Author's note: Hey everyone!
Sorry it has been so long since I have been able to update. I have PTSD, and the last several days have been rough. But I finally forced myself to sit down and write, and lo and behold, it actually cheered me up a little. Thanks for reading, as always, your likes and reviews bring me so much joy!
Also, if anyone wants to see what Addison's ring looks like, I'll be posting a pic on my tumblr!
Love y'all!
ZzZzZzZ
He was holding his breath as he kneeled in the damp sand, eyes locked with Addison's as he held up the ring between them. Zed could feel the tension mounting in his chest as the time moved along. Thinking back on it, he was sure it was only a few seconds, but in that moment it felt like an eternity.
Addison was staring back at him, as the breeze coming inward from the ocean dried the tear tracks that had been sliding down her cheeks. Her mouth was slightly agape, as though she was in shock.
As her silence mounted, he felt an unanticipated sense of peacefulness.
Zed had expected to feel scared or extremely nervous. But somehow, looking up at her, he couldn't find it in himself to be afraid. How could he be, with his soulmate and best friend standing before him. Her cerulean eyes reflected a pink-and orange sunset, reminding him of how the fire light had flickered in her eyes the night the moonstone had crashed into Zombietown.
"Zed—" she gasped, flicking her eyes down to the ring.
The aquamarine stone glittered against the fading sunlight, as the four tiny diamonds that surrounded it flickered like small stars.
"Addy," he started, as he gradually realized that the instant 'yes' he had been hoping for was not going to come. "I know that we're really young, and I know it might be crazy. But when a person is lucky enough to find the one, it would be even crazier not to propose. You are my mate and the love of my life."
Zed gently squeezed her hand as he continued.
"My dad said that my mom was the love of his life. And he said the only thing he would have done different, if he ever had the opportunity, would be to ask her to be his wife sooner. Two lifetimes wouldn't be enough with you, Addy, but I want every second I can get. I swear that I will be the best husband —"
"Yes."
"—that I can possibly — wait. What?"
"Yes," Addison exhaled, releasing a joyous laugh. "Yes, of course I'll marry you!"
"You'll..." Zed blinked, not quite processing what he was hearing. "You will?"
For a second, he thought he might have misheard. Had she seriously just agreed to be his wife?
"Yes!" She laughed again, actually jumping up and down with un-contained glee as she too fell to her knees. She leaned in, gifting him with a passionate kiss as his arms instinctively wrapped themselves around her.
For a moment, all he could focus on was her; her taste and smell, and the feel of her lips pressing heatedly against his own. She was his whole universe. And someday, she would be his wife. His wife! He could barely contain the happiness pulsing through his veins. This was, without a doubt, the best moment of his life.
"Mine, too." She whispered, pulling away only slightly to rest her cheek against his.
He laughed, the sound full of jubilation and delight, as he attempted to card his hands into her long, snowy hair. He suddenly remembered the ring, still firmly held in his hand.
"Oh!" He chuckled, feeling so elated that he felt he might take flight at any second.
He withdrew his injured arm, the one holding the ring. Shakily lifting his arm towards her, he once again held the ring up for her inspection. He couldn't help but preen a little as she gasped at the small but beautiful token of his love. He had spent weeks deciding which one to get her. In the end, the aquamarine oval and diamond ring with the rose gold band had won out. He hadn't known why, but the almost otherworldly looking design had just screamed "Addison!" to him.
Hands still trembling slightly, he gently slid the ring onto her left ring finger, smiling as he realized that it fit perfectly. He watched as she examined it. Addison squealed delightedly as she shifted her hand side to side in the fading light, as the crest of the sun disappeared below the water.
"It's perfect!" She said, once again leaning in to kiss him again. But then she instantly pulled back, looking suddenly nervous. "But Zed, my parents are going to freak. My dad's going to cart you off to containment himself!" Her face flushed with anxiety.
"Actually..." Zed started. "They kinda already know."
"They what?"
Thinking back to the conversation, Zed mentally filled her in on the surprisingly cordial conversation he'd had with her parents over the phone. They had been reluctant, but had conversed with him in an understanding tone that he would never have predicted.
"I'm not happy about the whole idea of my daughter being engaged to a zombie, Zed. Especially when she's just turned seventeen. But..." Chief Dale sighed."I do understand it. Once I fell for Missy I could hardly wait to propose to her."
Zed had heard a small "Aww," from the mayor in the background.
"But Zed," Chief Dale continued, "I'm counting on you to make sure my little girl is always safe and happy. If you don't, well..." The Chief trailed off in a mildly intimidating tone.
"I will, sir." Zed swore fervently. "Always."
Addison grinned as she listened, releasing a short laugh as she heard the threatening sound of her dad's voice.
"I can't believe you called them." She stated, moving into a sitting position as she leaned her head against his good shoulder.
"Well, I didn't want the stress of telling them to fall on you, in case you said yes."
"You didn't think I would?" She questioned, looking surprised as she felt the doubt he had felt in the pit of his stomach as he'd walked to the beach that evening.
"I was just... I didn't want to get my hopes up to high. I mean, look at you." He gently pressed his lips to her forehead. "You're perfect."
"I don't know about that," she replied, "But we're perfect together."
"Our life is going to be amazing together, Addy." Zed stated, as thought it were an irrefutable fact. "I can just feel it."
"Me too." She smiled back, snuggling into him as the wet sand soaked into her dress. Her phone chirped merrily, and he watched as she reached into her pocket to check who had messaged her. She stiffened slighty as she read the message.
"Hey," she said, "Bree just messaged me. She says we all need to meet at the all-night coffee shop in Zombietown. She says they found something."
Zed looked down at her, mildly surprised but apparently unable to shake the pure joy pulsing through him. She'd said yes! He couldn't wait to tell Eliza and Bonzo.
"Come on," he said, standing with slight difficulty, as he couldn't put weight on both arms. "We'd better get over there."
Reaching down, he pulled her to her feet, both of them giggling as they attempted to brush the sand and salt from their clothes.
"Let's go, we'll dry off while we walk." He said, grabbing her hand as he rubbed his thumb against the stone that now rested there.
His. She was his. Always.
"Yeah," she nodded. "I am."
ZzZzZzZ
The Seabrook County archive room was huge, and smelled of dust and old paper. Bree placed a very heavy book on top of the already taller-than-her stack she had compiled on the creaky wooden table. A plume of dust billowed down and into her face, causing her to go into her third sneezing episode in the last two hours.
"Breeska?" She heard Bonzo call from several rows away, where he was grabbing up another stack of books to add to the pile. Her mom had given her the key to the archive room at city hall, so of course he had insisted on coming along so that she wouldn't be alone. Willa and Eliza were planning on meeting up with them later at ZomBrewz, the all-night coffee shop in Zombietown. Bree and Bonzo would bring the records with the oldest buildings in the county, and Eliza would cross-check the most likely locations on her computer to help compile a list.
Unfortunately, all of the files in this building were alphabetized, rather than being organized by date. So rather than a more straightforward search, they were having to go letter by letter, date by date. Though to be honest, dust aside, she was having fun looking at all of the old records with Bonzo. They had come across some interesting bits of Seabrook history, including an old grocery store his family had owned prior to the zombie outbreak. The Graves' Grocery had been a successful family business at one time. Unfortunately for Bonzo's grandparents, and his then-teenage mother, they had been eating lunch on the West side of town when the explosion occurred.
Twenty-five years later, when the z-bands were created, the grocery store had long since been sold and demolished. These decisions had been made by distant relatives who had inherited the property. As it turned out, this had been the fate of all businesses and property owned by those who had become zombies. Everyone on that side of the barrier had been declared "legally dead" only a few years after the outbreak. Most of them, now that they had finally been afforded some level of equality, would still never see any kind of profit from their formerly owned properties, including the Graves family. Bree had been completely shocked by this, but Bonzo had simply shrugged his shoulder.
"No point being sad," he'd said in accented English. "I have everything I need."
He leaned down, pressing a kiss to her dusty and probably sweaty forehead as she blushed.
She smiled up at him with pride. Unbeknownst to most of their friends, she had actually been tutoring Bonzo in English for the past six months. He had always been able to understand it, but lacked the confidence to ever try to speak it in the presence of other people. And while he was still far too shy to attempt speaking it in front of anyone, he had been making excellent strides in his language capabilities. Bree had always said that he had an ear for languages, and she still firmly believed it.
Bree had giggled as she grabbed his collar, pulling him down for a quick kiss as they both continued to smile.
Now, she continued to sneeze as she watched Bonzo turn a corner, another large stack on books in his arms.
"Breeska, za grebska oz?" (Bree, are you okay?)
"Gar oz," (I'm fine,) she replied. "All of this dust is just killing my allergies."
"Then it's good we're almost done." He replied, gently placing a large, faded green book labeled "Z."
Bree sighed in relief. If she stayed in this dusty room much longer, she'd only be able to communicate through sneezes.
She eagerly scooped up the book, as well as the notepad she had brought along to write down potential building names and addresses. There weren't a lot of entries in this book, and it ranged from between 1965 – 1995. This was, coincidentally, about the same time frame between the initial outbreak and the eventual invention of the z-band. Bree was pretty rusty when it came to Zombie history, as it hadn't been taught in schools until this semester, but she was pretty sure that z-bands had been first distributed amongst zombies in 1993.
As Bonzo began picking up the books she had finished to return to the shelf, Bree flipped tiredly through the yellowed pages. Most of these buildings had been marked as demolished, or were currently completely different active businesses. She glanced again at the copy of Qamar's drawing she had brought with her.
The building she was looking for would be old, and probably out of use for many years. The room in the drawing looked extremely dirty, with wooden floors and an abundance of dust, mold and who knew what else. Behind the moonstone, which was hoisted into the air with multiple ropes, were a series of what looked like large cages made with chain link fencing. Maybe it was an old animal shelter or something?
As she reached the last entry, ,she stopped. Bree leaned in close to the page, curiously examining the few words recorded there. The building on this page did not have a business license number listed, as all the others had. It simply had "Building Z" at the top of the page, stamped into the paper by an old typewriter decades before. She continued reading, her eyes gradually widening as she took in the information written there.
"Hey, Bonzo..." She drawled, trying to keep the volume of her voice steady but insistent as she attempted to get his attention.
"Jah, Breeska?" He called back as she heard the soft thunk of books being laid across a shelf.
"Come here for a second, please?"
There were additional thudding noises as more books were hastily put into place on shelves, followed by the quick padding of large feet on the old, carpeted floor. Bree watched, unable to stop the grin from sliding onto her face as he once again rounded the corner and bounded towards her with a face partially obscured with shaggy bangs.
"Za oz?" He asked, panting lightly. He jerked his head back, attempting to flip the offending hair out of his eyes.
"Yeah," Bree said, brows dipping down again as she glanced back to the entry on the page.
"It's just..." She paused. "Did you know that the Seabrook Power had a second facility on the other side of Zombietown?"