Zed Necrodopolis straightens out his reconstructed coverall jacket, a patchwork of the standard, government-issued coveralls all zombies got. He smooths out his hair in the bathroom mirror. He looks good. He feels good. He had finished the last bits of alterations for the jacket the night before, but it came out better than he had thought it would. Although his pants were too short, his white high tops covered most of his ankles, so it wasn't too noticeable.

"Today is going to be amazing," he tells himself. Look good, feel good, do good.

At seventeen years old, Zed was making history as one of the first zombies to cross the Zombietown barrier, not in a Containment van. Today, he and his friends would be crossing the barrier without a Zombie Patrol escort, making the two mile trek to Seabrook High, the first high school in Seabrook history to allow zombies within its gates.

Zed glances down at his Z-Band, bouncing anxiously on the balls of his feet. He turns his wrist and the screen comes to life, the green word "STABLE" lighting up the screen. He knows he's stable, and instead looks to the corner, checking his battery life. Three and a half bars, aka another three and a half weeks until he would absolutely need to recharge.

He looks back to his reflection, smiling at himself. "Hi, I'm Zed, it's nice to meet you!" The greeting comes out naturally now, though he still can't believe that in an hour he'll be saying it to actual humans!

He's never been around humans, but everyone in Zombietown knows his name. All the moms call him charming, all the dads thought he was witty and hilarious, all the little kids thought he was the coolest thing ever. He was Zed Necrodopolis. The first known live zombie birth. Baby Z. Everyone liked him!

He shouldn't be so nervous to meet humans for the first time. Except, humans don't like zombies. At least, that's what his dad says. Zevon Necrodopolis wants his son to cool it on the confidence so he doesn't freak anyone out. But what would he know? Zombies and humans haven't interacted since the barrier went up fifty years ago. The only human interaction they've had is with Zombie Patrol and the scientists/doctors at Zombie Containment.

But humans couldn't all hate zombies. After all, they were letting them into Seabrook! And Zed wasn't one to immediately write off someone just because of their reputation.

"I'm Zed Necrodopolis," he repeats to his reflection. "It's nice to meet you."

He's got this. He's going to crush it with the humans, try out and make the football team, lead Seabrook to their first victory in decades, and win MVZ — most valuable zombie.

This is so going to be his year.

He smiles one last time at his reflection. "I'm Zed. Yeah, I'm a zombie."

His dad makes brains-in-a-can for breakfast. It's just cauliflower, which tastes like gym sneakers, something both Zed and his little sister Zoey agree on. Zed scarfs down though, too nervous and excited to wait. When the seven o'clock alarm on his Z-Band goes off, he makes a mad dash out of his house. He doesn't hear his dad and baby sister calling out goodbyes, running out of the house and jumping down the steps.

The streets fill with other zombies his age, all being sent off to school, meeting up with their friends, or just grabbing a bite of food at Zane's Cauli-Brains stand. The younger kids who still can't leave Zombietown are getting sent off to their zombie schools, walking to the bus stop with the designated parent.

Zombietown was bursting with life and it was only seven in the morning.

Zed honestly loves his neighborhood. He loves his people, the way everyone is so friendly and supportive. They joke around, play games, dance, and party. It's times like this that ease his human anxiety. He can't imagine anyone actually being scared of zombies, not when they're just having fun and living life, just like humans do.

Before he officially leaves his house, he grabs the watering hose, using the little trickle it provides to water Zoey's plant. What type of plant was it? Where did she find a seed that would grow in Zombietown dirt? All good questions. All he knows is that Zoey is too little to use the hose, but she cares about the plant almost as much as she cares about getting a dog. The plant is the only living thing that's ever grown in Zombietown, the rest of their front lawn filled with flowers made of paper and light bulbs, all constructed by Zed and his friend, Bonzo, to make Zoey happy.

With the plant all watered, he makes his way down to the sidewalk. "Hey Zed!" someone calls from across the street.

He looks up at Cruz, waving to him from his bedroom window. Cruz, bless his soul, is crawling out of his window instead of using the front door. Why? Nobody knows. He was just a little strange like that.

Zed waves back, almost as excitedly as Cruz.

"Yo Zed!" Next door to Cruz, Zephyr and his sister Russo are leaving the house. Zephyr holds an old, beaten-up football over his shoulder, and calls out, "Go long!"

He throws the beaten-up football across the street, and Zed jogs backward, holding his arms out until it sinks into his grasp.

"Alright, Allstar!" Rizzo cheers.

"Football!" Cruz shouts excitedly, hanging halfway out his window still.

Zed laughs, turning around and throwing the ball back. He doesn't like to brag, but he's nailed the perfect spiral. It earns another cheer from Rizzo.

Z-Bands sound around the street, a wake up call from Zombie Containment to start heading into Seabrook. It shouldn't take more than thirty minutes to walk to school, but they needed to get screened at the barrier before going into town. It was going to take a while, hence why they needed to leave now to make it on time.

He mutters a curse, dashing across the street to his neighbor and best friend's house. He barely gets a chance to knock, Eliza Zambi wrenching the door open and walking outside.

"Let's get this shit show over with," she grumbles, walking past Zed and down the steps of her porch.

He rolls his eyes, following behind her. "Good morning to you too."

Zed, Eliza, and Bonzo stop at the gates outside of Seabrook High. The walk to Seabrook High was filled with hopeful stories, lots of singing and music, all of which came to a disheartening stop once they got to school.

Seabrook High had security just a step down from the castle, which was to be expected. Her royal highness was attending after all. She was in the same grade as Zed, maybe he'd get to meet her and share all his ideas to help zombies be more accepted with her! The school needed security and safety. But aside from the pink gates surrounding the school, with royal guards posted at every entrance running the metal detectors and checking student IDs, there was a ten-foot-tall chain link fence separating the human side and the zombie side.

Eliza scowls. "You have got to be kidding me." She looks at Zed, clearly irritated. "So we're 'allowed' in human schools as long as we're behind this stupid fence?"

She throws her arms out in frustration, her words sparking outrage among her fellow zom-teens.

They aren't doing anything inherently bad, but a crowd of unruly zombies doesn't go unnoticed by the Zombie Patrol on their side of the fence. Zed seems to be the only one to notice the uneasy shift with the Zombie Patrol, and even the humans on the other side of the fence. They've come too far to be sent back to the barrier because of a little fence.

He steps forward and away from the crowd, turning and facing his friends. He cups his hands around his mouth, calling out, "Zom-bies!"

The majority of the zombies, the ones who can hear him at least, call back, "Brouhaha!"

It's the stupidest, silliest call and response they could've come up with, but it always does its job, so he wasn't complaining.

"Guys, I know this is…unexpected. But we're still in Seabrook!" A few zombies nod in agreement. Most of them would've never guessed they'd leave Zombietown in their lifetime, let alone go to school in Seabrook!

"We're outta that busted up old school!" he adds, "No more classes in a dingy basement, right?!"

Someone in the back, probably Ritz, whoops. Zed grins at his fellow zombies. "We're not gonna let a measly fence keep us from having the best year ever! It's our time, right?!"

There's a chorus of 'yeah's and cheering. They're probably annoying the humans on the other side of the fence. Zed can feel the disgusted looks hitting his back, but he ignores them. He doesn't care what humans think of him and his friends. He'd end up dead from all the stress if he tried to cater to their wishes.

"This is gonna be our year!" he shouts excitedly.

The zombies cheer, hoot, and holler, revitalized with energy and life. Even Eliza can't stay upset, joining Fritz and Zach in the wave that's going around.

Zed laughs at his friends. This was more like it. They should be celebrating, not moping. He glances over his shoulder at the boring humans as they mingle with their fellow humans on their side of the fence. How could humans say zombies were bad news when they were over there doing nothing to celebrate the first day of school? He ignores the whispers and the looks because the buzz kill humans may think they're acting rowdy and rambunctious but as long as they were having fun no one on their side of the fence cared. Sure, Zed would love to get to interact with the humans. But he can do that inside of school, or at football tryouts.

Speaking of football…

"Yo Zed!"

He turns at Zephyr's voice, catching him on the other side of the courtyard, football in hands. They probably shouldn't be playing catch outside of school, but Zed can't pass up an opportunity to throw the ol' pigskin.

Zeph sends the ball sailing through the air, at the same time as a commotion strikes up on both the human and zombie sides of the fences. Zed turns around, looking over the sea of humans that parts for a bouncing blonde head, flanked by two guys and two girls decked out in cheer gear.

He raises an eyebrow, but he barely gets a second to look at the face causing the commotion. The ball he'd completely forgotten was headed his way hits him in the head. Hard. Zombie strength, even with a Z-Band, is no joke. Even though he's been tackled and knocked over and hit in the head plenty of times, it still hurts like a bitch. "Gah!" he cries, falling to the ground.

Partially passing out on the first day of school wasn't in the plan.

But he's Zed Necrodopolis. Going with the flow was sorta his thang.

"You're an idiot, Zed," Eliza snickers above him. Zed groans, keeping his eyes closed.

"Oh my goodness."

That wasn't one of his zombie friends. No, that voice was different, but vaguely familiar. And angelic. Sweet and light and just...perfect.

Zed opens his eyes, looking up towards the source of the voice. A beautiful, picture-perfect angel on the other side of the fence, shrouded in sunlight, watches him, making his already slow heartbeat freeze and race all at once. Her blonde hair falls over her shoulders, beautiful blue eyes wavering with concern, but even that doesn't subtract from her beauty.

He knows her face, but the throbbing in his head makes it hard to place it. All he knows is, "Woah."

"Are you okay?" she asks. "That was a pretty bad fall…"

He blinks, unable to formulate words, just stuttering.

Eliza jumps in to save him from further embarrassing himself in front of the gorgeous angel. "He'll be fine, your highness. Thanks for the concern."

Your highness?

The angel smiles softly. "Oh, okay. And you can just call me—"

The school bell rings before Zed can catch her name, the blonde angel being dragged away from the fence and into school.

Zed stares at the sky in a daze, letting his friends step over him to get into school. It's not until Bonzo and Eliza grab his arms, pulling him off the ground, that he gets it together enough to think properly. Though the blonde angel still plays heavy on his mind, her pretty smile is the only thing he thinks of.

Eliza waves a hand in front of his face, which he ignores. "I think he needs to see a nurse."

"Zor dogalug ziga," Bonzo says with a smirk.

Zed rolls his eyes. He does not need to see a love doctor. Falling in love at first sight was something for fairytales. This is the real world.

Plus, falling in love with a human was probably illegal or something. So there's that.

"Please. Zed has as much a chance of getting a date with the princess of Seabrook as he does of making the football team. No monsters allowed, remember?"

Zed rolls his eyes, his automatic response already leaving his mouth before he processes her words. "Things are changing—Wait." Did she say the princess? As in, her royal highness, Princess Addison, two or three middle names and like six last names?

"Th-That was Princess Addison?"

Eliza looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "Zeph must've hit you real good. Yes, that was the princess. They'll probably have your goof all over the news by lunch. 'Princess Addison Caters to Unconscious Zombie.'"

Eliza and Bonzo both laugh over Zed's misery. He would be a little peeved, if he wasn't still reeling from the princess being concerned over him. And being so pretty. Just thinking about her makes his heart race.

He can't dwell for much longer, because a Patrol officer hollers for them to get to class.

The only thing that can dampen his high from the princess being concerned over him is the hallway leading them down to Seabrook High's dingy basement.

Eliza rolls her neck, eyeing Zed. She doesn't even need to say anything, the disappointment is clear throughout the room, coming off of every zombie while they watch the only human in the room.

A woman in a pastel pink pantsuit clears her throat where she stands at the front of their class. "I'm Principal Lee. We are…thrilled to be forced to have you here." She says as she walks through the basement, weaving her way through the zombies already seated. Carefully. Very carefully. Like, doing everything she can to not touch them. It feels a little disrespectful, but Zed hopes she's just a germaphobe.

She stops once she's cleared the largest part, letting out a breath, "Do not leave the basement. Have a great year."

She starts to leave, walking right up to Zed. This is his chance.

"Principal Lee?"

She startles. "Oh! Okay."

"I was just wondering...How do I try out for the football team?"

Eliza perks up, suddenly interested in participating in school. "And the computer coding club?"

"Gruzic." Bonzo adds, proudly.

Zed nods. At Principal Lee's confused face, he explains. "Music classes. Bonzo's an artist. He's classically trained."

Bonzo takes that as his cue to play from his horn. And sing.

He's good, but Principal Lee is clearly not entertained.

"Oh, yeah, okay, zip it."

Bonzo stops, hurt, and Zed grips Bonzo's shoulder in comfort. There was no need to be rude about it.

Principal Lee gives them a forced smile, one that doesn't feel the least bit happy or genuine. "Let me ask you this. Do any of these include leaving the basement?"

"Well…" Zed paused to think. He's pretty sure he can't play football in the basement. "Yeah. I guess."

"Then, I guess you don't." She says it so proudly it almost doesn't hurt as bad. Almost. "So, no tryouts for you. I'm sorry. I don't mean it. Have a great day. That's just an expression. Excuse me."

She shoos them out of her way, basically pushing past them.

Zed huffs.

Progress, he tells himself. Today is a step forward for zombies. Minus all the major mishaps, today was still a step in the right direction.

The teacher, some zombie Zed had never seen before, says, "Okay, let's do some grammar or something."

Eliza rolls her eyes. "This is supposed to be chemistry!"

"Look, 45 minutes ago I was a janitor, kid, so bear with me."

Eliza groans, walking forward to find somewhere to sit in the dingy basement. She doesn't check to see if Zed is behind her. Which works for him, because he's taking advantage of not being the center of attention for once, slowly backing out of the classroom.

He slips out of the door and runs. There are signs all over, making it easy to find his way up to the main campus.

All the human students are in class already. But if Zed stays down there, he'll never make it to football tryouts. And if he was going to prove that zombies could be just like humans, he needed to show them what he could do, starting with football.

It's a high-risk move, yeah, but he's got smarts and stealth on his side.

He's Zed Necrodopolis. He, Eliza, and Bonzo would sneak into Seabrook regularly to raid their dumpsters and steal snacks and clothes and other supplies. He can sneak around the halls to get to the football field, wait there until tryouts start during free period, make the team, change the way humans see zombies, and win!

As graceful as a bumbling baboon, Zed bangs his leg against some metal rack in the hallway. Super great at sneaking around.

"Argh!" he cries, his bones rattling, sending painful waves up his leg.

It's a bad start, but he'll get through it. His leg just hurts like a bitch.

"Ah," he groans, limping down the hallway.

At the other end of the hall, someone gasps. Zed looks to see a dark-skinned cheerleader freaking out. "Rogue zombie!"

"Oh no."

She runs before Zed can even try to explain himself. "Wait, wait!"

He's too late, the human cheerleader pulling the Z-Alert and running off in a panic.

Okay, so another bad start to the day.

Zed sighs. "Are you serious?" he says to himself. Humans start to file out of the classrooms, but as soon as they spot him they panic and run.

In an attempt to calm the frantic crowd, he tried to say, "It's completely fine, you don't have to…" He stops when he realizes nobody cares about what he has to say.

He sighs, his shoulders deflating. "Worry about it."

So today was off to a pretty bad start. Even an optimist, such as himself, couldn't deny things were going terribly. On the bright side, it couldn't get much worse.

"There!" he jumps at the sound, turning to see a crowd of big, buff human men pointing at him. "Zombie!"

It got worse.