I was born in the early hours of a spring morning. While the dew still hung loosely on the grass, I had been brought into this world. A world so messed up and ripping at the seams. Not that I'm complaining, I quietly muttered to myself while trying my best to keep the cold at bay.

This winter was probably one of the coldest winters I had ever lived through, and I had lived through a lot. Four years had passed since the incident at Shadow Island. Now, I was an adult. I had long since lost my childish features, and prospered in my new found strength. Though I never lost my childishness.

It was a cold morning, but a bright one. The sun shined brightly onto our faces. I wish I could say we were all smiling, but that would be a lie. The night had been cold and had brought sad news.

The cold had taken ahold of him out of nowhere. He had been walking around, fine as usual, making stupid jokes and smiling about everything and nothing at all. But I knew there was something amiss when one morning he shined with his absence. I had gone to him that morning, but all I had gotten in response was a rattled cough. True, we all felt under the weather sometimes, but there was something different this time. An eerie feeling that this was more than a common cold.

Sadly, I was proven right. He had not moved from his bed in almost four days. His fever growing higher each morning. I always made sure to check up on him, make sure that he hadn't died in his sleep. While it sounds grim, it was far from possible. We all knew it, but were afraid to say it.

If he didn't get better soon, he was going to die.

Hinata stayed with him, watching over him most days. But everyone has to sleep eventually. So when she wasn't there, Ino had watch over him.

"Naruto, please hold on"

Those of us who had decided it was too depressing just to sit back and watch him die had gone out on an expedition, trying to find some more medicine. The ones we had were running dangerously low or wouldn't help him at all.

That was two days ago.

Now we were treading through the snow, heading through the streets of Great Lake City. Trying to raid places we had already raided, in hopes that we would find something new. It was stupid, we knew.

But he was our friend, and damn us if we didn't at least try.

We were just a two days trip from our camp, but it felt like we were a thousand miles away. It felt as if though we had been walking for days, when in actuality we'd only been at it for a couple of hours.

There was total silence between the three of us. Only the sounds of our heavy breathing could be heard. But something's always got to give.

"Saki, let's take a break. We're of no use if we die out here." Silently I agreed with Sasuke. It was time for a break.

"Alright. But just for a minute or so. We need to find something soon." The words "or else he might not make it…"; hung heavy in the air.

I tugged my bag off my shoulders and unzipped. This wasn't good. I was running low on both water and food. The little that remained would be enough for now, though.

We decided to sit down after all. The snow was deep, but in some places it was shallow enough to sit in without being buried in a mountain of white.

I shook the last few drops of water out of my canteen before putting it down for the time being. I could probably gather some snow to cook once we'd set up a camp for the night. I could survive that long.

"Maybe we should try heading out of town? Remember that old house, Ugly? Where you were bitten?" I slowly nodded. Uncle Orville old house was just five hours walk from our current camp.

We had stayed at Clint's old house after all. It had been relatively safe, and cozy enough for us to want to stick around a little longer. We had decided that the best course of action was to settle down for the time being.

After the incident at Shadow Island, after Kakashi's death, we really needed the peace and serenity. Having somewhere to call home. And somewhere we knew our surroundings.

"We've already checked there at least six times. There's nothing there of use." It was true. We had checked every house in a five mile radius, looking for gear and necessities. Sai kicked off some snow from his boots.

"Yeah, but we've already scoured this area too. We've checked everywhere you guys. There's nothing left worth taking. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but maybe it's time to move on. Find somewhere else to settle. Or, we stick to the road. Either way, this place has given us all that it could." This was not the first time discussing the issue. All the other times however, Naruto had been the one arguing for us to stay. Now, we were alone.

"You're probably right, but in his current condition I don't think Naruto would be able to move much at all. Let alone walk until we find a better place. Who knows how long that is going to take. Right now it's best to stick to the course. Let's go find what we came here for and then we can decide what to do when he gets better." I knew there was something he wanted to say. Sai had never been one for keeping his mouth shut in situations like these.

"What if he doesn't get better though? What if we die because we were too stubborn to realize when enough was enough? What if…" Sasuke rose fast, his finger pointing solely at Sai.

"Don't even start with that shit. If there's one person that could survive this, it's him. Naruto doesn't give up. Not ever. No matter how dire the situation, he's always fought through it. So I don't want to hear that shit come out of your mouth again, you hear me?" It grew quiet. Only the wind dancing across the blanket of snow could be heard. The snow had really changed the entire landscape. What once was vibrant and green, had now become idle and dull.

After a long silence, Sasuke started packing his things. Muttering under his breath, and cursing at God for making his life a living hell and whatnot. Before long we were on the move again, walking tensely and awaiting an attack from the dead roaming around in the deep white snow.

OoOoOoOoO

"What about the pharmacy? I'm sure that there has to be at least one bottle still laying around." The fire was crackling and throwing shadows across his face. The sun had sunk sooner than expected, which had made us unable to keep going. We had set up a simple camp in a shed we had visited before many times. It was our sanctuary outside our actual sanctuary.

The wind blew hard against the windows, and we were all on edge. Each time a hard thump could be heard we flinched and reached for our firearms. Sai kept poking the fire with a stick, while Sasuke paced around the room nervously.

"We've already checked there last month, remember? We sweeped it so carefully I'd be surprised if there is still dust left. Maybe we should check the supermarket again? There might be something there that could at least ease the pain in his joints?" Around the time he felt sick he had complained about a terrible pain in his bones. He had blamed it on working out too hard, but it had only gotten worse when the fever started raging.

"We were there yesterday, there was nothing left there either. Same goes for all the other grocery stores. We could start checking each individual house again. Maybe somebody's been through here recently and left something behind? Something they didn't think was valuable enough to take with them." Sasuke banged his fist against the brick wall. Not hard enough to break something, but still hard enough for both Sai and I to jump high.

"Dammit, you two! We can't keep going on maybe's and what if's. We need something and we need it fast. Everything has been cleaned out!" An idea came popping into my head around the same time the words fell off his lips.

"Not everything" They turned their heads towards me. There was silence for a while before I spoke up "There's still a place we haven't been able to get to. The risk is high, but so is the reward. If we could just…"

"No… No, there is a reason we've left the place untouched! It's too damn dangerous. It's better to come back empty handed and having tried than to not come back at all! It's out of the question, end of discussion!" Sai looked at the both of us with a curious look.

"What are you guys talking about? What place?" Sasuke shook his head. His mouth opened and closed several times before I finally took matters into my own hands and spoke up.

"A while back, Sasuke and I talked about… well… having kids I suppose," Sai wriggled uncomfortably "We were talking about what kind of complications would arise, should we decide to go for it. About all kinds of stuff really…" The man went pale and started waving his hands in front of his face. Then he turned a very bright shade of pink.

"Slow down, what does any of this have to do with our current situation? And when did you decide to start having kids?" It was no secret to anyone that Sasuke and I had started being intimate shortly after we got over the initial shock of Kakashi's passing. I had no longer been a minor and so it all kind of just happened on a whim. While I won't go into detail it all happened with great frequency. And so one afternoon we had both gotten quite the pregnancy scare when I realized that I was a couple of days late. While I didn't actually wind up pregnant it lay ground for a very awkward initial conversation about whether it was worth it or not.

"We haven't decided anything, it was just a discussion. But that's not the point!" Sasuke started pacing again, more restlessly than before "Don't you see what all of that lead to?" Sai donned a disgusted facial expression and muttered that he would rather not go into details. I found him amusing sometimes, even though he could be a pain in the ass.

"That's not it either. Don't you see what that sums up? A safe place to have a baby? Should complications arise?" He nodded, just having realized.

"A hospital." We both nodded in unison "Contrary to popular belief, hospitals aren't actually such a great place to have a child. There's too much bacteria and too many people. It would be a lot safer to have it in a stable, like that whole Jesus myth." Now it was Sasuke's time to wave his hands, but this time in frustration.

"First of all, how dare you? Jesus myth? It's not a myth. Second of all, yes. There are too many people. Except they're not people anymore. They're dead fuckers, walking around and making it sooooo much harder getting anything out of that place without attracting a Dawn of the freaking dead harem. There is no way. Not happening!"

There wasn't a long silence following Sasuke's outburst, but it was long enough for us to make us more than a little bit uncomfortable. But he was right. We had always come to this conclusion. It was not worth the risk. But this time we were at an impasse.

Let our friend die - or go get some medicine.

"Look, I'm all for a little bit of risking it, but not this time. The stakes are too high. This should be a group decision. We should head back to base camp and talk to everyone. Also, we should see what Naruto thinks about it as well. It's not just us risking our lives here. We are compromising their lives as well. With the amount of chores around the camp, they'd have a hard time surviving. Even with all six of us, there's still a tremendous burden."

So we stood there for a while, thinking to ourselves. Arguing with our very minds, trying to find a solution that would work out for everybody. But then I realized that no matter what one does, there is always going to be somebody that opposes to it.

"By the time we reach Naruto it could be too late. If we get there and he is already too sick to turn the tables around and get better, we'd have signed his death warrant. I say we go in, and get what we came for." He started pacing again. Something he did when he was thinking. Said his body was like a machine, in that if it stood still it wasn't producing anything.

"It's not worth it." I was furious that Sai would even say such a thing, but he quickly corrected himself "Not in and of itself. Just to get some medicine would be a waste of bloody time. One person's life versus three. It would be a waste. Like Sasuke says, it's not worth it… However…" We listened while he spoke once again "If we were to get more than just the medicine, then maybe… We'd all benefit. You've told me countless times about how tiresome it is to make gauze out of old clothing." He pointed to Sasuke "And you-" he said as he turned to me "You said you've always wanted to learn more about the medical field. Maybe now you can. We could go searching for books on the matters. What do you say? Are you in?"

So once again, we stood with our hands in our pockets, contemplating on what to do.

A heavy silence coated the room, as it had done so many times before. We had somebody else's life in our hands now. The stakes were higher, but the reward was greater.

And so, while the snow started falling we came to a decision.

"We leave at dawn"

OoOoOoOoO

WOHO! Finally I got around to writing the sequel! I hope a lot of you who read the first part of the series are still with me. If you're a new reader, then you're welcome to go check out the first part since this isn't very much a standalone read.

I would also like to thank Akemi_Spangler once again for helping me beta the first part of the Zombieland series! You're a great beta! Good luck in the future! ^^

Also I might be posting and rewriting the first part of the series on another page called archiveofourown as well, so go check that out. Pen name there is OoOMagnoliaOoO where I also write a lot of Ereri for the Attack on Titan fandom, so be sure to check that out if you're a Yaoi fan *Wink, wink*

I'm currently working on chapter two, but it might take a while since I have another story pending and is quite busy with work (Yes, some of us work during the summer too =( )

I would also like to thank each and every one of you for your support during the first part, and also all of the nice reviews! I feel like I have developed a lot as a writer since then.

Constructive criticism is also welcomed!

Also, if you have any requests and other pointers be sure to leave those as well. And please make sure to PM me about any potential typos I may have made. I might have gotten better at English but it still isn't my first language.

As always, R&R XD Until next time, JA NE!

P.S: I've re-written the entire first part of this story, so make sure and check it out ;) A lot has changed =) Until next time, JA NE! XD