Note: I accidentally posted Chapter 10 again, so sorry to those who got a new chapter notification and saw chapter 10. I've since deleted it and posted the correct chapter. Sorry again.

Hello everybody! Here's the new chapter to this story. Yeah, it's half a day late from when I usually post new chapters. There's a perfectly good reason for that. It's because I've finally enrolled for my Master's degree in Education. That's right; I'm studying to become a teacher for middle or high school students! Isn't that great everybody?!

I know, you're all probably not as enthusiastic as I am. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some of you are calling me crazy for wanting to be a teacher and thus subject students to the boringness that is the classroom setting. Well, I'm studying to become an English teacher, and I'm figuring that it would be a good way to showcase how writing can be fun and not the boring research and development that high school has now made it out to be. Honestly, that was the bulk of all the writing I did when I was in high school eight years ago. Boy, that makes me sound very old. But yeah, there weren't a lot of "fun" writing done in the classroom setting, and I want to bring a bit of that along with the normal English teachable material.

On that note, it gives a reason as to why this chapter is a few hours late. Now that I'm enrolled in a Master's program, I've got more homework to do. At the same time, the Master's work is more demanding and works on a shorter time constraint than a regular undergraduate course would have. That means I'm now forced to dedicate more of my time on my academics and less on this site. But don't worry; that doesn't mean I'm going to forget or abandon this story. It just means I'll be having less time to write. That also means that you should expect delays on the updates every now and then. Hopefully, the delays won't be any more than a day at most, but don't be surprised if I end up late now.

With that said, I do hope that you'll all enjoy this new chapter. The ending was a bit rushed because I wanted to get this chapter out in a timely fashion, although it was within the realm of my original idea as to how I wanted this to end. Please don't forget to leave a review before moving onto the next story you want to read. While seeing you put it on your favorites list and following it makes me happy; I would like to know your thoughts on the story. What do you think works well or needs to be polished up on a bit more? Just a bit of constructive criticism would be nice. So until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here!

Chapter 11

"I don't know whether to be happy we haven't seen a monster in a while or be paranoid," Scott sighed, nervously twirling his bat. "After being in that monster horde, I'm not sure what to think as safe anymore."

"Isn't surviving enough? It's probably the best we'll ever get," Isaac said with a half-smile. Scott merely made a strained noise of hesitancy.

The two had been literally tiptoeing through the ruined streets for a few minutes. While there were a few scares now and then, they never ran into another monster since the apartment incident. They did see a few occasionally, but they were far enough away to quietly walk on by. Isaac's lack of bad feelings was also enough to urge them on. His silence, however, made Scott uncomfortable to the point he had to use his inhaler to stave off a panic attack.

There were also the occasional sounds of gunfire echoing in the air. Scott winced every time he heard it, afraid it would draw the monsters to them. He saw Isaac constantly looking in the direction the sounds came from; it was like he was a wolf trying to figure where it happened based on distance. Either that or he wanted to see if monsters were heading to where the sounds were coming from. Scott assumed the latter since the other relaxed upon seeing a few walking away.

"You think it's the crazy woman who shot at us doing it?" he asked.

"I doubt it," Isaac replied with a shrug. "Have you been here since the beginning?" Scott nodded once. "Then you've probably heard a lot of shots going off. It's survival of the fittest in here. I'm sure you've fired off a couple shots yourself." This time, he was answered with a head shake. He then asked in disbelief, "How'd you managed to survive for two weeks without using a gun?"

"I was lucky to have Stiles as a best friend," the other explained. "His dad's the sheriff of this town. He picked me up a couple days after the news started to dedicate all their time on this. He figured it'd be safer if I hid at the station. He was right; the officers still at the station made it into a defensible spot."

"I'm guessing that plan fell through," Isaac speculated as they carefully stepped around a pileup. They hesitated when they saw a dead monster leaning against the warped metal. They kept on their way, however, after noticing its body was riddled with bullets.

"Before the phones stopped working, the station was getting a lot of calls for help. Some thought it best to go help whoever they could. Some came back with those they rescued; others either never responded back or said they were leaving town. Long story short, the station slowly lost whoever was left either by monsters or those who chose to make a run for it. It ended up just being Sheriff Stilinski, Deputy Sheriff Parrish, and me for the past few days.

"Then we got a call from my mom at the hospital. It was a phone rigged to the station's antenna the deputy sheriff made," Scott quickly explained upon seeing Isaac's confused gaze. "He spent some time in the military and learned a few things there. Anyway, my mom's been at the hospital since it all started. She's a nurse, so she was required to be there when they declared an emergency. Somehow, she was able to call the police station earlier this afternoon saying she needed help. Sheriff Stilinski volunteered to go, and it had been me and Officer Parrish until we got overrun a couple hours ago."

"So you've been hiding the last two weeks," Isaac concluded with a hint of amazement. "I'm amazed you were able to stay there for so long. I've been on the move since the beginning; I've seen lots of supposedly defensible places overrun so easily."

"Well, having a supply of weapons and ammo helped. That and being across a street to a convenience store kept our food and water situation bearable."

"And now here you are fighting for your life to survive and get back to your friends and family. Sounds a lot like something you'd hear from a horror drama series. All that's missing is you being the helpless survivor who contributes nothing to the group," Isaac added with a cheeky grin.

"I'm not helpless!" Scott countered with a scowl. "I've pulled my weight when I was in the station. I survived on my own when I had to run away from the police station. I managed to keep Stiles safe when he almost became target practice for one of the monsters. I think that all screams anything but helpless!"

"I can't say anything about the others, but are you sure it wasn't just a fluke you were at Stiles' side at the time?" the other asked, his grin growing as the seconds passed.

"If it was, then that was an amazing bit of dumb luck. But let me ask you this: how many times have I needed to be rescued by someone?"

"As far as I know, once." The veterinarian-in-training shot Isaac an incredulous look to which he countered with his now nearly obnoxious smirk. "I bandaged up your arm and kept it from getting worse."

"That doesn't count!"

"Oh, really? Then let me take back my scarf."

"Hey, get your hands off my arm!"

Isaac merely chuckled as he pretended to paw at Scott's bandaged arm. Scott irritably swatted his hands away every time he got close. He found it amazing how their conversation, starting off as serious, degraded into a bout of playfulness. While he was irritated at being the butt of said fun, Scott had to admit it was a good distraction from everything. Sure, they had to make sure to keep their voices down to avoid drawing unwanted attention. Still, it made their journey less stressful.

That was, of course, until they heard another gunshot. This time, it was much closer than the others. In fact, Scott saw a small spark form on the ground before them.

"Not another step!" a woman's voice commanded.

"No, it can't be!" Isaac whispered as he frantically scanned his surroundings. "She found me again?!"

"What're you-"

"So this is where you wandered off to," the woman said, effectively cutting Scott off. "I thought it'd be hard to find you again, to be honest. I guess you spending six months on the run has given me high expectations," she added with a sadistic giggle.

"Wait a minute!" Scott exclaimed, his face lighting up with realization. "Aren't you the same person who shot at us a little while ago?"

"And I see you still have your tagalong," she simply continued. "Although I remember there being a second one with you. Let me guess; you killed him because he was becoming too much of a burden? Or did you leave him alone to die with the feral ones? I wouldn't put it past someone of your kind to do so."

"I'm not a heartless murderer, Katherine!" Isaac exclaimed, speaking the name with as much venom his voice could manage. Scott continued to look around for where the woman was, his grip on his bat firm as though it would help him survive a bullet. "Don't try painting me out to be like you!"

"Oh, you know better; it's 'Kate' to you. And you'll never be like me; not anymore, at least. Your pervious associations condemned you to a life I can never imagine being a part of. I would've thought you'd be happy at the thought of me ending your personal hell."

"Look, I have no idea what you're talking about, lady," Scott nervously said in an attempt to defuse the situation. "I don't know what's going on between you two, but now's not the time to make this personal! I just want to get somewhere without dying!"

"Trust me; she makes everything personal!" Isaac growled as he looked up to the roof of a three-story office complex.

"Well, that's not a nice thing to say."

Scott followed his gaze and saw looking down at them from the edge a woman dressed in predominately dark clothing. In her hands was a large gun; he figured it was a semi-auto rifle since it looked a bit like the ones in the co-op war games he often played with Stiles. Her long dark-brown hair lightly fluttered against the wind, giving her the aura of a mysterious stranger whose intentions was unknown. However, he had a perfectly good feeling that she would prove to be anything but helpful to them.

"But I'm done with this back-and-forth," the woman, Kate, said before cocking her gun. "As fun as this was, it's time to put an end to the hunt. I'd be poetic and ask if you had any last words, but you don't even deserve to take one of my shots."

"Then why kill us?" Scott asked, allowing the arm holding his bat to fall to his side. "I don't know what you have against us, but we haven't done anything to you! At least, I haven't done anything." This earned him a scowl from Isaac which he promptly ignored. "You could at least let me go!"

"You're right; I've no personal reason to want you dead," she replied. Even though she was too far away to see, they could hear the sadistic smile in her tone. "You're simply guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. All I'm doing is killing anything that's either related to Hale Enterprises or witnesses to the atrocities of their work. It's my way of exacting revenge while tying up loose ends."

"Hale Enterprises? What's this got to do with them?"

"Does it matter, boy? You're a witness, and that thing you're with is just as dangerous as the feral ones! That's all I need to know in order to shoot you both where you stand." Kate then aimed her gun at the two. "Consider it an upgrade from having to constantly suffer through this hellhole of a town!"

Before he knew it, Scott was being tackled by Isaac. They did not even reach the ground when they heard a gunshot a moment later. There was a growl of pain as they both landed on the concrete with a heavy thud. Scott was still trying to make sense of what happened when Isaac got up and immediately dragged him to a nearby car. There then was another gunshot, this time the sound of it hitting metal echoing loudly in the streets.

"Oh, why don't you make it easier for us?" they heard Kate complain as she cocked her gun. "You can't get out of this one. I may be one woman, but I've got a clear sight of the entire street. I can kill either one of you before you run even three feet from that car!" As though to prove her point, she shot a few rounds at the concrete on either side of their cover. Even from the safety of their position, the two could see sparks rising from the point of contact. "I can wait all night, you know?"

"You better believe it!" Isaac hissed as he placed a hand against the car to steady his crouched position. "She's persistent to the point of being obsessed. She's not gonna stop until she's got what she's here for!"

"What, her chance at the so-called revenge she mentioned?" Scott scoffed after finally collecting himself and sitting against the car. The bat he dropped earlier laid abandoned at his side. "She's obviously insane if she thinks either of us have anything to do with it!

"Y-Your arm, Isaac!" he suddenly exclaimed after noticing splotches of red marring the ground below the man. Looking up, he saw his shoulder dripping blood from a fresh wound. "You're shot!"

"Its fine," Isaac brushed off while moving his scarf away from the injury. "The bullet went clean through. I'll take care of it later."

"But it might get worse! At least put some pressure on it to slow the bleeding."

"I said its fine!" the other growled, this time shifting his body a bit to keep his wounded shoulder from Scott's view. "We got other things to be worried about, like this crazy woman out to kill us!

"We don't have a gun, so the best we can do is make a run for it," Isaac quickly changed topics in a quieter tone. "We'll have to treat this like Call of Duty and stay in cover, though. I don't think there's any other way we'll make it out of this."

"But we need to keep moving to the animal clinic!" Scott reminded while searching for the closest safe spot. He still wanted to press the issue about the other's wound, but he caught the silent hint to drop it. "We can't keep getting sidetracked!"

"And I'm not gonna let either of us die just because you wanna see your mom and best friend again!" Scott recoiled a bit at Isaac's bluntness before choosing to stare daggers at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just saying you need to start thinking about your own safety. Even if your mom and Stiles are waiting to see you again; I don't think they'd want you risking your life any more than necessary. You need to draw a line somewhere!"

"I'm getting bored up here!" Kate announced in a sing-song tone. "If you don't want to make this fun, then I'll just end it with a grenade."

"Y-You're bluffing!" Isaac shouted back.

"You can think that if you want, but are you willing to bet your life on it? I'm sure you know how serious I can be."

For a moment, Isaac stayed quiet as though he were contemplating her words. It made Scott wonder if Kate really did have a grenade. If she did, then they had to move now! In the scope of things, he would rather be shot than blown to bits!

Isaac took the decision out of his hands, though, as he grabbed Scott's bat and threw it in the direction they came from. He then immediately took ahold of Scott's wrist and brusquely brought him to his feet. Kate immediately fired her gun, but it was aimed at the thrown bat and allowed the two a moment's head-start.

"Now this is fun!" she exclaimed before taking another volley of shots, this time at the men. However, they had since taken cover behind another ruined car. Still, Isaac kept them moving to the next nearest car even as they were being showered by a hail of bullets. "This is the chase I've come to expect from you. Don't disappoint me by dying so quickly!"

"You're insane!" Scott shouted as he allowed himself to continue being dragged along like a rag doll. It was not as though he had a better idea out of this mess, anyway. "We're just trying to survive out here like you!"

"No, I'm not trying to stay alive; I'm just cleaning up the mess Hale Enterprises made so I can personally take them down," Kate explained while continuing on with her assault. "Do you know how good a video documentary of this would be against them? In fact, I'm recording this right now. With a bit of clever editing, I can easily make it look like one of you is being chased by a feral monster and that I did what I could to save the victim. I'd be viewed as a hero while Hale Enterprises takes the fall for the deaths of you and countless others. It's a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone!" she exclaimed with a disturbing laugh.

"Just ignore her!" Isaac growled as they ran behind yet another car. "Just worry about getting out of this mess!"

He was cut short, however, when Scott suddenly felt a blinding hot pain on his right leg. He collapsed with a scream as his injury caused his leg to give away; Isaac still had a hold of his wrist and was able to drag him to the next closest bit of cover.

"You okay, Scott?" he heard Isaac frantically ask.

Scott wanted to answer, but the growing pain forced his throat to seize. He dared to look down at his leg and saw blood flowing from his wound. He started to panic at the sight, and that combined with his already ragged breaths caused him to hyperventilate.

He could hear Isaac shouting something, but it was all garbled. He tried to reach for his inhaler only to find his arms immobile followed by the sensation of being picked up.

"I-Isaac…!" he managed to rasp out, but he was already starting to lose consciousness. The world around him started to blur together and look like an abstract image. Many sounds had meshed together to create an unintelligible mess. The last thing he heard before succumbing to his pain and panic attack were the hail of bullets still raining down on them.

Yes, the plot's now starting to pick up again. Now we know who the lady who attacked the group earlier is; it's Kate! Yes, she has it out for Hale Enterprises and seems to think they're responsible for what's happening to Beacon Hills. At the same time, what is the Hale Enterprises? I'm sure some of you already know where I'm going with this, but I won't say anything more on the subject.

Yeah, poor Scott's just getting more injuries ever since he left the safety of the police department. Maybe he really is the poor helpless survivor who can't do anything to save himself. I'm just kidding; you know he can take care of himself! I made sure that point was driven home from the few times he fought and kept both himself and his friends safe.

And that's all I really have to say for this ending author's note. Thank you for taking the time to read this new chapter; I hope that you'll also take a little bit of time to leave a review saying what you think about the story as a whole. Thanks again, and I hope to see you all on the next update to any of my stories on here!