Bucky couldn't believe how nervous he was during the walk to school the next morning. He spent a chunk of his savings to get Eliza a gift he hoped she would enjoy. She would be the first zombie to have one, and hopefully she could keep it hidden from the zombie police.

Before he had the chance to enter the school building, he heard a familiar shout from behind him. Turning around, Bucky smiled softly at his cousin, who had her gym bag slung over her shoulder. "Hey, Cuz," he greeted kindly. "What's up?"

Addison briefly adverted her gaze to the ground while adjusting the weight of her bag. "Zombies are students at Seabrook too, Bucky," she reminded with a nervous tension in her shoulders. "Picking on them isn't right."

Bucky snarled his nose in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"The cheer initiation last night," Addison recapped briskly, almost like she didn't want to talk about it. "The assistant captains told me and Bree that we had to egg a zombie house to be part of the squad."

"They lied," he bluntly stated to hide his frustration. "Did you do it?"

"Of course not," she denied truthfully with a stubborn shake of her head. "They drove off when they got scared by a zombie asking if they were lost. After that, Bree and I had to walk home."

"I'll talk to them," Bucky promised sincerely, "and they will be punished. I will get the message across that we aren't to pick on zombies. We need to accept them, maybe even let them try out for cheer."

Addison tilted her head slightly in curiosity. "Since when do you like zombies?"

"I never disliked zombies. Besides, I met one yesterday that made me think even better about them." He gave his cousin a reassuring smile while trying to change the subject. "Pep rally today, Addie. You're going to rock it."


Sometime later during that same morning, Zed recapped to Eliza and Bonzo his adventure yesterday during their walk to their basement classrooms. Eliza had to pretend she didn't know Zed met a cheerleader the day prior, despite being told by her boyfriend. Zed spoke of how he believed the cheerleader was 'the one' and that she was different, but then claimed that all cheerleaders were terrible.

Eliza lightly shook her head in denial, mumbling under her breath, "Not all of them . . ."

Looking up from a textbook, Mr. Zeck—the inexperienced zombie teacher—suddenly said, "Woah, woah. There's no human students in the basement."

The trio of zombie friends turned to see Addison standing in front of the basement entrance with her pink gym bag resting on her shoulder. "Um," she began nervously, "someone yacked in the cafeteria."

"Oh right." Mr. Zeck slumped his shoulders in realization. "Still the janitor."

Addison took a moment to gaze around the basement, which was filled with curious zombies that were all looking at her. "Wow," she commented. "This . . . is awful."

"We would have cleaned," Eliza claimed sarcastically, "but the teacher's territorial about his mop."

Addison stepped out of Mr. Zeck's way, but not before opening the door wider for him. The zombie teacher rolled his bucket and mop through the entrance with disappointment in his strides. The job really should be given to someone else since he was now a teacher.

"Addison," Zed greeted with little surprised in his tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Apologizing," she insisted before she could lose her courage. "The assistant cheer captains are jerks toward zombies. They made my friend and me believe last night was cheer initiation. I'm so sorry for what I almost did."

"What if they see us talking?" Zed continued to interrogate. "What if they tell your cousin? There are rumors saying he doesn't like zombies either."

Addison shrugged nonchalantly. "We'll make sure they don't," she claimed with a small smile. "Besides, the rumors aren't true. Bucky told me himself that he does like zombies. Will I see you at the pep rally later?"

"Zombies don't do pep rallies." Eliza informed with a feign smile on her lips to show her sincerity, though all it did was show her insincerity.

Zed shot Eliza a stern glare before adverting his attention to Addison, who was nervously fidgeting with her bag strap. "We'll think about it," he promised.

With a small smile, Addison left the basement as she closed the behind her, leaving a particular zombie hopeful that she would be able to see her boyfriend perform.


Later on, the cheerleaders were getting ready for the assembly in the private cheer area, though it wasn't that private. A couple walls were made of glass so anyone could see into the room. When Bucky became captain over the summer, he asked that large curtains be installed just in case he needed to have a one-on-one conversation with a team member. In fact, he was the only student with a key to the room, so the other cheerleaders couldn't access it without him being there.

Anyways, none of his teammates seem to notice his pacing back and forth. He wasn't particularly stressing about the pep rally, but about Eliza. If she came to the rally alone, it would raise suspicion to everyone in the school. There was no way she would risk coming to the pep rally—

"There are zombies at the pep rally!" Bree exclaimed from the back entrance.

Addison dramatically gasped in glee before joining her friend to witness the unusual scene for herself.

"She wouldn't dare," Bucky commented in disbelief.

Luckily, the team didn't hear him since they were more distracted at seeing the zombies for themselves. Once Addison knelt at the door, Bucky crouched slightly higher behind her while the three assistant captains stood above him.

The five watched in a mixture of happiness and disdain as the large crowd of zombies tried to find a place in the bleachers to watch the cheery event. Bucky couldn't help gazing at his Eliza, who was leading her friends up the bleachers like she already knew where to go.

"Lacey, Stacey," Tracey acknowledged with a nod. "Let's get the spirit sticks."

"No spirit sticks," Bucky denied as he glared at the trio. "Zombies are afraid of fire. They'll get scared and leave."

Tracey smiled wickedly at the explanation. "Exactly."


Eliza somewhat expertly led her three friends up the bleachers to get a better view of the upcoming event. She didn't complain when Zed 'dragged' her to see his cheerleader friend. She was excited to see her boyfriend in public, even though they had to maintain their distance for the time being.

As the three friends found the perfect spot, music blared from the nearby speakers. Almost like it was planned, all the spectators stood from their seats as they began to cheer for the cheerleaders that ran on the court.

The cheering faltered for a moment when Bucky trailed behind the rest of the team. Some mumbled about how that was quite unusual for the cheer captain. They had hoped he would jump through a poster before doing his famous flips that won them the championship trophy.

"Welcome!" Bucky shouted with the biggest forced smile Eliza has ever seen. "To Seabrook High's cheer rally! It's going to be a great year and we are hoping to win the State Cheer Championship, again!"

The cheerleaders began their performance, much to the excitement of the crowd. During their routine, Bucky could clearly hear and see the trio scheming with other members about their rueful surprise. Turning his back to the audience, Bucky ordered, "No spirit sticks!"

Flipping onto his hands, Bucky did some tricks to make it look like part of the performance, though he was winging it at that point. When he stood back on his feet, he noticed that nearly half of the cheerleaders held lighted spirit sticks. Breaking the routine, Bucky grabbed the sticks one by one, smashing the flame out on the ground.

That didn't stop poor Bonzo from freaking out in the stands, fearfully shouting, "FIRE!"

"It's alright!" Zed reassured forcefully. "They're putting out the fire. Everything is fine!"

Either Bonzo didn't hear him or he just ignored his friends as he shoved his friend aside to escape the bleachers to safety. When Zed fell, his Z-band smashed against the hard metal seats, temporarily causing it to become unstable and causing him to become slightly zombie-fied.

Some of the cheerleaders threw the flyer in the air, unknowing of what was happening around them. While waiting to catch the flyer, the group reluctantly dispersed when Bonzo ran through them, leaving no spotter for the flyer, who just happened to be-

"Addison!"

Knocking down the football offensive line with ease, Zed slid on to his knees, catching Addison perfectly in his arm while managing to knock his Z-band back online. The crowd cheered at the amazing save, as though it was part of the routine. The coach of the football team ordered Zed to the office, claiming they needed to talk.

During the commotion, Bucky gazed up at the crowd and locked eyes with Eliza. 'Are you okay?' He mouthed to her.

She cautiously nodded, to which he continued, 'Talk after?'

Eliza paused for a moment to not throw attention to herself before nodding again.

School was about to get a lot more interesting.


After the coast was clear, Eliza snuck into the cheerleader's private area to speak with her boyfriend. A few moments prior, Bucky closed the curtains on the glass walls before locking the door behind Eliza, making sure no one would barge in on them.

Within a few moments, Bucky was sitting in his designated chair with Eliza in his arms, slowly rocking her back and forth to comfort her. He could tell she was exhausted by the way she rested her head on his shoulders and the way her eyes would flutter close for a few moments before blinking awake.

Although she didn't perform a cheer, run full force out of the room, or catch a cheerleader with no notice, Eliza was completely drained. Seeing the flame from the spirit sticks took out all of her energy and reminded her of a zombie's greatest fear.

"Humans are the reason zombies are afraid of fire," Eliza mumbled, tucking her head under his chin. "It was the only way they could control us before the Z-bands. A . . . fire killed a lot of our people, including Bonzo's parents and Zed's mother. Their death is the reason Bonzo doesn't speak English, because his parents couldn't teach him before they passed. He understands it but can't speak it. It's like he's afraid."

"Is that why you're afraid of fire?" Bucky wondered softly. "Because one of your parents was killed by it?"

"No," Eliza denied with a shaky breath. "I'm not afraid of fire. I'm afraid of zombie solitare."

Bucky snarled his nose at the word. "Zombie solitare? What's that?"

"A prison for zombies," she explained reluctantly. "Most are there for crimes they committed. Others go because their Z-bands malfunctioned. The humans get them early in the morning, but won't return for nearly a week. The zombies return nearly beaten to their second death. My—"

Eliza abruptly stopped to swallow the sob in her throat. Bucky didn't push for her to continue, only rubbing soothing circles on her shoulder to ease her trouble. After a moment, Eliza moved her head so she could look at her worried boyfriend.

"I was five," she claimed with a quivering lip. "They took my father before I was awake. Mom told me he had been tampering with his Z-band and the humans found out. He believed we were capable of controlling our inner zombies without the use of technology. That night, I saw the chief and I think a new recruit I've never seen before coming to the house from my bedroom window. I ran to the door, eager to see my father since I loved him and missed him so much. When I opened it, he wasn't with the humans. The chief said he died while they were updating his Z-band. The new recruit admitted that my father had been killed by electrocution. While he was in the middle of telling how it happened, the chief yelled at him to stop talking. From that moment on, I've been deathly scared of zombie solitare. I'm afraid they will do something like that to me—"

"They wouldn't," Bucky quickly reassured as he kissed her forehead lovingly. "If they were to do anything to you, it would be child abuse, zombie or not. There would be an uprising and I would be in charge of it."

"You don't know the Zombie Patrol," Eliza argued as she quickly wiped away a stray tear. "They can convince every and anyone that they did nothing wrong. I learned the truth from that human on that day and then more over the years from other victims."

Going quiet for a few moments, Bucky softly revealed, "My parents were killed in a car accident caused by the old Chief of Zombie Patrol."

Eliza gasped at the surprising revelation. "What? What happened?"

"My parents were on their way to pick me up from my grandmother's house one evening," Bucky began the painful story. "Addison and I stayed a few days there to start off our summer vacation. I would be starting middle school when the summer ended. The old chief, who had been on the force for over twenty years at that time, had gotten drunk at his home and had an argument with his wife. Instead of going to another room to cool off, he decided he would go for a drive instead."

Sighing softly, Bucky continued, "The chief was in a patrol car. He was swerving all over the road, drunk and half asleep. He dozed off for a second before he realized he was drifting into the ditch. He jerked the wheel, driving into the opposite lane and slamming into my parents. They were declared dead at the scene. The old chief was fired and my uncle took his position, which had been his goal for a while. Uncle Dale made sure the man paid for the accident and I would receive a check from Zombie Patrol's insurance company until I graduated high school.

"Since I was underage, the money went to my grandmother, who created a savings account to put the money in until I was older. I lived with my grandmother after that, until she died during the beginning of my freshman year. Now, I live by myself in her house. My neighbors, Addison, and her folks check on me every now and then."

Pausing for a moment to wipe a tear from Eliza's cheek, Bucky cooed, "If you stop crying for a few moments, I'll give you a gift."

Curious by what the gift could be, Eliza tried her best to pull herself together, which wasn't hard since Bucky was placing loving kisses to her temple—the same thing her father would do to calm her. After what felt like ages, Bucky pulled out a rectangular shaped box from his pocket. "Surprise," he mumbled into her ear as she cautiously took the object from his hand. "I wanted you to be the first of your people to have one. Now, we can chat whenever we want without fearing that others will find out."

Eliza gawked at the gift after unboxing it. "A cell-phone?" She questioned rhetorically. "Why?"

"It will give us something to do for our date after school," Bucky joked before shrugging nonchalantly. "And because I love you."

This time, Eliza gawked at him for saying something so 'mushy' to her after knowing her for barely two days. Luckily, she was saved from giving a response when the school bell ringed, signaling the start of lunch.

"I—I have to go," Eliza stuttered while practically jumping out of her boyfriend's arms. "My friends will get suspicious if I don't find them soon."

"Then you should go." Bucky stood with her, handing her backpack as he did so. "I'll show you how to use your new phone on our date."

Before Eliza had the chance to brush pass him, Bucky lightly grabbed her arm so she would be forced to look at him. "Tell me when you're ready," he reassured with a comforting smile. "You don't need to rush."

Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as a 'thank you', Eliza quickly slipped through the previously locked door before anyone could see her. She had made it all the way to the corridor connecting to the basement when she bumped into Zed. Eliza was more than prepared to give an excuse for where she's been when Zed suddenly turned her around in the direction she came from.

"You," Zed began with an eager smile, "are going the wrong way."

Eliza snarled her nose in confusion. "What? We eat in the basement."

"Not anymore!" Zed exclaimed cheerfully. "I talked with Principal Lea. She's letting me join the football team and we get to eat in the cafeteria! As long as I win a few games, zombies will get more and more perks."

Eliza somehow managed to hide her excitement about the turn of events. She now had a chance to see her boyfriend without causing suspicion with her friends and the other humans.

Maybe one day . . . they could really be together with no fear.