Chapter 31: Informative Hacking
Summary: During a sleepover, a somewhat serious conversation arises between Addison, Bree, Eliza, Willa, and Wynter. Eliza has some theories about the questions they've raised, but they need to wait a few years to test those theories.
Word Count: 1893
As her parents worked their way up to become Chief of the Z-Patrol and Mayor, they spent more time at work than the average parents. It meant that when she was little, Addison spent a lot of time at her Aunt and Uncle's, time that was often spent working on cheer routines with Bucky. Learning more about cheer was one of the plus sides Addison found to her parents being absent because they were working so much. The down side to it all was that her parents weren't involved much more than encouraging her to be involved in cheer and making sure she wore her wig. However, it also helped make her more independent and somewhat self sufficient.
Addison's ability and willingness to take care of herself meant her parents trusted her to be alone for a night or two by the time she was in high school. While some parents might not have trusted their teens to be responsible and not throw a party but instead might have asked a responsible adult to help care for their child, that wasn't the case for Dale and Missy in regards to Addison. It also meant that by the time she was a Senior, having Bree, Eliza, Willa, and Wynter over for girls' night became a fairly common occurrence.
After having dinner one fall Saturday, the five young women relaxed in the living room while watching a movie. Once the first movie of the night ended, the five decided to take a break so they could get up, stretch, and get some snacks. While they tried to decide on what movie they wanted to watch following their break, their conversation began to stray away from the topic of movies.
Eventually, they unintentionally found their way to talking about school and their classes rather than movies. As Seniors, most of their requirements for graduation were finished, giving them more freedom in what they wanted to take and what electives they could fill their schedules with.
Soon, the conversation led them to talking about a new class that had been added in since the integration began at Seabrook High. It was an off-shoot of a normal biology class that looked at how humans, werewolves, and zombies were similar and different at the biological level. Though there were obviously things that didn't change, there were some that did, otherwise Z-Bands and Moonstone necklaces would have been obsolete and useless. "You know how we've been discussing what Z-Bands and Moonstones do?" Addison began, somewhat rhetorically since they were all in the same class as there weren't as many people interested in learning about those things as there probably should have been. She received nods of acknowledgement in reply. "There's a lot that we've learned, but what about kids who are any combination, but not fully werewolf or zombie. Would they need a Moonstone or Z-Band?" she trailed off.
"Why do you ask?" Willa questioned.
"Just thinking about someday," Addison replied.
Eliza scoffed. "You sure that's it?"
"What?"
"So you're not going to tell a phony story about a human friend 'Maddison' and her boyfriend . . . 'Zeb' who's a zombie who recently found out they're expecting and want to know if their kid will need a Z-Band?"
"Wha—" Addison began, but quickly cut herself off when she realized the meaning behind Eliza's words, her cheeks gaining a slight pink color at the insinuation of what her friend said. "No," Addison spoke firmly. "Absolutely not," she insisted. "If—or when, that happens, it will happen after college. And you'll all be the first to know." She paused, "I really am just thinking about someday and the future."
"All right," Eliza agreed.
"That is interesting to think about though," Bree noted.
"There is only so much they're willing to talk about and theorize about in class," Wynter added.
"I actually don't know much about anything with werewolves and if a kid who's not fully wolf would need a Moonstone," Eliza began. "But I do know, or have a theory, about what would happen if a zombie and a human had a kid together."
"How?" Willa raised a brow.
"Hacking Zed's Z-Band freshman year helped," Eliza shrugged.
"Hacking Zed's Z-Band!" Wynter exclaimed. This was a story that somehow had not been shared between them yet.
"Why?" Willa questioned. "Why'd you hack it?" she clarified her question, her curiosity obviously getting the better of her as well, just not with the same enthusiasm Wynter had.
"I'm not proud of what I did," Eliza said. "It was stupid and dangerous."
"And could have killed Zed," Addison noted.
"And could have done that," Eliza agreed. "But, because of that and the adjustments I made to his Z-Band, I have a theory about it."
A silence filled the room for several moments. Everyone seemed to forget they'd originally been planning what movie to watch as what Eliza said sunk in. It seemed that Eliza was waiting for someone to request hearing the theory, rather than just beginning to share it on her own. "What is it?" Addison questioned, her curiosity about Eliza's speculations reaching its breaking point.
"Right," Eliza smiled, almost giddy in a way that was outside the norm for her at the thought of sharing her theory. "We all know what makes zombies different from humans is the alteration that the explosion caused. In reality, zombie DNA isn't all that different from humans," she summed up things they'd talked about in class, and her four companions nodded their understanding again.
"So," Eliza continued. "Z-Bands 'tamp' things down so zombies aren't rouge or aren't full zombie. Anyway, we'll call that, full zombie, 100 and humans are at 0. When Zed hacked his Z-Band the wrong way and went against my advice, he put himself at 0. Without Z-Band, essentially, it's 100. So 0% zombie versus 100% zombie, so to speak.
"Z-Bands typically put zombies at about 50. Not quite human, but not fully zombie. But even with the Z-Band, zombie DNA is still 100. However," Eliza continued. "If you mix zombie and human DNA, it should end up at about 50 like zombies are now."
"But they wouldn't need a Z-Band?" Bree questioned, having been mostly silent as she waited for Eliza to explain, and then as she took in the information.
"Theoretically they'd be like this," Eliza motioned to herself, "all the time without the need for a Z-Band."
Addison hummed in thought. "Interesting."
"But apparently we have to wait at least four years to test that theory. Unless," Eliza teased, looking over to Bree and Addison.
"No," the two answered together.
"You know, you could take one for the team," Bree added, her tone serious, but her eyes revealing a joking light.
"Yeah? Me and what human boy?"
Bree shrugged. "The choice is yours."
"Maybe you'll get a someday too," Wynter spoke. "We'll all get our somedays," she smiled dreamily.
"Rom-Com next?" Willa suggested after hearing Wynter's tone.
"Sounds good to me," Bree agreed.
"We can save the rest of talking about Eliza's theory for when we need to worry about it," Addison said. "Why don't you pick the movie," she added, handing the remote over to Eliza.
Eliza smiled somewhat mischievously as she began scrolling through the movies they could potentially watch on the streaming services they had available to them. While everyone assumed she'd pick something like a horror movie or something with lots of action as those tended to be her favorite movies, she eventually settled on a Rom-Com.
The remainder of the evening, the conversations that arose during the movies, after them, or while they were paused were much less serious than the one about anyone's potential someday. The five joked, had spontaneous dance parties, sang karaoke—sometimes well, but other times purposely off key. They knew they'd still make time to hang out when they were in college and doing other things the following year, but as it'd likely be a little harder to make the time, they wanted to make the most of the time they had left in high school
CHCHCH
Over the years, the details of the serious conversation about whether or not kids of a human and a zombie would need a Z-Band faded from the minds of the five. However, Eliza's theory was never very far from her mind as she watched Addison & Zed and Bree & Bonzo's relationships continue to grow and strengthen. If zombies were evolving past their need for Z-Bands, her friends, and potentially their kids, could help prove she was right. But, she'd wait until her friends were ready to have kids to find out if her theory was correct.
CHCHCH
It was pretty unsurprising when Zed and Addison ended up being the first zombie/human couple to announce that they were expecting. They weren't the first human/zombie couple to get married, but it seemed that all the other couples were either waiting longer to begin expanding their families, or they didn't plan to add kids to their families at all.
~o~
When Addison was in labor, it was a much bigger event than it really should have been. There were more people in the delivery room than normal as well. There was no way to tell before the baby was born whether or not Eliza's theory was correct, so everyone had to be prepared in case the baby would need a Z-Band. Although there were others with degrees who had done research relating to mixing human and zombie genetics, and they had drawn the same conclusion as Eliza had while still in high school, they needed to be precautious regardless of their conclusions.
"Told you he wouldn't need a Z-Band," Eliza smirked as she joked with Zed and Addison while holding Zeke Necrodopolis several hours after he was born.
"But he looks slightly more human than Zed," Addison noted. Although Zeke's hair was a deep green making it obvious that he was the son of a zombie, there were some brown spots in his hair, and his skin wasn't as pale as his father's.
"Zombies are evolving past our need for Z-Bands," Eliza reasoned. "Maybe 90-100 is the range for someone who's full zombie. Even without his Z-Band, Zed's always had a bit more control than you'd expect from a rogue zombie. Maybe instead of something like 50, Zeke's normal is 40," she hypothesized. "Of course Zed could always help me test—"
"No!" Zed and Addison exclaimed together before Eliza could finish her sentence.
"Suit yourselves," Eliza joked with a shrug, looking down at Zeke who surprisingly hadn't stirred at his parents' sudden exclamation. "But now that I've had the chance to meet Zeke and check on how you're both doing, I should probably head out so the three of you can get your rest." Eliza stood and carefully passed Zeke back to Addison. "Seriously, rest up, and I'll see you later." The three adults shared a few more words before Eliza disappeared through the doorway and down the hall.
"Sometimes, the fact that you hacked your Z-Band is helpful," Addison spoke. "But if you ever do it again," she trailed off, the open ended threat coming across as sinister enough.
"I know," Zed replied, placing a kiss on Addison's forehead.
A few minutes later, Zeke was returned to his bassinet so the newly expanded family could get the rest they needed.
A/N: This was sort of a way to get one theory I have out in the world. I wanted to share it, but also didn't want to make it into a full/ big story, so here it is. Also just a sort of goofy way to spoof the lie thing about names that happens in so many shows.
Today's the one year anniversary of when I posted the first chapter/ short in this series, so I wanted to make sure I posted today. While I've enjoyed sharing so many stories so quickly over the last year, I don't think they'll be as many shorts as often anymore. I've got a lot of half finished things because I got stuck on where to go with them. Hopefully I'll find a way to finish them and they can join the collection.
I'm still open and willing to take requests, as always though, I can't make any promises.
Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following,
-CrazyHayniac