This is it…This is it…
This texture…
This smell…
This taste…
"Zoey!"
THIS IS IT…
"Zoey!"
-Her eyes flashed open from a sudden jolt in her mind. It was as if hearing the sound of her own name was bringing her back to her senses. She had no thoughts what she was doing or where she was she was. All she could feel was something warm against her cold dead flesh.
"Zoey," her body jerked as she felt a hand placed on the back of her head. "Come back…"
Come back? Why? I'm right here. Zoey was lost, both literally and metaphorically, she didn't know why the familiar voice calling out to her was saying any of this. Zoey raised her head to meet the gaze of the person that was calling out her name. The fog in her mind started to dissipate as the figure holding her in his arms took form-
"Zoey…"
-Having been a dead corpse surely Zoey's eye would have bulged right out of their sockets from the sheer shock before her. Her vision was flooded by pink, green, and red. "Bucky…"
"Zoey…I'm glad you're back…"an ease of relief slowly came across Bucky's expression and through the blood; it had mixed with both the pain and worry that was there just a moment ago.
Zoey was lost. She had no idea that why she was being held tightly in the teenager's arm. Then, subconsciously, her eyes flashed away from Bucky and followed the trail of red down the young man's neck and to his arm. Then her memories from just a few minutes ago came flooding back. My Z-band, were Zoey's only thoughts.
Zoey's loved cheerleading like no one else living or dead, and for all her undead life she wanted to be one. So her father hired one of the cheerleaders from the high school her brother went to come to their home and coach her for the summer. And who better to be her coach than the star cheer squad member than Bucky himself. But something bad happened that day.
Zoey herself had no idea how or why but her Z-band, the band that kept her mind from returning back to the cannibalistic nature that all zombies had a hatred for, broke that day. The memory of what followed was fuzzy but what she could recall was the moment she saw her dog-
"Xander…" trying her best to resist the strength of the teenager holding her tightly to his chest Zoey turned her head to look behind her. It was once thought impossible that a zombie's flesh could have turned even paler but what she saw proved her wrong. What she saw felt like it would have, and could have, turned her coagulated blood ice cold.
What she saw was her dog, Xander, dead, ripped to shreds, in a pool of blood that spilled from the hole from which its intestines were ripped from. The form that was once as pure as snow was now stained in the gel that stained from the gel of its own entrails.
Subconsciously, Zoey's hand gripped tighter to Bucky's as if she were trying to grasp to any form of comfort. Her nostrils flared up but it was clear from appearance alone that her dog no longer had the sweet scent that Zoey just craved some mere moments ago. What once was a young puppy that smelled of life that would send any mindless Zombie into an ecstasy now smelled like everything else in Zoey's life – Dead.
Her memories started to pool in. Zoey's chest started to heave and her breathing began to become erratic. She remembered just how hungry she was when she saw Xander. So hungry that she couldn't stop herself.
"Xander…" Zoey's cry drizzled out into a little murmur. She dug her face deep into Bucky's chest, trying to muffle the scream that came from the bottom of her dead heart. But the worst thought in her mind was what lingered in the back of it, something she knew was there but never wanted to acknowledge. Xander tasted delicious.
Bucky tightened his grip around the young dead. He tried his best to comfort her as he rocked her in his arm like a parent trying to calm down a crying babe. "It's okay Zoey, I'm here…" he started shushing the small child in hope to calm the small child.
"…" an inaudible voice came deep within Bucky's chest as Zoey clenched her grip tighter onto his shirt.
Bucky clenched his eyes tightly. "It's okay Zoey, I'm here…" he repeated. Tears were being squeezed from his eyes from both the pain in his heart as well as the pain in his arm.
"I'm sorry, Bucky…." The pleas of a scared child rang into the air. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry…" her voice carried as the chant followed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"
Bucky tried his best to comfort the sobbing child in his arm. All he could do was rock her back and forth chanting in unison. "It's okay Zoey. It's okay."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"
"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay…"
The blood that had pool on the ground wasn't just from the cold corpse of Xander. But from the numb arm of Bucky of whom Zoey had attacked just mere seconds ago. Bucky had also tasted delicious, Zoey's thought betrayed her chant.
One hour passed.
Zoey sat there on the front porch of her house. Alone. If her tear ducts had been operational surely they would have dried themselves out a long time ago. And now all she could do was stared at the homemade dog collar that was in her hand. She was lost in her own thoughts and memories. Her expression was one that was mixed with different emotions ranging from sadness to anger. From the sadness from losing her best friend. To the anger she had towards herself.
Klak! Zoey jumped in her seat. She turned her head to look over her shoulder. There was a bit of a glimmer of hope in her eye. There was a piece of her that believed that she dreamt it all. That Xander was alive and well. That she didn't really kill-
"Sorry Zoey. I didn't mean to startle you." Bucky said as he walked around from the back of the young zombie's house. Zoey's already grim face grew even more sullen as the last bit of hope she had was easily dashed. Bucky's expression slightly winced as he watched the little girl recoil back into her shell.
Bucky swung the shovel over his shoulder as he knelt down before the little girl. "It's all going to be okay now, Zoey. Nobody is going to blame you." It was a cliché like that that Bucky wanted to spout to ease the trouble girl's mind but he couldn't muster up the words to say it. All he could do was place his free hand on her shoulder in attempt of comfort.
Zoey didn't raise her head; instead she just turned her gaze to the larger hand that was placed unto her shoulder. Her eyes followed down that hand and up the forearm where she winced to herself. Bucky's arm was bandage up as best as it could have been with no first-aid kit around (zombies were already dead after all, they didn't need such things) but still a large stain of dark red pooled together reminded the little girl what could have happened. She lifted her head to meet the older teenager gaze whom tried to have sympathy in his eyes.
Zoey wasn't dumb. She knew how Bucky was in the past. She knew that Bucky at the beginning of the school year hated Zombies. But it wasn't like she didn't blame him. Zombies themselves had a deep level of self-loathing for themselves. Before the Z-band, Zombies killed everyone indiscriminately. Enemies, acquaintances, family, friends, it didn't matter, many of whom had never turned.
But Bucky, like everyone else, tried to change. Ever since Zed and Addison broke down the gates between the living and dead, figuratively, as her cousin, Bucky tried his best to be much more open-minded. Even now he has two zombie cheerleaders on his team. Even the "-acy's" has an honorary Zombie sibling in their corp "Tazy."
And now with the home lesson she had been receiving from the school cheer squad leader, it wasn't all that surprising that Zoey lo-
"Zoey, Are you okay?"
Zoey back went straight as the voice jerked her away from her thoughts and into the real world. Zoey met a gently and kind gaze that seemed to try to sympathize with her. She turned her head away, lowering her eyes to the ground. "…rry."
"Zoey…" but Bucky's voice fell onto deaf ears. What done was done. And there was nothing he could do about it.
"I'm sorry…" somewhere deep inside a sense of deep loathing seemed to seep out of her lips. "I'm sorry Bucky. I'm sorry."
"…" An eerie silence came from the teenager in front of her. She could feel Bucky frowning with his eyebrows. The fact she knew that the young man wasn't even mad at her was what hurt her the most.
Zoey fell into silence. She wanted nothing more to do with anyone. She didn't deserve anything nice anymore.
"Hey Zoey, you want to get something sweet?"
Zoey blinked her eyes and turned to the boy with confusion. But before she could say anything she already crossed her gaze with his.
"All this stuff has gotten me in the mood for some ice cream." Bucky was smiling as if he hadn't almost lost his arm not too long ago. He stood up quickly as he grabbed the young ghoul by the arm.
"…" Zoey had no chance to ask what was going on as she found herself being dragged out of home and out of Zombietown.
Sometime later and Zoey had found herself in the park of Seabrook. Zoey, and her dreary outfit, as usual looked out of place on the bench filled with the brightest colors ever known to the living and the dead.
Zoey's eyes darted back and forth to the residence of the community as she watched humans and zombies of all ages going on and off of the park's little parkway. She found herself fidgeting in her seat. She felt sick to her stomach, despite her organ no longer working, she knew she shouldn't be there.
She watched from the side as a couple of children around her age, both living and dead, ran around playing and laughing with one another so blissfully unaware. It reminded her of her and Xander playing in her back yard where now he was buried. Zoey's expression suddenly sank as with her heart.
"Zoey."
Zoey turned her attention away from the children and towards the older boy walked up to the bench she awaited. Bucky only left her alone for a small minute and now he had returned. Only now he carried in his hand not one but two things of sweets. In one hand, the one bandaged up, was a waffle cone that contained a swirl of pink and green swirl ice cream while in the other was a red popsicle, more than likely cherry.
"Here, eat up." Bucky said as he lowered his right hand, the one containing the cherry popsicle, to the young undead child.
Zoey only looked at the teenager for a moment before reaching out and grabbing the frozen treat, she had no reason to deny the treat. She watched as Bucky made his way to sit down on the bench next to her.
Bucky said nothing as he started to lick his ice-cream. Zoey could only just stare at the red coloring. It didn't matter what flavor it tasted like it all tasted the same to zombies, like mush. The only reason Zombies could tolerate Cauliflower in of itself was because its texture was like that of brains; it was the closet substitute that the dead could find. She had no interest in eating something for its color only especially since that color reminded her of-
"You know," -After the long period of silence Bucky finally spoke, Zoey turned her attention upward to look him in the face as he continued to lick his ice cream cone that was named after him. "I've been thinking about what I can say this entire time, but the truth is…" he hesitated with deep sigh drenched in his irritation "There is nothing I can say about the situation."
"Bucky?"
"I mean what is it that someone can say when something like that happens?" he said in a defeated tone. "I want to say something like 'Everyone gets hungry' or 'it's okay, it's part of the circle of life' or 'I don't think there is nothing wrong with eating the living' or…"
Zoey watched intently as Bucky trailed off in his own words. It was hard to believe that this boy held such disdain for her brother less than a year ago. No perhaps this kindness he presented now was always there she thought. It was something she liked about him. She couldn't help but wonder have she been unborn earliar…
"But those things are just pretty little words," the cheer squad leader continued, "and none of them fixes the problem." He stated matter-of-factly. "I can't do anything to fix it."
"Bucky," now it felt like to Zoey that she had to fix the situation, "Bucky it's not your fault. It's my fault. It's my fault coming back from the dead-"
"IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!"
Zoey's soul, if she had one, nearly leapt out of her dried up skin.
"It's not your fault, Zoey." Bucky's voice dropped a little, almost as if it were coming from a distance. "It's not your fault for being alive." He turned to look Zoey in the face, "It's not your fault."
Zoey turned her head and dropped her gaze far and away from the boy, "I'm sorry." She apologized.
"It's not your fault." Bucky repeated but this time his voice sounded distant. Zoey eyed her hand that held the popsicle stick. She noticed that it started to melt as a trail of cherry liquid was dripping down the side of her arm. Zoey stuck her tongue out as she reached out and licked her arm, leaving behind a residue of a trail of dry _ that stained her dead-white skin. It was textureless and tasteless.
"It's not your fault." Zoey took a deep long lick of her frozen treat. Then her eyes snapped wide opened. In all of her time being alive (or unliving?) the only type of food that the young girl had ever eaten was cauli-brains. This was the first time she ever had a popsicle and it was so different.
"It's not your fault." Being dead, Zoey couldn't taste the texture or the actual taste of food outside of brains and other internal organs, and popsicles were no different in this. Zoey greedily took another lick of her frozen treat.
"It's not your fault." The cherry treat had no flavor or taste. Instead what it provided her was in its wetness and temperature. Zoey's dead skin was always in a state of room temperature so the slightest touch would often either make her feel like she would decay from heat or her body would feel like rigor mortis as the cold chill would freeze up her joint. But sudden bursts of shivers shot through her teeth. As it was a liquid instead of a solid, the feeling of it melting inside of her and sloshing around was so different then tofu brains she had eaten before. It may have been a cliché, but the popsicle was the best food that the little girl had ever eaten.
It's not your fault. With a large smile, one only a small child could make, Zoey chomped down on the tip on the frozen cherry stick. With every taste it was like her eyes clouded over with pure bliss. As a child she was positive this was the closest thing to what one would describe as ecstasy.
It's NoT your fAUlt.
Zoey took one more bite. And it was finished, the food was gone. Despite how refreshing and fulfilling the ice cold treat felt to the dead girl Zoey wanted more. She was craving more. If she had even the moment to think about it she would have been certain this was what a high felt like. She felt like she could get addicted to this stuff.
"Zo…ey…?"
"Bucky," Zoey turned to look at the older person, a smile as bright as the sun in the sun, "Thank you!" She exclaimed with all of her dead heart. "That was delicious-"
…
-But there was no one there. "Bucky?" Zoey looked around. "Bucky where are you?" she asked a loud.
But there was no one there. She was all alone. And there was one other thing.
"Where am I?" Zoey asked herself. It wasn't that the place she was at now was some place she didn't recognize, in fact it was the opposite. But the issue was that she was no she was now sitting on her knees in the middle of the park earlier, now she was sitting on her knees in the middle of her backyard. She had no idea how she had gotten there and where her cheer coach was.
Zoey cupped her hands over her mouth and called again, "BUCKY!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. But there was no one there to answer her there. Reflexively, she licked her lips. There was that taste again. That texture again. That smell again.
Happiness for a zombie…
Zoey saw her hands for the first time, and what she saw would have scared her to death-
That is…the thing they love most of all…
Her hands were no longer pale white, and instead were stained in blood. In fact her entire body had seemed to be painted in red – red for her sins.
Zoey was in a waking dream. And when she came to her senses she fully came to realize the corpse next to her.
Zoey screamed. She hadn't eaten her dog Xander. Instead, she realized, it was Bucky's torn apart with all of his inner goodies spilling all over the backyard.
Bucky tasted delicious.