This is an untitled drabble based on askerian (on livejournal)'s Sakura + axe drabble about zombies. :D
It was just too cool not to want to add some myself.
Konohamaru sniffed and met Iruka's eyes via the rear window of the SUV. His face was pale, clammy and his eyes were red-rimmed. Iruka wished he had the time to pull over and reassure his student, but navigating the deserted, abandoned-car packed highway was hard enough on top of looking out for anything – everything – that moved. Something that moved could be as simple as a deer that he would have to avoid, or it could be…
He didn't want to think about it. He hadn't wanted to think about it since he'd called Konohamaru's aunt to ask her to pick him up. He was sick, he shouldn't be in school. Her answer had been to send Ebisu-san, since she, too, was feeling under the weather. Only Ebisu-san…
Iruka swallowed, and slowed down to allow himself a moment to close his eyes. Then Konohamaru screamed, and there was one of them, right outside the window. It scrabbled at the shatter-proof glass. God, Mizuki had laughed his ass off when Iruka had first driven onto school grounds in the SUV. Shatterproof glass, seating for seven – or three, if you had a lot of stuff to carry – Are you kidding me? Can you say 'soccer mom'? I bet you stick your hand out when you have stop, too!
Iruka grit his teeth, ignored the shaking in his hands, and picked up the shotgun in the passenger seat. The car came in handy now. He took aim through the window, and fired. Blood and brain matter flecked his face when the stranger's head exploded and Konohamaru shrieked again. Apparently, shatterproof didn't mean bullet proof, which was fortunate since whatever was running their bodies, it wasn't a brain. Already, he could see the body rising.
He gunned the engine and drove on. No more stopping. No matter how tired he was. Konohamaru was still sick, after all.
"Where are we going?" Konohamaru asked.
"I own a cabin in the woods. It should still be stocked from the last time I was there. It's the safest place I can think of." Free of people, it was free of them.They'd be safe there. And if whatever had taken Ebisu had taken hold of Konohamaru… then no one else would be in danger either.
Iruka didn't dare even think of Naruto, couldn't consider searching him out, couldn't put him in danger. He'd be in enough danger already. Instead, he used one hand to root around in the glove compartment. He had a box of Kleenex in there somewhere.
"Why?" Konohamaru asked. "What about Moegi, and Udon? How are they gonna find us? They weren't in school today."
"The cabin has wi-fi. If they can get internet access- you have their emails, right?" Carefully, he wiped blood and brain matter and tiny slivers of bone off his face.
"Yeah," Konohamaru said, and wiped his running nose. "What if- what if I'm sick?"
"You are sick, Konohamaru. You'll get better."
"But what if I don't? What if I turn into… into one of them?" Konohamaru was scared, rightly.
Iruka said, "I've been a teacher long enough to recognize the flu when I see it, Konohamaru. You'll be fine."
He thought, I'll kill you, burn your body, and never forgive myself. And I'll never be able to look Naruto in the eye ever again.
He drove on. Thinking about it wouldn't make Konohamaru any better.