Slash's Revenge

Chapter 13 - Beat Down

*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: I'm back with a new chapter of 'Slash's Revenge' and the title of this one pretty much says it all.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of me posting the first chapter of this story. Enormous thanks to my readers, followers, and friends. I appreciate you all so very much.

Thank you for reading, everyone!

----------------------------

Chapter 13 - Beat Down

The sound of a padlock being unlatched awoke Donatello from a restless sleep. Even in his groggy state, he knew exactly what that sound meant and he couldn't help but let a dreadful whimper slip out. The genius turtle turned just in time to see the cage door swing open and two large hands reach inside. With one quick yank, Donnie was pulled out of the shelter of his metal prison and thrown unceremoniously onto the living room floor of Slash's apartment.

The wounded turtle cried out in agony, not even sure which body part to cling to in hopes of lessening the pain.

It was everywhere...

"Time for breakfast, Donnie boy."

Trying his best to ignore the throbbing in his dislocated - possibly broken - shoulder, Donatello placed the palms of his hands flat against the hardwood floor and slowly pushed himself up several inches so he could look around the apartment. He could see his water bowl and morning ration of leaves were already set out for him. This told him he must have really been out of it. He hadn't even heard Slash preparing his 'meal.' Not to mention he hadn't felt the removal of the dreaded muzzle that Slash had strapped on him sometime yesterday afternoon. Of course, getting punched in the side of the head last night may have had something to do with Donnie being so out of it. His jarred brain was still ringing from the vicious strike.

For reasons unknown, Slash had been in a particularly bad mood the day before and had taken his frustrations out on the only other occupant of the otherwise abandoned apartment complex.

Slash: two hundred-seventy-six, Donatello: zip.

The last two things the intellectual turtle remembered about the evening were a huge fist slamming into his head and his incapacitated body flying backwards into the wall. After that, everything went black for who knows how long.

Well, I guess that's one way to get a good night's sleep... The snarky inner voice groaned inside Donatello's aching head.

Too distracted by his own misery, Donnie didn't even register the movement beside him before he felt a swift kick delivered to his rib cage, sending him rolling over onto his back.

Make that two-hundred-seventy-seven...

While he laid there, wheezing and gasping for the air that had just been kicked out of him, Donnie watched on helplessly as Slash hooked the heavy chain up to the loop on the front of his metal collar. The injured turtle's thoughts immediately turned bitter, knowing there were far less cruel ways to attach the chain, but Slash seemed to take pleasure in doing everything in the most painful way possible.

As if to prove Donnie's unspoken point, Slash then started dragging the smaller mutant around by the chain, causing him to choke for air yet again. Donatello couldn't help but wonder just how much irreparable damage all this constant abuse to his throat was doing. Of course, that probably shouldn't have been his main concern right about now. What he should've been stressing over was the infection that had set in. Not only could he visibly see it on his wounded leg in the form of thick, yellowish pus, but he could also physically feel the symptoms beginning to take hold of him. He was so exhausted, he could barely lift himself up anymore. While this fatigue could be the result of one too many sleepless nights, he also had the chills and felt feverish. All these symptoms were indicative of infection.