Author's Note: Hello, we are back with chapter 3! Thanks for all your support! Any questions, or comments, feel free to review or send a message to one and/or all of us! Damn, did time get away from us. But the story must be told, for we don't want to leave you or these characters stranded in an unfinished story! We're starting here, and pushing to the end! Hopefully you'll stick around or have been here to stay. Keep an eye out for the next chapter, coming soon.
The survivors of Fujimi Academy sat in mixed emotion while the world ended before their very eyes. They peered into a world that conquered theirs in an instant, fixated to the horrors by fear and instinct. It was animalistic, a result of their will to survive which forced their eyes toward what could kill them. They were witness to that.
The bus they used to escape the school rattled as it outmaneuvered chaos, searching the streets for something familiar with a magnanimous roar at the surrounding undead. They followed after the speeding cars as best they could, with a limp and a cry for flesh.
There were some quiet whispers, less frequent than the cries of death outside of the bus but also much less noticeable. Not many survived the outbreak on the school and and if had were, they weren't on this bus. A harrowing fact that the few sat with, the guilt of surviving an attack by "them".
Naruto, unfazed by the abrupt attack on normalcy hummed a seditious tune. He sat on his own, the seat to his left empty. He used the vacancy to clearly witness chaos unfurling from his window. His face resembled a sports fan, with front row seats to the big game.
"I've never seen such a cruel joke" he thought watching crowds of 'them' slaughter the masses. The number of undead were staggering, ash filled the air making the road hard to see. Fire and destruction spread.
People were shrieking like cornered beasts, "Too prideful to die quietly" Naruto related.
"Forcing me to witness how fragile mortals are. Has the cosmos placed before me, my own Cerberus? Has my research finally incurred the wrath of a god?"
He leaned into his seat, contemplating the possibility before smirking with doubt.
"I made it this far. Nothing this world's got can break me, I've proven that and I'll eternally prove it when I become immortal. I'll have to find a way to do some research inside the city."
He looked into the isle,"Who else survived the doughty die of death?" he laughed to himself.
The two students he'd seen on the roof were sitting together to his right. His eyes couldn't help but gloss over the orange haired girl's busty breasts. Naruto hadn't meant to ogle nor would he waste his currently precious time. He wasn't immortal yet, but he had to admit, at least the potential to repopulate the earth was there and biologically appealing.
Most of the seniors girls there had bodies that rapaciously resembled the ripest fruit, something he knew would cause them all trouble with the collapse of social structure. Still, he wasn't complaining. In fact, the amused look on his face spread to a nefarious grin.
"How long until their hearts and principles decay in this world?" he thought with a smile.
"The possibilities are endless! How exciting, maddening even! My mind won't stop theorizing. Perhaps there's another monster among us now?! To be immortal in a world like this, how exciting."
In front of her was the gun maker who was acting as the pink haired VIP's security detail. Naruto couldn't see him but he heard the teen snoring like a roaring thunder. He didn't understand why he guarded the girl like her life was any more valuable than his.
Her bombastic boobs were visible as well as her oddly colored hair. Her uniform was splattered abstractly with blood stains, but he wondered if pink was her natural hair color.
His eyes shifted quickly to the sound of wood tapping the metal floor.
*Tap *Tap-Tap *Tap!
The source of the noise was a wooden bushido sword. It struck it's final note with forte, harder than the last two strokes, making the final one the loudest. He gulped with a little jerk, tracing the weapon from the floor and up a slender arm.
In an isolated seat toward the front of the bus, closest to their driver, sat a girl with long purple hair. She held a feral look and stared into a world far from this one, her eyes fixed on the floor beneath her bloodied sword.
She stared at the deep red, a seeping, malevolent stain within the veins of her sword and Naruto found himself oddly surprised by how stoic she was.
Her eyes were lazily lethal, like it was effortless and she held a calm grace resembling his own. He blinked twice, enticed. Her head turned towards him so he averted his eyes by throwing them out the window again. He didn't normally mind if people caught him analyzing them, he did it so often at school that didn't care.
There was fire burning in the ember sky, smoking ash bullied the clouds from the skies and the streets resembled the fleeing masses of Pompeii. They drove past a fire engine, engulfed in the very flames it was created to extinguish. It stole the attention of 'them' with the crackling sounds of the inferno.
Naruto's icy blue eyes battled the glow of the flames and he felt at home in those wild flames, like he spent so many years, too many, away from this atmosphere of rage and fear. He inhaled animatedly, as if he were taking in an invigorating toxin for his senses.
"Will this apocalypse destroy their spirits? Can it liberate them of their weaker humanity? Will it bewitch them into accepting their deepest shadows? Which ones will accompany me across the finish line?"
His false skin shed from his bones as he exhaled deeply, an obsolete humble vessel who needed to be murdered by the animalistic will to survival. He never wanted to live any other way, but high school brings out everyone's inner chameleon.
"Normal was tame then" he said mumbling into his hummed melody as if they were song lyrics.
Some of the other people on the bus covered their ears and saved their eyes the nightmare by looking away from the windows. He knew this was pointless because now, they were living it.
"Saya, so pink" mumbled the gun lover in his sleep as he jolted randomly. He didn't wake up, and the girl next to him wondered how he could sleep at a time like this.
A girl with long, peculiar pink hair tamed with two pony tails, sat next to the teen and Naruto could only assume that she was Saya. "Kohta, how can you even sleep after everything that just happened? Let alone drool so much, disgusting!"
"Saya, no" he said a little louder.
"No, what spaz?" she asked, unaware that she gained the attention of the blonde genius behind her. She shook the round young man and he grunted at her touch.
"No... zombies everywhere...so hot, Saya. But not now...why now!?" he continued mumbling in his sleep. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes narrowed. "Put on... your shirt! No, Saya! No way! They bit your boob right off!" Kohta yelled believing his dream to be reality. Saya slapped him loudly, jerking him awake.
"OW, Saya what the hell, you slapped me!?" Naruto put his hand to his cheek, a quizzical look dawned his brow as he watched the scene.
"Why is it that I know what that feels like" he wondered, watching the teen get scolded by the girl.
"You pervert" the pinkette said turning away from the sore teen.
Her eyes met Naruto's who boredly let himself get caught staring. She looked at him, then blushed with a stupefied gasp and she turned her head back toward the sobbing teen, look out into the window's advertised abyss.
She noted the drool, which grossed her out, and she noticed all of the destruction outside. They were driving slowly, the school Nurse was being very careful on these roads it seemed. It was hard to look away but the sniffling next to her became too annoying to bear.
"How can you even sleep at a time like this?!" she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest. "And to have such lewd dreams to boast" she added in her mind.
He held his red tinged cheek and sobbed quietly as he answered her. "I get sleepy after I run. I don't have any cardio" he complained before holding up his nail shooter.
"Rookie, that's rule number one. You're a goner" Naruto thought snickering to himself. He silently sighed, noting how lucky this guy was for catching the bus out of there with him. He couldn't have made it out on foot, Naruto would bet on it.
"But I got this bad boy!" Kohta said, flashing his gun like he were at an auction show. His grin beamed with pride but Saya was much less interested. She sighed, forcing away her temper, ignoring his lively enthusiasm.
Naruto held his eyes on her for a second with lingering but measured surprise. When the pair became quiet once again, he quickly lost interest and turned toward the back of the bus. There seemed to be a teacher, an modestly older man who was cuddling up a little too close to the student sitting next to him.
Their eyes locked and the man looked as if he was caught red handed. He looked around and then let his restless eyes meet the blonde's.
"What a creep. The end of the world just started and this guy is seducing the underclassman." Naruto thought. "Though I suppose once I become immortal, everyone will be my underclassman."
There were two students behind the brunette haired teacher, a blonde girl who was also very beautiful and a muscular male student with blonde highlights in his brown spiked hair.
He looked like a thug, which would explain him getting such a pretty girl around his arm. There were another three people behind the teacher, one very pale guy cowering in his seat alone and two girls sitting behind him clinging to one another.
Naruto looked back to the lecherous man, his slithering black locks of hair seemed to slink across his forehead as he turned his head to make eye contact with the blonde genius. He glared and then turned away quickly.
He caught the eyes of the bushido fighter, who was staring at him analytically. He held her stare and a sense of unspoken understanding passed between them. Naruto was a little dumbfounded by this weird connection but held her gaze, not backing down when he remembered her skills with that wooden sword
"She seems dangerous." Naruto thought, recognizing in her, something eerily familiar. "I like it! She may turn quicker than the rest. I wonder though, who I can trust to follow my lead, help me become immortal, and be utterly loyal. And who will try to turn on me?"
His thinking paused for a second as this thought crossed his mind, like a sudden genocidal comet, and his stomach began to smolder with rage.
"If anyone tries to start some revolution type shit, I'll have to show them what hell really looks like. They haven't done what I've done. Not yet anyway, they only know the hell outside these walls. Me though, I'm blueprinted for the apocalypse. Designed to survive, to find immortality, to be more powerful than any weak human. I'm already stronger than them, conditioned by suffering. If they try me, I'll have to show them..."
The bushido practitioner turned her attention to the front of the bus and whispered a few words to the busty blonde woman. The girl Saya joined them but he couldn't make out there words. Naruto sourly turned his attention back to his window, a visage into the underworld; and watching it, he began to plot.
"I'm the best equipped to survive, even amongst such a gorgeous warrior badass. Maybe I could use her, mold her into a person like me?"
The number of undead was increasing with every passing scream, and there were notably more of 'them' on the streets now.
"We won't be able to drive forever" he thought. They needed to choose a course of action quickly.
"This is life now?" Saya said. Her pink hair was reflected in the window as she watched fires break out, businesses being raided, and the living and undead fighting for survival.
"Look at that creep, starting to prey on innocent girls" Saeko pointed out.
The driver glanced back at the girls briefly, "He doesn't seem to have honest intentions" she said. The blonde woman looked back to the road, trying not to focus on the creatures lurking on the gridlocked streets.
"Societal collapse, Shizuka-sensei" Saya responded. Saeko looked at her as if she had the same thought. "Something that changes all the rules of the game. Who's to say he just started now, there have been rumors about him at the school."
"Rumors can't always be believed" Shizuka said in a compassionate voice.
Saeko tapped her sword against the floor again, "The truth is, we won't need to submit another university application again. No need to look for jobs either. All of this chaos, it's killed normal and settled in.
Meanwhile, Shido-sensei was whispering words of encouragement to two female students. He sat in the back few rows of the bus. His hair was oily and black, the locks hung on his forehead covering the crazed look he had looking at the students behind him.
"Don't worry everyone. As one of the few adults here, I believe I can ease your worries. I saved all of these fine students behind me so I've shown my will to keep you alive!"
"He sounds like some kind of cultist preacher" Rei whispered to Takashi.
"We need to establish a leader and direction to survive. I recommend myself for I'm filled with passion and grandeur for my students, and I will sacrifice so you can live to see another day!"
The teacher passionately stood as the students behind him either cheered or perked in interest at what he had to say. He held his hands out, palms showing like some kind of profit.
"Leader?" Naruto mumbled very quietly. He spoke to no one in particular, but he was overheard by Rei who was sitting across the aisle.
"Can we switch seats, Takashi?" she asked him politely. Her stomach flipped when she heard Shido's voice and she didn't like hearing his hissing.
He looked at her confused. "Um, yeah sure Rei" he responded and the two shuffled into their new seats. Naruto didn't notice the switch, he was too busy laughing at the idea that he would let this inferior, lowly teacher lead him around during this pandemic.
"So it begins, huh sleaze bag?" Rei thought with her head down. Now Takashi was in the isle which gave him a better look at Shido.
"This guy?" Takashi heard Naruto say. He glanced to him from the corner of his eye and then looked at Shido, curious as to where the teacher was going with all of this.
"I'd sooner use him for experiments than let him lead me anywhere" Naruto whispered, now too low to be heard. He looked up to meet Takashi's gaze and quickly straightened his posture.
"Did he hear me?" "What was that?" They both thought simultaneously.
"Did I say that out loud?" Naruto chuckled nervously, making Takashi kick himself for not catching the words. Rei looked over with an oblivious look but Takashi's eyes were now on Shido-sensei and her eyes soon followed.
Shido had everyone's attention now, except for the school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa. Her brown eyes, although blocked slightly by her flowing blonde hair, were locked on the road as she weaved through incapacitated vehicles, people, and "them."
She didn't offer her opinion on Shido becoming the group's leader, focusing her attention to the road. She had to focus on getting everyone to safety. "
She switched lanes to avoid a woman being eaten against her own car, and past an ambulance on fire. She blinked away tears of another life. One where she'd be receiving whoever was in that ambulance. A world where she could be a doctor in a big hospital, the kind she'd always wanted to be.
"A world where that woman didn't need to die" She sighed and blinked away her tears. "But I'm still alive! And so are these students."
"I don't mind, Shido can lead me anywhere!" A ghostly pale boy spoke. He looked over to a very robust blonde student.
Yuuki Miku was the girl of his dreams, literally. He couldn't count the number of his dirty dreams she was apart of, but she's never noticed him before.
"Maybe the apocalypse would be different?" he yelled oddly, looking to her with hopes that she would agree with his stance. She was one of the few who didn't look over, Naruto sighed for the weakling.
"Thank you, Kurokami-san" responded Shido in gratitude. "Your input is wise and appreciated. Such a smart boy" he encouraged making the boy smile. Kurokami looked to his crush who was cuddling up with her boyfriend, Tsunoda. The sight of it boiled his core and filled him with a rage he had not known in pre-apocalyptic times.
"That blonde highlight wearing, popular bastard" he seethed quietly.
"If anyone should lead, it should be Takashi!" Rei interrupted. Her skin crawled with the idea of letting Shido lead the group. He had this negative vibe, kind of sneaky in his mannerisms and she knew that if they trusted him, they'd regret it. Takashi didn't protest her recommendation but the rest of the bus wasn't so quick to decide a leader.
"Now this clown?" Naruto thought skeptically. "Cleary, I haven't established the obvious condition that I would lead. How foolish that they don't realize how aws-..." he rambled to himself before he was cut off by a screeching voice. "Naruto-sama can lead us! Even into the sheets!"
Rei laughed with a snickering mock. "Not a chance, fan girl number one."
"Stop calling me that, bitch" the girl responded with malice. "Even if it is true. I am his number one fa-..." she was going to continue before Rei cut her off.
"Exactly. So Takashi for leader, anyone else? He saved my life on the school's roof." She was quick to reject the idea of Naruto leading but besides his bluntness, she wasn't sure of the type of person he was. She'd only heard rumors of him from around the school. "Anyone but Shido" she whispered to Takashi.
"Thanks girly" Naruto thought with mock tears, his composure remained stoic as he rambled internally.
"I won't tell you this because you're a crazy fan girl, but thanks for having half a brain and siding with me." The blonde buried his head in his arms on the back of the bus seat. Where should they go? They couldn't just drive forever and the roads, well they were verily going to get worse.
"Perhaps societies collapse isn't so bad. It's brought me face to face with my biggest lead yet. And yet, maybe I can ascend even that! Zombies can die, which is my biggest problem right now. I need to examine one closely."
"Do we even need a leader?" Kohta said as he scratched his round cheek. A red hand mark was still evident which detracted from his credibility with those who did not know him.
He was still gripping his homemade nail gun and although he was running low on ammo, he was proud of the useful tool. It saved Saya's life after all.
"I agree with Kohta" Saeko said curtly. "Not that I reject the idea of Takashi or Naruto leading but do we really want someone in charge of everyone else?" she began to say much to the disgruntlement of Shido internally.
"She forgot to mention me, that bitch" his face said, although being a mind reader was not a perk of Naruto's keen observational skills or genius.
The blonde genius was going to give his take on the issue when someone again interrupted him. It was that carbon copy delinquent which didn't impress Naruto. Why that Yuuki would choose that weakling over someone like him was an enigma to the 'insane' blonde. One he didn't care too much to rectify, considering he never met the girl before now.
"Hell NO!" he erupted, standing from behind Shido and walking towards the front of the bus towards Rei and Takashi. "This guy?" he said pointing to Takashi. "He can't be leader. Screw that, anyone but him."
"What the-..." Takashi muttered confused. "I don't know you bro."
"I'm not your bro! Don't act like you don't know" he yelled. "I hate him" he finished, reaching for Takashi's shirt. A mop handle collided with his gut and the teen hit the floor in recoiling pain.
"Tsunoda, NO!" Yuuki yelled using a high pitched scream to murder her classmate's eardrums.
"That bitch" Tsunoda thought as did Naruto but toward different girls. Naruto picked at his now damaged ear drum, the bus came to a screeching stop just ahead of a freeway tunnel.
The busty blonde driver took the tight fitted seat belt and turned around with sternness to her soft voice.
"I can't drive with all of this yelling!" Shizuka yelled
A series of claps began to echo in the bus and soon, Shido was stepping over the downed student, crushing some of Tsunoda's fingers beneath a misstep of his dress shoe. He clapped one more time to muffle the yelp of the boy and passed Naruto's seat. His smile at Rei made her skin freeze and everyone was watching him. He scanned the captivated crowd like he was ready to give an impassioned speech and his lips spread into a smirk.
"Marvelous. Such spunk. That kind of kickass spirit, that passion is what we need out of our group. But..." he trailed dramatically as he parted some black strands of hair from his eyes.
"You see, that's just not how a true leader would handle such a thing. And that kind of violence is exactly why we need a leader. Someone well spoken, who can use words and take command. Someone like me" he finished with a smile.
"Checkmate, I'm King" was written on his face, or so it seemed to Naruto. Mind reading wasn't one of the blonde genius' skills, but his keen sense of observation gave him the ability to measure a person. This guy was a slug, something weak and slimy. Takashi's support group remained silent, and an air of uneasiness filled the bus.
"Someone who has charisma, my friends! A person with the pride and spirit of Fujimi Academy. Someone who wants the best for all of you beautiful students. A curator…who favors a nurturing teacher?" he waved his arms hysterically.
"Get over yourself dude" Saya said to him plainly.
Naruto felt his aggravation build and he resolved that he wouldn't listen to this crap for a moment longer. He stood up from his seat next to Shido and grabbed the back of his head in a vice grip, slamming him onto the floor of the bus.
"Look, creep" Naruto began. The teacher in his grasp had eyes wide with fear. He was not in a position that one would call advantageous. In fact, he was vulnerable to the whim of Naruto and the whim of the crowd.
There was some movement but no one moved to help the teacher. "Naruto-samma" his fan girl yelled. They watched the blonde observe the man beneath his grip with disgust, and he spoke with crystal clarity in his voice.
"No one wants to follow you. But more importantly, I really don't want to follow you. And in a world like this, you don't get to make sneaky grabs at power. In this new world of the undead, those with power survive, but you've confused the powerful and the weak. So what if you're a sensei. To me, you're under the boot of the king" he said pointing to himself with his thumb.
He pushed the man's face into the ground a little rougher now, and his hand shook from holding the man down despite his struggles. He put his foot on the man's back to help make his point.
"I'm on top, which makes you, being on the bottom, my bitch. So fuck your charisma, you sneaky bastard. Strength, my friend is the only thing that can withstand this world." He stepped off of the man and gave him enough room to back peddle, which he desperately did, right over Tsunoda who was still trying to catch his own breath on the ground.
"That's some logic" whispered Takashi to Rei as he watched the blonde carefully. "I don't like how he did it, but at least he stopped this weirdo from trying to be our leader."
"Some leader, crawling over people like a bug" Naruto thought. "How pathetic. Maybe I will use this vermin for an experiment. If the time comes, if i can get the moment right"
"Look, if we want to survive" Naruto began to say addressing everyone. "We can't drive forever. And we can't be doing this. We should head somewhere and search for supplies. Anyone who wants to leave the group when we get there, feel free. But it's wise to stick together, I'm not leaving."
The bus was quiet, as if a death had just occurred, and Shizuka sat without restarting the ignition. Naruto took his seat, looking over to Takashi and Rei with a stoic expression, staying calm despite what just occurred.
"I'm getting off now. Who wishes to join me?" he heard Shido say to another student behind him. He looked back to see the teacher walking defeated, poking his head around the seats of each of the student's he'd saved.
"What's your name?" Rei asked from her seat by the window. She had heard it before but never officially became acquainted with the blonde. Takashi turned his head to look at her before turning back to hear the response.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki" he said. "When did you two move?" he asked her, finally noticing that her seat had changed.
She stared at him and then glanced over her seat to see the teacher who was whispering to some of the students in the back.
"Mr. Creep was making his move. I feel uneasy around those kind of sleaze balls. So thanks, for putting him back in his place" Rei said.
"I'm Rei and this is Takashi" she introduced. Takashi chimed in with a brief "yo" but didn't add any more. As the word rolled off his tongue, Shido-sensei and five other students stood up from their seats in the back.
Naruto's eyes squinted at this act of betrayal. "What's this mutinous bullshit" he thought to himself. He calculated the risk of emasculating the male teacher but he assumed the yellow belly snake would cower under his thumb and follow his lead. He never imagined the teacher to have the audacity to separate from the group.
"We'll be going then. These students don't wish to follow such a mean and violent leader. As such, I'm going to lead them out of here, unless you didn't mean what you said about letting anyone who wants to leave go?" The teacher's words were like daggers to the blonde genius.
"No, go if you really want! Less mouths to feed once you all go off to die" Naruto responded. His words were harsh but he measured the odds. And with a schemer like Shido, he expected them to be worse off.
"Just know I didn't tell anyone to leave. In fact, I only pointed out the obvious option. So go, Mr. Teacher-leader-peeper" He finished his mockery of the man as he played with his final few words. Each one made Shido's frown deepen.
"You'll regret embarrassing me, boy" Shido said. He walked past Takashi and Naruto and then past the rest of the group Naruto saved. Rei was holding her breath until he was finally off the bus, and the rest of his followers marched behind.
"EVEN YOU! FANGIRL NUMBER ONE!?" Naruto thought feeling truly betrayed. "Fine go! You're going to die without me. I've got these guys!" He looked around the bus at those still sitting. He'd have to fight insurmountable numbers with modest ones, odds he's love to ante up for.
"Eghhhhhaa" grumbled someone's stomach. It was as loud as one of "them" outside of the bus.
"Shut up! At a time like this….. Be quiet" Saya scolded. He recognized her yelling from before and peaked over the seats to get a better look. She was looking at Kohta who was looking out of the window sheepishly.
"Sorry, I'm hungry. It's 7:30 and I missed breakfast this morning. The outbreak started before lunch and…" Kohta defended only to be quieted when Shido walked passed him, offering him a glare and an spine chilling glance to Saya.
Shido turned around and smiled at those following him. He walked off of the bus followed closely by the bully,Tsunoda and his girlfriend, Yuuki. Kurokami followed behind his Yuuki like a poodle, followed by the two girls. They seemed the most uncertain of the group, and Shido met their nerves with a hug.
He wrapped his arms around the two girls and smiled so that it was in view of those still on the bus. It was rife with the expectation of lustful opportunity.
"There, there, my darlings" he calmed although his face wasn't as relaxed as his voice. Saeko looked at his face from her window.
"So creepy" she thought. She gave the inside of the bus a once over. She was happy to see the group she escaped with still present but there was an uneasy feeling in her stomach. "Will we regret letting him leave?"
"Everything will be fine. You have nothing to fear with me" Shido finished. The two girls smiled under his embrace. They felt safer, the teacher squeezed them into him harder before letting go and turning around.
The rest of the bus watched as half of their numbers disappeared, they began heading toward the freeway tunnel. It was getting dark outside and it was getting harder to see them.
"Okay, you need to punch it!" Saeko yelled, catching everyone's attention. It was silent before her warning and this stunned Shizuka who was dumbfounded by the sudden order.
"Um, huh!" she fumbled not reacting quick enough.
A loud crash was heard, a bus barreled into a car on the road to their right, its occupants struggling for control inside the chaotic vehicle. It was speeding by, filled with zombies and people alike. On impact, it flipped into the air, crashing and blocking the entrance to the tunnel that Shido's group just entered.
"Holy Shit!" Naruto exclaimed as it crashed and settled in a burst of flames.
"What timing. Fuck that guy, the cosmos says I win, bitch" he laughed to himself. Even if they didn't die, he was happy that they were trapped to walk the entire tunnel with no way to turn back.
The tires rolled over some flames, as more of 'them' exited the wreck, the fire that engulfed their bodies did little to stop them as they walked toward the echoing wreckage. The tunnel became a mob of "them" quickly and wet growls permeated the bus..
"So much for going this way. We'll have to head around" Saya said. Shizuka started the bus again, her hands trembling from the sound.
Kohta pulled his window open and fired two shots, nailing two mindless creatures in their graves. They fell, immobile, which Naruto saw with displeasure. Creatures followed the sound from the ignition starting and wandered their way over, looking for an evening snack.
"Head to a gas station for now. Somewhere not here!" Naruto ordered. He could reach out of his window and touch one of "them", it was so close. Shizuka was slow to respond, her hands frozen to the wheel.
"We can decide there, and get some rest for the night."
No one argued, Khota fired two more shots into the savage crowd, and Shizuka now gracefully drove them back back into the streets. Everyone sat down, relieved but still shaken and Naruto looked around to asses their numbers.
"So there are only seven left, huh?" Naruto thought, expecting better results early on. "What a day."
The darkness of the moonless sky clung to the bus as it parked beneath a row of thrashing trees. The area was silent, there were no creatures of the undead outside of this gas station. A stationary store sat ominously in the still night, it's sale signs for hotdogs and cheap gas welcomed their business.
"Guess everything's free" Naruto remarked with a crooked grin.
He stood up and lead the group out of the bus, being extra cautious not to make a sound. Distant groans rang in symphony but nature's melody was triumphantly more present.
"We should hurry and get what we can from the store" Kohta whispered. Naruto rolled his eyes at the obvious statement but he soon shivered with a chill pulling his arm hairs.
"Hurry! Get what you can" he heard faintly in his ears. It crashed against his skull loud enough that he thought the undead must have heard it. It was sudden and fleeting, but the pang of the words remained.
Naruto felt light headed but it helped to be outside. He attempted to give directions but Saeko spoke a hair quicker.
"We need some people to stay out here and fill the bus with gas. The rest will have to clear the store of walkers so we can stock up on supplies" Her words were clear and she spoke with lethal precision.
The group of Kohta, Saya, Saeko, Takashi and Naruto arrived at the rear of the store, ready to begin their siege. Saeko split up the groups evenly, leaving Takashi, Rei, and Shizuka to get gas outside.
"Ready?" Saeko asked Naruto. Her hand was on the doorknob and he shook his head to affirm that he was. She threw the door open and a group of undead turned toward the door. Kohta shot three times, he hadn't missed yet and Naruto moved into the room.
"Follow behind me. But don't get in my way" Naruto said. He shoved two of "them" out of his way as he moved deeper into the store. Saeko thrust her wooden sword into each of the creatures heads before they could get back up and they followed Naruto through another door.
He superman punched a zombie as he crashed through the door, it's face cracking under his fist. The stationary store was poorly lit, his eyes tracing the racks of chips, the refrigerators, and then the blood that he coated the wall with.
He flipped a switch and fluorescent light fixtures blinded him and Saeko who ran right into his back. Naruto took only one hard step forward but the sound lured the decaying eyes of the undead. A photograph of an old prison was pinned to the wall behind the counter.
The group fanned out to eliminate the stragglers. Takashi took a zombies head clean off with his metal bat and continued fighting with Saeko. Saya and Kohta began running through the store with baskets to gather supplies.
Takashi shoved another one of "them" toward Saeko who incapacitated it with her sword.
"Have you two snapped!?" called Takashi to Kohta and Saya. "Help us finish the last of them first." Takashi killed another one of "them", kicking it's corpse away and swinging his bat at another.
"What was that out there?" Naruto wondered. The image of the prison came into focus, another bolt of pain shot through his head and he became dizzy, dropping a gallon of milk all over the floor.
"You've snapped, Naruto" shouted a very familiar voice in his head, the same one as outside of the store. His own name reverberated around in his head, like a maelstrom in his mind, which made his vision blurr.
His legs buckled under his weight and a sensation of falling pulled him like gravity.
"I've got ya" Saeko said, catching the blonde. He looked at her dazed, shocked by the sudden physical contact. She straightened him out and offered a smirk, before looking at the puddle of milk on the floor.
She looked up to meet his eyes with hers, and licked her lips. "You've made quite a mess."
His eyes didn't leave hers but he didn't reply to her comment. He was still feeling cloudy, reeling from the migraine that still knocked on his forehead. She hadn't let go of his arm, and she tugged lightly.
"Let's rest here. it's been an eventful day."
They packed the bus like bank robbers making their get away. The gas tank was full and they were now all sitting inside the store.
"We've got food. Tomorrow, we look for guns" Kohta said. Saya rolled her eyes and turned to scold the teen.
"Is that all you think about, guns!?"
Naruto drank some aspirin and his brow creased when he spoke, "It's a good idea. We need to be able to protect ourselves."
"And each other" Takashi said, nodding to Rei who smiled back at him.
Naruto scoffed quietly. "Yeah, that too. Cell phones are down."
Saya rolled her eyes at Naruto's comment to her. "Whatever, know-it-all" she mumbled, unheard by her classmates.
"Maybe a police station?" Rei offered. "My dad's a police officer and they have an armory and evidence locker in most stations."
Naruto's ears perked at this bit of information. "That sounds promising. We get the big boys, those creatures won't be able to eat us."
"We can go in the morning" Shizuka said. "We should all get some rest."
Her voice was soothing, soft with comfort and Naruto began to move to his own area when Saeko came over to him. She carried her wooden sword with her and a cup of water.
"You should have Shizuka look at you. She was the school nurse and you seemed a little shaken before" she said. Her tone was thoughtful but Naruto took it as an insult to his strength.
"I'm fine on my own" he responded. His head pounded as if to mock him for his bravado. Saeko looked at him skeptically, not surprised by his tough guy answer.
"If you say so" she said walking away. He watched her leave, feeling annoyed that she thought him weakened.
"What does she know? A normal high school hotty like her. She has no clue the things I've recovered from" he thought to himself. The store was dimly lit, quiet and spacious now that they moved all of the racks against the door, deciding that Takashi and Rei would get the first watch.
"Not near me" Saya said. Naruto heard this and looked over to see a defeated looking Kohta finding a new spot to sleep. He shook his head, judging the failures of his classmate.
"How can you know the type of company you keep? Can you, in times like these." His mind contemplated many questions like these until he drifted off into a brief sleep.
Rei sat next to Takashi, her wooden mop handle still tightly gripped by her long fingers. They hadn't said much since the first watch had started but it was a shift of three hours.
"I'm glad" Rei said suddenly. Takashi looked at her surprised, not quite sure what she meant if his raised eyebrow was any indicator.
"I'm glad that I still have you during all of this shit" she said. Her voice was shaken, and she looked at the blood on her weapon for the first time. Her hands began to tremble slightly, "Nothing feels the same anymore."
Takashi looked at her for a moment, and didn't speak. He then put his hand on hers and squeezed, which brought her amber eyes onto his.
"We're the same" he said reassuringly. "I'll protect you, no matter what! I promise."
"That's what I'm worried about" she mumbled, leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder. He didn't respond and they just sat like that, savoring the moment.
They woke Naruto at 3am and the scourge of undead cattle remained docile in the silent streets of the postapocalypse. He was a little groggy but the rest had vanquished his malefic headache.
"It's been really quiet out there. A little creepy but Kohta will relieve you at 5" Takashi said with a reassuring smirk.
"He took a nap in the bus. He should have had first watch" Naruto thought.
The blonde nodded to the pair and they were off like a prevailing sail on the horizon. He sat alone and contemplated how best to allocate this privacy.
"Where's my scalpel?" he thought. His mind flickered an image of the zombies piled in the back room freezer. Now, he had a wealthy of time so he krept with stealthy precision and grace toward the pile.
The sun was creeping onto the landscape, preparing itself for an early rise. Naruto let Kohta sleep in, which the snorer did on his own when he never responded to the blonde's prodding.
Naruto was sitting in deep thought when he heard Saya shriek in a painful pitch.
"What happened to our bus! Our supplies?!"
He remembered the experiment from that night, the gruesome ordeal he started and finished before the morning twilight hour. It caused his blood to run cold.
"Their intestines are the same as hours" he said pulling out entrails like they were props.
"No anatomical changes in body structure after the transformation." He was holding the removed heart of a zombie, one that was no longer beating.
"Is it chemical then? Neurological?" he rhetorically theorized.
The organ wasn't beating, reminding him that a dead zombie meant 'they' weren't actually immortal, as he feared. At least, not in the way he was searching. He was still unconvinced and continued to prod the corpse.
Naruto could hear the crunch of his test subject's rib cage, a bloody mess that he did outside in order to speed up cleanup. He went through all of the surgical gloves he gathered, something he also didn't want to bring up to his companions.
Naruto blinked dumbly, realizing he never even checked on the bus during his watch, or more accurately, surgery. He observed the group, cautious not to speak or draw attention to himself.
They were shocked into silence, their eyes stared in search of elusive answers and their mouths were agape, ready to be fed any lie.
"Well I can't tell the truth" he thought shrugging his shoulders.
He smiled nefariously, "Khota! Didn't you tell me you were awake and ready for your watch!?" he questioned. His tone was forgetful and innocent, he was asking a 'sincere' question and all eyes fell onto him.
"Kohta, you idiot!" Saya repeated. She seemed baffled and his reaction made her roll her eyes. He didn't know what to say as his mouth hung open in bewilderment.
"Me…..I….I…. I don't remember" he said thinking about the deep sleep he enjoyed.
Naruto laughed internally but he didn't want to lose credibility so soon after flashing his dominance with Shido. He walked up to the frantic teen and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's not your fault. You were never told rule number one, so you're new to this" Kohta looked at Naruto confused. He had no clue what the blonde was talking about but he found himself nodding his head along with the blonde's.
"You didn't mean to fall back asleep. It was a rough day, an understandable fumble."
"This is so bad! We packed all those supplies" Rei said. Her voice trembled and she gripped onto Takashi's sleeve.
"Who took it, I wonder" Saeko said, whacking the floor with a mighty tap of her practice bushido sword.
"Gather what's left. What's done is done" Takashi murmured defeated. Kohta smiled in relief that the group seemed to let him off the hook.
Kohta's face light up from it's despair and Naruto grew bored with the teen. He turned and started packing things like toilet paper, water, candy, and other necessities.
"What's done is done."
Author's Note: Hope it was worth the wait. We'll be trying our best to update regularly and fully plan to finish this story! Leave a review and let us know what you thought, this chapter was for all of you who never stopped waiting. So, sorry for the wait!