There were only a few times Josephine Jackson had seen a zombie before and usually it was either behind a wall, fence, or from at least 20 feet away. The creatures were always contained in some way whether by physical border or social, something that the human was perfectly fine with. But this time, the zombie stood within BED.

BED - An acronym used by humans that stands for Brain Eating Distance. This is calculated very easily by measuring a zombie's arm length, subtracting the hands, as this is how far you want to stay away from the monsters at a minimum. They can grab you from here and then, well, eat your brain!

Josephine felt herself sweat and gripped the pole tighter, looking at the monster and trying to will herself to move. The BED was already too small of a size for her to have any hope to live…Why was he just standing there? He could have grabbed her already, ripped off her arm, sucked out her eyeball for breakfast, and-

"Shit." The zombie cursed as footsteps down the hall increased. The human was a liability for sure judging by her reaction and weapon, but he needed to get away from the humans as soon as possible. Josephine let out an embarrassing noise of shock as the monster grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back to the safe room and closed them into it.

As soon as he was in the room, Zed let out a sigh of relief and dropped the human's hand, walking further into the bunker-style room. This was definitely not how he had imagined his first day at human school to go. First the basement, then no football, then the zombie alarm? He really was on a record today.

And then running into a human girl on his way from a mob who wanted to rip his head off? Well, he couldn't risk his cover being blown and it was the same girl who caught the football and threw it without a sweat. Zed kind of wanted to talk to her about football, maybe she could help get somewhere. Even if she was a little... cold around the edges. Zed put a smile on his face and turned around to talk to the fellow student.

"Hi, I'm Z-" Zed's eyes went wide as he blocked the metal pole from hitting the side of his face and followed the weapon to the human girl looking at him intensely, a familiar fear in her eyes and anger on her lips. He sighed and let go of the pole. "Look, I know I have devilishly good looks but you don't have to actually hit me to hit on me."

Josephine felt her brain stop functioning. The zombie was talking to her. The zombie that she had just tried to decapitate, failed, and was somehow still leaving her alive? And gave her back her weapon?!

Was he flirting?!

"I, I'm..." Oh good God. Was she at a loss for words already?!

The zombie smiled - smiled?! - at the human and took a few steps forward, throwing out a hand. His smile faltered a little when she took quick step backs to put space between them. Zed held his hand out for a few moments before scratching the back of his head. "Uh, hi. I'm Zed."

Her mouth opened in shock.

"Why aren't you eating my brain right now?"

That should have woken the zombie up. His true nature would soon be revealed and Josephine would get what she wanted - a fight. She could take on the savage pretending to be cultured. He was no boy, he was a ravenous, evil, monster...

Who laughed?

Did monsters laugh?

"If I did want human brains, yours would be the last one I would pick." The green haired beast teased the human happily, finding no real offense to the audacious question.

"Did... did you just call me stupid?" Josephine asked, narrowing her eyes at Zed who only smirked. There was no way this was happening, this had to be a dream as she watched the supposed monster shrug his shoulders almost tauntingly. "I'll have you know that I graduated at the top of my class in middle school."

Zed raised an eyebrow. "So... are you saying I should want your brain?"

"Yes!" Josephine snapped out. Her brain was perfectly smart, filled with knowledge from years of studying, her brain would be a delicacy! It would be plump, juicy, perfectly pink- Wait... Her eyebrows furrowed as she realized what she had said and shook her head. "I mean no! I-I don't know!"

"I mean, if you really want me to eat your brain..." Zed teased holding out his arms in the stereotypical zombie move and wiggling his fingers. Josephine snorted and hid an amused smile behind her hand. The zombie snapped his fingers and pointed over at the girl in victory. "Hah! I got you to smile, now you have to tell me your name."

"I don't remember that rule." Josephine tried to compose herself with reminders that this was a zombie. A no good, dirty zombie that her dad works hard everyday to keep in line. The type of creatures who were a threat to her family's lives every day. But... he sure didn't act like a zombie.

She hesitated, looking at the expecting look of Zed and back at the pole in her hand. He wasn't too bad, she guessed. He was weirdly pale up close and the bruising around his eyes was unsettling, but he had muscles, a kind smile, and wasn't intimidating...

"The only good zombie
is a dead zombie."

No. Josephine gripped the pole harder, her dad warned her about zombies ever since she was born. They were trouble, no good vermin. She needed to get out of there.

Zed's hopeful grin dropped heavily as he watched the brunette grip the pole before taking a step back, then another, before running out of the room with fear all across her face. He had really hoped he could build that bridge across cultures with... someone. But, now he sat alone in the back of the safe room, wishing that things could be different.

"Josephine? I-"

Addison was ignored by Josephine, whose heart was thumping. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as if the Shockcreak dam broke and the water rushed wherever it could, sending strength into her legs to run run run from the danger she was in. Let little miss perfect be damned, she didn't care!

Was she actually in danger?

Her heart was racing as if she was out of breath, but she loved running. She ran multiple times a week as exercise and this was nothing compared to how hard pushed herself on weekends. Josephine's heart should not be pumping like this.

She didn't have long before she bumped into Bucky Buchannon and his girls. Her heart stopped at the glare, before she realized... Addison.

Zombie.

Addison went into the zombie room.

Addison went into the zombie safety room where a zombie was currently waiting.

Her eyes filled with horror as she looked over at the cheerleading head and quickly explained that Addison needed help. It was no hidden knowledge that the two were cousins - both were uncannily good at cheer.

And so Josephine found herself being pulled towards the zombie safe room as if she could do anything. Zed had already shown his strength, catching the pole without even a blink or wince, and then letting her have the weapon as if it was just a kids toy. It posed no danger to him.

They were humans. They were food. They were the prey.

The room came into sight and somehow Bucky had the confidence to throw open the door and walk in first as if he was on a mission. Josephine was afraid of what she would see. Blood painting pristine white walls? Appendages across the room as if they were a new lamp for display? Organs used as decorations or-or an eyeball hanging from-

She was alive.

Josephine never did tell Zed her name, but it seemed it would never matter as Bucky stole his cousin away from the monster's arms and the cheerleaders followed their captain without question. She was left with the monster staring at her with an emotion other than the expected hunger or rage.

Sadness.

"You've got a great arm, Josephine."

The human blinked over in confusion at the zombie Zed who grinned. As if the smile could hide the emotions and he could drown them in optimism, he cleared his throat and took another step forward when the human girl seemed to lower her guard.

"Addison said your name was Josephine." Zed continued, trying not to scare the teen and making calm movements closer to Josephine. "I just wanted to tell you that. I'm not here to hurt you."

"Right." Josephine nodded, looking at the zombie in disbelief. "You like my arm and you don't want to hurt me."

Zed paused and started feeling a little flustered. "N-not like, I-want-to-tear-your-arm-off-and-eat-it-for-lunch-today, but l-like, y'know, balls."

"Balls?" Josephine's eyebrows shot up in shock, not sure what else to say to the possible innuendo. Were zombie boys just as gross as human ones?! Immediately Zed started waving his arms in denial and his face lit up with panic.

"No no no!" Zed wished he could control z his life in this very moment or this whole day rather. Even meeting Addison didn't feel worth the mental pain he was going through in the current moment. "Like, you catch- hold- grab- I mean, uh-" It seemed every word the zombie fumbled over was worse than the last as he tried to compliment the increasingly more confused human.

"What I'm trying to say is you look like you belong with balls in your hands!"

Life seemed to get worse whenever he opened his mouth, didn't it?