Everything had been a blur. One minute he was giving his boyfriend a kiss and the next, he had been shoved out the window and narrowly avoided breaking his neck. Zach sat in the grass for a second, going over what had just happened in his head.
Bucky's parents had come home and had caught them, red handed. Bucky was right: his mom sobbed as if someone had died. His dad had opened fire on them.
'Holy shit I almost died.'
Zach got to his feet and took off. Bucky's dad could still be after him. He needed to get out of there and as far away as possible. He didn't know what to do or where to go. Zombietown was too far to run to in one stretch and he didn't know any humans who would even understand or invite him in.
'Wait…' he realized that he knew one.
It was after eleven and the lights were out, but Zach knocked persistently and long enough to annoy the neighbors. Addison mom, Mayor Missy, opened the door in her pajamas which, in another circumstance, would catch Zach's attention.
"I need to see Addison it's urgent please get her," Zach rushed out. He was bouncing on his heels, filled with too much anxiety to calm down for even a second. Every second they wasted was another second Bucky was forced through some torture Zach couldn't even begin to fathom.
Missy nodded and let him inside as she went upstairs to get her daughter. While he waited, Zach managed to send a text to Alonzo.
SOS get here ASAP I NEED YOU
Alonzo would know it was urgent. If Zach was just being dramatic, it would be more obvious and would say 'hurry or I'll die waiting!' They made sure they had a way of knowing when something serious was happening.
Zach sent his location and got a confirmation from Al just as Addison came down the stairs. "It's after eleven, man," she complained.
"Addison something very bad happened I didn't know who to go to," Zach rushed out in a panic.
Addison's expression changed as she woke up more. "What's wrong?" she asked in concern.
"Bucky's parents came in while we were kissing and it was all just horrible his mom started sobbing and his dad had a gun! A gun!" Zach said in one breath. "I-I don't know what to do I didn't know where to go! I-I—"
He stopped as he realized just how close to tears he was. He couldn't stop the tears from falling and started crying, putting his hands in his hair as he paced the floor. "I don't wanna think about what's gonna happen to Bucky. They're gonna hurt him and it'll be my fault! I-I—I don't know what to do!"
"Oh my god," Addison whispered. "I-Maybe my mom can call her sister? Figure out what's happening?"
Zach nodded and Addison moved, stopping him in his path. "You should sit, relax a little. It won't help anybody if you start freaking out or if you have to go to the hospital for a panic attack." Or if you short out your Z-Band.
She hadn't said it, but it was still there. She led him to the couch and made sure he sat back before running up the stairs. Even though he was sitting, his leg was bouncing and the scene from earlier kept replaying in his head. He couldn't help but cry a little more, a little harder, at the thought that he could've done something more. He could've helped Bucky or done anything beside sitting there, gaping like a fish out of water.
He didn't realize when Addison sat next to him until she was pressing a box of tissues into his hands. "It's okay, it'll be okay," she said soothingly.
Mayor Missy came in from another room, looking at her phone. "Kitty didn't answer," she said. "She did send me a text saying that it was late and I should be sleeping." She looked up at her daughter, furrowing her brows as she surveyed the scene. "Can you tell me what happened?"
After seeing that Zach was in no condition to repeat the story, Addison explained, "He said he was with Bucky. Aunt Kitty and Uncle Dylan came and caught them kiss and freaked out. Uncle Dylan had a gun—did you know he owned a gun 'cause I didn't."
"Oh my god," Missy gasped. "Are you okay?"
"Who cares! B-Bucky is there and he could get hurt!"
"I should go there," Missy said decisively.
"Mom, you need to put on actual clothes."
"Right."
Mayor Missy went back upstairs. There was a knock on and the door and Addison went and opened it, finding a frantic looking Alonzo on the other side.
He quickly located his best friend and ran to him, wrapping Zach in a tight hug. "Hey it's okay," Alonzo said comfortingly. "Don't worry, I'm here for you."
"Do you guys want something to drink?" Addison asked them.
"Something cold maybe? Water?" Alonzo asked.
"Yeah, okay."
An hour later, Zach had calmed down enough and was leaning lost on Alonzo while they waited for Addison's mom to get back. Addison was dozing off a little but doing her best to stay awake with them.
"You can go to bed, Addison," Zach muttered. "There's no point in keeping you up all night."
Addison scoffed. "Aside from the fact that my mom would ki—would be pissed at me for leaving you both here, I want to know what's happening. Bucky may be your boyfriend, but he's my cousin."
"I mean, it can't possibly be that bad," Addison said, mostly to herself. "Aunt Kitty doesn't believe in physical punishment because it'd be obvious to others that we did something wrong or that we aren't perfect."
Alonzo raised an eyebrow. "Your Aunt's name is 'Kitty?'"
Addison nodded. "That's my mom's sister. Missy and Kitty. My mom is older but Kitty loves to pretend that she's old and wise because she has five kids and apparently that means you know everything about everything."
"Five?"
"Bucky has four older siblings," Addison explained. "None of them are in Seabrook. He's got a brother a MIT, another at UCLA, one doing grad school in Florida, and a sister doing research at some school in New York. Bucky's the youngest, so he tried to shine under all the amazing accomplishments of his siblings."
"Damn," Alonzo whistled. "I was wondering why he had such a big house for just him and his parents. Do you have secret siblings too?"
"Nope," she said. "I got to absorb all the hate of my parents all by myself. No cushions."
"Wow."
The sound of keys in the front door caught all of their attention. All three of them got up and met Missy at the door. They watched as she hung up her coat and took off her wet boots, closing the door before turning to them.
"She said it was late and for me to never come over so late. She asked how I knew she was home so I told her I wanted to check on Bucky. Then she said that they had come home early to surprise Bucky for a vacation and they would be gone early tomorrow morning and stay gone for an undetermined amount of time."
Zach whimpered a little.
"I'm sorry," Missy apologized. "I wish there was more I could do. You should go home and get some sleep. I'll go by in the morning to check again. I can drive you both home."
Alonzo glanced at his friend then looked back at Missy. "Thank you, but we can walk. We'll go fast."
Missy nodded. "Okay. Stay safe. You have Addison's number?"
"Yeah."
"Send a text or give a call or something when you're both home," Missy said.
"Okay. Thank you." Alonzo said. "Come on Zach."
Zach followed Alonzo out of the house and down the road. Alonzo doesn't say anything to Zach while they walked home. He made sure to stay close and watch for Zach to be less…in thought.
It wasn't until after they crossed the barrier that Zach had come out of thought. He looked at his friend with the most broken expression and asked, "What if something happens to him? What if he gets hurt or—or worse?"
"I know you're scared, Zach. I would be too. And I sure as heck wouldn't know what to do if this was me. If Bucky were Zeph. But you hear the mayor. There's nothing we can do now. It's not like we could break Bucky out."
Zach knew he was right. He didn't know much about the security system at Bucky's house, but there were cameras and an alarm and quite frankly Zach wasn't sure if he could keep his cool around Bucky's parents. He'd overhead a few humans talking about when Zed threatened someone and he had gone mostly offline, without a few details. Zach was afraid he might go Zombie if he was around them.
The worst part was that Zach kind of wanted the opportunity.