Naruto In The Apocalypse

Chapter 22

It was silent, eerily so. It was well past midnight and Naruto had finally stopped crying, though he had fallen asleep in Sasuke's arms. Kakashi and Kisame had taken it upon themselves to move Gaara, taking his body out of the room and the building.

Sasuke stared at the dark ceiling, not being able to fall asleep himself. Naruto had clutched onto him and refused to let go, even in his sleep. Sasuke guesses that he somehow reassured his friend or gave him a strong sense of comfort.

Now, he lay here on his back with his blond friend still holding tightly onto him. Hinata lay on his other side, her back pressed against him as she slept. They were all forced to share beds, seeing as they didn't want to be separated again. They managed to squish in another mattress and everyone could sleep at least a little comfortably.

But it was too silent. The room felt cold, despite so many people being in there, a chill still crawled up and down Sasuke's spine. He felt as though something was going to happen, something very bad.

Still, Sasuke lay there, not moving as he stared at the ceiling, the image of his brother's bloody body still fresh in his mind. He turned his head, choosing to stare at the back of Hinata's head instead, wanting something to distract him from the pain that gripped tightly onto his heart.

There was a noise from downstairs and it caused both Sasuke and Lee to sit up straight. Lee was keeping guard, sitting by the door on a pile of folded blankets so that it wouldn't be to uncomfortable. Lee couldn't sleep either, so he decided to keep watch instead, to be useful.

Lee stood slowly, staring at the door before he turned to Sasuke, wondering what he should do. A loud crash caused them both to jump and Kakashi to sit up, staring at the door as well. The silence caused their ears to ring, their hearts to beat in anticipation.

The sound of footsteps finally reached their ears, causing them to jump up, waking most people in the room, whispering harshly at them to get up. There were zombies in the building and by the sound of the footsteps as well as the groans, it was probably a horde.

Silently, they all gathered their things, knowing that if they didn't get out now, they might be stuck there for who knows how long. Once they were ready, they all stood by the door, getting ready to run if they had to.

Kisame slowly opened the door, cringing when it creaked rather loudly in the deathly silence. He stuck his head out the door, looking both ways before he stepped out silently and carefully. He motioned for the others to follow as they slowly walked down the hall.

It was silent and eerie, everyone feeling tense. A loud bang made them all jump and whip around, only to see a large group of zombies clumsily turn the corner, roughly bumping into each other. Once they spotted the group, they started moving for them, grabbing at them and snapping their teeth.

The group started running, trying to get away as fast as possible, but another group came around the corner they were aiming to escape through. Kisame cussed loudly as one tackled him, nearly biting into his flesh.

The group started killing zombies, knowing they had to get a way through them, but it seemed futile at that moment. Temari struggled against three as they desperately tried to bite into her, but she was saved by Shikamaru who smirked at her arrogantly.

They managed to get through with everyone unharmed and started running, killing and shoving random zombies that got in their way. They ran onto the open road. The sound of them panting harshly and heavily was the only thing to be heard at that moment.

"Where do we go now?" Shikamaru asked, standing up straight, his back cracking.

"I don't know," Kakashi shook his head, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Tobi clung to Zetsu, whimpering quietly. The boy was afraid and refused to let go of his lover.