"Uhm…Splinter?" April asked as she stood up, shaken.

"Whoa…" Casey rubbed his eyes.

A moment ago, Splinter had stood between them, holding Klunk. Bright light had leapt out of the trucks rearview mirrors - all three of them - accompanied by some unearthly kind of roar. Instinctively, Casey and April had hit the dirt. Splinter had been distracted by Klunk, and was enveloped in the light for a moment before it had bounced back into the mirrors. Now Splinter and Klunk were nowhere to be seen.

"We can’t ever have a normal trip anywhere can we?" April muttered, holding the tennis racket as if it were a sword. "It’s some sort of curse…"

"Errr…excuse me?" The creature that had been a statue in the back of the truck peered down at them with huge owl eyes. It spoke with extreme care and especially slowly, as if it found them of lower intelligence. They jumped a little, then stared back at it, taking small steps away. There was a long pause.

"You speak English?" April raised an eyebrow at the creature.

"Uhm..Nice to meet you English." The creature grasped her tennis racket with a taloned hand, shook it. "Yes, I speak. Uhm…I need to find kitten. Kit-ten. It’s a small cat you know. C-a-t."

April and Casey exchanged puzzled expressions.

The creature got up on it’s thickly furred hind legs, shaking off fragments of rock-skin, and stepped out of the truck. Incredibly agile for something that looked so heavy. When on the ground, it stood only an few inches taller than them, it really didn’t seem so threatening. But, it did have huge talons for hands, and spoke through a large pointed beak. April and Casey kept taking small steps away.

Mike wasn’t sure why he was awake. He just couldn’t sleep. A lot was on his mind, but nothing that had kept him from falling asleep before. He’d been in the middle of a nice, if weird, dream that he couldn’t quite remember now. And then - ping! - like some internal timer had gone off, he’d woken up. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, trying to figure out what time it was.

In the corner of his fuzzy vision, something moved. He turned his head a little.

"You awake too?"

"uh-huh Raph.. .what time is it?" Mike whispered.

"I dunno. I’m not even sure why I’m awake…" Raph flicked at a leaf in front of him and yawned.

"I’d guess it’s around 1 am." A third voice joined the conversation.

"Don?"

"What?"

"This is creepy-weird. We all woke up, and for what?" Mike leaned up on his elbows and looked around, also straining his other senses. Nothing. No weird smells or sounds or anything.

Don came and sat by them. "Not all of us. Leo’s still sound asleep."

"You’re kidding! He’s the light sleeper…this is starting to really bug me."

"We could wake him up." Raph suggested.

"I don’t think that would be mppphhh!"

"shhhh! I saw something move." Don sat rigid, the other two looked at him, then out where he was staring. Finally he relaxed and removed Mike’s pillow from over Mike’s mouth. "Must have just been some animal. Like a rabbit…"

"Where was it?" Raph asked, sitting up.

"Over there." Don pointed.

"There?"

"No...farther out…by that tree...a redwood from the looks of it."

Raph blinked, glanced questioningly at Mike. Mike took a gaze at the dark horizon, shook his head no. "Uhm..Don. What redwood?"

It was Don’s turn to blink. "Uhh….you can’t see it? It’s right there."

"I can see that tree, barely." Raph pointed. "The evergreen on the horizon there."

"But…that evergreen, it’s not on the horizon…"

"Are you saying, you can see farther than that? And clearly enough to guess what kind of tree it is?" Raphael sounded skeptical.

"Even in the dark?" Mike was sitting up now.

Don remained quiet for a moment. "I guess maybe I’m tired…"

Mike placed a hand on Don’s forehead. "You feeling okay?"

"Just…yea…I guess." Don pushed Mikes hand away and turned from the horizon to try to make sense out of what he’d seen. But something else caught his attention. "Guys…why is Leon still asleep? I mean...we haven’t exactly been real quiet." Don lowered his voice to a whisper as he spoke.

They all looked at Leo for a while. Nothing seemed wrong.

"Maybe he’s faking it."

"I dunno…hay Leo, you awake?" A pebble impacted the dirt nearby Leo’s face, but he didn’t stir. Raph exchanged glances of concern with the others. "I‘ve never seen him sleep like this. Not even when he’s sick and needs the rest."

Don crept up beside Leo and checked his brother for a pulse. He sat back with a confused expression. "He’s alive…but asleep. Mikey quitit! Geez."

Mike stopped humming ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ and sighed. "So why can’t any of us sleep like that? I’m more tired than I ever remember being."

Raph yawned again. "Tell me about it..."

"Hello."

In a heartbeat they were all on their feet and turned around. Facing a tall figure that stood only a couple of paces away from them. A man, in dark clothes, a cape flapping behind him. The dim glint of a gun hung on his side, one of the mans only distinguishable features.

"Who the heck are you?" Raphael had zero tolerance for strangers right now.

"Zorro? Geez…where did this guy come from?" Mike muttered, wondering how the stranger had managed to sneak up on them.

"Leonardo, bro, you’d better wake up!" Don delivered a couple of gentle kicks to his sleeping brother, becoming more alarmed as they failed to yield the intended result.

"Merow?"

"Moooooooo."

The creature in front of and above me spoke loudly. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a small language barrier problem. I wasn’t sure if it understood me, but I sure didn’t understand it. There was nothing like it at home.

"M-ew?" I tried again.

"Mu?" The creature looked down at me with large, gentle eyes for a moment; seeming as confused as I was. A larger creature of the same species called to it, so it trotted away. There were several similar creatures that had been milling around before, but now they walked away as a group, flattening the limp grass as they went.

The grass looked like the grass at home, but I knew better now. At home, the grass would have squeaked and clicked and scolded them. It definitely would not have tolerated these creatures stomping around on it.

I’d been walking for a while - trying to find something familiar. I’d avoided the flattened ground to avoid more of those monsters that run between the yellow lines. I felt a little safer in the grass, but not much. It was too quiet. The bugs and flowers didn’t talk to me here. The grass didn’t offer a friendly squeak of advice or gossip.

I’d thought I was lucky when I’d first heard these creatures that said ‘mooo’ - being so dark I was surprised to find them at all. I thought they’d know where I was, they could help, maybe give me a ride or just directions. Now they were trotting away and I was still here.

This wasn’t home, this was discouraging. I’d never been sure what discouraging had meant before, but now I knew without a doubt. It’s almost like being lost, but worse. It’s being lost and tired when you don’t have any idea how to get home.

I wondered if they missed me at home…

I considered my options. It was cold and dark, I was lost and tired. I could stay here in this strange world by myself and try to find a way home, or I could follow the mooing creatures and see where they went.

Some options. Hmf. I looked towards the flattened grass, where the creatures had gone. I may not understand them very well, but I was betting that they knew of a warm place to sleep. Besides, I was curious. I shrugged - what’s a kitten to do? I stretched myself and crept off. It was easy to follow them - they made a lot of noise.