Naruto had stopped about fifteen miles outside Prescott on the side of the road. He began to set up a small camp for the night although sleep was never usually obtained. He started a fire with the skill of a wood's man and rustled up some canned food for dinner. Once satisfied and starting to feel the tug of sleep, the blonde settled down on his sleeping bag with his back against a rock. There he began to write in his journal about the day's events.
Somebody,
Today was just like every other day. I made it to Arizona, but it's pretty much deserted. No sign of living people or tracks to indicate otherwise. The town of Prescott held little supplies and was pretty run down. Zombies were in limited numbers surprisingly.
I noticed I was a little distracted today. Hinata kept popping up into my mind randomly. It's almost been two years since her death and I think it's starting to affect me. Losing the child and her has been plaguing my mind recently. I think it's the loneliness starting to set in. I need to find someone, anyone.
I just think-
Naruto became aware of a noise to his left. Crack, thud, moan. He picked up his hand gun from beside him and switched the safety off silently. He stood quickly with both gun and flash light raised, scanning the area around him.
There. Lying on the ground was a man. Naruto moved forward to see his face a little clearer. The man was not a zombie, not a creature, but a human. He was around his age of twenty-two with dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail above his head. He was smugly smiling at him like he knew something the other did not.
The cocking of a gun came next and the blonde realized the sound was right in the back of his head, barrel touching his scalp.
"Now what do we have here. Put the gun down, Blondie." The person behind him said, digging the gun harder against his scalp. Naruto concluded from the deep, smooth voice that his other capture was indeed male and dropped his gun to the floor.
The other man pulled himself from the ground where he had been waiting out the events and dusted himself off. Naruto noted the dark denim and dark gray shirt he was wearing with little interest, but did not move a muscle in the effort to not be shot.
"That's better, but stay where you are." The man with the gun at his head stated, never making the move to lower the weapon. "Check it out, Shika."
Naruto caught the name at the ending and watched as the name called Shika went through his belongings. Nothing seemed to catch the man's interest as his pushed things aside, finally settling to go through his food storage bag. There wasn't a lot of food, but enough for him to last awhile.
"He's got some, but not much," Shikamaru stated, packing the bag back up gently. Food was hard to come by these days.
"You can have it," Naruto stated, still not moving from his spot. His eyes were glued on the man before him. After almost two years he was seeing and speaking with a live person, and not just one. There were survivors like him. Granted, one had a gun leaving a bruise on the back of his head, but he could work with what he had.
Shikamaru noted him with interested, but glanced back to the man behind him. He nodded once and Naruto felt the gun leave his head. He started to slowly smile at the kindness before he was slammed on the back of his head. He fell to his knees in a gasp and the world started to spin as he hit the ground.
"That might have been a little too hard, Sasuke."
His eyes slipped closed and lost consciousness.
Naruto felt like he was flying. He was soaring and twisting along, dunking in and out of clouds on his extremely bumpy ride. He flew up high and crashed down into another cloud, but instead of falling through he hit it and bounced off. And Again.
He jerked awake suddenly, blinking his eyes to adjust to the bright sun light outside the window. Wait, window? Naruto began to panic, finding his wrists tied in front of him and the steady bumping along of the dodge truck he was in. The alignment was out, which he could tell from the constant bumping on the smooth road.
"Your awake," A man he never saw, but recognized the voice of was sitting next to him driving. The man, Sasuke, he remember his name being before he blacked out never took his eyes from the road.
Sasuke was beautiful. He was a little messed up from the constant on the road living, but his features were to die for. Dark eyes and dark, silky looking hair faired nicely with smooth porcelain skin. Naruto had never been into guys, but from the looks of the one before him, he wouldn't mind trying.
An image of his wife passed through his mind and silenced those thoughts.
"Yeah, I was pretty sure I would be dead," Naruto muttered back, tugging his wrist restraints in annoyance.
Sasuke glanced from the road for only a moment, but did not speak. Instead, Shikamaru leaned forward from the back seat of the 4x4 and cut the bonds with his pocket knife, being extra careful to not cut either of them on the bumpy ride. "I wouldn't let him. I figured you could have some use for us." He settled back into his seat.
Naruto grimaced, so apparently he was supposed to be dead at the hands of this Sasuke guy. He rubbed his aching wrists gently and watched the raven-haired man from the corner of his eye. "and if I don't prove to be useful?" he asked.
"I'll shoot you myself," Sasuke supplied, face unreadable. He took one hand off of the steering wheel and made a gun, placing the fingertip at Naruto. They made eye contact just as Sasuke said the words, 'Bang'. Then he dropped his hand like nothing happened.
Naruto gulped.
"Don't let Sasuke scare you, he's intimidating. What's your name anyway?" Shikamaru asked, resuming his relaxed position of lying across the seats in the back.
Naruto turned his gaze outside the window, watching the scenery pass by. He was amazed that the truck still had air conditioning, which he noticed was blowing from the vents. "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."
"Ah, well it's nice to meet you, Naruto. As you know, the one next to you is Sasuke Uchiha, or the asshole to many and I am Shikamaru Nara. Most call me Shika though."
"Most? There's more of you?" Naruto whipped his head around so fast he thought he had whiplash. Surprise was written all over his face as he turned to look at the other man in the back, causing Sasuke to reach for his gun out of instinct. When nothing happened and Naruto told him to calm down, he released.
Shikamaru smiled. "Yeah, about twenty-two. You make twenty-three."
Naruto realized then that he had found survivors, or at least, they had found him. After all of his searching and wandering, he finally found other humans, alive.
About a half hour later, Sasuke pulled the truck into a paved pathway. He entered a code into the scanner outside of his window and glanced around the truck before hitting 'enter'. Naruto noticed the gate closed behind the truck almost as quickly as it opened. They had a compound from the looks of it.
It was a warehouse of some sort with people armed on the roof. Nothing fancy, but it looked well protected by the people around. Naruto heard a noise from the right and noticed a small playground with a few children running around playing. Some stopped to wave at the truck. Parents were close by and armed, just to be safe.
Once they reached the warehouse, Sasuke pulled the truck around and began to back it up. He pressed on the horn to notify someone to open the loading door, but nothing happened. He continued to press, but the door never lifted. Finally he reached over, startling Naruto as he threw open the glove box and barked into the hand held radio. "Kiba, you stupid mutt, open the fucking door."
Silence rained over the truck for a moment, before the crackling radio came to life. "Chill out, Uchiha. I was out," The warehouse door began to lift behind them. "Alright, princess, bring it in."
Sasuke growled and slammed the radio away, backing the truck into the open door way. Naruto noticed several people standing around inside, looking at him in surprise. Sasuke and Shikamaru both exited from their respective doors, only Sasuke staying near to look at the other. "Hey Blondie, you going to get out? We don't bite."
Naruto nodded his head and pushed up the door, sliding from the seat. He slammed it behind him as Sasuke began barking orders at people to take things from the truck bed. Naruto smiled at the group gathering around him and scratched the back of his head in nervous habit.
"Hi, I'm Naruto." He greeted when no one spoke.
Finally, a bubblegum pink haired girl latched onto him in a hug. "Welcome Naruto, we're glad to have you," she murmured, but the others seemed to agree. She released him with a smile. "I'm Sakura." She then stood back and introduced the other girl with her. "This is Ino."
Naruto was surprised to be hugged by the other girl, but smiled none the less. He had missed interacting with other people very much. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you."
Before anything else could occur, Sasuke walked by carrying some equipment to give to the girls and then ordered Naruto to follow him. The blonde gave no fight as he did and waited for instruction, clearly respecting Sasuke as the leader.
He was surprised when he reached the back end of the dodge and came face to face with his motorcycle and personal belongs. He was positive Sasuke had left them with his body in the dessert. Seeing as his body was not left out to rot, he could see why his belongs were not either.
"Help me get this thing down," Sasuke pushed the heavy bike toward the end and Naruto reached out to bring it safely to the ground. Together, they got the bike and Naruto's belongs out of the truck.
"Thanks," Naruto stated as he leaned against the open bed of the truck, Sasuke standing next to him. The raven just nodded his head in acknowledgement, but said nothing. Naruto continued, "Listen, I know you didn't have to bring me and all, but I'm glad you did. I can help out. Starting with your piece of shit truck."
Sasuke turned a hateful glare in Naruto's direction, causing the Naruto to break out in joyful laughter. Men and their toys. "Alright, I've got to admit you've kept it nice, but it needs some serious internal work. You got a mechanic around here?"
Sasuke snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "I must be stupid. I forgot to hand select my survivor's to include a mechanic for my truck when the world is ending. Well fuck me."
Naruto grinned, "You offering?"
Sasuke glared once more, deadly.
"I meant for me to be your mechanic. Not to be conceded at all, but I'm damn good." Naruto flashed the stupid grin, and Sasuke gave in.
"Be whatever you want to be, but you better prove to be useful or the threat still stands," Sasuke stated, pushing off the truck and heading into the compound.
Somehow the threat no longer scared Naruto.