Hello there, an advice from me(Author)?...wait until next chapter (tomorrow) to read both.
This one is just the slice of life type with no action, just some depth to his group and some of his.
Ofc it's your call, just thought it would be better this way. Hope you are doing well, enjoy.
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Jenny, who was sitting between her husband and son spoke, looking at the silent field where they had set up their tents.
"It's nice, this place...not as visual as the farm, but it gives this feeling of safety."
"Yeah, and the ground here can be cultivated; the soil is good. We can plant seeds and have some cucumbers and beans..." Jenner nodded.
"I expect an infirmary inside, a canteen, and maybe even an armory. I'm not sure about the amount of useful things we may find in there, but any could be good."
"So what did you guys used to do before all of...this?" William asked, sitting beside his girl.
"I was a housewife," Carol shrugged with Sophia leaning on her lap with Ciri, both asleep after they finished eating their dinner.
It had been a long day for the little girls.
"Doing simple stuff, cleaning, cooking, and taking care of Sophia, etc..."
"I studied law and got my degree, then became a civil rights attorney. Well...it didn't last that long anyway." Andrea shared her past as she was cleaning her gun; it wasn't fired that much, but she took care of it the way she learned from Sasuke.
William said he was starting his career as a PE teacher at that time while his girl Jess was still in college, the same as Amy.
While Jim told them he was a mechanic, he was a man of few words but always there to help whenever he could.
Sasuke honestly hadn't expected him to come with him; the man just said he knew it was going to happen and that it is the best for him.
Amy said that Dale was retired and he found them when the outbreak happened and helped her and her sister till they met Shane, Carol, Alena, and others.
"And you, Katniss?" Jess asked the archer girl, curious if her past had a relation with archery.
"Me? I was trying to get my degree in computer science. I loved hunting with my grandpa; nothing much special otherwise."
"I didn't expect you to come along with us, Alena; you've always been withdrawn since we met...I'm happy actually to have you here." Carol held the hand of the raven-haired woman beside her.
"I guess so; I found my reason." Alena smiled, glancing at Sasuke.
"Umm, sorry if that comes off as rude, but do you know me, Miss Alena?" Sasuke decided to ask, since the first time she saw him at the camp, this woman always stared at him with that intense look.
"You don't remember, hah," the blue-eyed woman said, fastening her jacket more for warmth.
"What?" Not only Sasuke, but everyone here was curious what she meant by that.
"Alena Regan, an advisor and council of Emory University, and your supposed personal supervisor and guide, Sasuke"
'What the-?' Sasuke pondered, thinking about whether she's making up those things.
He woke up on a fucking roof, possibly from nowhere.
He saw the blue-eyed woman reaching into her chest and retrieved something from there, showing it to him.
A student ID?.
Sasuke's eyes widened slightly seeing his picture, age, name, and a note below stating.
{Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Land at 7 pm.}
"I treated it as kind of a lucky charm," she smiled caressing it, making them curious about what was going on.
Even Sasuke stayed silent, his eyes trailing that card with mild thoughts running through his mind.
'Did I somehow...exist here way before I knew? Another version? The crow's doing?'
Alena smiled seeing him silent, looking at the ground.
"You see, I honestly was kind of...dissatisfied haha, with leaving the city at that short notice to receive you. The supposed overboard Japanese student—the dean kind of forced that into me, saying that you are an important mysterious case that needs to be solved with no issue no matter what. Even with all the mess happening back at that time."
"The university director?" Amy asked her, and Alena nodded.
"But right after that day, around 8pm when I reached the highway, the outbreak became very, very bad so suddenly with everything falling apart.
I found Carol and her husband when I parked my car beside hers, unable to move forward in that jam...and right after that, the helicopters started bombing the city."
She gave him the card after he asked if he could see it.
"Haha, so yeah, Uchiha Sasuke, you are my lucky charm that saved me right before I watched the building I was living in just hours prior get napalmed by the military."
Alena tightened her fist, remembering that nightmarish sight of bombs raining down and seeing the building that she was in just a few hours prior getting burned to the ground.
"You can't imagine how it felt seeing you the first time at the camp. I almost thought it was a hallucination. For me...that card was almost something that kept pushing me forward...I myself didn't know why; I just clung to it, hoping it could save me once again and again. In a way...it did, you did," she smiled, tilting her head.
He might not know, but this boy she may have cursed countless times the first time she knew about him has become the light for her in this dark and cold world since then.
Thus, she never thought of leaving his side once she saw him alive and nearby.
At first she really wanted to protect him, like a younger brother she always wished to have, but that turned out to be the silliest thought after she saw him kicking Shane and doing the impossible.
Sasuke grabbed the card that has his picture and basic info. old and smeared slightly but clearly taken care of not to be ripped, covered in tape to protect it from wetness.
"I guess that's your own luck, miss, to be honest? I myself don't think I was in the right mindset back then; I just...drifted, not knowing the place, and survived by securing a hotel. Later on, I moved to a building and found Ciri and Katniss in there, and Billy the same day, and the rest is known." Sasuke improvised, deciding to leave investigating his mess for later on.
His priorities stayed the same: making a safe shelter and pushing forward.
Whatever the truth of his existence is, it can be left to the future.
"And your husband? You told us you were waiting for him..." Dale who smiled, not expecting such a heartwarming fate-based real story, asked her; he remembers she stated that she is married and waiting for her husband to reunite with her when they formed the quarry camp.
"Um...haha, I divorced 5 years ago. Sorry I lied, but I'm just not good with...people, and I was afraid of being all alone, maybe jealous even, seeing Lori with Shane, Morales and others with their wives protecting them...I made it look like I'm waiting for a husband like them too. I guess that was my coping mechanism." She scratched her cheek, embarrassed at telling that side of hers.
But no one here laughed or was disdainful of that; every last one of them had clung to anything just to give themselves hope, and she was no different.
The idea of being approached back then felt both reassuring and worrying to her.
She hoped for anything familiar from her life at that time, even if it was that...man.
Yet ironically, that card, the one she wished to rip apart at that time was the only thing she had on her that was familiar.
"I guess this meant something. The world is broken, yeah, but maybe we can work to fix it somehow. We have a place now we can work to make it better." Dale smiled, telling them that it wasn't the end yet; they still have a chance to make a place for themselves.
"Yeah, it's been a long day, so go have some sleep. I and Jim will have the first half; Morgan and Jenner can decide the next part if you are good with that. Daryl was on the lookout from dusk, so he needs to rest."
"And us?" Amy asked him, wondering why he only assigned men for the night shift.
"Haha, it's not preferable treatment, ladies. What is awaiting you tomorrow is the help to clean while we deal with the corpses. Hope you are ready for it." Sasuke chuckled, seeing their grimacing faces.
Cleaning was okay, but in a world where guts and blood were the new paint and furniture? Yep, what this annoyingly handsome boy said wasn't something to look forward to at all.
Still, they just laughed and exchanged goodbyes before retreating back to their tents.
Jim is sharing a tent with Dale, while Sasuke shared one with Jenner and William.
The Jones family used their tent.
The Everdeens decided to sleep with Carol and Sophia, while Alena slept with Amy, Andrea, and Jess.
Carol went to Daryl after putting the little girls to bed to have a light talk and pass him a late snack, telling him to rest while Sasuke left to recheck the surroundings for the fifth time since they cleared it.
He now has 45 chakra threads available.
He activated the shared vision with his little snake, like he had been doing every half an hour since Billy left.
The man was sleeping in a treehouse he found, safe.
Sasuke had added a final backup plan for his safety, one that may unfortunately result in the death of his cute little snake, but Sasuke had no other way; the paper tags she had on her belly would detonate if the need arose.
Sasuke can reach Billy in 30 minutes if he runs over with his fastest speed; thus, it was just the final backup.
The snake was the perfect spying tool, but it unfortunately can't help like Billy, who needs to communicate with the other group and dig deeper.