FicWad

Dead Rising

Chapter 10

“Where the hell did we end up now?” Dempsey was looking around in confusion.

“I have no idea.” Was the reply from Nikolai who was also looking around their surroundings in confusion. “Who knew stepping on that mainframe that appeared in courtyard with no explanation would bring us all under the earth?”

In case of those who have no idea what is going on right now; something happened to our five heroes which from what Nikolai said is pretty self-explanatory. This something is an event that is always there, but never takes effect unless it is appropriate to make itself known. This little thing is what we know as 'plot convenience'. Something that was always there but never takes effect unless the plot of a story, or movie needs to continue.

So as a way to continue the plot because being in the Land of Water was taking too much of the story – even though it has been at least 3 or 4 chapters so far – when Naruto and Samantha reached the end of the staircase, a teleporter mainframe for some unknown reason and explanation magically appeared in the middle of the courtyard.

To continue the plot even further' all five of them with no protest or wariness got on top of the mainframe and watched – while they could have gotten themselves off at any point – as electricity shot out of the mainframe's surface. And then they were all absorbed by a flash of light that shot out of the mainframe like an orb and were all brought to another location they had never been before.

So it was here that they found themselves underground yet again and like the last two underground rooms they've been in, there was a lot of coffins around with the exception of these ones being untouched. There was no drills either. It was clean and as it should be expected with being underground the stone coffins were covered in dirt and dust.

There is a conveniently placed generator right in the middle of the room. And with three generators already turned on, this is pretty much the only one they need to turn on. And the mainframe they were still on top of was at the other side of the room. And it was a very, very big room. Big and wide enough to fit in at least a few double decker buses if they were stacked very close together side by side.

Seeing the generator Naruto arched an eyebrow and couldn't help himself when he said, “Huh, a mainframe teleporter that brought us to the last generator? That's rather convenient.”

“I know.” Samantha said as she moved to the last generator with the intent on turning it on so they could get the Elemental Staff at long fricking last. “I vould have thought it vould have brought us to zhe Pack-A-Punch machine instead of here.”

“I thought of that as well. But this is more welcome. I can't help but wonder how this'll work- Mmpfh!?” Naruto glared at Takeo who covered his mouth and stopped him from saying the rest of his sentence.

Takeo unaffected by the glare he was getting turned it with one of his own. Naruto unconsciously tried to lean away when the older man's glare bordered within his mind. “Do not say anything that will hinder our progress.” He said to the teenager with a fierce yet firm expression, before his eyes redirected their narrowed gaze to their surroundings for a quick moment before they settled back on Naruto. “Words can have an affect on our advancement in this tomb.”

Naruto blinked and nodded as best as he could with Takeo covering up his mouth. “So, dn sy anthng tht culd hndr ur advanmnt?” Translation: So don't say anything that could hinder our advancement?

Takeo knowing what Naruto had said nodded in confirmation and removed his hand from the teens mouth. Bringing a hand to his chin Naruto began rolling his jaw to get the stiffness out of it. Takeo's grip on his mouth was rough enough to make it stiff and hearing the satisfying sound of the jaw cracking as he moved it get rid of the stiffness brought satisfaction to him.

“So, who wants to turn the generator on this time?”

“I shall do it.” Takeo volunteered as he approached the fourth and final generator.

Knowing what is going to happen now once the generator is turned on, the others got themselves in a group of two with Dempsey grouping together with Naruto and Samantha and got themselves positioned around the generator in preparation for the zombies that would come as soon as Takeo turned the machine on.

Pressing the red button on the control panel, the generator made mechanical sounds as it came to life.

“Initiating conversion sequence.”

Seconds after they heard that sentence, all of them were taken by surprise when the coffin's lids all exploded with no warning. Those that were on the walls, the left or right side of the coffin's exploded as well. A cloud of dust and rubble quickly spread throughout the room, making everyone cough when they accidentally inhaled the dust when they were breathing in. Naruto and Dempsey, Samantha and Takeo and Nikolai all shielded their heads to keep the rubble from injuring them. Or worse; blinding them.

“What... the fuck... was that!?” Dempsey yelled out as he hacked and coughed his lungs out. The dust cloud was doing its job on clogging his vision; he could barely see anything through it.

“I dunno!” Naruto yelled back before coughing frenziedly. “The coffin's... must've exploded somehow!” He added once he got his coughing back under control.

“Nikolai!” Dempsey called out, as he slung his M-16 over his shoulder before taking out his Remington revolver. Now that his vision was reduced greatly thanks to this dust cloud, “Do you see anything out of the norm through your Scavenger!?” He asked, before covering his mouth with his now free arm.

They all heard the Russian growl out in agitation. Against what, they didn't know; but they had a good guess. “I will see, comrade!” A few seconds of tense silence and the sound of shifting movements went by before Nikolai spoke up again. “I see that coffins' are open.” The Russian began in a serious tone. “Like something exploded from inside.” A few more seconds went by as Nikolai paused to scan the room on where he was before adding gruffly, “I see no zombies around.”

“That can either mean two things then.” Stated a grim sounding Tank Dempsey.

“Which is what, American?” Takeo questioned.

“Either there was nothing inside of those coffin's – as unlikely as that will be - or, whatever was inside of those caskets was able to move so fast, while being silent in their movement at the same time, that they were able to get out of sight without us knowing.”

“In other words, there's a good possibility we're being stalked.” Said Naruto. The others could almost imagine the teenager frowning, his vocalism was that grim sounding and subdued. “So we have to be careful...” The blonde added before trailing off.

“Yeah...” Dempsey replied while nodding his head in confirmation, even if no one else would be able to see it. His military training kicking into play, the former United States marine began to lay out orders in a military fashion. “Nikolai, keep that sniper rifle out. That is the only advantage we have right now, now that our eye vision is impaired. Being split like this is not a good thing, so we need you and Takeo back with us. Everyone else, if you haven't already then switch your primary weapon to your side arm if you got any. We can't have any stray bullets here.”

His orders laid out to them, the others began to do what they were ordered to do. Samantha and Naruto both switched their primary weapons for their sidearm. Nikolai was unable to swap to his side arm because he traded it for his Stakeout shotgun, not to mention he was currently using his sniper rifle. Takeo was unable to switch his primary weapon to his side arm because his was swapped for the Galil a while ago.

Since he was paired with Nikolai, Takeo put a firm hand on the man's shoulder so he would know where the Russian was moving, and he would be able to move with him without getting lost. In spite of being surprised at being grabbed on the shoulder, Nikolai kept himself from retaliating against Takeo out of sheer surprise. After collecting himself the Russian without a word slowly walked to the other three, so Takeo could follow him a lot easier.

Looking through the scope on his upgraded Scavenger Nikolai was able to see where he was going with no problems, and led Takeo back to the rest of the group. Now that they were together again Nikolai helped Takeo stand beside Dempsey while he himself knelt down beside Naruto and Samantha.

“See anything?” Dempsey whispered to Nikolai questioningly.

“I see nothing.” Nikolai whispered back as he scanned the room through the scope on the Hyena Infra-dead. “It is quite. Too quite for the liking of this Russian.”

“Keep your eyes peeled Nikolai. You're the only one who can see through the dust cloud.”

“I do not see why Nikki cannot use the Gersch Device to remove this cloud from this place.” Takeo said as if it were an obvious thing to do. It would have been something he would have done in the Russian's shoes.

Everyone stopped what they were doing as Takeo's words registered in their minds. And then they palmed themselves on the face. Of course! The frickin' Gersch Device makes a black hole that sucks up everything! They could use it here to quickly remove the cloud of dust and rubble.

And that is what Nikolai proceeded to do.

Having used it in the Russian Cosmodrone and in Area 51 in the United States of America, Nikolai was somehow able to know where all the buttons were. Even if his vision was impaired by the smoke cloud, he still despite all logic, managed to press all the right buttons' and hearing the machine in his hand whirring to life the Russian threw the contraption in front of him.

Everyone watched and listened as they all both saw and heard the dust cloud and rubble getting sucked into the black hole that manifested once the machine it had spawned from stopped bouncing on the ground. It took a few short seconds for the room to be completely clear once more.

“I don't get it.” Dempsey said as he narrowed his eyes in confusion while he surveyed the room. “The Gersch Device sucks everything in against their will. We should have at least heard something”

“Perhaps we are not combating our usual enemy?” Takeo suggested as the black hole collapsed on itself before dispersing entirely.

“I am wishing that is not the case. I am not eager to see what enemy is awaiting us in this tomb.” Nikolai said with a deep scowl. He was not fancying the idea of fighting a different zombie type.

They've already faced a new zombie type today, which had to be placed in category 4 with the animals since the screecher's resemble imps of all things. They all faced category 1 zombies too. Thankfully they haven't faced the category 2 and above yet excluding the screecher's.

“You and Naruto should swap back to primary weapons now that room is clear of cloud.” Nikolai suggested to Naruto and Dempsey, since their assault rifles are more effective than their revolvers. He didn't tell Samantha to change her weapon because she has the fricking Ray Gun the most overpowered pistol in existence! What ever is in the room with them, that Ray Gun will be effective against it; so it was best if the pistol stayed in Samantha's hand rather than in its holster.

Seeing the wisdom in his words Naruto and Dempsey both swapped back to their assault rifles. Everyone raised their guns in alarm when something teleported in the room in a ball of electricity. When the orb was gone, an ancient samurai warrior was in the room with them. Unlike the other samurai's they had fought that had rusted armour, and broken arrows sticking out of various gaps in the armour this one had armour that looked completely new. There was not a speck of rust anywhere on it.

The samurai was covered from head to toe in armour. The man's face was unseen through the helmet/mask combination. He was also weaponless however, and that left the armoured man at a disadvantage. The others knew better however. Because they knew there was something off about this man. The fact the man teleported was sheer proof of that.

They really, really hoped this man was not a category 6 zombie. Because if he was then they were in some serious, serious trouble. Then he started walking. And if that wasn't heart racking enough, the armoured man was walking slowly.

The five had a sense of deja-vu as they remembered another type 6 zombie they had encountered in the past that had acted in a similar manner to this one. It was on the moon in Griffon Station, where they faced that astronaut that teleported in the station at random times when they were least expecting it.

“Oh god. Don't tell me...!” Dempsey slowly shook his head with dreaded eyes.

“There is one way to find out!” Nikolai cried out in declaration before shooting the samurai on the chest with the scavenger. The explosive round attached itself to the samurai, blinked for a few seconds before exploding. Shaking the room they were in and causing dust to fall down through the room.

Another smoke cloud covered up the samurai once the explosive bullet went off. But a few seconds later the samurai walked out of the smoke cloud appearing to be completely unharmed yet not unscathed, as the armour had a large dent where the bullet blew up.

“Yep! Definitely a type 6!” Nikolai stated the obvious with a straight face.

Samantha summed up what everyone was thinking at the moment, “Vell shit.”

X.X.X.X

While the five heroes were dealing with a category 6 zombie in an unknown tomb within the Land of Water, in another location known as Takigakure no Sato, the Hidden Village was facing a very serious problem in the form of their Jinchuuriki abandoning her post outside of the underwater tunnels that led inside of the Hidden Village.

With their Jinchuuriki gone' Takigakure no Sato had no first line of defence against the undead that are slowly wiping out humanity. It isn't at all surprising when the civilians and ninjas within said Hidden Village treated their Jinchuuriki with disdain and made her feel completely unwelcome within Takigakure. No one knows where she went. They didn't even sense the Seven Tails' chakra when the Jinchuuriki went missing. It was like she just upped and vanished without a trace.

In another location in the Elemental Nations the Land of Earth, to the worry of everyone else, had gone quiet. Iwagakure was not responding to anyone that tried to get in contact with them, and teams that went to discern their status had mysteriously disappeared. The search for their Jinchuuriki, to discover the fate of Iwagakure is rumoured to be under way.

In the Land of Wind, Sunagakure no Sato was fighting off a small yet deadly group of zombies' that are able to use the very wind as their weapon. Miraculously no one had died. It was thanks to the Kazekage and his manipulation of sand that these zombies weren't able to cause any casualties to his ninja forces.

The Land of Lightning was still recovering from the failed invasion attempt of the undead the week before. Kumogakure had lost many of their own during the defence and were forced to burn the corpses of their fallen comrades' just in case they would rise up again and attack their former comrades. Among those losses, the Kumogakure detachment had a large gap blown into the concrete wall that spanned entirety of the border between the Lands of Hot Water and the Land of Frost. Yugito Nii had survived the encounter and after her return to Kumogakure no Sato she reported to her Raikage of the Mysterious Five. Along with that she also informed the man of the reportedly missing Konohagakure Jinchuuriki being with them.

After the report the Raikage gave his ninja forces specific orders to be on the look out for the Mysterious Five and to bring them to to the Kage Tower. For what is unknown, however, with Kumogakure's reputation for doing anything from stealing bloodlines to kidnapping children to boost their own power, it is anything but good.

The situation for the Land of Water, is the same as it was left it: cut off from the rest of the world thanks to the mist surrounding it and the islands. However, the Mysterious Five are there at this moment attempting to take away the mist surrounding the islands.

However, despite these problems almost no one was doing anything about them.

Takigakure was not making any attempts to at recovering their wayward Seven Tails Jinchuuriki. Instead their forces were focusing on building fortifications, such as barricades and pikes, in the streets of their Hidden Village to halt the undead as much as they could. They were also conscripting their civilians into a militia in order to get them to fight for their homes for when the undead manage to find their way inside of the Hidden Village.

For Sunagakure the Kazekage, being the only one capable of manipulating sand, was too busy helping his ninja forces fight off the zombies to muster up a task force to locate the source of the zombies and destroy it. The attacks were constant and the zombies would often appear in large groups, they would get smarter and learn with each encounter. The zombies would change tactics from attacking head on, to making hit and run tactics when the Suna ninja would least expect it, to using the sand storms as a leeway to attack the ninja standing guard or patrolling.

In Kumogakure, the ninja were recovering from the losses they received at the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost. Their new orders are to be on a look out for the Mysterious five and bring them to the Raikage by any means possible.

Even a blind man can tell that won't end well.

Konohagakure was on the look out for the Mysterious Five, with a team already assembled to go out and seek the five out once they appeared within the Land of Fire. Teams mainly consisting of ANBU, some Chunin and Jonin were patrolling the roads within the Land of Fire in an attempt to keep Fire Country free of undead. Something which has been successful.

And Kirigakure, where the Mysterious Five are, was besieged by a mist that had almost no visibility. Anyone who ventured inside of this mist, was never seen again which severely limits Kiri ninja on what they're able to do. And what was worse this mist had zombified animals lurking within. Their only hope on getting out of this was the Mysterious Five, who are on an island tomb searching for a way to get rid of the mist itself, all the while trying to find a way to free Gersch from another dimension.

X.X.X.X

At the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass – since Kusagakure no Sato literally translates to 'Village Hidden in the Grass' – we see a teenage girl walking through trees that make up the Land of Grass with determination in her strides.

She wore in orange clip in her short, spiky mint green hair that matched the colour of her eyes. Her outfit consists of a sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armour underneath, long white armlets, and fishnet shorts with a short apron skirt over it. On her back she carried a cylindrical object with red wrappings.

This is Fuu, the Jinchuuriki of the Seven Tails, former kunoichi of Takigakure no Sato. And right now she is a girl on a mission.

For the past several weeks Fuu had heard rumours of five people appearing in Wave Country out of nowhere. And in that same day they somehow stopped an undead invasion that had been plaguing Wave Country for a week before vanishing without a trace. A week later, they were spotted in the Land of Hot Water in the former Hidden Village of Yugakure. A country that was overrun with undead, with the Land of Frost about to be invaded by an army of zombies. The 'Mysterious Five' as they have been dubbed, fought the undead army and inflicted heavy casualties to the invading force before they vanished once more.

She had no idea who was spreading these rumours. And truth be told she didn't care. Right now, all she wanted to do, was to find this group this 'Mysterious Five' and see if they were willing to accept her into their fold. Takigakure no Sato, her home, didn't want her inside of its walls since she had been born and its populace had made damn sure to let her know she wasn't welcome whenever she showed her face.

They never outright hurt her. But they did glare, whisper things behind her back when they thought she wasn't listening, and at times when she overstayed her welcome, they yelled out hurtful things to her. And ever since this undead crisis cropped out of nowhere three years ago they had the excuse to keep her out of Takigakure. Since she was a Jinchuuriki' she was the first one to go outside and meet the undead. Despite being outnumbered 7 to 1 she always came back alive and kicking.

But three long years of this can take its toll. And for Fuu enough was enough. There was no way in HELL was she going to defend a place that made it well known she was not welcome there. They had dug their own graves and as far as she was concerned the Taki-nin are a waste of space. They weren't even worthy of having her keeping their asses safe, while she was out on the front lines, alone fighting against seemingly limitless hordes of zombies.

So she abandoned her post and left her home, no not home, she left that shit-hole completely defenceless and at the mercy of the undead hordes. She never used her tenants chakra to spout some insect wings since it would alert the Taki-nin to her presence. So she travelled on foot. Only stopping for short breaks at a time.

She didn't know where the Mysterious Five are, but if the odd energy she felt earlier on, that also happens to be associated to them... then they should be somewhere towards the East. That is the general direction for her anyway as she does not know of their exact location.

As long as she keeps to her original pace, without using her tenants chakra, then she should be inside the Land of Fire within the week. Once reaching the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire, Fuu had no idea on where to go next since she had no clue on where the 'Mysterious Five' are at, at this moment.

She'll cross that bridge when she gets there.

After all, most plans never go as they were meant to.

X.X.X.X

The situation was bad for Naruto and Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai and Samantha. After Nikolai tried to blow up the zombie with his Hyena infra-dead, and saw it had little to no effect on it, everyone else opened fire. The results were the same as before. Their bullets had almost no effect on them. The only weapon that had the most impact was Samantha's Ray Gun. But even that wasn't enough to critically injure the zombie.

Naruto and Dempsey yelled out as they were effortlessly thrown threw the air by the Samurai zombie, and let out pained grunts when their backs impacted against the cave wall. They were easily disarmed of their guns when they tried to smack the barrel of their assault rifle against the samurai's helmet, and the guns themselves were out of their reach. The zombie was literally between them and their guns and it was deceptively quick, proven when Naruto and Dempsey both tried to run past the samurai at the same time only for it to quickly appear before them and grab them by the scruff of their shirts and throw them to the other side of the room.

They quickly learnt it had unnatural strength as well as speed.

Dempsey who was still affected by the Juggernog soda he had drunken earlier in Yugakure was not that hurt by the landing. Naruto on the other hand, was not that lucky. Hissing in pain as he reached behind him to ease the pain on his spine, the spiky haired blonde pushed himself back to his feet as he levelled a nasty glare on the samurai slowly walking to them.

“I really hate this son-of-a-bitch.” The blonde angrily growled.

As he got up off the ground Dempsey narrowed his eyes dangerously as his lips pulled back to a cruel sneer. He cracked his knuckles as he said, “Same here.” while glaring at the zombie.

The zombie growled irritatingly, staggering when it had unexpectedly, gotten shot by Nikolai and Takeo and Samantha at the same time. Growling once more the zombie got its bearing back and slowly turned to the three that were unloading their magazine into the zombie.

“Chert, the hell-spawn is absorbing bullets!” Nikolai exclaimed with worry tingeing his voice.

“Do not vorry, Nikolai! Just keep shooting!” Samantha yelled in an attempt to reassure the worried Russian. Which had surprisingly done its job in keeping Nikolai from panicking and doing something incredibly stupid that could compromise their welfare.

“Aim for its head! It cannot sustain injuries there for long!” Takeo shouted to them, just as the magazine in his type 100 sub-machine gun ran out of bullets. Growling in irritation the modern era Samurai had been forced to reload his sub-machine gun.

Followed by Samantha with her Ray Gun that was doing its job in wounding the zombie but not enough for them to take advantage of. And then with Nikolai having to reload several seconds later, since his PPSh-41 had the highest amount of bullet in the drum magazine.

With the zombie distracted and not focusing on them, Naruto and Dempsey snuck their way around the reanimated samurai and as quietly as possible made their way to regain their assault rifles. They could have used their side arms, but they didn't want to risk losing them too once they brought it out.

They couldn't use grenades either since there was a good chance they could bring the entire cave down on their heads. It was a damn miracle it didn't happen when Nikolai shot the samurai zombie in the torso with the exploding bullet.

Not to mention there was a good chance the grenade could bounce off the walls and roll back in the direction it came from before exploding, and outright injure or kill everyone in the process. Yeah, it's not a very good idea to do that.

Grabbing their M-16 off the ground the two blondes quickly reloaded it with another magazine, since they had emptied around half of it in to the zombie before they were tossed aside as if they were toys that had been discarded. And since they both heard what Takeo said over the gun fire, the two of them aimed at the samurai's armoured head and opened fire.

The samurai growled with irritation before it roared out in anger and frustration, before it started to run toward the first person it saw; Nikolai Belinski.

Eyes widening almost comically Nikolai cursed aloud in a panic and started to run. The zombie samurai followed after him with no hesitation. The others were surprised when the samurai suddenly roared, and started to run and pursue Nikolai when the man ran away from him. They were so surprised they stopped firing, which conveniently kept Nikolai from getting shot from a stray bullet.

“I think we pissed it off.” Naruto said in deadpanned bewilderment.

“No shit.” Dempsey was also bewildered as he followed Nikolai and the zombie running around the room. “At least its chasing after Nikolai instead of me.”

Naruto gave Tank a deadpanned look as he replied, “You do realise Nikolai can pass on its attention to one of us by running in our direction don't you?”

Dempsey blinked at that revelation before he looked at Naruto with wide eyes. “Let's not let him know of that.” He told the teenager low enough that only Naruto would hear what he said.

Beginning to nod in agreement Naruto abruptly stopped and turned his head. His face went blank as he turned his gaze back to the American. “Yeah, that's going to be a little problem considering Nikolai is running in our direction.” He stated, pointing a digit in front of him.

“What?!” Dempsey quickly followed the direction Naruto was pointing at, and true to his words, Nikolai was running toward them' his PPSh-41 slung over his shoulder to allow him to run without being burdened as much as when he's holding his weapon in both hands. Sighing dejectedly Dempsey slung his M-16 over his shoulder before running to Nikolai bellowing, “Hey! Freak bag! Follow me you sack of decaying shit!”

The second Nikolai and Dempsey reached one another the two split off. Nikolai going to the left. Dempsey going to the right. The former marine raider stayed close to the zombie for it to notice him, but far enough away to being unable to grab grapple him. The zombie changed its course and followed Dempsey instead of Nikolai.

Breathing hazily as he slowed to a stop next to Naruto, Nikolai leaned forward with his hands on his knees before turning around to see Dempsey running backwards all the while goading and beckoning the samurai zombie tauntingly.

“What's the matter? Can't catch up to me? This is my normal running speed punk! How are you gonna catch me if you can't keep up?” The zombie merely roared in angered annoyance at the taunt, prompting Dempsey to mockingly laugh at the zombie. “What? Getting angry that your meal is just out of reach? You're not all that special, when no one is within arms reach are ya?!”

“Is it wise for American to anger it?” Nikolai questioned.

“Nope. But this is Tank Fucking Dempsey we're talking about. He will laugh in the face of danger, even if it's inappropriate.” Naruto answered pointedly.

“That is true.” Nikolai frowned as he turned to Takeo and Samantha, who were still standing near the generator. “How long until generator is powered?” He asked them.

“It is difficult to say.” Takeo answered as he looked at the generator himself with analysing eyes. “It should not be long however as we have been here for nearly 5 minutes at best.”

Samantha was surprised at the revelation. “Five minutes? Zhat is strange. Zhe generator should have been done by now in zhat case. Zhe other generators took less time zhan zhis.”

“Do you think it's because of that zombie in the room with us?” Naruto asked while gesturing to the zombie in question, who was still chasing after Tank Dempsey, who never let up on taunting it in a goading manner.

They all listened with a sense of amusement or disbelief when Dempsey gloatingly said, “Oh-ho, you almost got me there but you were a little too far away. By like a mile! Try again maggot addict!”

The samurai zombie, fed up with being goaded and taunted, roared out in anger and in a display of defying gravity, suddenly leapt at Dempsey and literally flew at him with its arms stretched out in front of it as if wanting to embrace someone in a hug. Everyone was taken by complete surprise by this as it just came out of nowhere with no explanation.

Dempsey startled by this, let out a surprised and terrified yell as he ducked. The zombie flew over the marine and because of the speed it was going, it was unable to maneuver itself around so it had a head on collision with the wall on the other side of the crypt it was in. Because of the speed it was going at, it was inevitable that it would end up being embedded in the wall it collided with and as a consequence it had difficulty in getting itself free.

Not letting this opportunity slip by Dempsey unslung his M-16 took aim and pulled the trigger. To everyone's surprise, the zombie bellowed out in agony when the bullets collided with its back. Holding fire, Dempsey squinted his eyes as he tried to make out why the zombie got hurt this time when it didn't the last time they unloaded their magazine into it.

Then he found it; there was a large gap in the armour at the base of its spine. That was its weak point as the rest of the armour was literally almost unpredictable for some stupid reason. Aiming at that weak point Dempsey pulled the trigger and unloaded the rest of his magazine. The zombie let out another pain filled roar as the bullets tore into its back without mercy.

Seeing the zombie was getting hurt Takeo, Samantha, Nikolai and Naruto all ran to Dempsey's side and followed his example. The samurai zombie' feeling its unlife slipping away became more desperate in yanking itself out of the wall.

Thanks to the zombies' weak point being exposed, Samantha's Ray Gun was able to deliver crippling amounts of injuries to it. The corrosion effect of the Ray Gun was able to slowly corrode the armour around the weak point, exposing its rotting flesh to the elements which too suffered the corrosion effects of the Ray Gun.

The zombie finally managed to yank itself out of the wall and let out a fierce roar of anger, as it turned around to face the group that injured it. Now that the weak point was no longer exposed to them, the five heroes held their fire and quickly reloaded their weapon with a fresh magazine. They just had to get behind the zombie again.

Letting out another roar the zombie, to the surprise of the heroes, walked and once it built up speed began to jog; then it ran, before outright sprinting at them. The five heroes got out of the way, while Naruto seeing that the zombie was more focused on him than anyone else in the group began to lead it away and keep its attention on him.

Unfortunately Naruto never had the time to put his assault rifle away so his overall running speed was diminished than it should have been. Thankfully he was fast enough to be able to keep himself out of arms reach of the severely pissed off zombified samurai. He was smart enough to NOT goad and taunt the zombie as it chased him. It was already pissed off and he did not want to anger it even more.

With the zombie distracted Dempsey and Samantha, Nikolai and Takeo all took aim at the zombie's back and waited for its weak point to be exposed. But because Naruto was right in front of it they couldn't open fire on the zombie, in case a stray bullet would end up hitting Naruto by mistake. So until Naruto was out of the way they would stop themselves from opening fire.

Samantha despite her power cannot help Naruto. She is very limited in what she can do. She would need her original body on the moon in the dimension they came from in order to do that.

Seeing as he was reaching the wall of the tomb they were in, Naruto quickly looked over his shoulder and saw that the zombie was steadily catching up to him. Smirking Naruto looked ahead of him again, and once he reached the wall, he quickly ducked and rolled to the left as the zombie leapt at him with its arms outstretched. It collided with the wall and embedded itself on the surface. And since it was in the air when it collided with the wall it was going to have some difficulty getting itself free.

With Naruto making his way back to the group and out of the way, the others took aim at the zombies weak point and opened fire. The zombie let out a ferocious roar as it felt the bullets snipping away at its back. The corroded armour doing nothing to protect it.

And because of the rotten flesh had been corroded by the Ray Gun, the muscle and bones of the zombie was exposed to the elements. Getting tired of this encounter already Nikolai had done perhaps one of the most stupidest things he could ever do in a potentially unstable tomb. He swapped his PPSh-41 for his Hyena Infra-dead. Then he took aim with the overpowered sniper rifle and pulled the trigger. The highly explosive round shot out of the barrel and stuck itself on the exposed muscle on the zombie's back.

Everyone gave Nikolai astonished looks after they saw the explosive bullet attach itself to the zombie's back.

“Seriously Nikolai!? Seriously?!” Naruto exclaimed in shocked dismay.

Before the Russian could respond to that the zombie roared out in agonising pain as the bullet violently exploded. Bits and pieces of flesh, muscle and splotches of blood would be seen flying through the air. The shockwave trembled through the walls of the tomb, shaking the room the heroes were in rather unstably, and knocking everyone off of their feet.

The smoke cloud covered the zombie from sight.

By some miracle the room never collapsed on top of their heads. To which they all gave a breath of relief. There was tense silence in the room as the five heroes got back to their feet. They reloaded their weapons again to prepare themselves for the zombie.

“Is it dead?” Naruto asked when they didn't hear anything from the zombie for nearly a minute.

No one spoke. And then suddenly they all heard the welcomed whirring sound from the generator. A pulse of electricity shot out of the machine and spread through the room. The group were relieved since that pulse of electricity does kill any zombie that comes in contact with it. And having been through it three times already it wasn't as annoying or uncomfortable as it was the first time it happened.

“Conversion Process Complete. Generator 4 is now activated.” Said the much welcomed voice of Doctor Ludvig Maxis.

“Halle-fucking-lujah!” Dempsey cheered out to the ceiling in alleviation. Laughing the marine fell to his knees with joy as he shouted out, “It's fucking done! At long frickin' last! The generators are fucking done! Suck it you zombie controlling freak!”

“Hey!” Samantha cried out in offense, seeing as she had, at one point, been controlling the zombies and took that as a direct insult since Dempsey did technically insult her as well. Although her offended outcry had gone ignored as Dempsey continued to laugh cheerfully at their victory.

Naruto put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. “He didn't mean you, Samantha. Although...” He gave Dempsey a look of disapproval that had once again gone ignored. “He could have chosen his words a little more wisely.”

“I wonder where Gersch is? He should be talking to us, no?” Nikolai questioned aloud.

“Perhaps the Russian is occupied.” Takeo suggested fairly.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

“How's your ammo looking guys?” Naruto questioned them. Because they had wasted a lot of bullets and magazines on that insanely strong and long lived zombie, he was running fairly low on ammunition on his M-16.

“I have two magazines left for my Type 100. I am still at maximum for my secondary.” Takeo answered after checking his ammo count. The Staff of Fire was almost full since Takeo had rarely used it; and he had used it at least once.

“This Russian had two barrel magazines left for his weapon! I am still at full amoo for sniper rifle. And my shotgun shells are full!” Nikolai said after Takeo said his piece.

“I'm running low on ammo for my M-16. I have one magazine left for it.” Dempsey revealed after preforming a check on his ammo. He didn't bother saying anything for his Remington Revolver since he never used it yet.

“I have two magazines left for zhe MP40. And I have seven batteries remaining for zhe Ray Gun.” Samantha revealed after checking how much ammunition she had left for her guns.

“And I'm down to my last magazine for the M-16. I haven't used my Colt Python yet so that's completely full. And the Monkey Bombs haven't been used either, so I still have three for those.” Naruto finally revealed after the others finished their informing of their ammo status.

They needed to be careful otherwise they would eventually find themselves out of ammo. Then they would be in some serious shit.

Without warning the five heroes had electricity running along their body and were blinded by a blinding flash of light. They all recognised the familiar sensation of being teleported and knew they were being taken out of that mysterious and unknown tomb. When their vision came back the five of them found themselves back in the courtyard in front of the temple.

However it didn't take them long to find out that something was wrong.

“Erm... is it just me or is the mist a lot closer than I remember?” Naruto questioned with awkwardness as he pointed to said mist in the distance. Unlike before where it was fairly far out of the way, the mist was now close to the tree line and was slowly bleeding into the temple grounds and its surroundings.

“No. It's not just you. I can see it as well.” Dempsey replied with a deep suspicious frown. “Something is most definitely not right here.”

“Oh! You're all back and safe!” The group looked toward the sky when they heard Gersch's relieved voice echoing all around them. “I don't know what you five did, but that last influx of energy has made a large enough gap for me to escape through! I may be able to finally find a way back home thanks to you all! For your efforts in helping me your gift lays on top upon the temple.”

They all heard a noise that is similar to air being sucked away before everything went silent. His words resonating through his mind Tank Dempsey made his way up the temple stairs with the intent on seeing what kind of gift Gersch had left behind for them. He really hoped it wasn't a Death Machine. That was a really lame gift that Russian scientist left for them the last time.

The others were quick to follow. They were just as curious as to what kind of gift Gersch had left them. Although they came to wonder just how Gersch could have left them anything considering he was trapped in another dimension, and they were on the planet?

Maybe he found a way when they sent in that influx of energy? Who knows.

After reaching the top the five of them stopped when their eyes laid upon the Staff of Lightning. It was standing vertically. There was no forcefield keeping it up. There was no gravitational force that held it in place. It was just standing there in a straightly manner waiting for someone to take it.

Like the Staff of Fire, the Staff of Lightning was more technologically advanced than anything they had seen before, which is saying something considering they have seen a LOT of shit in a short amount of time.

It was more advanced technology wise than the Wunderwaffe DG-2 and like its fire counterpart it looked completely futuristic.

In front of the staff itself was a conveniently placed Max Ammo that was floating several feet off the ground. It had a green like aura that glowed around it; giving off an otherworldly feel once your eyes laid upon it.

Naruto arched an eyebrow. “A Max Ammo?” He began. “Not what I would have expected for a gift but it's not entirely unwelcome.”

Dempsey scoffed as he stared at the floating box of ammo with disappointment. “I was expecting something a little more useful to us than a Max Ammo. But then again, it IS more welcome than a Death Machine.” He finished thoughtfully.

Samantha looked at Dempsey with a questioning look. “How so?” She asked curiously.

“Well for one we won't be running low on ammo anymore. And two it refills everything in our arsenal.” The former United Stares marine pointed out two very good reasons to her. She had to agree with the American on that since that is essentially what Max Ammo does.

The two of them stopped and looked ahead of them when they heard an unknown shout out, “Max Ammo!” out of nowhere. Everyone felt themselves get a little heavier in terms of weight when all the magazines and grenades they had wasted minutes before magically reappeared in their ammo pouches. Looking ahead of them Dempsey and Samantha both saw Takeo and Nikolai standing in the spot where the ammo icon used to be. Naruto himself was standing right in front of the Staff of Lightning, with his M-16 slung over his back. However instead of going to grab the staff the teenager was looking at the four pillars on the opposite ends of the room that held up the roof with curious yet definitely suspicious eyes.

“Is there something the matter young one?” Takeo asked Naruto with a worried frown.

Naruto shook his head as he turned around halfway to reply. “No. Nothing is wrong.” He looked toward the Staff of Lightning again and began to wonder; would taking the staff disperse the mist surrounding them? Or would something else happen?

Naruto shook his head. He didn't need to worry about that now. The staff is right in front of him and all he needed to do was just reach up and take it.

And that is what he did.

Staff in hand Naruto quickly looked around his surroundings to see if there had been any changes. To the others who were staring at his back the movement was rather comical.

“What're you doing, Naruto?” Dempsey dryly asked the teenager.

Naruto stopped what he was doing and turned around to face the American. “Seeing if anything happened.” He looked around again for a brief moment and shrugged. “Looks like nothing is happening after we have achieved our main objective-” As if his words had jinxed them the five heroes were suddenly teleported away from the temple and had reappeared in the middle of nowhere. “-for once...” He finished, just before he and the others took in their new surroundings. Naruto had a flat look on his face as he surveyed his surroundings and he exhaled in defeat when he saw the temple in the far distance, and the mist slowly creeping toward the clear clearing the five of them were standing in.

“Well what do you know? We were brought out in the middle of nowhere, while the mist is slowly creeping toward us.” Dempsey said, stating the obvious while being very sarcastic about it.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. “I am so done with this bullshit.” He muttered in mild annoyance. Bringing the hand that had been pinching his nose down to grasp at the bottom of the Staff of Lightning so he could balance it, Naruto inhaled and exhaled with an annoyed look on his face as he stared ahead of him at the mist. He narrowed his eyes as a deep frown pulled at his lips, realising the undead animals were going to be coming for them now that the mist was moving in their direction. He quickly relayed this fact to the others.

Dempsey sucked his teeth with a look of irritation on his face. “Oh great. Undead animals that are going to be nibbling on our ankles. Fucking brilliant.” The amount of sarcasm in his voice was almost infectious.

“While it may be dishonourable of us retreating is the most viable option available.” Takeo stated as he stared at the slowly approaching mist with a guarded expression.

Takeo and Nikolai, Samantha and Dempsey and Naruto all slowly backed away as the mist cloud crept toward them. Looking over his shoulder Nikolai cursed in Russian when he saw there was another cloud mist behind them. The others were quick to notice that as well, and, as they quickly looked around they saw they were getting bogged down.

If they didn't do something they would be trapped. Realising this Samantha quickly went into her awakened form and made to teleport them out of there. Only for nothing to happen. Narrowing her eyes, the girl with an expression of deep concentration, tried to teleport them away once more only to end up with the same result.

She tried a third time only for nothing to change. “Everyone!” The girl exclaimed, her German accent now turned to an American one thanks to her being in her awakened form. “I can't teleport! Something is keeping me from getting you out of here!”

“Seriously?!” Naruto was understandably alarmed by that. If Samantha couldn't get them out of there, then they're screwed. In the bad way.

Completely fed up with this setback, Nikolai with a deep scowl, quickly swapped his PPSh-41 for his Hyena Infra-dead. Now that they were out in the open he could safely use it without having to worry about bringing down an entire ceiling on top of their heads.

Lifting the sniper rifle so the butt was pressing against his shoulder the Russian peered through the scope. Nikolai was able to see a large crowd of animals the size of a small army making their way to them. They were using the mist as a shield to protect them from the sun light.

“There is a fucking army heading our way!” He exclaimed. “Nikolai does not like these odds!”

Staring ahead with a hard look Dempsey looked at Samantha and said, “Samantha can you try to clear us a path? Separate the mist like you did when we were going to the temple?”

Frowning momentarily Samantha nodded her head in confirmation before closing her eyes. Raising a single hand in a random direction Samantha tried to use her power to part the mist. She opened her glowing yellow eyes with her frown deepening in concern when nothing happened.

“Nothings happening.” She said neutrally, looking Dempsey directly in the eyes. There was something definitely blocking her power. She looked at the ground thoughtfully as she lowered her hand. While she didn't show it her inability to do anything frightened her. This couldn't be because of the generators they turned on could it?

“It couldn't have been the generator's could it?” Naruto asked with a questioning, worried look on his face; unknowingly stating aloud what was on Samantha's mind.

“It is convenient that her powers stopped just shortly after we turned on the four generators.” Takeo stated consiprationally. He kept his vigilance up as he scanned his surroundings. He could not lower his guard. Not here. Not now. Not when there's an undead army approaching them.

“So what the generator's act as a filter or something? Designed to keep people like Samantha powerless?” Dempsey questioned.

“It makes sense.” Samantha said stroking her chin. “Never heard of anything like that though. So it must be entirely new.”

“Or maybe generators are meant to keep anything and anyone from interfering. From inside and out!” Nikolai piped in, with everyone considering it as that too made a whole lot of sense from where they were coming from. “Hmm? It appears the zombies are no longer moving.” He said confusedly.

True to what Nikolai said the zombified animals had stopped moving. The mist had stopped as well, and the zombified animals were lurking at the edge of it. Far enough away so they won't be affected by the sun rays shining down on the earth, yet close enough for the five heroes to see them.

If only barely.

Gritting his teeth worryingly at their situation, Naruto took a quick glance at the staff in his hands and his face lit up as an idea came to mind.

“Takeo!” Said man looked at the teenager with a curious look. Seeing that he had the man's attention, Naruto gestured the staff that the samurai and he had, “What do you say we try these bad boys out together?” The spiky blonde haired teenager suggested.

Understanding what the teenager was implying Takeo nodded his head positively and slung his Type 100 over his shoulder. Holding out a hand the Staff of Fire materialised in his palm. Upon seeing the Staff of Fire materialising in Takeo's hand the others were quick to realise they were going to use them on the zombified animals. They wisely got out of the way when the two staff wielders passed them, staff in hand with the tips crackling with their respective element, showing they're ready to be used.

The two staff wielders charged their mechanical staves, the glow of of the staves namesake brightened considerably, while the crackling and buzzing noises became more audible as well. Taking aim Takeo and Naruto, with their fingers pressing down on the 'trigger' of the mechanical staff released the pressure.

Their arms jerked back in an almost violent manner from the recoil as a large ball of molten rock, and a single yet large bolt of lightning shot out of Takeo and Naruto's staves at once. The sound of a lightning strike echoed through the sky as the bolt shot almost blindingly forward and into the mist. The molten rock roared violently as the flames surrounding it shot out like a raging sun as it soared to the mist. The sheer heat was enough to part the mist when the molten rock came in contact with it.

The zombified animals that were unlucky enough to be close to the flames were turned to ash almost instantaneously. When the fire ball touched the ground it exploded; the flames spread out in all directions, consuming and burning everything in its path.

The bolt of lightning worked in a similar manner to Richtofen Wunderwaffe DG-2. Once it collided with a zombie, the bolt would spread out in a chain and electrify the zombified animals from the inside out until either their heads exploded, or the nerves from the brain to the best of their body shut down.

The two elemental attacks were surprisingly effective against them, as several dozens of the walking dead animals were re-killed with just one shot. Seeing that their staves are very, very effective against the zombies Naruto let out a rather disturbing laugh as he charged up another attack. Takeo on the other hand while he was charging up another fire ball to unleash upon the animals was completely stoic.

He also learnt something useful: the fire ball dispersed the mist when it came in contact with it. With that in mind Takeo took aim at another section of the mist and let it loose. The ball of molten lava shot out of the mechanical staff, toward the mist where the cloud dispersed the second the fire ball connected with it. All the while burning the animals that were in close proximity to ashes, before landing on the ground a ways away where the fire spread out like an orb and consumed everything in its path.

Nikolai through the scope of his Hyena Infra-dead was able to see what was happening. Takeo and Naruto with their respective Elemental Staffs were completely decimating the zombies. He felt a little jealous of that.

Never mind he had a stupidly overpowered sniper rifle; he wanted a stupidly overpowered Elemental Staff!

“Holy shit.” Dempsey was of course completely awed, at the destructive fire power of the Elemental Staffs. He could see scorch marks on the ground where the fire ball landed, as well as the burning and smouldering landscape around them. From Naruto's Staff of Lightning he could plainly see it worked in a similar manner to Richtofen's Wonder Waffle. “Are they actually tearing the zombies to pieces with those things?”

While it was rhetorical Samantha nevertheless answered. “Apparently. Those weapons are more powerful than I gave them credit for.”

“And there are two more of them out there somewhere. And they're just as powerful as those two. It kinda makes me wonder what they're capable of when they're together?”

“With four of them together would make us be unstoppable, comrade!” Nikolai exclaimed with great enthusiasm.

“Having two of them does make us seem overpowered.” Samantha who was still in her awakened form pointed out to them; while pointing to Takeo and Naruto who were still utterly destroying the zombies around them. Without moving from their spot. “Imagine how it would be if we had four Elemental Staffs instead of two?”

Dempsey laughed. “The freak-bags wouldn't stand a chance against us if that were the case! Hell they're barely able to stand against the fire power from the fire and lightning staves. Imagine what would happen if we were to use all four of them together!?”

“You do realise the zombified animals are not able to walk out of the mist or they would melt because of the sun, right?” Samantha pointed out to the marine with a dull look on her face at having to remind him. Honestly he saw that zombie melting when it tried to leap out at them from the mist, only for its skin, muscle and blood vessels to melt when the dead animal came in direction contact with the suns rays. How could he forget that?

Dempsey paused for a moment before exclaiming rather unconvincingly, “...Of course I remember!” while attempting to make himself sound more convincing. Of course Samantha gave him a look that clearly showed she didn't believe him.

“Right...” She drawled with a look full of scepticism.

Upon hearing Nikolai exclaiming there were no more enemies around Takeo and Naruto stopped firing their Elemental Staffs and held them in a stationary grip. The zombified animals retreated upon realising the Elemental Staffs were completely annihilating them with each shot.

“Does anyone know how we're going to clear this out?” Naruto questioned gesturing to the mist surrounding them.

Dempsey shrugged. “Dunno kid. I'm clueless as to how we're going to handle this.” He looked at the mist again. “It sort of reminds me of that airfield. Nacht Der Untoten. It's really similar to the mist there now that I think about it.”

“Night of the Undead?” Samantha translated looking at Dempsey with a puzzled look.

“Yep. Nacht Der Untoten, if you remember Naruto, Takeo and Nikolai, we were accidentally teleported there by he-who-must-not-be-named when he overloaded the mainframe in Der Riese.”

“Oh right!” Naruto exclaimed as he snapped his fingers in sudden remembrance. “I remember those places! Nacht Der Untoten, Verruckt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese! The four Group 935 facilities we accidentally went to when we went back in time! I always found it odd why there was more advanced weaponry inside of the Mystery Box when we revisited those places...”

“He-who-must-not-be-named, theorised the weapons came from the time-line we were originally meant to go. But ended up coming to the past with us instead. And stayed with us until we got back to Der Riese to retry our attempt at using the Wonder Waffle on the mainframe.” Dempsey replied sounding rather proud of himself at remembering that explanation.

He was also smart enough to not mention Richtofen's name. Even though they all knew who they were talking about.

“So if this mist is similar to the one at the airfield... does that mean we're not going to be able to get rid of it?” Samantha directed the question to Dempsey and the others. Because she had been to those places as well when they tried to get away and ended up following them to the past shortly before the world wide outbreak happened.

“I don't really know for sure. But if I were to state the truth, then, I think we're not going to be able to do anything about this mist any time soon.” Dempsey replied with a helpless shrug of his shoulders.

“So what you're basically saying is, everyone on these islands are going to have to tough it out until it passes through?” Samantha asked in an attempt for Dempsey to clarify what he had said.

“Yeah basically.” Dempsey confirmed offhandedly. “We can't control the weather so these people are on their own. Besides' we got what we came for so we can just leave.”

Everyone gave Dempsey an 'are you serious?' look while Samantha let out a forced laugh to show she was not amused by that suggestion. She may have seemed to be an evil bitch in their past, but that was because they were helping Richtofen and were unknowingly providing him the means to screw them and herself over. But she was not a heartless person. No way in hell!

Then she proceeded to remind Dempsey of a little problem with them getting off the island.

“Yeah. A teeny-tiny problem there though. I can't use my awesome supernatural powers because something is keeping me from doing so.”

“...Oh right.” Dempsey said while snapping his fingers in disappointed remembrance. He really needed to remember the important stuff! “So what're we gonna do about that?”

“I don't know. But I do know we were teleported outside of the temple for a reason. Should we take a look around?”

Naruto's suggestion of taking a look around seemed like a good idea, but Takeo was the one to shoot that suggestion down and everyone else agreed with his reasoning. “I do not know about you, young one, but there is an unholy mist with demonic creatures surrounding us. I believe splitting up is not the wisest choice available to us.”

“Samantha can't get us out of here. We can't go anywhere because of this damned mist. So what the hell do we do?”

The others were stumped as Naruto did bring up the two things that stopped them from progressing. After a minute of thinking Samantha came up with an idea. An idea that she had never thought of before until now. “I can still use my awakened form. I can probably try and find out what is keeping me from using my supernatural powers and lead us to it.”

Dempsey and Takeo, Nikolai and Naruto shared a look with one another. A silent conversation going on between the four of them, with them all seemingly coming to an agreement when they all nodded their heads in agreement.

“It's better than nothing.” Dempsey told the teenage girl as he turned his gaze from Takeo to her. “Do it, Samantha.”