(And now, my first proper multichap ZOMBIES fic~! This is the Bronzo AU, inspired by a lovely Tumblr anon from a while ago who asked me how the Bronzo relationship might work out if they had met sooner - specifically, during the Z-alert, at the same time Zeddison first met. I wrote a pretty long answer and ended up deciding it needed its own fic, so here it is. And this first chapter is based on that answer
The basic idea here is that I'm essentially rewriting ZOMBIES, from Bree and Bonzo's POVs, with them having their own story alongside Addison and Zed. The Big Project should be coming soon enough, and another one-shot collection centred around the BG zombies called Limelight~)
This was it, this was the day. This was gonna be her year.
Bree, more than a little excited for the day ahead, had arrived at Seabrook High School slightly early. She decided to ignore the fence separating the new zombie students still to appear. Instead, she gazed up at the tall building in front of her, gripping tightly onto the straps of her backpack and unable to stop herself from letting out a shrill squeak. Most people would usually be nervous about their first day of high school but Bree wasn't thinking about the classes or the awkward attempts at making friends. Her mind was already on the end of the day, when she'd be trying out for the cheer squad. Ever since she was a little girl, Bree had been watching the Mighty Shrimp winning year after year at the regional championships and they had truly inspired her.
She wanted nothing more than to join them. Especially if it meant she could fly like she'd seen those girls on the squad fly.
Looking around at the few other students that were already congregating nearby, though, Bree felt her good feelings fizzle out. Not by much, but enough. She was used to the judgemental looks her glasses earned her around Seabrook but that didn't make it any less discouraging. Almost everyone who needed some kind of corrective lenses opted for contacts; after all, who would want the rest of the town to know they weren't as perfect as them? Bree had tried wearing contacts before but she just couldn't handle how uncomfortable, sometimes even painful, they were for her. And she had to go to the next town over to get her glasses, they weren't even available in Seabrook it was so rare.
Her smile dropped and Bree ducked her head self-consciously, her hair hiding her face from the stares.
There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere as a crowd made its way towards the school. Bree was quickly forgotten and quite literally pushed aside as people desperately fought for a chance to see the Mighty Shrimp's Captain Bucky and his three assistant captains, the Aceys. Distracted, Bree's happy mood returned and she tried her best to get a look for herself.
On the other side of the fence, the zombies were coming into view. Bucky approached them, followed by his posse, facing down a boy who seemed like he could be the zombies' leader, or some kind of equivalent to Bucky, at least.
It wasn't long before things took a turn. As Bree was about to go inside, Bucky took a step forward, mocking the zombie next to the "leader" – one much taller than he was – only for him to lunge towards him and grab the fence. Bucky shrieked and jumped away, as did the other students surrounding him, but there was a patrol officer nearby ready to diffuse the situation.
Something inside Bree made her stop and watch. The zombie who had scared Bucky seemed confused, like he didn't realise what he'd done wrong. The leader, his friend, she assumed, was defending him. Bree heard the taller one ask something in Zombie-tongue, which was surprising in and of itself seeing as she had heard the zombies didn't need to use their old language anymore, and he reached out a hand to the officer. His friend interjected again.
"No...! She does not want a hug."
Bree frowned. Was that really what he was trying to do? He nodded, giving the officer a smile and Bree wasn't sure whether he had understood or not. But then he glanced over to the humans' side again, sweeping his gaze over the students filing in through the door. Right as he was about to catch her eye, Bree turned away and followed the others inside.
Her first priority was signing up for cheer try-outs and just as she was doing so, Bucky's voice came from the staircase behind her.
"Cheer try-outs today after school, everybody," he called, causing Bree to spin around in excitement, "Let's go, Mighty Shrimp!"
Bree clapped and ran over, "Go, bottom feeders!"
And just like that, Bucky and the Aceys were gone. She tried to backtrack but it didn't do her any good. Her face fell only for a moment until she realised someone was still there.
"Hi, I'm Bree. And I've always dreamed of being on the cheer squad," she couldn't help rambling, "'Cause I really wanna be a flyer... tossed high in the sky...!"
She was ecstatic when the girl's smile widened. Clearly, she had just met a fellow cheer lover.
-- ANOTHER WAY --
The zombies descended the stairs, Bonzo not paying much heed to the problems they'd no doubt be facing for quite some time to come. He easily brushed off the patrol officer not wanting a hug, despite Zed and Eliza's concern. As they started down the steps, they were each handed a sheet of paper with their schedules by a rather uneasy-looking woman Bonzo guessed was a teacher or secretary or something. The schedules weren't much more than a short list of subjects and it looked like they would only get a short lunch break.
Their classroom, if you could even call it that, really did end up to be another dingy basement. As the visibly agitated teacher, Mr Zeck, introduced himself and the principal to the new students, Bonzo stood and looked around the room. He didn't really know what to make of it, just that it definitely wasn't... good.
Principal Lee made her way to the door but Bonzo and his friends didn't move. He decided to just forget the obvious problems for the time being, already excited at the idea of joining the humans' music class. As Zed and Eliza asked about the football team and computer club, Bonzo tried to calm himself enough to ask about it for himself but he could only manage to spit out one word of Zombie.
"Gruzic...?"
Zed jumped in to translate, "Right, music class! Bonzo's an artist, he's classically trained."
Feeling confident, Bonzo raised his tuba to his lips and blew, then belted out a high note. He only stopped when he felt Zed squeeze his shoulder. It took him a moment to realise Principal Lee was less than impressed, and what's more, that she wasn't going to let any of them out of the basement before the final bell rang. His smile slowly faded and he lowered his arms as she hurried out of the basement. Mr Zeck's lack of motivation didn't do much to lighten the mood but Bonzo and Eliza went to take a seat nonetheless.
"Well, I guess this is it, boys. We upgraded from a barren wasteland to zombie containment lite."
"Grag gezer zongro," It could be worse, Bonzo shrugged, "Za, Zed-" he turned to find Zed gone, "... Zedka?"
No sign of him. Bonzo quickly sat down beside Eliza.
"Geh, Elizaka. Gozrea Zedka?" Where's Zed?
"He-" Eliza stopped when she noticed Zed was missing, then squeezed her eyes shut and slumped her shoulders, "Oh, for the love of Z, he didn't... Please tell me he didn't..."
"... Gra'zon." I can't.
They looked at each other for a few seconds, but neither of them were about to risk going after him. He was bound to hit a wall sooner or later. He always did.
And then a siren was blaring.
The panic set in instantly. Zombies flew from their chairs, afraid and confused. As far as they knew, a siren like that meant fire. And the fear of fire was engrained so deeply into their subconscious, they couldn't listen to reason. Mr Zeck, being experienced enough in this from his years as the school janitor, tried to quiet them down but no-one was listening.
"Fire?"
"Bonzo. There's no fire." Except for Eliza, apparently.
But Bonzo was already spiralling straight into a meltdown. The sound of the siren seemed to amplify and the yelling and chaos in the room wasn't helping. Eliza recognised the signs straight away and grabbed him before he could run, his eyes frantically trying to look anywhere but at hers.
"Look," she tried to keep her voice steady but it was hard when everyone was needlessly screaming around her, "We have come way too far to still be afraid of-"
Wait. He wasn't taking any of this in, not in his current state. If she said the word now, it would probably be the only thing he heard. But she realised too late, and loosened her grip on him.
"... Fire..." It was only a whisper but just as she expected, Bonzo heard it loud and clear.
"Fire!"
"Bonzo...!"
He bolted for the door but before he could so much as touch the handle, it opened from the other side, right in his face, and he was knocked to the ground. The zombie patrol barged their way in and Bonzo pressed himself against the wall behind the door, covering his ears and closing his eyes. It didn't help, the noise still got through. He peeked around the door just as the last officer entered and saw Eliza storming over to the far wall, along with the others. She couldn't help him. In the midst of his panic, though, Bonzo remembered Zed, still somewhere upstairs. Before the door could swing closed, he crawled around, careful to not be seen, and slipped out.
-- ANOTHER WAY --
"I know this is scary, Bree, but there's a zombie safe room right there," Addison seemed so calm, Bree couldn't understand it, "It'll be OK!"
Bree looked past Addison. There was a zombie safe room there.
There was also a zombie.
Letting out a scream, she turned and ran off down the hall, too fast for Addison to catch up to her. Little did she know, somewhere around a corner was another zombie. A taller one. Who was just as scared as she was.
Bonzo had tried to stay out of sight of the humans but he soon found that wasn't really possible when they were running past him in all directions, each of them screaming and shouting when they saw him. But eventually, he was left alone. They were running from him, after all. He hadn't found Zed yet, though, and he wasn't going back downstairs alone.
Bree kept running blindly. She turned down a now-empty hallway, not even registering how lost she had gotten herself. Ahead of her, she could hear pounding footsteps. Maybe it was another freshman just as lost as she was in the panic. But they were coming towards her. She didn't have time to think about it because whoever it was came sprinting around the corner and they collided.
They both took a few seconds to steady themselves on their feet again then Bree looked up, up, stammering out an apology as she did.
"I am so sorry, are y-" she saw the dark clothes first, then grey skin, red eyes and green hair, and she jumped back in fright, "Ahh, zombie...!"
Eyes wide with fear, Bonzo grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her and covering her mouth with one hand. He pulled her back around the corner as he heard voices not too far in the distance and desperately shushed her. Bree was shaking in his grasp but he barely noticed. He waited for the voices to pass and slowly let her go, only for her to shriek again as soon as he moved his hand. He faced her, bending down closer to her level and clapped both hands over her mouth, looking at her pleadingly. He waited, tilting his head forward in question, and when she nodded he took his hands away again.
The zombie from that morning. The one who had lunged at Bucky.
Frozen, she could barely squeak out "You're a-" before he put his hands back. She pushed him off.
"What are y-"
He did it again.
"But-"
And again.
"Stop that!"
This time, he took a step back, looking down guiltily. Bree came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to hurt her when she saw his sorry, even sheepish expression. That just confused her. She had always believed that zombies were incapable of such things, of feeling guilt or regret or concern for anyone. And they certainly didn't get shy. Did they...? Bree was silent for a short while, trying to wrap her head around it.
Her lips parted and her head tipped to one side as she looked down and frowned in confusion. It was... cute... Bonzo felt something in his chest jump. Was that his heart?
He was stirred from his thoughts when she spoke.
"So, wait... why are you up here? Did you set off the Z-alert?"
"Z... Zer-garzert...?"
"Um, th-the alarm?"
Which was still sounding.
Bonzo shook his head.
"Garzen zav," my friend left, "Zongry, ag zorog..." It was loud, I was scared...
"Wait, wait, I-I can't understand you."
He went quiet again. He was still coming out of his meltdown and he wasn't going to be able to get it out in English as things were.
"I saw another zombie before," Bree said and he perked up, "I think I saw you with him outside this morning. With the spiked-up hair...?" Bonzo nodded, "You were looking for him?"
He nodded again, "Za!"
"So, he set off the alarm. And you..." she thought for a moment, about how frantic he had been, how anxious he was to keep her quiet, "... You got scared?"
"Za..." he looked down again, slightly embarrassed.
"Hey, it's OK, it's OK! I totally get it!"
He smiled, looking at her from under his grass-green hair with his head still ducked. Bree's face flushed and she forced down the fluttering in her chest. Her fingers came up to absentmindedly twirl a lock of hair. ... Was he staring at her, or her glasses?
"Uh, I-I could," she started, "Show you where I saw him, maybe?"
She could probably find her way back to the safe room, right?
She was shocked when his face lit up and he hugged her in response. A little too tight, but it was oddly endearing. He was so unlike what she had expected of a zombie; nothing like the image that had been put into her head of lumbering monsters with no regard for anyone or anything but their own bloodlust. As she stepped back out of the hug, she noticed the obviously homemade tuba he carried on a string and the round, leather case strapped to his back. Hoping to be discreet, she craned her neck round briefly when they started walking to see it was covered in patterns and what she assumed were Zombie letters, brushes and pens sticking out of the pockets on the back. So he was an artist. Not at all like what she had been raised to believe.
Bonzo noticed how she was staring at them. He patted the side of the tuba.
"Gruzic."
"I'm guessing that means 'music', right?"
"Za."
"Are you going out for music class, then?"
He looked away.
"... They won't let you, will they?"
He shook his head.
"Sorry... I bet they would've been lucky to have you."
He shot her a small smile in thanks and she grinned back.
"I'm kinda hoping to make the cheer squad, myself."
The slightly one-sided conversation continued as they walked the hallways and eventually made it back to the zombie safe room where Bree had last seen Addison. There wasn't anybody around so Bonzo took a few steps further down the hall.
"Zedka...?"
Nothing.
Bree tried the door of the safe room, thinking if someone was in there, they might have seen the other zombie and could know which direction he went in, but it was locked. She huffed and turned back to Bonzo.
"I don't know where else to look," she said, "How about I show you how to get back to the basement? I wouldn't want you to get in trouble."
He kept following her but just as they were approaching the doors to the stairwell, they burst open. The zombie patrol was back. Both Bonzo and Bree stopped in their tracks. Bonzo, acting on instinct, pulled Bree close to him and brought both of them behind the line of lockers along one wall. Where there wasn't very much room for the two of them. Bree found herself face-to-chest with the (frankly, unnecessarily tall) zombie, trying to stand at an angle to avoid either facing him directly or with her back to him. Their eyes met and they both quickly looked away, giggling awkwardly and clearing their throats. The patrol passed them by and didn't see them, but they heard a small snippet of what one officer was reporting into a walkie-talkie.
"... two zombies unaccounted for in the basement..."
That wasn't good.
Bonzo looked down at Bree, knowing he should go. But, for some reason, he didn't want to. And Bree didn't want him to go, either. He was interesting. She wanted to get to know him. He wanted to get to know her.
Still, he had to tear himself away if he didn't want to deal with the patrol or them calling his parents. But he lingered for a short moment in front of Bree. The siren had stopped some time ago. They could both hear the other human students returning to the hallways, nervously chattering and gossiping about the so-called "rogue zombies".
This boy wasn't a rogue zombie, he was...
Oh. Wait.
Just as Bonzo was losing hope that the girl would want to stay a little longer, just as he was about to walk away, she gently tugged on his sleeve. He stopped and looked down at her.
"... I didn't get your name."
She bit her lip. He smiled and she smiled back.
"Bonzo."
"I'm Bree."
They stood there for a second or two more, then Bree broke her eyes away from him and glanced down the hall. A couple of kids were coming into view now.
"You better go," she slipped out from behind the lockers and his smile dropped, "Before anyone sees you."
Nodding, Bonzo turned towards the door. He looked back for a moment and gave Bree a small wave, then he was gone. Bree took a deep breath in, and out again.
She had to find Addison.
She took off down the hall, passing by the safe room, and eventually saw Addison up ahead, being lectured by Bucky with Lacey, Stacey and Tracey close behind them.
"I'm only saying this because I care about you, Addison. You have got to be more careful now, those things could be anywhere...!" Addison tried to interrupt him but he wouldn't let her, "And if you want to be on the squad, you can't risk your reputation by talking to them."
Addison fell back slightly as the Aceys brushed past her and followed Bucky down the hall like a trio of puppies. Bree, closer now, called out.
"Addy, wait up...!"
All five of them turned around. Addison grinned when she saw her but her cousin just sneered and led the Aceys away.
"Bree, you will never guess what just happened to me!"
"It can't be any weirder than what just happened to me!"
"On three?"
"One... two... three... I met a zombie...!"
-- ANOTHER WAY --
Eliza's head snapped up at the sound of the door opening. She paid no attention to Mr Zeck's attempt to get her or Bonzo, who had just walked on with a wide grin on his face, to sit down and get back to work.
"Bonz, where have you been? Did you see Zed? What happened, are you alright?"
If he even heard her questions, he was ignoring them.
"Elizaka, gra'zon ru garzedd-zig...!"
You're not gonna believe this...!