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Chapter 1: Progress

:Narration:

"A long time ago, like, before electricity or dental hygiene were a thing, the first settlers reached the coastal area we now call Seabrook. Realizing that this place was, like, a nice place to, ehm, 'settle', they began building houses and stuff, anything to make their lives better and easier…

They weren't alone though… Legends tell of dangerous, hairy beasts with sharp claws and huge fangs lurking in the forest. The settlers bravely defended themselves and this sparked an epic struggle that lasted for generations. As time went on, the monsters were pushed back deeper and deeper into the forest, to the point where they no longer posed a threat to the people who could now finally live in piece and prosperity. And prosper they did…

It is often said that during one of the raids into the forest, some of the settlers discovered something quite extraordinary… I mean, we have no idea what it was, but history books say it was an energy source, a very powerful one… Realizing that they had discovered a precious resource, they safeguarded it from the beasts and brought it back to their newly founded town, hiding their treasure so that no one would steal it…

The town grew rich by harnessing the energy and soon became strong, happy and unified, sort of like the perfect example for any other towns. The beasts, and the fear of them, became a distant memory only to pop up every now and again in children's bedtime stories.

The town forgot monsters could be real, until they were… The story is one as old as time… A little lime soda mixed with a dash of industrial strength energy… and boom!

Zombies were created…

The town devolved into chaos again, but the 'normal' people eventually regained control and zombies got locked away in their own little burrow with some brand new wrist bands that allowed them to, ehm, not crave the flesh of living humans… Life in the little town got back to normal, and people were happy.

This little town, as if you don't know already, is Seabrook… Here in Seabrook, belonging is everything. If you want to have a life, or at least a happy one, you learn to fit in. For some of us, you can guess who, this is somewhat tricky, you know, because being born the way we are means we don't fit in. Still, we kept our heads up and look at us now!

Seabrook has become a strong, united and tight-knit community again! Humans and zombies roam the streets happily, together for the first time. Not to pat myself on the back, but I like to believe my football heroics had something to do with that.

I'm Zed, still a zombie, and I am proud to say that every day is better than the last for the zombies at Seabrook. We are getting rid of all of the old anti-monster laws, meaning that everyone, human and zombie alike, is free to leave or enter Zombietown as they please. Things are looking up like never before… Kids are running around free and cheerful, business is booming and the sun is shining…"

:End of narration:

Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2

Zed was basically skipping, a broad grin on his face as he and his sister walked along the sunlit streets of Zombietown, which was nowadays only called that out of sentimental reasons since plenty of humans chose to spend their time here now as well. It was truly amazing to see how much had changed in so little time.

"I want to go to the beach!" Zoey squeaked, pulling impatiently on Zed's arm, though he merely found it adorable.

"We just came from the beach." Zed smiled. "And we don't have that much time to spare, remember?"

"Okay…" Zoey sighed. "Can we get froyo then?"

"Fine." Zed grinned, just as he spotted his football coach and his newly established frozen goods stand. "I might be able to use some of my connections…"

Zoey squealed in delight at Zed's little joke and pulled him forward. Coach, broadly smiling as he handed another satisfied customer some of his goods, saw Zed coming from a distance and began waving enthusiastically.

"What's up, coach?" Zed greeted.

"Oh, football off-season has been good to me, Zed. My little side hustle's gonna go global soon. I'm gonna buy a car, get some dress shirts and I might even go on vacation some time soon, without my aunt Edna even! Though she loves swimwear weather… You know, I might just bring her along…" Coach rambled, staring off into the distance.

Zed and Zoey exchanged a look, both of amusement and some slight uneasiness.

"Say, is it just the two of you? Where's your bubbly cheerleader friend?" Coach added, obviously referring to Addison.

"She's out of town on cheerleader camp." Zed answered, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks at the simple thought of his girlfriend. This was quite impressive, since he had no actual blood that that could rush anywhere in his body.

"We're going to surprise her when she gets back." Zoey spoke up without any input from Zed.

"Well, ain't that sweet…" Coach beamed, misreading Zed's awkward expression as one of glee.

"Cauliflower brains mocha crunch please…" Zoey then piped up, seeing her brother's somewhat stunned look.

"You got it!" Coach smiled broadly as he immediately scooped a large spoon out of one of his many-colored cases.

"A much broader assortment than just vanilla I see." Zed acknowledged.

"Gotta supply to customer demand." Coach nodded. "Now that you and your little zombie friends are my loyal customers, I have finally been able to sell some of my new experimental flavors, which are personally my favorite… What about you, some cerebral chocolate raspberry maybe?"

"I'll stick to vanilla actually." Zed replied. "What?" He exclaimed when he saw his little sister's somewhat disapproving stare. "I like vanilla."

Coach smiled again and handed Zed his froyo before happily waving to him and Zoey as they walked off.

"One final piece of preparation before we head out." Zed told Zoey as they marched on while enjoying their frozen yoghurt. "We gotta get those lightbulbs from dad. He managed to gather some from the powerplant."

"Are the lightbulbs necessary?" Zoey asked as she walked a couple of yards ahead of Zed.

"Yes, I need everything to be zombietacular!" Zed replied with some flair.

Zoey just giggled as she skipped along toward what was formerly the Seabrook powerplant, but had been reduced to little more than a pile of rubble where the zombies would occasionally throw some admittedly wild parties. The plant had previously stood as the proud center of Zombietown, but no longer served any sort of purpose now that the entire city had opened up to the zombies. For both cultural and safety reasons, city officials had opted for a complete demolition of the building.

At the moment, the place was thus crawling with workers in hardhats and overalls who all dragged equipment, pointed at blueprints or loudly called for assistance.

Zed smiled as he saw his father stand among the center of the plant, pointing and yelling loudly as sparks flew around everywhere. Zed was proud to say that his dad had been appointed as foreman of the demolition. It was quite a satisfactory sight to see his old man work so passionately on something. It was not so long ago that zombies were simply stuck doing lousy jobs, and now here they were being actual supervisors.

"Hey dad!" Zed called out as he approached his father.

"Hey son! Sweetie!" His father enthusiastically replied as he handed some sort of document to the man next to him before he turned to his children.

"How's work as a foreman treating you?" Zed grinned.

"Big day for zombie-kind!" His father laughed as he hugged his daughter. "Everything's going smoothly."

"So, ehm, did you get them?" Zed immediately got to the point, rubbing his hands.

"Naturally. I'm actually surprised we got this many working bulbs in this dump." His father answered as he ushered them to a large table covered in blueprints and paperwork. Underneath the table was a cardboard box filled to the brim with lightbulbs. "Are these enough?"

"They should be." Zed nodded as he took the box. "These will be the finishing touch…"

"What about my confetti?" Zoey asked with a small pout.

"Also important!" Zed answered, pointing his finger.

"It's shaping up to be a proper surprise in any case. Has she written back yet?" His father questioned, crossing his arms with a somewhat compassionate expression.

"No…" Zed mumbled, shaking his head.

It was true that Addison had left for cheerleading camp some time ago, and Zed hadn't really stopped thinking about her since the moment she had left. He had written her every other day, keeping her up to date with all the developments that occurred in Seabrook. He hadn't received a single letter in return, and had nearly given up hope several times, but still opted to keep sending letters.

Zed had never been one to quit easily, especially in cases regarding Addison, and he wasn't about to change that now. As far as he was concerned, Addison and he were in love and he would do whatever he could to keep their relationship intact. So, whatever the reason for her prolonged silence, Zed would show all his cards and ask Addison to be his date to Prawn.

Prawn was like some sort of super-sized prom, but Mighty Shrimp themed. This year was the first time in literally ever that zombies were allowed to attend, and Zed wasn't about to waste this opportunity.

Today was the day that Addison would return from cheer camp, and Zed had made plans alongside his friends to set up a grand gesture for Addison. The lightbulbs were the final touch and soon Zed would head out onto the road with his sister to set up a self-designed structure and intercept the cheerleading bus. Really, how could this go wrong?

"She's probably just busy… You know, with cheering and all…" His father said, waking Zed from his contemplations.

"Yeah… Yeah… Sure…" Zed muttered before straightening up and placing a large smile back on his face. "I'm not simply gonna stand by and watch on, I'm gonna put my all into this!"

"That's the spirit!" His father beamed. "That's the zombie in you!"

Before Zed could reply, a loud voice broke the silence from above their heads.

"Hey, hey! Ho, ho! This demolition has got to go!" Someone yelled through wat sounded like a megaphone.

Zed, his father and sister looked up to see Eliza standing on the railing above their heads.

"Ugh, again!?" His father complained. "We've already thrown her out three times today… How does she keep getting back in?"

"Well, there's no security outside…" Zed stated.

"Hmm, we should put some people on that then…" His father mumbled to the amusement of Zed and Zoey.

"I'll talk to her, see what has her riled up." Zed told his father.

"Rather you than me." His father sighed, patting him on the back. "Well, I gotta get back. We wouldn't want this to zom-be my last day at work." He added with a smirk.

"Please don't make any more lame zombie dad jokes." Zed practically begged.

"The workin' stiffs love 'em!" His father gleamed before hugging his daughter one more time, turning around and walking back to his job.

"Grab these, will you? I'll meet you at home in a few." Zed told Zoey as he shoved the box of lightbulbs into his sister's arms.

"It's heavy…" Zoey complained, trying to hoist the box up.

"You'll make it!" Zed told her as he ran off, finding the fastest way up. He ran up the stairs until he reached the railing, looked around and immediately saw Eliza standing to his right, still yelling through her megaphone. "Hey there, they listening yet?"

"No! Because they're all sheep!" Eliza spat, momentarily lowering her megaphone.

"Come on… The plant hasn't worked in years!" Zed tried to persuade her.

"It's an important part of zombie heritage!" Eliza protested.

"It's a safety hazard!" Zed argued.

"Pff, like that has ever bothered us before!" Eliza sneered. "What happened to your zombie pride?"

"I feel pride! Pride of the progress we're making! Come on, Eliza, we can go to prawn now! Humans and zombies side by side! It's gonna be epic!" Zed spoke with enthusiasm.

"You only say that because you have your pretty little cheerleader girlfriend!" Eliza scoffed. "Has she written back yet by the way?"

"No…" Zed admitted, rubbing his neck. "But I'm thinking of zombiekind in general as well! This will only help everyone get together, human and monster alike!"

"It's a way of those picture 'perfect' shrimp to make us conform to the norms of their 'perfect' society!" Eliza complained as she raised her megaphone again. "I for one don't need them! I'm loud and proud to be a zombie!"

"Sometimes a little too loud maybe?" Zed hesitantly questioned.

"No, these people and everyone in the town should know that the humans have no interest in letting us preserve our zombie culture!" Eliza went on.

"'We' don't even like our zombie culture!" Zed retorted. "Seabrook has so much to offer us. I mean, soon our Z-band technology might get so good that zombies will blend right in!"

"I dream of a day we ditch our Z-bands and let our inner monsters roar!" Eliza once again yelled through her megaphone.

"And you wonder why you're not popular?" Zed grinned.

"Pff, you just go continue your little 'prawnposal'." Eliza said with a devious snarl.

"It will be anything but little!" Zed pointed out. "I'm gonna make sure my name will live on in Seabrook history books, precisely for this prawnposal!"

"You know you're my friend, but I sincerely look forward to the blooper videos." Eliza joked.

"Noted." Zed grinned as he patted her on the back and began walking off. "Oh, and my dad requested you leave and, you know, stay away…"

"Hey, hey! Ho, ho! This demolition has got to go!" Eliza retorted, pointing the megaphone straight at Zed.

Zed continued his way down, left the plant and headed back to his home, waving happily to many a zombie and person alike on the way. Really, ever since the anti-monster laws were abolished the streets of both Zombietown and Seabrook just seemed all the more lively.

Zoey was already waiting for him by their home. Multiple carts filled with the equipment Zed needed for his prawnposal at her side.

"You took your time." Zoey complained.

"But I'm here now, so let's take this show on the road!" Zed called out as he grabbed carts and began dragging them away. He felt his heart pounding in his chest… He was finally gonna see Addison again…