Author's note: I know I have some stories with long overdue updates; I didn't forget about them, don't worry! I'm working on those updates, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone and demanded to be written. I'm honestly really excited about this particular plot and I hope you'll like it too! This isn't going to be that long - no, it really won't be - maybe around five to six parts in total? Anyways, I'm having a lot of fun writing this :)

Warnings: Sasuke's pov; Alternate universe; zombie apocalypse; A/B/O dynamics; zombie gore; foul language

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like the first part!

Part 1

"We'll have to go further away for supply runs soon," Ino surmised as they neared the town they had been raiding for the last couple of weeks. "I doubt there's much left here."

"That's a concern for next week," Itachi decided and stepped to the edge of the road for a bit to stab a gurgling zombie through his decaying head.

None of them even flinched anymore at the wet sound of a knife sinking through the too soft skull before the gurgling got cut off abruptly, followed by a barely audible 'thunk' as the zombie crumpled onto the ground, finally dead for good.

"At least our new home is situated better than the previous ones," Kisame said. "Several towns surrounding it and those should still be relatively filled with supplies."

"It's a goddamn miracle at this point," Ino said, brushing some of her long, blonde hair away from her face. "Especially when you consider how easy it was to fence it off."

"Considering our last camp was literally in the middle of a field, that's not really an accomplishment," Sasuke snorted and dodged her slap.

"I'm trying to be optimistic here," she huffed.

"So the plan for today is just to get everything we left alone last time?" Kisame wondered aloud and tsk'd when two zombies stumbled out of the tree line.

These two were so decayed Sasuke couldn't even tell whether they were women or men. Most of their skin was already gone, their long stringy hair covering up most of their faces, and the gaping holes in their stomach area showed a significant lack of intestines. They both wore simple shirts, the colours long ago covered in muck and gore, and their jeans were frayed in several places. If their sneakers had been white before, Sasuke couldn't tell. They were simply a splotchy red and brown.

"They really are turning uglier every day, huh?" Kisame said idly and put an end to their approach with a quick swipe of his huge blade, sending the top halves of their heads flying through the air.

"They certainly won't be winning any beauty contests soon," Ino retorted dryly. "We're here."

The town they were currently raiding wasn't by any means large and that was exactly the reason why their group was still able to find a lot of supplies, even four years into what many had come to refer to as the apocalypse. Because the town wasn't that significantly large, Sasuke assumed that other people had let it be, thinking that nothing of value could be found here. Their loss, clearly, because their group had managed to stock up well on clothes, sleeping material and even food so far. Of course the supplies weren't endless, especially considering the town's relatively small size, so this would most likely be their last run in this place. It was still time well spent.

"We'll meet up in the centre again," Itachi announced as they exchanged the open road for the town. "You know the drill. Be careful, don't take any unnecessary risks and we'll see each other back in one hour tops."

"If it even will take us one hour to round up here," Kisame muttered and made his way in the direction of a temple.

Sasuke chose a street they hadn't frequented once during their previous runs and kept his hand near his katana, ready to draw it as soon as he came across one of the undead. They hadn't found many of those during their previous visits here; it appeared that most people living here had abandoned the town as soon as the dead starting wandering around, leaving behind most of their belongings. Still, it wouldn't do well to lower his guard; even four years into this bullshit, zombies still managed to surprise him at times. Especially the dormant ones.

Dormant ones was what they called those zombies who appeared to be in some kind of sleeping state up until they received some sort of stimuli in the form of a living person. Even just accidentally breathing a bit too loudly could set off one of those fuckers and some of them managed to keep themselves hidden so well during their sleeping state that they could take you by surprise once they woke up. If Sasuke could have a preference when it came to the type of zombie to deal with, it would be the active ones; the undead who were already wandering around. They could still be relatively quickly, but their rattling breaths and god awful moaning noises made it easier to anticipate their arrival.

Sasuke tried the doorknob of the first house and it easily gave away underneath his touch. The door creaked a bit, but not at a volume that was concerning and he slipped easily inside, quickly looking around. The living room contained some interesting looking books, but their main priority was drinks and food, so he made a beeline for the kitchen once he spotted it, ignoring the dusty family photos still hung up on the walls.

The kitchen yielded six soda cans and some canned peas and carrots which he dumped into his bag. He cracked open one of the water bottles he found stashed underneath the sink, but the musty smell had him grimacing and putting the bottle back. He would keep it to the soda and the canned peas then. The apocalypse forced everyone to stop being picky, but musty water was a step too far for him still.

He opened all the drawers and lit up when he found a couple of packages containing seeds to plant carrots and cabbages. Unless their new camp was going to be overrun in the next couple of weeks, these seeds would come in handy once the weather allowed them to plant them. He stuffed them in his bag as well and left the kitchen, going upstairs. The stairs creaked underneath his weight; the only sound aside from his quiet breathing. If there was a zombie in this house, his presence would have woken it up for sure by now. With no suspicious noises aside from the creaking staircase, he felt confident enough to do a quick walkthrough of the first floor, checking each room for anything interesting and useful.

He found two unopened boxes of sanitary napkins and three small boxes with tampons, only one of which had been previously opened, and he dumped those in his bag as well, figuring the women would be quite happy with that. Ino especially had been quite grouchy about the fact that they were forced to cut up towels to use as sanitary napkins.

One more walkthrough of the house yielded nothing else of interest and he walked out of the house, trying out the next one. The door was already ajar here and he raised an eyebrow, instantly becoming on guard. Carefully, he pushed the door open and paused, pricking his ears. No suspicious sounds yet. The door could have been left open by the owners of this house in their haste to escape –

Or someone else had found this town as well and was currently doing what they did.

Keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible, he cautiously walked further into the house. The living room was empty; there were several lighter spots on the wall, which he guessed had been where picture frames had hung before. The owners must have brought those with them before they fled. The small bathroom was empty as well, both in the person sense as in supplies sense; not even a single roll of toilet paper had been left. The kitchen was the same way; the cupboards were all left open, showing empty shelves. The fridge had some food left, but those had been perishables and those had all turned black and mushy, leaving it anyone's guess what kind of food it had been before.

Silently he left the kitchen and looked up at the ceiling, biting down on his lower lip. The house was as quiet as the one next door, but that didn't have to mean anything. There could still be someone upstairs, being as quiet as he was. Well, only one way to find out.

Keeping his katana ready just in case he walked upstairs, keeping his eyes pricked for any weird sound. There were three rooms here, but all of them were empty; the bedsheets still thrown back, covered in a thin layer of dust, as if their owners had only just left their beds. Unless someone was able to contort themselves in such a way that they fit in the small children's toybox it seemed that the front door had been left open by the owners.

With nothing left to grab from the house, Sasuke walked out of it and was about to cross the street to try out the next house when something fell over in the narrow alley next to the house he had just visited. He whirled around and raised his katana, rushing over to the alley. Brandishing his katana, preparing to take out the zombie before it could leave the alley, he drew to an abrupt stop when he realised what he was seeing.

The alley connected with the street behind the one he was in now, but that wasn't what attracted his attention. It was the sight of a blond haired man stabbing the absolute shit out of a zombie, turning its head into unrecognisable mush.

"Goddamn fucking dead fuckers!" the stranger hissed viciously, delivering one last stab into the pile of rotten flesh that had once been a head before he fell back with a heavy sigh, grimacing as he grabbed his right ankle.

A toppled over box randomly placed in the middle of the alley had Sasuke making a good guess as to what had happened. This guy must have been raiding this town just like him, had perhaps been surprised by the zombie which had him tripping over the box, most likely injuring his ankle in the process.

Sasuke waited for a moment before cursing inwardly and stepping forwards, deliberately making his footsteps audible. It didn't miss its effect. He had only managed to take one step forwards when the blond man whipped his head around and stared at him with wide eyes. Lightening quick, as if he wasn't injured, the man scrambled up, bracing himself against the wall in the meantime and whipped out his dagger, aiming it straight at Sasuke. Even though he must be in pain, his grip didn't waver and his blue eyes – quite the arresting shade – were sharp and focused.

Sasuke wasn't willing to lower his katana just yet, but he raised his free hand slowly into the air, portraying he didn't mean any harm.

"I'm not going to do anything to you," he said. "I just heard some noise and went to investigate."

"Yeah, like I'm going to believe a total stranger," the blond man sneered. "As if you're going to be honest and say you're going to kill me."

All right, Sasuke supposed that was fair, but still. "Look, you're hurt," he pointed out, which by the narrowing of the man's eyes wasn't appreciated. "If I wanted to kill you, I could have already done so."

"Like I would give you the chance," the man hissed and out of nowhere he suddenly threw something at Sasuke.

Sasuke instinctively ducked to the side, his heartbeat quickening, and cursed when he saw the man running away surprisingly nimbly for someone with a fucked up ankle, disappearing around the corner of the house. When Sasuke looked down at the ground, he was annoyed to see that he had ducked out of the way for a simple goddamn ball.

Goddamn it.

He hesitated for a moment, but ran after the other man. This could be a stupid mistake, going after him, but leaving the man unsupervised while the rest of his team had no idea there was a stranger here in the town with them didn't sit well with him either. At the very least he wanted to keep an eye on the man until his group was ready to leave.

"Hey, wait up!" he dared to call out, but the blond man slipped around the corner, quickly disappearing out of view. Had he been a goddamn marathon runner before the apocalypse or so?

Sasuke forced himself through a burst of speed but when he rounded the corner as well, he couldn't spot the stranger anywhere. He must be hiding in one of the houses or the grocery shop with its windows cracked, but Sasuke didn't think it was a good idea to try out every place now. Not with the stranger clearly so agitated. He had only aimed a dagger at Sasuke so far, which wouldn't help him much in a fight against Sasuke's katana, but he might have a gun hidden somewhere, which could make the next confrontation ugly.

"Fuck it," Sasuke muttered and after throwing another look at the houses, he turned around and made his way to the centre, figuring he could try some places there.

Their self-imposed deadline was nearly over anyways. As long as they could avoid the stranger and make sure they wouldn't be followed by him, things would still be okay.

"Got a good haul," Ino said approvingly when everyone had showed off what they had managed to grab from the houses and shops still.

"Anyone ran into any problem?" Itachi asked as usually.

It had become almost a run of the mill question, but this time Sasuke did have to change his usual negative reply.

"I came across a stranger after I finished looking through a house," he announced, capturing everyone's attention immediately. "It was in an alley. Think he must have been caught by surprise by a zombie because he seemed to have injured his ankle. He was pulverising that thing by the time I showed up."

"Pulverising," Kisame repeated, looking caught in a cross between amused and wary.

"There wasn't much left of the head by the time he stopped stabbing it," Sasuke said and shrugged. How else was he supposed to describe it?

"Well, that makes for some disgusting imagery," Ino muttered and wrinkled her nose.

"Did he leave town?" Itachi asked, frowning.

"I'm not sure. I lost track of him after he rounded a corner," Sasuke admitted chagrined and ran a hand through his hair.

He didn't need anyone to tell him just how dangerous it was to lose sight of a stranger, especially considering they were fairly close to their camp.

"I think he hid in one of the houses or even a shop, but because I had no idea what kind of weapons he had on him, I didn't think it was a good idea to search through every house for him," Sasuke continued and sighed.

Their own safety was always the most important thing to consider, but it was still frustrating to know he had lost sight of that stranger so easily.

"Maybe he left in the meantime," Ino suggested. "Or he's hauling up somewhere until we leave. I'd say we go back now. No sense in lingering here until that guy decides he's done hiding."

"Probably for the best," Itachi acquiesced, though he was still frowning.

They gathered their bags and turned in the direction of where they had initially come from, following the main road out of the town. Just when they were about to reach the last street they had to pass by in order to leave this place, the telltale moaning of the undead reached their ears.

"It's like they decided that this town is the place to be today," Kisame muttered, shaking his head.

They each grabbed their weapons, preparing to quickly finish the undead before they could start trailing after them. Turning the corner, however, Sasuke inhaled sharply when he spotted the same man from before.

The guy's luck must be absolute shit today because he was getting cornered by a group of six zombies. He lashed out at them with his dagger, but it was obvious from his uneven gait that he was having trouble remaining upright enough to do any significant damage and stop them.

"That's the guy," Sasuke said before he ran towards the zombies, raising his katana.

"Is he serious?" he heard Ino ask baffled, but the sound of running footsteps behind him told him that even though his group might consider him mad for rescuing the stranger, at least they still had his back and were going to help him out.

He sliced off the head of the closest zombie to him, sending the purple haired head sailing through the air. Ino quickly sank her knife into the temple of a young girl while Itachi immediately made work of two zombies, stabbing them each in the head in rapid succession. Right as the stranger managed to sink his dagger into a dead middled aged man about to grab his arm, Kisame cut the last zombie in half before slamming the heel of his boot in the head, sending brain matter all over the asphalt.

"You again," the blond man muttered, but most of the fight seemingly had left him.

No surprise, really, when Sasuke considered the way he was swaying back and forth; a sheen of sweat visibly coating his forehead. He swallowed audibly, one of his hands flying backwards to clamp down around the edge of the small gate belonging to the house behind him.

"Guess all that running didn't do you any favours, huh?" Sasuke commented and cautiously stepped closer.

The blond man scowled at him and flipped him off.

A slight breeze sent the stranger's scent towards him and it took Sasuke a couple of seconds before his brain registered the man's natural scent underneath all that blood, gore and filth.

An Alpha.

An Alpha who looked on the verge of collapsing as his blue eyes turned unfocused every couple of seconds; the bags underneath them betraying how long it must have been already since he last had some decent sleep.

"You got a group of your own?" Itachi inquired, stepping closer as well.

Ino pursed her lips, but chose to flick off the remaining brain matter off her knives instead of speaking up.

"If I had, do you think I would have been fighting these zombies on my own?" the guy shot back sarcastically.

"Feisty, I like it," Ino muttered underneath her breath.

Sasuke shot her look, but she merely quirked an eyebrow, giving him a quick mischievous smile.

"You look like you could use some medical help," Itachi went on, but the man snorted.

"And you all look like you could use a bath, are we done stating the obvious?" he sneered.

For all the bravado he was portraying, though, he was having more and more trouble remaining standing, evidenced by the way his grip around the gate kept tightening more and more.

"We can help you," Sasuke said and ignored Kisame's sceptical look.

It wasn't as if they hadn't taken in new people before. So far that had always worked out and if the stranger had wanted to attack them, he would have done so already. For all that he had a big mouth, he hadn't actually tried to hurt them yet.

"Or you can fuck off and go your merry way," the man suggested, smiling thinly.

"You look like you can barely stand on your own legs, man," Kisame sighed exasperatedly. "What are you going to do, live out your life long dream of being zombie bait?"

"What the fuck is up with those teeth, dude?" the blond man demanded baffled before he shook his head, quickly stopping the move and wincing. "Whatever, I don't bother you, you don't bother me; sounds like a sweet deal to me."

"Are you always this stupid?" Sasuke demanded annoyed.

What kind of idiot did you have to be to refuse help in this kind of world?

"Are you always this much of a persistent bastard?" the blond man complained and steadied himself against the gate. He gestured towards the end of the street. "Go on, don't let me stop you."

"Like you even could," Ino snorted and crossed her arms.

"Hey sweetheart, I didn't ask your opinion!" the guy snapped.

"I'm Sasuke, what's your name?" Sasuke asked impatiently, cutting off whatever Ino had been about to say.

Judging by her narrowed eyes, it wouldn't have been pretty.

"Seriously?" the blond man demanded incredulously but when Sasuke merely lifted an eyebrow, he released an explosive sigh. "Oh my fucking god, I can't believe this shit. I'm Naruto. Now what?"

"That's my brother Itachi," Sasuke jerked his thumb at his brother, "that's Kisame and Ino. Now we're acquainted, no longer strangers. You can drop the stupid act and let us help you."

"Getting bugged by a persistent fucker was so not on my bucket list for today," Naruto muttered darkly but pushed himself off the gate. "You know what? Fine, if you want to waste your goddamn supplies on a stranger, be my fucking guest! I don't give a fuck anymore."

"Can you walk?" Itachi inquired, casting a quick glance at the foot Naruto kept hovering above the ground.

"Sure I can," Naruto scoffed, but when he took one step forwards he nearly collapsed straight onto the pavement.

Itachi quickly shot forwards, grabbing Naruto around his waist before his face could kiss stone.

"I take that as a no," he said lightly which earnt him a heavy glower from the blond Alpha.

"You two are definitely brothers," he muttered darkly.

"One of us is going to have to carry him," Sasuke realised.

Letting Naruto hobble along would take too long. Even if he used one or two of them as living crutches, it would take far too long to reach camp like that. With the sun slowly starting to set and evening nearing they needed to be back at the camp site as soon as possible. Stone houses and self-made fences were still better protection against roaming zombies than an open road and a bunch of trees were.

"Nobody is going to carry me. I'm not a fucking damsel in distress!" Naruto growled, but nobody paid his affronted cat act any mind.

"I'm out. I never got around to lifting weights like I had planned to," Ino said dryly but looked at Naruto speculatively. "Although you barely are more than skin and bones. Do you even weigh more than I do?"

He flipped her the finger.

"Kisame or I can carry you," Itachi suggested and glanced at Sasuke. "Your katana will only get in the way."

"A bloody piggy back ride, really?" Naruto said darkly.

"So who is it going to be?" Itachi looked at him expectantly. "Kisame or me? Your choice."

"My choice, huh?" Naruto smiled cynically before throwing a suspicious look at Kisame. "Fuck it, Itachi was it? You carry me. I don't trust Mister Shark Teeth over there not to eat me."

"Ino's right, you're barely skin over bones, kid, not enough fat on you to even try to eat you," Kisame grinned roguishly; his eyes glinting.

"Who are you calling kid, arsehole?" Naruto hissed and scowled down at Itachi's back when Itachi lowered himself a bit.

"This is fucking bullshit," he complained before giving in and awkwardly climbing onto Itachi's back. "Don't start complaining if I'm ruining your back with my weight."

"You weigh less than Sasuke does even with your bag," Itachi smiled and carefully straightened up a bit, sliding his hands underneath Naruto's thighs to keep him balanced. "I doubt you'll be able to break my back."

"Enough with the weight jokes, asshats," Naruto grumbled and rested his cheek against Itachi's right shoulder. "If you get eaten by a dead fucker because you're carrying me, that's on you."

"I'll keep that in mind," Itachi said dryly before he gave them a nod, signalling he was ready to leave.

"Is this really such a good idea?" Ino murmured to Sasuke as they walked out of the street back to what they had dubbed as the entrance to the town.

"We've taken in new people before," he reminded her in a whisper, glancing at the back of Naruto's head.

"Yeah, but they acted less antagonistic than he does," she whispered back. "I think I get why you're doing this, the whole the more the merrier kind of thing, but we don't know anything about this guy, Sasuke."

"We didn't know the other people at first either," he insisted. "But if you want more information …"

He walked to Itachi's other side to face Naruto. "Where did you - " but he trailed off when he realised Naruto's eyes were closed.

Was he faking being asleep? When Sasuke leant a bit closer, though, the slow steady breathing proved that Naruto had truly fallen asleep. Nobody could fake that particular rhythm, but just to make sure he quickly lashed out with his hand, stopping right before he would touch Naruto's face.

No response. Not even a twitch. Guy was out like a light.

"He asleep?" Itachi murmured.

"Yeah, completely out like a light," Sasuke confirmed in a low voice. "Didn't even react when I made to slap his face. Don't know how he survived this long with those poor instincts."

"Or this is the first time in a really long time he's able to fall asleep," Itachi reasoned.

Which yeah, judging by those deep bags, made sense. Perhaps this was truly the first time Naruto was able to fall asleep, simply because they were around now. It still proved he had piss poor instincts, falling asleep around strangers, but …

Sasuke turned to look forwards, keeping an ear pricked for the familiar sound of approaching zombies.

It meant that perhaps Naruto wasn't a hopeless case after all and could do well in their group.

AN2: Yes, another zombie fic, I'm sorry. I'm just in a zombie mood lately apparently and like I said, this idea wouldn't leave me alone. I hope you think it's interesting enough to read more!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.