A/N: Welcome to my new story. This idea started floating around in my head about half way through my other story Someday. This is totally different from my other one if you've read it. The characters act differently and it's set in a different universe. Different from the zombies one anyway. For those of you who did read Someday, I brought back Chad Singleton. He, however, is a totally different person in this fic. He is not the douche canoe he was in the other. He's nice and you might even feel sorry for him if this goes the way I want it to. Anyway, please strap yourselves in bc this is going to be a ride.

Addison walked the streets of her little town, taking narrow back alleys and side roads to avoid the main street. She had just gotten off of her shift for the night and was trying to avoid any unwanted attention from the sorts of people that roamed the roads at this hour.

She worked at a little tavern serving food and drinks to the workers who came in for the evening. She didn't enjoy it, but she could have a worse job. She could have to work in a brothel or she could have been sold as a slave to a rich zombies family.

She was lucky to have both of her parents. They struggled, like all of the human citizens of Seabrook, but they got by just fine. If she were unlucky she would have been sold at birth or orphaned and forced to work the streets.

Home was where she was headed. Her tiny apartment that was situated at the top of a 6 floor walkup was her own little paradise. Her bedroom was the size of a closet and she could barely fit her tiny bed and shelves with a few little keepsakes on them in there. Most of the little things she and Chad had found while walking through the ruins of the old city. But it was hers and hers alone.

She cut through another alley, unafraid as she made her way down the familiar path towards a lukewarm shower but hands reached out from a darkened alcove and pulled her in. She was wrapped in thick arms and her mouth was assaulted before she had time to react but she would know these arms and lips anywhere.

"Chad!" She breathed into his mouth.

"How was your night hon?" He asked after he managed to pull himself off of her.

"Old man Tom poured his drink all over Stacy and she slammed a bottle onto his head but other than that you know.. a normal night."

He chuckled. " I would have loved to see that."

"I'm sure you would have." she giggled. His laughing died down as his look turned serious for a moment and she knew what was about to happen.

"Marry me Addison." He asked her for about the hundredth time. She responded with her usual answer. "Now isn't a good time." She turned and made her way towards her house, knowing he would follow her.

"It's never a good time for you and guess what, it never will be." he said.

She scoffed and responded, "That's reassuring."

"No, I just mean that, of all your excuses that's the lamest one. It's never going to be a good time. We're always going to have this type of life. The zombies will always live in luxury while we struggle to feed off the bottom. I feel like you keep holding on to some dream of how it was before but it's never going to life is a centuries old fairytale." He was right, she thought. Maybe she did hang on to some sort of dream of how human life was before the zombies rose up and took over.

"I'll think about it." she answered.

"I've heard that one before." he mumbled. Yes, she agreed in her head, he had. Realistically, she knew that she would spend her life with Chad. They were compatible and had already spent most of their lives with each other. Most of their firsts were shared together and they had a solid foundation. She supposed she loved him, or maybe it was comfortability but either way she had always thought of him in the back of her mind when she did think of marriage. Her one hang up was her parents. She contributed a third of the pay to the household and worried that they wouldn't be able to make it without her to help them.

Her parents adored Chad. He was charming, handsome with blond hair and blue eyes and his best feature was that he was a family man. He worked several jobs to take care of his mom and brother and her mother especially thought that he would make a good husband for Addison. When they walked in the front door they were greeted with an onslaught of hugs. Her parents waited up everyday for her to return home for work, no matter how late or tired they were from their own day of hard labor.

"Chad, nice to see you my boy." Dale said coming to clap him on the back and bring him in for a hug.

"You too sir." He said returning the gesture. Missy had heated them both a plate of food and served them at the tiny kitchen table. "So what's new?" She asked as if they had something different happen to them that day than any other day before. They all knew nothing had but Addison answered with a 'nothing' while Chad decided to throw out a big fat monkey wrench. "Oh you know, just asked Addy here to marry me...again."

She hadn't told her parents about his proposals before. She didn't feel the need to get their hopes up about anything that she felt wouldn't be happening anytime soon. "Oh my goodness, well Addison you said yes, didn't you?" Missy seemed to be more excited than Addison ever was over it. Her parents both zoomed over to huddle over the table and stare down at her and Chad, giddy with anticipation.

What could she say? Uh, no mom, cause then what would you and dad do without me? They were prideful people and would never let her know how things really were. "It's just…" hesitated, "not the right time." She felt like a broken record at this point in time.

"Addison, it's never going to be the right time." said Dale. He sounded very Chad like in that moment. Maybe they were right when they say men marry women like their mothers and women marry men like their fathers.

"So I'm told." she sighed. Thankfully she didn't have to say anything more on the subject as her mother shouted an excited "Oh!" having just remembered something. "The new King is going to be riding through our little section of the district tomorrow."

Addison rolled her eyes at the thought. "What does that have to do with us?" she asked. Trying to finish eating before her mother started to pick up the plates from under her.

"It was all over the news at work today. Everyone is going to go out to greet him in the street when he comes. I hear they're even letting people off work for the event. With pay! Can you imagine an actual paid day off? When has that ever happened?" She answered with a never, but it went unheard as Missy, Dale and Chad chatted about it. So what if there was a new King? Nothing ever changed with the last one and why would it with his son. Her father thought this one was a little more reckless but maybe they needed someone who wasn't dull.

She excused herself to go and take a shower, hoping that all of the hot water for her building wasn't gone, but she was only dreaming. It was too late at night for that. She would be happy if it were any temperature other than ice cold.

She lucked out and had about five minutes worth of warm water but that was all she needed to scrub her body clean. When she went into her bedroom she noticed her mother had laid out some clothes for her and her one and only nice dress was hanging from one of the shelves. It was very plain and simple being a cream color with a little bit of lace and beading on the cap sleeves. It wasn't much but it didn't have stains or holes in it.

She dressed in her sleep clothes and thought her mother must have taken it out for tomorrow to go and greet the new King. Addison had been waiting to use this dress. She had worn it one other time and thought she would save it for her wedding day after that. Chad chose that time to walk in.

"Wow," he whistled, "That's a beautiful dress. I bet it looks even better on you." He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder, giving her a small kiss.

"Yeah, I guess my mother wants me to wear it tomorrow. Only I was really hoping my husband would see me in it first." She turned and threw him a little smirk before turning back fluff up the dress. The ends were pleated and would stop above her knees but she wanted to try and get some of the wrinkles out.

"Is that a yes." He drew out.

She sighed. "It's not a no." He grinned hugely and picked her up, spinning her around in the little space of her bedroom.

"Let's do it tomorrow. Wear the dress and we can go to the certificate office after the King passes through." He said setting her down and kissing her. She sighed once more, unable to say no this time. She gave him a fine, and he once more broke out into a grin and kissed her roughly.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box and handed it to Addison. Her heart sank at the thought that he had spent a lot of money on some kind of gift for her. She opened the box to find a small metal ring. It was thin and very plain, having no etchings in it, but it was perfect. Her eyes started to swell with tears. "Oh, Chad."

"It's not much but, I made it myself, down at the blacksmiths." He beamed proudly. He took the ring out and slid it on her finger. A little big, but perfect nonetheless. "I had to bribe him by saying I would clean out his pig stys for a week but it was worth it. He let me use some scraps he had laying around so it didn't really cost anything. I know you would appreciate that." She did.

He stayed the night, her parents had never cared and especially now that marriage talks were happening. There was barely any room for him in her single twin bed but they made it work somehow. She dreamt that she was a princess in a fairytale and Chad was a knight on a white stead. A giant green dragon and a large three headed dog had held her captive in a tall tower and Chad had to fight them to save her.

—

Zed was a smart zombie. If he weren't then his father wouldn't have stepped down so soon and let him rule. But the one thing he couldn't understand is why they needed to caravan through the districts. His father said that the humans would go crazy for them and that he would see all their cheering faces and it would just make him feel like the king he was. Really it only made him feel like they all hated him. He could see the hunger in their eyes and on their gaunt faces. They were suffering. But he had to do what was right for his people, the zombies race. Before they rose to power the humans treated them worse than dirt. They came with pitchforks and fire and all they brought was death and destruction.

He hated riding through and seeing the pained looks behind their fake smiles and knowing he couldn't do anything about it. He had only been king for a few weeks now and he was spending all of his time pouring over books in the library, trying to figure out the best way to take care of both groups of people he ruled. His sister Zoey came bounding into the library where he sat reading over yet another book on ruling and governing a nation.

"She had to go Zed." she said marching up to his desk.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew who she was talking about but still asked, "Who had to go Zo?"

"Macy, she had to go. I sent her to go work in the kitchens. She was late again this morning with getting my things ready and then she dropped my breakfast all over the place and did she say she was sorry, nope. She practically threw the food. I know she hates working for us and so I saved us both the time and let her go." She stood with her hands on her hips.

She was speaking of one of the ladies who worked directly for the royal family. Zoey had never liked her and didn't really like any of the ones before her either. "I think you're overreacting to the situation." Zed shook his head at her and turned his attention back to his book.

"No, I'm not, she was terrible."

"And what was wrong with the one before her huh?" Zed asked, refereting to the older lady she had before any of the self proclaimed 'Aceys' showed up to work.

"Well for one, she always smelled like soup, and two, she was too old for me to practice hair and makeup on."

That's all Zoey wanted to do these days. Practice her hair and makeup and fashion skills on unsuspecting victims. Macy had been no different from the others and didn't appreciate all the attention Zoey wanted.

Again Zed sighed, something he was doing more and more these days. "Fine, tomorrow we will look for a new royal worker for you but for right now, you will have to be happy with Lacy or someone." He turned his attention for a third time back to his book and watched as she huffed and stomped her way out of the library. He had to remind himself that she was at that stage where when she wanted something, she wanted it right then and there.

He opened another book and skimmed past the pages. It was an old lore and history book and he didn't think it had anything useful in it, but he had to check every book he could for anything that could help him to rule both groups . Humans and zombies as one. He couldn't just break down walls and expect everyone to be happy and united. It would take something special to bring the people together. Zombies would never accept humans and humans would never accept living with zombies.

He flipped through the pages and came across one page in particular that had caught his eye in the past. A picture of a woman with white hair and a long flowing white dress. She stood under a full moon and the picture seemed to depict her as glowing. Her grandmother, the queen previous to his father's ruling had written a lot of passages in these old books and this seemed to be one of the ones. Her scrolly handwriting in the old zombie tongue lined the edges of the pages.

The words 'Alpha all in white.' were written next to the picture of the girl and besides that was a picture of the flower that his grandmother had loved and planted all around the castle. She also had written the words 'Key to unite.' Could his grandmother have been onto something? She had died when he was very young and she had never mentioned anything about uniting the people to him, but then again, she wasn't ruling when he was born, his father was and she had no place to say anything about the ruling of the people at that point.

He closed the book and left to go to his room. It was getting late and he needed to be up early to prepare for his ride through district nine. He would have to come back to the library another day and continue to look for his grandmother's writing of woman in white and keys.

—-

When Addison woke the next morning, Chad had gone. He left a note saying he would meet her on the corner of the street the certificate office was on at the time of the new Kings passing. He wrote that he couldn't wait to meet his bride there.

Addison was excited, but she was nervous. She was worried for her parents. She was worried for his mother and brother. Most of all, she was worried for her own children she would be having with him. She was lucky they hadn't had any already as they hadn't been very careful in that regard before.

She hates the lives they lived and hated that her children would be brought up in a world like the one they lived it. She wished she were in that far away land of a fairytale dream. In a place she could raise children who wouldn't go hungry or not have quit enough.

She dressed in her nice cream dress and went to eat breakfast with her parents. It seemed her mother had sprung for some fresh fruit. Not a mold spore in sight. "Wow mom, this is too much. We can't afford this." All the fruit looked clean and fresh with no spots on them, this must have cost a fortune.

"Oh tut tut," her mom shrugged it off fiddling with Addison's white blond hair, "it's not everyday your only baby gets married." She hugged Addison close before shoving her into a chair and serving her the fruit. She guessed it was a special occasion, even though it didn't feel like it. She spun the little ring around her finger, trying to tell herself this was a good idea.

The streets were packed with people dressed in their best clothes. She wondered why people were trying as hard as they were. Maybe if the King saw how impoverished he had let the human zones become, he would help out a little more and he wouldn't demand as much from them. The last King was ok. He wasn't necessarily mean, but he also wasn't the greatest ruler in the world. He was a zombie for crying out loud.

Addison walked on the side of the streets closest to the buildings. Most people were in the middle of the street and she figured she would save herself from getting dirty. As she walked she tried to remember what she had learned of the zombies uprising in the first place. Something about a factory explosion and infections. Something about people dying and then coming back to life and that one part where the humans were unable to contain them, but that had been centuries ago.

The story had gotten mixed up over the years and now no one really knew except for maybe the zombies themselves. They could afford education, the humans could not. Addison was lucky to know how to read.

The crowds grew larger as she reached the towns center and the main road that ran through. The King was riding right through here any time now but she needed to find Chad first. She made her way to the certification building and squinted, trying to find him but curses, she was too small to see over the tops of people's heads.

Luckily he spotted her first and came over to her. "So do you want to marry me now, or marry me later." He asked grinning.

"Let's see how busy they are first." They practically had to yell at each other to be heard over the hoards of people. They walked up to the front doors and pulled but found them locked.

"My mom said a lot of businesses were closed today. We should have known this would be one of them seeing as how it's a government building." He gave her a weak smile and nodded.

"Well you already said yes, and there's no going back, so tomorrow we come and try again." She smiled and replied but her voice couldn't be heard over the throngs of people shouting and cheering in the streets. The Kings parade was coming their way.

She couldn't see a thing from the back of the crowds so Chad used his strength and height to push them to the front. The Royal Family was riding in an open air carriage, so the whole town could see them. The old King, his father, was sitting to one side smiling and throwing small waves and his younger sister, the Princess, was practically hanging over the side of the carriage waving very enthusiastically to the crowds. She actually looked as if she were enjoying being there. The king, however, did not. He sat staring straight ahead, with only the occasional glance in the direction of the crowd. Was he that bored?

When they passed something seemed to have intrigued Princess Zoey. She turned to get King Zeds attention and pointed to something in the crowd. Addison didn't realize it was her that the Princess was pointing at until the King set his attention on her. Something happened in the small moment. She made eye contact with him, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones and it was as if she were electrified to her spot. She couldn't look away.

He had this very intense stare about him that made her feel like she would melt the second she was to look away. The king tilted his head to the side as if she were something he had never seen before, and he was marvelling at it. They rolled on past and the King was forced to tear his eyes away, causing Addison to come out of the trance she seemed to be stuck in.

What could it have been about her that he couldn't look away from? She wasn't all that pretty and besides, there were a ton of beautiful zombies in the castle for his disposal. They had all heard rumors of young prince Zed and his scandalous ways. Did she have something on her face? She brought her hand to rub away any potential dirt but found it was clean. When she brought her hand down she accidentally tugged some of her hair loose from its ponytail.

Ah, her hair. He had to have been staring at her hair. She was the only human she knew of with white blond hair. Most of the people in her town had become used to it and it was only the occasional out of towner who gawked at her anymore.

The princess seemed to have taken a liking to it too. At age 14 she was probably really into makeup, hair and fashion. A luxury the humans will never have.

Some of the people in the crowds were following the royal parade but most of the people had started to clear the area. Addison looked at the clock tower in the center of the town to see when her next shift would start. It wasn't for a few hours but maybe she could go in and work early. Seeing as how a lot of people had gotten the day off, she thought a lot of them would be going to the tavern early, and they would need the extra help. She let Chad walk her back home to change into her work clothes and they parted with a kiss.