Author's note: Hey everyone! Sorry for the multiple updates in the last day or so to this first chapter. This is my first time publishing one of my fics on here, so please bare with me as I try to figure out exactly how to do this stuff, lol. Thanks for reading, and please leave a review!

Chapter 1

Zed was awakened by the gentle but persistent sensation that the entire bed was gently shaking.

No, not the bed, the whole room.

What?

He struggled with unconsciousness, currently absorbed in a very pleasant dream. In his dream, they were all back at the power plant, having what seemed like the most epic Zombie Mash ever. The lights were flashing vibrantly, bright splashes of color dancing across the old metal and brick walls, as he and his friends moved joyously to the music. Eliza was there in her booth, high above the crowd with a rare but genuine smile across her face as she worked the sound system.

Bonzo was with Bree, both of them completely absorbed with one another as they swayed together. Bonzo moved with a sudden flourish, launching his girlfriend into the air with a grace that would shock anyone who didn't know them as a couple. While some might look at them in the school cafeteria and consider them somewhat awkward, they were honestly both very talented and athletic. Bree landed in his waiting arms, embracing him and laughing as the crowd around them applauded and cheered.

Moving closer to the center of the large dance floor, Zed turned away from his friends in search of his favorite person. He found her almost immediately. Addison was there at the center of all the commotion, looking absolutely radiant as she twirled, her beautiful white hair twisting in delicate waves over her face and shoulders as she swung. Suddenly, she seemed to spot him coming towards her in the crowd. She looked at him and smiled, and he felt his barely-beating heart flutter in his chest as he moved towards her.

Whenever he saw her, whether in dreams or in real life, it was always as though everything faded away into the background. The pull she had towards him was irresistible, not that resisting was ever something he wanted to do. When Zed was with Addy, he was the happiest zombie in existence. It was like she was the center of the whole universe.

Well, she was certainly the center of HIS whole universe, and he was completely fine with that.

As he walked towards her, the power plant began to tremble slightly. Zed frowned, looking up towards the ceiling as everything began to blur and darken around him. The music became garbled and filled with static, like a radio that wasn't quite tuned in correctly.

He felt panic rise up in his throat as he jerked his attention back to Addison, who was now standing alone, looking towards him, confused and perhaps a little bit concerned. He raced towards her, but suddenly felt as though he were walking through quicksand. As he continued to trudge towards her, he began to notice something.

Her hair.

It was... glowing?

Just a shimmer at first, but as he crawled closer, the glow become brighter; a beautiful, illuminating halo of hair framing her face, almost bluish in its intensity. The tremors increased, causing him to stumble. Only a few steps away now, he gasped at the intense light, flowing from her hair around her face like a miniature, white-hot sun. Wincing, Zed raised a hand to shield his vision as he approached.

Abruptly, the tremors around them ceased, and all became became quiet and still.

Still gasping for breath, he jumped slightly in surprise as he felt Addison's hand gently touch his hand, pulling it slowly away from his eyes. The glow was muted now; a calm, icey blue light softly radiating outwards. He looked at her, as she stared back with confusion still present within her eyes. She didn't seem to understand why he was so distressed. Carefully, Zed reached forward and brushed a lock away from the side of her face, holding it up to her for inspection.

A crease appeared between her brows as she furrowed them, an even more perplexed expression now spreading across her features. She blinked, as though testing her eyes to make sure she was really seeing what she thought she was. Even amid his own concern, Zed didn't fail to notice how absurdly adorable she looked in that moment. She met his eyes, her confused expression realigning itself into a soft grin.

"Weird." She whispered.

Zed gasped, bolting upright and immediately rolling out of his bed in a tangled mess of sheets. He hit the floor with an uncomfortable and loud thud. He groaned, groggily shifting from side to side, as he attempted to orient himself in the nearly-dark room. As he freed himself from his 300-thread count prison, he hastily reached up to grab his phone to check the time.

It was about twenty minutes until midnight.

Should he call her? He definitely didn't want to wake her up over some random dream. Addison worked ridiculously hard in cheer, not to mention all she did to promote equality for all of her friends on a daily basis. The poor girl deserved all the rest she could get. But still, his pulse continued to jump erratically, and his hands shook slightly as he contemplated his next move, thumb freezing right above the button that would call and awaken her.

Abruptly, he became aware of a commotion outside his bedroom window. A muted bluish light seeped in through the curtains, as he heard panicked shouts coming from the street. He clambered upright, running to the window and nearly tearing the curtains from the wall in his haste. The scene below was absolute pandemonium.

As he watched, several zombies were running frantically up the road, away from what appeared to be a large hole in the center of the street just north of his house. The hole, jagged and irregular in shape, seemed to be about the size of a school bus. It was spewing out plumes of dark smoke, and the flickers of small fires danced about the surrounding homes.

The Unification Gate was in ruins, having apparently just been destroyed by whatever had caused the chaos currently unfolding below him. As it burned, the screaming and shouting became more pronounced. While the houses in this neighborhood were brick, he realized that some of the roofs were now catching fire. The screams and shouts became more pronounced. It was still a common generalization that zombies did not handle fire well. His people has certainly come a long way, but the fear was still palpable as he watched them scurrying below. His stomach suddenly felt as though it were filled with lead.

This was not good.

What was happening?

"ZED!"

Zoey's terrified cry snapped him out of his stupor. He immediately dropped his phone, running from the window in the direction of his little sister's bedroom. As the phone slipped from his hands, his thumb gently brushed the "call" button. Zed's footsteps pounded out of the room, the phone ringing quietly as it landed among the pillows and sheets on his floor.

ZzZzZzZ

"Weird."

Addison stared at her alarm clock, squinting through blurry, sleep filled eyes as the radio buzzed on and off. She couldn't remember the old clock radio at her bedside ever acting up like that. Now the static and music fluctuated back and forth, as though an invisible hand were playing with the knobs, trying to find the right station but having no luck.

As the light of the clock face flickered, she noted that it was about 11:40 pm.

Sighing, she sat up in bed, slightly more awake, and brushed her frizzy hair away from her face. While she wasn't exactly scared being awakened by a malfunctioning alarm clock, she wasn't exactly comforted by it either. In fact, it was honestly a bit unsettling. A little like something out of an old horror movie. She glanced to the vacant pillow beside her and sighed again.

On occasion, when her parents were asleep, Zed would sneak out of his house and climb through her window, just to spend a few hours with her. They would spend half the night cuddling, giggling and talking, relishing in their time together. Seeing his dark eyes gazing back at her through the filtered moonlight of her windows always made her feel incredibly safe and loved. She really wished he was here now.

But it was way too late to call him. He was always busy, either working with the football team, spending time with his friends, or watching his little sister, Zoey. The poor guy deserved all of the rest he could get. Besides, it would be so silly to call him just to tell him that her alarm clock was acting up. She rotated to her side, beginning to lie back down , when she noticed a soft glow emanating from her window.

Brow furrowed, she slowly rolled out of her bed and quietly tiptoed over. Behind the houses across the street, in the direction of the Unification Gate and Zombietown, a strange orange glow pulsated gently. After a few seconds, she suddenly recognized the undulating columns of smoke rising into the sky. There was a fire in Zombietown. A big one.

She gasped as her phone rang, her cheery ringtone startlingly loud in the quiet darkness of her room. She rushed to her bedside table to grab it, quickly reading Zed's name on the screen as she pressed the "answer" button.

"Zed?!" She yelped, her concern growing larger by the millisecond.

"Zed, baby, what's going on? Are you okay?"

She waited, but there was no response from the other end of the line.

"Zed? Are you there?"

Silence.

Then, as she pressed her ear closer to the phone, she heard the sounds of muffled shouting.

The sound of distant footsteps grew slightly louder and then faded away again. She listened harder, the sound of her now pounding heartbeat threatening to drown of anything on the other end of the phone. She heard Zed's voice shouting something, though too far away to hear what he was saying.

Then, she heard the muted sound of a child screaming.

Zoey.

Addison punched the button to end the call, and instantly catapulted herself towards her closet to grab her shoes. Seizing the first pair she saw, her white cheerleading sneakers, she shoved her feet into them with panicked haste. Clad in her pink tank top and mighty shrimp-printed pajama pants, she bolted down the stairs and towards the front door. As she ran, she shouted out to her parents that there was a fire in Zombietown and to call for help. She barely registered her dad, hair disheveled, poking his head out of their bedroom door as she snatched up her mom's car keys and fled from the house.