Naruto 1. The Beginning

**Hei guys, I'm on a little break from my other story "Naruto: the replicator" and thought of starting a new story at the same time. This is AU, set in the modern world. Basically, high school stuff but a little different this time. I was inspired by the game, "Left 4 dead" and the sequel. Hope you like it. Depending on the reviews, I'll see whether this should be a long or short story. If it's good enough, I'll make it a long one.**

**Please review, whether positive or negative**

CHAPTER 1: WIDE-SPREAD PANIC

"What the hell is going on?!" Naruto demanded in confusion as they hid in the music room of their school.

"How should I know?" Sasuke replied back, locking the door and then walking to the windows, surveying the area, "Damn, there are more of them outside. Some of them are still normal but they can't outrun those... 'Things.'"

Naruto stood next to Sasuke and watched as his school mates tries to escape the chasing zombies. Unlike all those horror movies that they've watched, these dead creatures could run as fast as a normal person could but they seem to have no stamina. Once the pursuit was on, the only thing that could stop them was either they reached the target or killed. Luckily for Naruto and Sasuke, they have only encountered one of those 'things' and Sasuke killed it with one of the emergency fire axe they installed in school.

"What's going to happen to us?" Sakura muttered, still shaking from the shock after watching her friends devoured by the beasts.

"I don't know..." Naruto said weakly, "Sasuke, we had better barricade the door just in case."

Sasuke nodded and dragged a table to block the door. Suddenly, someone on the other side began knocking loudly on the door. The three inside the music room jumped back and Sasuke quickly grabbed his axe, waiting for the dead demons to blast through the room. However, that was not what happened.

"Is there anyone inside? Open the door!" A voice yelled from the other side of the door.

Naruto instantly recognised the voice, "Shikamaru?"

"Naruto?!" Shikamaru demanded, "Is that you? Hurry, open the door before one of those 'things' find this place."

From what Shikamaru had said, Sakura digested the information that he was alone and none of the zombies had followed him. Luckily for them, the music room was on the highest floor and the last room in the corridor. Sakura approached the door and twisted the door knob. Shikamaru immediately burst through the room, gasping for breath.

"Quickly, barricade the door!" Naruto ordered, locking the door once more and Sasuke blocked it with a table.

Shikamaru took a seat on the piano stool, still panting for breath. Naruto and Sasuke continued to add extra items to barricade the door with anything that they could find. After all, if more of those come, it should hold them off for at least a minute which would give them enough time to think up of a plan.

"Shikamaru," Sasuke said suddenly with a cold voice, "Were you bitten anywhere?"

"What?"

"Answer the question! Did any of their blood enter your body in any manner?" Sasuke had picked up his axe now, looking at Shikamaru threateningly.

Shikamaru shook his head after he inspected his body, "No, and you can put the axe down now."

Sasuke glared at Shikamaru for another second to make sure there were no bitemarks whatsoever on his body. It seems Shikamaru was clean and even if he was bitten, no doubt Shikamaru would either had turned into one of 'them' or killed since it was nearly impossible to outrun or fight off once they got you. That was what Sasuke witnessed.

"What's with the bitten theory anyway?" Shikamaru questioned.

"We better start up with what we know..." Naruto said, taking a seat.

**An hour ago...**

Sasuke raced through the traffic with his Toyota Celica since they were late for school. Actually, he would have been on time if it wasn't for Naruto waking up late. He had to pick up his friend on the way and Naruto was still sleeping soundly when he arrived. Sasuke shifted to fifth gear as he sped through another car.

As for Naruto, he was busy switching the radio channel, trying to find a station that was playing music rather some boring news report. After another few seconds of browsing the stations, he finally decided on some random station since they were already near school and won't have time to listen to any sort of music.

"Late last night, there was a report that several unknown species have escaped the Animal Research Facility in Konoha," The newsman reported, "Citizens are warned to be careful if they have sighted any strange creatures if spotted and report to the local police. The research team are currently being treated in..."

Sasuke switched off the radio as they reached school, "Konoha is so boring that the news will even report the slightest bit of crap that's not even worth hearing."

Naruto snickered, "You got that right. Come on, we're late for homeroom class."

The two youngsters raced through the steps of Konoha high school as another sort of competition between to see who would reach class first. These two were best friends and yet also rivals at the same time and it helps the two to score high in their exams and sports. As a matter of fact, if one was not present, the other would not be able to perform their very best since they had no rival to boost their spirit.

Unknown to everyone, the research team were not being treated but were already dead the night before when the infected animals had escaped and infected the researchers. The animals escaped and everyone thought they could be treated. Five minutes later, the infected researchers turned into mindless beasts that attacked other scientists in the building. One of the scientists was able to call for help and a few minutes later, three police vehicles arrived to investigate the problem. Unfortunately, headquarters have yet to hear from them.

The homeroom class proceeded like normal and just five minutes before the bell was about to ring, Naruto spotted something odd outside the window. The vice-principal was pulling one of the teacher's away from the gates and Naruto could see that the teacher was screaming in pain, holding his right arm. The school's security guard was trying to fend off about three men dressed in white suit, and he could see a dozen more approaching.

"Sasuke, take a look at that..." Naruto nudged his friend.

"What?" Sasuke took a look and needed a few seconds to process the information, "Are they attacking the security guard?"

"Looks like it to me..."

The two continued to watch on as the swarm of attackers overwhelmed the security guard and much to their horror, it seems that they were biting parts of the guard. Blood were all over and it was no doubt that they have killed the poor man. Naruto gasped too loud and their homeroom teacher noticed it.

"Naruto! And Sasuke! What are you two so engrossed at? Stop looking out the window!"

The homeroom teacher took a quick glance and was shocked to see so many people outside the school, and they were making their way to the school. She could see that the vice-principal was pulling a teacher towards the school and she put two and two together and realised that something was not right.

"All right class," The homeroom teacher spoke calmly, "Since homeroom is about to end, you guys can head off to your class now. I have to meet with the other teachers for some discussion."

The class obviously noticed that the teacher nearly ran out of class and the whole class started talking with one another and at the same time, grabbing their bags for their next class.

"What the hell is that? Some sort of parade? Or a strike?" Naruto said shakily, seeing the dead body of the security guard. His right arm was seperated from the body and there were holes clearly seen from the bites.

"I don't know," Sasuke muttered, "But I think it is a good idea to get out of here. Fast!"

"What's going on?" A voice asked cheerfully.

Naruto and Sasuke turned to find Sakura there, smiling at them. Naruto wondered if he should tell her the problem or not. After all, it could just be some sort of parade but the death of a security guard told a different story and even the dumbest person could tell that.

Sasuke grunted and was about to say something when a scream was heard in the hallway. All of the students still inside the class immediately ran out to see what was happening. Naruto had a bad feeling deep in his gut that told him to escape now while they still can but he wanted to see what it was.

The sight before them horrified them. Their homeroom teacher was being torn apart right in front of their very eyes. She screamed for help but none of the students dared to do so against the swarm of monsters. Her screams had attracted the other students and when they witnessed what was happening, they screamed and this caught the attention of the other undead beings.

"RUN!" Sasuke yelled and ran past all of the students followed by Naruto as he pulls Sakura with him.

The students ran for their lives, literally as the monsters chased them down. It was almost like a cat and mouse game and many of the students who were not fit were easily caught. Even those that were in the track team thought they could outrun them but there were simply too many of them and monsters seemed to have endless amount of stamina.

Sasuke concluded that since they had entered the school from the main entrance, it was obvious that the safest place right now was on the highest floor. Sasuke planned to take the roof but there were chances that it was locked. Right now, he needed to get to a safe place and contact the police.

"Come on, follow me!" Sasuke shouted as his two friends behind him.

**East wing of the school...**

The school was in total chaos as students screamed for their lives and the teachers tried to restore order. They were the ones easiest to be killed and slowly, turned into one of 'them.' One of the senior girls had hidden herself in the girl's bathroom and was shaking in fear, clutching her knees to her chest.

"Anyone here?" A voice asked.

"Who's there?" The quivering girl asked and another girl, perhaps in her second year appeared, clutching her arm.

"They bit me..." The new girl stated, crying bitterly, "But I was lucky enough to escape them."

"They didn't follow you, did they?" The senior girl inquired, inspecting the girl's wound.

"No... I..."

Suddenly, the girl collapsed to her knees and started coughing out large amount of blood. The senior girl stepped back horrified by the scene before her. She kneeled down next to her to see if she was alright. The second-year girl stared at the senior girl, her eyes blood shot and her teeth were now razor sharp. The next thing that happened was the screams of the senior girl as the second-year assaulted her to her death and transforming her into something else.

**Third floor of the school**

Naruto was trying to catch his breath in the corridor as Sasuke inspected the area. Sakura was clearly confused by the situation but had kept her mouth shut since Sasuke ordered her to do so, not wanting to attract any of those demons. Sasuke was a suitable leader and rightfully so since he was the Uchiha heir to the large Uchiha corporation.

"Help me..." A voice said from the stairs.

All three students turned behind them and saw a freshman student wobbling towards them and they could see that he had been bitten on the shoulder. The freshman called out for help once more but it only came out as a whisper. Naruto wanted to help when the freshman dropped to his knees, vomitting out blood.

"Step back!" Sasuke instructed, unsure of the scene acting out before him.

"He needs help, Sasuke!" Naruto retorted but he obeyed Sasuke's orders.

Before Sasuke could reply, the boy looked up and charged towards Naruto. Luckily for Naruto, he had learned small bits of martial arts, more to Muay Thai and Jujitsu which helped him in his reflex. Using the basics, he avoided the charge by side-stepping and then used his elbow to smash the boy at the back of the head. The boy growled in pain but continued to assault Naruto.

Naruto was amazed by the sheer speed of the boy and stepped back when he accidentally tripped and fell on his back. The boy lunged for Naruto, his jaw's open for the bite. Naruto knew it was over but Sasuke arrived on time, plunging the fire axe he took nearby on the boy. Naruto crawled back and Sasuke did this three times until he made sure the creature was dead as blood dripped from the axe.

"I... killed someone..." Sasuke muttered to himself.

"It's not someone!" Naruto said with disgust, "It's a monster!"

"We had better get to a safe place first." Sakura suggested, her eyes never leaving the dead boy.

"Any ideas where we should go?" Naruto asked.

"The music room," Sakura replied, "It's at the far end of the corridor. It should buy us some time to think of what to do."

**Present time...**

Shikamaru nodded slowly, "Yeah, I remember seeing those people entering the school. Could all of them be monsters?"

Naruto shrugged, "We don't know anything except the fact that those bitten turns into... 'Them.'"

From inside the music room, they still could hear the screams of the students and teachers as they were overwhelmed by the large number of infected. All four students sat down and started planning on what to do next. But there was one thing they had agreed on. They had to stick together to get out of here alive.


	2. Escape

**Alright, here's the new update for this story. I felt that this story needed an update rather than my other story, so yeah.**

**Next chapter, "SDF takes action"**

CHAPTER 2: ESCAPE

**Music room... 10:32am**

Uzumaki Naruto watched the scene outside his school from the window of the music room. He could still see his school mates or teachers being attacked by the monsters as they tried in vain to escape. It was nearly impossible to escape with them running as fast as a normal human with endless amount of stamina. The only way to stop them it seems was to kill them, which was quite hard seeing that their head was their only weakness.

The blonde grabbed his hair in frustration, unable to make sense of what had just occurred in the last hour. He thought it was just going to be an ordinary school day until this happened. His friends were also contemplating on the situation, especially Shikamaru who was always the critical and most practical one here.

Sasuke stood by the door with his arms crossed against his chest. He could hear the screams of his school mates from outside the music room, screaming for help or from the pain. The young black haired teenager also could not shake the feeling of killing a person, although that person was already technically a monster.

The whole school was in chaos and the security guards of the school were all dead. There were cases where some best friends had betrayed the other in order to survive the dead creatures from being eaten. Some students that could not emotionally handle the current situation had committed suicide. Everyone in the school grounds were dying.

"There's no dial tone," Sakura said, looking at her phone, "All the lines are busy."

Shikamaru found that not surprising. He assumed that the school was not the only one going through this mess but the city too. The police must have had their hands full by now. He wondered if the government would call in the defence force to neautralise the threat. That was when he wondered if this problem was happening in a nation-wide scale.

"So, what do we do?" Naruto asked, taking a sit on the nearby piano stool.

Everyone stared at one another, waiting for someone to speak up. Obviously, this group had no leader so none of the four did not know who to look up to. Sasuke grunted and everyone turned to him.

"We obviously can't stay here," Sasuke spoke out, "Those things will come here eventually. Besides, we have no food or water. We should start to plan on how to get out of here."

"First of all, we should wait until things are a little calm." Shikamaru suggested, walking towards the window and looking outside, "With the way things are, the chances of us making out of here are slim if we make our move now."

"Why?" Naruto questioned.

"I'm not being cold by saying this, but the students that are still alive right now will be troublesome for us. They will fight for survival, pushing anyone blocking them. This will put us at a disadvantage. What's more, some might not care who it is and attack on sight, whether we're normal or a monster. No... I think until most of them are dead, only then can we escape."

After a moment, Sakura spoke out, "What Shikamaru said is true. It's cruel but we have to fight for our own survival. Any survivors we find later will be much more co-operative than now."

Naruto grapsed his hair, "Still, what the hell is going on?"

**In other parts of the school... 10:40am**

Students and teachers were screaming for their lives as the monsters chased them. It was unbelievable that these creatures could run, unlike the movies which represent them as walking, slow creatures. Even worse, these creatures could form a horde and easily surround anybody, easily eating away the lives of the living.

One particular male student was smart enough to remain in his class until the coast was clear. He decided that he could escape through the windows since his class was only on the first floor. He would jump on some bushes to soften his fall and make for his car.

He opened the window and started to find a soft spot to jump off. He also spotted one infected student below, but seeing that the monster could not reach him, he was safe up here.

The infected student was a little different than the others. He couged constantly, giving out wheezing and gasping noises every few seconds. Also, the left side of his face was bloated and clearly infected like some sort of disease. **(A/N: Those who don't play L4D, this is the special infected known as 'The Smoker.' Speciality is using his tongue from a distance to drag people where he will claw them to their death)**

The survivor in class took his time when the infected student below coughed out a long tongue at him, catching the student by surprise. The tongue wrapped the student around his body, and with a powerful force, dragged the student towards the infected student.

"HELP!"

No one heard his cries for help unfortunately and the infected student, upon bringing his target close enough for him, began to devour the student quickly. The screams brought other infected monsters to the scene and they joined in the feast.

**Back with Naruto...10:43am**

"I think we've waited long enough?" Naruto questioned, his patience growing thin.

"I guess it should be okay," Shikamaru said, looking out the window, "Most of them must have been caught by those 'things' by now. And perhaps some few that have survived, like us."

Sasuke grabbed the fire axe from a table and swung it around a few times. On the axe, he could see the dried blood from the student he had killed earlier. The young Uchiha never thought something like this could happen. He thought this happened in all those horror movies but it looks like he was in the movie now.

"So, what's the plan?" Sakura asked.

"First of all, we will each need a weapon to defend ourself. If we depend solely on Sasuke to protect all of us, we're as good as dead. Those things can easily surround us, and fast too."

Sakura and Naruto took in their surroundings. There was nothing much here that could have been used as a weapon. Sasuke's fire axe was the best weapon of choice so they would just have to improvise. Naruto opened a small box and took out a silver Flute and hit it on a table. There was a small crack on the table from the impact.

"There," Naruto stated, waving the flute around, "This should be able to smash a skull."

"It will have to do," Shikamaru said as he picked up a clarinet his weapon of choice.

Shikamaru checked the outside of the school from the window once more and could now see that the students that were trying to escape were now transformed into one of them. He took note that when these undead beings could not sight any living beings for a meal, they just loitered around aimlessly, some even vomitted blood on the ground. There were others that hung around the walls as if they were sick.

Sakura looked around for a weapon, wondering which she could use. She considered using a violin as a weapon but realised that it was not as hard a flute and would be easily broken into pieces. She finally decided on picking up on a metallic recorder, which looked like a flute. The four teenagers were ready and Shikamaru gave the signal to begin their escape operation.

Sasuke moved the barricade away and opened the door slowly to avoid making any noise. He took a peek and making sure it was safe, stepped outside of their haven. The corridor was empty but there were blood stains on the floor and on the walls. There were also dead bodies around now.

"This must have happened when we were in the music room," Shikamaru stated, looking at his surroundings, "These dead bodies weren't here when I passed here."

Sasuke steadied his axe, "Let's just go..."

As the four teenagers of Konoha high school walked silently in the corridor of the third floor, they could occasionally hear the screams of students before they were consumed by the monsters. Sakura kept flinching when she heard them, not used to this sort of environment. None of the boys were either but they stood their ground.

"We only planned to escape," Naruto said suddenly, "But we never discussed which way we're going to use."

"He's right," Sakura added, "We don't have any plans on how we're going to get out of the school grounds. Not to mention which route we should take."

"I've already considered that," Shikamaru assured as he held tightly onto his weapon, "And I plan to go to the ground floor using the normal stairway and get to the parking lot through the cafeteria."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "The parking lot?"

Shikamaru nodded, turning towards Sasuke, "You're the only one among us who has a car. I assume it can fit the four of us?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Yeah, but you do realise that the ground floor is going to be filled with those things. We're going to have to fight through them to get to the parking lot."

"That is the only option I am willing to consider," Shikamaru said as he led his friends down the stairs, "I thought to use the emergency stairway and get out through the back gate, but I feel that the gate back there is locked and we will waste time climbing."

"Isn't the main gate also locked during school hours?" Naruto pointed out.

"True say, but if we compare the two gates, the main gate is much more... fragile than the back gate. I've taken note of that and we will have to break our way through using Sasuke's car."

Sasuke wanted to protest at that plan, not liking the sound of using his car as a ram. But he kept quiet since it was their only way out. If they were to climb out using the back gate, it would mean having to fight their way to the city whereas if they were in the car, they would be safe in it and faster too.

"Fine, let's go..."

When they reached the ground floor, none were surprised to see the creatures, formally their school mates, loitering around the corridor, groaning and making other sounds. The nearest creature saw the new arrival and stared at them for a second as if it was analyzing them. It groaned loudly and then started running towards Sasuke.

Sasuke waited for the right moment and then when the creature was within range, he swung his axe at the creature, slicing the undead's head in half. The loud sound caught the attention of the other undead monsters and they too started approaching the group.

"Form a circle!" Shikamaru ordered, "We need to protect each other's back!"

Naruto smirked, "Don't worry, with me on this team, I'm going to make sure we get out of this school alive!"

**Somewhere above the skies, in a Black Hawk chopper...11:04am**

The sounds of the spinning blade annoyed the hell out of the leader of the team. He never liked riding inside a helicopter but seeing that this was an emergency, he had to comply. For the life of him, he never expected something like this to happen in his career. Wheh he sat for the briefing three hours ago, he thought it was someone playing some sort of sick joke, but the news report convined him. Not to mention when he saw the footage of what was going on in the city of Konoha.

Hatake Kakashi was probably the youngest person ever to be made a captain in the Secret Defense Force(SDF). The SDF were basically a group that operated something like how the SWAT does, but they normally take up missions that required superior skills from their officers. Kakashi was one such officer that was a prodigy with a weapon. He had served under the SDF for three years and never had he been assigned on a mission such as this. Then again, the SDF had assigned five teams on this assignment to Konoha. The other SDF teams were sent off in other major cities.

His team were comprised of three men under him. His second-in-command of his team was Maito Gai, the martial arts master and also the instructor of martial arts in SDF. The next person under him was Sarutobi Asuma, a specialist with all sorts of sub-machine guns. He was a valuable member since he was also a bomb specialist. The last member of the team was Genma, a team member that was newly assigned to Kakashi's team.

Kakashi's choice of weapon was just two normal 9mm handgun. He claimed that despite it's common use, it was still a powerful handgun and since it was so light, he could keep more 9mm magazines in his pouch for reloads. Gai, being a martial arts specialist prefers to use his fists as a weapon but he also wields a shotgun. Sarutobi Asuma wields his favourite sub-machine gun, the MP5, powerful and also light. Genma however, prefers to use the normal assigned weapon for SDF officers, the M-16 assault rifle.

The team were precisely an hour away before they reached Konoha and this gave Kakashi plenty of time to catch up on his adult orange novel. Kakashi was a man that was always found reading that novel, even in briefings.

"Ey, Kakashi," Sarutobi shouted as the propeller of the chopper was too loud, "Do you have any idea on what the hell is going on?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Who cares? Undead creatures or not, we're assigned to maintain order back in the city, which basically means killing those beasts off."

"You're not even interested on how this happened."

"Doesn't matter," Kakashi yelled back, "It's happened! No point in wondering how or why it happened. What we have to worry is deal with it and coming out of it alive!"

Kakashi got back reading to his book. Despite what he said, Kakashi couldn't help but wonder how this had happened. He thougth zombie apocalypse only happened in movies. The silver haired captain sighed, closing the book and staring out at the clouds.

**Konoha high school... 11:14am**

The door of the cafeteria burst open from the kick of Sasuke. He surveyed the surroundings of the cafeteria and could see only a few monsters lurking about. The undead students turned at the source of the noise and saw Sasuke. They slowly approached them before sprinting towards them.

Shikamaru screamed a battle cry when the closest infected neared him, smashing the clarinet into the skull of a female student. Blood splattered on the ground and on the clothes of Shikamaru, staining it. His clarinet weapon was also stained with dried and fresh blood. Sasuke got on a table and then jumped from it, smashing his axe into the brains of a former student council, relishing the thought of doing this on a student council.

Despite being outnumbered, the four teenagers were able to make it to the cafeteria without being bitten. They had left the corridors safely, leaving behind corpses of students that had their skulls smashed.

"A little help over here guys!" Sakura called out from a corner, surrounded by three infected students. They were trying to get a bite but the closest one that attempted it had it's face cracked by Sakura's recorder. The other two took the opportunity to sprint forward, their jaws open and the arms prepared to grab her.

Naruto jumped from a table and smashed his flute on the back of one of the infected, incapacitating it. The remaining one was trying to bite Sakura but the pink haired girl was fending it off, giving Naruto the opportunity to finish it off by smashing his flute into the brains of the infected.

"Thanks..."

Naruto had a dspleasing look on his face, "Stick together, Sakura-chan. We have to work as a team or else, one of us will be in danger."

Sakura nodded and ran off to join Shikamaru. Naruto preferred to walk and on the way, smashed his foot into the head of the zombie he had incapacitated earlier on. When he reached the group, the cafeteria was clear of the infected, only their dead corpses laying around. Sasuke's axe was stained with so much blood after cleaving through them one after another.

"I hope that you won't repeat that Sakura," Shikamaru said, looking at the girl, "It was reckless of you to be on your own. If Naruto had not arrived on time, you would have been outnumbered."

"I'm sorry..."

Shikamaru sighed, "These things are different from those typical horror movies. They're stronger, faster and they know that they stand a better chance if they surround you. We must not underestimate these creatures."

"Come on, the way to the parking lot is over there." Sasuke pointed out at a door.

The four teenagers decided to proceed cautiously than just running since they had to be careful. They formed a circle formation once more to watch each others back. Despite being students, it was surprising that the four of them were already used to killing what was formerly their school mates.

However, Sakura and Shikamaru was in turmoil. They wondered how they could change into murderous beings. Shikamaru however reasoned that what they were killing were not their friends but monsters using their friends bodies. Despite that, the young intellingent boy still felt tremendous guilt and fear.

Naruto and Sasuke however were not badly affected. Sasuke himself had seen this sort of violence since he was the heir of the Uchiha corporation and thus, been trained to defend himself. As for Naruto, although never seeing this kind of violence, had been exposed to the world of jiu jutsu and muay thai. He had seen people breaking bones in fights or tornaments.

The four were about to exit the cafeteria when from the main entrance of the cafeteria, another infected student appeared. Shikamaru however immediately noticed that this infected was different from the rest. The left side of the infected was bloated from his face, shoulder and arm also seemed to have tumor growing on the skin. It also coughed frequently. Naruto at first thought it was a living being since it was coughing but he immediately changed his view.

"Let's just get out of here," Sasuke said, "My car's parked nearby."

The three of them agreed and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving the door open. The Smoker started hacking loudly and then spat out it's long tongue, wrapping it around Naruto and dragging him towards the infected. Naruto started screaming for help, still unaware of what was going on. All he knew was that he could not move and was being dragged by something away from his friends.

"What the!"

Sakura was the first to react upon hearing Naruto's call for help and saw the blonde headed boy being dragged by that same infected they saw, with it's tongue! She sprinted towards Naruto and upon reaching him, tried to remove the tongue but it was tied tightly. Sasuke ran past Naruto and slammed his axe into the tongue, stopping it. The smoker screamed in pain, which attracted more infected to appear.

"Shit, get Naruto out of that crappy stuff and let's get out of here!" Sasuke ordered, slicing an infected in half.

Sakura nodded and started to remove the tongue. Naruto was trying to shake it off him too, but it was going to take a few seconds to do this. Shikamaru found it difficult that only he and Sasuke had to fight them off since Sakura had to help Naruto. This left them more responsibilities and more openings.

"Come on, get up!" Sakura urged when she was finally done with unwrapping the disgusting tongue.

"Damn it, where's the flute?" Naruto demanded, searching for it amidst the chaos.

"Over there!" Sakura pointed out at the exit. Naruto had dropped it when he was suddenly grabbed by the infected.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru called out, "Don't you dare fight with your fists. You get bitten, we're going to leave you behind! The weapons are the only means to protect yourself!"

Naruto understood and stood in the centre between Sakura, Sasuke and Shikamaru. The three of them continued supporting one another, smashing their weapons on the monsters that approached them. The scream of the smoker had attracted twelve monsters but they were now all dead. Sasuke released a sigh of relief.

"What... What the hell was that thing?" Sasuke panted out, looking at Naruto.

Shikamaru wiped his sweat from his brow, "I don't know, and I don't want to find out." Shikamaru stared at the infected that grabbed Naruto with the tongue, "But I have a feeling that if we see one here, we will see more of them."

"Let's go," Naruto whispered, "Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Agreed!" Sasuke and Sakura said in unison.

The four got out of the cafeteria and fought their way to Sasuke's car. Sasuke took out his car keys and quickly unlocked the doors. Naruto scrambled into the passenger seat while Sakura and Shikamaru entered the backseats through the driver seat, causing Sasuke to guard his door. After that, he entered and started the ignition.

"What now?" Sasuke asked, looking at Shikamaru through the rear-view mirror.

"We continue as planned," Shikamaru replied, "And we better get out fast. Those things must have heard the sound of your engine."

Sasuke nodded and pressed his foot on the accelerator, the car blazing forward. Sasuke picked up speed when he sighted the gates, crashing through the infected that stoof in his way. It was a shock to still find some survivors screaming for help, waving their arms to get Sasuke's attention.

"Why are we not stopping to help them?" Sakura spoke out, staring at one who was calling for help only to be then bitten by an infected.

"We can't take that chance," Shikamaru replied calmly, "Stopping for them puts us at a risk. I know it's cruel but we have to face the reality of the situation. We're now in a world where every man for himself."

"Brace yourselves!" Sasuke warned as he neared the gate, his Toyota Celica speeding at over a hundred kilometres an hour.

The car broke through the gates, leaving pieces of the gates broken from it's hinges. Sasuke had to fight for control as the car nearly got out of control from the impact. Once that was done, he calmly drove his car, taking note that outside the school compoud, there were already infected civilians outside loitering around.

"Even outside the school...?" Sakura said in despair.

None of them said a word. The four teenaged students of Konoha high school have escaped the school compound, but they were now aware that this was just the beginning.


	3. SDF Takes Action

**A/N: hei guys, I know it has been 2 years since I updated this but I might be concentrating on this story now. I've found out what I'm going to do with this plot so that is why I plan to move this forward. Look forward to new chapters soon.**

**Do leave a review about your thoughts and to tell me what you think of the chapter. Critical reviews are even more appreciated.**

**Chapter 3: SDF TAKES ACTION**

**Main road… 11:51am**

Sasuke's Toyota Celica roamed the streets with care unable to imagine how he had driven the same streets just four hours ago. Now there were dead bodies lying on the side of the streets, cars that had crashed against one another with still fire burning on their engines. And of course there were the 'monsters' walking around in the streets, most of them busy feasting on the corpses of others.

Sakura had to resist the urge to puke her guts out upon the sight of the corpses being consumed by the undead creatures. Luckily it seems the zombies had no idea there were people in Sasuke's car and thought of it as just a moving object. Sasuke just had to drive carefully for now.

"So what's our next course of action?" Naruto asked.

"Our first priority is to look for a safe place," Shikamaru pointed out, "Assuming there is even one."

As if to prove his point, outside the car there was a wounded survivor trying to run away from a horde of zombies. Unfortunately he was far too slow and the large mob of monsters caught him and pulled him down, all of them eager to sink their teeth into his flesh. Sakura had to walk away as Sasuke speeded up a little, eager to get out of the main roads.

"God, why the hell is this happening to us?" Naruto cried out.

Sasuke looked in the rear-view mirror and directly at Shikamaru, "How about we go to my place?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Well I do live in a mansion and my place is quite secure. We have a gate that not everyone can access so it should keep them out for a while." Sasuke explained.

"Yeah I've been to his place," Naruto supported, "Trust me; Sasuke's place should be able to hold us out for some time."

"But for how long?" Sakura questioned, "How long before-"

"I don't think we should be debating right now," Sasuke interjected, "Our lives are on the line and while I do like to plan what we should do, we're still in danger by being out here. Let's just head over to my place and then we can plan our next move."

Silence ensued in the car as Shikamaru weighed their options. Although they could all decide what would be best, the other three knew that Shikamaru was the best when it came to planning and narrowing down their best options.

Naruto waited patiently as he held onto Sakura's hand and Sakura tightened the grip, finding comfort in the warmth they shared. It was truly a frightening period in their lives and they now had to rely on each other to probably stay alive. They had no idea where their friends were and whether their parents were safe. If they were still alive then they must be doing their best to find them.

Naruto looked outside the car's window and immediately yelled, "Sasuke watch out!"

Sasuke was shocked and also saw what was coming at him. Another green car, a _Nissan Sunny_ was speeding towards Sasuke from the left and had zombies on his windshield, blinding the driver's vision. Sasuke tried his best to avoid it but it was too late as the car crashed on the side of Sasuke's Toyota Celica.

Because the green car had been moving over hundred kilometers an hour, Sasuke's car was thrown into the air before landing upside down, turning the car useless at that point. Glass shattered on impact and one of the doors had even been blown off. The four teenagers slowly crawled their way out of Sasuke's destroyed car.

"Ah fuck…!" Sasuke groaned out once he was back on his feet, surveying his damaged car.

Naruto cursed at their predicament, "Damn it now what?!"

Shikamaru turned to Sasuke, "How much further to your place?"

"Around ten minutes from here. We should go before those monsters notice us."

"But we have no weapons!" Sakura remarked, "What do we do to defend ourselves? Our weapons we got from the school are stuck in the car!"

"We don't have time to waste," Shikamaru said, "Just grab whatever you can and let's go!"

With their destination in mind Sasuke grabbed a glass shard that had broken from the accident just now. Sakura and Shikamaru could not find anything worthwhile while Naruto planned to use his fists, preparing to use Jiu Jitsu techniques and then make a run for it. They had to be quick or else the monsters would consume them.

**Animal Research Facility center… 12.15pm**

Hatake Kakashi successfully landed on the ground as he released the straps from his parachute. He and his team had jumped from the helicopter a minute ago and while their main objective was to bring back control in the City of Konoha, Kakashi had informed central command that he wanted to investigate the Animal research center first.

Gai and Asuma landed behind him a few seconds later, the both of them removing the straps from the parachute and loaded their weapons. Gai revealed his Ithaca 37 shotgun, inserting three shells and then moving into position next to Kakashi, defending him. Asuma had his MP5 sub-machine gun and equipped a silencer to his weapon. A while later, Genma landed behind the team and quickly equipped his M-16 assault rifle.

Surprisingly Kakashi's team spotted no zombies in the area despite being briefed that the city was infested with them. Kakashi took out his two 9mm handgun from the holsters and then signaled for his team to follow him. Kakashi led the front with Gai by his side while Asuma was the third to follow, watching their left and right. Genma secured his team from behind, making sure they were safe from the back.

At the main entrance of the animal research facility, Kakashi leaned on the wall to wait for his team to get into position. Their actions were disciplined like that of the SWAT team and after his team was in position, Kakashi nodded his head, giving the signal to proceed. Gai stepped back from the main door and kicked open the door, the door breaking off its hinges from the raw power of Gai.

"Go!"

Team Kakashi stormed into the research facility and entered the lobby of the facility. Now they spotted several zombies lurking about the lobby, not having noticed the intruders. The lobby had a reception desk and a dead receptionist was still on her seat, her stomach split open. The lobby was rectangular in shape and also had two televisions on the left and right of the wall, probably to entertain guests.

"Alright, we'll split into two teams. I'll go with Gai and cover the first floor." Kakashi said, "Asuma and Genma, the two of you are to clear the ground floor and search for any survivors. Are there are any questions?"

Two seconds passed and no one raised any questions. "Alright then, move out!" Kakashi barked out.

Kakashi and Gai quickly hurried for the stairs and by then, the zombies heard or saw the duo and ran towards them. With the aim of a sniper Kakashi easily shot any monsters that approached them in the head. Each of the bullets flew through the air and met its mark, piercing through the skull of the undead monsters.

Gai would prefer to not use his shots unless if he really had to. The shotgun's shells could destroy at least two to three zombies in one shot so Gai preferred to not waste them needlessly. Besides he was Kakashi's cover so if Kakashi was attacked from behind, Gai would be there to assist him.

The duo climbed the stairs and entered the first floor. Throughout their journey there were several zombies dressed in white lab coats, signifying they worked here before their death. It simply aroused Kakashi's suspicion that the whole thing could have started from here. He had heard the news report earlier in the morning and hypothesized that it began here. Kakashi also hoped that if that were true then maybe he could discover a way to stop this epidemic.

"Kakashi, watch out at 9 o' clock!" Gai yelled.

Kakashi spun to his left and saw a horde of zombies running towards him. Also behind them several more creatures had followed them from the ground floor and were ascending the stairs. Gai and Kakashi quickly delivered lead into the undead monsters. Gai shot several rounds at the horde of zombies, each shell penetrating several of the zombies, sending them down the stairs, dead.

However Kakashi was soon overwhelmed and had to kick a few zombies away with his feet before delivering another wave of bullets at the undead monsters. Soon enough Kakashi ran out of bullets and Gai took over, moving to Kakashi's front and delivering a blast at the horde of undead scientists.

Kakashi began reloading, picking up a brand new magazine when he heard guttural sounds from behind him. The silver haired gunman spun around to find a zombie on all fours crawling towards him and when it realized it was spotted, the zombie pounced on Kakashi **(This is the infected known as 'The Hunter' which normally pounces on the player and will proceed to claw the player to his death unless another player knocks or kills the Hunter)**.

Kakashi could not react on time as the Hunter pounced on Kakashi and was on top of him in a straddling position. Helpess the Hunter revealed its sharp claws and attacked Kakashi. Before the hunter could wound Kakashi, the silver haired gunman grabbed hold of the Hunter's wrist but the hunter's strength was proving too much for Kakashi.

"Hang on Kakashi!" Gai called, smashing his shotgun against the hunter's cheek.

The hunter shrieked in annoyance and moved back to all fours and was about to pounce on Kakashi when the silver haired gunman picked up his handgun and without a moment of hesitation, shot the hunter in the head and killing it instantly.

Gai offered a hand to Kakashi, "Are you alright?"

Kakashi accepted the hand and Gai pulled him up, "Yeah I'm okay. Whatever that creature was, it was definitely much smarter and deadly than the normal ones."

"Then we should be careful. It seems that these creatures have different types among them."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, "Come on, let's clear this floor and search for any clues we could find."

The duo then moved together slowly, killing any undead zombies that were foolish enough to approach them. There were the occasional small group of zombies running towards them but one blast from Gai's shotgun and they were easily dealt with. After checking every room and clearing any undead that stood in their way, the duo soon reached a room that caught their interest.

Kakashi took a peek inside the room and was stunned, "This is…"

***With Asuma & Genma***

"Cover my six o'clock!" Asuma yelled as he shot a number of bullets at a horde of zombies.

Genma nodded and then spun around, shooting bullets at whatever zombies that came after them. The two were originally fine, scanning the corridors for any survivors when Asuma heard gunshots coming from above them; no doubt Gai and Kakashi. Unfortunately for them, this attracted the attention of other zombies loitering the area and Asuma and Genma were quickly discovered and a large wave of undead monsters came after them.

"Shit I'm out!" Asuma stated loudly, releasing the magazine from his MP5 and taking out a brand new one, "Cover me, I'm reloading!"

Genma grunted and took out a spare handgun he had in his holster, now becoming happy trigger guy as he continued shooting the zombies in front of him with his M-16 while shooting with his handgun on Asuma' front. Three seconds later Asuma thanked Genma and resumed shooting and then it was his turn to cover Genma as they delivered wave after wave of leads at the infected humans.

Genma that spotted something that was a cause of alarm, "What the hell is that?!"

Asuma spun around and his eyes grew wide. A few meters away from Genma was a zombie that looked normal but his right arm was massive and had increased in thickness, resulting in his right hand becoming a swollen lump with stubby fingers. His left arm, inversely, has atrophied to the point of being useless though. **(This zombie is known as 'The Charger' and in the game, it attacks by charging on a group of players and will grab the first player it touches and separates it from the other players. After a while, the charger will stop and slam the player on the ground repeatedly or unless the charger slams the player on a wall).**

"I don't know what the hell that is," Asuma said, "But kill it!"

With the horde of zombies dealt with, Asuma and Genma began shooting at the charger and despite almost of the bullets hitting the large creature, the charger ran towards Asuma and Genma at an incredible speed. Asuma and Genma realized it was not going to die yet and jumped out of the way at the last second, the charger sprinting past them and smashing into the wall, disorienting it. Asuma and Genma then again shot another wave of bullets before it finally took down the charger.

Asuma gulped in fear, "What the hell… was that creature?"

Genma said nothing as he realized that the situation in Konoha and other major cities were much direr than they thought.

**Konoha City, established neighbourhood… 12.37pm**

Naruto and his friends were careful on the way to Uchiha Sasuke's mansion, making sure to stay hidden and hiding behind cars or trees as some zombies passed by. Fortunately for the group they realized the undead creatures were surprisingly dumb and had difficulty in spotting them. The only reason why the zombies swarmed people was because of the cries of help from people and the noise attracted them to their location.

Of course at some point they could had no choice but to kill a small number of undead monsters that stood in their way. Naruto would attack first, throwing an elbow at a zombie in the face, stunning it followed by Sasuke appearing from behind the zombie and breaking the zombie's neck. Other times Sakura would take the initiative, throwing stones she found to stun the zombie and Sasuke stabbing the zombie in the head with a glass shard.

"How much further Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"We're actually almost there. It's just around the corner." Sasuke said.

Sure enough a minute later Naruto and his group sighted the Uchiha mansion. Sasuke ran quickly but he immediately came to a stop. Naruto and Sakura joined him soon and stood by his side, not saying a word. Shikamaru wondered what was going on but when he neared them, he soon understood why.

Before the group of teenagers was the Uchiha mansion but the gates had been broken through and within the compound of the Uchiha, there were already several dead attendants and zombies consuming the dead bodies.

Shikamaru sighed, "This is going to be troublesome…"

***Chapter End***


End file.
