A long time ago, in a far off kingdom

There lived a princess, fair in looks but not of heart, for she was vain and cruel.

Now the princess had a particular distaste for traveling, she preferred always to stay at home, where comfort and warmth were never far at hand, and the nobles of various kingdoms soon learned that they would be required to visit her at her castle, for she never answered their invitations.

Above all, the princess sought eternal youth, to keep her looks about her forever. She ordered remedies to be brought to her from around the world, but none worked, and in her impatience, she took to executing those who brought her the false tokens and elixirs.

One night, the princess was entertaining guests, when an old crone who had come on a long journey from the east arrived at the castle. After she was brought to the princess, the crone bowed her head with the utmost respect, and bid the princess come save her son, who had been wrongfully imprisoned. The old woman had been unable to convince the guards to unleash her good-hearted child, but she was sure that if the princess commanded it, he would be spared. All that was required was that the princess come with the mother to the prison in the town.

The princess scoffed at the crone, saying that she would not deign to set foot outdoors with such an ugly woman for any reason, especially one not as pathetic as this. The crone pleaded again, for the princess to be merciful. And again, the princess sneered. Your son is probably guilty, she said, and you come to trick me. I shall him executed, and you with him.

But the princess did not know to who she spoke. The old crone rose up, becoming young, beautiful, and terrible. She was a powerful enchantress, who had heard of the princess' selfishness and come to test her. She declared that she would grant the princess' wish for eternal youth, but with a price. The princess would be cursed to wander the earth forever, never able to stop for even a moment. She would be eternally beautiful, and never need to eat nor sleep, but she would have no home, no family, none who would ever see her as anything other than a half-forgotten figure in the mist. Even as her clothes rotted from her body and the world aged around her, she would wander, forever lost in the cold.

The princess cried for forgiveness, but it was too late. The spell had already been cast, and inexorably, the princess found herself rising to her feet and striding out the door, through the village, and into the dark hills surrounding her castle. She was never seen again in that land, though since then she has been spotted in many other realms.

It has been many years since the spell was cast, but still the princess wanders, her clothes rotted away to nothing, lost in an eternal mist that constantly pursues her. You may see her, a figure in the mist who seems to disappear as soon as you blink. That is the wandering princess, walking in search of the one who can end her torment.

1. The Cat in the Hat

2. 1000 Facts on Animals

3. 1000 Facts on Space

4. Summertime

5. The Chronicles of Narnia

6. The Chronicles of Narnia (again)

7. The Chronicles of Narnia (and again)

8. and again

9. and again

10. and so forth

11. Magyk

12. repeat

13. repeat

14. repeat

15. Harry Potter(not even gonna try to convey how well-read these ones are)

16. Flyte

17. Phsyik

18. Queste

19. Lord of the Rings

20. The Hobbit

21. Percy Jackson and the Olympians

22. see above

23. see above

24. Amulet

25. Fablehaven

26. Syren

27. Artemis Fowl

28. Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus

29. Daniel X

30. Maximum Ride

31. Miss Marvel

32. Young Avengers

33. Runaways

34. Fangirl

35. The Count of Monte Cristo

Still ongoing...

The sun lances my eyes through a half-closed blind and I rumble, grumpily, leaning up slightly to take a glance at the clock. 8:32. I'm late for work.

"Oh well," I mumble blearily, rolling onto my side to shut out the offending sunbeams. I have a dim feeling that I should be worried about this. Had Dave said something about me being late? But with the blankets snuggled around my form and my pillow perfectly soft, I just can't quite bring myself to care.

"Oh well." I yank the blanket over my head, but notice something strange on my wrist. A dark mark, like a tattoo has appeared there. Examining it through sleep-clotted eyes, I make out a design of a furry creature with long arms that end in strange, curved claws. I know its name, but I can't quite bring myself to recollect.

"Oh well." Underneath the covers, I detect a strange, smoky smell. Looking up, I see the door of my bedroom, but it's strange. Spots of it are turning black, paint peeling away, and black clouds and orange light are spilling from underneath. My house is on fire. I should run, escape. But I can't quite bring myself to move.

"Oh well." As the flames begin to lick at my skin, I stare at the strange animal once more. The heat hurts, but I'm not exceptionally bothered. It's kind of like a blanket, after all. Memory suddenly drifts into focus, and I remember the name of my animal.

"Sloth," I mumble, engulfed in flames. "How cute."

So it's official. The dead have risen. There are honest-to-God zombies shambling around the city, trying to eat people. Actually, though, it's kind of disappointing. I mean, granted, the walking dead are scary and all, but I thought the zombie apocalypse would be more. . .apocalyptic. Don't get me wrong. The undead are fairly dangerous. You wouldn't want to leave your kid near one. But you also wouldn't want to leave your kid near a coyote. Kind of the same principle.

As near as I can tell, the zombies are trying to eat my brain. True, they're gross-looking, and they don't smell so great, but also, they're slow. Like, really slow. Human corpses just aren't really meant to be moving again, it seems. It's the middle of winter, so they're all  kind of frozen stiff, and even when they thaw out a little, most of the time, rotted tendons and splintered bones hobble them pretty effectively. Even walking, it's easy to outrun them. And even when they corner me, it's really just a matter of a swipe or two with a baseball bat to knock 'em out of the way.

All the news reports say that you can't let one of them bite you, no matter what, but I'm not really sure why. I tripped a couple days ago, and one of them ended up gnawing on my jeans. It hurt a little, but I'm honestly not sure why everyone's so worried about it. Like, human teeth don't cut through denim. Or cotton. Or like, any material they make pants out of. So I don't wear shorts anymore. Big whoop.

Plus, the walking dead seem to get eaten more than they eat. Fresh zombies, the ones with plenty of meat left, are pretty much an all-you-can-eat buffet for anything that eats meat. Dogs, foxes, raccoons, hell, I've even seen rats gobbling them up. I mean, humans only made it to the top of the food chain 'cause we're smart. We make tools and stuff, which makes up for us being slow, and soft, and weak. A zombie is basically a human with all of our advantages stripped away from it, so why wouldn't animals have a field day with them?

So like, yeah. It's the zombie apocalypse. But Walmart's still open, so it can't really be that much of an apocalypse, can it?