A.N: Alrighty... Here's chapter 3! So I'm a day late... Sue me!

And my internals just ended today which is the most happiest thing that has happened to me this year (apart from Zootopia that is) And now I gotta start preparing for my finals. But those exams are a walk in the park tbh. I know I'll do good in them.

This also means I'll be able to work on my BH6 fanfic BTIA (for those of you who know about it so you can expect updates on that soon)

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Chapter 3: Mission 1- Save My Parents!

Jack looked at the girl standing in front of him. She looked familiar somehow. Her braided golden hair had dirt, twigs and leaves sticking out from it. She wore a yellow and white striped shirt with half sleeves and blue capris pants. She had mud patted all over her and… claw marks on her face. Jack wondered if she had run into other creatures like David. She looked like she really needed help. Of course she does you moron! She just said she did! "What kind of help?"

Rapunzel knew this guy… Well, she had seen him a couple of times; his name was Jack. There were so many rumors going around about him for years. Some say he killed his sibling and moved here to escape from the law; others say he's a kid serial killer who likes to keep their baby teeth under his pillow; other stories mostly revolved around the same concept. Some even said he was friends with the infamous Pitch Black. They said he did dangerous drugs and even went to Juvie for it. They say he's the meanest and coldest kid anyone could ever meet.

But he didn't seem like that at all…

Jack and she had a number of classes together. He rarely came to school though, but when he did; he always sat in the last bench at the back of the class and always hid his face under his hood. This was the first time she got to actually see his face.

She had to admit. He was really handsome… Whoa! Focus Rapunzel! He had a fading black eye though. I wonder how he got that. She didn't know he had snowy white hair. Had he dyed it? Well, whatever he did to it, she thought it was cool and that it suited him. She wondered what Jack's original hair color was. It stuck out in odd angles that almost made her giggle out loud. He must've just woken up or something. And also his clothes were a little wet. Did he shower with his clothes on…? Don't go there! Focus, darn it! Her eyes then went to his right ear lobe; more like they were forced to go there by the little sparkle. He wore a small deep midnight blue stud. It matched his crystal blue eyes almost perfectly. Wow, he was so hot…! Rapunzel! What has gotten into you! Stop staring! It's rude and he's gonna think your some kind of a weirdo. She scolded herself then finally spoke up. "Ah… Can I please come in?"

It took a while for Jack to answer. For a second Rapunzel thought he was going to say no and shut the door in her face but he didn't.

"Sure…" Jack said slowly, opening the door wider and stepped aside for Rapunzel to enter. He didn't bother with the pleasantries and skipped right to the point of the matter. "So why are you here? And… what happened to you?"

Rapunzel looked at him skeptically. Jack smirked "Hey, you're the one who looks like you've been caught between mafia gang wars… might as well know what I'm getting myself into here." And also find out what's going on out there.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes playfully. "You don't look all that far from that yourself, you know."

Jack shrugged and led his uninvited guest to the living room where they both gave a brief description of the events of their respective mornings.

"So… What do you think's going on?" asked Rapunzel tugging at a wayward strand of hair.

"Honestly…? I donno… I've never seen anything like this before."

"What should we do now?"

Jack thought for a moment. Should he call his parents? Tell them what's going on here. Ask them if they're safe? Yeah… That's probably a good idea. Though Jack knew he was going to regret the conversation. Besides, how is he ever going to explain to them what happened to David? If whatever this is, is only happening here then his parents are never going to believe him. Just like they didn't believe him when he said he didn't hur-

"Jack?"

"Huh…? Oh right…" Jack snapped back to reality. "Gimme a minute." He said as he walked to the landline, dialed the number he knew by heart and held the phone to his ear. "Huh… That's weird…"

"What's weird?" apart from everything that was going on. Rapunzel asked coming up to stand behind him.

"Just wait here," Jack threw over his shoulder as he ran up the stairs to his bedroom. "I'll be right back."

"Okay…" Rapunzel rubbed her arm nervously. She was all alone in the living room now and she felt a little scared. Jack is just a floor above you, Rapunzel. Get a hold of yourself. She warily looked towards the kitchen. Jack said he had killed it. They'd talked about it and came to only one conclusion about those things; Zombies!

It was the only thing that made sense.

Rapunzel saw a little shelf attached to the wall to her left. She walked over to it to inspect it. Some books and broken photo frames were lying beneath it. She picked up the pictures and looked at them. They all had picture of a few people in them; a man, a woman, and another older woman and occasionally another man; much younger than the rest. She guessed the younger man with hazel eyes must be Jack's uncle. Rapunzel gazed at all the pictures; also the ones on the shelf but not even one had Jack in them.

Rapunzel almost dropped the frame she was holding when she heard Jack's voice. She hastily put back the pictures she was holding on the shelves and turned towards Jack just as he came into view and tried to look as innocent as possible. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"I said the phone lines are dead and my cell doesn't have any bars," Jack said waving his blue phone in front of him. He pretended not to notice how agitated the girl looked. "What about you? Do you have a phone on you?"

"Oh!" Rapunzel chirped and patted down her pockets before wincing. "Oh shoot! I must have left it at home in my roo-Oh My Gosh! My parents!"

Jack was taken aback by Rapunzel's sudden outburst. He watched a flurry of activity as she walked all around his uncle's living room; rambling like there was no tomorrow until he couldn't take it anymore. Jack strode over to her and took her shoulders gently and looked her in the eye. "Whoa! Calm down!"

"I can't calm down! My parents need help! They need medicine! I have to get it for them! I should've been home hours ago! Oh My Gosh, my dad said he was going to look for me if I didn't get home an hour and a half ago! He must be freaking out! What if he's out there! What if there are more of those things there! What if-"

"Hey! Stop!" Jack shook her again. "You're not helping anyone by having a panic attack, alright? You. Need. To. Calm. Down."

Rapunzel's teary eyes stared at the cool calm ones and she nodded jerkily. He let go of her as she brought her hands up to rub the tears from her eyes and looked at him and waited; waited for him to tell her something; to tell her everything was going to be okay; to tell her what their next move was.

She didn't have to wait long.

"Okay, good," Jack said stepping away from her. "Now, we gotta find David's car keys. It should be around here somewhere. You search here while I search the kitchen. You think you can handle that?"

His tone didn't show even a hint of annoyance that he had when they first met. There was nothing but care in them now. Rapunzel managed a small smile and a nod and began searching near the sofa; lifting up the cushions and looking under them. She watched from the corner of her eye as Jack disappeared into the kitchen. How could someone like Jack kill or hurt his own flesh and blood? Or anybody else for that matter. No way would he have done any of the things the rumors say. She didn't know why but she felt like she could trust him. Jack would keep her safe; he would help her; he would protect her.

She believed in him.

A smile passed her lips.

Jack walked into the kitchen, careful not to step onto any ceramic pieces. It was hard to not step on the fluids though; it was everywhere. At least he didn't have to worry about cleaning up the place. David was a little too dead to care. That thought brought pain to his heart. Damn it! Why do things like this always have to happen to the people he loved?

First his little sister… and now this?

Jack did a visual sweep of the kitchen counters. No keys; maybe it was near the coffee machine. He skipped across the kitchen carefully avoiding the obvious tiny obstacles. He lifted the coffee machine and… no keys here either. He huffed and turned around and there, across the kitchen were the keys. He spotted the bunch right next to the microwave. He didn't see it before because of the angle but he could clearly see it now. The only problem was that David's dead body is in the way. He-it's dead, Jack. So quit being such a freaking wuss and just go get the keys!

Jack rolled his eyes at himself and made his way to the microwave. He grabbed the keys and held them up with a soft, "Bingo," one leg on either side of David's decaying form. Just then cold hands latched onto his ankles and pulled.

"Whoa!" Jack went down with a surprised yelp. Not-so-dead-David had him pinned to the floor. Jack struggled to roll out from under it but that didn't seem to be happening. So instead he held onto Zombie-David's shoulder and neck with his forearms and tilted his head to the side as far as possible. That way he could prevent being bitten… or eaten; at least until he could think of a way out of this situation. The snapping of teeth were mere inches away from his ear. Oh and let's not forget about the gross saliva… Yuck!

Just when Jack thought he couldn't hold out any longer, the pressure on his arms were gone but not before he heard a 'TUNG' sound. He looked to his right to see the creature slumped partially on the floor and partially on him; mostly dead, guessing by the red and brown ooze forming around its head. But then again; it seems as though these things don't die easily. He looked up for the first time and saw a wide eyed Rapunzel standing over him; a frying pan held tightly in her hands over her shoulders. "A-are you okay?"

"Peachy…" he grunted as he drew his legs from underneath the mostly-not-dead-yet Zombie. He grabbed the keys that he had dropped earlier and stood up. "Really? A frying pan?"

"It was the only thing I could find," Rapunzel laughed halfheartedly letting her shoulders drop in relief. "Besides you shouldn't be complaining… It saved your butt, didn't it?"

"Wasn't complaining," Jack held up his hands in defense. I would've been Zombie food if it wasn't for you… and the frying pan. "But I bet David would have a few choice of words for you," though he chuckled there wasn't any humor there; only sadness.

Rapunzel looked sadly at the snowy haired boy. She wanted nothing more than to comfort him "Ja-"

"C'mon, let's get moving before it comes back to life again," he interrupted. 'It' not a 'he' Jack reminded himself as he jogged out of the kitchen and up the stairs. "Follow me." He threw over his shoulder.

"Isn't the door the other way?" Rapunzel said glancing behind her at the front door but she followed him anyway carrying the frying pan with her. It was a pretty good weapon and she felt safer holding it.

"I've gotta get something first," Jack said entering his bedroom. "Wait out here for a minute," he said and shut the door without waiting for her reply.

"Okay…" Rapunzel said to herself again. Less than a minute later Jack opened the door again and she saw that he had changed clothes. He wore a hoodie again but this time, the blue was darker than before; more like indigo shaded. His wet ripped jeans was replaced by cleaner non-ripped ones. He motioned her to come inside.

Rapunzel stepped into his room but didn't go all the way in. She saw that his room was different than any other boy's room. It was complexly empty apart from the unmade bed, messy drawers at the far side of the room, a closed closet, two glass windows and no posters of bands or hot babes on bikes… That was an odd one.

But then again what did she expect…? Pictures of the kids he tortured plastered on the walls and human organs in jars? Well, in her defense; the rumors she heard about him were surprisingly detailed... and gruesomely scary.

But even with that stuff, the room seemed so… vacant. As if it was missing something… something important…

Jack crouched at the side of his bed and pulled out a dusty cardboard box from underneath it. He removed the lid and dug through the various items inside it until he found what he was looking for.

Rapunzel, who was peering over his shoulder to see what he was doing; gasped in shock, and involuntarily backed a few steps away from him.

Jack turned around, not taking his eyes off the gun he was holding. I never thought I would use this thing again. He could feel Rapunzel's questioning glaze on him.

"Just a precaution," he said as he held his colt. He slid out the magazine, tapping it against the handle of the gun. It hit the gun with a heavy 'clunk' sound; fully loaded; except for that one bullet he used a long, long time ago. He slid the clip back into the gun, cocking the second bullet into the chamber and tucked the handgun into the back of his waistband and re-adjusted his hoodie to cover it up. Of course he had clicked the safety on before doing so. Wouldn't want any unnecessary accidents, now do we?

Rapunzel nodded mutely. Maybe they were right about Jack; maybe he was dangerous after all… He had a GUN under his bed for god's sake! Oh god! What have I gotten myself into? Wait… did he just ask me a question? Oh crap! Answer it, you dummy! Before he shoots you!

"Huh?" is all she could say.

"I asked you what medicine your parents needed," Jack said with a little irritation. Where does she go when she zones out like that? "We might have some here."

"Medicine?" Rapunzel repeated dumbly. He had listened? He actually paid attention to her rambling… He cared enough to ask her about her parents. She felt touched. "Um… It's Tylenol."

"Alright, we have plenty of that. Wait here while I go get some," Jack said leaving her alone again. She stood silently in his room looking at the floor. She was a little confused and also a little scared. She wanted to trust Jack, she really did… but that gun kept popping into her head. Has he ever used it on someone? What if he uses it on her? What if, him helping her and acting like he cared was all just a trap to get close to her…?

Rapunzel plopped herself on the bed with a heavy sigh and hid her face in her hands. She then looked sideways and perked up a bit at what she saw. On the nightstand was a photo. She scooted closer to it to get a better look. She didn't want to risk picking it up and getting caught. The last thing she wanted was to make Jack angry.

The picture was of four people. She recognized one of them instantly. It was Jack; a much younger version of Jack but she knew it was him. She guessed he must be around twelve or thirteen years old and… he had brown hair! So that's his original hair color. He was laughing up at the camera along with the other three; a man, a little girl and a woman who was carrying her. This must be his family. Jack looks so happy and he looked great as a brunette too. I wonder what happened-

"Okay, I got 'em. Let's go," she heard him say before the owner of the voice came through the door and headed straight for the window.

"We're going down… through the window?"

"It's a shortcut," Jack said as he climbed out and stood on the other side of the window and smirked. "Plus I can scope the place out better from up here than down there."

"Oh okay," Rapunzel said not wanting to question his decisions, for a number of good reasons. So she just did exactly as he said. Jumped, stopped, climbed, ran, jumped again and just like that they were in front of the Chevy.

They both got into the car and Jack started up the engine. Rapunzel couldn't stop from asking him. "Do you know how to drive?"

He snorted at her question like it was an insult and wordlessly eased the car out onto the road and began driving. They drove till they reached the more populated part of town… Well, it used to be populated. Now it just looked deserted. Like a freaking ghost town… Well, except for the broken, mangled bodies that littered the ground. Dust, debris and shattered glass lay all along the main street.

How could it have all changed so much in just a few hours?

"Shit! The road's blocked,"

Rapunzel noticed it too. A few meters in front of them were a bunch of cars, all piled up together, damaged and broken. Smoke came from some of the cars. "Looks like some kind of an accident… A big one at that."

"Yeah, no kidding," Jack said as he began reversing the car. "And I'm not gonna wait around to find out what caused it. We'll just take the other route."

As they drove farther Jack turned around to face his passenger. "You'll have to tell me the way to your hous-"

"JACK! WATCH OUT!"

Jack was already slamming the breaks as hard as he could. The car came to a screeching halt but not before they heard a thump. Both Rapunzel and he jerked forward. Rapunzel almost hit her head on the windshield but luckily she was able to brace herself before that happened. She should really start wearing seatbelts.

"What the hell…" She heard Jack say.

Rapunzel leaned forward to see what had jumped in front of them. "I think you hit someone."

… Or something… Jack thought, climbing out of the car. "Stay in the car."

"Be careful, Jack."

Jack pulled out his gun but kept it pointing at the ground. He clicked the safety switch off and peered in turtle speed at the front of their car. He saw a kid; about the same age as he was, lying sprawled on his back on the cement ground.

Jack thought the guy was dead before he heard a soft groan from the latter. "Hey… You okay man?"

"Ugh… What happened?" the confused teen asked bringing his hand up to rub the side of his head.

"We kinda hit you with our car, my bad," Jack said. He relaxed his shoulders but still held the gun in his hand; this guy could be a Zombie for all he knew… or could turn into one. He looked over at a worried Rapunzel and gave her a thumbs up. The dude's alive.

"Oh… Oh!" The guy looked a little disoriented but stood up with lightning speed and jumped away from Jack after seeing the gun in his hand.

"Hey, whoa! Relax buddy," Jack said putting the gun back in its place; flicking the safety back on as he did. "I'm not gonna hurt you. What's your name?"

"Hiccup… M-my name's Hiccup."

YESSS! Finally, the intro of our favorite HTTYD character. Lol, I hope you guys liked this chapter.
Please leave me a review. You have no idea how much it helps an author out. Especially during these tough exam times...

Well, until next time!
Take care!
Byeeeeeee!