Epic Author's note
The Apocalypse has arrived! Run for your lives!
Technically, you can't outrun an Apocalypse, but whatever. You know what I mean.
I was looking at my story stats earlier and was extremely pleased to see that in just two days, this ficlet over here has managed to score 41 hits! :D I was like the damn Energizer Bunny when I read that. Seriously. I think I have too much sugar in my diet.
I have come up with a new strategy to get reviews!
Please Review!
Пожалуйста, ознакомьтесь!
S'il vous plaît examen!
Gelieve review!
Por favor revise!
Si prega Recensione!
I apologize if any of these phrases are misspelled or grammatically incorrect, I'm not exactly sure of the accuracy of Google Translate :/
But you guys get the point, I'm sure.
Enjoy!
**Chapter four**
When Shannon eventually came to, she was being carried rather unceremoniously over someone's shoulder. It was the constant running and jumping of said person that roused her from unconsciousness. Her eyes cracked open slowly, but she immediately shut them again when the bright glare of sunlight hit her full in the face. Groaning, she shook her head to get rid of the grogginess clogging up her brain.
Whoever was carrying her was certainly running very fast, because she was being bounced around to the extent that her stomach felt bruised. Opening her eyes again, trying to get her bearings as to where exactly she was, Shannon immediately wished she hadn't.
There was an earth-shaking roar in front of her and Shannon's eyes snapped wide open in fright. She was being carried over rubble and ruptured tar roads littered with the smoking, smashed skeletons of car that had swerved into each other or had been crushed by falling debris. It wasn't her immediate surroundings that worried Shannon. It was the monstrous creature charging full-tilt after her.
It was easily twice the size of the cars it was crushing underfoot as it ran, made of swirling black shadow. It roared again, baring the set of enormous, knife-sharp teeth that lined its maw in multiple rows. It had three sets of eyes. Enormous, murderous, blood-red eyes. And the creature seemed to be rapidly gaining on her.
Shannon screamed and started struggling, desperate to be on her own two feet and away from the shadow creature. The arms holding the back of her knees tightened and the person carrying her jumped over yet another wrecked car.
"Will you keep still? I can't run with you squirming like that!" Shannon whipped her head around in the direction of the voice.
All she could see of her carrier's face was a mass of spiked blonde hair. "Let me down!" she screeched, still struggling.
"If I let you down, you won't be able to keep up!" the blonde snapped. "Do you want that thing to eat you alive?"
Breathing heavily, Shannon ceased her struggles and spun her head back around to stare wide-eyed at the creature bounding after them. It howled in frustration when the blonde sped up and darted behind the remains of a high-rise building.
Shannon squeaked when they dropped down a large hole that led into a lower-level parking basement. The blonde swung Shannon off his shoulder and clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.
With one last roar, the shadow creature leaped over their hiding place and continued running, still chasing imaginary prey.
Shannon was shaking with fear, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps. She looked at the boy crouched next to her – his blonde hair was dulled with dust and he had black whisker-like marks down both of his cheeks.
"N-Naruto?" she whispered shakily, removing his hand from her mouth. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Naruto whipped around to look at her. "How do you know my name?"
Shannon shrugged and looked down at the ground, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. She was scared, she didn't know where her friends and family were, or even if any of them were still alive. Everything was in ruins, and she had no clue what to do. And to top it all off, now all these supposedly fictional characters were popping out of the woodwork and flipping her ideas of reality on its head.
"I know a lot of things I'm not supposed to," she muttered, wrapping her arms around her shivering form and drawing her knees up to her chest. "What was that…thing?"
Naruto let out a long breath and ran a hand through his hair. "Like hell if I know. It sure wasn't friendly."
"W-what happened here?" Shannon asked, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice.
The blonde next to her frowned slightly, fidgeting in the dark. "Well, after Shikamaru got you out of that building, you sorta fell unconscious. Those earth tremors stopped afterwards, but then there were these comets…" he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I'm gonna sound really crazy when I tell you this stuff."
Shannon gave a small smile. "I've probably heard worse, trust me."
Naruto smiled back, relaxing slightly. "These comets – sort of like big fireballs – started falling from the sky. We found cover and waited for them to stop, but then the earthquake started up again."
The blonde paused, shivering. "This is probably the worst part. This earthquake was stronger than the last one. Much stronger. It cracked up the ground and tore buildings in half! Then…then these things stated pouring out of the ground, huge monsters unlike anything I've ever seen."
Shannon's blood froze. Her thoughts immediately turned to her mother and Ashley. They may have survived the earthquake…hell, even the fireballs, but those creatures…
Taking a deep breath as if to calm himself, Naruto pressed on. "They attacked everything they saw, but stayed away from fire. That's how we made it out – we barricaded our hiding place with burning wood and those creatures stayed far away. I don't think I'll be forgetting any of this anytime soon."
He covered his eyes with his hand, shaking his head. "We're meant to be meeting up with the rest of the team here, but I don't know where they are."
"Team? What team?" Shannon frowned at him. More of them? Was the whole of the Naruto world here?
"The Hokage sent a team of us to find and secure you before the Akatsuki could," he explained.
Shannon was suddenly assailed by the memory of Hidan stalking her in the shopping mall. "Oh god…" she breathed, her head sinking until it rested on her knees. This was not good. She had been right all along. The Akatsuki were after her.
"Don't worry," Naruto laid a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I don't think even the Akatsuki could survive all of this," he indicated to the ruined buildings above them.
Shannon could see smoke pouring out of collapsed buildings and heard a small explosion somewhere off in the distance. There was a piercing, inhuman shriek and she cowered against the wall. Her shaking intensified.
"W-what do they w-want with me?" she stuttered, her eyes riveted to a single spot on the rubble-strewn floor. She didn't know where else to look.
Naruto sighed. "We don't know. All we know is that the Hokage thinks you're important enough to be protected, and that's what we've been assigned to do."
"Keep me safe?" Shannon quirked an eyebrow. "How can you do that with all those monsters lurking around out there?"
"By taking you back to Konoha with us." A new voice said from the darkness.
Shannon jumped, heart pounding, and Naruto climbed to his feet. "About time you got here, teme."
There was a tch in reply, and footsteps coming closer towards where Shannon crouched and Naruto stood. Shannon could only think of one person Naruto would call teme. Her suspicions were confirmed when Sasuke Uchiha emerged from the shadows, arms folded and a scowl on his face. His black eyes glinted in the dim light.
"At least we got here," another, feminine voice said.
Shannon pushed herself to her feet and leaned heavily against the wall. Sakura Haruno looked at her from over Sasuke's shoulder. "I see you kept her in one piece," she commented.
Sakura walked over to Shannon, casting a critical eye over her form. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" she asked.
All Shannon could do was shake her head. She thought her brain would overload if she had to see any more supposedly non-existent people.
The pink-haired medic nin looked her over once more before making her sit down again. "You're in shock. You need to rest," she said gently. Once again, Shannon nodded dumbly.
Sakura stood and walked back to her team mates. They talked in hushed whispers, while Shannon's mind started rebooting. She remembered them saying something about taking her back to Konoha…wait. Konoha?
"You said you were taking me back to Konoha," she said softly, half to herself.
Sakura turned around again. "Yes. Hokage's orders."
"I can't go to Konoha when there are still people here I should be looking for," Shannon muttered, climbing to her feet again. "I can't leave them."
"I'm afraid we can't let you stay here. It isn't safe, especially not now," Sakura explained. "We have to get back to the village as soon as possible."
"I can't leave! Especially not now! I have to find my mother, I can't leave her to die here!" Shannon snarled.
"You don't have a choice!" Sasuke glared at her disapprovingly. "You're coming back with us whether you want to or not."
"You expect her to come with us after a statement like that?" Naruto gave his team mate a blank stare.
Before Shannon could retort that she did, in fact, have a choice, a noise to her left startled her. Everyone focused on the origin of the shuffling noise. Shannon thought she could hear someone breathing heavily.
A moment or two later, Shikamaru limped into the light, supporting a barely-conscious Lee on his shoulder. Hinata stumbled after him, her sunglasses cracked. Sai, as impassive as Shannon remembered him, walked calmly behind them. His shirt was torn and his black jeans scuffed.
"I'm afraid no one's going anywhere," Shikamaru grunted, laying Lee down on the ground. Sakura knelt down beside him, immediately setting to work with her healing chakra.
"Where's that Grass nin?" Sasuke asked, frowning.
"That's the problem," Sai piped up, fingering the gash in his shirt. "One of those shadow creatures got him. We have no way home."
"You mean to tell me that no one else here knows the transportation jutsu?" Naruto exclaimed, wide-eyed.
"Nope," Sai's expression was neutral. "We're stuck here until Konoha figures out how to get us back."
Yes. I AM evil. :D