New Life amongst the Dead

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Pairings?

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Author's Note

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Story Start

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Naruto looked over to the pile of charred bodies. The memory of the blended vortex of smoke that radiated from the bodies still fresh in his mind. When the power had gone out last night a source of light was needed and well, what better way to kill two birds with one stone then a zombie bonfire?

He couldn't help but sigh as his stomach growled. This morning's breakfast was not enough to sate his hunger. He could feel his skin washed over by the sun's warm rays. He went over and sat on one of the chairs that had been set out. In order to maintain the fire several of the survivors took turns.

Naruto closed his eyes and listened for the sound of something, anything. It was quiet. The sound neither of the undead nor of the living shouting for help could be heard. He couldn't help but shiver. Despite the sun's warm rays, it was still rather chilly. The ground was adorned with autumn leaves and the cold chills.

Naruto looked around and noticed he was the only one up. Going over the number of survivors he began factoring the meals to the number of people at the Inn. He also factored in the health of the children and how much energy the adults would need in order to work. Because of his high metabolism as an Uzumaki plus his former status as the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki being factored into this new body he had to factor in how much would he would need to function.

Movement finally caught his attention as his eyes homed on one of the survivors. It was the Lily woman. Without the situation being tense and with an expression other than anger or annoyance on her face, she seemed approachable. Naruto knew what needed to be done to make the best of the situation.

"What do you want?" She curtly asked him, a scowl prominent on her face.

"Relax, I just wanted to apologize, for what happened at the store." Naruto repressed the urge to sigh. To survive in this world, it wouldn't be smart to make any enemies. Especially with someone who has military experience. "We're all stuck in this together and its imperative that we can work together."

"You stuck a gun in my face. If you think some half-ass speech is going to earn my forgiveness then you have another thing coming." After the snappy reply she promptly steered away from him.

"Alright fine, maybe I was a bit brass, but you know as well as I do that unheeded tensions between us are going to hurt the group more than help when we get into a serious situation."

She seemed to contemplate his words for a moment. "If you want to start doing something useful then you can start stripping the cars to fix up the barrier."

Naruto sighed, realizing this was as close as he was going to get to an understanding with the woman. He decided that it was time to start getting to work on the barrier. A few days had passed without much incidence as the barrier was coming too. "Hey man, need some help?" Naruto looked up.

"Hey Lee." the blond greeted as he propped a board up against the wall. "Yeah, could you hammer in this nail?" he asked as Lee hammered in a nail with the head of his axe before speaking again. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing, just thought you need a hand."

Naruto chuckled, "You should learn to lie a little more naturally." he remarked as he got up and dusted himself off.

"What do you mean?" Lee challenged and Naruto shook his head.

"I get it, I notice the uncertain looks. Being a katana wielding trigger happy goon doesn't make well for a first impression."

"It was a tense situation, we were all under pressure. Look, as long as you aren't a danger to the group or have a sudden urge to lop off heads, then I don't have any problems with you."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind."

For something that seemed menial it was taken more time then Naruto expected. The dumpsters as a makeshift barrier would work sufficiently enough. These undead didn't seem to have the cognitive ability to pull or shred something unless it was flesh. It would take a decent grip and someone with a modicum of strength to move the garbage dumpsters. Now it was a matter of gathering barbed wired and other deterrents.

Trying to decide who would go and who would stay for guard duty. If the growing tension between Lily and Kenny seemed to be anything, there was going to be a power struggle for leadership. All he knew was that if he kept going with the current rations he wouldn't be all that effective. Nightfall would falling soon and thankfully he didn't have the night watch.

He waited until it seemed like everyone had turned in for the night. He went over to where the supplies and snagged a bottle of water and a flash light. He would need to stop by some houses and see if he can find a backpack or something to the sorts. "What are you doing?"

"Just going for a walk." he answered as he turned to face the reporter.

"Contrary to what everyone thinks, not all reporters are air-heads. What are you really up too?"

"I dropped some of my things in town earlier. I'm going to go get them back along with any other items I can."

"Do you really think going on your own at this time of night is wise? What if you get hurt?"

"I'm used to taking care of myself. I survived on my own for quite a while. I assure you, I'll be fine."

Carley realized that short of shooting the blond, there was little she could do to physically keep him at the inn. "Just be-careful. The last thing we need to do is lose any more people."

"Don't worry..." a grin adorned Naruto's face. "I don't plan on dying anytime soon." with that Naruto continued past the barrier. If he moved fast enough he should be back by tomorrow evening. It would take him a good half hour to make it back in town.

The scent of death filled the air as Naruto continued passing body after body. Seeing the body of men, women, and even children was a rather mortifying experience. After disposing of a few zombies he was now a good hundred feet from the Pharmacy where a small crowd of zombies were gathered. He sighed, realizing that he had a battle on his hand. He readied his weapon and slowly made his way to the creatures whom appeared to be distracted by something. Just as he was about to make his first attack a hail of bullets aroused the creature, resulting in some of them spotting him. And in that moment Naruto had only one thing to say. "Aah, shit!''