A/N: Ok, CrazyHayniac wondered about how Zed and Steve met. So, here we go. The beginning of a great friendship and the blossoming of the idea that led to the treatment.


The first day of Freshman year of college, Zed was nervous, to say the least. He was one of the first Zombies to go to college, and he was the only one from their group in the Chem program at Seabrook University. He was excited to get out into the world, but desperately missed the safety of their pack.

As he was laughing at the irony that he thought of his friends as his pack – of all things – another student came in and joined him at the lab table.

The student stuck out his hand and smiled. "Hi, I'm Steve!"

Zed raised an eyebrow, but returned the handshake. "Hey… I'm… Zed?"

Steve chuckled. "Are you sure or are you just guessing?"

Zed shook his head a bit, clearing his confused thoughts. He laughed as well. "No, I'm sure. I'm Zed Necrodopolous. It's nice to meet you."

"Steve Matsouka. Pleased to meet another Greek guy."

"Greek… yeah."

"Look, man," Steve began. "I'm not going to pretend I don't know you're a Zombie. But whatever. My last name means bat. So, we're like an old timey movie. The Zombie and the Bat." He paused for a second and scrunched his eyebrows. "Is that offensive?"

Zed smiled. "No, dude. We're absolutely cool."

Class began and Zed wasn't sure if he entered a new school or a new dimension, but so far, college was ok.

The next day, Zed and Steve met for lunch to discuss an upcoming project. They had already decided to be lab partners.

Zed sat with his tray. "Ok, so, I should just be grateful and not push my luck, but I really gotta ask..."

Steve pointed with his French fry. "Why I'm not freaking out that you're a Zombie?"

"Well, yeah!"

"Ok, firstly, you're online, yeah?"

Zed raised his wrist, already knowing that Steve could have seen the screen lit up in green.

"Then we're good," Steve continued. "But, you know, if you happen to slide into unstable, a heads up would be great."

Zed still couldn't believe this guy. A portion of Seabrook, who had 4 years to adjust to Zombies, still weren't as awesome about it as Steve.

Steve took a bite of his burger and held up a finger to pause his explanation. Zed took that moment to take a bite as well.

Steve swallowed forcefully. "Ok, and here's the big reason. I've been dating my girlfriend Jess since the beginning of our Junior year. She's so damn amazing. Last year, I met her great-aunt. She's awesome and apparently she's a big deal in your town. Ziana?"

Zed's jaw dropped. "You know Ziana? Yeah she's a big deal! She was one of the originals from the power plant explosion. She was an engineer, which was a big deal for a woman back then. And she was one of the first to transform in the cloud. She was one of the elders that led the Zombies before and after the Z-Bands. Ziana really pushed for art and music and showing the humans how we could really be."

"So… a bigger deal than I even knew."

"Apparently. And yeah, she's definitely awesome. She's also hilarious."

"That she is! So, yeah. I'm cool with you because, even though I went to Meadow Creek, I've had interactions with Zombies for well over a year."

"Really? That's wild! I gotta say, Steve. I am so blown away by this. Literally the only other human that has accepted me so quickly is my girlfriend."

"You're dating a human?"

"Yep, Addison is just the most perfect thing in my life. Smart, funny, gorgeous, fights for what she believes in, cutest hair."

"Dude," Steve said with a chuckle. "You've got it bad!"

"Well, we've been together since a few weeks into Freshman year. I'm gonna marry that girl. She's one of the reasons that barrier came down, so I basically owe everything to her."

Steve lifted an eyebrow. "Wait a second. I didn't put two and two together earlier. You're the Zombie footballer from Seabrook!"

Zed popped a fry in his mouth and let his ego-flag fly. "Yep."

"You guys always kicked our asses!"

"Yeah, sorry not sorry."

"Eh, no worries. I played baseball."

"Oh, our baseball players were awful people. I'm glad you always beat them."

Steve laughed and then his expression got serious. "So, you're basically the reason Jess' family got to see Aunt Ziana again."

"I guess so. And Addison."

"Right, right. They're going to freak out when I tell them who my lab partner is!"

Zed shrugged. "Nothing special here."

"Maybe to you. But I'm willing to bet that there are a bunch of people who are really grateful for you."

Zed raised his finger to interject, but Steve cut him off. "Yeah, I know. Addison too."

Zed chuckled embarrassedly but then a very familiar head of white hair caught his attention.

"Well, speak of the devil… Addison!" he called as he waved to her. His mind instantly went back to that day at Seabrook High where he called to her in the cafeteria.

Addison's face lit up as she soon as she saw him and she began to hurry over.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're that couple."

Zed raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on, did you see how she beamed when you made eye contact? And how you can't stop singing her praises? Yeah, I can already tell that you guys are literally perfect and I've known you for about a day."

Zed shrugged his shoulders as he stood to greet her. "Hello there, gorgeous."

"Hey, handsome!" Addison replied, kissing him quickly. She turned to Steve. "Ah, you must be the lab partner!"

Steve stood as well, impressing Zed with his manners. "Yep, Steve Matsouka. Pleased to meet you. And you must be the girlfriend who the sun rises and sets on."

Addison blushed a bit. "Ah, he's been gushing has he?"

"You could say that. But that's ok. He'll have to deal with me talking about Jess later. Turnabout is fair play."

"Fair enough," Zed said. "In the meantime, go get your lunch, gorgeous."

"Ok. Be right back."

Zed watched as his girlfriend walked away. Steve laughed. "Damn, dude. You've got it SO bad. So, what's you guys' story?"

A chuckle escaped Zed's lips. "Steve, we don't have time for that whole story today."

A little over two years later, during midterms, Zed was happy to find out that he was doing even better in Chem than he thought he was. And Steve was a fantastic chemist too. When they went home for winter break, the gears began turning.

There was a theory that Zed had for years, that if Zombies could get rid of whatever was in their veins (the "lime slime" he dubbed it), it would help control the urges that made them dangerous. But that was all above his pay grade. He kept studying as much as he could about Zombie biology and the chemicals that might have been involved with the original outbreak. He even learned as much as he could from the Werewolves about the Moonstone and its possible effects.

One evening, after Zoe went upstairs, Zed sat down with his dad at the kitchen table.

"Pops, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, son, anything," Zevon replied.

"What do you think makes us Zombies?"

Zevon stared for a second. "You mean besides the brains thing?"

"Yeah, yeah. Way more than that. Because I've been thinking about it and I'm starting to think we could change it."

"Ok, college man, you've lost me already."

Zed began to explain, his hands gesturing wildly. "Ok, look at it like this. The originals were humans. They worked at the power plant, and they were exposed to some sort of chemical that was created when lime soda mixed with the energy from the Moonstone. Now, that obviously had an adverse reaction to their human physiology. What if there was a way to reverse it?"

"And you think you've found that way?"

"Well, it's all completely speculation right now. But I think whatever is in our veins is a big part of it. It's feeding our brains the wrong impulses."

"I'm a simple man, Zed. I don't know that I've ever really thought of that. I've just been grateful for my Z-band and went on my merry way."

"That doesn't make you simple. It makes you complacent with your situation. Which is also ok. But I've got… a different point of view."

Zevon chuckled. "Addy."

"Well, yeah. I mean, I really want to help all Zombies! But she's the one, Pops, I've known it for years. And if there's a way for me to make our lives easier, I've got to see if I can make it work."

"Zed, this is all a big deal. Where would you even start?"

"Yeah, there's the thing. I don't know. I've done a ton of studying our biology and I've wracked the Werewolves brains to learn about the Moonstone. And now I think I'm going to ask my lab partner for help. His girlfriend's great-aunt is Ziana, so he's got a connection and he's got amazing Chem knowledge. Can you imagine, Pops? Can you imagine a Z-band free life?"

"Actually, at my age? Not really. But if anyone out there has the drive and the smarts for it, well, it's you."

"Aw, thanks."

"You must be thrilled to tell Addy all about this."

"Um, no, not exactly."

Zevon raised an eyebrow.

Zed ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I mean, what if it doesn't work? What if I can't figure it out? I don't want to get her hopes up. I'm going to keep this to myself for now. Am I terrible?"

"I don't think you could ever be terrible, Zed. And you've never had anything but respect for Addison, so I think it's ok to keep it from her for now. You will have to tell her someday."

"Naturally."

"Ok, well, I think it's time for me to head to bed. Keep me posted on this, ok?" Zevon said as he patted Zed on the shoulder.

"Absolutely. Thanks, Pops."

"Anytime, son."

Zed really began to think he had a good hypothesis, but he didn't think he could manage it alone. When they got back from winter break, he needed to talk to Steve.

They met for lunch and after the pleasantries of "how was your break?" Zed got down to business.

"Ok, Steve, I really need your opinion on something. I've got this idea. And it sounds crazy, but I've still really think it's plausible. And I think you're the only one I would trust with it. And—"

"Dude," Steve interrupted. "I can't agree if you don't tell me."

Zed chuckled. "True. Ok, so I've got this theory. Maybe, with the right amount of tackling chemicals in Zombie blood, we could eliminate the need for Z-bands."

"Whoa."

"Right? Now, I know it sounds crazy, but I really believe in this. I just know that I can't do it alone."

"Sign me up!"

"Wait, really?"

"Yep. Totally."

"I kinda expected to have to convince you at least a little bit."

"Look, I love chemistry. And I love my girlfriend. And she loves her family. Now, I'm guessing Aunt Ziana is probably a little old for what you're thinking, but if we could help others… well, I'm in."

"Dude, you are awesome," Zed said, holding his hand up for a high five.

"Eh, above average," Steve joked, returning the high five. "But where do we start?"

"Well, there's a long list of things to do. And some of this will likely need to be done after graduation. I'm hoping to do some of this as a senior thesis and then maybe, hopefully, convince the school that this is great research that can be continued after graduation. Assuming you want to keep on with it."

"So, we're going to be medical legends, is what you're saying?"

"If we can manage to figure this out."

"My man, the correct wording is when we get this figured out."

"I like your optimism! Now… we're keeping this on the down-low from Addison."

"Well, sure—wait, what?"

"I can't disappoint her if this fails."

"Nah, it won't! You've told me all about the explosion and what happened to the people that became Zombies. I completely believe there's a chemical component there. If we put our heads together, then we got this!"

"We got this…" Zed muttered with a chuckle.

"You know," Steve said. "It's irritating that you have so many inside jokes from high school. And even more so when Addison isn't here to laugh at them, so I'm just in the dark."

Zed just waved him off. "Ok, so Junior year isn't even over yet and we're already working on Senior project. What overachievers we are!"

And from there was Zombie history.


End note: So, I might go back and make some changes to the previous chapters (some Zombie Tongue changes based on what I heard Bonzo say, last names, etc.). For example, Zed is Zedski to Bonzo? At least, that's what it sounded like when he was passing out fliers.

Also, here's some more questions about Z2: Is it Sophomore year now? I assume Cheer Camp was over the summer, but does Seabrook do their big dance at the beginning of the year? And why are Bree and Bonzo so weird with each other if it is Sophomore year?