Sasuke's figure emerged from the trees, looking at the little clearing in front of him; a clear small land of about 20 meters {21,8 yards} welcomed his view.
There, beside a big tree, stood a farmhouse, old, but it is the place that is luckily sheltering the little girl.
Unsheathing his blade, Sasuke entered through the front door; the place was dark as it was night, but he could see fine enough.
Entering a room to the side, he quickly spotted the little white snake in a corner, and there beside it was a closed closet. With a presence shifting in there, she clearly heard the sound of the door being opened but didn't get out or make a sound.
"Sophia, Sophia, it's me...Sasuke. I will—" His words were cut as a hand pushed open the closet and the little girl lunged at him.
Hugging him and crying his name with a trembling body showing just how afraid she was of being alone all that time.
"It's okay, it's okay. Are you hurt?" He asked, wiping her tears; she looked fine.
"No, no, Mama...where is she? That policeman told me to follow the road, keeping the sun to my left...but I..."
"It's okay now; you are safe. I will take you back to them alright."
"Blood? There's so much blood...are you okay, Sasuke? Did they hurt you?" She couldn't see well, but it was enough to feel the sticky fluid and smell it.
The smell of blood became too familiar to her in those past few days of travel.
"No, I'm good; it's not my blood," he spoke, cleaning her hands with a wet towel.
His situation wasn't that dire even though the loss of blood from the bullet had affected him negatively earlier.
Adding to it the intense chasing he did right after tanking it, that put his body through some pressure.
"Are you hungry? I will give you something to eat and drink, and I will try to contact others, okay?"
"Mhm, I found some food, but I'm thirsty." She pointed at the empty can. There was some canned food on the closet and liquor.
He nodded before going to a nearby corner where she couldn't see, then retrieved water from his seal and gave it to her.
Taking out another CB, he chose their channel and tried.
"~zzz~ Sasuke here, anyone receiving? ~zzz~"
Yet even a minute later nothing happened.
'Something with the signal waves?' He sat contemplating their next move.
"Sophia, I need to check the house and—"
"No, please don't leave, please." She grabbed his hand tightly, tears falling; she didn't want him to disappear again.
"Alright, alright, I won't, but we need to leave; your mother is waiting."
"But it's dark, and they will be out, walkers...it's safe here; can we go tomorrow?"
"I can protect you, Sophia. We have to go back...I can't contact them from here."
"Please, let's stay here and leave when it's daytime...I'm afraid, please, Sasuke," he hesitated, seeing her pleading with him while clutching his arm.
Going back now is the right option, but he can't do that if she is afraid to even move. He can lift her, but he needs two hands to fight, especially in the dark, and with his injured shoulder, that leaves one hand.
"Okay, we leave at sunrise. Now go sleep, Sophia. I need to secure this room at least. Here, use this so you can see me...I'm still here." He distracted her before retrieving a binocular with night vision giving it to her.
She nodded, and he made quick work of the place.
Alert systems, wire traps at the door, securing the exit and making an emergency one through the ceiling before going back and sitting next to her.
'I can use the little snake to pass a written message, but fuck—I need it here more; this room is the only thing secure here. I can't see the situation outside, and the forest is surrounding this place from all sides. If a horde stumbled to this point...we would both be in trouble. I need it to be my eyes out. It can leave first thing in the morning before me and deliver the message to Billy'
He sighed, watching it leave through a crack into the woods, then turned to the little girl who slept, hugging his waist and resting her head on his lap, a warm blanket covering her.
Her body shut down the moment she closed her eyes, knowing she was safe now, yet every time he made a move, she would instinctively wake up in fright, then sigh in relief seeing him, and try to sleep again.
...
…
.
A few hours later, Sasuke shook the sleeping little girl gently, waking her up.
Sophia opened her eyes groggily and relaxed seeing him.
"Here, eat something and drink water; we leave in five minutes, alright?"
She nodded, muttering a thank you.
Sophia was stunned by his state; now she can see him better. His clothes were bloodied, even his neck and part of his cheeks, dry blood.
But he looked fine, so she didn't think much of it; she herself was dirtied, her clothes smeared with mud all over.
Soon they left, Sasuke made her climb on his back and started running, and Sophia soon experienced a new thrill she didn't know. Sasuke was too fast yet comfortable to be carried by.
She felt excited by how fast he ran and evaded trees.
The way back wasn't that dangerous; they merely found four walkers, which Sasuke dropped with senbons.
Unfortunately, from what he saw through the little snake's shared vision, Billy wasn't there. Nor were Rick and some of the group.
"Sasuke? And Sophia!!" Dale's shout got the people staying there alarmed, and they rushed to see what happened.
He was the first to notice them getting out from the side of the road.
"Sasuke!!" "Sophia!! She is here!" People soon crowded near the emerging duo.
Dale, who rushed with Jenner and Amy, was surprised by the boy's state; he was smeared in blood all over, and there was even a gauze partially visible on his shoulder.
"Sophia! Sasuke...are you good? What happened?" Amy and Dale rushed with water, taking Sophia from Sasuke and inspecting her while others grouped him.
"We are fine. I will explain later...where's everyone?"
"Billy, Katniss and Morgan's family took the Humvees and went to search for you while others went to the woods to search for Sophia.
"Ciri with them?" He asked, reaching to the CB on the remaining Humvee, and contacted their channel.
"Yeah, she is with Katniss. What happened? What's with this blood? Sasuke, we were worried about you," Amy asked him, concerned looking at his state.
"I'm good."
"~zzz~Sasuke here...anyone receiving?. Over~zzz~"
He waited, and soon someone replied.
"~zzz~ Sasuke! Where are you? We are near the forest beside the interstate now. Are you okay? ~zzz~"
"~zzz~ I am. I'm with Dale and others now. Get back here... Sophia is here too. ~zzz~"
"~zzz~ Sophia? They found her? ~zzz~" Billy asked, feeling relieved.
"~zzz~ Yeah, let's meet here. ~zzz~"
He tried contacting Rick, but it didn't work.
"First clean yourselves. What injury is that, Sasuke?" Jenner passed them clean towels and water.
Sophia was taken away by a few women after she hugged Sasuke one more time.
"Gunshot, I will explain later, thanks." Taking them from Jenner, he briefed him.
" You good? What happened?" Sasuke then asked T-dog, seeing the gauze on his forearm.
"I injured myself earlier from a sharp piece of metal, Doc here took care of the wound. Thanks again." T-dog smiled, thanking Jenner once again.
Thankfully he was with them here; the cut he got from the sharp metal when he was trying to hide from the horde was painful.
And he was grateful they had a doctor and medical supplies on them.
"Take care of yourself, here...try contacting Rick and his group please, I will go change my clothes." Passing him the CB, Sasuke turned and walked to a clean spot behind the RV where no one was around and started taking off his clothes.
He took the towel and water they gave him and started wiping his body, ready to retrieve clean clothes from his seal, just as familiar sneaky steps turned from the corner.
"Sasuk_um?…ahem, I—here are clothes, clean clothes, yeah...your shoulder is good?" Amy fumbled hard in confusion at herself.
She was concerned seeing the bloodied gauze around his shoulder yet also brain-fried seeing him almost naked for the first time; she felt her face heat up as her eyes traced the lines of his body, mesmerized by the tight muscles all over.
While the man also stared at her blankly, fortunately he hid the private spot with the towel, yet it did little to hide its prominent shape from her.
Amy stood there with a deep blush, staring at the guy, who did the same with her before taking the clothes that were about to slip from her hand.
"Thank you. Can I ask you to have them gathered close? I need to talk with them."
"Ah yeah, sure, I will have your big–I mean, don't worry, I will have them gathered." She cursed herself at voicing her thoughts and just shuffled away, ashamed at the wet feeling between her legs.
Sasuke nodded and started cleaning the wound and changing the gauze with a new one.
Not long after, the roars of the Humvees nearing them sounded, and Sasuke, who was now cleanly dressed in a short-sleeved blue Uchiha shirt, walked with others to the newcomers.
"""Sasuke!!""" The people who got out of the cars felt relieved seeing him safe with Ciri taking the lead rushing at him.
"Hey, I'm sorry for the trouble. You guys are good?" Katniss just hugged him tightly with her sister.
"I'm happy you are okay, boy. What the hell happened?" Billy asked after Katniss and her sister let him go inspecting him for injuries.
With Morgan and his family smiling at Sophia, who was hugging Ciri beside them.
"Something arose that made me move away from that spot, I couldn't reach you with the CB."
"Same with us, and we found a...corpse, tied to a tree, eaten," Morgan whispered at him with Duan close, glancing at Jenny, who was talking with Sophia. "Was it your doing?"
"Yeah, I was ambushed by his group, anyway...I can't reach Rick and his group. Did you try, Dr. Jenner?"
"What!?" They exclaimed, hearing what he said.
"I will detail it later. You contacted Rick?"
"No, nothing with the CB."
"What are we going to do now?" Dale walked to them, now much calmer seeing the two who disappeared safe, and asked them.
"First we make contact with others; I'm worried about not reci–" Billy's words caught in his throat, and he turned to the people who came from the forest.
"Sasuke!!" "Mama!!!" Sophia bolted, seeing her mother surprising Daryl, Glenn, Andrea, and William, who were looking for her in the forest.
"You are safe, and Sasuke too, thank god. But C-Carl, he was shot; a girl came riding a horse like Zoro and took Lori with her." Glenn panted, explaining how a chic on a horse told them Carl was shot and is now on a farm with his father and Shane before taking Lori with her.
"What? Where are they now?" Sasuke, who didn't expect that, asked just as a speeding pickup truck drove at high speed toward them.
It screeched to a halt and from from it emerged two men, Shane and another unfamiliar chubby man in his forties.
"Sasuke? Sophia too? Good, you are safe. Meds, we need operation tools. Carl was shot, and we need medical tools to treat him. I remember taking them from the CDC. We need to move, now!" Shane rushed, explaining what happened briefly to them.