Disclaimer - I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.
This chapter is mostly a reworked version of Paizley's Limelight one-shot "Memory", but with some extra details
Chapter 2 theme songs: Quiet from Matilda the Musical and Escapism from Steven Universe
Chapter 2
"So... that's it?"
"That's only the beginning. I didn't mind who called me 'Zeddy' back then. But you said you wanted the whole story and that means everything that happened that made it hard to hear from anybody but my mom. And then how I ended up letting Paizley say it."
"How is there so much history to this?"
"You have no idea. There's a lot to unpack here. Speaking of which, did you know that Paizley's autistic, too? 'Cause that's something to keep in mind."
~ Pulled against the grain, I feel a little pain, that I would rather do without ~
It had been a while since something like this had happened in Zombie Town.
At seven years old, Paizley had taken to choosing her own projects from the collection of items Treaza and Dezmond brought home to fix up. Her bedroom was filled with gadgets and homemade toys and sculptures. Some days, when Zana and Zevon would come round, Zed would sit watching her work as she tried to explain to him what she was doing, but it was all in one ear and out the other. He was only four, he wasn't going to understand it all. Still, he could keep her company and at least pretend to be interested, and maybe hand her tools or something.
After a few minutes of Paizley tinkering while Zed waited, though, she'd set her tools down and grin down at him.
"Aza, Zeddyka." Look, Zeddy.
Then she would press a button, or flip a switch, or move a piece just the slightest bit to the left and his eyes would widen in awe as a light shone or music played or some kind of chain reaction would be set off. He would tell Eliza about it and she'd change the subject. He would tell Bonzo about it and his shoulders would slump in jealousy. Even if he found the process boring, Zed loved seeing the outcome and Paizley loved sharing her passion with her 'cousin'.
It was a day when he wasn't there with her when it happened. The raid.
Busy with repairing some human child's old, forgotten toy, Paizley paid no attention to the knock at the front door and barely even heard the call of "Zombie patrol!". It was the sudden shouting that followed, then the slam of the door against the wall, that alerted her to the trouble. She stopped, only just catching every few words.
"You can't just-" That was her mother.
"What's going on here?" Her father.
He didn't get an answer. Other voices that Paizley didn't recognise drowned out her parents' questions and objections. She looked down at the pieces lined up on her floor, waiting to be put together, and hesitated for a moment, but then she scrambled to her feet and ran to see what was going on. From the top of the staircase, she could see patrol officers moving back and forth, coming in empty-handed and going out again carrying... their treasures...
"Search every corner of every room," someone was saying, though she couldn't even tell where the words were coming from, "Check upstairs. Take anything that looks out of place."
Treaza and Dezmond were trying to argue but of course, the humans weren't listening. Paizley, starting to panic, backed up towards her bedroom as two patrol officers came up the stairs. One of them turned in the other direction while the other was walking right towards her. He pushed her aside but she followed him in. Tears filled her eyes at the sight of him picking up the carefully arranged pieces of the toy still on the floor like they were nothing, like they were just junk.
"They're mine!" she begged as he began grabbing items from her shelves, "Give them back, they're mine!"
He was gone from the room a moment later, and Paizley chased after him down the stairs until she was knocked down by the second officer as she carried another stack of the Reiligs' treasures away. She was up and following the humans again in a second. Treaza felt her heart thud.
"Paizley...!" her cries fell on deaf ears as Paizley disappeared outside and Treaza looked back at Dezmond in pure fear before running out after her.
On the street, other zombies were watching. Zynthia and Zeus Styx were ushering Rizzo, Zephyr and Alonzo inside as the three children stared in shock. Zia hurried to pick up Zane and bring him behind the stand. Zandra Blakeley grabbed Zeke's hand and pulled him behind her, though he was peering around her leg to see what was happening.
Paizley, almost screaming now, clawed desperately at the humans' arms, doing whatever she could to take her treasures back from them, but it was no use.
She didn't hear Treaza's warning, cut short, of "Paizley, don't-"
She didn't hear the officer barking into a walkie-talkie, "We have an unstable zombie at the scene, may require backup."
She didn't hear the man approaching from behind, taser in hand.
Zana appeared at the window of the Necrodopolous house, Zevon close behind her and both of them terrified.
"No...!" Treaza cried out, "You can't, she's just-"
Every other parent on the street quickly covered their children's eyes, or hid them from view, as Paizley was shocked.
But they all heard her scream. And they all watched in silent horror as she collapsed on the ground.
Dezmond was at her side in an instant and tried to lift her up but she jolted awake at the movement, struggling against him like she didn't realise it was her father holding her. He softly shushed her but she kept resisting.
"Paizka," he whispered. Zombie-tongue would be easier for her to understand in this state, "Zzh, zreeka, ag zu ru... Ru zorr?" Ssh, sweetheart, I'm here... Are you hurt?
Paizley's fists beat against his chest and tried to push him away. She shook her head almost violently. The only sounds she made were soft squeaks, like she couldn't form words. Nothing Dezmond did could calm her. His head snapped up at the sound of his wife's voice, shouting at the officers who were continuing their work.
"What did you do?! Why would you do that to a child?!"
She evidently got a little too close to one of them, because he threatened to arrest her if she kept 'resisting'. She gave up. There wasn't much else she could do.
By now, Paizley had stopped fighting and was curled up in her father's arms, shaking as tears ran down her cheeks. The patrol's vans were pulling away, taking with them practically all of the Reilig's collection, and Treaza reached out to take Paizley from her husband. Exhausted, Paizley fell limply into her mother's embrace. She had no idea when they had appeared, but she recognised the voices of Zanajaka and Zevjaka, and Zinnia and Zigmund, too. Zed stood watching from his porch, afraid to get any closer. Opposite him, Azalea had her arms wrapped tightly around Eliza in front of her. The two small zombies shared a look of confusion. Eliza gulped then lifted a foot to take a step but Azalea tightened her grip, not letting her go.
In her haze, Paizley felt fingers running through her hair and heard Zinnia's voice saying something but the words were jumbled in her head and she couldn't make them out. All she could do was cry silently and huddle closer to her mother, desperate for comfort.
– NOTHING'S GONE FOREVER –
"They took everything... Nobody wanted those things, they were going to be recycled. We recycled them! We did our job!" Treaza was saying, trying hard not to raise her voice too much and startle Paizley, who still hadn't come out of her daze.
"We didn't do it the way the humans wanted," Dezmond sighed, "And their way means we get nothing."
"How did they even find out?"
"I don't know. But let's face it, they were just waiting for a zombie to make a mistake like this so they could step in. They wanted an excuse to knock us down even further."
Treaza nodded, her head down as she anxiously chewed her thumbnail, then she slowly looked up and across the living room at Paizley. She was sitting in the middle of the sofa, staring into space, a finger curling in her hair. Usually, she would have some sort of trinket to play with and ease her nerves but they were all gone now. Forever.
"... How could anybody do something like that to a little girl...?" Treaza all but whimpered, looking back at Dezmond with new tears in her eyes, "Who looks at a crying child and sees a threat?"
If Paizley heard her, she didn't respond. She hadn't said a word since it happened. She didn't want to go back to her room, or upstairs, or anywhere else. The whole house felt so empty.
The sun had set and, hearing the familiarly unnerving screech of the barrier opening down the street, Paizley finally stood up and walked, like she was in a trance, towards the window.
They were early.
"M-Mommy...?" Paizley called out weakly. It was the first time she'd spoken in hours and Treaza and Dezmond came running to see what made her break her silence.
"What is it, sweetheart?"
Paizley just turned back to the window and pointed.
"Early..."
The second he saw the zombie patrol vans in the distance, Dezmond tried to gently pull Paizley out of sight but she wouldn't be moved. There was a strange curiosity building inside her – she had to know what they were doing.
The patrol pulled up outside the Reiligs' house, making Treaza and Dezmond even more nervous. A handful of zombies were still out, making their way home before curfew, and every one of them stopped still and watched.
From inside, the officers brought out piles upon piles of seemingly random items. One of them locked eyes with Treaza and, stone-faced, dropped everything he was carrying in full view of her and her family. Paizley's mouth fell open in realisation.
"Mine..." she mumbled as the others threw more and more of their collection onto the ground, "They're mine... They're mine...!"
Treaza grabbed her arms as she started to beat her fists against the window and pulled her close.
In amongst all of their old treasures, the officers threw wood and newspaper – kindling. One of them turned away as the others carried out a circular metal guard which they set up around the pile. Both Treaza and Dezmond recognised the man immediately – he was one who had pulled his taser out on their daughter.
"It has been brought to the attention of the zombie patrol that certain zombies in this area have been stealing property from Seabrook's recycling plant, instead of doing their job," he announced to the zombies, both on the street and staring out from their windows, before fixing his gaze back on the Reiligs.
We were doing our job... Treaza thought, seething, but she wasn't going to risk going out there. It could be dangerous. The officer continued.
"So tonight, there will be a little demonstration before curfew. This is what happens when you zombies step out of line."
He reached into his pocket and Treaza and Dezmond gasped at what he took out. The zombies outside were edging towards their own homes now.
Matches.
The second he lit one, every zombie turned and fled to safety indoors. The man laughed to himself and held up the match for a moment, mocking them, then tossed it onto the pile.
Paizley couldn't breathe. Everything she had worked so hard on, all her efforts, all her parents' efforts, to lovingly repair and create, wasted. Her prized possessions, her treasures, her passion, up in flames.
She choked, then she let out a sob and her mom and dad held her as she cried. They tried to turn her head and shield her from the sight but she couldn't look away. The bonfire burned for what felt like hours and when it was finally extinguished, Paizley had fallen asleep with tears drying on her cheeks.
– NOTHING'S GONE FOREVER –
"Paizka...?" Zed looked up at her, frightened by her lack of a smile.
Her face was blank as she sat back on the sofa, showing no sign of acknowledgement to Zed as he peered at her over the arm, his face half hidden behind it. It was the following morning and he, Zana and Zevon had come to check up on them and see if they could help in any way. The Reiligs had lost most of their possessions and would need to find a way of replacing them all. As they were going through everything, Zed only wanted to see Paizley, but this wasn't the Paizley he knew.
"Paizka, goreez roska zorr ru?" Why did the humans hurt you? he asked and she pulled her knees to her chest, staring into space, "Fire ru zorog?" Were you scared of the fire?
She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears, whimpering and shaking her head. Zed's eyes widened.
"Gozig?" What?
Paizley flopped over onto her side, making herself as small as possible, her whimpers growing louder. Treaza, Dezmond, Zana and Zevon immediately stopped talking and got up. As Paizley's parents rushed to comfort her, Zed's crouched down beside him.
"Abraza...!" I'm sorry...! he said quickly, looking as though he was about to cry as well, but Zevon picked him up and Zana stroked his face.
"Zzh, grodge, Zeddyka," Ssh, it's alright, Zeddy, "Zon ru bragan." It's not your fault.
"Bak..." But...
"Gra'zon agz garzalk zu fire, za? Paizka zorr, magra." We can't talk about the fire, OK? It might hurt Paizley.
Azalea and Eliza were told the same thing. Don't talk about the bonfire, or about the raid, around Paizley. Don't ask her about it. Don't remind her of it.
Don't ever bring it up.
They did as they were told.