Chapter 2:

Survival to the Fittest

I awoke with Steve licking my face. I groaned and pushed his face aside, "Stop it, Steve!" I cried aloud, wanting to get more sleep. I almost forgot about the whole outbreak. Steve wouldn't stop licking my face and tugging on my shirt so I finally sighed and stood up. I looked down. I was on top of a call center building. Nothing was there…but I knew that they were there, just hiding in the dark corners. They were somehow smart enough to do that.

My stomach growled.

"Damn, I'm hungry" I said and looked over at Steve, "Are you hungry too, boy? Is that why you're annoying me so much?"

Without getting any response (not that I was expecting a response from a dog), I took my rifle that I found by luck on the streets. Of course, I also had a knife. I didn't want to make too much noise or else I'll be dead meat.

I walked towards the door which was heavily chained by my doing. I started to make the chain loose and slowly dropped it down the floor. Steve was the first one to get out. I was surprised to how Steve got so accustomed to the situation. It was like he actually understood how life was now. It wasn't easy. For a few days, he would get wild when he sees those things but now, he seemed calmer, more used to it. But that doesn't mean he doesn't know they're a real danger.

First, he would sniff around for them. When he knew that one or two are close by, he would growl but not bark. He attacked when he needed to and ran when needed to. What am I trying to say in short is that German Shepherds are genius guard dogs—or maybe my Steve is just the genius one here.

As Steve slowly descended the stairs with me (not particularly smart to use the elevator, now), he growled. I ducked down immediately. It gave me a false security that maybe they won't be able to see me if I duck down. Well, that's stupid but I'm only human! Bare with me, would ya?

I saw the zombie. It was down below the desk and was eating some rat. Seriously, I didn't want to eat anymore after seeing that. When I saw the zombie, the zombie saw me and it stood up, completely forgetting the rat he was eating and was running towards us.

"Steve!" I called out and the dog immediately ran up towards the zombie and bit it's leg. The zombie fell down and I hurriedly ran to it, sat on top of it and stabbed it in the forehead. It was dead. That was how me and Steve operated. We started going down the stairs once again, our pace a little bit hurried. When we weren't able to come across one of them, I sighed in relief. We were already on the ground floor and the door to outside was just in front of us. The sun was out, but it wasn't so safe to walk around in the sun.

Remember I told you that these things hide in the shade? They're just waiting for you to come out, think it's safe and before you know it, you're being chased by fast, strong, and hungry zombies. So it's better if you are in the shade with them…well, in a way it doesn't make you an easy target. You get my point, right?

From afar, I see a grocery store. I started thinking of the possible ways to get there without being seen. There was a building that had a dark corner and a few abandoned cars that could lead to the grocery store. "Follow me Steve, okay?" I said while petting the head of my dog. He whimpered.

We started off at the nearest abandoned car and we hid behind, just hoping that maybe a zombie won't see us. I looked around—it was eerily quiet. I still wasn't quite used to it. To a city like Konoha, the streets are always busy and there are a lot of city noises. Not now though…it was deserted and there was no sound except for the warm wind.

I managed to zigzag along different abandoned cars as fast as possible before they could see anything. I stopped at the last car and was about to run towards the building when I heard the noises. There was talking!

"There! Can you see the grocery store? We can get just about a month of supply!" it was a man's voice. Then there another one from a girl, "I don't know, Shikimaru"

My heart started to get faster and faster. It was the first time in a long time that I've heard actual human voices! I peeked over the car and saw that they were about to run for it when I quickly made a noise, "Pst! Hey!" I whispered.

They noticed me immediately and pointed a gun at me. Then, they finally realized that I wasn't one of those things. The man, 'Shikimaru' was tan, lean, and tall. He wore a grey shirt that had clear sweat around it—probably stinks of sweat—and his hair was tied like a ponytail at the back. The girl had long blond hair that was also ponytail-ed. She had bangs that was loose and dropped at the side of her face. She was wearing a black tank top and shorts. They also seemed to be unarmed since they only had knives with them.

I motioned for them to come near and duck down. They hurriedly came and noticed Steve too. Steve growled and when he noticed they were humans, he stopped. They immediately eyed the rifle I had. "Are you alone?" Shikimaru asked.

"No, I have a dog" I furrowed my eyebrows like they were being stupid or something, "Are you making for the grocery store?"

The girl nodded, "Yeah, we've been on the look-out for food in days!"

"Shh, keep your voice down. They can see us" I said, "They lurk in the shadows so don't just run off like that in the sun"

Shikimaru looked confused, "What do you mean? This place is deserted and here you are, hiding"

I rolled my eyes at him, "Trust me on this! This isn't as safe as it looks. Is it just both of you?"

Both nodded, "Okay, I'm Sakura by the way" I said, "You see that building over there? You see that there's a dark corner?"

"I'm Shikamaru and this is Ino" Shikamaru said, "and yeah, we see that. Do we make a run for it?" he asked.

"Yeah, make sure you run as light as a bird, got it?"

They both nodded. I counted with my fingers to three then all four of us—including Steve of course—made a light run for it. My heart pounded, expecting something to see us and make a run at us…but there was nothing.

"Are we really doing this? We look fucking stupid" Shikamaru said.

Ino groaned, "Just quit it, would ya? I'd rather do this than do your stupid idea of making a run for it! I swear I thought that we were being watched you know? I could feel it"

I stopped on my heels. Maybe they were observing us…seeing what we could do…

I shook the thought off my head, "Okay, from here, we make a final run at the grocery store. To be safe, close the door and lock it"

"But what if there are zombies on the inside?" Ino asked.

"Then we'll kill them all. Besides, it's just a small grocery" I replied. I counted to three with my fingers once again and all of us made a run for it. We immediately went inside the grocery and was met by three zombies. One zombie aimed for Shikamaru and pinned him on a wall.

"Shit! Help!" he had released his knife from shock, "Steve!" I called out and Steve managed to bite the zombies leg, trying to pry him off Shikamaru. Ino was being chased by a zombie as she ran around the small grocery store and knocking things off, making A LOT of noises.

"Shit!" I cried out. A zombie was coming after me and I immediately ducked, rolled between the zombies two legs, got back up and turned towards it. Her head turned slowly from left, then to the right as if she was examining me. She smiled. It gave me chills down my spine. She had missing teeth and the teeth she had now looked sharp and green.

It ran after me as I ran towards Shikamaru to help him. I quickly stabbed the zombie at the back of his head and Shikamaru sprawled on the floor and took his knife. I turned and saw the zombie was closing in on me, I leaned on the wall, focusing all my energy on my right leg and when it came closer, I kicked it back with all my might, letting it fall to the floor with a loud thud. I immediately stabbed it on the forehead with my knife. Steve went after the zombie that was chasing Ino and all of a sudden, there was a knife being thrown and a headshot at the zombie. I looked over at Shikamaru that was behind me. He grinned, "You're not the only one with skills"

I was about to say something witty back but Steve started barking at the door. There were a dozen zombies trying to get in the grocery store, "Shit!" I cried out.

"Okay, grab as much food as you can and I'll find a way out!" I cried at them and they immediately complied, too stunned to even complain. I ran around the grocery store, finding some hiding spot or something. Please, please, please just let us get lucky for once!

I saw an emergency in case of fire glass and broke it. I found an axe and thought that it'd be useful someday. Then I found two gas tanks below the cashier desk. An idea popped inside my mind immediately. "Are you guys done?" I cried out.

"Almost!" Ino answered.

"Hurry! They're not getting any lesser!" I cried back.

I started getting the tank out. It was a bit heavy, but not too heavy that I couldn't carry it anymore. They were more like mini gas tanks. I set them up standing and facing right in front of the glass door. Steve still kept barking. Ino and Shikamaru went up to me and in hand were two bags of food and water, "Okay, I have a plan" I said, "I want you to get to the back part of this store now and bring Steve with you!"

"What are you planning to do?" Shikamaru asked as Ino took Steve with his leash and they went to the corner of the grocery store.

"I'm going to roll this tank up there and while it's going to roll I'm going to shoot at the glass, make it break and when it's out there, shoot at the gas tank and boom, they all burn!" I said excitedly.

"Wouldn't that make too much noise?" Shikamaru asked.

I groaned, "Is this really the time to think about that when we're on the verge of life and death?!"

I felt Shikamaru roll his eyes at me then jogged towards Ino. Then, turning the tank to its side, I rolled the tank, shooting at the glass door. The glass went down just in time for the tank to completely roll in the outside. I shot at it as much as possible before the zombies would come in and…boom.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion as I watched the zombies go up in flames. I was about to duck when in the corner of my eye, something was coming right at me and hit me in the head and the next thing I knew, I was engulfed in complete and total darkness.

Hillrise Street,Konoha City

"Liutenant Sasuke" Sasuke broke off from his nap and turned to his comrade, Naruto. Sasuke groaned and thought that he was being annoying again. "What?" he snarled at him.

"A loud sound was heard just at the other side of the city, sir" he replied, oblivious to how he annoys Sasuke so much, "Should we go there and check out the commotion?"

"No, there's probably lots of them there by now" Sasuke replied.

"But what if there are survivors out there? Aren't we supposed to help them?" Naruto asked.

"I'm the Liutenant here Sergeant Naruto, do as I say. I won't risk our lives for them" Sasuke replied, "These zombies already infiltrated the military bases and we got nowhere to go, it's obvious that we are no exception to surviving this hellhole"

Naruto looked down, disappointed and thought that he could have saved people today. Sasuke looked at Naruto and pitied him. The boy wanted to be a hero but these days, heroes aren't heroes anymore. Then Naruto looked up at Sasuke with that determined expression in his face, "Sir, with all due respect, the last order we were given was to save every fucking human out there. Those were the last words of your father. Don't you think we should honor it?"

Jesus fucking Christ, this kid doesn't stop does he? He even goes all the way to making me feel guilty. Sasuke thought. He tsk'ed and knocked on the glass to get the attention of the driver, "Sergeant Neji, we're going to the other side of this city. Try and locate where the noise could have been. If we don't find anyone there, we move on immediately"

Neji simply nodded then took a quick right turn. Sasuke glared at Naruto that had a big grin on his face, "Happy?" Sasuke rolled his eyes at him.

Konoha City Grocery Store

"Mom?" I said aloud, looking at the ashes that covered my whole house. Everything was broken but I couldn't see their bodies. I went up the stairs. The thought that maybe they're upstairs just suddenly hit me. I was able to make it up the hall. I looked down on the living room again and then there they were…

They were sitting on the couch. How come I didn't notice that? They weren't there before. I was about to go down when there was a loud creak. Probably the wood. When I looked back at my parents, both of them were looking at me. I gasped.

They had red eyes and rotting skin…They were like the zombies except they had red eyes.

"Sa-ku-ra?" my mother said in a raspy voice.

"M-mom?"

Then they both stood up and made a run for me. I screamed and ran towards my room and locking it. I sat down, my back on the door. They banged on the door. I covered my ears, hoping that maybe they would go away with this.

"Come out" that same raspy voice echoed throughout the room.

"It's not that bad. Just give it up and come out" It gave me chills down my spine. I screamed, "Stop! Leave me alone!"

"Screaming won't do much" he said. He sounded more angry. What scared me the most was that feeling that he was everywhere as his voice echoed throughout the room, or maybe it just echoed in my head. This can't be real, right? This can't be!

"You know, I'm not going anywhere" he laughed. It was an ugly and evil laugh, "Let me eat you, Sa-ku-ra" he said my name, just the same way that my mother said mine.

"Wake up, Sakura!"he cried out, sounding so angry, "Wake up and let me eat you!"

"Sakura!"

"Wake up, Sakura!"

My eyes jolted open and in front of me were thousands of zombies trying to catch up to us. I also noticed that I was in the back of a truck. I looked up and I was met with blond hair. Ino?

"Thank God your awake! We got lucky! Shikimaru was able to find this nearby truck! You know how hard it was to drag you?"

I felt an ache in the right side of my head when I tried to get up, "What the fuck happened to me?"

"You were hit by a flying metal stick. Thank goodness you didn't die!" Ino replied.

I forced myself to get up and took my rifle that hung behind me, "They're closing in on us!"

"Hurry! Drive faster Shikamaru!" Ino cried. Shikamaru looked at his side mirror and hit the accelerator even harder. We were passing buildings in a blur and they were getting farther away. I looked at the side, expecting zombies to come out of them but instead I swore I saw a military truck driving right next to us.

"Shikamaru!" I cried, "Stir to the right side!" Shikamaru obeyed and we turned to a sharp right. Shikamaru must have seen the car too since he turned straight again and there we were at the tail of the car, "Keep following them until they stop!"

My head was pounding and I could feel everything start to blur for me once again. Ino looked worried at me, "It's because you stood up too fast and ignored your health"

"Yeah, I guess" then I looked around, "Where's Steve?" my heart was starting to beat fast.

"He's with Shikamaru at the front seat" Ino said, "We couldn't leave your dog"

I sighed with relief and smiled at Ino, "Thanks. He's the only family I've got"

"You're lucky you still have a family" Ino replied.

"I guess I am" I said. Ino looked down and smiled sadly up at me, "You should get some rest. You probably have a huge migraine right now"

I groaned, "Yeah, I actually do. It's killing me" I laughed a little. I leaned on the side and slowly closed my eyes, hoping that I won't get the same nightmare that I just had. Better if I didn't dream at all.

3 hours later.

There were voices. They were quite blurry, like they were from a distant. I slowly opened my eyes. I saw the blue sky and a random thought entered in my head, thinking how such a beauty could exist in this world of hell. I slowly stood up.

"Sakura!" Ino cried, "How's your head?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine" I replied. I looked around and saw 3 men. One had blond hair, just like Ino's but more orange, he had the bluest eyes and had weird scars on his cheeks that made it look like whiskers. Another had amazingly long, brown hair and had white eyes. He looked blind but it didn't seem like it since he was wearing a military uniform. He also had the palest skin. The last one though…he made my heart fasten for some odd reason. I never had this feeling before. He had amazing onyx eyes that matched his black hair that seemed to be in an odd style. His skin was pale but not too pale like the other one. He was tall and lean and had that military vibe around him. I thought it was absolutely sexy.

"I am Sergeant Naruto," the blond haired boy said, "This is Sergeant Neji" he gestured at the white-eyed boy, "And this is Lieutenant Sasuke"

"Nice to meet all of you" I muttered.

"We heard a loud noise back there, was that your doing?" Naruto asked.

I nodded my head, "We had to or else we were dead meat"

"Well, I guess you guys got lucky" Neji said, "We should find some shelter, it's almost sun down"

"Right" Naruto nodded.

"Sergeant Naruto, Neji, I need to talk to you both" Sasuke said for the first time. Both nodded and followed him away from us. He had that husky voice that just made me tingle all over.

"What a hunk, don't you think?" Ino giggled. I laughed.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "You women still don't change even when there's a freakin' zombie apocalypse"

I laughed even more at the comment. It's been a while since I haven't laughed this much, "We can't help it Shikimaru!"

He groaned and leaned his back on the truck, "They should take us to their base. I bet it's much safer there"

"Yeah, you're right" I replied, "We should talk to them about that. It looks like they come from a long way though"

They came back to us, "Let's go seek some shelter. You follow us" Neji said and with that the 3 of them went inside their car and started the engine. Shikimaru hurriedly went back inside the car and Ino stepped inside the back with me.

We followed them.

"I hate the dark" Ino said, "Even when I was a kid, I got so scared when it was dark, I couldn't even turn off all the lights in my own room. And now, things got worse…I'm even more afraid"

"Then how do you sleep at night now?" I asked.

"Shikamaru cuddles with me" she giggled and I saw her blush a little.

My one eyebrow went up and grinned, "Sure it's just cuddling?"

Ino laughed, "Sakura! I didn't think that you would think about such things!"

"Oh stop being such a lady" I laughed.

Once the laughing died down a little, Ino looked at me in a soft stare, "Thank you for saving me and Shikamaru even though you didn't need to"

"What are you talking about? Of course I needed to" I replied, "There's probably a lot of survivors out there and we all need each other. That's the only way we're ever going to survive"

Ino looked down, "Yeah, you're right"

"Well, how did you and Shikamaru meet each other anyway?" I asked, trying to change the grim subject. Ino looked up at me and smiled, "It was the day of the outbreak. I was shopping. I mean, I needed to shop cause shopping just made me a little bit happier. I crashed into him and all my shopping bags fell and I was just so angry" she laughed, "And he looked so nerdy with that grey shirt and a plaid polo shirt that he tied around his waist, plus, he had glasses. Talk about no fashion sense!"

We both laughed, "Then the outbreak started and people were screaming and running around inside the mall. I was so shocked, I thought he would just leave me there but he didn't. While I was picking up my things I remember he told me, 'Stop that and let's go—also, ditch the heels!'"

"He seriously said that?" I giggled. Ino nodded, "Yeah, I got even more angry but I listened to him. I ditched the heels and he took my hand and we ran away, got out of the mall and a few months later, we got along pretty well"

I smiled, "I wish I had met someone that day of the outbreak"

"You got Steve remember?" Ino smiled back at me.

"Well someone that could actually talk to me" I replied.

Ino laughed at that, "It's better than being alone out there"

The car stopped and we ended up in this big hotel. It was called Cascade Hotel. I got out of the car with Ino. Shikamaru opened the passenger door and out came Steve. A smile grew on my face and I bent down and hugged him, "Hi Steve! Did you miss me?" he licked my face and whimpered, "I know you're hungry boy! We'll eat soon!"

Ino took out a bag and looked at her confused, "We had 3 bags, how come there's one?"

"Like I said, it wasn't exactly easy to drag you to the truck you know? We had to leave the bags" Ino replied. I sighed, "Alright, I guess we could work with that"

"You have a dog?" Sasuke spoke to me. I looked up at him and felt my face flush.

"Yeah, I do" I replied. Sasuke groaned, "What a nuisance"

My jaw dropped. He DID NOT just say what I think he said. My blood boiled. So much for a hunky guy and yet what a douche! I sighed, what a waste!

"Asshole" I muttered.

I noticed that the 3 of them were light on their feet no matter how muscular they were and probably had a lot of weight in their uniforms. They had flashlights on their guns so that they could see in the dark. It was also good that they had silencers in their guns. Well, as a military men, they should be prepared.

"We should get up the roof. That way, we could see our surroundings better in the morning" I said.

"Good idea" Naruto whispered.

"Steve, Shikimaru, Ino, you guys are with me" I said and the four of us went upstairs.

"First floor" I whispered. It was completely dark and we couldn't see a thing while our eyes were adjusting. A few minutes later though our eyes adjusted, just in time for Steve to growl.

"Shikamaru, be alert! There's a zombie lurking around" I said since he was the one behind me and behind him was Ino. All of a sudden a zombie came charging towards Shikamaru but I was able to stab it behind the head before it could even touch him.

"Nice one, Sakura" Shikamaru said.

"Look out, there might be more" I said. I heard the fast footsteps of the other group.

"We'll cover your back" Naruto said, "Keep going up"

We were able to kill a few zombies as possible and hurried our pace until we reached the rooftop. I twisted the knob but it was locked. Shit!

"Is there a problem here? Why the hell are we not moving?" Sasuke said.

Impatient bastard.

"Make way" I said and they stood a few inches away from me. I kicked the door but it wouldn't budge. I kicked it again, still, nothing. "Fuck"

"Woman, you don't know how to ask for help, do you?" Sasuke snarled and walked up to me. He pushed me aside and with one kick of leg, the door flung open and we were met by cold, fresh air. We immediately moved inside.

Fortunately, we weren't able to encounter any zombies on the rooftop. They really rarely hang out up here. I took my rifle and used it to lock the door so that no zombies would come here. They probably heard from the loud banging of our kicks.

Ino placed the bag of food down. "Food!" Naruto yelled out and sat next to Ino who was opening a can of tuna. She smiled, "Here, I'm sure you're exhausted from a lot of work"

"Thanks Ino!" Naruto smiled. The kind of smile that went from ear to ear. I saw Shikimaru eye him and he sat next to Ino close. I went to get two cans of tuna and a water for both me and Steve. I went to the corner and ate silently with him while all of them gathered around the bag of food.

"Do you think we're ever going to make it out, Steve?" I asked him and he whimpered. He chewed on his tuna like there was no tomorrow.

I smiled and petted him then continued to eat my tuna. Tomorrow is another long day. I sighed. Maybe there's going to be a helicopter or something tomorrow. Maybe Sasuke and the others are going to call for it with their walkie-talkie radios or something.

When me and Steve were done eating our dinner, Steve laid down and I laid down on his stomach, feeling his soft fur and I let myself be engulfed in darkness.

A/N: How'd you like that action-packed chapter? I hope what I wrote was understandable! I tried my best to make it easy to understand and what they were doing!

I was planning for this chapter to have more, but meh. I should leave some juicy stuff for the next chapter too, ey? And I want to clarify to you guys that Sasuke is not a zombie as what you can obviously read from above! hahaha. Well, that's my mistake anyway. Please leave some reviews! It really helps me think of more juicy and action-packed things to write!

Also, I know some of the characters seems totally out of character (Shikamaru seeming totally unintelligent and Naruto respecting Sasuke) but I swear that the characters will grow more and more like they originally are! Thanks for the patience!

I love all the readers! Thanks again for reviewing, following, and making this your favorite story! You don't know how much it means to me when you guys do!

I make it a point to reply to all of your reviews!

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO (don't sue)

P.S. So sorry if I do have typos and grammatical errors! I was too lazy to read it all over again and correct it. Maybe I need a beta for that?