie him to a bed frame.

He's not sure how much of this he should tell Donnie. He starts with the small parts.

"...I know," he says quietly, "that it's not... really him." He grips his empty hand into a fist at his side, his other shaking in Donnie's hand. "I just... couldn't do it. But I couldn't let anyone else... I couldn't let them... Not to him."

His voice gives out and he lets the explanation die on his tongue. He knows he sounds crazy. He knows this is nuts. He waits for Donnie to tell him so.

Edited 2024-10-24 05:40 (UTC)

Seeing those familiar faces had been wearing him down, but maybe it's because he'd been choosing the less direct approach that he hadn't actually seen too many he was so intimately close to. He would have surely broken if he'd seen April. Seeing their father had nearly done it. After not seeing his father for over a year, this certainly wasn't how he had wanted to be reacquainted with him.

Seeing Mikey...

Donnie hadn't even seen the zombie but he knows Leo wouldn't be making a joke of this sort of thing. His fingers are feeling numb again and he can only imagine Leo's hand isn't doing much better, as though holding fast in a death grip can cease that tremble. But that only works if the other isn't doing the same, and Leo may as well be the only thing holding him upright.

It takes some effort to swallow as he listens to his brother's explanation. It hurts to hear Leo try to justify his actions, and while there is that small, rational part of him that knows that keeping a zombie is indeed crazy, he still understands all too well why his brother's done what he'd done.

He is not the best at this. Usually it's the other way around, or one of their other brothers, but they're not.... not actually here. The thought sends a fresh pang through him, and the next breath he drags in feels just as painful as he forces his fingers to loosen his grip, just a little so he's not accidentally crushing Leo's hand. Donnie steps in front of him, his free hand reaching for that fist.

"I know," he says, an echo of his twin's earlier words. "I couldn't have either. I... I saw dad..." He'd mentally blanked out, feeling his brother definitely the braver of the two of them for going to this length for a zombie brother. "...I couldn't... I just...ran."

Leo blinks up at Donnie when he admits that, letting his other hand slowly uncurl in his brother’s palm. The acceptance in Donnie’s actions calms Leo, even if this is still an insane situation. Donnie could have yelled at him, or called him a dumb idiot, which would have been warranted, but he’s still here. Still holding on.

Leo swallows and nods his head. “I ran from Dad too,” he admits. “Probably for the best; he would have kicked the shell out of me.”

It’s the kind of joking Leo does to cope. The zombie might have Splinter’s face, but not Lou Jitsu’s skill.

“I could run from Splinter, but… I couldn’t leave Mikey. He’s… I’m supposed to protect him.”

He’s the littlest brother, after all.

The breath he expels could have been a laugh; that zombie had moved with even less coordination than their father in the first stages of rat flu. Donnie sobers pretty quickly.

Mikey...

"Yeah..." he says, his voice barely a whisper at that. That's their little brother, and this place is making a mockery of those precious relationships. No, that's wrong. Not this place exactly.

Donnie lifts his head, his expression cooling into a glare as he looked off towards the ceiling, as though he could pin their unseen audience with a threat yet unvoiced.

He closes his eyes again, his shoulders sagging with his next sigh. "Let's do what you came here to do," he says, fingers twitching to give Leo's hands a gentler squeeze.

Leo wonders who Donnie’s glaring at - their unknown captors, probably - but once the focus is back on him, he gives Donnie a wobbly smile and nods.

“I’m just checking to make sure he’s good, and hasn’t chewed through his rope.”

If he has, he surely would have come out here by now, though. So that’s an encouraging sign.

He gives Donnie one more squeeze, then pulls his hands away and grabs some oven mitts off a side table. They’re bigger than mitts for humans, so they cover most of his forearms.

Then he makes his way down the hall toward the bedroom. He leaves it to Donnie to choose if he wants to follow or not.

Drawing his hands back towards himself once Leo's let go, Donnie watches as his brother prepares himself. The oven mitts would be a more laughable sight if it isn't for...this whole situation.

Leo hasn't gone all that far but Donnie already feels bad to be leaving him to it. After a quick look back towards the door to make sure nothing else is creeping about, he hesitantly starts after. Together means sharing burdens too, and Leo had been shouldering so much for him lately. The thought makes him square his own shoulders.

Remember, it's not really Mikey... But thinking of it as any less...isn't any better, is it?

Leo glances back at Donnie once he realizes he's being followed, but he doesn't say or do anything as he comes level with the doorway.

The Mikey zombie is right where Leo left him; at least he didn't gnaw through the rope this time. He pulls it taut, straining towards them, but the harness holds him in place and he can't get close.

Leo smiles at the ghost of his little brother. His skin is saggy and the wrong color, his eyes a sickly yellow. He reaches for the brothers with dirty fingers and moans out without words. It's not really Mikey. But it's close enough that it always sends a little shiver through Leo.

"Just checkin' on you, Angelo," he says with fake cheer. The zombie just groans and gnashes its teeth. Leo's careful as he rounds around to check the knots keeping him tied to the bedframe.

Donnie stays at the doorway, partially because he'd rather not agitate the zombie with more tantalizing flesh options. His chest hurts at the sight. Everything is wrong, but there's still no mistaking who this should be.

He hadn't allowed himself a better look at the undead versions of people from home, and having to run from them made it conveniently difficult to let such details sink in. But here's one who's been bound and therefore prevented from trying to give chase or chew on them. Not that it makes it any easier to look at him.

"Too bad we don't have any leftover pizza handy," he says, a poor attempt at lightening the mood, even as he anxiously eyes the rope and the proximity of Leo to their youngest brother's range of teeth.

Leo lets out a little laugh at that.

“Yeah, I bet you’d love that, huh, Mikey?”

His only reply is more teeth gnashing. Leo gives the rope a tug with his oven mitt hands, then quick steps away before he gets bit.

“I think it’s good. And no one’s been poking around, I don’t think…”

He’s as worried about someone breaking in here and killing Mikey as he is about Mikey hurting him or someone else.

"You're lucky my phone's not working because you look ridiculous with those things on."

Donnie uncurls his fingers from the doorway, not having realized how tightly he'd been gripping it as Leo made his checks. He takes that cue to look around, but so far as he can tell, no one else has been in here. Poking around in abandoned places doesn't seem like the thing to do unless they're looking for shelter, at least.

"Seems clear."

Leo shoots him a dirty look, but doesn’t do much else. He moves to the doorway with Donnie, then looks back at Mikey.

“Alright… We should move before we attract more zombies here.” He smiles again. “Bye, Mikey. I’ll… be back, if I can.”

If it’s safe to leave the mines, anyway. He nods at Donnie, for them to go to the door.

Ah, there's the Leo he knows. It's enough to coax the briefest of smug looks, but like Leo, Donnie goes no further with his goading. He nods back, turning to head back down the hall, shifting the strap of his bag over to the other shoulder.

"There anything you need while we're out here? Oh-" He pulls out the loose roll of a leather jacket from where he'd stuffed it on top of everything else. It's the one Tony lent him along with his armored bracers, but Leo doesn't need to know that. "Here. Level one armor's better than none. Also, warmer."

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