Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter 2: Children of the Grave

"How the fuck can this be happening?" Kiba yelled as he jammed his sharp metal rod through the eye of another walker. "This is scientifically impossible!"

"Yeah, well, what would you know about science?" Naruto shot back as he sent a zombie flying with his own. "You're failing science, 'ttebayo!"

"Before I tell you two to pay attention and shut up, I should say that both of you have absolutely dismal grades," smirked Sasuke as he rushed past them to decapitate the zombie that Naruto had thrown and a few more besides.

"You know, Naruto," Kiba said conversationally to his friend, "I still don't know why you- ouch!" he yelled as Naruto brought the back end of the rod around to hit him in the head.

"Not one word, asshole, or I'll rip you a new one right where your dick is," he growled. Sasuke's snort sounded somewhere between annoyance, disbelief, and amusement.

"So do you have any plans as to our destination, dobe?" he asked Naruto casually as he gracefully cut an undead student in half.

"Well," said the blond thoughtfully as he kept spearing zombies and throwing them, "our first goal should be to get to a vehicle and get outta here. Once we're comparatively safe we can decide what we're gonna do next."

"Fair enough," said Sasuke, mildly impressed; he'd always thought that Naruto was incapable of strategic thinking. He'd also had no idea that Naruto even knew big words like "comparatively." "Do you know how to drive?"

Somehow, even swinging the metal rod all over the place, Naruto found the time to whip his wallet out, showing his driver's license, and then tuck it safely back inside his pocket.

"Why?" he teased. "Don't you know how to drive?"

"I am in the process of learning how," said Sasuke stiffly, trying to hide the blush from his cheeks.

"Wow," said Naruto, smirking, "who'd've known the class loser would ever be ahead of the class president in anything?"

Sasuke growled. "Shut up."

"Hold on, 'ttebayo," said Naruto, "I wanna savor the moment."

"We don't have time to be standing around or arguing," said Gaara emotionlessly, coming up to them and wiping his blade off on his hakama. "We need to find shelter soon."

At that moment a blood-curdling scream came from behind them, and they whipped around. It was coming from one of the classrooms. Without hesitation Kiba and Naruto ran toward the sound of the screaming, leaving the other three boys behind.

"How troublesome," muttered Shikamaru, rolling his eyes, and for once Sasuke had to agree with him.

"Dobe, you're going to get yourself bitten!" he yelled. When Naruto didn't answer, he ran after the retreating golden streak.

When he reached the classroom door he heard yelling, and he shot through the door. If Naruto died…

Sasuke shook his head. It wasn't going to happen. Naruto seemed practically unkillable.

The room was filled with walkers, and they seemed to be centered around Naruto, Kiba, and four other girls who Sasuke didn't even recognize. Three of the girls appeared to be triplets, but the raven didn't spare them a second, more discerning glance as he rushed in, his kusanagi swinging in gracefully deadly arcs.

"You idiot!" he yelled at Naruto. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Aww, Sasuke, I'm so touched that you care about me!" Naruto laughed as he imploded the head of a zombie with a particularly hard swing. He winked at the raven, who blushed profusely and muttered an embarrassed "shut up" at him.

This exchange didn't go unnoticed by Kiba, who raised his eyebrows. It looked like maybe Naruto's feelings for Sasuke were being reciprocated. But then, it was kind of hard to read the raven-haired teenager. And Kiba wasn't exactly an expert on feelings…

"OUCH!"

A whack on the head brought him back to his senses, and he glared at Naruto, who was returning his glare while killing a zombie.

"Pay attention or you'll end up dead!" he snapped. "And stop staring at me like you're fascinated by me, 'ttebayo!"

"Maybe I am, Uzumaki," Kiba teased. "How do you know that I'm not secretly gay?"

"Save your real and imagined sexual quirks for later, dammit!" Naruto growled. "Let's go!" he added to the four girls, who were standing there looking unsure of what to do now. "With the noise we've been making every zombie inside the school will have been attracted to this side of the building by now!"

Sasuke started. He hadn't even been thinking about the noise they'd been making, and it occurred to him that if what Naruto said was true, then they'd have more zombies to fight at the front door. The thought made him groan internally; his body was growing tired, and he couldn't keep up his current momentum for much longer.

"Right, the parking lot it is then," he said, walking out of the classroom. Then a thought made him stop. Turning around, he leveled his kusanagi at the other four girls. Two of the triplets screamed, and the odd girl out, who had long light blue hair and eyes of lavender, pushed the third triplet behind her.

"Are you fucking nuts?" she hissed at Sasuke. "Put that thing down!"

"Have any of you been bitten?" he barked, adrenaline running through his body.

"N-no!"

"Show me your arms," he commanded, leaving no room for compromise. Without hesitation the girls pulled up their sleeves, showing him four pairs of unblemished arms. He lowered the kusanagi, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Who are you?" he asked. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

"That's because we're first years," said the triplet behind Odd Girl Out. "I'm Taira Sasaki, this is my girlfriend Yamazaki Sayuki, and these are my sisters, Taira Saya and Taira Sayuri. We're triplets, as you might have already noticed," she added, with a wry look at Sasuke, who looked back at her impassively.

"Taira as in…?" said Naruto, awestruck.

"Yeah, the royal clan of legend," said Sasaki. "Now do we leave, or do we stand around making conversation and waiting for the flesh-eaters?"

"We're leaving as soon as Naruto stops making googly eyes at you," snickered Kiba. "I thought you only make faces like that when you look at S-"

Naruto kicked him in the balls and stalked off down the hallway, muttering obscenities under his breath.

"I'm only trying to help you get over your perpetual shyness, asshole!" Kiba shouted after him, clutching his injured crotch. "And this is the thanks I get?"

Naruto's only response was the middle finger, to which Kiba shouted, "Sorry, Uzumaki, I don't swing that way!"

"You and Uzumaki-kun seem to have an interesting friendship," Sasaki commented wryly to Kiba, helping him up from his place on the floor. "You act like brothers."

"We practically are brothers," said Kiba, wincing a little as he stood up. "Our parents knew each other since before we were born, and we've been friends since we were babies. We grew up together, we went to the same schools, have always been in the same classes, and we've shared things with each other that we would never tell anyone else."

Sasuke felt a twinge of envy. He wished he could have that kind of connection with Naruto, but they came from two different ends of town and had gone to different elementary schools, so he hadn't known the drop-dead gorgeous blond until seventh grade. If only…

"Hey!" yelled Naruto irritably at the group. "Are you coming, or are you electing to become zombie fodder!"

"Where're we going?" asked Shikamaru.

"The parking lot, 'ttebayo," snapped the blond, shouldering the bloody section of plumbing pipe and walking away.

The remaining group looked at each other.

"Troublesome," murmured Shikamaru, and they walked in the direction Naruto had gone.

They found him on the landing between the first and second floors, just standing there.

"What are you doing, dobe?" asked Sasuke.

"Shh," whispered Naruto, pointing down the stairwell to the hallway below. Sasuke drew even with Naruto and looked down on more roving zombies.

"They're in our way," he hissed irritably. "I was really hoping not to have to fight our way out…"

"We don't have to," whispered Naruto. "Stay here, I wanna test something." He began walking down the stairs quietly, but Sasuke grabbed him by the elbow in a strong grip and wouldn't let go.

"Are you in-fucking-sane?" the raven-haired teen hissed, real fear in his dark sapphire eyes for the first time since the shit had hit the fan. "They'll see you!"

"I dunno. That's what I wanna test."

"By offering yourself up as bait?"

"You got a better idea, 'ttebayo?" Naruto snapped.

Sasuke remained silent, and the blond gave him an annoyed look which softened a little when he saw the worry on the raven's face.

"You know, temee, for someone who seems to shun displays of emotion you show a lot of it yourself," he murmured, making the dark-haired teenager's pale face turn a light shade of pink. "Don't worry about me; I'll be fine." He began to creep down the stairs toward the roaming undead hoard.

Sasuke hoped silently that Naruto would change his mind and come back up, but instead he kept going, right into the center of the zombies. Everyone held their breath, so it was quiet, except for the occasional moan from a walker. None of the undead seemed to notice Naruto in their midst, even though a lot of them were facing him, looking right at him. It was inconceivable to Sasuke how they couldn't see him.

Then Naruto started swaying back and forth, slowly, and behind Sasuke Kiba did a soft but sharp intake of breath. But it wasn't necessary; none of the zombies noticed Naruto. Carefully the blond dug in his pocket and produced a rubber ball and threw it down the hall. The racket the ball made as it went down the hall, banging off lockers and classroom doors, drew the zombies away, sending them after fresh meat that wasn't even in that direction. Naruto breathed a small sigh of relief and waved to the others to follow him, and then pushed the door open, hoping that it wouldn't squeak as it opened.

It didn't, and everyone made it out quietly.

Everyone, that is, until Saya tripped coming down the stairs. The loud thud that she made caused the zombies to turn around and come toward the small group, moaning. The eerie noise sounded almost like a hunting call. Naruto grimaced as he heard the predatory moan.

"Goddammit!" he yelled in frustration, running back toward the doors. "Everyone go, I'll catch up!"

He got to Saya and dragged her up, but she fell back down.

"My ankle's sprained," she cried agonizingly. "Just go!"

"Fuck that, I've watched enough people die today!" the blond said angrily, putting the injured girl on his back. Turning toward the doors, he saw that of the rest of the group, only Kiba and Sasuke remained, keeping the only way out clear.

"Goddammit, I told you to go!" he snapped. "Come on, 'ttebayo!"

As they neared the parking lot, they heard an engine revving, and just barely managed to get out of the way as a bus came barreling past them and screeched to a stop a few feet away. Cursing, Naruto and Kiba picked themselves up and grabbed Saya, while Sasuke merely looked a little winded and more than a little annoyed.

Naruto reached the bus first.

"All right, assholes," he barked, "it's great and all that you came to us so we wouldn't have to go to you, but get some fucking driving lessons! You could've killed us, 'ttebayo!"

"What, and the zombies wouldn't?" deadpanned Sasaki.

"Hey, idiot," snapped Sasuke, "you're blocking the entrance."

"Fuck you," muttered Naruto, standing aside so that the raven and Kiba could get in and so the door could close.

Sasuke leaned in close to Naruto, and Naruto noticed for the first time that he was at least half a foot taller than the ebony-haired teenager. "Any time, sweetie," he said quietly, smirking.

Naruto blushed. "Shut up, you pervert…"

"If I remember correctly, you were the one who offered to fuck me," said the raven, still smirking. He brushed past Naruto to the back of the bus, where he put the seat in a reclining position and closed his eyes. The smirk was still on his beautiful, seemingly porcelain face, and Naruto fought his overpowering libido viciously. Naruto, Jr. was way too happy at the sight of that sexy little smirk.

"Gimme the wheel," he said to Sasaki, "before you kill anyone."

"There's no one to kill," she pointed out wryly. "They're all walking dead." She indicated the zombies scratching at the bus door, smearing it with their blood.

"All right," conceded Naruto with a shudder, "point taken. However, I dunno about you, but I wanna get outta here alive. So move over, 'ttebayo."

Sasaki having gone to the back with Sayuki, the blond took his place at the wheel, turned the key in the ignition, and roared off, rolling over any undead in his way. One particularly messy encounter involved a zombie and the windshield, where Naruto hit the zombie, and blood and guts and brains splattered all over the windshield. As he turned on the windshield wipers, he heard one of the people in back throwing up. He felt sorry for whichever one it was, but he didn't have time to stop and ask if they were okay. He kept going.

With one last burst of speed, they were through the gates. Naruto sighed. They were alive for now.

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Did I mention that Rammstein is especially conducive to bloody and gory scenes? Yes, I have, but I'll say it again… When writing a bloody or tragic scene, listen to Rammstein. It'll really get your morbid juices flowing. Of course, the trick to that is actually knowing what the songs are about and the rough English translation, the songs being mostly in German, with few exceptions. If Rammstein doesn't work, try Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, Slipknot, or Korn. (Although a combination of Marilyn Manson, Korn, and Nine Inch Nails works better when you're trying to write yaoi or yuri hentai.)

I should also mention something else… The reference about the triplets' last name is from a combination of Japanese history and folklore. See, there was this royal clan called the Taira, and there was another really powerful clan called the Minamoto, and they fought at what became known as the battle of Dannoura. The Minamoto won, so rather than be taken captive, the empress dowager took her young son, the seven-year-old emperor Antoku, and jumped into the water and drowned along with her son's nursemaid and all of their royal entourage.

Now that I've imparted that particular bit of wisdom to you along with a lovely tidbit about Japanese history and folklore, please review! (That's also a good piece of wisdom, because if you don't I'll kill off Sasuke or Naruto.) Please stay tuned for chapter three!

Oh yeah, and Vengeance and Love Knows No Boundaries are on hiatus for now. Vengeance is on hiatus because I still haven't gotten over my writer's block, and Love Knows No Boundaries is on hiatus because I have to figure out what my stupid computer did with the story (I can't access it at all) and if I can fix it. If I can't, I will kill my stupid fucking computer deader than a twice-dead zombie.

Be warned, if you get on my bad side I have really good aim. Dad says I should go into the Army as a sniper, but I'm a girl, and girls aren't allowed in the infantry because apparently the leaders of our nation's military don't think that a girl can shoot as well as a man, because they're male chauvinist pigs… Honestly, I think that if a female has the cajones to fight on the front lines and die for her country, she should have the same rights as a male does to do so. That's not to say that I'm suicidal, I'm just saying that the Army needs snipers, and I'm pretty good, but I'm not allowed because I'm a girl, which is fucked up.

Naruto: O.o Remind me to stay away from you when you has a gun in your hands.

Me: D Damn right! Be very afraid! –Laughs evilly and Naruto backs up-

Naruto: o.O You scare me.

Me: I scare everyone. 8D Well, almost everyone. I don't scare my bro (not my actual bro) for whom I am writing this story in the first place. At least, I don't think I do too badly… Great, I'm rambling again. I need to go to sleep now, so review!