A.N: Well... New Chapter! I'm not gonna dilly dally this time. Let's get right to it. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Cool! A Zombie Apocalypse- Can I Join You?

(Earlier that day)

"Mum, I swear I was'n awake all night," Merida said over the phone, balancing the communication device between her ear and shoulder as she tied the lace of her army boots into a messy knot.

I know ya better than ya know yerself, Merida. Don' lie to meh, lassie.

"But tis time am' telling ya the truth," No she wasn't. She had been up all night on eBay… shopping for arrows. But she didn't tell her mother that… cause' her mother already knew! Seriously… How do mums do tha?

Am warning ya, Merida… Behave yerself over there... That's America. It's not like Scotla-

"Yae, Yae… I know!" Merida interrupted her mother. She and her two elder twin brothers moved here from Scotland about six months ago as transfer students. Her mom and dad would shift to America soon after they have gotten things settled back at home. They sent them money every month; which was more than sufficient for Merida and her brothers to get by with.

The three of them lived in a house belonging to a sweet old lady, who also happened to be the landlord and who also took care of them. Well, took care of her since her brothers were AWOL most of the time. They both would often spend the weekends out of town; partying somewhere. Selfish lads, they are!

Merida was left home alone three days a week, every week. But her parents didn't know that. According to them, their two 'responsible' sons took good care of their little sister. Yae right!

But she knew better than to tattletale on them. If she did, then her parents would make all of them move back to Scotland and she liked living in America. Why should she pay the price for something her stupid brothers did? Besides she liked to have some time to herself. It meant she could practice on her archery for some more extra time.

Merida was naturally skilled at the sport. She loved it more than anything. It was so thrilling; shooting far of targets, moving targets, hidden targets. You name it, she's shot it.

Don' interrupt meh, lassi! Where are yer brothers? They're not picking up their cell. I want ta talk ta them…

"Hubert and Harris are already a' school," Merida lied effortlessly. She'd done it loads of time and her mother bought it every time too. Sometimes her parents were just too gullible… and too trusting. "Which reminds meh, I got ta get goin' now,"

Mer- a…. Tak… care- o… brothe-... W-… -all lat-…

"Wha? Mum I can't hear ya!" Merida pressed the phone harder against her ear before bringing it down and looking at the screen. The call had gotten disconnected and she had no bars of network either. Merida just shrugged, pocketing her phone. She grabbed her shoulder bag and bow and headed off to school.

She flew down the stairs and stopped by the landlady's front door. She knocked on the door once; Mrs. Pennyworth usually dropped her to school. Merida waited for a few seconds before knocking again and then ringing the doorbell twice but still no sign of the landlady. Hmm… Weird. Where would she beh at tis time of ta morning? She shrugged again. Looks like am' walkin. She could take the shortcut through the grocery store to get to the school faster.

Once Merida reached the school she saw that there were even less students today than there were yesterday. The number of students and teachers has been decreasing alarmingly over the past few days. Ever since that huge storm hit their town a few days ago people have been falling sick left and right. Not to mention the strange disappearances caused by this Jack Frost character.

She peeped into her classroom and saw that there were only a countable number of students there. You could count them all in just two hands.

"Which means tha' they won' beh missin' meh," She whispered slyly to herself. She would rather be in the grounds practicing on her aim (not that she needed any practice) than to hang around in a boring classroom listening to never-ending lectures all day. Besides it didn't look like the teacher was very enthusiastic about teaching it to them today anyway.

If she hurried she could easily sneak out of school without anyone noticing. She turned sharply and dashed down the corridor. She glanced behind her to see if anyone saw her running down the hall but that was a mistake as she bumped into someone causing his books to fall from his hands. "Hey!" she heard him say. There wasn't any heat behind those words though.

She would have loved to stay and help the clumsy lad pick up his stuff but she was in a hurry and didn't want to get caught. So she continued to run towards the exit throwing a hurried, "Sorry!" over her shoulder.

She slowed down once she neared the doors that would lead her to freedom. She opened the doors just a little to peer outside. Good. No one's ther'… Now's ma chance. She told herself stepping carefully out the doors and skipped down the short flight of stairs. She then dashed to the grounds.

She hoped she'd find her archer buddies there but that hope was quickly dashed as she entered the grounds to find it completely empty. Even though she hoped they would be here she expected them to be absent. No one was into archery the same way she was. 'Oh well' She shrugged off her shoulder bag and set it down on the nearest bench. She picked up her bow and began assembling it skillfully. Like she'd been doing it for years… Heck! She had been doing this for years. But this bow was a new and improved one. More high-tech…

Merida then grabbed a satchel full of arrows and fastened it to her back. She then grabbed an arrow and proceeded to take aim and then fired at the yellow marked target a few yards away from her. It hit dead center making Merida pump her fist in the air. Bull's eye!

She practiced at the grounds for hours without taking a break or missing a single target. She would have kept going but something stopped her. As she took aim; brows knitted in concentration, she saw someone wobble over to the front of her mark. She blinked it surprise and pointed her bow and arrow at the ground. Her confusion turned into frustration fast as she yelled. "Oi! Get yerself away from ther'!" Befor I accidentally kill ya…

But the unsteady person ignored her; as if he didn't hear her. The man stumbled a few steps before regaining his footing and then stumbled again. Merida watched him with her mouth hanging open a little. He repeated it like it was some sort of a process. Was tis guy on crack? Is he drunk o' somethin'? She rubbed a hand over her face with exaggeration and huffed before squaring her shoulders and striding over to the strange man. If he didn't move away on his own, then she'll have to make him.

When she was close enough, she saw the man tilt his head in her direction before turning to face her and she did a double take at what she saw. The man had no iris for starters… His eyes were completely white. The skin on his face was peeling off. He looked pale but his arms where in puke green in color. He opened his mouth to moan and Merida saw that he was missing majority of his teeth. He began stumbling towards her in a hurry; his gross green arms stretching itself in her direction; grabbing at nothing but air.

The costume looked too real to be a disguise.

"A real drunken zombie?" Merida asked, not even attempting to hide the amusement and excitement in her voice. She had always wanted to be a part of an alien invasion but a zombie apocalypse will do just fine. She reached behind her to grab an arrow and then used the bow to take aim and then fired! It hit the Zombie in its chest and it fell on its back; dead. Tis is too easy…

She jumped in excitement and rushed over to get more arrows. If there was a zombie here then she was willing to bet her monthly allowance, that there were zombies out there too. So she'll need as many arrows she can carry. The first place she thought she should go to was 'school'. So that's where she went.

She kept a sharp lookout around her but so far there were no zombies anywhere. Humph! Just her luck… The zombie apocalypse must already be over or something… How had she missed that? Then again, you'll be surprised at how ignorant people are to their surroundings these days. She entered the school premises and walked through the doors in full 'swag mode'.

She gasped at the sight she saw; not out of the excitement like she had been a few moments ago… but out of horror. The halls were painted red with blood. Students; the few who had bothered to attend the classes laid dead on the floor and against the lockers. It was a massacre. The school looked more like a slaughter house than a school. Different body parts lay here n' there; completely detached from their hosts.

This wasn't a game anymore. It was nothing like the movies. This wasn't cool or fun… It was terrible. She had to get back home; fast!

Shit just got real!

Just as Merida moved to reopen the doors of the school she saw a zombie from the corner of her eye and ducked low as it swung itself at her. She raised her bow and hit the zombie hard on its head before bolting out of the school. I think that was ta' principal. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Once the coast was clear she breathed heavily and leaned against the wall of the grocery store parking lot for support.

Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!

Merida looked around for the dog that was making the barking noise. It sounded like it was close by but its barking seemed muffled at the same time. The animal sounded like it was trapped. She craned her neck above the wall to look for the dog. She scanned the lot until she found a car parked right outside the glass doors of the store. Inside the car she spotted what she was looking for. A black dog was clawing at the window and jumping around inside the car. Who would abandon a car with a dog inside it? Maybe its owner was inside the store.

She ran over to the parked car and peered into the backseat. The dog was barking at her, practically asking to let it out. She tried the door handle of the car but it was locked. "Hang on, I'll get ya out," she told it as if it could understand her.

Merida didn't want to use her only weapon to break the window. What if her bow broke in the process? So she looked around for anything she could use on the glass. There were a few potted plants next to the door, stones kept around them as decorative items. She grabbed a medium sized stone and came to the front passenger window. She didn't want to break the backseat window and risk injuring the dog so she proceeded to break the glass of the passenger side window.

It took a few tries and a lot of arm strength on Merida's part but she was finally able to break the glass window. She didn't even get a chance to unlock the door and open it before the black dog jumped out of the opening; knocking her on to the ground and ran into the store at top speed. She quickly got to her feet and rushed behind it. "Hey, wait!"

She entered the building and saw the dog disappear behind the isle on the farthest side of the store; still barking. She also heard a gunshot coming from somewhere inside. She decided to follow the dog because it looked like it knew where it was going. A dog with a purpose, she ran after it but stopped when she reached the start of the isle. She saw a brunette boy being attacked by six Zombies. No time to think, she had to act fast. She reached for her arrows in the quiver that was still attached to her back. She aimed and fired rapid arrows with extreme accuracy at the zombies. She saw that the dog had stood protectively in front of the boy; who she assumed was its owner. She hit all six Zombies with a head shot and they all dropped one by one to the ground.

"Yah!" Merida yelled excitedly. She couldn't help it, this was the first time she's shot at something alive… or dead or living-dead. Oh, you get the point. The zombie at the grounds didn't count because it was at such short distance. "I got every one of 'em,"

She rolled her shoulders with pride and brought the bow back to her side. She saw the boy turn to see her. He was shaken up pretty badly by the looks of it. She stood proudly and smirked at him nevertheless. Zombies-Zero, Merida-six!

"Aye… Ta name's Merida Dunbroch." She introduced herself. "In othe' words yer savior… Please, hold yer applause, ther's nah need ta thank meh." She boasted and then much to her dismay; saw the brunette boy pass out and fall to the ground beside his frantic dog.

Unfortunately, there wont be any Shout Outs this time ;-; Which is kinda sad. But still... I've got a great plot for this story and I'm not gonna give up on it just because I'm not getting any responses for this story. But feedback does help you guys! It would be pretty cool if you could leave me a comment or anything.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed Merida's intro. Now that she's here... let's get this party started!
Until next time! ^_^
Byeeee!