I'm finally back! It's been a while but I'm trying to continue all of my stories. I did a lot of revamping to this one but hopefully it's on a better track!
As always thank you for reading!
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We make it to the meeting point in almost complete silence, our minds continuously reeling over what we just witnessed.
"Hey! You finally caught up, woah what's with the faces?" Temari says as my eyes seem glued to the ground.
I finally look up and pull her aside away from the others as they go to greet Naruto.
"Hey what's up? What happened?" She asks as we stop about 6 yards away from the others.
"There's something wrong. We.. We saw something wrong." I breathe out as she watches me cautiously, her dark green eyes starting to look more worried with each word that leaves my mouth.
"What do you mean wrong?" She whispers back, her eyes darting around us as if I led someone here.
"Temari, we saw something not right. They were people.. They looked like people, but.. They were acting like feral or something." I say as my mind plays back the noises and abnormal movements they made in the dim light. The only word I can associate is feral..
"You can't be serious.." She says almost trying to laugh it off before looking back at my face.
"Okay you're serious." She breathes out, her eyes almost hiding something as we step further away from earshot.
"What do you know? I know that look." I say as we stop again, her face turning away as she starts messing with her jacket. She pulls out her phone and flips it open before searching for something.
"Were they like this?" She says as she plays a grainy video, the three people on the screen moving in the exact ways I saw not more than an hour ago.
"Yeah.. but the noise. The noise was unlike anything I've heard. I.. I don't know what to think." I say as she closes her phone and slips it back in her pocket.
"I've been trying to figure out what they are and why they are suddenly showing up. Back in Mist.." She starts before looking away, her face scrunched up before she starts again.
"Back in Mist, bodies were going missing. We'd see survivors get shot in the leg or arm and then they'd get taken away. They used to kill on the spot out there, but then they started taking the bodies from the streets. The piles of the dead would be gone the next day, like someone stole them." She says, her eyes searching mine as my heart starts picking up again.
The conclusion my brain is coming to doesn't even make sense. That's fiction, it's impossible.
"That's not possible. I worked as an RN, it's not possible to.. To reanimate the dead. And even if people were alive the only 'mind control' is lobotomy and even that isn't truly mind control. Maybe.. Maybe it's.." I start without finishing, my mind not coming to any kind of conclusion.
"Maybe it's what? I've researched, Sakura. I've gone through any book I can find and there's nothing. The only thing I keep coming back to is out of a movie. And the only reason my brain even entertains that idea is from watching them attack." She says as I look back at our group talking and laughing with each other.
"Watching them attack? Attack what?" I ask, not necessarily wanting the answer but knowing it's an inevitable truth.
"Us."
"Hey! We need to get moving if we're going to meet up with the others in the morning!" Kakashi calls to us as I look at her in almost shock, my thoughts drifting to every horror movie I've ever seen. The dead coming back and attacking people? That shouldn't be possible. That Isn't possible. And attacking people?
"Hey, what happens when people are attacked?" I whisper as we walk slowly back to the group, she looks at me before shaking her head.
"We haven't hung around yet to find out. Just keep this between us until it's absolutely necessary. We don't have any answers that make sense and I'd prefer to at least have some kind of knowledge of this before we let the groups know." She says before walking away towards Shikamaru, my mind only becoming more jumbled at knowing there's more of those things out there. And they attack people. It's a brand new threat to add to our long list of things that want us dead.
"Hey, you okay?" I hear Ino ask from my left, her eyes running over the worried look on my face.
I quickly snap out of it and put on a nonchalant face before responding, my eyes looking around at the others before landing on Sasuke staring at me.
"Yeah just a mess of drama. Did I miss anything?" I ask as I set my pack down and crouch for a second to grab a granola bar from one of the pockets.
"Not really, just running as usual. Exceptionally boring silence until you guys showed back up." She says as she reties her high ponytail, I nod briefly before putting my pack back on and looking from where we came from.
Can they track us? Are they coherent? Are they controlled by them?
The medical side of my brain is more curious than afraid, how do you reanimate the dead? Is it a chemical or an airborne toxin? And did the corpses just get back up overnight or were they taken somewhere before they're released again?
I'm quickly pulled from my thoughts as someone touches my shoulder, I jump slightly as I see dark eyes studying my face.
"What did you see?" Sasuke asks, his tone not necessarily asking.
"Nothing, we were just chased for a while by that truck." I try to lie, there's no point in telling everyone until we have answers.
"You know I can tell when you're lying." He adds as the group starts moving ahead. Well that lasted long didn't it?
"I don't know what I saw. That is the truth. I just saw people that's it." I say quietly as we follow behind the others through the trees.
"I've seen them, on my way through Mist before I met Temari's group." He says almost emotionless as he looks straight ahead.
"You've seen them? Do you know what they are?" I quickly retort, hoping by some grace of god that they aren't what I've been imagining.
"From everything I've seen, they are exactly what they appear to be. Mindless and dangerous and only out to kill. You remember that movie we went to see the day it came out? The one about the end of the world?" He says quietly as I try to think back before feeling my stomach drop.
"That's not possible. Medically, that's not possible." I say as I stare at the ground in front of me, as if some sort of answer is going to be staring back at me.
"Well I know what I saw, multiple times I've seen people attacked. They don't eat people they just kill them. I'm assuming they've created something to get through the rebellions and the survivors that are left while the scouts and the rich are safe inside their walls."
I can feel my eyebrow start to twitch as my blood pressure rises, this whole situation just got a whole lot more dangerous than surviving an old man with the military under him.
Mindless bodies attacking anything that moves.. This truth only makes me more grateful that we got out of the city alive.
"Can they die?" I say almost too quietly to be heard but I see him nod.
My goal in life was to save people and now it's almost a guarantee that I'm going to have to kill these things. I'm just praying our groups survive this new turn of events.
"So, did you think about what we talked about?" He asks suddenly causing my head to turn completely towards him as we walk.
"Not really.. With two of those things screeching it kind of made it hard to reminisce on the past." I almost grumble out as I readjust my pack. Now is not the time.
"Well you've got all the quiet in the world now." He says sarcastically as he glances down at me, a smirk pulling at his lips as he stares at me. I can feel my face heat up a little before shaking my head and mumbling something incoherent at him.
"We're about thirty minutes out from the meet up, so keep your eyes peeled." Kakashi says from in front of us, we both nod from our position at the rear and continue on in a comfortable silence.
The rest of the time goes by fairly quickly as we now start approaching what looks like a gas station out past the edge of the woods.
"We meet up with one of the guys from their group here and he'll help us get to their main hideout. It's a couple day-" Temari starts before that haunting sound rings out in the distance.
Fuck. Not what we needed right now.
Her eyes shoot back to mine before everyone starts moving beside each other to try and see what's making the noise.
I slowly pull out my gun from my hip, my eyes searching the area around the building before landing on something moving across the street by some shipping containers. I slowly click the safety off on my gun and hold it down by my thigh pointed at the ground.
"Get everyone back." Kakashi says to Temari as he stops silently next to me, his own gun drawn and pointed at the same area the noises are coming from.
"We need to disperse so we aren't as easy of a target. Everyone break off in pairs and we'll meet back here in 30." The blonde woman says as she grabs Shikamaru and starts moving to our right.
Everyone breaks off leaving Sasuke standing behind me with Kakashi to my right.
"I heard you two talking earlier, what are we dealing with exactly?" He says as his dark eyes glance at me briefly before zoning back in on the direction the sound is coming from.
"If you heard us talking then I don't think you need much of an explanation of what that is." Sasuke says as a man clambers out of the woods across the road from us, he's not moving towards us but what he's wearing is catching our attention.
"Shit. He's wearing gear, is that our guide?" I say quietly, my eyes not able to move from the thing ahead of us. It almost looks like his shoulder has been blown off, the material of his clothing soaked in red almost looking like a red shirt altogether.
"I would assume so. We need to reach out to the group and see if there still is a hideout." Kakashi says before stepping out ahead of us towards the man.
"Hey! What are you doing??" I call after him only to be answered by him screwing a silencer onto his gun before firing at the man, his head almost gone at the force behind his gun.
The man drops to the ground like literal dead weight before we start to move towards it.
My heart races at what he's going to look like or what rate of decomposition he's at, if it really is the dead walking.
"Stay close." I say to Sasuke before we trail after Kakashi, the night still hiding us somewhat by the side of the building.
We glance around before walking out to the body laying in the road, the smell coming off of it is like the worst rotting meat I've ever encountered.
The man's face is almost grey with a black looking substance leaking from his nose and mouth. His eyes are extremely bloodshot and almost completely red as he permanently stares at the sky. His clothes are torn and covered in what I'm assuming to be blood, the sight of that alone turns my stomach.
"Well this answers some questions." Kakashi says simply as he leans down to pat through the man's pockets. He quickly pulls out a phone and what looks like a wallet.
"He was our intended guide, we need to relay this message back to the other groups. Whatever is causing this is not a good thing." The silver haired man says as he pockets the wallet and phone while he stands up straight.
"Okay so what now? We tell everyone there's zombies now? That doesn't exactly sound like a good idea." I say as we walk back towards the gas station in silence, my eyes wash over the busted glass and burn marks from the riots before the fall. My mind rushing back through those weeks leading up to the slaughter.
Every TV and radio station was broadcasting the situation, a terrifying leader promising to overtake the Villages. The videos of riots flashing across the screen as I was on the phone with Sasuke, my voice quiet and shocked at the images in front of my eyes. People being shot and killed for trying to go against that man.
"Hey, you okay?" Sasuke asks as we head back to our hidden spot in the trees, I quickly inhale before letting out a breath and nodding while putting my gun back.
"Just thinking about the weeks leading up to this and how we got to that." I mumble out, my throat suddenly feeling dry and my eyes feeling glossy. I lost so many people during those weeks, family and friends. My heart was broken after that last day, after Sasuke went silent. I really thought he died, I thought he was gone and I was alone for good through all of the madness. And now? Now we have even worse odds at surviving this take over.
"I'm glad you're okay." I say quietly as Kakashi walks ahead to go over the phone he found, leaving Sasuke and I standing behind the tree line.
He looks at me almost sadly before grabbing my hand.
"I didn't abandon you, I actually came looking for you immediately but I think we both had the same idea. I stayed in the city for another couple of days, I already had my stuff packed because I knew the fallout was coming. I just assumed you left with your father." He says as I stare at him, almost hanging to each word like it was the last thing I'd ever hear. And with this new addition to the world, why knows if it might be the last thing I hear.
"Everything was just difficult. He tried to get me to go, he really did. I just didn't want anything to do with that old bastard running everything, I'd rather die out here alone than turn into a slave." I say as I look back out to the man lying on the street. I feel him squeeze my hand before I'm suddenly pulled into an airtight hug, my body freezing before responding slowly. His height causes him to bend down some to bury his face in my neck, his breath fanning out over my exposed skin.
"I missed you more than you know." He says quietly as I hug him back, tears threatening to fall at all of the emotion flooding back.
"I thought you were gone. I really thought the worst.. I.. I missed you so much I can't even describe it." I almost sob as he holds me tighter before pulling back and kissing me lightly. I respond immediately as my arms shoot around his neck, a feeling causing my heart to almost flutter in my chest despite everything happening.
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise you that." He says after pulling his face back, his eyes staring into mine intently before we both jump back at a noise to our right.
I roll my eyes as I see Ino staring at me with an all knowing look, Sai is just walking beside her with a puzzled look on his face.
The guys never met Sasuke, no matter how long we knew each other he just had no interest in meeting them. I know it was a jealousy thing that he didn't want to admit, but he never met them so it's doubtful they even recognize him considering they only saw pictures online.
Kakashi walks back with the phone still in hand.
"We need to have a group meeting immediately." He says as others start showing up as well, my mind almost racing at what that means.
Once everyone is back together we all stand around with our eyes focused on Kakashi.
"There seems to be a new threat in all of the nations, I'm not going to sugar coat it so please hold questions until I'm done." He starts as we all watch on expectantly, his stance serious and almost rigid.
"They have come up with some sort of disease that allows them to bring the dead back or turn wounded people into whatever that was on that street. They look human but they have no conscious thought, only the primal instinct to kill anything that moves. Our guide is gone, we can still meet with the other group but they have had to move to a new location. It is supposed to be safer but it is harder to get to, we will be leaving immediately for a two day walk. I need to make this abundantly clear, if you see something abnormal you are to take its head off. No exceptions." He finishes with the most serious tone I've ever heard from him, only ebbing my fear on more.
"Are you seriously hinting at zombies?" Shikamaru asks as he pulls out a cigarette before lighting it and taking a long drag.
"They don't eat people but they will kill you on the spot. It's some sort of virus they've been inflicting on people. From what I was told it can spread if you are bit and survive, but it is mainly being released by the troops infecting the injured or recently dead." Kakashi says, his eyes looking back to the flip phone before shutting it and putting it in his pocket.
"You're serious.." Ino mumbles out, her blue eyes wide as we all look around at each other.
"We need to get moving, we are about an hour out from the area we were supposed to sleep at. Keep an eye out and watch your backs." He adds as we all gather our stuff back up and start to follow him to our right along the tree line.
There's complete silence for almost the whole walk, not one person feeling the need to speak until we start approaching some sort of shipping container field. There's probably about ten containers altogether, some close and some spread out.
"You can split off or stay together, I'll be in this first one if anyone needs me." Kakashi says before pulling his flashlight out and checking out the closest container. The doors are slightly ajar but he quickly closes them as we all go separate ways. Not exactly where I had imagined sleeping tonight, but at least there's shelter from being out in the open.
Sasuke grabs my hand before heading towards an open container to our right. I glance at Ino as she walks with Sai, their faces grim as they open one of the doors to the next closest one. Everyone splitting off and choosing their own shelter for the night.
"All clear." Sasuke says as I follow him inside, the door closing slowly behind us as he sets his flashlight on a table to our right. The light illuminates the small container, there's rolled up rugs and metal boxes littered around the back.
"Here help me unroll these." I say quietly as I grab the first rolled up rug, it may not be perfect but at least it's softer than metal.
We unroll two large rugs onto the ground and stack them before moving to the metal boxes.
The first one I open has corroded batteries and empty flashlights all thrown together.
"No luck in this one." I say only to turn and see the raven haired man smirking.
"What? Did you find something?" I ask before he tosses me a can of fruit, somehow still within the expiration date.
"I never thought I'd be so excited for canned fruit." I say sarcastically as I set my bag down and throw myself onto the rugs. I pull out my can opener as he sits down and joins me with his own can.
"Here." I add as I hand him the useful tool, my spirits somewhat lifted as I sip the sweet juice. I scoot myself back to lean against the metal behind us as I stretch my legs out, the fruit helping with my grumbling stomach.
"So have you stayed in the city this whole time?" He asks as we eat quietly.
"Yes and no, I've traveled outside of the city but I always ended up back at that building you all showed up to. I'm assuming you traveled all over?" I say as I set the can down beside me.
"After I couldn't find you at your apartment I figured you probably fled to the outskirts like most. I traveled alone for a long majority of that time, but I ran into my brother scouting in Suna for Temari's group." He responds as he sets his can down before looking at me, my face hearing up slightly as I realize we're in here alone for the night.
"Ah, yeah Temari is a great leader." I say almost awkwardly as I try to avoid his eyes.
It's not that I don't want to be here with him, it just feels like the nerves you have on a first date. I haven't spent alone time with him since before the fallout, so it feels new and weird. Not to mention the odd relationship that formed with Naruto over the fallout..
"She is. Are you avoiding me again, Sakura?" He asks as I can hear the smirk in his voice causing me to scoff.
"I can't exactly be avoiding you if we're within feet of each other." I say in a snarky voice as I finally get the nerves up to look him in his eyes again. The small light is reflecting off of his dark eyes almost like a shark's black coloring.
"Hn." He responds shortly as his smirk never fades.
"Then get closer." He says almost making me choke on my own saliva.
Am I really about to entertain this situation?
I'm thinking maybe?