Sasuke, who was about to climb back to the road, suddenly saw a walker moving through the road, then another.
2, 5, 17...and more kept appearing like they were multiplying.
He saw Shane and Glenn hiding under a truck and Billy under another nearby while he ran at full speed up the small hummock and onto the pavement.
And then it happened: a woman screamed.
She just had to fucking scream when more than ten people were still standing beside the bus, unaware of the horde closing in on them.
Dale dropped down, lying flat on the roof of the RV after he waved for Sasuke, who was running toward his direction, and pointed below, mouthing "the door."
Sasuke, who reached the road, saw that and ran at his fastest, killing one walker, jumping over a car, and beheading another walker who was about to enter the RV.
"Lock it and go hide in the toilet," he told the 2 in there before closing the door and running for the bus as the people there finally understood what the woman who ran to the bus saw.
So many walkers were shuffling between the cars and were coming in their direction.
"Everyone hearing me now!!! Stay down and silent if you are under a car. HEY!! Go inside now and lie down... WILLIAM!! LOCK THE DOOR."
Sasuke yelled, trying to attract all the walkers to him while running toward the bus, tossing two guys who were panicking and didn't react to his words inside, and closing the door behind him, leaving William to take the lead before going from that place, hitting the windows of the abandonned cars he came across to attract walkers to him.
The horde of walkers was just a few meters from reaching him.
"BILLY! I WILL LURE THEM DOWN THE ROAD, FOLLOW IN EXACTLY 15 MINUTES TO PICK ME UP!!" With that, Sasuke waved at the anxious Katniss to stay down when he passed by the Humvee.
'It's a good thing everyone is in the car.' The look of defiance in Andrea's face was nowhere to be seen; she looked pale as a sheet as she glimpsed at the horde following behind Sasuke before crouching low.
*Baam* He kicked the overturned truck, making a loud noise, and the first walker came a few steps from Sasuke, leaning in to catch him.
Side-stepping it easily, he pierced its brain through his neck with Kusanagi and dropped the three walkers behind it with shurikens before kicking the truck once again to have the attention of the more than 80 walkers ahead.
Step back and kill; take ten faster steps back, having them lured, kill one and step back, kill two and take ten fast steps back to lure.
He repeated the process until the cars were no longer in sight.
Around 50 walkers were still chasing after him while he plucked them slowly but steadily.
Now away from people's sight, Sasuke made some distance between him and the walkers.
Retrieving two fuma Shurikens from his seal, he rotated, generating force, and threw them side by side, reinforced with all the 26 threads of chakra he had on him.
The giant shurikens passed through the horde at head-level, killing more than 15 walkers in their wake before losing momentum.
...
It had been 12 minutes now since Sasuke started luring them.
And to this point he had already killed 47 walkers, feeling partially relieved as he thought how others should be safe by now.
Yet that feeling didn't last long, as it was then the little snake he left behind in the forest shared a vision.
A familiar little girl was striding aimlessly through the fucking forest all alone where she shouldn't be.
Sasuke cursed before pulling two kunai and tying two explosion tags to them before throwing them at two parts of the remaining horde.
"I don't care anymore. Let's just finish them fast." Activating the tags, he watched the walkers explode to pieces, with some of their blood reaching him, covering his clothes and face red.
He just swept a hand to his face to wipe it, took his silverballer, and killed the remaining 9 walkers and started running back to the group without waiting for Billy.
.....
....
...
…
.
{8:43pm}
"Nothing?" Katniss asked anxiously, pacing around.
"Yeah, I searched the area 3 times; he wasn't there, I only found those giant Shurikens." Billy said, feeling angry and helpless, it was the first time to feel this fear in a long time...and for no other than Sasuke.
"M-maybe walkers?" Glenn shared his thought.
"Impossible, it's Sasuke; he left a trail of dead walkers in the road...every last one of them, but he wasn't there when I got to that place."
"Yeah, we searched around and didn't find him anywhere, no trace of him." Morgan too wasn't feeling any better, it was unusual for Sasuke to disappear like this.
"Sophia and now him too...I'm going to search for him." Katniss took her bow, ready to move, when Billy shook his head, telling her to stay with Ciri and he will go again.
Rick and Daryl, had just finished telling Carol that they hadn't found Sophia and had even dissected a walker they found to make sure he hadn't...eaten her.
Yet all Rick got was the blame. Though he understood that Carol wasn't bad, it still hurt...but in the end he was a father too, and she was just a hurt mother not knowing what to do; thus, all he did was join Billy to plan how to search for Sasuke.
This was by far the worst day they came across since meeting each other.
And for the first time, most of the group came to understand how scary it felt losing someone who was as strong as Sasuke.
The reassurance that came with someone who can spot walkers from half a mile away with a look and can kill dozens of them with ease disappeared totally, making all the armed people around vigilant the whole time.
"What about CB? I remember him having a handheld one," Amy, who was biting her nail, suggested.
"No answer."
"Will they be okay?" Ciri whispered with a trembling voice to Katniss; she was worried about both her friend and Sasuke.
===
{1st POV}
"Please, I swear I didn't mean to. My people are waiting for me. Let me go, man. I swear I won't do it again."
"You didn't mean what? Shooting me in the head? Alright...I get it. I'm sorry, but my hand might slip too." I buried the kunai in his knee.
A mistake? Shooting with a sniper rifle at my head was never a mistake; this asshole and his group aimed for the kill.
Fortunately, I reacted fast enough after I saw the reflected light from the scoop to use my kunai and redirect the bullet enough to pass through my shoulder.
That kunai shattered, with one of its shrapnels slashing my neck.
I ignored his annoying muffled scream and buried another one to his ankle, keeping his mouth covered.
"Answer why you did that, and where are they?" Sophia is safe now; fortunately, she found a farmhouse to hide in, and now she is asleep inside a closet. With the little snake keeping eyes on her.
This group wasn't far from me when they tried to kill me, so I caught up to them fairly quickly after recovering from the shot.
But by the time I got to those assholes and killed two who were escaping on a vehicle, the others had already escaped to another road on a motorcycle.
Leaving this one behind, which I caught because of his bad driving skill.
"I don't know!!! Brian heard the explosion and asked me to go and see. I saw you killing them with a silenced pistol, and he took my rif—aagmmfh." I punched his jaw; another lie.
"And you decided to fire so you can loot my dead body? When the first shot failed, you screamed, and the other two joined you firing their revolvers too, trying to hit me. Guess you guys hadn't seen how I dealt with the walkers before those 9, hah..." I'm pissed just by remembering that.
I need to find those 2, or their location at least. Sophia is safe and just a few minutes away...but I have to secure her as soon as possible.
I don't want to risk her leaving again or making noise.
I'm really starting to miss my Sharingan when it comes to investigation acts...
"Tell me, have you ever imagined how painful it feels to be crushed by something heavy? Strong?" I grasped his hand.
"Let me go, please, man. I'm sorry. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!? I told you I didn't mean—" and closed, this wasn't Shane who was going for a mere tackle; this is a man who aimed for my head, who would've killed me if I wasn't a shinobi.
Who did something that would've resulted in Ciri, Katniss, Billy, and everyone who I promised to protect and gave hope to...having their chances of surviving dwindle.
If that shot reached my head.
I hate breaking promises the most, and I would never let someone or something stop me from fulfilling them.
I told her I will always be there until she is strong enough, so I will.
Not walkers, not this asshole, and not a hundred of them are going to take me down here.
Because I know how it feels.
Yuri, my friend and elder brother...he too promised me to always be there and help me when no one did.
He did that for a homeless teenager who was thinking how to steel his money.
But he was taken from me. I know the feeling of someone who is your pillar suddenly disappearing, leaving you afraid and confused.
Thus, I didn't have mercy; I closed on his hand with all my strength, feeling bones snapping and piercing his flesh.
He couldn't even thrash while being roped to a tree, so it just made it more painful.
My other hand closed his mouth, keeping the noise low; I don't want more walkers near us.
"Where?" I let the swollen, red, trembling hand go and grasped the other one, and soon after, he spilled everything.
A surviving camp built in a town a few miles from here called Woodbury, led by a leader called Governor, who, alongside his men, is used to attack other survivors and take their supplies.
If even this one calls this Governor trash who isn't human...it speaks of his cruelty.
I don't know this man, and he is at a distance from here, but I will hunt him eventually; loose ends are never good.
But for now, Sophia and my group matter more.
I had already tried contacting Billy and others but couldn't reach them. The CB kept producing noises only.
And I know they must be worried from the time I spent chasing and dealing with those and taking out the bullet to do first aid.
Thus leaving the dead man there for the walker trotting nearby, I ran, feeling the newfound chakra on my body. Three humans...yet those three alone gave me 1.5 thread.
Meaning, at least for now...a human is worth 5 walkers.
And I don't have any issue with harvesting the same type of people like those.
With 37 threads of chakra, I got enough to move more agile now and stick to places for 3 minutes.
{9:13pm} It's already dark.
So I ran at my fastest toward the farmhouse, taking the shortcuts through trees' branches when swamps blocked the way.
Time to take the little girl back to her mother and end this farce.