A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. I'm fresh out of ANOTHER surgery-hurts like hell, and my girl came back to me. Even better, My grandmother's all but recovered from congestive heart failure. And to top it all of, I somehow got a job washing dishes/bussing tables in a local restaurant. Alas, my health is still poorly, and the docs say it ain't looking good. So...I just...wanted to let you all know about this. Somehow. Just in case death has plans to take me out of this sickly body of mine...hopefully it won't!

Anywho, I managed to put this up here at points between the forced anesthetic. Bad news is I still have more surgeries ahead. It's been great, guys. Really. I'm hanging tough though, despite everything life is throwing at me. Despite all that's happening, I don't intend to die quietly in a bed somewhere! On another note, my health and my job may start cutting into my update schedule, so I apologize for that. Now, onto this. I recently played the cinematic game, the Walking Dead. Not those other two, the Telltale version with Lee. And after completing it naturally, my mind came up with an idea...and here it is!

This is a gritty, realistic take on what would happen if a certain someone found himself flung into a certain universe. Remember, this is based on the GAME not the show!

"If we're going to do this, we're going to do it my way..."

~?!

The Only Cure

"Fuuuuuuuck."

Uzumaki Naruto had been known for many things when he was a boy. Impulsiveness. Naivete. Stupdity. And thooooose were just in his youth. He had many mistakes to his name in those genin years, foolish decisions that, by all rights, should have gotten him and his teammates killed. But they hadn't been killed, had they? No, they'd survived, lived long enough to see everything fall apart. He'd been either incredibly talented to live as long as he had; to survive his encounters with Zabuza, Orochimaru, Gaara, and eventually Sasuke. Talented, or just plain lucky. Once he would've bragged, called it talent. Perhaps even skill. Now?

Now he was beginning to wonder if he'd ever learned from those mistakes in the first place.

It was the kind of error a genin would make; you didn't light a fire in a forest. It gave away your position. But he'd been tired and hungry and in his hunger, he hadn't paused to consider that there might be more of the damned things that had ambushed him earlier. So he'd lit the fire, cooked the rabbit, and had just enough time to enjoy the first bite before the everything went to shit. Before the walkers came. He should've realized it sooner, should've retreated into the trees to enjoy his hardfought meal.

But he hadn't, and now here he was, crouched upon a large bough, trying to hold his shoulder together. Where the hell had they come from? One moment he'd been the in the clear, the next; bodies came pouring up in a tidal rave of rotting flesh and dead tissiue. He'd beenso busy trying to fight his way free, his senses so focused on the task at hand, that one had gotten the better of him, managed to creep up beihind him and sink its teeth into his shoulder. By itself, that wouldn't have been so bad. But tearing out a chunk of flesh when he made the mistake of jerking himself free? Yeah, very bad. On the scale of apocalyptic.

Hehehe, he chuckled bleakly, if I wasn't in so much pain, that'd actually be funny.

It wasn't the infection that worried him, though. He'd already learnt the hard way that the red blood cells left behind by his former tenant were resistant to virtually any disease-manmade or otherwise-and he'd suffered a bite wound once before in the past.

It was the bleeding out that bothered him. But back to his sudden fondness for swearing. It had nothing to do with his wound, rather, everything in this fucked up world he'd landed in. There had been folks counting on him back in the Elemental Nations...and now he was gone. Left them to their fates, likely to die at Madara's hands. Or worse,

He'd become something of a paragon to those people in the weeks before their annihilation, known for his humility, drive, and determination. Indeed, Uzumaki Naruto was known for many a thing in those final days, his kindness chief amongst those qualities. A foul mouth was not one of them.

Oh, he would curse on occasion when the mood struck him, but never anything beyond damn. Few things could rouse him to such anger. His mistake was one of those few.

Yes-it was stupid. So godamned simple in its stupidity that he could just shout, scream his frustration to the heavens. But he didn't dare. Crying out now would only draw more of them. More of those...things to him. In his mind he knew that his regeneration was powerful, but he'd never suffered a wound like this before and without Kurama here to supplement him, he wasn't sure how long the kitsune's chakra would hold last him in a situation like this. Ever since he'd found himself here in this land of the dead, leaping from tree to tree to escape the zombies life had been hell.

And why shouldn't it be?

One simply did not fuck with the forces of space/time and expect to emerge unscathed. But Naruto had tried anyway. He'd experimented in secret, hoping to travel back in time; hoping, praying that he might somehow be able to undo the deaths of all his friends. But somewhere, somehow, everything had gone horribly wrong. Instead of landing in the blast, he'd thrown himself into another universe entirely-unless he was in the future and Madara had somehow died of boredom over the course of a few centuries. Not bloody likely.

Because the dead were walking.

"Zombies." he ground out around a loose tooth, spitting out a bloody gob into the dirt. "Why does it have to be zombies?!" He'd seen many a jutsu back in the day, and only a handful could raise the dead. This certain wasn't the Edo Tensei at work; these bodies seemed content to do only one thing. Eat. There was no life to be found in those dead eyes, no semblance of sanity hidden within their lurching gait.

As he'd grown older his ignorance and misplaced energy had fallen nigh to the wayside, replaced by the beginnings of a young shinobi-nay, a young man coming into his own. He'd garnered an impressive skillset over a distinguished and storied career; successfully survived a cuthroat world of shinobi and by some miracle, kept his identity in the longer run...unlike others. A veteran of the Fourth Shinobi Wars, last jinchuuriki, and quite possibly the last living sage in this land of the dead, he was the closest thing the resistance had to a leader after Madara's overwhelming victory in their final confrontation. He'd become the new host of the Juubi, with a grudge to boot, determined to extract that last half of the Kyuubi from Naruto after his father bestowed it upon him.

It had been chilling, coming so close to death that day, and it was that same chill he felt now. Having the other half of Kurama hadn't saved them. It hadn't saved anyone.

'Just give in.' That tiny, dreadful little voice whispered in the back of his brain. 'Let it bleed. All your friends and family are long gone now. No one will blame ya if you do.'

Naruto just growled and clamped the wound tighter, silently willing the flesh to mend, trying to force his regeneration into action through sheer force of will. No. He refused to die here in some far flung land, surrounded by teeming hordes of undead. Wherever here was. No. He would not perish here, not while he could still do some good. Live, He reminded himself, peeking through the branches, scowling down at the walkers milling at his feet. You need to find something to live for in this fucked up world. So find it!

"Find it, godamnit!"

As if spurred to life by those damned words, muscle and sinew flowed through his fingers, molding like milk across the ragged tear in his shoulder. Just like that, the wound was gone. His shoulder remained tender, far from peak capacity, but it was a sore sight better than the mottled mess of blood that it'd been moments ago.

"Now that's more like it." the blond permitted himself a wan smile, flexing his fingers. Kurama might no longer be with him, but its chakra, however limited, had once more saved his life. To think, he would miss that ol' bastard fox after all it had put him through. But the Kyuubi had been an ally in the end. Hell, they might've become friends, in time. Who knew? Maybe-

A sudden scream shattered the quiet, his contemplation crashing to the ground in shards at his feet. Despite the tenderness of his recently-healed shoulder the blond bounded into action; he simply wasn't the sort to be an ass and leave someone to die; not to save his own hide. Lunging from branch to branch, he retraced his steps, skidding to a halt just at the edge of the forest.

The sharp crack of a shotgun ripped through the air, and then...nothing.

'Ah, christ...

Below him, resting in a tangled muck of soil and steel, lay the ruined remnants of...what, exactly? A vehicle of some sort? Whatever it was, it wouldn't be going anywhere anymore. He was familiar with firearms, having encountered a few during the last month before everything went to hell, but this? He'd no idea. Before he could ponder the matter further, the scream came again.

"Help!" A man's voice could distinctly be heard now. "Somebody help! There's been an accident!" Then, a gasp. Followed by, "No! Oh god, NO!"

Hearing another scream his head snapped over to a point beyond the trees and there, sprawled out...ah, godamnit. Even as he heard the man, even as he spotted the walkers and surged down and out of the branch-he realized there was nothing he could do, not now, not ever. His left leg was mangled beyond belief and if that wasn't enough, he had a small horde surrounding him. Naruto's sudden motion was enough to draw off some of them, but a long walker was already upon the man, tearing a large chunk out of his neck and dragging him to the floor. Over before he could blink. As if sensing his weakness and drawn by the scent of fresh blood, the others quickly turned to converge on his now prone form. Within seconds he was gone; Naruto could only watch, heart-wrenching, as they made a meal of the older guy.

Fuck.

Then they turned on him.

"Fuck fuck fuck!"

Before the swarm could take so much as another step in his direction, Naruto threw himself back into the trees. But they were moving with purpose; now the man-poor bastard-was dead and devoured they were free to bring the full weight of their unseeing eyes upon him. As much as he might like to, he couldn't stay up here forever; although his wound might've healed, his threadbare jacket was still coated in blood, both zombie and and his own. He needed to find somewhere safe. Damnit, he needed to find some better clothes, too. The jonin jacket had lasted him throughout the war, but underneath it his dark blue sleeves were matted and torn a bit, and his sandals were beginning to wear thin.

Now if he could just find somewhere to rest...

After only a few minutes of constant leaping, he came upon what looked like a home boarded off by a wooden fence. Without a second thought, he launched himself over it, neatly alighting upon the earth. He crouched there for a long moment, half-expecting the horde to break down the fence behind him. But it wasn't to be. A series of sharp bangs echoed in the distance, drawing the swarm away before they'd the chance to beat the gate down. Naruto quietly thanked the Gods for this unlikely blessing. That aside, he hoped whomever had fired those shots could defend themselves. If not...

'No.' he shook his head. 'Don't think that way, champ. You can't save everyone.'

Trying to shrug off his guilt, he clamored up the porch and rapped against the slidding door with his fist. As expected, no answer. This was after all, the apocalypse. With a heavy heart, he soldiered it aside and pushed his way inside.

"I'm coming in okay? I ain't an intruder...or one of those things outside." Once inside however he realized that these people probably needed more help than he did. Pools of blood and upturned furniture were scattered throughout the dining area and it looked like the house had been left like this for a few days at the least. A message machine was in the proccess of replaying several messages; whilst it did, he busied himself about, to search for any survivors and the like. All he found was a puddle of blood and a walkie-talkie, the kind he'd used on Genin missions. How quaint.

"Bloody hell...

When the messages finally finished -filling him with dread- Naruto sighed and looked up to the ceiling, wondering where it had all gone wrong. These were normal people, not shinobi. They didn't know how to deal with the end of the world, like this Big shocker. He got another shock however when the walkie-talkie he'd pocketed blared to life with a young girl's voice.

"Hello?"

"Well, hello yourelf..." Silently berating himself for possibly the lamest answer in all of exitence, the blond shook his head. Last thing he wanted to do was spook her.

"You need to be quiet." Naruto nearly facepalmed at that. Smart kid.

"Who is this?" The walkie crackled; wherever-whoever-this girl was, she couldn't be far.

"I'm Clementine. This is my house." Not the talkative type, then.

"Clementine, huh? Are you alright?"

"Yes."

"How old are you?" Picking his way through the shattered home, he continued his search for anything useful in pinpointing her location. Binoculars, maybe? Or...

"Eight."Damn. Just a kid. Hopefully that blood in the kitchen wasn't hers...

"Are you by yourself?" He wasn't good with kids, never had been, but for her sake, he made an effort.

"Yeah, I don't know where anybody is. How old are you?" Poor kid was all alone, he could relate he supposed.

"Thirty." That god awful war had dragged on for more than fifteen years, fifteen years of watching his loved ones die or worse, surrender to the Moon's Eye Plan. Forcing himself not to think of it he turned his gaze back to the sliding door, watching for any sign of movement. If she wasn't in the house, surely she wouldn't risk discovery by going outside...

"Where are your parents?" Enough chit-chat. He'd be damned if he let a little girl wander around in this madness.

"They took a trip and left me with Sandra." she answered almost immediately. "They're in Savannah, I think. Where the boats are." everything after that 'trip' fell away in a white haze. Damn. Wherever this "Savannah" was, he hoped they'd fared better there than here. If this was happening all across the globe...no. He didn't want to think of that. Still peering through the sliding door, he inquired anew:

"Hmm okay, are you safe?" He was growing more and more concerned as this conversation dragged on. No kid that age should be left to fend for themselves, it was slightly wrong of him but Naruto seriously hoped that blood was someone other than Clementine's. Ah! He did have a way to find her. Closing his eyes-and silently praying that this world had nature energy-the last shinobi drew deep within himself and activated Sage Mode not a moment afteward. Yes! Maybe there was hope after all.

Golden orbs slid open seconds later, regarding the world through changed eyes, his senses expanding for miles around. Amazing what you could do with a few years to improve your techiniques. But what he saw nearly made him gag. Dear Kami, just looking at these walkers made him ill! But where was Clementine-

There she was. In hindsight it was obvious; she was in the treehouse.

"I'm outside in my tree-house, they can't get in." Before he could think to say that he already knew, he spied a small baseball cap peeking out a wooden flap followed by a head of wavy brown shoulder length hair. She was smaller than he'd thought she'd be. Dark eyes peered out at him inquisitvely, almost as if she were afraid he might bite.

"See? Can you see me? I can see you through the window." Naruto nodded and returned her wave, quietly relieved that she was alright. More importantly she was safe, and unharmed up there, well away from any of the walkers. Wait a second. what the hell was that growling sound-

"?!"

Instinct kicked in without warning; years of hardened training rising to the fore in the blink of an eye. Naruto cut down with a single kunai, ramming the iron knife into the corpse's throat even as the walker wrapped its fingers around his neck and began to squueze. The result was as visceral as it was gory; blood splattered in every direction, momentarily its advance almost. But the walker didn't die. Her gnarled hands still reached for him, dead mouth still slavering at the prospect of her teeth sinking into his neck. That was all it wanted. To eat. Eat. And eat again. Deep inside Naruto, something snapped.

"Motherfuck!"

Disgusted, he cut down at it again and again and again each time the kunai opening deep trenches in the walker's flesh, desecreating its undead body even further. But it wasn't enough; to slake his fury. Even when he split the thing's skull in twine, even when he killed it for a second time, even as its body slumped, the red haze didn't fade from his vision.

It just wasn't enough.

He could feel his rage boiling insides, building, the animal inside him roaring forth screaming a sound ofits fury. Fucking zombies. Fucking jutsu. Fucking Madara! That was the root of it all-the reason he was trapped in this hell, all alone, surrounded by the dead. If Kabuto hadn't revived him, then they never would have lost the war, he never would've tried to find a way to fix it, and he wouldn't be here. Damn him to hell! With a yell he wrenched its head away, obliterating the brain in one final, furious slice.

"Eep!"

He didn't even notice Clementine behind him until she squeaked; he whirled around with a start to find a hammer clutched tightly in hand, her fingers white-knuckled around the tool. They stared at one another for that long moment, neither willing to speak for fear of spooking the other. Finally, the latter broke it.

"Did you kill it?" She was nervous and rightfully so slowly inching away from the gathering pool of blood at her feet. Naruto blanched, wondering if she'd been there to witness his brief breakdown. Hopefully not. He'd all but hate to traumatize the little girl any further than he already had. But instead of confidence, all he managed was a wearing sounding:

"Definitely."

"Sometimes they come back." Ah, that explained a lot. No wonder she was nervous.

"That won't happen." he promised. "I got 'em good."

"Kay."

He released his hold on Sage Mode, feeling drained. Evidently he hadn't recovered as much as he'd thought. Being flung from one end of the space/time continuom did that to. But Clementine must've notice something, because she gasped, dropping the hammer as both hands flew to her face.

"Your eyes changed!" she exclaimed aloud.

Shit. Naruto cringed, realizing his slip up.

"I guess they did, darling."

"Are you a magician?"

The blond considered it for a long moment. He supposed the people of this world would consider him a superhuman, or something. But a little girl like Clementine? Magician was the closest thing she could think of, after seeing something like that. One could only wonder what others might think.

"Something like that, yeah. Have you been alone all this, um...time?"

Just like that, her expression crumpled.

"Yeah, I want my parents to come home now." It took all Naruto had not to cringe at the planitive need in her voice; if that last message, had been anything to go by, they were probably dead. He daren't tell-repeat to her what he'd heard on the message machine however, something like that might break the poor thing. Last thing he wanted.

"I think they might be a little while..." He trailed off, not knowing what else to say. Clementine sniffled, her first outward expression of emotion since they'd met. Visibly shaken by this, seemingly closing in on herself to keep from breaking down, she looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment. Naruto couldn't bear to see that. Adopting his most winning of grins, he reached out and placed a hand on her head, his large palm easily dwarfing Clementine's small cranium, fingers stroking her hair through the hat.

"Hey there," he soothed, crooning softly. "Don't cry. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but until we find your parents? I'll look after you. I'll keep you safe. Would you like that?"

"O-Okay." she offered a small, tentative smile. Something in that smile lit something in him; stoked the dying embers of his will. Only a few moments ago he'd been berating himself for failing to save someone, to save others in the past, but this? This was his chance. Redemption. Perhaps his life wasn't nearly as cursed as he'd supposed. Here in this little girl, he had a chance to do something right. Perhaps there were other survivors left-no. His mind seized up, his euphoria vanishing as he remembered what Madara had done to his ragtag band of survivors in the war. Obliterated them. To the last man.

But Madara wasn't here anymore. And as farfetched as it might seem, perhaps he had a chance to start over...

"You're not a bad guy, right?" Clementine's question jerked him out of the past and back into the present.

"Me?" Naruto feigned a hurt expression for her sake. "Of course not! Do you think a magician would be a bad guy?"

Clementine seemed to consider this.

...I guess not."

"Well in that case, its nice ta meetcha, Clem." For the first time in a long time, the world's last shinobi felt a smile blossom on his face. "The name's Naruto."

Then she asked him the question that would change everything.

"What do we do now?"

A/N: Poor Lee! I feel so bad, just offing him like that. But I've already beaten the game and quite frankly, this story is about Naruto, not him. I have no intentions of making him a side character in any way. Naruto's got quite the chip on his shoulder after losing the Fourth Shinobi War, and without Kurama, he's quite a bit weaker, so don't expect him to be hurling Rasenshuriken's anytime in the near futures, despite the fact that he's still stronger and faster than your average human. He's flawed-afraid that he won't be able to protect anyone after what Madara did to his comrades and can you blame him? I certainly can't.

He's going to be every bit the protagonist in this story although, and if you think for a second that its going to follow the events of canon to the letter...you're dead wrong. Ha! Dead! I crack myself up. But seriously guys, let me know what you think, eh?

So...in the immortal words of Atlas...

...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview!

(Preview)

Cracks in trust had formed and then they had evolved into full formed wedges. Naruto was the man picking up the pieces of his ragtag little band. His. Not Lily's. It was difficult enough keeping the peace between her and Kenny, but the girl just wasn't cracked up for leadership. So he'd taken charge at the drugstore. No one had dared protest afer he'd save dall their asses.

Her heart may have been in the right place at the start of all this, but she didn't know a damned thing about leadership. Neither did her asshole of a father. Godamned sunuvabitch. Should've let him die, left him there to rot. But he hadn't. He'd saved Larry-in spite of all the trouble he'd caused. He'd gotten them all out of that drugstore. Everyone. Except Doug. Damn. Damnit. Damnitall! He didn't want this. Christ, he'd never asked for this responsibility...yet here it was, laid firmly at his feet.

Forcing him to assume the burden of leading once more.

Here he was, with another band of survivors, only this time, there was no war to be fought. It was worse. In a war, you had a clear enemy. Out here, anything could be a threat. Zombies. Animals. Hell, even the living could be just as dangerous. That's what this was bout. Survival, plain and simple. The motor inn would be a good place to stay; it was defensible-had access to electricity-was easily fortified and they had access to the woods. If all else failed, they could easily hunt up some food-

"Hey asshole, stop staring off into space and help me with this wall!"

Naruto jerked around at the harsh bark of a voice, glaring bloody red daggers at Larry. Did this man want to die?!

"Oi oi, you trying to piss me off old timer?" he sighed, cracking his neck.

"Swear." Clementine commented from her perch on his back. Naruto muttered an apology.

"Dad, knock it off." Lily's voice called from across the lot. "He's got a lot on his mind."

After a moment the man relented.

"He's not very nice." Clementine mumbled softly.

"No." Naruto agreed. "No he isn't." Honestly, if it weren't for Lily, he'd have tossed Larry out on his ass the second they escaped from Mecan. Damn his bleeding heart.

"Naruto?"

Once more he craned his neck in the direction the speaker, broken from his musings again, regarding with a keen eye. Clementine shifted from her perch on his broad shoulders, her weight was like a leaf compared to the burdens he'd caried. Emerald eyes stared back at him; these were not Lily's eyes, but those of another.

"Whaddya want?" he asked them.

The look she gave him was absolutely haunting. He refused to let it faze him.

"Why did you save me, instead of Doug?"

Naruto felt the smallest of smiles pull at his face.

"Because you're special, Carley."

Hope you enjoyed! R&R! =D