Disclaimer - I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.

Keira's coming into the story now! And Zach gets a Moment. But everything's still very sad. In fact, I almost cried writing the last scene. Let's do this

Chapter 5

Every one of the zombies was a nervous wreck on the first day back at school, and, as it turned out, with good reason. The news had spread quickly, just like Alonzo had predicted, and a lot of the human students were suddenly less willing to talk to them. Some at least had the decency to make excuses as to why they were turning away their former friends, but others refused to even speak to them, instead shuffling away and whispering among themselves. The way they had a year ago.

The patrol was there. It wasn't exactly unusual for an officer or two to be spotted around the school but there hadn't been this many on guard in months. And every zombie who entered the building was stopped to have their bands checked before they could go about their business.

Zephyr trailed along behind Zach and Roz, feeling far less confident than he usually did when Al had been by his side. He was barely listening to their conversation, though he picked up that it was something about Keira. Roz hadn't seen her girlfriend since before the incident; the patrol and hammered down on the restrictions on leaving or entering Zombie Town for the time being, until the case had been fully investigated, and what's more was neither of them had had much time to call or text the other. They had barely spoken over the last week. The three zombies came to a stop and Zephyr lifted his head just in time to see Keira shut her locker and turn around to face them. She seemed surprised for a split second.

"Keira...?" Roz took a step towards her, slightly unnerved by the lack of any readable expression on Keira's face until she came to wrap her arms around Roz's neck and kiss her lips before hugging her tightly. Roz relaxed in her arms but it was too much for Zephyr and he looked away, walking past them to his own locker.

He hadn't even been able to kiss Alonzo before he was snatched away from him. He didn't even get to say a proper goodbye. And their reunion wouldn't be for a long, long time.

"Zeph?" the sound of Zach's voice came from behind him and he threw him a brief look, "You doing OK?"

"I'll be fine," Zephyr went back to rifling through his locker. He wasn't even looking for anything, he just wanted a distraction.

Zach rolled his eyes and cocked his head, "That doesn't answer my question. I'm asking if you're fine right now, not if you'll be fine."

"I don't know!" Zephyr sounded frustrated, and it surprised Zach. Before the incident, he had always been so calm and now it was like he could never find a moment of peace, "I'm stressed, I'm scared, I'm irritated, I haven't seen Alonzo in a week and now I'm back at school without him, how do you think I'm doing?"

"Pretty bad."

"You figure that out on your own?" The sarcasm was relatively normal for him, though.

Zach sighed, "They're gonna let him have visitors soon."

"Great, I'll get maybe an hour at a time to talk to my boyfriend through a window while he's in zombie containment."

Zach placed his hands on Zephyr's shoulders before he could go any further, "Zephyr, you need to chill! You can't do anything about this right now," he let him go and Zephyr looked down, chewing the inside of his cheek and avoiding looking Zach in the eye, "Come on, take a step back and find something to get your mind off of things. What about football tryouts?"

Zephyr was quiet for a moment, "... I'm kinda having second thoughts about that..."

"What? Why?"

"I dunno, man, I just... I can't pretend like there's nothing wrong."

"It's not pretending there's nothing wrong, it's living your life," Zach insisted but Zephyr said nothing, "Look, I know you love him but you're more than just Al's boyfriend. You can keep going to school and you can play football and still care about him."

Zephyr looked at him and eventually, the corner of his mouth quirked up, "Since when did you get smart?"

Zach gave a fake scoff and laughed, "Since always! Besides," he threw his arm around Zephyr's shoulder and leaned closer, "There'll be some hot guys on the football team you can introduce me to."

"Yeah? Good luck finding the ones who are not only into guys, but are single and would also still date a zombie."

Zephyr raised an eyebrow at him and Zach's eyes shifted to one side and back again, "... I can be very persuasive."

"Sure you can."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

After one more week, Zephyr was able to visit Alonzo. He knew he'd already had a visit from his mom (family went first, after all) and he had heard a thing or two from her about what Al was going through, but she hadn't wanted to go into much detail. She was obviously upset, and she had every right to be, but Zephyr couldn't help worrying even more because of it. If she was that shaken up by it, it definitely wasn't a good sign.

Zephyr was slipping on a jacket as he headed for the front door when Rizzo appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Hold up, where do you think you're going?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes, turning to face her as she came down.

"To visit Al."

"Alone?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh-uh, no way, you are not going anywhere on your own," Rizzo shook her head and pushed him away from the door, standing in his way, "You know how dangerous it is for us right now! Especially for you, people know you're dating Al, Zephyr," she went quiet, scared, even, "If they can't get to him, they could go after you."

He wasn't going to deny he had gotten more than a few dirty looks over the past week, but he wasn't about to let that stop him.

"So, what, I'm supposed to just never see my boyfriend for the next year?"

"I didn't say that. I said you're not going all the way across town to containment on your own."

"It's not like it'd be any better for you to come with me."

"Call one of your human friends to drive you! Just... be safe if you're gonna leave Zombie Town, OK?"

Zephyr looked down, his hands in his pockets, and shrugged as he lifted his head again.

"There's not a lot of humans I could still consider my friends."

He was exaggerating a little. There was definitely still humans he could consider his friends, but part of him wasn't sure how far he could trust them not to turn on him soon. At the very least, he didn't think any of them would feel too comfortable being alone with a zombie on a car ride. He moved to slip past Rizzo but she stopped him by grabbing his arm and spinning him back around.

"I am not letting you out of this house unless you find somebody."

"Are you serious? Z, Riz, you're treating me like a little kid, we're the same age!"

"Do you see me goin' anywhere alone?" Rizzo asked, not even waiting for a reply, "No, I am staying right here and you are not getting past me until you find a ride."

Zephyr groaned and headed back upstairs as Rizzo leaned against the wall. What was he supposed to do? Who did he know, with a license, who definitely still got along with the zombies?

Ten minutes later, he was back downstairs and Rizzo, as promised, was still leaning on the wall, probably playing some game on her Z-band. Her eyes flickered up to look at him then back down to her band.

"Sure hope you found someone, Zeph."

"I'm meeting Keira at the barrier."

She turned off the screen and gave him her full attention, "Are you?"

"Yes, Rizzo."

"I'm walking you there."

"You don't even trust me enough to walk to the barrier?"

"No."

She opened the door and gestured for him to go ahead of her. They reached the barrier, the guard gave them a quick once over and nodded, but when Zephyr went to take a single step out of Zombie Town, Rizzo grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him back.

"Not until I see Keira."

Zephyr sneered, "Not until I see Keira!" he mocked, then mumbled under his breath, "Get over yourself..." Soon enough, though, a familiar car – Keira's mom's, if he remembered correctly – pulled up nearby and Zephyr shot Rizzo a sarcastic smile, "There, happy? Bye."

He was about to walk away when Rizzo hugged him and he semi-reluctantly hugged her back, "Be careful."

"I will."

Rizzo waited until the car pulled away to turn around and go back home.

"Hey," Zephyr said, climbing into the car, "Thanks for the ride, Keira, I think Rizzo might have locked me in my room if it wasn't for you."

"No problem," Keira replied shortly with just a brief glance at him and a tight-lipped smile. She drove off without another word.

The whole ride to the containment facility was quiet. At one point, Zephyr tried, a little awkwardly, to start a conversation, but Keira didn't seem up for talking. Which was strange. It had been Zephyr, after all, who had helped her and Roz get together back at the block party the year before. But then again, of the members of BFZ, she met Alonzo first. He was the reason she became friends with them.

"I'm sorry, Zeph," she said almost out of nowhere, "I just... I don't know what to say right now. I don't want to think about, and I'm pretty sure you don't either, but I don't want to... ignore it, you know?"

"It's fine," Zephyr said, needing the reassurance himself as well, "You don't need to get involved in this any further."

Neither of them said another word until they arrived and Keira finally spoke up.

"How long do you have with him?"

"An hour."

"I'll pick you up after."

With a small smile, he nodded, "Thanks."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

It was hard. Sitting so close to him when the glass window between them kept them from touching, and the phone they had to speak through distorted his voice. But, Zephyr reminded himself, it would be harder to not see him at all.

He had heard about the adjustments to Alonzo's Z-band, how he was being shocked as some cruel way to keep him 'under control' or whatever excuse the patrol had come up with. Seeing it was something else, though. His heart cracked a little more every time it happened.

"I don't see why they have to hurt you like this. You're not dangerous. The band's locked, nothing's going to happen."

"It's only while I'm under higher security," Al said, sounding tired, "They'll reset the pulses once I get transferred."

"That's not for another six months, though, Al!" Zephyr watched helplessly as Alonzo flinched again, gritting his teeth and hissing in pain, "You don't deserve this."

"Yes," Al met his eyes, "I do."

"How is shocking you going to do anything? You're online and you're stable, all it is is unnecessary punishment."

"Unnecessary? I killed somebody, Zephyr! How many times are you going to make me say it? I have to live with this."

"I'm sorry," Zephyr leaned forward on his elbows, unable to get as close to Alonzo as he really wanted to. All he wanted was to touch him. Touch his face, his hair, his lips... He had no idea that the last time he kissed Alonzo was going to be their last kiss for half a year. He would have savoured it more, "I'm sorry, I'm just so mad about everything. This never should have happened."

"So you're admitting it's not OK?"

"I'm admitting what you're going through is not OK."

Al scoffed and rolled his eyes, resting his chin in one hand, "Give it a rest! I'm sick of this, Zeph. Listen, I love you. And you have no idea how glad I am that you still love me too, but-"

"How could I not? I'd be dead if it hadn't been for you!"

"It's not as simple as that, you can't just let this slide! I did something terrible and I can't take it back. I've accepted that. The problem here is that you don't want to admit you're dating a murderer. If you want me to be able to move past this, you gotta either move on with me or..."

Alonzo trailed off and looked down. Zephyr's heart sank.

"... Or what? Let you go on without me? Do you really want us to end like that?"

"No!" Al instinctively reached out to him only to be met with the cold, hard glass against his fingers, "That's not what I'm saying! I'm saying I want you to accept it. Just accept that all of this was my fault. I made the wrong decision. It'll last the rest of my life. And as long as we're together, it'll effect your life as well. But I need you to help me through this. I need my best friend and I need my boyfriend, Zeph."

"So do I. I need my boyfriend to know that he's not a bad person!"

"It's not about being a bad person. It's about making a bad decision."

Zephyr's eyes fell to the table. After a moment, he sighed and nodded.

"And you did."

"So we're on the same page."

"Can..." Zephyr rubbed his eyes, urging himself not to cry, "Can we talk about something else?"

Alonzo paused. He had to try not to tear up as well. One of them had to stay strong for the sake of the other.

"... Did you try out for football?"

"... Yeah."

"And?"

"And I made it. Halfback."

The smallest, softest smile tugged on the corner of Al's mouth, "I knew you would."

But Zephyr shook his head, biting his lip.

"It feels wrong, though. What's the point when you're not gonna be there to see me play?"

"Zephyr, I can't be your only reason for doing things! Play because you've wanted to play since you started going to Seabrook High. You can now, why would you pass that up? I'm proud of you, baby," that rare word made Zephyr perk up. His eyes locked with Al's and he could see that pride glistening there, and all the love in the world, as he encouraged him, "You're gonna crush it and I wanna hear all about it."

After a few seconds, Zephyr slowly nodded, "For you."

"For yourself."

"For you."

If Al wanted him to play, he was going to play, even if it felt like something was missing. Whatever Alonzo wanted. Whatever it took to keep that light in his eyes.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

The front door slammed shut and Zephyr went straight to his room, his footsteps loud and heavy on the stairs. He closed his door and leaned back on it, bringing his hands to his mouth in an attempt to muffle the sob that escaped from his throat. He couldn't cry now. His parents were at work but he knew his sister would be there to ask questions and within five seconds, he heard her knocking.

"Not now, Riz!"

If she hadn't heard his sobbing, his thick and shaky voice definitely gave it away.

"You sure? 'Cause it sounds like you need to get something off your chest."

"Leave me alone."

She came in anyway, forcing him away from the door.

"You are crying in your bedroom after visiting your boyfriend in containment, you think I'm gonna leave you alone?"

"Get out."

He glared at her and stormed over to his bed, collapsing onto it and burying his face in his pillow. Rizzo remained still, looking at him sympathetically.

"Do you really want me to?"

Zephyr turned over, sat up and threw the pillow at her, which she caught. Her expression didn't change.

"You're not going to help. I need Alonzo..."

"You saw him, didn't you?"

"I had to talk to him through a sheet of glass. I need him holding me," he sniffed, "I need him here."

It hurt Rizzo to see her brother like this. She came to sit beside him and pulled him into a hug. He tried to push her off but she refused to let go.

"It's not the same."

He couldn't even look her in the eye.

"I know, baby, but it's the best I can do."

He gave in almost instantly, wrapping his arms around her neck, "His Z-band's shocking him, Riz. They're shocking him and I can't do anything about it...! He doesn't deserve that, he's not a criminal, he's the most selfless person I know. He saved my life and they've locked him away and they're shocking him for it."

Rizzo said nothing. What could she possibly say? All she could do was be there to listen and offer him whatever comfort she could give.

"He shouldn't be there. He should be singing and playing music and goofing off with Zach a-and telling Lindzey to shut up..." he laughed through his tears, "And he should be with me. He should be here with me right now, like he always has been."

For a short while after that, the only sounds were Zephyr's crying and Rizzo's soothing murmurs. Eventually, Zephyr's breathing began to even out.

"I don't think I can do this for a whole year..."

Rizzo finally answered.

"Don't give up yet. Al's gonna need you just as much as you need him."