He lifted himself up out of the rubble, stumbling, his head throbbing from the pain so much so that he could only barely conceive the pain that resonated throughout the rest of his body. His vision was blurry, making it difficult to discern the scene spread out before him of displaced stones, dirt, and boards that littered the ground in hapless ruins. Not that it was much to see. He would almost rather be blind. He felt like dying, but he knew that if he had survived this, then he needed to survive longer. He needed to save lives. First he would have to find his comrade, alive. He must be alive.
Kiba bore his teeth at the incoming Infected. His anger was cresting, becoming uncontainable. These monsters had murdered his dog. How could he fight without Akamaru? Every time he remembered his big pup, thinking of how much easier this would be with him, his anger grew more and he fought harder. He would avenge his best friend.
"Bring it on, dirtbags" Kiba snarled, brandishing his machete as he crouched. He launched forward, slicing off their heads as more closed in around him. He would not be over thrown. "You take my dog! You take my friends! And now you take my home?!" He screamed at them.
He elbowed one in the face, on accident, forcing him to come to the realization that maybe he couldn't win this battle. He was too vulnerable, he was outnumbered and all they had to do was get close enough to bite… They already were.
He concentrated his chakra to his feet and crouched down low, trying to get enough power to jump out of the crowd. A simple task. But the infected followed him down, knocking him over and trapping him on the ground.
He had a hand on one of their necks, trying to keep it a safe distance away from him all a while kicking and punching the others away as best he could. A set of teeth came around his forearm, ready to bite when an arrow shot right through its skull. No time to look and thank the archer, he continued to struggle to his feet as more arrows penetrated more skulls. His other arm finally free, he slashed his machete across the Infected at the end of this right hand.
Relieved of them, his eyes briefly searched his savior before more were on him. It was too much. He had had a close call already. He located a building and fought his way toward it. They were getting too close again, no matter how many he took down. He started running and then leapt onto a rooftop. He was breathing heavy, his heart rate double what it had ever been before. His eyes searched frantically for more survivors on the ground.
"Kiba!" he heard someone say above the ruckus. He couldn't make out the voice or where it was coming from. He shook his head, he was so lost, so confused. "Kiba!" It was closer now. He turned to his right.
"I don't think I have ever been so glad to see anyone in my life" He breathed, but he didn't smile. He didn't know how, his body was overloaded. His eyes did the thanking for him, they were bright, they couldn't stop staring at her to make sure she was real. Then he spotted her bow. "Tenten…. You saved my life. Thank you" Bending over, he rested his hands on his knees willing his heart to slow down and his breathing rate to subside.
"You're welcome. I'm glad you're alive" Tenten said. She walked over and put a hand on his sweaty back, rubbing it briefly before returning to her bow.
"You have the right idea, you know" He said to her.
"Hn", She said, her eyes focused on a target and her arm drawn back, ready to fire.
'Jeez, she must have picked that up from Neji' Kiba thought, his eyebrow twitching as he straightened up. "Long distance attacks are definitely the way to go here. They'll take us over otherwise"
She let the arrow fly and drew again, not looking at him. "That's why I'm helping Sakura out"
"She needs to get up here. We need to make ourselves safe. I have an idea!"
"Shoot." Tenten said, letting another arrow fly.
"We need to announce for all survivors to make their way to high ground. Anything upstairs, Sakura said they can't climb those. Get off the streets and get upstairs. Then we can get out acts together, find some long rang weapons and start picking them off. Like you."
"I'm running out of arrows." Tenten said.
He looked at her, then at the scene below. He was silent. "Broadcasting won't work either, everyone is already doing that and no one is listening. It's just adding to the noise."
"Yep." Tenten said. "This is my last one." She said, firing the arrow into the skull of an Infected near Sakura. "She's a goner if we don't do something" Tenten said. She had set her mind on guarding Sakura, and she was going to guard her. She jumped down and rushed toward her.
"Wait!" He screamed after her. But it was too late, she was on the ground, they were swarming around her- following her as she ran to Sakura's aid.
He stood their, torn between self-preservation and morality. He looked around him, watching as shinobi fought against what should be their villagers and fellow ninja. He watched as they got eaten and torn apart. He saw little explosions and blood and heard screams. He stood and he watched from the safety of his rooftop. Some where on rooftops throwing kunai or kunai with explosive tags attached; and he just watched.
Naruto landed beside him, breathing hard. "I make a shadow clone and as soon as I make it, it" He breathed, "Poof" he motioned with his hands. He bent over to rest, "We… can't do this much longer"
"I know." Kiba said. He pulled out kunai and attached an explosive tag. "Long distance tactics will be our friend." Finding an area of many Infected, without living people, he threw the tag and exploded the Infected in the area.
"Woah! That's dangerous" Naruto said, "We don't want to kill the living with the dead."
"We won't" Kiba said, "We need to get to some place safe and come up with a plan. We need to regroup, find more survivors."
"Got it. Where are the rest of us?" Naruto was sad, Kiba could see it. He didn't want to give up now.
"Tenten ran after Sakura over there" He said, pointing straight ahead.
"SAKUUURA! TENTEEEEN!" Naruto yelled
Kiba grimaced. At first he was angry at the kid for damaging his eardrums, but then, what else where they going to do? "TENTEN! SAKURA! HEY COME ON! OVER HERE!" He joined in. He threw an explosive tag between himself and the girls, willing them not to come any closer until after it was set off.
The explosion rang out, scattering pieces of Infected that had been unfortunate enough to be in the way.
It caught the girls' attention and they watched as Tenten pulled Sakura's arm, catching her attention. They sprinted through the space cleared by the explosion and leapt atop the building. "Thank you" Tenten said, collapsing on the rooftop.
"We all survived" Sakura said, relieved.
"Yeah, us four." Kiba said, dejected.
Sakura looked like she was about to cry as she surveyed the area. The noise had been steadily dying down since they had started fighting only 15 minuets ago. "How long until it's silent?" she whispered.
No one answered.
"So…what is the plan?" Sakura said, "We can't stay here. And we can't let them… reproduce. They'll get everybody…and they'll get us. We still have friends out here! And families!" Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Sakura" Naruto said softly, touching her shoulder.
She looked up into his kind blue eyes, searching them.
"You're family…", he swallowed, "I saw your parents…they're gone"
Her breath caught "No," She whispered, her cheeks turning red. She shook her head, her face distorting in pain. Tears started streaming out of her big green eyes and she cried out. "No! no, no, no. This…"
Naruto pulled her close and she buried her face in his shoulder. Their arms wound tight around each other as she sobbed, her body shaking. He closed his eyes tight, feeling her pain and trying to wish it away.
Kiba noticed Tenten fight back her own tears and turn around, facing the rest of the village. All of the fighting they did was just on one corner of the village. If it was this bad here, how bad was it in the center of the city, where the map he'd read stated the entry was?
He turned back to the others; Naruto was still holding Sakura, stroking her hair as she cried. "We should find a base, and then start looking for more survivors." He said quietly. "Here isn't safe. The longer we wait, the more that will surround us. Are you okay to move, Sakura?" He asked.
Their eyes moved to Sakura and Naruto. Sakura's body remained still, her head buried in Naruto's chest, but they could hear a faint indistinct whisper come from her lips.
"She says okay" Naruto announced quietly
"Okay great. Where do we go?" Kiba asked.
"Somewhere sheltered and off the ground" Tenten declared.
Kiba nodded, "And somewhere centrally located so that we don't have to go far supplies. We should be near markets for food and weapons."
"Sounds alright to me" Naruto agreed. He held Sakura out for a moment, looking into her eyes with concern and asking if she was ready. She nodded, taking a deep breath. Her arms dropped to her sides and she stood tall, blinking away her tears. "Let's do this," she said in a strong quiet voice.