[1052] As We Know It, Act II, Scene V
Shikamaru closes out Act II for us. Is that a hint of future plot I see? And look, I have a title now! As always, not beta'd. Constructive criticism, comments, etc. are all welcome.
As We Know It
A Naruto AU, zombie apocalypse style
Original drabble by askerian
Act IAct II
Scene I, Sasuke
Scene I, Naruto
Scene II, Shikamaru
Scene II, Sasuke
Scene III, Neji
Scene III, Tenten
Scene IV, Tenten
Scene IV, Sakura
Scene V, Lee
Scene V, Shikamaru
Hiashi side-story--the Hyuuga twins have box seats for the end of the world
Shikamaru made the decision to tear off a strip of the map while everyone else was busy hauling their meager supplies down to the car. He carefully ripped off a palm-sized portion from the northeast part of the state--all of the area already under government mandated local area emergencies--and fished the pen out of his pocket.
It was Sakura who had given him the idea, and it had niggled at his conscience all night. And though the logical part of him knew it didn’t matter in the scheme of things, it mattered to him. Shikamaru stared down at the little piece of map, taking the time to mentally compose--he wasn’t sure what to call it. Journal? Record? Letter? A vain hope to mark the fact that they had still been alive at this time and place? The space he had to write on was too small for him to make any mistakes.
He tried to make his normally messy handwriting legible because, however astronomically small the odds, there was still a chance that someone would find it and that someone would care.
April 28th, he wrote.
Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Tenten (he left a space of her last name--he didn’t know what it was), Lee Rock, Neji Hyuuga, and I spent the night here. All are uninjured except for me (hurt knee, probably sprained) and Neji (concussion, but appears mostly recovered).
We are heading to Cottonwood City and from there to the National Forest where we will wait to make contact with Itachi Uchiha. We don’t know why.
The next part was the hardest, and it started with Gai Maito--turned on bus and killed. Shino Aburame--turned on bus and killed. Iruka Umino--turned on bus and killed. Ren Kubo--killed.
He couldn’t bring himself to write eaten, even if that was the most accurate description.
Sho Ichimaru--killed
Taiichi Sawara--killed
Yasuhiro Kaifu--turned and killed
Toshiki Hosokawa--returned home
Kiba Inuzuka--returned home
Taro Hatoyama--returned home
Morihiro Hata--unknown
Tsutomu Murayama--turned and killed
Tomiichi Koizumi--killed
Yoshiro Abe--killed
Kakashi Hatake--unknown
Daisuke Honda--killed
Ito Honda--killed
Yuki Kurosawa--killed
When he didn’t know the full name, he indicated what team the person had been on. He was just finishing with Raidon (frosh.)--killed, when he heard the stairs creak. Shikamaru looked up to see Lee’s head emerge above hay-strewn floor.
“You ready to go?” Lee asked. The smile on his face said he was ready to face what left of the world with his normal optimism, but not even his smile could banish the shadows lurking around his eyes.
Instead of answering, Shikamaru held the piece of map out to him.
Lee’s eyebrows scrunched together, his expression curious, but he took it. The older boy read the words over in silence, his smile shrinking and becoming more pained with every line. But when Lee looked up, the shadows around his eyes had faded somewhat. “It’s Nakano,” he finally said and handed the paper back.
Shikamaru dutifully wrote Nakano in the empty space and then signed his own name at the bottom.
“Where are you going to put it?” Lee asked.
“There’s a nail over there.” It took no small amount of effort to push himself up to his feet, though he’d hardly begun the movement before Lee was at his side, helping him up. His knee still ached fiercely. The pill Tenten had doled out to him this morning hadn’t kicked in yet, and Shikamaru wasn’t going to be too optimistic about its effects. As long as it took the edge off like it had last night, he would be fine.
A night of sleep--he’d been the only one not given a shift, which annoyed him on some level--and the wrappings Sasuke had done meant he could put some weight on his right leg before wanting to curl up in agony. The stairs were going to be beyond him this morning, but he could hobble to the stupid nail on his own.
Or he would have done it on his own, if Lee hadn’t decided to be his physical crutch in addition to the more metaphorical position Shikamaru had given him yesterday. Was still giving him now, if he was going to be honest with himself. Yesterday had been more than just a long string of nightmares--it had been a long string of personal failures as well.
From the bus to the school to the barn, he had been hounded by fear, nearly asphyxiated by his own terror. The one thing he had that could have saved people’s lives--his intellect, his ability to think quickly, his ability to strategize--had been all but paralyzed when he was under pressure and his teammates, his friends had needed someone to rescue them. Ren, Sho, Taiichi, Raidon--
He could have saved them. All of them.
He would have to apologize to their families if he lived through this.
He hobbled over to the wall, Lee’s arm supporting him, and pulled down the coil of rope hanging there. Shaking off the older boy, Shikamaru grasped the rusting nail with one hand and balanced himself against the wall with the other. “Can you find something we could use as a hammer?” he asked as he startled to wiggle the piece of metal out of the wood. It took several moments before it popped free, leaving behind a small crater.
Lee reappeared at his side, the jagged remains of what had probably been a two-by-four in his hand. “Will this work?”
“That’ll be fine.” He took the block of wood, positioned the nail over the note, and gave it a few hard whacks. Shikamaru edged back from his handiwork--that pill had better start kicking in soon--and was satisfied with what he saw. As long as there were people after all this, and the barn was still standing, they wouldn’t be able to miss it.
Someone, some day, would know that they had been here. Someone would know they had kept going in this nightmare.
“You guys need help?” That was Naruto’s voice, muffled by the barn walls and the hay bales.
Shikamaru looked to Lee; the junior smiled. “We’re coming,” Lee shouted back, banishing the solemn mood, though Shikamaru knew neither of them would forget it.
Lee crouched down, his back to Shikamaru, planting one knee on the ground. Shikamaru gripped the boy’s shoulders and together they managed to get him on Lee’s back. He wrapped his arms around the older boy’s shoulders; Lee secured his legs before standing up and hauling him down the stairs and to the rest of their little band of survivors.
They were forced to pull off the backcountry roads and into a painfully small town (652 of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet! the welcoming sign said) for gas at a quarter to ten. They could still probably hit Cottonwood with the quarter tank they had left, but Shikamaru had managed to convince the rest of them that there were more dangers in running out of gas than there were of the town itself. It had also helped that he pointed out that as the largest city in this county, Cottonwood’s gas stations were likely completely dry.
Sasuke drove straight for the little Shell gas station, its cheery sign high above gas prices that were easily twenty cents higher than any in Independence. Luckily they didn’t have to go very far off the main road, and the narrow streets themselves were clear of all but a few empty cars.
Shikamaru was interrupted in his visual search for the town’s residents by Sasuke’s driving, which included a stop in front of the single gas pump abrupt enough that his seat belt dug into his chest. Almost before the car stopped moving, the back car doors opened.
Lee and Sakura were the first ones out, and they took their weapons and circled to the rear of the car. They stopped a few yards away from the trunk and out of range of each other, watching the road behind them. Neji and Tenten were next, heading for the front of the car and standing between the car and the silent town. Tenten had Sasuke’s rifle braced against her shoulder, and she really did look as if she knew what she was doing. Neji certainly seemed to think so, as he was careful to be off to the side and behind her, where she wouldn’t have to worry about shooting him.
While Sasuke ran the credit card through the pump (“It’s not mine,” he had said in a tone so devoid of emotion that not even Neji pushed him that time, “Itachi left it for me.”), Naruto scrambled out of his middle seat and made his way for the dark convenience store.
Shikamaru stayed in the passenger seat and tried to tell himself that it was the most strategic place for him to be. He would just put everyone else in danger if they had to worry about getting him back to the car if something went wrong. And from this central location, he could coordinate if things did go wrong.
He wasn’t being a coward.
“Pump’s working,” Sasuke said, his voice drifting in through the open doors.
“That’s one thing in our favor.”
The other boy made an affirmative sound and then said sharply, “What’s wrong?”
Shikamaru glanced out the window and saw Naruto returning from his aborted run to the convenience store, his baseball bat slung over one shoulder. The lump of cash was in his other hand. Another gift from Itachi.
The more he learned about Sasuke’s older brother, the more Shikamaru became confused. At first glance, the evidence indicated that the older Uchiha had some sort of knowledge beforehand that this...disaster was going to happen. But on second glance, things became murky. If Itachi had known what was going to happen, why didn’t he take his family to safety? He at least appeared to have some measure of affection for his brother, if his message and the supplies were any indication.
But the hows and whys of Itachi Uchiha could wait for another time. They needed to deal with what was before them now, which was getting through Cottonwood City and to the National Forest.
“The store’s closed,” said Naruto. “It’s completely dark inside. And there’s warning stickers about alarms.”
“We’d better not risk it, then.” Shikamaru sighed and ran a hand over his face. “The town looks quiet, but I don’t think we ought to risk the noise of an alarm.”
“Yessir,” Naruto said cheerfully and began to wander around the gas station, doing his part to look out for danger.
But none came. In fact, as the minutes ticked by and the gas tank filled up, there was absolutely no sign of any zombies. Or any people, for that matter. It made his stomach churn. This didn’t match what they’d seen on the drive yesterday evening. Even from the main roads, they had seen people running about in a panic, snarled traffic, accidents, even some fires.
“Do you see anyone?” he asked, voice pitched low so only Sasuke could hear.
The reply was a moment in coming. “No.”
He had not seen any corpses or mangled remains in the streets, no broken windows, no doors swinging open in the breeze. No cars careening dangerously through the streets, no screaming, no looting. No sign that zombies had reached this little town and left nothing but death behind them.
Either everyone had holed up in their homes, or no one was here.
They left two minutes later, but even putting the silent town behind them did little to reassure him.
The road that wound through the mountain foothills dropped down to twisting stretch of well-worn, two-lane blacktop. Infrequent road signs declared when and where passing was allowed, and the bends in the road made knowing the upcoming terrain impossible. They could round the next corner and find themselves barreling straight into anything from a tank to a horde of zombies.
Shikamaru ran through a seemingly endless parade of scenarios in those hours, second- and third- and fourth-guessing himself. Was heading to Cottonwood City really the best choice? Were they right to head for the forest? How were they going to live on the supplies they had if they couldn’t get anything from the town? Perhaps he should start eating less, as the chances of him actually being useful physically were next to none.
Behind him he heard another frustrated noise from Sakura. He turned his head in time to see her pull the earphones out and glare at them as if they’d betrayed her. “Something wrong?” he asked, and he tried to ignore the panic that threatened to well up inside him as his mind conjured up all the possible ways they could be screwed six ways to Sunday.
“I’ve lost the signal,” she said. Her fingers tightened briefly on the earphones before she began neatly winding them up. Lee moved his hands on her hips to better brace her as the car started to take another blind curve. “We must be too far into the canyon. We probably won’t--”
Whatever she was going to say was lost to the sudden squeal of tires as Sasuke slammed on the breaks. Even with his seatbelt on, Shikamaru was thrown forward. He heard something slam into the back of his seat--Tenten, he thought, neither of the girls was wearing seatbelts--and his reflex to dig his feet in the ground to keep himself from flying through the windshield only gained him an exquisite moment of pain.
For a fraction of a second, he was certain he could feel the car start to tilt under them as Sasuke fought for control, but in the end they came to a complete stop.
The car itself seemed to explode in noise--Naruto cussing out the universe in general and Sasuke in particular, Lee trying not panic as he asked Sakura and Tenten if they were all right, Neji making angry noises about something or other--but Shikamaru couldn’t tear his gaze away from what had nearly killed them all.
The two-lane road was completely choked with cars, like a commuter’s worst traffic nightmare. Cars were spilling over onto the shoulder on both sides, some so close to the canyon walls around them that it seemed impossible anyone had slipped out of the doors and to freedom. From here it was impossible to tell how long they stretched on for.
But even from this vantage point, Shikamaru could tell two things: every car was pointed toward Cottonwood, and every car was abandoned.
“Is everyone all right?” That was Lee.
Shikamaru muttered an affirmative even though his knee had started throbbing again and leaned back, shutting his eyes so he could think. He blocked out the not-quite-argument that was brewing between Naruto and Sasuke, ignored the awkward movement behind him as Ten pushed herself out from between his seat and Neji’s legs, pretended the sound of Sakura tapping her nails on the head of the axe did not exist.
Turning back was not an option. They would only be running straight back into areas where their chances of survival were grim.
This deep into the canyon meant they couldn’t leave the road without great difficulty. Shikamaru knew that not even Lee would be able to haul him up the walls on either side of them, and he wasn’t sure of the rest of the group’s chances of hauling the supplies they would need on such a climb even without him to hinder them.
That left them with just one option: forward. But what did all the cars mean?
He opened his eyes, unbuckled his seatbelt, and opened his door.
“What are you doing, Shikamaru?” Tenten asked.
He carefully swung his legs out of the car. “We have to abandon the car,” he said bluntly. “We can’t go back the way we came, and there’s no way we can keep driving. Our best bet is to follow the road until we hit the city and reassess our options then. It’s only about three miles away.”
It took more effort than he thought it would to lever himself out of the car and onto his feet. Only three miles, he mocked himself. Might as well be Japan.
“What about our supplies?” Lee asked as he opened his own door, and then Sakura was crawling out over him, the mp3 player in one hand and the axe in the other. She was lucky she hadn’t ended up with that thing in her stomach during their near collision.
“We take what two people can carry.” Shikamaru reached back inside the car to pick up the map, pen, and baseball bat. “Prioritize food and ammunition over anything else. One person should carry the rifle case, and a second should take the backpack. We don’t want anyone else weighed down by anything.”
Everyone else in the back seat came spilling out of the car. In the driver’s seat Sasuke hesitated, but he reached down and popped open the trunk, apparently prepared to abandon the car without protest.
Shikamaru closed his door and braced himself against the car. The next part was harder. “I’m going to need help walking if we’re going to make good time,” he admitted. “I’ll be in the center with my help and the people doing the carrying. We’ll need someone on point and the last two people watching our rear and sides. We’ll rotate every half hour.”
“You’re good at this,” Tenten said to him a few minutes later, while Sasuke and Sakura worked side-by-side to rearrange the contents of the backpack. They had decided to ditch the sleeping bag in exchange for more MREs and were quickly repacking.
Shikamaru shrugged, uncomfortable with the praise. “Not really. My dad’s a lot better.”
She gave him a level stare, and he fought not to look away. He was far from good. His dad was the military historian, not him. He’d only dabbled, reading the occasional book when he had nothing better to do, and he’d never beaten his father in a game of chess.
The trunk slammed shut and everyone started to form up for their first assignments.
“Your dad’s not here.” Tenten pointed out. She gave a significant glance at the rest of their group and lowered her voice. “And from what I’ve picked up, it sounds like they’re only alive because of you. So thank you.”
Her gratitude took him by surprise. He stared at her, trying to figure out a coherent way to explain all his failures, but before he had the chance, her serious expression vanished and she gave him a smile. “Come on. I get to be your crutch first.”
As We Know It
A Naruto AU, zombie apocalypse style
Original drabble by askerian
Act IAct II
Scene I, Sasuke
Scene I, Naruto
Scene II, Shikamaru
Scene II, Sasuke
Scene III, Neji
Scene III, Tenten
Scene IV, Tenten
Scene IV, Sakura
Scene V, Lee
Scene V, Shikamaru
Hiashi side-story--the Hyuuga twins have box seats for the end of the world
Shikamaru made the decision to tear off a strip of the map while everyone else was busy hauling their meager supplies down to the car. He carefully ripped off a palm-sized portion from the northeast part of the state--all of the area already under government mandated local area emergencies--and fished the pen out of his pocket.
It was Sakura who had given him the idea, and it had niggled at his conscience all night. And though the logical part of him knew it didn’t matter in the scheme of things, it mattered to him. Shikamaru stared down at the little piece of map, taking the time to mentally compose--he wasn’t sure what to call it. Journal? Record? Letter? A vain hope to mark the fact that they had still been alive at this time and place? The space he had to write on was too small for him to make any mistakes.
He tried to make his normally messy handwriting legible because, however astronomically small the odds, there was still a chance that someone would find it and that someone would care.
April 28th, he wrote.
Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Tenten (he left a space of her last name--he didn’t know what it was), Lee Rock, Neji Hyuuga, and I spent the night here. All are uninjured except for me (hurt knee, probably sprained) and Neji (concussion, but appears mostly recovered).
We are heading to Cottonwood City and from there to the National Forest where we will wait to make contact with Itachi Uchiha. We don’t know why.
The next part was the hardest, and it started with Gai Maito--turned on bus and killed. Shino Aburame--turned on bus and killed. Iruka Umino--turned on bus and killed. Ren Kubo--killed.
He couldn’t bring himself to write eaten, even if that was the most accurate description.
Sho Ichimaru--killed
Taiichi Sawara--killed
Yasuhiro Kaifu--turned and killed
Toshiki Hosokawa--returned home
Kiba Inuzuka--returned home
Taro Hatoyama--returned home
Morihiro Hata--unknown
Tsutomu Murayama--turned and killed
Tomiichi Koizumi--killed
Yoshiro Abe--killed
Kakashi Hatake--unknown
Daisuke Honda--killed
Ito Honda--killed
Yuki Kurosawa--killed
When he didn’t know the full name, he indicated what team the person had been on. He was just finishing with Raidon (frosh.)--killed, when he heard the stairs creak. Shikamaru looked up to see Lee’s head emerge above hay-strewn floor.
“You ready to go?” Lee asked. The smile on his face said he was ready to face what left of the world with his normal optimism, but not even his smile could banish the shadows lurking around his eyes.
Instead of answering, Shikamaru held the piece of map out to him.
Lee’s eyebrows scrunched together, his expression curious, but he took it. The older boy read the words over in silence, his smile shrinking and becoming more pained with every line. But when Lee looked up, the shadows around his eyes had faded somewhat. “It’s Nakano,” he finally said and handed the paper back.
Shikamaru dutifully wrote Nakano in the empty space and then signed his own name at the bottom.
“Where are you going to put it?” Lee asked.
“There’s a nail over there.” It took no small amount of effort to push himself up to his feet, though he’d hardly begun the movement before Lee was at his side, helping him up. His knee still ached fiercely. The pill Tenten had doled out to him this morning hadn’t kicked in yet, and Shikamaru wasn’t going to be too optimistic about its effects. As long as it took the edge off like it had last night, he would be fine.
A night of sleep--he’d been the only one not given a shift, which annoyed him on some level--and the wrappings Sasuke had done meant he could put some weight on his right leg before wanting to curl up in agony. The stairs were going to be beyond him this morning, but he could hobble to the stupid nail on his own.
Or he would have done it on his own, if Lee hadn’t decided to be his physical crutch in addition to the more metaphorical position Shikamaru had given him yesterday. Was still giving him now, if he was going to be honest with himself. Yesterday had been more than just a long string of nightmares--it had been a long string of personal failures as well.
From the bus to the school to the barn, he had been hounded by fear, nearly asphyxiated by his own terror. The one thing he had that could have saved people’s lives--his intellect, his ability to think quickly, his ability to strategize--had been all but paralyzed when he was under pressure and his teammates, his friends had needed someone to rescue them. Ren, Sho, Taiichi, Raidon--
He could have saved them. All of them.
He would have to apologize to their families if he lived through this.
He hobbled over to the wall, Lee’s arm supporting him, and pulled down the coil of rope hanging there. Shaking off the older boy, Shikamaru grasped the rusting nail with one hand and balanced himself against the wall with the other. “Can you find something we could use as a hammer?” he asked as he startled to wiggle the piece of metal out of the wood. It took several moments before it popped free, leaving behind a small crater.
Lee reappeared at his side, the jagged remains of what had probably been a two-by-four in his hand. “Will this work?”
“That’ll be fine.” He took the block of wood, positioned the nail over the note, and gave it a few hard whacks. Shikamaru edged back from his handiwork--that pill had better start kicking in soon--and was satisfied with what he saw. As long as there were people after all this, and the barn was still standing, they wouldn’t be able to miss it.
Someone, some day, would know that they had been here. Someone would know they had kept going in this nightmare.
“You guys need help?” That was Naruto’s voice, muffled by the barn walls and the hay bales.
Shikamaru looked to Lee; the junior smiled. “We’re coming,” Lee shouted back, banishing the solemn mood, though Shikamaru knew neither of them would forget it.
Lee crouched down, his back to Shikamaru, planting one knee on the ground. Shikamaru gripped the boy’s shoulders and together they managed to get him on Lee’s back. He wrapped his arms around the older boy’s shoulders; Lee secured his legs before standing up and hauling him down the stairs and to the rest of their little band of survivors.
They were forced to pull off the backcountry roads and into a painfully small town (652 of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet! the welcoming sign said) for gas at a quarter to ten. They could still probably hit Cottonwood with the quarter tank they had left, but Shikamaru had managed to convince the rest of them that there were more dangers in running out of gas than there were of the town itself. It had also helped that he pointed out that as the largest city in this county, Cottonwood’s gas stations were likely completely dry.
Sasuke drove straight for the little Shell gas station, its cheery sign high above gas prices that were easily twenty cents higher than any in Independence. Luckily they didn’t have to go very far off the main road, and the narrow streets themselves were clear of all but a few empty cars.
Shikamaru was interrupted in his visual search for the town’s residents by Sasuke’s driving, which included a stop in front of the single gas pump abrupt enough that his seat belt dug into his chest. Almost before the car stopped moving, the back car doors opened.
Lee and Sakura were the first ones out, and they took their weapons and circled to the rear of the car. They stopped a few yards away from the trunk and out of range of each other, watching the road behind them. Neji and Tenten were next, heading for the front of the car and standing between the car and the silent town. Tenten had Sasuke’s rifle braced against her shoulder, and she really did look as if she knew what she was doing. Neji certainly seemed to think so, as he was careful to be off to the side and behind her, where she wouldn’t have to worry about shooting him.
While Sasuke ran the credit card through the pump (“It’s not mine,” he had said in a tone so devoid of emotion that not even Neji pushed him that time, “Itachi left it for me.”), Naruto scrambled out of his middle seat and made his way for the dark convenience store.
Shikamaru stayed in the passenger seat and tried to tell himself that it was the most strategic place for him to be. He would just put everyone else in danger if they had to worry about getting him back to the car if something went wrong. And from this central location, he could coordinate if things did go wrong.
He wasn’t being a coward.
“Pump’s working,” Sasuke said, his voice drifting in through the open doors.
“That’s one thing in our favor.”
The other boy made an affirmative sound and then said sharply, “What’s wrong?”
Shikamaru glanced out the window and saw Naruto returning from his aborted run to the convenience store, his baseball bat slung over one shoulder. The lump of cash was in his other hand. Another gift from Itachi.
The more he learned about Sasuke’s older brother, the more Shikamaru became confused. At first glance, the evidence indicated that the older Uchiha had some sort of knowledge beforehand that this...disaster was going to happen. But on second glance, things became murky. If Itachi had known what was going to happen, why didn’t he take his family to safety? He at least appeared to have some measure of affection for his brother, if his message and the supplies were any indication.
But the hows and whys of Itachi Uchiha could wait for another time. They needed to deal with what was before them now, which was getting through Cottonwood City and to the National Forest.
“The store’s closed,” said Naruto. “It’s completely dark inside. And there’s warning stickers about alarms.”
“We’d better not risk it, then.” Shikamaru sighed and ran a hand over his face. “The town looks quiet, but I don’t think we ought to risk the noise of an alarm.”
“Yessir,” Naruto said cheerfully and began to wander around the gas station, doing his part to look out for danger.
But none came. In fact, as the minutes ticked by and the gas tank filled up, there was absolutely no sign of any zombies. Or any people, for that matter. It made his stomach churn. This didn’t match what they’d seen on the drive yesterday evening. Even from the main roads, they had seen people running about in a panic, snarled traffic, accidents, even some fires.
“Do you see anyone?” he asked, voice pitched low so only Sasuke could hear.
The reply was a moment in coming. “No.”
He had not seen any corpses or mangled remains in the streets, no broken windows, no doors swinging open in the breeze. No cars careening dangerously through the streets, no screaming, no looting. No sign that zombies had reached this little town and left nothing but death behind them.
Either everyone had holed up in their homes, or no one was here.
They left two minutes later, but even putting the silent town behind them did little to reassure him.
The road that wound through the mountain foothills dropped down to twisting stretch of well-worn, two-lane blacktop. Infrequent road signs declared when and where passing was allowed, and the bends in the road made knowing the upcoming terrain impossible. They could round the next corner and find themselves barreling straight into anything from a tank to a horde of zombies.
Shikamaru ran through a seemingly endless parade of scenarios in those hours, second- and third- and fourth-guessing himself. Was heading to Cottonwood City really the best choice? Were they right to head for the forest? How were they going to live on the supplies they had if they couldn’t get anything from the town? Perhaps he should start eating less, as the chances of him actually being useful physically were next to none.
Behind him he heard another frustrated noise from Sakura. He turned his head in time to see her pull the earphones out and glare at them as if they’d betrayed her. “Something wrong?” he asked, and he tried to ignore the panic that threatened to well up inside him as his mind conjured up all the possible ways they could be screwed six ways to Sunday.
“I’ve lost the signal,” she said. Her fingers tightened briefly on the earphones before she began neatly winding them up. Lee moved his hands on her hips to better brace her as the car started to take another blind curve. “We must be too far into the canyon. We probably won’t--”
Whatever she was going to say was lost to the sudden squeal of tires as Sasuke slammed on the breaks. Even with his seatbelt on, Shikamaru was thrown forward. He heard something slam into the back of his seat--Tenten, he thought, neither of the girls was wearing seatbelts--and his reflex to dig his feet in the ground to keep himself from flying through the windshield only gained him an exquisite moment of pain.
For a fraction of a second, he was certain he could feel the car start to tilt under them as Sasuke fought for control, but in the end they came to a complete stop.
The car itself seemed to explode in noise--Naruto cussing out the universe in general and Sasuke in particular, Lee trying not panic as he asked Sakura and Tenten if they were all right, Neji making angry noises about something or other--but Shikamaru couldn’t tear his gaze away from what had nearly killed them all.
The two-lane road was completely choked with cars, like a commuter’s worst traffic nightmare. Cars were spilling over onto the shoulder on both sides, some so close to the canyon walls around them that it seemed impossible anyone had slipped out of the doors and to freedom. From here it was impossible to tell how long they stretched on for.
But even from this vantage point, Shikamaru could tell two things: every car was pointed toward Cottonwood, and every car was abandoned.
“Is everyone all right?” That was Lee.
Shikamaru muttered an affirmative even though his knee had started throbbing again and leaned back, shutting his eyes so he could think. He blocked out the not-quite-argument that was brewing between Naruto and Sasuke, ignored the awkward movement behind him as Ten pushed herself out from between his seat and Neji’s legs, pretended the sound of Sakura tapping her nails on the head of the axe did not exist.
Turning back was not an option. They would only be running straight back into areas where their chances of survival were grim.
This deep into the canyon meant they couldn’t leave the road without great difficulty. Shikamaru knew that not even Lee would be able to haul him up the walls on either side of them, and he wasn’t sure of the rest of the group’s chances of hauling the supplies they would need on such a climb even without him to hinder them.
That left them with just one option: forward. But what did all the cars mean?
He opened his eyes, unbuckled his seatbelt, and opened his door.
“What are you doing, Shikamaru?” Tenten asked.
He carefully swung his legs out of the car. “We have to abandon the car,” he said bluntly. “We can’t go back the way we came, and there’s no way we can keep driving. Our best bet is to follow the road until we hit the city and reassess our options then. It’s only about three miles away.”
It took more effort than he thought it would to lever himself out of the car and onto his feet. Only three miles, he mocked himself. Might as well be Japan.
“What about our supplies?” Lee asked as he opened his own door, and then Sakura was crawling out over him, the mp3 player in one hand and the axe in the other. She was lucky she hadn’t ended up with that thing in her stomach during their near collision.
“We take what two people can carry.” Shikamaru reached back inside the car to pick up the map, pen, and baseball bat. “Prioritize food and ammunition over anything else. One person should carry the rifle case, and a second should take the backpack. We don’t want anyone else weighed down by anything.”
Everyone else in the back seat came spilling out of the car. In the driver’s seat Sasuke hesitated, but he reached down and popped open the trunk, apparently prepared to abandon the car without protest.
Shikamaru closed his door and braced himself against the car. The next part was harder. “I’m going to need help walking if we’re going to make good time,” he admitted. “I’ll be in the center with my help and the people doing the carrying. We’ll need someone on point and the last two people watching our rear and sides. We’ll rotate every half hour.”
“You’re good at this,” Tenten said to him a few minutes later, while Sasuke and Sakura worked side-by-side to rearrange the contents of the backpack. They had decided to ditch the sleeping bag in exchange for more MREs and were quickly repacking.
Shikamaru shrugged, uncomfortable with the praise. “Not really. My dad’s a lot better.”
She gave him a level stare, and he fought not to look away. He was far from good. His dad was the military historian, not him. He’d only dabbled, reading the occasional book when he had nothing better to do, and he’d never beaten his father in a game of chess.
The trunk slammed shut and everyone started to form up for their first assignments.
“Your dad’s not here.” Tenten pointed out. She gave a significant glance at the rest of their group and lowered her voice. “And from what I’ve picked up, it sounds like they’re only alive because of you. So thank you.”
Her gratitude took him by surprise. He stared at her, trying to figure out a coherent way to explain all his failures, but before he had the chance, her serious expression vanished and she gave him a smile. “Come on. I get to be your crutch first.”