Sixth Chapter

"Get up the stairs, up the stairs!" Sasuke urged his two comrades. Sakura didn't need any further invitation. She finished her burst of covering fire as Naruto ducked into the apartment building; she lowered her rifle and pulled the door closed behind him. On impulse she locked the deadbolt and followed the blond up the stairs while Sasuke kept watch at the large window on the landing half way up. He fired a short burst as she passed him. Their eyes met briefly and she looked away with a huff. He rolled his eyes and followed her quickly his hand pressed to her back to help her along. She was tiring after breaking through the ring of Undead and fighting their way here, now having to climb four stories to the roof, she didn't have the improved stamina Sasuke and Naruto acquired.

Sakura missed her step and slipped, landing hard she twisted her ankle and slammed her knee into the next landing. She yelped and Sasuke heard the windows shatter downstairs the door still seemed to be holding. He looked down at Sakura as she stood and raised a brow. She shrugged.

"I locked it." She said gritting her teeth against the pain stabbing its way un her leg. Sasuke almost laughed if it weren't for the sound of rotting flesh begging to climb the stairs below them. She tried to stand and cried out, her leg giving out on her. Sasuke quickly stooped and slung her arm around his shoulder, he helped her climb the remaining flights until they reached the roof. Naruto had picked the lock and reached back to help Sakura through Sakura growled in annoyance but accepted the help. She knew her leg was no good for at least a few days. She may not have the stamina or resilience as her testosterone overflowing friends but she sure healed a hell of a lot faster than they did. All injuries were gone without a scar within hours or days depending on the injury. Chalk one up for partial contamination. All except her arm. Every now and again the scratch she had gotten almost a month ago would open and bleed, never healing completely. Naruto set her down against the buildings air-conditioning unit and prodded her foot. A fresh jolt of pain stabbed up her leg.

"Holy shit!" Sakura cussed. Naruto shook his head and bit his lip.

"Look's bad Sakura-chan." The blond told her prodding a bit more gently, "I think something might be broken but I can't tell from here.

"Oh great, just fucking great." Sakura hissed looking around. Sasuke had closed the door, which locked automatically thank god, and was backing away, his hand on the hilt of his katana. She knew this situation was hopeless; they were trapped on this roof with no way off. An image came to mind. A memory of just a few hours ago. Sasuke stepping off a roof a little lower than this and landing like it was a breeze. He and Naruto were about equal in abilities, if Sasuke was a bit faster and Naruto a bit more resilient. Damn that kid had stamina to spare!

"Hey," She got the blonds attention cementing the idea in her head and accepting the outcome, "give me a gun." Naruto looked at her strange.

"Sakura-chan you have a gun." He told her.

Sakura shook her head, "Rifle's too big, too awkward." She panted, sweat dripping into her eyes. Naruto placed a hand gun in her outstretched hand.

"There aren't many in there." He told her. Sakura calmly loaded the gun and unlocked the safety.

"No worries there, I only need one," she told him. Both Sasuke and Naruto turned and looked at her sharply. She stared back calmly, resigned.

"No." Sasuke dead panned.

"Sakura-chan you can't, we can get out of this," Naruto pleaded.

"Yes, you can." Sakura said, "I can't. This leg makes it impossible for me to go on. The least I can do is to be bait while you two get away."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto said softly. Sasuke looked away, as if dismissing what she had to say.

"No listen," Sakura snapped, getting their attention once more. "Most of them are inside and on the other side of that door." She began, "I can't move. I can't fight, not with this leg and my arm acting up whenever it so pleases." She glared at the offending appendage briefly before returning her gaze to the two males. One looking helplessly back, the other stubbornly away.

"What I know," she told them, directing what she had to say next to the Uchiha, said man looked back at her finally, his eyes hard and guarded, "they are evolving." She said simply.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"Those monsters," Sakura said, indicating the door and the undead behind it. They were now beginning to beat in the steal slab between them and dinner. "They're evolving, becoming more intelligent in a carnal, primal way. I first noticed it the day before I found you guys but it was a one time incident and didn't think anything of it, but that girl…" Sakura's eyes turned distant, " she stalked me, circled me in an organized spiral pattern that a predator would, hunting its prey. She waited until I had stopped and was tired before showing herself. She smiled at me, like she knew I wouldn't shoot a child, couldn't kill a child. That must be how she hunted all along for her to so certain. A technique tried and succeeding, refined until it's perfect." Sakura closed her eyes and came back to the present.

"I thought it was a onetime thing, a fluke, but the organization, the control and the direct targeting of me of this horde by the Alpha male has led me to believe otherwise." She took a breath continued, "The fighting from here on will be more intense and more difficult."

"Kinda like a video game." Naruto commented.

"Not now moron!" Sasuke hissed but Sakura only chuckled grimly.

"Yeah I suppose it is." She said, her eyes sad but grateful for the joke to ease the tension. "The point is, this leg will take a while to heal, and I will only slow you down, you might make a lethal mistake when you were protecting me instead of focusing on the fight. There's no point in us all dying." Silence stretched between the trio, bringing the tension to its breaking point, the pounding on the door became steadily louder the hinges creaked under the constant strain.

"Go." Sakura told them, "They're almost through. Don't worry about me." Heartbreak was all she could see on her blond friend's expression, Sasuke's face was carefully stoic, much more than usual so she knew that he actually was affected by what she said.

"I don't want you to die because of me." She whispered finally. The door behind them was wrenched off its hinges and went flying as the hoard spilled onto the roof. Suddenly Sasuke looked up as if he heard something and smirk broke onto his face.

"No one's dying today." Sasuke said and he rushed forward pulling Sakura up into his arms in a bridal hold.

"Sasuke what the hell?" Sakura snapped a frown on her face. Naruto looked at the Uchiha in surprise than he too heard what Sasuke did and a wide smile almost split his face in two.

"Oh hell yeah," He said and he and Sasuke bolted for the edge of the building.

"Hold on tight." Sasuke murmured to the girl in his arms. Sakura looped her arms around his neck and buried her head in his chest. She hated heights. Sasuke chose to ignore the feeling he got in his stomach at this and leaped just as the leading Thing touched his pant leg with outstretched rotting fingers.

They were suspended in the air for what seemed like an eternity before they fell. Sakura shrieked into Sasuke's shirt as her foot was jolted by the fall, and then again when they landed, just as a large SUV pulled up to a screeching halt beside them. Kakashi opened the driver's door and took one look at Sakura's pained pale face and moved around the back opening another door.

"Put her in the back. Sasuke drive. I'll see what I can do. Naruto shotgun, keep them away." The older man ordered as he tossed a brand new shotgun at the blond. Naruto whooped and jumped into the passenger seat. Rolling down the window he rested the gun on the ledge and swept the alley they were in, looking for targets. Sasuke placed Sakura gently into the back seat after prying her arms from around her neck. He gently buckled her in and ran around to the driver's seat, throwing his katana in before him he jumped and started the car without buckling in. As soon as Kakashi was in Sasuke slammed the SUV in reverse and pealed out of the alley just as a body landed in front of the SUV with a splat. Sasuke paused, drove forward and ran it over with a pop that made even Naruto turn green before speeding away.

"Hey, over there!" Naruto pointed. Sasuke looked over a swerved in the direction Naruto was pointing. Naruto opened his door and slammed it into an undead woman, ripping her head off. "Ten points!" he yelled.

"Males are twenty," Sasuke told him running another one over.

"Hey now!" Kakashi protested from beside Sakura, "This isn't a tank!" Sakura rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to laugh even as the jarring from the impact set her ankle a fire. Boys and their toys. And silently she began to shake and cry with relief. If any of the three men noticed, they didn't say anything.

End of Chapter