Later that afternoon Zed was standing by the main entrance to Zombietown, two cups of Froyo in hand as he waited for Addison to arrive. Finally, his eyes caught onto a flash of bright pink and white walking towards him in the distance. Zed grinned and started walking closer so he could greet her that much sooner.

"There you are Handsome." Addison smiled.

"How was practice?"

"Just as good as ever. How were the wolves?"

"Well, you know, they're wolves. Turns out their necklaces are magic or something."

"Yeah, I saw that today too. Apparently, they fry electronics."

"And they're what gives them their powers. According to Wyatt, they can access their full powers whenever they want as long as they're wearing their necklaces."

"So they're different than zombies then?"

"Sort of same, sort of different. I don't know since we have the Z-bands to block our real selves, but the wolves, it's a conscious choice to wolf out. And when they do it they're always in control. Not like us. We're still only mindless monsters."

"No Zed," Addison looked straight into his eyes. "What have we said about using that word?"

"Sorry, you're right."

"They're just different, just like zombies are different, and just like humans are different, but that doesn't mean anything about any of us is bad. That's why we're even looking for your tux here because I want to spend Prawn Night with you, as the real you."

"I know." Zed smiled. "Here I did grab some froyo from Coach, do you want Vanilla or Squirmy Wormy?"

"Oh yeah, I'll try the worms." Addison said excitedly. "Mmm, this is so good. You know what, this may honestly be the first time in my entire life that I've ever eaten froyo that wasn't Vanilla. Do you want a taste?"

"Sure." Zed said, "Ahh!" He playfully opened his mouth wide and stuck his tongue out while Addison placed a spoonful inside.

"Yep Coach is a genius, it's delicious. I can really taste the worms."

"Yeah, they're gummy worms. If it was actual worms I would not be eating it."

"You think I would? Gross."

"I know I'm just saying. I think we should go on a date sometime wherever Coach's stand is and just try everything he has if it's all this good. But after Prawn."

"Why?"

"I want to fit in my dress." Addison laughed.

"Please like you need to worry about that." Zed playfully rolled his eyes. "Besides after the spring cheer championships, track and field will start. Hey, you should join."

"Why? I don't do much running."

"Well isn't that like your only break from Cheer? I bet we can have lots of fun at meets and stuff, and I can have a chance to cheer you on for once. With all the dancing and cheering you do it's not like you'd be out of breath after the first hundred meters unless you end up being a sprinter."

"OK I'll think about it, is Coach coaching it?"

"No, that's why he has his froyo cart after school. Mr. Clevenger coaches the guys, and I think it's Mrs. Schwiesow that coaches the girls."

"Alright, I'll talk to Bree and see if she wants to do it too. Maybe we can get Bonzo and Eliza and the wolves to all join."

"If you can get Eliza to join a sport, or wear any kind of Mighty Shrimp uniform I think we'll need to check her Z-band for hacking." Zed laughed.

"Why? Like you said, I know she loves dancing too."

"Yeah, but it's Eliza. I don't think she'll have any desire to join a sport ever. She still makes fun of all of us for being on teams."

"Yeah but that's Eliza, would you want her any other way?"

"Of course not, but anyway, we're almost here." Zed pointed just down the street.

"Good, we have plenty of time since I filled my parents in by the way. You're honestly lucky I talked Mom out of joining us."

"Too bad. I'm sure that would have been tons of fun."

Zed held open the door for Addison to walk in as a bell chimed above the door.

"Good Afternoon Zed," A zombie woman stepped out from behind the counter. "and you must be Addison I'm guessing?"

"Yep, that's me. Nice to meet you." Addison waved hello.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Zinnia. What can I help you with today?"

"I'm looking for a tux for Prawn."

"Oh good, honestly finally letting you kids go to Prawn has been great for business, I'm the busiest I've ever been. The suits are over in the right back corner, fitting rooms on the left, feel free to try on whatever you want, although Zed, you should probably keep in mind I can alter the pants and sleeves if you need it. I'm not sure I have very much that will fit your height. Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks Zinnia." Zed said.

Zed smiled as him and Addison walked further into the store. Once they got to the tux rack, Addison and Zed both started searching through the hangars.

"Well since I'm obviously going to be following your advice, what color should I get?"

"Zed I don't know, I think we should just look for something that looks great on you."

"So you don't care if we don't match? Because there isn't much pink here. Or should I be looking for blue?"

"It's a surprise." Addison said, her voice teasing.

"Come on you're here with me, and it's not like we're getting married or something."

"I thought you said you were fine with waiting. What did you say, just another reason to wait for Prawn Night?"

"I hate when you use my words against me." Zed grumbled.

"Do you know what Bonzo's wearing?" Addison tried to change the subject.

"I don't know for sure what it looks like, but he said it's one of his dad's old suits, that actually ended up fitting him perfectly. Plus Bonzo said he was adding his own style to it. I didn't ask what exactly he means, and he wasn't sharing."

"I'm sure whatever it is, Bree will love it."

"So what did Bree get?"

"She got a pink dress with a poofy skirt that's short enough that she can still dance really easily. And yes we did try out our dance moves before we got them."

"Cool is it anything like yours?"

"Nice try buster, have you found anything?"

"Yeah, how about this?" Zed asked, pulling out a dark, red wine-colored suit with plenty of patches and other bits of Zombie-styled accessories."

"Really? Dark red? Won't that clash with your hair?"

"Well if you don't like it, I'll do something else."

"No go try it on, let's see what it looks like on you." Addison pushed him towards the fitting rooms and he closed the door with a smile.

Addison went to sit down at a nearby bench to wait, while she did, Zinnia walked over to her. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good, Zed found one he liked, but I don't know how it's going to look on him, it was that dark red one way in the back."

"Ahh, I think I know which one you're talking about." Zinnia nodded. "And you already got your dress?"

"Yep."

"Are you worried about matching together or anything?"

"No, if I was, we wouldn't be here, I want Zed to be himself, not dress himself up in a blue suit just because he has to try to fit in."

"I understand, can I see the dress then? I'll admit I'm curious and I would love to give you some advice to help if I can. I don't get very many human customers."

"Sure." Addison scrolled through her phone and pulled up a picture to show to Zinnia.

"Wow you look great, and I'm sure whatever Zed finds you'll look great together. Do you know how you're doing your hair?"

"No, I guess I haven't really thought about that."

"If I may suggest, I think you should do a tight braid so that everything can stay in place all night, and it should help draw attention to your beautiful face."

"Thanks Zinnia, maybe I will. So-"

Zed stepped out of the dressing room and Addison lost her train of thought as she took all of him in. Her eyes couldn't help scanning his tall, skinny frame from head to toe. She noticed that indeed, a few inches of wrist and ankle were showing, revealing his gray skin beneath. And as she continued to move up she couldn't take her eyes away. Until she finally met his eyes and saw they were filled with laughter.

"So I take it that means you like it?"

"Um…Yeah…you look great." Addison tried to regain her composure, "Although it does need some extra length."

"Don't worry Addison, I should be able to lengthen the sleeves and pants in a few hours. Does anything feel tight Zed? Want to do some dance moves to practice?"

"Sure." Zed walked a few feet away and after a few moments of snapping a beat to himself, he broke into a quick run-through of a bunch of his Bamm dance moves, that were really not helping Addison's concentration.

"Oh yeah, everything feels good. So do you like it Addison? Will this go with your dress?" Zed asked.

"Don't worry Zed I know you too will look perfect together." Zinnia answered.

"Wait you showed her, and you won't tell me? Hurtful." Zed fake pouted.

"She's the expert, but yeah, If you like it I think this is the one unless you have something in here that can break the laws of physics to make him look even better." Addison turned to Zinnia as she continued.

"No I don't think I do." Zinnia shook her head laughing as she pulled a tape measure out of her pocket. "Now that we found the one, I'll just take a few measurements so you don't look like the suit shrunk in the wash on you."

Zinnia spent a few minutes expertly taking all of Zed's measurements and writing them down. "OK, if you don't need anything else right now, you can go get changed so I can start working on it. I'll probably be done in a day or two and then you can come pick it up."

"Got it. Thanks Zinnia." Zed said as he walked back to the fitting rooms to put his clothes back on. A few moments later Zed walked back out, carrying the suit on its hooks. "There you go." He said, handing it over to Zinnia.

"Thank you Zed. I'll see you in a few days, and if I don't see you again Addison, I hope you both have fun at Prawn."

"Thank you." Zed and Addison said in unison as they walked back out the door, by now the sun was just starting to go down. "I'm assuming you have to be back home soon?" Zed asked.

"Yeah, probably, but we still have plenty of time." Addison said.

"So you don't need another piggyback ride?"

"Depends on how long we want to take."

"Well, as long as I can get the same reward as last time, I'll get us anywhere we need to go on time. I guarantee it."

"Well then, does that mean you're going to be a track star, just as much as a football and basketball MVP?"

"Yeah, as long as I can see you in the stands cheering for me I will, and if you join, I'd be happy to reward you when you win your races."

"Hmm, just another reason I should join, you're pretty good at making a convincing argument, no wonder you're Mr. President."

"Exactly, I'm so full of good ideas I have brains to spare."

"Must be all the cauliflower."

"For sure. We already know Eliza's way too smart for her own good, and Bonzo is a musical genius. And I am obviously an expert football player, an amazing politician, and a wonderful boyfriend."

"That's true, normally all the student council does is plan a few special holidays and dances and stuff, not change half the laws in Seabrook so that we can be unified." Addison said as they passed under the Unification Gate.

"Yeah, we can make these two worlds ours." Zed sang softly

"I'm rooting for us." Addison sang back before they both started laughing.

"What do you think the wolves are up to?"

"Well I know one of them is with Eliza doing who knows what."

"What?" Addison asked, intrigued.

"Eliza and Wyatt ran off together to work on Eliza's powerplant mission. But Willa acted like there was something more going on."

"Like what?"

"Well she said Wyatt's acting ridiculous about something, and I don't think she was talking about the powerplant."

"What you think he likes Eliza?"

"Maybe. Remember last night? And sure Eliza quipped back at him, but it wasn't her usual snapback."

"How can you tell."

"Because she's used her sarcasm on me since literally ever. If there's one person that I'm an expert in it's Eliza. Even if she would argue otherwise."

"Now I have to see it, especially if Eliza's interested in him too."

"You know she's never going to admit it, with how much she makes fun of us and Bree and Bonzo, she's not going to change overnight."

"We'll have to wait and see, I think we both know she'll shut down anything he does out of step."

"Yeah, if Wyatt does like her, I kind of hope it's true."

"Really? Why?"

"Because now I can pay her back for how we're all cavity-inducing and stuff."

"You really think Eliza will be anything but salty and sour?"

"Probably not, but if he does like her, Wyatt's one brave wolf that's for sure."

"Well, looks like this is goodnight. Addison said as they finally arrived at her front porch."

"For now."

"Yeah. I'll talk to you later Zed."

"Bye Addison. Goodnight." Zed leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips.

"Goodnight Zed." Addison returned before she walked through the door as Zed turned around to head back to Zombietown.

Eliza was leading Wyatt towards the powerplant, and just like she said, it was currently abandoned except for a few Z-Patrol officers guarding the site, but Eliza knew every inch of the old building like the back of her hand so they got in without any trouble.

"Wow…this is…nice." Wyatt said slowly as he looked around the darkened space. The whole area was filled with tools, construction equipment, and demolition supplies, and all over the walls and beams were caked in rust and debris, it had clearly been fifty years since the building was part of Seabrook.

"I know, can't you just smell the history? This is where zombies were born. This is our place, no humans have any right to tear it down."

"I sure can smell something." Wyatt wrinkled his nose, he was used to the smells of the forest, not rusted metal and dust. "So I get that the outbreak started here, but besides that, why is this so important?"

"You ain't seen nothing yet. Fido. Follow me."

"Of course, after you."

Eliza took him over to the elevator and pressed the buttons to bring them down.

"So where are we going?"

"I'm going to show you my favorite place in the entire world." That was all Eliza was willing to reveal.

Finally, the elevator rattled to a stop and the doors slid open, revealing the Mash Pit. It was pitch black, and Wyatt could just barely see but Eliza strode confidently to a nearby wall and threw a switch to turn on the lights which blinked on after a few shutters.

"Wow." Was all Wyatt could say as he looked around at the suddenly brightly colored room. It was still shadowed but all the colors popped off the walls to make even Wyatt feel energized. "What is this place? I've seen Zombietown, but I've never seen anywhere this colorful."

"Welcome to the Mash Pit."

"What do you do here? "

"What don't we do here? We dance, we sing, we laugh, we get to be free down here, no rules can pull us down. We're so far underground that we can be as loud as we want without worrying about the Z-Patrol busting us as long as we're careful."

"Impressive." Wyatt said as he scanned a giant mural of a Z-band, surrounded by dozens of brightly graffitied zombie symbols.

"It's Zombietongue, we have twenty-three different words for brains." Eliza explained.

"So do you like a guy with brains?"

"That is so offensive dog biscuit, remind me again why I brought you down here?"

"I'm sorry this all looks so great, it reminds me of…" Wyatt cut himself off before he revealed too much.

"It reminds you of what?"

Wyatt decided to take a chance, no one will trust them if they don't spill a few secrets. "It reminds me of our Wolf Den. At night with the moonlight shining in, the walls come alive with all the carvings and stories we've painted on the walls. There's nowhere else I would rather be. Normally we spend plenty of nights dancing and howling together as a pack too."

"I know how that feels, when I'm up in my booth, Bamm blasting out of the speakers, everyone comes alive down here in a way we never could up there until recently." Eliza climbed up to where her DJ table used to be, and she sat down, her legs hanging over the balcony. Wyatt sat down beside her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well obviously we could never leave Zombietown before last year, and even in our own streets we could never be too loud or crazy, or the Z-Patrol would come and 'break up the disturbance." Eliza rolled her eyes.

"That sucks, I always wanted to visit Seabrook before, but since the moo- I mean the humans came and forced us to hide, we've had to stay away, in case they would attack us again."

"I don't really blame you. With how they used to treat us, I would do anything to avoid it." Eliza banged her Z-band against the metal ledge they were sitting on.

"But as you said, don't those make you not eat brains?"

"Yeah, but I hate them because they're a constant reminder that the humans still don't trust us, that we're a problem what would be easier to be erased, we can't be but they still try to burry us as much as possible."

"Like what?"

"Like them tearing this place down to build a cheer pavilion along with finally rebuilding other parts of Zombietown after 50 years so humans will be more welcome. They built a Reunification Gate, but they still leave that stupid wall standing. Zombies still aren't allowed to drive or leave the city unless they get special permission from the Z-Patrol. So almost never unless you're Zed basically. The Z-Patrol still even exists for crying out loud."

"I get it, but you already changed a lot of stuff, right?"

"Yeah, but there's still so much we can still be doing, but I feel like Zed and the others are too focused on enjoying what they already have done. Zed specifically now that everything is great with Addison and her parents now he's just trying to live his life, and like instead of fighting to save the powerplant, he just saved his favorite part."

"What's that?"

"I'll show you, but don't get any ideas. The light garden is so not worth the hype if you ask me."

"Lead the way, and I'll keep the hype down." Wyatt smiled.

Eliza led the way through a few dark halls until they came to the room where the light garden used to be, now it was empty except for the murals on the walls and some boxes of random construction supplies. Only a few lights still remained to brighten the space now.

"So what is this place?"

"It was a light garden, basically a bunch of lights strung everywhere to make it beautiful. The gas cloud that created zombies also killed pretty much all the plants in Zombietown so instead of flower gardens, we decorate our yards with light gardens, you'll be able to see them when we go back now that its getting dark."

"So why isn't it here now?"

"Let's just say this is one of Zeddison's favorite date spots, so when Zed found out they were planning to destroy this place he and Bonzo made sure to move all the lights and rebuild the light garden somewhere else. After that, he didn't even care about the rest of the powerplant. I've pretty much been fighting alone since then."

"I'd be happy to fight with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the pack is always stronger than a lone wolf. And we monsters should stick together."

"I agree, you're pretty cool for a vicious, bloodthirsty werewolf, Fido."

"And you're pretty smart for a brainless zombie." Wyatt shot back.

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm just kidding, I like to keep my friends on a tight leash." Eliza's offended glare broke into her usual sarcastic smile.

"Well if that's how you want to play it…" Wyatt said, his eyes sparkling. "Are you hungry? I could really go for some nice juicy cauliflower."

"Sure, and I'd really love some tasty, crunchy Milk Bones."

"It sounds delicious."

"Well cauliflower when it's legally mandated to be part of your diet your whole life definitely isn't. It tastes like sweaty gym sneakers."

"Got, it no cauliflower." Wyatt laughed, "Is there anything else down here that's super cool? Besides you of course."

"Naw, it's mainly just the whole Mash Pit down here." Eliza said, walking back to the elevator. "And of course, the light garden, it's nice but Zed and Addison ruined any reason for me to ever want to spend time in there."

"Cool." As Wyatt followed Eliza, he started to feel a tingling in his muscles, like he was ready to go run through the forest, and the necklace against his neck started to heat up in the dark, cool underground air. He paused and glanced around in all directions, he noticed a darkened hallway about thirty feet away.

Eliza finally noticed he stopped. "What's wrong Fido? Scared of the dark?" She asked with a smirk.

"No, of course not. Out of curiosity, what's down there?"

Eliza looked over to where Wyatt was pointing and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, that tunnel goes on for a while with a bunch of empty rooms before it ends where the ceiling from the floor above collapsed on it. If anything's down there, its been buried there for the past 50 years as far as I know. Why?"

"I don't know, I just have a weird feeling."

"I don't need to know your weird feelings, I get enough of that from my usual friends. I think you just need some fresh air Fido come on."

Wyatt took one last look back at the dark hallway before he followed Eliza to the elevator, as the doors closed in front of him that strange feeling went away. But it was quickly replaced by something different and strange as he glanced at Eliza again.

"So my most recent idea is a school walkout in protest, but other than a few other zombies I haven't organized much support so far. Most human students don't care at all, and my friends are only focused on the good side. That tearing the powerplant down is giving zombies a job. I have no problem being more united with Seabrook, but how about we tear down some of the literal walls between us, and not the symbols that make us, us."

"Oh, that sounds great, I'd love to join that, and I guarantee Wynter and Willa would love to have an excuse to miss class."

"I wouldn't have minded that too much my first days of school either." Eliza laughed.

"So besides fighting injustice what else do you do?"

"I like remixing my own music, dancing, of course, I like taking apart and hacking electronics and playing video games."

"Sure, must be a monster thing, we wolves love to dance."

"I'm pretty sure that's a Seabrook thing too, but our moves are much better, even if some of the cheerleaders are mildly impressive, they can't do it like the zombies do most of the time."

"Yeah, I can see that. Is it a thing that they only wear pink and blue, cause I can tell you zombies seem to have your color scheme and our pack does to, but they all look so…"

"Boring?"

"Exactly. Ha Ha" Wyatt's voice echoed around the powerplant as they walked through the ground floor, but as they did both froze when they heard footsteps in the distance and saw the pale beam of a flashlight.

"Crap. Its Z-Patrol." Eliza whispered. She grabbed onto Wyatt's hand and pulled him behind some large boxes of building supplies where they ducked down.

"Hello?" The officer called out. "Is someone there?"

"It's Gus." Eliza whispered, letting go of Wyatt's hand. "He's actually a pretty good guy, for the Z-Patrol at least, but we still don't want to be caught here."

"Why not?"

"I know you joined the school, but trust me, I wouldn't want the Z-Patrol on my case if it didn't have to be. And plus since this is an active construction site I suppose we could be arrested for trespassing or something. Even though this is our heritage they're about to destroy." Eliza grumbled.

"OK, I get it stealth mode." Wyatt agreed, they waited silently in the dark for the next ten minutes until Gus finally decided nothing was wrong and left the building.

"Alright, we should be good now." Eliza led the way outside once more.

"Thanks for the tour, today is probably the most I've ever learned about humans and zombies ever."

"But zombies are obviously much cooler?"

"Of course, but you've got nothing on us. How about next time I show you the forest?"

"Next time? I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, plus as you can seem I'm more a Wi-Fi access urban jungle kind of person."

"Hey I just think you probably have a million questions about me, just like I did about zombies today, and I think it will be more fun on a walk in the woods."

"You want to go on a walk Fido?" Eliza smirked, "Do you wanna play fetch too?"

"Alright, I totally walked into that one. Grr! I did it again. I'm just going stop talking now."

"Yeah, be a good boy and be quiet, maybe then I will take you for a walk."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow Eliza. I better go find the others."

"See you later, don't stop at any fire hydrants."

"I'm assuming that's a dog joke but jokes on you, I have no clue what that means so HA!" Wyatt called out before he ran off into the night.

Eliza chuckled to herself as she walked back to her house, there weren't many people that could keep up with her sharp tongue, no matter what she had said Wyatt just brushed it off and served it right back at her, no one would even try to do that except for Zed and Bonzo, and he seemed so interested in learning about zombie history, and her own interest was piqued to learn about the werewolves even though she had no desire to go hiking through the forest. Maybe Wyatt and the rest of the wolves will be the allies she always dreamed of for her revolution.