When Time Runs Out
Chapter One
The night is full of terrors. Never before had truer words been spoken. It came out of nowhere. Nobody could explain what was happening. One night, everything changed and the world came to an end.
They hadn't been running long. They could still hear the screams in the city. They could hear the moans of the dead that refused to die. They were bathed in the light of the full moon over head and the glowing fires in the city behind them.
The stench in the air was unlike anything he could have thought possible. Already they could taste rotting flesh on the air; it was heavy with the smell of death. Of vomit and fecal matter. Of blood.
It had all happened so fast; he had hardly had time to process what was happening. Everything hurt. His body screamed in protest. His lungs burned. Naruto could taste blood in his mouth. None of that matter; he couldn't stop running. Keep running, and don't look back.
They trudged through the bushes, ignoring the branches as they lashed out and sliced their skin. Forward. Keep running and don't look back. Even if you hear an explosion.
It was too painful.
He took up the rear. The last one in their little convoy. The pack weighed him down, but he was still able to run. In front of him, he watched his mother's flaming red hair bounce as she ran. She had tied it back in a pony tail, something she rarely did. It was a sign of just how serious the situation was. He could hear her struggling to keep running. Her exhalations on the brink of being screams. She was strong. She had always been strong. She could probably take down a man twice her size and not even break into a sweat. But this was different. This was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.
He didn't notice she had fallen until he too was in the dirt. Tripped over her body crumpled on the ground.
"Wait!" she cried as they tried to regain their footing. "Minato! Wait!" His father looked back and stopped in his tracks.
"Kushina!" he came running back towards them as they clambered back up on to their feet. They were just about to start running again when he heard it. The sound of something rustling in the bushes ahead of them.
"Watch out!" he shouted, aiming his gun at the source of the sound. His father lifted his own rifle and stepped in front of him and his mother. He loaded the chamber. He exhaled. Naruto knew that he was tightening his grip on the trigger.
"Who's there?" he called out gruffly. They waited in silence. Despite their running, they all held their breath. The bush rustled again. What came out of the bush was the thing of nightmares. It looked dead. It should have been dead. It shouldn't have been moving. It should have been lying on the ground, rotting. And yet, the creature shuffled towards them, moaning. Its eyes had gone dull. Its mouth hung open, drool and blood dripping from the lips. Half of its face had been ripped off. Naruto didn't even want to think about the dislocated shoulder or the arm with the bone protruding through the greying skin. He didn't want to think about the smell which seemed stronger around this creature.
He didn't want to think about how this thing had once been human.
You never forget your first. Never.
"Stay behind me," his father whispered as he took aim. "No telling how many of these things are nearby." He pulled the trigger. Right between the eyes. The thing's head exploded. Naruto thought he felt something cold and wet hit his face. He didn't dare wipe it off for fear of what he was going to see. The body collapsed to the ground, falling almost comically slow, but Naruto didn't find it funny. In fact he could feel his dinner coming back up.
"It's okay," his mother cooed, her hand on his back as he leaned over and threw up what was left of the turkey dinner he had eaten what seemed like a lifetime ago. "That's right, get it all up." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Let's just keep moving," he grumbled, readjusting his backpack and stepping over the creature that now lay headless on the ground.
"He's right, the further we get away from the city, the better chance we have," Minato agreed. They were just about to start moving again when Kushina let out a scream. Minato and Naruto whirled around and saw it. A whole pack of them had come out of the bushes. One of them was holding on to Kushina's leg. It wasn't letting go. She screamed. She kicked. No matter what, she couldn't get it to let go. Minato reloaded the rifle. He fired. The creature collapsed. But another was there ready to take it's place. He fired again. And again.
He tossed to the pack to Naruto.
"I'll hold them off, take your mother and run!"
"But, Dad!"
"Do as I say! I'll meet up with you in the morning!"
"Come on, Mom," Naruto grabbed his mother's wrist and tried to pull her away from the hoard. She wrenched her arm out of his grip. "Mom!"
"Kushina! Go!"
"Minato! I won't!"
"I'll be fine! Just go!"
"Come on!" Naruto could feel tears rolling down his face. Minato paused and stared at his wife. They exchanged a glance that seemed to last an eternity.
"Please," he whispered. Tears streamed from her eyes, but she nodded. She turned and they started to run. They could hear Minato's rifle firing again. And again. They could hear the moans of the creatures.
They ran.
And then they heard Minato shout out. In pain? In victory?
He screamed again.
"Minato!" Naruto's mother stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. "MINATO!" she screeched. No reply. "MINATO!" She took off running back towards the hoard. "YOU LYING SON OF A BITCH!"
"MOM!" Naruto shouted. But it was too late. A few of the creatures came over the top of the hill and caught hold of his mother. They didn't even hesitate. Her screaming and kicking did nothing to deter them. They tore into her, ripping her apart. Her screams echoed through the night. They rattled Naruto's bones. He stood. He watched in horror.
"Naruto!" she was able to gasp out. "Run!"
He didn't want to. He had lost everything. He just wanted it all to end. But in the end, he stumbled backwards, and he ran. He ran. He ran until he couldn't run any more. He ran until he couldn't hear the screams of the people in the city. He ran until the sun came up.
"Oi! Naruto! Wake up," He jolted away. He felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him back into consciousness. He blinked a few times, trying to get the small space into focus. First thing he saw was Sasuke staring down at him, concern in his eyes. The RV came into focus around him.
"Alright, I'm up," he growled, swatting his hand away.
"You were having that nightmare again." Naruto only grunted in reply. "We are breaking camp soon, get out of bed and come help pack up."
"Alright, I'll be out in a minute," Naruto grumbled. He rolled out from under the sleeping bag and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress. He and Sasuke had been lucky enough to snag the bed in the back of the RV that they had liberated together. It only seemed fair after all. He sat on the edge of the bed, holding his head in his hands. He ran his fingers through his untidy blonde hair, trying to ignore the grease and dirt that had build up over the last few weeks. He couldn't even remember the last time he had washed it properly.
As he sat there, he replayed the nightmare in his mind. It wasn't really a nightmare. It was more or less memories. Memories of the night his parents had been killed. Memories of the night all of this started. Memories of the night the world ended.
That had been over a year and a half ago. It was a wonder that he was still alive. He liked to think it was because his parents had given their life for him. He liked to think that it was because of them he was still alive. It was a silly hope.
All the members of their gang had secrets, and the night his parents died was his. He wasn't about to tell anyone he had left them behind. He had let them get ripped apart by the walkers as they had come to call them. Zombies had seemed to childish. Walkers made them sound much more ominous. More real.
"You can't stay in there forever!" Sasuke yelled, banging on the wall of the RV.
"I'm coming!" Naruto shouted through his hands. He stood up and pulled on a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt. He rolled up the sleeve. He pulled on heavy combat boots and laced them up tightly. He ran his hand through his hair once more.
Here we go. Survive another day. Make it just a little bit further. He thought to himself as he pulled back the curtain and walked out into the sun.
The camp was full of activity, even though the sun had barely risen above the horizon. Members of their gang were cooking breakfast over coals, or folding clothes that had been washed the night before. Some were packing up the supplies, or pulling down tents. Everyone worked in silence. They were like a well-oiled machine. Everyone had their job and it was their responsibility to see it done.
Naruto marveled at how seamlessly the whole process ran now. When they had first gathered together, it was chaos. Now, everything was done so smoothly. It had become as natural as breathing.
He trudged over to Sasuke who was leaning over a table they had set up. Spread across the table was a map. He was pointing at a location and listening to Gaara as he spoke.
"Kankuro, Temari, and I were there a few months before we met up with you all. Place was over run with walkers. It might not be worth the risk to go through the city," he explained.
"We're out of anti-biotics and pain killers. We could also use a few more supplies for our first aid kits. And we're almost out of canned goods. We can't survive solely on game," Sasuke disagreed, "the walkers might have moved on by now. There is not much for them in the cities anymore."
"You said the same thing about Salt Lake City," Shino pointed out, "I think we need to avoid the big cities and stick to the towns along the way. They had smaller populations so there is less walkers to worry about!"
"But we can't guarantee that the small towns have everything we need!" Sasuke shouted, bring his fist down on the table.
"Well, we'll have to make do with what we can scavenge in the small towns for now," Naruto commented, "I agree with Shino and Gaara, we just can't risk the cities right now."
"We can't keep avoiding the cities like this!" Sasuke argued.
"I know we can't, but until we know it's safe…"
"Not everyone needs to go into the city,"
"But leaving them on the outskirts is just as dangerous!"
"I have a solution," Shikamaru interrupted.
"What?" Naruto and Sasuke both shouted, pissed off at the interruption.
"Why not start with a small town. See what we can pick up there. If we can't find everything we need, we'll check out the city?" Although neither of them wanted to admit it, it was actually a very solid plan. That way they only risked going into the city if it was absolutely necessary.
"Let's take a vote then," Sasuke growled, looking at all the members of the group, who had stopped their tasks to listen to the disagreement. "All those in favour of going to the city?" he paused and looked around. In total there was fifteen of them. It had started out with just Naruto and Sasuke, but as time wore on, they had found more and more people. The most recent additions were Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari, three siblings from Arizona who had been on a road trip to New York when all of this started.
So far they had been lucky. They hadn't lost anyone.
As Sasuke surveyed the group, he realized that no one was on board with his idea, and scowled.
"Fine. Everyone in favour of checking the town first?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"There's no point risking the big city right now," Sakura said as everyone continued doing their duties. She rested her hand on Sasuke's shoulder. He shrugged it off.
"Don't you have things you should be doing?" he growled, stalking off towards the RV. Naruto watched him go. He wanted to comfort him. Wanted to make him understand that nobody was upset with him. But it ultimately came down to what was safer for the group, and until they knew for sure, there was no point risking everyone for the off chance that the city was safe.
A/N: Hey. Alright. Here we go! Dive right into it shall we? I know it's very "the Walking Dead" of me to call them Walkers, but ultimately, I do believe that it makes the creatures much more real to the characters. Anyways. Thanks for reading! I love hearing what you think, so feel free to comment/review!