That same Saturday, the home across the street from Zed's house also had a guest visiting. In fact, if Bree had left ten minutes earlier she could have walked to Zombietown with Addison, but she happily made her way over, excited to see her own zombie.
Bree knocked on the door, glancing around Bonzo's yard as she did so. The fence surrounding the patch of pavement that he called his yard was constructed out of dozens upon dozens of bike wheels, and Bree was pretty sure that every time she visited, they changed colors, sometimes all solid green or purple, while at other times a full-on rainbow surrounded Bonzo's house, or even sometimes if Bree paid close attention she could see that every wheel was painted a slightly different shade from the next as if someone was trying to perfect color to use in something else.
Bree just smiled while she waited, and to think she never even knew whose inspiration jumpstarted the color change, Bonzo's whole family was always working on something creative and new, and all of it was beautiful.
She could hear heavy footsteps walking up behind the door, and a moment later, Bree craned her neck up to meet Bonzo's smiling face. "Grallo Breezka!"
"Grallo Bonzka." Bree responded back.
Neither could wait another moment before they pulled each other into a tight hug and Bonzo motioned her through the door with a smile, loudly announcing to his parents, "Breezka greer!"
"Grallo Breezka." Both his mom and dad greeted her.
"Grallo Mr. and Mrs. Mortenson." Bree answered.
"Waz gru kidz up zto?" Bonzo's mom asked.
"Juz hanggr." Bonzo answered.
"Yeah, we haven't even seen each other all week except for cheer practice." Bree laughed.
"Harv divertidaz!"
Bonzo led Bree upstairs and into his studio. Much like his yard outside, this room always looked completely different every single time Bree saw it. It was an extra spare room in his house, that Bonzo had taken ownership of years ago when his bedroom no longer had a chance of holding all his art supplies, instrument collection, paintings, sketches, notes, and just about anything else that he could think of.
While Bree was normally a very organized person who hated messes, she was always in awe whenever she walked in, there was just so much to take in all at once, and she wanted to study all of it, because she knew Bonzo put himself into every beautiful thing he made. Plus it always astounded her, that even though his studio looked like complete chaos, Bonzo always knew exactly where everything was at all times. Bree could probably ask him for a specific sketch he showed her months ago and Bonzo would find it within a minute, and only because it did take him some time to shift through all his papers.
Bonzo sat down on his paint-flecked bean bag chair and Bree quickly followed, curling herself underneath his arm with a smile.
"So Bonzo, how's it been working for your dad again so far?"
"Grreat. Az ziempre." Bonzo grinned happily, he loved working with his dad, because he got to do what he loved while working with one of the most important people in his life. He and his dad also thought alike on a lot of things, in addition to creating beauty out of Seabrook's trash and recycling, they also helped out their neighbors by fixing or repurposing anything that was broken, making it "betterrr zan nueza" as his dad always said.
"Ez zemana we zug pintarr Paizley's nueza signarr."
"Oh really? And that's the formalwear shop where you and Zed and everyone else got your Prawn stuff right?"
"Eggzactly." Bonzo nodded, "Neaza signarr nar Grreen arg Pink. Bonzo pulled out his phone to show her a picture of the new dark pink but also flashy bright green sign above the old shop. "Paizley's hopez maz Prawnz shoppers grom Seabrook."
"That would be so great. I would totally love to get some more zombie chic fashion sometime. You know I love that hoodie you've been letting me borrow-"
"Ez yours". Bonzo smiled down at her.
"I know." Bree smiled back. "But if I want to wear zombie chic around town or at school I need something to wear that I won't trip over it cause it practically reaches down to my toes."
"Go wiz Elizka zomeday, ellaz hook gru upz." Bonzo suggested.
"Oh, I bet. Eliza would probably be my best bet to actually find something awesome but not totally ridiculous. I wouldn't even know where to start looking in Zombietown, besides your dad's store and a few of our date nights I haven't really been shopping in Zombietown since Christmas, and that whole time Addie was panicking over Zed's present."
"Arg gru?"
"Ok, maybe I had been panicking a little bit too before I found the perfect gift for you." Bree admitted, a slight blush rising to her cheeks.
"Gar Gar Gaza iz."
"I know you do, just like I gar gar gaza."
"Gar gar gaza Breezka."
"Gar gar gaza Bonzka."
They both slowly met tenderly in a sweet, soft kiss, gently pressing against each other for as long as they could before breaking away and snuggling up closer together on the bean bag chair.
"Howz flowarrs ztore?"
"Oh it's so great Bonzo, I feel like how you must feel every day. I get to spend my entire day making beautiful things that will make people happy. And not just the flower shop, which is amazing, but that's also why I cheer, because I know cheering makes others happy and it makes me happy, the same way spending time with you makes me happy."
"Oz courze Breezka. Gru feliz grr za."
"And I'm still learning new things every day like how literally every single flower and every single color combination has a different meaning. Thank Z that 90% of the flower orders in Seabrook are just pink, so I don't need to figure out all the different colors of pink there actually are, primrose, magenta, fuchsia, salmon, coral, blush. Although I bet you have all those colors in here somewhere don't you?"
"Gra, I do." Bonzo chuckled and pointed over to one of the shelves standing up against the far wall, it was as tall as he was and filled to the brim with every color and type of paint anyone could imagine, plus probably quite a few one-of-a-kind homemade colors thrown in as well.
"Oh really? I dare you right now to find me fuchsia." Bree grinned.
"Ez Challengr?" Bonzo laughed and stood up and in about twenty seconds total, bowed low to Bree, holding out a bottle of acrylic paint, proudly labeled fuchsia.
"OMZ I know I shouldn't be surprised you literally know this place like the back of your hand. Bree smiled and took the paint from his outstretched hand. "Call me impressed Bonzo."
"I'z call gru mi Breezka."
"I know, and I will always call you my Bonzka." Bree smiled, and pushed herself up from where she was still seated to reach her arms around Bonzo's neck, while he gently circled her waist with his cool, strong but delicate hands. With Bonzo bending down, they met once again for a long, slow, quiet, and loving kiss that seemed to last both forever and also for only a moment. Much too short for them to say everything they were feeling inside, but both already knew it with certainty in their hearts, just by looking in their beloved's eyes.
"So anything major you're working on that I can take a peek at? I know you always have something in your work in progress."
"Gra." Bonzo nodded. He let go of Bree's waist to walk over to one corner and turned a canvas over to reveal…
"Is that the Mona Lisa? And as a zombie?" Bree couldn't hold in her laughter, and thankfully Bonzo was laughing right along with her. She just couldn't help it, besides the gray skin, green hair, and sunken eyes, as far as Bree's untrained eye could tell it looked just like the real deal, with a zombie twist that made it both even more beautiful in Bree's mind but also for some reason completely hilarious.
"Nueza projectarr. I'm ze pongo zombies en hiztoria. Mona Lizka ez mi primarr. Guzta?"
"Yeah, of course, I love it, I can't wait to see the other one you do. You're brilliant Bonzo, if my totally biased opinion, I think this looks even better than the original. Keep it up, I can't wait to see what you do next."
"Grazias Breezka."
"But," Bree sent him a knowing look. I can tell how excited you are, and I'm sure with no school there's almost nothing stopping you from letting your creative juices flow freely. Have you been getting enough sleep lately?"
"Oz Courze Breezka." Bonzo promised. "Onze ezery nochez. A vezes doze."
"Bonzo, you go to bed past eleven at least every night? With cheer stuff early every morning? How do you do that? If I miss 3 days without a full 8 hours, I can no longer survive without coffee. And you better not say it's a zombie power that you don't need to sleep."
"Zo, juzt mi I guez." Bonzo shrugged his shoulders. "I'm finez. Juzt, a zig zig quid grat Ziggy got got. Ziggy got zu zat Ziggy got za."
"Oh yeah, I'm a bit hungry too. Is there somewhere around here we can go grab a snack?"
Bonzo scratched his chin for a moment thinking, "Coach's froyo? Ez agui en…" Bonzo glanced over at the clock on the wall, "veinti minutes."
"Oh yeah, froyo sounds so good. Totally honest, just this week I've been walking home with Addie when we're done with our jobs every day, and every day she brings me a scoop of vanilla, so its only the first week of summer and I literally can't stand vanilla anymore. I have no clue how Addison or the Aceys can take it." Bree laughed.
Bonzo just laughed at her. "Zo froyo?"
"Yes, Coach's froyo to be specific sounds wonderful. I think we better get going then if we want to catch him and then maybe just go for a walk?"
"Zounds grood arg." Bonzo agreed, reaching out to hold onto her hand and they made their way back down the stairs.
"Wer off to ahorra?" His dad asked them.
"Out getr froyo." Bonzo answered.
"OKZ, havr divertida."
"Brringg mi zom?"
"Zorry Padrre. We'll be gwile." Bonzo laughed and he and Bree made their way out the door.
They walked through Zombietown for a bit, and even said hello to Kinzley and Zoey as they made their way over to Kinzley's house.
"Hi Zoey, hi Kinzley." Bree greeted them.
"Grallo!"
"Hi Bree, Grallo Bonzo." Zoey and Kinzley both answered.
"What are you two cuties up to?"
"We're going to go play at Kinzley's house, plus give Zed and Addison some alone time." Zoey giggled.
"Oh, Addison's over at your house?"
"Yeah, she came over today to 'help Zed watch me' since Daddy's been gone all day. Even though I think I'm old enough to be by myself, I mean as long as we stay in Zombietown most parents let us do what we want as long as someone is with us."
"I think that's just it Zoey, I'm sure in another year or two you will be able to go anywhere you want."
"I hope it comes soon. I mean Zed gets to have Addison come over whenever, and I can guarantee they're smooching right now."
"I have a feeling you're probably right Zoey." Bree smiled and shared a look with Bonzo, both of them fighting hard to hide their chuckles.
"Oh Zoey, idear!" Bonzo got a devilish grin on his face, he kneeled down low to whisper in her ear.
"OMZ that's perfect, I'm going to do that the second I get home. Thanks Bonzo. Now come on Kinzley let's get going."
"What did Bonzo tell you?" Kinzley asked as they started walking away from Bonzo and Bree.
"The most hilarious thing ever, that I will now use whenever I want!" Zoey declared as their voices faded out in the distance.
"Alright you, what did you tell Zoey?" Bree quirked her eyebrow at her boyfriend in suspicion.
"I zaid Zoey shorld zing zong."
"And just what song did you suggest?"
"Bezos en tree."
"Bezos in…Oh!" Bree laughed out loud too when she translated it in her head. "That will be hilarious, although I think we're hardly ones to talk, I really like bezos with you too."
"Perro no Zeddison."
"Please, no one else could ever possibly be Zeddison, and we don't have to be either, you're the perfect one for me Bonzka."
"Arg gry mi." Bonzo agreed.
Just up ahead they could see a bright pink umbrella, and as a surprise to both of them, for once there wasn't any line.
"Come on Bonzo let's hurry, I hope Coach hasn't sold out again." Bree laughed as they continued on their way.
Earlier that morning, next door to Bonzo's house, someone knocked on Eliza's front door. Eliza glanced out her bedroom window upstairs and saw a familiar head of dark hair with just a streak of white. Grinning in spite of herself, she called out to her parents, "I got the door!" Before they could answer it. She didn't mind her parents usually and they were nothing but supportive of her and Wyatt, but anytime she even mentioned Wyatt her mom just got so embarrassing, acting like they were the cutest thing ever like Zeddison. And it was even worse whenever Wyatt was there, so whenever he did visit, Eliza was always eager to get away from everyone else as soon as possible.
She ran down the stairs and opened the door. "What's up Fido?"
"Hey Eliza, I don't know about you but as much as I love our job, I have spent way too much time in Containment this week. And then the only break I get is working out with Zed and the others."
"So, I'm pretty sure that's on you for joining a team, you just can't help yourself from showing off your running skills can't you?" Eliza rolled her eyes playfully at him.
"Guilty," Wyatt grinned showing his fangs, "so anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk or around town or through the woods or something."
"Well, I suppose I'd be fine with that, plus my parents think I spend too much time on my computer anyway, and you know how they are whenever you're around."
"Come on, your parents have been nothing but nice to me."
"Exactly, sometimes I wonder how I got my biting sarcasm, I certainly didn't get it from hanging with Zed and Bonzo."
"So back on topic," Wyatt laughed, "want to join me?"
"I'd be happy to Fido. Let's go."
"Alright so where too, the Seabrook, Zombietown, or the Forbidden Forest?"
"Well, we both spend plenty of time in both Seabrook and Zombietown, so I guess I'd love a tour of your grand forest."
"Great then, I'll show you all the most amazing trees, you'll be obsessed with all my forest expertise."
"Definitely not, but lead the way, I've got nothing better to do today." Eliza shrugged her shoulders.
"Perfect." Wyatt extended his hand and Eliza took it with a small grin that she tried unsuccessfully to tamp down, she still didn't understand it, but Wyatt made her happy in a way no one else ever had, she knew she couldn't fight it, only enjoy it.
As they walked past Zed's house, Wyatt's nose twitched and he gave a curious sniff.
"What is boy, did you find something?" Eliza teased him.
"I'm pretty sure I can smell Addison like she just walked past here."
"Well, there's a shock.' Eliza rolled her eyes, "did you really think she doesn't take every opportunity to be with Zed?"
"No I guess not, I'm not really surprised, just telling you what my nose is telling me."
"Whatever, think we should go interrupt them?"
"No, let them enjoy their fun, just like we're about to."
"OK Wyatt, lead the way." Eliza grinned at him.
"As you wish." He grinned back. They passed through the barrier and followed the wall for a while until they arrived at the closest pathway into the Forbidden Forest.
"Wow, what's that?" Eliza and the others had come this way before a lot, but now instead of the broken open, rusty old gate that used to bar the front of the path, there were now two gray, stone pillars with a blank wooden sign positioned between them up above their heads.
"Yeah, they started building that this week, I think Wynter and Willa even helped design it a lot at their jobs. Willa said it will look a lot like our own version of the reunification gate in Zombietown, eventually, they'll build a path straight to the den, since most humans and zombies can't follow our wolf trails alone."
"I bet I could now as long as it isn't nighttime with how many times we've been here."
"Hey, I'd never doubt your tracking skills, you always seem to know how to find me."
"Yeah, 'cause I built your phone, you know I can find you anywhere now right?"
"I didn't know that. Is that in Willa and Wynter's phones too?"
"Yeah, I know you guys have caught up on lots of our technology, but you didn't know that?"
"No, why would technology need to track us, we're wolves, masters of stealth. Can you turn it off?"
"Don't worry, the only ones who can track you are me and our other friends that have phones from me, so you're safe, and as you said, I can always find you anyway."
"OK, I guess I can live with that, but I'm not going to be the one to tell Willa."
"Awe, are you scared of the big mean alpha Fido?"
"No, of course not, she's my sister. Even though she gave back the title, for now, she'll always be my alpha."
"I know, no one is as loyal as you wolves are, but I guess I do have one question."
"Only one? You always have a million questions."
"And you don't?" Eliza shot back, "so on the new sign back there, is it going to still say the Forbidden Forest? I thought you wolves were going to announce a name change."
"Yeah we are, but between you and me, the Elders and Mother and Father are having some trouble coming up with a name."
"Really, I can't believe you guys called your home the Forbidden Forest forever."
"No, we didn't. The problem is, that it never had an official name in English. Only in Wolftongue its called Awaww awooo!" Wyatt howled out into the sky.
"What does that mean? I know you've been teaching me, but totally honest, I still can barely understand anything when you howl, much less make words out of it."
"I get that, plus for the name of the forest it's hard, it doesn't have an exact translation I can give you. In wolf, it means our place, our home, our land, or our territory. So we've never really had a real name for the forest, it was just home, and that's all that matters, but obviously, we can't just call it that, we want to come up with something that really represents us. You know?"
"Yeah, I get it. Believe it or not, it was humans that started calling our home Zombietown twenty years ago, before then it was just called the Infected Areas or the Other Side. So we didn't choose the name for our home, but I couldn't imagine it being called anything else. So what are some of the ideas you guys have thrown around?"
"Let's see," Wyatt scratched his head to think for a few moments as they kept walking, mostly on a path that only he knew, but he knew Eliza trusted his lead. "The Wild Wood, the Wolf Woods, Wolf territory…"
"I like the sound of the Wild Wood."
"Me too, I think the other two sound like we're saying it's wolves only."
"Yeah, and Wild Wood really shows who you guys are without being too aggressive about it. I think it suits you and this place. I know some humans find Zombietown a bit creepy still, even though I don't see what the big deal is, everything is just a bit older and less shiny and sparkly than Seabrook, nothing wrong with that."
"Well I for one have never been scared in Zombietown, I promise."
"Oh of course you weren't you big bad werewolf." Eliza teased him. "But I would never want to be out in the woods alone at night."
"Really, the forest is awesome at night, that's when it's the best. We're monsters, we're living in the shadows we're living for the chase."
"I don't disagree with that, but me personally, without you or any of the others to lead me out at night, or even right now during broad daylight, if I didn't have my phone with me I wouldn't have clue how to get back to Zombietown or how to find the Den. To me pretty much all trees look the same."
"How can trees look the same to you? Everyone is just as unique as every wolf is. The forest keeps us safe, makes us stronger, and provides everything we need. One of the reasons it doesn't have a specific name is that we can't possibly convey everything our home does for us. The forest makes us werewolves just as much as our moonstones do."
"I can understand that, Zombietown makes us zombies just as much as the Moonstone made us zombies 50 years ago too. Your home really is beautiful Wyatt, and now everyone will be able to see it. Just like everyone else can see the beauty in Zombietown now too."
"You know what?" Wyatt stopped walking for a moment and then turned to start walking straight through some of the underbrush off the side of the dirt path they had been traveling on. "I want to show you something."
"What is it?"
"Just trust me, I really think you'll enjoy it."
'OK, you know I trust you, but are sure there isn't any poison ivy or thorns or bugs or anything we have to go through? I have no clue if zombie healing works on those things since obviously before now most zombies haven't spent a whole lot of time out here."
"Don't worry, I'll warn you of any dangers". Wyatt promised her, so Eliza once again followed him through the undergrowth.
They walked for a long time, so long that Eliza didn't even know how much time passed, and with all the trees she couldn't even be sure where the sun was in the sky. They started climbing up a steep incline, and Eliza's zombie senses were trying to tell her something was nearby, but she wasn't certain what. The only heartbeats she could hear nearby were Wyatt's booming loudly as well as all the squirrels, birds, and other creatures that were all around them. Thankfully she felt no trace of hunger like that first time she tried using her Moonstone, she was just aware of them all around her. Even though she hated to admit it, growing up in the concrete jungle that made up Zombietown, walking through the forest alone together was kind of peaceful, in the daylight at least.
"Alright, we're almost there."
"We better be, my draggy foot is acting up," Eliza grumbled under her breath.
"Oh fox dung, I'm sorry I forgot about that, has this whole going for a walk thing been hard for you? I never should have suggested it, we should have just hung out in Seabrook or Zombietown."
"No, don't worry Wyatt I'm fine, I'm just hoping that wherever you're taking me is close so we can take a break."
"Don't worry it is. But you really can't tell where we are?" Wyatt grinned cheekily at her.
"No, without human or zombie signs of civilization or my technology I have a terrible sense of direction in a place like this. So are you finally going to tell me where we're going?"
"We're right here." Wyatt smiled as the trees began to thin out a few feet ahead of them, the dirt beneath their feet quickly turning to hard, gray stone. Wyatt slowed down and gently pulled Eliza forward until she could see what was ahead.
About another dozen yards away, the trees disappeared completely and a few feet later, the stone suddenly disappeared.
"Wow."
"It's beautiful right?" Wyatt grinned and sat down on the edge, his feet dangling in the open air below.
"Um, Fido, are you sure this place can hold us that close to the edge?"
"Of course, it can. Do you trust me?"
"Of course I do." Eliza sat down next to him, she had a quick moment of vertigo looking down at the rocky ground directly below them, before she felt Wyatt put his arm around her back and pull her close to him.
"I promise I won't let you fall."
"I know," Eliza said, feeling embarrassed.
"Don't look down, look out," Wyatt suggested.
Eliza followed his instructions and couldn't stop herself from gasping out loud. She could see everything, the emerald green forest stretching out for miles in front of her, while in the far distance she could see the clean, shiny streets of Seabrook, and the older, darker-colored homes and buildings of Zombietown to the West. And even farther she could see the mountains rising in the distance on one side of Seabrook, and the nearby ocean glittering on the other.
"I know, this is my favorite place in the whole world."
"Is it? Just where are we, Wyatt?"
"You still can't tell?" He chuckled at her, "we're on top of the cliff over the Den. I love this place because I know I can see my entire world. I know my family is down below or out somewhere in the woods, and I can also see the rest of our world too. Even as a pup I was always curious about the land in the distance. Even though it was forbidden to let any humans see us, and we heard plenty of horror stories about the things humans and zombies had done, I always wanted to meet them for myself, surely they couldn't be monsters as bad as the stories said, look at all the amazing things they built, even if they made some mistakes."
"Plenty of mistakes." Eliza corrected him.
"Of course. Our home will always be the most beautiful and most perfect place in the world, but both Seabrook and Zombietown have their own beauties too, we just had to all discover that and come together to see it."
"You're right. My whole life I was fighting for my friends and family to be accepted as part of our world. I always hated Seabrook, because they always did everything only for themselves, nothing for the benefits of zombies."
"Well, honestly we wolves always did too."
"But you were hurt by the humans just as badly as we were. Even if most of us had no clue you existed."
"All that matters is right now though."
"Yeah, you're right, it does." Eliza leaned her head against Wyatt's shoulder as they just sat in silence, enjoying the view and the feeling of being together. She may be prickly and especially didn't like showing her true feelings when it came to Wyatt around others, but just the two of them, she knew she had nothing to worry about.
"You know what Wyatt? You just made this my favorite place in the Forbidden- sorry I mean Wild Wood too. In fact, I think we should have Bonzo come up here sometime so he can paint a picture for my room."
"If it's for you, I'm sure we can show all our friends someday."
"So do only you know about this place or…?"
"Of course, everyone in the pack knows about it. Well except the pups, we don't let them play up here for obvious reasons, just to be on the safe side."
"I understand."
"Hey, are you hungry?"
"Yeah, I can eat, but I doubt you have anything out here I can eat."
"Hey, we're not just carnivores. We can eat fruits and veggies, in fact." Wyatt scooted back from his place on the edge, pulling Eliza back along with him.
"More walking?"
"Don't worry I promise it isn't far." Thankfully Wyatt barely had to lead her back through the trees to a whole bunch of bushes. "Now we don't have any cauliflower, but can I interest you in some berries? We've got blackberries, raspberries, blueberries….
"Sounds delicious." Eliza grinned at him. "There may be hope for you yet Fido, you sure know how to show a girl a good time." Eliza then moved forward to quickly kiss his cheek. Leaving him looking at her a bit dumbstruck.
She laughed, "Let's eat!" She started picking bunches of berries and after a moment Wyatt shook his head and joined in.
Eliza never would have thought she'd grow to love the forest this much, she was definitely an indoors person, whether that was inside her room on her laptop, underground at a Zombie Mash, or in the computer lab, but she could grow to love the forest as long as she always had her faithful guide dog at her side. Even though she kept that to herself, she knew there were only so many dog jokes she could get away with before Wyatt would start hitting back with his own. But for once in her life, she wouldn't change a thing.