Prologue – The Taint Takes Root

Aeron Lane was running his heart pounding as the streets of Konohagakure around him were a chaotic mayhem of carnage and terror, he didn't understand what was going on but his only concern was the small bundle he was carrying in his arms. It meant everything to him, she meant everything to him. A pair of tear-filled hazel eyes looked up at him from under the blanket it hides beneath.

"Don't look Yukiko!" Snapped Aeron as a man laying on the street-side screamed for help and tried to claw at the young man's feet as he raced by, instinct made him kick out at the blood covered hand that even now was covered with the trademark black veins of the cause of such chaos. It had been such a normal day only a few hours before, he'd woken up to his alarm clock before dragging him kid sister out of her bed and made breakfast for the both of them since both their parents had gone to work even though it was a weekend. Then as usual before letting his younger half-sister Yukiko pig out and waste her Saturday watching childish TV shows he'd flipped to the news channel expecting the same old news and weather report only to see nothing short than what he considered a hoax. He'd still thought it was a scam for about ten minutes until the neighbor Mr. Saito had come in, he'd crashed headfirst through the kitchen window completely naked and covered in blood. His wife had climb through the window In a bloody nightgown carrying a long knife covered in oozing blood, her eyes were black and her skin had become pale even paler than Aeron's pigmentation and across the flesh, the veins underneath had turned black and pulsated visible to the naked eye. Aeron hadn't waited before scooping his little sister up in his arms and racing out of the house as the demonic laughter of the Saitos had echoed after him.

Now he was running he didn't know where but he was running like a bat out of hell, luckily he'd dress before all hell had broken loose and his rebellious attitude to his step-fathers ideas had meant he'd been wearing his shoes in the house. Yukiko though was dressed only in her pink pony pajamas and she was crying for her mother and father even as she clung to her big brother for dear life, she was only six years old after all.

"Its OK, its OK..." Aeron kept repeating more to himself than to soothe his distrait sister. It was at this moment that he saw a group of Army trucks driving towards the old Sarutobi Park and he saw helicopters flying overhead heading towards the same direction and a loudspeaker somewhere was calling for all citizens to evacuate there for salvation. Without a second though the teen raced forwards with renewed vigor.

Across Konohagakure inside the Hokage building the current Prime Minster Fugaku Uchiha sat at his desk holding a 9mm handgun in one hand whilst in the other, he was holding a cell phone, he was watching the door to his office with an intense stare. The door had been barricaded hastily with a number of chairs and desks but even still a loud crash could be heard and the barricade shook violently as hideous howling could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Just get them out! Get them out!" he snarled as he slammed down the cell phone and stood pointing his gun towards the door as the door buckled, after a moment it fell in and a single shot ran out.

Inside a black SUV, a women and her child were quietly weeping as the driver sped carelessly through the city towards the evacuation point with great haste, as he looked back he grinned and offered the women a wink.

"Don't worry madam we'll get you out of this hellhole just you..." The man's words were cut off as the vehicle hit a carelessly abandoned car in the middle of the road, the SUV flipped and went over on its side skidding along the road sending up sparks as it slid across the road and colliding with a lamppost before stopping.

"Fucking hell," Aeron said as he stood breathing heavily as he looked at the overturned vehicle, it had barely missed him when it had slid onto the pavement and hit the lamppost. It was as he was about to make the last dash to the park that he heard the sound coming from within the vehicle. A small child's cries for help.

Cursing under his breath he turned and set Yukiko down on her feet telling her not to move, he quickly looked into the SUV through the sunroof and saw a small figure in the back seat. It took three sturdy kicks to shatter the glass of the sunroof and as he lent down to look inside he saw the mangled body of the women and the slumped over figure of the driver, it didn't take a medical degree to see both were dead. Looking up at Aeron with tear-filled eyes a small pale boy sat, a nasty bruise adorned his forehead but otherwise he looked to have escaped injury from the collision. Without a word the teenager grabbed the boy and pulled him out from the wreckage. It was as he turned to pick Yukiko up that he saw the man, he was big and burly and wore a pair of jeans and a blood-covered white t-shirt.

The man made to sink his teeth into the shoulder of the boy in Aeron's arm but missed when the teenaged violently shoved his shoulder into the man's face, the sharp pricking pain in his shoulder was totally blocked out as adrenaline coursed through his body.

The black eyes and demonic grin told Aeron what to do next as he let out a sharp kick to the newcomers stomach before scooping up his sister and running with a child tucked under each arm, it was slow going with both the children but Aeron had youth and luck on his side for even as he raced down the street he could hear the screams and howls behind him die down.

As he made it to the gates of the park he could see a crowd of people blocking the way all screaming and calling for help as a group of soldiers kept them back, only three helicopters remained and the seats were filling fast. Aeron ignored his sympathetic nature and kicked and pushed his way through the throng of people to the front of the crowd.

"Please! I have children, you have to let us on!" He called with his voice being drowned out by the mass of voices around him. It was several moments later that he started to feel odd….His shoulder felt cold and a bizarre buzzing sound bore into his skull.

"Sasuke" A voice broke the mind-numbing buzzing as Aeron saw a young soldier in an officers uniform before him beckon him forwards. It was as the young boy in his arms look at the officer that he moved for the first time since he'd been picked up, struggling free he fell to the floor and raced over to the young man hugging his leg tightly.

"Itachi." The boy called Sasuke cried as he clung to the man's leg with a deathly grip, Aeron watched the other man kneel down and hug the boy in a heartwarming scene. Yet in the back of Aeron' head, a sudden desire to boot the crouched man in the head popped into his head.

"My mother?" The young officer named Itachi asked and when Aeron shook his head the raven-haired man looked down sorrowfully before standing up and pointing towards one of the helicopters. As the pair carried the two children over to the helicopter a tense silence was broken when over the radio of the closest chopper a voice called out in alarm.

"Don't let them bite you! Don't even let them touch you! One bite, one tiny scratch and you're done for!"

Aeron stopped in his tracks and stood stiff as a board as sudden desire to toss his sister into the air came to his mind, he wondered what would happen when she went up into the whirling blades of the helicopter. It was a dark moment that passed as quickly as it came as he forced his legs to keep moving, as he came to the door of the helicopter the officer named Itachi had already climb up and buckled his younger brother into one of the center seats, as Aeron passed his sister up into the Itachi's hands the teenager felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He watched as the raven strapped his sister into the seat by Sasuke, her eyes were looking at him with a sad smile on her face and a hand extended out towards him.

"Come on this is the last chopper," Itachi called as he meant to help him climb aboard, Aeron turned and looked at the crowd.

"What about them?" He asked a slight slurring to his words. Itachi glanced over at the crowd and shook his head.

"Can't take them all, not enough room and we can't afford any of the infected getting on-board," Itachi spoke in a placid manner as he signaled for the soldiers to board the helicopters. The raven looked confused as Aeron shook his head and took a step back causing Yukiko to scream out his name.

"Sorry, Little Star….I can't come with you." Aeron said as he slipped his hand under his shirt and revealed the bite wound on his shoulder, already the skin was growing pale and the veins were pulsating through the skin growing black.

Itachi saw this and pulled a sidearm out pointing it at his brother savior with a trembling hand.

"Please look after her…." Aeron looked at Itachi as he started to back away whilst the soldiers brushed passed him to jump into the helicopter. The raven nodded even as his gun was still pointed at the retreating teenager. "We have family overseas…Lane….Look for the Lane's of….Lessport" Aeron was finding it hard to think as he felt himself slipping away, it was like a drain was opening up in his mind and his thoughts were been drained away replaced with much darker ideas.

As he slipped into the crowd he fell to his knees as a gap in the press of bodies opened up around him, he coughed and spat out blood as his eyes started to itch. It was the talking around him that made him look back, two of the three helicopters had taken off but the last with Yukiko in it was still grounded. A solitary soldier now stood trying to hold the crowd back with his rifle as he tried to edge his way back towards the chopper, the soldiers were unwilling to leave their comrade behind and then if the man turned to run for the chopper the crowd would bolt for the helicopter in blind panic.

Aeron could hear the soldiers calling for their friend, he could hear the crowd begging for help and the whirling blades of the chopper were boring into the teen's skull...It made his hands twitch as violet thoughts beckoned. Then he stood bolt upright and turned on his feet striding towards the solider, he could see the young mans fear and the shaking barrel of the gun as his hands shook from fright. As Aeron stopped less than a foot away from the man he heard the crowd behind him start to move, it happened in a flash as Aeron grabbed the rifle and turned firing indiscriminately into the press of bodies sending several to the floor. A second burst of fire sent the crowd scuttling back. A perverse pleasure flowed through Aerons body as his mouth grinned insanely.

"I suggest you get on that chopper and fuck off now pussy boy…." Aeron spoke in a jovial manner as he let another burst of fire out of the gun. The young soldier stood for a moment before racing for the helicopter where it lifted off into the sky and into safety.

Sighing heavily Aeron dropped the rifle as he heard the clicking of the empty chamber…

"You killed my brother! I'm going to kill you, you fucking bastard." A man called out as he stood amidst the crowd. Several more sneering calls came but nobody made a move towards Aeron as he rocked back and forth on his feet. After a few moments his voice came out slurred like a drunkard.

"You know, I'm trying to decide if I should sodomize his corpse or not?" Aerons words were chuckled like a naughty schoolboy as he took a step forwards looking up at the crowd with solid black eyes. "You know at eighteen I've still not had any soft pink to slid into, but he should still be nice and warm shouldn't he?" The crowd backed off as another step came. "Or maybe I should just try your holes" Aeron started to giggle as he watched the crowd race off in terror, at the other end of the Park another crowd of figures were coming towards him. He didn't need to look to know they weren't normal, it was like a little voice in his head… It was telling him to let go and devolve into the monster it wanted him to be, it promised to indulge him with all his taboo desires. It was on the brink of him sliding into the dark pits of his mind that he caught a final glance of the helicopter above him rising into the harsh glare of the sun, an image burned its way into his mind. A small outstretched hand and a name... 'Aeron Lane, Aeron Lane, AERON LANE'

Aeron grabbed a baseball bat from one of the corpses close by and charged into the approaching crowd of fellow monsters, he swung wildly and gleefully as he heard the breaking of bones and the snapping of sinew, he felt a pain as he was bitten and clawed at by them. He spat insults and curses at them as he head-butted and bite at them when the baseball bat was taken from him. He felt arousal as he grabbed one man by the neck and with a sharp yank and twist heard his neck snap, yet the crowd engulfed him and he fell to the floor as the press of bodies around him lashed out with boots and makeshift clubs.

High above a small frightened girl watched all this in terror as she cried out for her big brother, her eyes kept the park and the figure in sight for as long as they could as the helicopter raced off eastward away from Konohagakure.

Yukiko Maki cried and cried as her world and her life was changed forever and a dark taint took root in the Land of Fire.

TBC

Fenribane - YaoiTora as the first reviewer you gain a special prize. A zombie apocalypse you ask? Try looking up Dario Argento Demons and you'll get more of an idea what these monsters are like... It will be a bloody, terrifying journey with a gross misuse of smut and foul language but I'm sure we'll all be fine, after all were not tainted are we?