One month had gone by and Addison was already riding the struggle bus. Maybe she was being too ambitious by taking all the classes she had signed up for. Next year she would definitely be taking it a little slower. The only things keeping her from losing her mind were cheer practice after classes and of course Zed the zombie. They had started to text regularly. It started off with simple questions about the outbreak and the zombies, but soon progressed into How was your class?, or Tell me about cheer practice today? Then somewhere along the way, a flirty tone started to take over and the texts became something altogether on their own.

Addison's phone buzzed and she reached under her pillow to pull it out, groggily smiling at the text she had woken up to.

"Good morning starshine, the earth says hello."

Full on cheesy grinning she typed her reply. "Good Morning ❤️ ."

She stumbled around her room trying to get dressed for her first class with her phone clutched in one hand and her eyes glued to the screen. Bree watched with shifty eyes from her side of the room as Addison went into their shared bathroom and giggled as she brushed her teeth.

"Ok, spill girl!" Bree shouted, busting into the bathroom causing Addison to startled and drop her toothbrush in the sink.

"Spill what?" She replied. She rinsed out her mouth and whirled around to face Bree.

"Um, only why you've been giggling and giving your phone googly eyes more and more lately." Bree teased.

"Ok, I ...met someone." Addison braced herself. Bree let out a loud shriek and laughed as she hugged her best friend, shaking her in the process.

"Oh my God. Who is it? Do I know him? Is he on the football team? I bet he is. He's on the team isn't he? Oh I bet he's dreamy. What does he look like?" She rambled on, spitting out questions faster than Addison could process.

"Bree! Focus!" Addison grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her a little bit. "One thing at a time." She giggled.

Bree took a deep breath, "Ok ok.. who is it?"

Addison bit her lip and held back a smile. "No, you don't know him. He's not on the team but I will show you what he looks. His name is Zed and you have to promise not to freak out ok?" Bree nodded her head grinning and Addison brought up a picture of him on her phone. "This is what he sent me just now that had me crushing so hard." She turned her phone to show Bree the picture that Zed her sent her.

Bree quickly snatched the phone to look closer. Zed had his toothbrush in his mouth, his head tilted at an angle and his eyes rolled back into his head. He had one arm out in front of him and the other snapping the pic of him. He looked as if he was posing like a stereotypical zombie with his arms out, looking for a snack.

Bree gasped, "Addison. You know he's a zombie right?" She said looking from the picture to Addison's face and back down again. "Yes. I know he's a zombie!" Addison exclaimed. Taking her phone back from Bree's grasp. "I met him the first day I went to the library and he offered to help me with my outbreak paper. We exchanged numbers and then just started texting." Addison shrugged like it wasn't a big deal and walked around Bree to continue getting ready for her class.

"Well, has he asked you out or anything?" Bree inquired continuing to follow her around.

"No." she said disappointed. "We're kind of stuck in this friendly flirty limbo. I've been waiting on him to make that first move, but so far it's just the texting."

"Why don't you ask him out?" Bree suggested.

"I don't know. Call me old fashioned but I kind of want him to ask me first."

"Well.." Bree trailed off thoughtfully, "Just ask him if he's going to the game tonight. It's the first of the season and everyone will be there. It could give you a good excuse to see him in person and then maybe he will ask you afterwards."

Addison's whole body lit up. "Bree, your a genius!" It was her turn to hug her best friend. "I know." Bree replied smartly.

How hadn't she thought to ask him about the game? It was the perfect place to meet in person again. She would be fired up and full of pep, and not to mention, wearing the tight tiny skirted cheer uniform she knew made all the footballers turn heads. She finished up getting ready and formed the text in her mind.

"Seabrooks first game is tonight. Will I be seeing you there?" She finished with a winky face and waited with bated breath for a reply. Bubbles popped up saying he was typing and then quickly disappeared. This happened several more times and Addison got more and more discouraged with each bubble. Finally a reply came.

"I don't know if I can. Zombies are only allowed on campus during the day. And the game will be in the evening when the sun is going down." He sent that and then a sad face in a seperate text right after. "But trust me, I really want to be there." Disappointed, Addison sent her reply.

"Dang. I was sooooo hoping to see you tonight." He had bubbles pop up a few more times and disappear before his simple reply.

"I'll find a way!"

Addison felt like she was walking on air, drifting around campus all day and when it came time to get ready for the game, she sat in the cheerleaders dressing room humming to herself. She was putting the finishing touches on her hair when Bree came bouncing over. "There are zombies out there." She cried giddily.

Addison turned with a huge smile and ran to the little window that overlooked the football stadium. Sure enough, there was Zed. In all his handsome zombie glory. He and about five other zombies were making a place to sit on a hill that was on the opposite side of the field.

"No!" Shouted Bucky. He marched over and pushed Addison and Bree from in front of the window, his lackeys in tow. "Hmf." He snorted. "They aren't supposed to be on the campus at night."

"Well…" chimed Bree. "Technically they aren't. That side of the field is for the opposing team and as long as they are behind the fence, they aren't on campus." She finished smartly. Bucky turned and gave her an incredulous look.

"Do you want to be off the team Bree?" Bree shook her head no. "Ok then, shut your face."

Zed sat with his small group of friends on the hill that was opposite Seabrook's side of the stadium. They were technically off campus, thanks to some research by his best friend Eliza, but still close enough that he had a very clear view of Addison. She had run out of the building with the rest of the cheerleaders in a single line with the asshole captain taking up the front spot and sporting his fake smile to the crowd. She was somewhere in the middle and when their eyes met, she waived her poms in his direction.

His eyes stayed glued to her with every cheer, every flip and every high kick. She had to look at and engage with the crowd, but every so often he could see her turn her head and look in his direction. It made his dead heart flutter; a small feeling he thought was as close to a heartbeat as he could get. The football team was shit, a fact no one could deny. But every so often they managed to score and Zed would cheer along with the crowd.

"This is the dumbest shit!" grumbled Eliza. She was laid back on the grass with her hands behind her head and her combat boot covered feet crossed at the ankles, staring at the quickly darkening sky. The first few stars were making their appearance.

"What are you talking about? They score and the crowd goes wild. It's infectious!" replied Zed.

"Yeah ...and so is chlamydia." She retorted.

"You didn't have to come, Eliza. You could have stayed at home."

"And miss this…" she nodded her head towards their friend Bonzo, who was flailing his arms while jumping up and down and hollering in zombie.

Seabrook ended up losing, as they figured, but the crowd didn't care. Addison and her team had put the crowd into such high spirits that they seemed to forget they were there to watch a game. He stood and prepared to meet Addison by the gates. She had texted that if he could find a way to be there, she would find a way to skip out on the closing ceremony of the game. A weird Seabrook tradition that they did every game, win or lose.

He made his way towards the main gate, making sure to stay on the other side of the fence. As long as he was on this side, he couldn't cause any trouble. He was excited to see where tonight was going to take their relationship. So far they seemed to just be friends, good friends he would say. He sent her texts with flirty undertones and she seemed to respond well to that but he still had doubts. He was ready to ask her for a date, something more than friends, but he wasn't sure if that was something she wanted. What with him being dead and all. And then there was the fact that her parents were well to do around town. If they were to find out she was dating a zombie, there would be serious repercussions for him.

She looked even more gorgeous and sexy in her uniform up-close than she did from across the field. She came bouncing over; looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was paying attention to her. When she was confident no one noticed she had left the rest of the cheer team, she put her focus on Zed. His heart made that weird flutter again when he looked into her eyes.

She stopped short when she reached him, unsure of what her next move should be. Zed decided to make the first move; something she was grateful for. He reached out and pulled her into a hug. She was so warm and alive in his arms and he could feel her heart beating against his dead one. His last girlfriend he had all throughout high school was naturally a zombie too, so this was a new feeling for him and he decided he never wanted to let it go. But all too soon she was pulling away, smiling up at him.

"Why hello." She smirked. He was losing it…to a human!

"So, you managed to sneak away. How much trouble will you get into?" For me, he thought to himself.

"Bucky is the only one who would care, and it's not like we have any cheers left. Besides, he's going to be too busy with the fireworks." She had no idea what she was saying with that statement.

"Fireworks?" Zed turned to see his friends picking up to leave the hill they had been sitting on, but still lingering. Leave, he thought.

"Yeah, they decided to do something a little bit different this year. Why, what's wrong?" She could see the panic in Zeds face.

"Zombies are afraid of fire, and we had… an incident… about 15 years ago. There was some crazy human who ran through Zombieland and just decided to start blasting at our houses. A lot of people were injured and some of us still have a little PTSD from it. If my friends don't leave there's going to be trouble."

Suddenly the crowd inside the stadium turned loud as everyone broke out in applause and praises. Addison's expression quickly changed to terror. "We have to warn somebody. It's about to start."

"Ok you run back inside and try to get to Bucky; I'll turn back and go warn my friends that they need to leave." But instantly the darkened sky was lit ablaze with colors of pink and green and the sounds of the fireworks crackled across space.

All the color drained from Addison's face and her heart dropped. Zed could have sworn she was the zombie in that instant.

"Too late." She squeaked out