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.
Ah, it's almost the New Year and I bring you angst~!
One more chapter to go... maybe an epilogue after that? We'll see. Either way, Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time) is almost over :( Maybe I'll finally get back to the series fic...? Or write that Bucky fic I wanted to do? Who knows? I certainly don't
Oh and you may have seen that fist-it-out and krut09 borrow the BGZ for their fics sometimes, and fist-it-out has just started a fic revolving around Zach shipping him with Bucky! Give it a read, it's already looking good :D
Chapter 9
SIX MONTHS AGO - JUNE
Zephyr sat hunched over his food in the cafeteria, unable to block out the gossiping voices all around him. He had his friends and his sister surrounding him but he barely took in any of their conversation. Summer break was fast approaching and his suspension from the football team was still in effect. He hadn't gone back to counselling, no matter how much they told him to. And not just the counsellor herself, or even Principal Lee, but them. His friends. His sister. They were worried about him. They were scared for him.
They should be worried about Alonzo. They should be scared for Alonzo. Stop focusing on me. Focus on him. He needs it. He deserves it. Not me.
He knew they were looking at him. Every now and then, out of the corner of his eye, he'd see one of their heads briefly turn towards him then jerk away. They didn't say a word about it, though. But everybody else clearly had something to say, and none of them louder than Suzanne.
"So, we survived this year," she was saying, "If you call basically clocking in at the barrier every morning surviving. And the daily Z-band scans. And patrol officers around every corner. I mean, gaz, this is worse than it was right before the integration started," there were murmurs of agreement around her, "He'll be out of containment by September," she reminded them and Zephyr gritted his teeth, "Who knows what's gonna happen then."
There was silence for a moment and Zephyr knew she was looking at him with that worn out old condescending gaze she dished out every chance she got. She turned back to her friends and tilted her head down as if she wasn't still speaking loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
"And Zephyr's still visiting him. I don't know what he's trying to prove, I'm surprised he even stuck with him this long. He saw the whole thing. How can he even stand to be around the guy anymore?"
But Zephyr refused to let it show that she was getting to him; he couldn't get into anymore trouble. As he ruminated over Suzanne's cruel words, two tables down from where the whole BFZ gang (minus, of course, Alonzo) sat, another group of zombies was shifting uncomfortably in their seats, casting concerned or bitter glances at Suzanne and hoping no-one would think they agreed with her. She was sitting at the same table as them, after all.
Hazen was, unfortunately at this time, a friend of Suzanne's so he, Zeke, Diaz, Fritz and the Terrible Trio were close by. For Izabelle especially, uncomfortably close. She could barely stand to even be in the same room as Suzanne, and that was on a good day. Zeke was the first to notice how she was tapping her nails on the table.
"Belle?"
He reached out to touch her hand and she jumped, quickly turning to look at him and the others.
"One of you better hold me back before I beat this chick to a pulp," she muttered before turning her attention back to Suzanne.
"Izabelle..."
"Hazen, I'm sorry, but I don't care if she's your friend, that's none of her business. It's Zephyr's."
"Am I finally rubbing off on you?" Zeke smirked, just trying to lighten the mood, but Izabelle ignored him.
It wasn't much longer before Izabelle had had enough and she stood up suddenly, all eyes on her. Faint whispers could be heard from the far corners.
"Are you finished?" she snapped, one hand flat on the table as she stared Suzanne down. Sue just raised her eyebrows and propped her elbows up on the table, tilting her head and pouting mockingly at Iza.
"What, you got something to say, gralzig?"
Her jaw locked, Izabelle forced herself not to react, "Yeah. How about you shut your mouth before I come over there and rip it right off your face?"
Suzanne let out a short, fake laugh, "So you're siding with the literal killer! Why am I not surprised?"
"Sue...!" Hazen hissed but he went unnoticed because another voice piped up from another table. A human voice, that none of them knew.
"See, this is how you're all gonna get sent back to the basement come September!", for once, Izabelle and Suzanne were in near perfect sync as they narrowed their eyes at the girl who had spoken. She continued, "Or better yet, they send you back to Zombie Town's school."
A hush fell over the whole cafeteria as Izabelle stood, staring at the human girl. Her face remained blank as she started towards her.
"Izabelle..." Zeke warned but the only response he got was her hand brushing across his shoulder as she passed by him. Her eyes never strayed from the human girl's, who started to waver under Iza's gaze as she slowly crept closer and closer. Only a second behind her, Riza and Zadie followed.
"Did I ask for your opinion? Drakska?"
The girl obviously had some kind of death wish because she didn't back down, despite the nervousness in her eyes, "I didn't think zombies were even capable of forming an opinion."
Izabelle instinctively reached down.
"That's it, it's comin-"
She froze when she realised what she was doing. The human had flinched away and Zadie jumped to grab her wrist, gripping it tighter than any time before. Iza looked over her shoulder to see Zadie's panicked expression. The human girl's eyes, wide with pure fear, were fixed on Izabelle's Z-band and the hand hovering over it, which she dropped immediately. She stepped back, suddenly regretting making the move in the first place. Zadie didn't let go.
"Just... ugh!" Izabelle turned away, dejected, with her friends following close behind.
Zeke was already hurrying towards them and went to hug Izabelle but she walked right past him. She gave him a brief apologetic look, as did Zadie and Riza trailing after her, but didn't stop.
"Belle...?"
He watched, stunned, as the three of them walked out of the cafeteria then Suzanne spoke up again and Zeke clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
"There's no use in even trying, Zeke. She's hopeless."
His head whipped round to glare at her, "Y'know what? I'm sick of you, Sue," he took a step closer to her, "I'm sick of you picking fights with my girlfriend just to screw with her, I'm sick of you walking all over my best friend like you own him, and I am so, so sick of you constantly talking down to everybody around you!" everyone's focus had shifted to him in seconds, "You think you're better than the rest of us? You're trying way too hard to be like the humans. You're a zombie. You're one of us whether you like it or not and we're supposed to be in this together, but you're just driving us further apart. You don't know what's going on in Zephyr's head. You don't know what Alonzo could be going through in containment," Zeke was barely a foot away from Suzanne, stone-faced and jabbing a finger in her face aggressively, "So sit down and keep your mouth shut before I do something I'll regret."
Suzanne had stood there, arms folded, face neutral, for his entire rant. Now, all she did was cock her head to one side, swaying slightly.
"You're telling me I'm driving the zombie community apart, but then you go and threaten me? You don't see the irony there? Besides, Alonzo's the one who's really divided everyone. Shouldn't you be more concerned about that?"
Zeke stared at her for a moment then slowly shook his head, "Do you care about anyone? At all? I'm wasting my time on you. You haven't had a single heartbeat in your life."
He didn't wait around for her to reply. He glanced at Hazen then headed for the door the trio had left through. As he passed Zephyr, he placed a hand on his back in solidarity. Zephyr, Roz, Zach, Rizzo and Zane all lifted their heads, smiling at him in thanks. Meanwhile, Hazen hadn't taken his eyes off Zeke when Suzanne scoffed and let out a mocking laugh.
"What, does he think he can scare me? He's defending a murderer, for Z's sake, he-"
"Sue?" Hazen stopped her, his voice quiet as ever. He looked up at her, nervous but determined, "Just shut up. For once in your life."
He got up and ran after Zeke, with Fritz and Diaz not far behind. Both of them glared at Suzanne as they went. They caught up with Zeke in the hall and eventually found Izabelle, Riza and Zadie, along with Bonzo, in a nearby safe room. Bonzo had his arms wrapped tightly around his cousin and looked up as the boys entered. Riza and Zadie, both gently stroking Izabelle's hair, glanced over a well. Zeke sighed in relief seeing she was alright but his heart broke when he saw traces of tears in his girlfriend's eyes and walked over. He crouched down in front of her.
"Ze'ka?"
"I'm right here," he reached up to caress her face, "I had to give Sue a piece of my mind first."
Iza laughed through her tears, "Good..." her smiled dropped again and she leaned against Bonzo, "I'm a terrible person."
"No, you're not."
"Why do you think people call us the Terrible Trio? You saw what I did."
"We've all done it before, Iza," Riza reminded her in a hushed tone, "We're never serious."
"Not since Al... No-one's joked about losing their band since Al."
Not one of them had a response to that.
– TATTOOED MISTAKES –
They wouldn't let him go back to school straight away. For the first three months after his release, Alonzo had been forced to stay within the barrier, under constant watch. It was in that time that he told Zach about his year-long sickness and he had found out about Zephyr's suspension from the football team. By the time December rolled around, the whole school was buzzing with the knowledge that he was about to return. And in Zombie Town, Al's anxiety levels were rising rapidly. Suzanne, Inez and the rest of their supporters were still treating him with as little respect as possible but Zephyr and his friends were there for him every time.
Al knew all too well that he was going to be under fierce scrutiny from the zombie patrol from now on. The other zombies were already facing the consequences of his actions with far stricter boundaries being placed on them. And although they weren't being sent back to the basement, zombies and humans no longer had classes together. They were being segregated again, and the upgrade from the dingy basement during their first days at Seabrook High to actual classrooms didn't really make up for it.
On his first day back, Alonzo, hand-in-hand with Zephyr, froze up as they came to the gate into Seabrook. As was the norm now, two zombie patrol officers stood on guard to check everyone who passed through and scan their Z-bands.
Al hesitated, his eyes on the floor as he took a few deep breaths. Zephyr stopped to give him a loving look and rub soothing circles on his back as Al shrunk into him for comfort.
"... Zeph, I'm scared..."
Zephyr's hand took his again and he tugged on it, urging Al to look at him, "Scared of what?"
He was quiet for a while before he answered, his voice low and his focus back on the school, "Zombie instinct..."
"Al, nothing is going to happen."
When Al looked back at him, Zephyr saw the wild fear in his eyes, "I haven't been around that many humans in over a year! And last time I saw a human outside of the zombie patrol, I..." he swallowed the bile rising in his throat, careful to hide it from Zephyr as best he could, "I got a taste of it. What if that side of me comes out again? What if something does happen?"
"It won't," Zephyr turned him around to face him, his hands on Alonzo's chest. He locked eyes with him and brought one hand up into his hair. Al leaned into the touch, "You can do this. You're online," his other hand lifted the arm with Al's Z-band on it, showing off the green light of the ONLINE screen, "You're stable and you got me right here in case anything happens. It's just like before."
With another glance up at the school, Al shot him a look of panic, "... I can taste it..." he whispered.
He could taste it. He could taste it, and part of him wanted it. That feral instinctive part that his Z-band was meant to appease. Just a taste of a real human brain and it still lingered on his mind even now. Zephyr, with no clue as to just how far his boyfriend's fears went, reached up and pulled him closer by the back of his neck, their faces just inches apart, "That's OK. You're not gonna do anything about it," he kissed him sweetly, then gave him a reassuring smile, "And I don't taste anything. It's all in your head. I trust you, alright?"
Taking his hand once again, Zephyr led Alonzo to the door.
Over the next few days, Alonzo took hit after hit, physical and verbal, from his fellow students, human and zombie alike. It probably wasn't a good thing that he was getting used to it. Zeke had offered to walk with him and Zephyr to school for protection, as he did for Hazen, but it proved to be a bad idea – Al wasn't being made a target for seeming weak like Hazen was, he was a target because he was a threat to the humans and a traitor to the zombies. Having Zeke beside him when people shot him dirty looks and shouted abuse at him across the hall might have been comforting had the circumstances been different, but in this case, it only served to make things worse. Nonetheless, he appreciated it.
Zeke did still stand up for him at times. And it wasn't surprising that Zephyr did too. What Alonzo hadn't expected, though, was for people to cower away from Zephyr just as often as they did from Zeke. Zephyr wasn't supposed to be intimidating. He was Zephyr... It saddened Al to see how much he had changed without him but at the very least, Zephyr certainly was coping a lot better now that he was back home again. He wasn't quite like his old self, but it was something.
Some days were better than others.
There was a particularly aggressive human who wouldn't leave him alone one afternoon. Al tried to keep his head down and ignore the guy practically stalking him and yelling obscenities and slurs at him on his way to meet with Zephyr. He was about to turn and confront him at last when the human boy was jerked backwards like someone had grabbed the back of his collar but at first, Al saw nothing there. Not until the human got shoved aside to reveal none other than Izabelle Graves behind him, who swiftly sent the human on his merry way with a firm kick to his side. Al didn't know how to respond as she turned to him.
"... You gonna thank me or what?"
"Sorry! ... Thanks, Iza," and he did mean it. Then he frowned, "You... You didn't go for your Z-band..."
Izabelle flinched, but tried to pass it off as a shrug, "I... I don't do that anymore," she looked away and Al bit his lip, "Nobody really does that anymore."
"I-I don't care if you still do it," Al told her, "It's not like you'd actually take it off... It's just a joke."
She spun back around sharply to face him, "It doesn't feel like a joke anymore. The last time I did it was months ago and I just...!" she pressed her hands to her temples and shook her head, "When Zadie stopped me that time she... I think she was really scared I was gonna do it."
"You wouldn't."
Ha.
With an all-too-fake smile on her face, Izabelle dropped her arms to her sides again, "Like you wouldn't?" she sighed when Al ducked his head, "Alonzo, you're a good person, you'd never hurt anybody, but you snapped when Zephyr got threatened. I'm not like you. If I didn't have someone around to stop me, the smallest thing could end in me... doing what you did..." she trailed off, her voice uncharacteristically small.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise," she scoffed and sat down, tipping her head back, "I'm just realising a few things. You've got your own baggage to deal with. Gaz, people always kept trying to tell me violence doesn't solve anything but I never listened, 'cause it was too damn fun. This is kinda opening my eyes..."
Al still couldn't let it go, "If it wasn't for me, it wouldn't be a problem. They shouldn't think you'd be serious about doing that in the first place, not just picking fights in the halls."
"Sooner or later," Iza shrugged, "I would've learned. If it wasn't you, it'd be something else."
– TATTOOED MISTAKES –
Roz kept insisting she was fine, and maybe she was, but Al couldn't help the urge to apologise every time somebody mentioned Keira. It had been months since they broke up but he still felt like he needed to make up for it. In the end, he decided it wasn't Roz he had to make it up to. Before class one day, he tracked down Keira in the hallway.
"Keira...?" he called out and she stopped as he caught up with her. She looked nervous, avoiding eye contact.
"Al, not now, OK?"
"Keira, I just wanna talk to you."
For a moment, she didn't respond. She hesitated to say anything at all, then gave in and took a breath, "Alonzo, I really don't think that's a good idea..."
She went to push past him but he turned and followed her down the hall.
"Please, I need to get this out. It's about Roz."
Keira stopped and finally faced him, holding up a hand, "Look, I have my reasons for breaking up with them, and you definitely are not going to change my mind," she said firmly.
"I don't want to change your mind, if you're really serious about it, then fine. I can't do anything about that. But I don't want you to be... scared of us again. Roz got over the breakup alright but what's still getting to them is that you were scared of her," he paused, staring at her pleadingly, "I get why you'd be scared of me but Roz and the others had nothing to do with it, it's all on me. I made a mistake and I regretted it the moment my band was back on. And I couldn't get it off again if I wanted to," he held up his wrist and tugged on his Z-band, which barely even moved. He didn't miss how Keira flinched when he did, "It's fully locked. You can't blame Roz-"
"I don't... blame her, I just... I-I can't be around her without thinking about this. She's too close to you. I met her because of you!"
Stunned, Alonzo stepped back.
"... At least one person I was close to blames me..." he muttered to himself. Keira didn't hear him.
"I tried, Al. I really tried but I can't handle all this. I can't be involved in this anymore."
"OK. But that doesn't mean you have to avoid the other zombies. None of them had any part in this."
Keira just bit her lip and nodded vaguely, her eyes down.
"I gotta go..."
She hurried away before Al could stop her. But, he thought, at least he had tried. At least he had said it. He couldn't expect everything to work out. He never had.
