Title; Lucky
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
Artemis- Yep, hence why she now reads infected. I made Hinata older to purposefully avoid the shyness, she'll still revert to her old nervous self at times but most of that will have mellowed. Yes Sasuke is the youngest, I thought it would balance them best if the serious prone Sasuke was youthful and the typically reckless Naruto was aged.
Chapter 3-
The noise just so happened to be a snack food vending machine still operating and given the demented tone it called it's slogans out in it was slightly damaged.
"That's good." Breathed my companion moving forward to tap the glass lightly with her fire axe, it seemed pretty solid.
"Yeah, I was really craving a snickers." I wasn't, food was certainly on my mind but the impulse was lacking. My stomach felt too tight, too knotted in confusion and anxiety to eat. Hinata offered me a glance that was unreadable, maybe she was impressed at my ability to joke at a time like this but all the more likely she was writing me off as a madman or an idiot. Maybe both.
"It's something, and there's obviously working power here." She returned offering me the axe, I guessed due to her strained wrist. Ignoring the throbbing sensation in my back we first unplugged the machine, for both the quiet and to avoid a leech on a possibly fragile energy source, and then with some barely repressed glee I smashed the front panel of the machine open.
We were careful of what to take given the limited room in our bags, the health and protein bars were obvious choices while we regrettably left all the delicious varieties of potato chips behind. Hinata was quick to more or less devour two of the remaining bars before blushing and sheepishly explaining she'd been on a diet for the wedding. I chuckled and wiped a smudge of chocolate from her cheek drawing a deeper blush. In the back of my mind though I was clearing one worry off my list, she'd be dazed when we awoke because she'd been under-eating making her more vulnerable not any weakness.
"Well if there are any of those things around here that crash should have drawn them." I offered, of course it should also have alerted the others assuming they got in. I glanced down the way we hadn't come noticing some rubble. I gestured to the Hyuuga to follow and raised my bat cautiously.
The rubble had formerly been the lower portion of a staircase, there wasn't anything else in the room except two other exits but I was still happy with the discovery. I could still imagine those things outside working themselves into a frenzy and tearing that gate away, if we were going to rest here then I'd be more comfortable on a cut off second floor.
It was maybe a ten foot climb but I managed it easily enough with the aid of a large block of rubble. Hinata wasn't nearly so agile but we managed all the same, since the gap was too much we used the axe to bridge the distance between us.
"You always gonna try picking me up then?" asked the brunette returning my earlier strange humour with a smile. That was good, we were both on the same page at least of going mad from stress.
"Keep wearing that dress and I will." She blushed and climbed to her feet glancing about, I followed. Things up here seemed to be in better condition than downstairs and I wondered if we'd find anything really useful, maybe there'd be some cots hidden away in the teachers staff room, meds in a nurse's office, a bottle of Jack and a revolver in the principles desk?
"Someone should wait here for the others and someone needs to check for others ways onto this floor." Hinata was the first to speak, I agreed with the assessment but was about to argue. With her injured wrist either task would be suicidal if the second floor was infested. Hell either one would be suicidal for me too, one of those things sure, two maybe three if I'm feeling lucky but this bat wasn't a wonder weapon and I wasn't an action hero.
A noise from below quieted any further discussion.
Teagan took point stepping into the room with her naturally brazen swagger weapon held loosely to one side, she seemed to have no difficulty with the uneven footing despite being barefoot. She was quick to spot something on the left side of the room that caused her noticeable relief but I saw something else, a pale slack face streaked with rivets of scarlet and dead dolls eyes that honed in on the unawares brunette.
Instinct drove me forward and I crashed into the other woman yanking us both roughly out of the way of the creatures lunge. We hit the rubble roughly and I heard the brunette give a low hiss but ignored it turning my eyes on our assailant instead. I quickly guessed what had caused Teagan her earlier relief as the dark youth, Sasuke, descended from the second floor and stuck the creatures flank as it staggered towards us ready for another lunge.
His bat smacked against the creatures skull with a resounding crack taking it from its feet and a volley of further strikes finished it there but most after the first had been unnecessary. He was still shaking slightly as I got to my feet and approached him cautiously. I lay a gentle hand on his forearm finding it tight and corded with still flexing muscles and after a minute he calmed coming down off the adrenaline rush that had allowed him to dive into danger and crush such a human looking thing into mush.
Teagan had made it to her feet and muttered a curt thanks in my direction as she cupped her bleeding arm. She turned her large doe eyes on the Uchiha for a second undoubtedly passing some silent message to him, they had originally planned to work together after all.
"You mind parting with the other sleeve, I lose any of this and I'll have to start charging you for the show." She muttered drily, the Uchiha seemed ready to say something in return but abandoned it I guessed noticing how shaky Teagan really was. I spied the fourth member of our little entourage sitting on the stairs her bare legs dangling. Was there some sort of dress code? Should I be trading my functional pants in to show a bit more skin.
Sasuke took us to the source of the earlier crash and busied himself keeping guard as we scooped up as many foodstuffs as our bags could handle. I needed a boost when we returned to the stairs but Teagan surprised me making the climb herself and I noted with more ease than the taller Uchiha. After I diagnosed Hinata's wrist only to be sprained, if not a particularly bad sprain, and voiced my confusion of where her axe had come from we moved fully up the stairs.
"We'll do a sweep of this floor together, if it's secure school boy and I will head down to the first again and find Blondie." Explained Teagan, I guessed taking on the role of group leader. Objectively she made the most sense of the three of us with confirmed kills. Sasuke was too young for us to really place the burden on and Naruto was too soft, I still wasn't completely sure he hadn't just returned to Ino after we'd split up.
We found each of the other staircases quickly enough using the wall maps littered around the building, all of them were damaged similarly or even more so than the one we'd climbed. Our next destination would have been easier were the maps in English but we eventually discovered the staff room finding it was also conveniently the security room with a small office inside set up with monitors.
Between the four of us we wasted no time in turning up everything the room had to offer. A locked cabinet turned out a pot, hotplate, kettle and several cups of instant noodles I supposed would make as good a dinner as we could hope for, there was a fridge but everything in it had clearly been there for far too long. A smaller cabinet had revealed some canned goods, a box of flares and a sickening note congratulating us on finding a food drop.
Sasuke was quick to announce the happy discovery of a bathroom complete with shower in a small side room and Hinata discovered a first aid kit among one of the desks and the other three spent a moment properly taking care of their injuries as I examined the monitors. I swore under my breath.
"You guys!" I called them over to see my discovery, one of the monitors had been set to flick between different outside views and revealed a break in the gate I distinctly recognised as where Teagan and I had entered. It took some fiddling with the foreign controls but we also managed to get an eye on the first floor. The corridors were still empty with the exception of the one corpse we'd come across ourselves.
Any optimism was ruined though once the camera's revealed the gymnasium to us. Over a dozen of the creatures had gather together pawing at the raised bleachers, they were the hide away kind for small sports halls and had all been pulled completely out to form a raised platform. Atop the island stood a grainy but familiar figure.
"So how do we help him?" The question passed my lips sounding eerily close to a question of should we help at all. Which cruel as it might have been wouldn't have been a stupid question, hell I wasn't sure we could help the blonde man.
"A distraction." Spoke up Sasuke. I supposed that would be the best way to get him out of there, lure the majority of them away and hope Naruto could make it through whatever remained.
"We'd need one person as distraction, maybe another to aid Blondie and a third to help the distraction back up swiftly." Explained Tenten her eye's darting around our small group.
"I'll play the distraction." Added the brunette forcefully surprising me, unfair as it might have been I didn't think the woman was the selfless type. Rather I thought she was probably quite the calculating type.
"No, you're bare foot and the rubble's piled up down there." Spoke up the Uchiha in challenge. True enough her feet were scuffed up and if she decided to sprint through those halls fleeing those things she'd probably come back bloody if she did at all.
"And I can't hall your ass up the stairs, you can manage me." Countered the brunette. Another very valid point, whoever was fleeing needed a hasty exit and none of us were strong enough to hoist the man up those damage steps.
"So I'll do it then." Spoke up the pink haired woman from behind both of the others. She did have decent foot wear unlike Tenten and myself, and she probably weighed a fair amount less being both shorter and slighter than either of us.
"You sure?" I asked I could see the other two weren't going to ask it, they were too busy running the new plan though in their heads. Sasuke could hoist the tiny girl up easily and Tenten was good for support, she could fight and climb with Naruto.
"Yeah, I use to be on the track team in high school, well the soccer team…goal keeper actually." Her tone didn't exactly inspire massive confidence as she tied up her hair in a messy ponytail, she seemed jittery as she turned to the Uchiha.
"You're gonna pick me up then?" she attempted in the same poor attempt at humour I'd used earlier, I supposed it hadn't been all that original...or funny. But Sasuke gave a weak awkward laugh in return anyway. I felt somehow lazy and I guessed Tenten agreed as she rounded on me.
"That makes you mission control then Bright eyes. We've no way of communicating at a distance but you are single fire back up. A ghoul shows up blocking either of the stair cases or anything like that." Explained the strong woman before pointing out the positions to us with only slight alterations made out as Sakura and Sasuke gave their inputs.
Sasuke would be located on the highest staircase for Sakura, it seemed the best idea for keeping them from climbing up here. The girl herself would climb down a case the other side of the building and make her way across cutting through the gym at a run then making her way first through a relatively clear corridor so they could easily follow before cutting through the canteen's kitchen to tangle them up. Tenten would slink through the building ghosting the smaller woman and once Sakura caused the distraction she would take care of any stragglers and guide Naruto to the nearest of the climbable stairs.
At the very least the camera's seemed to suggest all of the ghouls as Tenten had named the creatures were gathered in the hall. There wasn't much of anything said in the way of good byes as the three left to set up. I saw each take a position the Uchiha a strange mixture of bored and tense as the others climbed back down into danger.
"This is your last chance to back out Pink." I offered the shorter woman as she somewhat distractedly stretched out for her death run. She gave a quiet half snarl at the nickname and I made a note to use it more often if all went well.
"I can handle it Legs." I had to admire her plucky spirit at least, the only comfort I had was the weight of the crowbar in my hand and that was precious little.
"Thanks for noticing, but you're not my type." I threw back unperturbed. Besides that had mostly been a phase in my teens, girls could be much too sensitive and Pinkie seemed that type. I would be much happier though once I found a pair of pants. I added to the to do list, first save Blondie then find a way to cover my knickers.
The miniature woman was impressively lithe as she started down the hall bouncing on the balls of her feet with the gait of a natural athlete. I was no slouch myself but had to move more carefully watching for glass or other sharp debris as she bounded ahead.
She was out of sight in a moment and in another there was the clap of heavy footed bodies chasing after something.
When I made it to the gymnasium a moment later I discovered how well the distraction had worked. Of the large group that had been there moments before only three remained, and Naruto blinking a little dumbly at the swinging door Sakura must have lead the ghouls through.
The nearest to me had been a gentleman I supposed had been handsome at some point with his sleek hairstyle, high cheek bones and sharp pinstriped suit. But that had been before whatever got him did, his eyes had turned a ghastly blue and thick yellow tears of pulse dripped from the corners of his eyes, the suit was bloodied where his stomach had been torn open once above the sternum and a second time near his left kidney. Blood covered his lips, evidence that he'd been a deliverer of death as much as he was a victim.
I snared and swung the crowbar striking his temple hard enough to open a thick gash spilling sickly blood over the gym floor and taking the former man from his feet. A second blow angled down through his eye socket finished the job as I breathed a shaky breath. Easier this time, less guilt, them or me that's the way it was.
Naruto had clambered down and put his bat to work caving in the skull of the short chubby ghoul nearest him, sickeningly the overhead strike had hammered the head and neck down deeper into the things torso.
I didn't bother with the third waif of a man going around the shuffling confused mess of half eaten flesh as it tried to clamber to us on shredded legs. I gripped the scruff of Blondies shirt collar and gave him an informative jerk away from his latest kill.
I couldn't hear the sounds of the Pink woman's fleeing and shushed the blonde as he voiced a desire to go help her, did he think we'd rushed in to help him without a plan? Once we had reached the collapsed stairs and ascended to the second floor I explained to the whiney man that Pinkie had an escape route that could in no way be aided by our pointless deaths.
Any concerns I had about fitness or how my exercise routine of carefully planned sitting on the couch in front of the TV most evenings with a couple of panicked sit-ups and jumping jacks thrown in once in a blue moon when I became overly self-conscious might not exactly help me escape death here all vanished the minute I barged into the gymnasium.
As those things gave shrieks and wet growls at the sight of a live meal my mind fell into blind terror stricken panic. I didn't bother with pacing myself and barely held enough piece of mind to adhere to the pre-set path. I shouldered my way through the corridor door sparing a reflexive glance backward to see the dead had already crossed half the hall. Half as fast as me during a full run, I couldn't tell if that was a bad or good thing.
There was no debris in the hall and I managed a full sprint my vision tunnelling so that I almost missed the entrance to the kitchen, which would have been bad. I didn't know how to get to my lift other than through there.
I entered the room fast and crashed into a table tumbling over it and taking only a reflexive second to grasp my soon to be bruised hips before I pushed backwards shoving the table beneath the doors handle. That would delay them some.
Whatever peace the barricade had afforded my shattered nerves died swiftly as I felt a cold hand wrap around my bicep reaching from the shadowy storage area to my left. Instinct prevailed as I drove an elbow into the shaded clove and then a kick that was more of a push than anything else, both shots were aimed low to avoid the sharp jaws hidden in the shadows and I felt them connect cleanly.
The grip slacked and I fell tumbling backwards my heart jumping into my throat as a ghastly blood covered face came into the light and the crowd following pounded against the reinforced door. I clambered to my feet and found the counter sweeping my gaze over it for a weapon. I had to get past that one to get out of the kitchen and I had to do it fast.
My hand found a cleaver.
I wrapped both hands around the thin handle and drove the sharp edge down between the dead man's eyes, once, twice, three times. I only stopped breaking from the red haze my instincts had driven me into certain it wouldn't rise again as the door creaked and cracked my followers driving the splintering wood apart.
I moved past the fallen body and deeper into the kitchen pulling obstacles down as I went, oven and fridge doors to bar the path and anything that could be pulled down was splayed along the path.
I finally escaped the kitchen the dead not far behind barely inconvenienced by my hasty traps and sprinted the last stretch of hallway feeling my lungs burn fiercer and fiercer somewhere in the back of my mind. When I reached the debris filled stairwell my ankle jarred as I put my weight awkwardly on it moving too fast over the uneven ground.
Awkwardly I threw myself at the wall reaching up for Sasuke's arm. He caught me but for a moment I feared he wouldn't lift me as his hand slide over my sweat slicked skin, then the other joined it and I came rising through the air as the man pulled. The low groans of the dead entered room just as I reached the second floor falling into the boys arms.
I stayed in his grip panting and choking on my laboured breaths thoroughly covering the poor man in sweat as I enjoyed for a moment the feeling of strong warm alive arms wrapped tightly around me. I gave a giggle as I felt something probing against my stomach. What an awkward time and yet it was almost pleasant after the horror of moving around down there.
"Happy…to…see…me?" I asked the boy between laboured breaths glancing up at him and offering a slightly perverted grin. I had to say I was a little flattered to draw the reaction, I'd felt a little lacking compared to Teagan and Hinata. The two woman certainly had quite the obvious…assets.
"I think that's yours actually." Came his dry reply and it took me a moment to realise that exactly it was. Panicked as I'd been I hadn't realised I'd shoved the cleaver into my belt.
Self-confidence set right back down to zero.
The more I thought about it the more this island seemed set up to be some field test of a horror movie. The characters were always from different walks of life, divided by paranoia and there always seemed to be several woman dressed entirely inappropriately for the situation.
This had all the airs of being set up for someone's amusement, and our latest discovery seemed to add weight to the theory that at least one of the people responsible for this situation was perverted to all hell.
"Well…I guess it's a little better." I offered as Tenten glared at the outfits before her, we'd found what seemed to be a home economics classroom. It seemed before they had shut the school down the students had been preparing costumes for Halloween, though given the rather adult nature of the ones before us I thought it was more likely they'd been store bought and planted here.
"I think my underwear covers more than most of this stuff." She muttered gesturing to a barbarian themed outfit that I supposed strategically positioned could cover everything but only just.
"There is a pair of pants." Indeed there was a single pair of pants part of what might have been a Buffy themed costume. They were made of bright red leather and I guessed at least one size too small for Tenten. She raised a single eyebrow in my direction.
"You got some lube hidden on you?" She asked, I was pretty sure I blushed despite myself as she stuck a hand out mockingly in waiting.
"Cause there's no natural way I'm fitting into those." She'd lifted the pants glaring at them with unhidden hostility before shrugging and dropping them anyway stepping into the legs and attempting to pull them up. She got as far as her mid thighs before they wouldn't go any higher. She threw me a glare I didn't notice, well until she coughed falsely to draw my attention back to her anyway.
"Come 'ere. And stop glancing away like that, I've been half naked all day I've given up on the modest thing." She barked whipping her jersey up past her hips and tying it loosely beneath her breasts. I hadn't actually seen her underwear but couldn't really help it now. Pikachu waved happily at me from the front of the small clothe, I laughed, Tenten blushed, then glared and punched me in the stomach muttering something unpleasant along with an excuse I didn't quite hear.
"Grab here and lift." The blush still dusted her cheeks and I gave a small 'yes mam' before gripping the leather pants and yanking upward. The woman raised bodily into the air with a curse and may have slide at most an inch further into the tight fabric.
"Hang on." It was an infinitely strange moment as I tried to jiggle the girl lower and she did the same grabbing underneath my arms to try and force herself down, I felt her calves snake around my thighs as she got further in and quested for more leverage. She was almost into the pants when I felt a zipper poking my left hand...that would have been easier.
"Almost there." She breathed just as the door swung open. We glanced dumbly at our audience for a second before releasing each other hastily. I could feel my own cheeks heating and Tentens matched but Sakura and the trailing Naruto seemed unaware and didn't comment on what they'd seemed to have walked in on.
"You guys found some clothes, Naruto can you find Hinata?" Sakura spoke prompting me to announce that yes we'd found clothes…and had done nothing more. Tenten threw me a glare for the distinctly unsmooth comment. Naruto followed diligently, since he'd returned to us he'd been throwing Sakura looks of admiration and hadn't argued with any task she'd set him.
"Here, these look like your size." Announced the chiropractor throwing Tenten what as first could have been confused as shoes, the strappy sandals had come from what could loosely be called a geisha outfit if one didn't know what a geisha was…or attaked her with scissors. They were the only ones large enough to fit the tall woman though.
"Add that to the list, whoever trapped us here has a foot fetish." Muttered the brunette to me donning the simple shoes regardless, she grabbed a dark tank top leaving the room I supposed to change in privacy. The smaller woman's eyes turned to me once we were alone a strange curiosity shining within the emerald ords.
"So you and Teagan are…" she trailed off rolling her eyes in a way that was strangely suggestive. I was quick to deny the accusation though I was hardly offended by it, it was just hardly the time for such things. I searched through the clothing to try and find some suited for a man, a fair amount of this shirt had already been converted to bandages.
"Seems the perfect time actually, you know just in case." She spoke tongue darting out to ghost her lips. Before I could address her comment though the door opened again to allow Hinata in.
"You alright there?" I threw at the lazy ass as he climbed back to his feet. Smart as he was he was as useful as piss and shit in a fight. I thought the Milf would have had a little more balls when things went down but she'd just started screaming like a goddamn moron.
"Hey it's okay." Shikamaru shushed the hysterical woman not bothering to dignify me with any kind of response. I wasn't even sure why we'd dragged her worthless whining- my eyes caught the sliver of hot pink where the backside of her sweat pants had ripped- oh yeah, that was it.
"We need to keep moving." I grumbled, we were following the trail of what might have been the fat man Choji so there hadn't been a whole lot of opposition but with the noise that shrieking bimbo had caused there would be soon.
The ever present question, sex or safety, it might actually be the death of me at this rate.
Aaaaand that's number three. As I've said I haven't decided on the pairings yet but I'd like some feedback on how people are feeling things, so if you like there'll be a poll up or you can just review and tell me your thoughts there.
Of course you should review and way, show a little support and make me a happy happy guy.
R&R
