Zed had heard the fight before he saw it. The loud bang of something being slammed against metal lockers, followed by snarls and screaming. He rushed over, hoping to catch a glimpse of the skirmish. What he saw was a huge crowd gathering around two individuals, a wolf and a zombie.
The werewolf's eyes glowed a vibrant scarlet, her moonstone illuminating with the mirrored hostility her face was scrunched into. The zombie girl was in the more vulnerable position, her legs struggling to stabilize as she was jerked around effortlessly.
"Stop, Wendy! Please!" the zombie student begged, gripping onto the claws that were dug mercilessly into her ponytail. The she-wolf pulled her back, throwing her into the lockers. As the zombie was yanked upwards once again, a huge dent was left as evidence from the collision. The crowd cringed as their phones continued recording.
"Stand down!" Willa's voice broke through the crowd and she marched over to the lone wolf. The girl paid her no mind and continued her assault on the other student, even swinging her in Willa's direction.
The alpha was appalled at this, dodging the ragdoll, and looking aggravated at the defiance. Zed moved forward through the boisterous crowd, about to break the fight up, but three teachers beat him to it.
The fight was stopped as quickly as it had started. The zombie girl was led to the nurses office while the werewolf, Wendy, was dragged to the front office, her teeth still snapping at the bystanders.
Zed jogged over to Willa, who looked beyond annoyed. "What happened? I thought your pack never attacked without permission?"
"They don't, and this wolf had red eyes, not the normal yellow," Her voice dropped, "something's going on, and I'm going to find out." Her eyes flashed before she left.
That didn't really help at all. Zed was still confused as his peers walked by him, giggling and exclaiming excitedly about the fight. It was too early to understand anything.
Lunch wasn't any better. People were still gossiping about the fight, dropping their own theories and viewpoints of the encounter.
"I always knew those wolves would snap one day."
"Same, I heard they were dating and got into a big argument."
"The dogs have serious anger management issues."
Zed gripped his fork tighter, the racist comments about the wolves hitting a bit too close to home.
"Hey! Cut it out, not all the wolves are like that." Zed chided to a table of freshmen as he walked by.
They were less than pleased by his two cents. "Whatever, virgin."
Zed twitched at the comment, but did nothing to feed their fuel for another scandal. He took his seat at the zombie table.
"Hey! Haven't seen you around in a bit. Having fun with your new BFF?" Eliza greeted him, Bonzo waved as well. He felt a little bad, he had basically ditched them after being dumped. It's not their fault they broke up after all.
"Sorry, I just thought you guys wouldn't want to see me. You two are close to Addison." He shrugged, he didn't want to admit he was just scared of how they'd see him. Scared of what Addison might have said about him.
He's slowly getting together that Addison doesn't like him anymore, but he still has a spot for her in his heart. Hoping she'd come back to him. Yeah, not necessarily a healthy way to perceive a break-up.
"So, I'm guessing you already know what happened with that couple?" Eliza's smile fell at her own words. Guess she wasn't seeing this as a good conversation starter, unlike the rest of the school.
"Yep, saw it first hand. Pretty nasty fight."
Eliza shook her head, "They've never fought before, it doesn't add up. Wendy and Alice were the only zombie and werewolf couple in the school. They were great!" Eliza waved her hands around, settling on rubbing her face in agitation.
"Willa wasn't able to control Wendy. She said her eyes weren't normal." That seemed to pique Eliza's interest.
"Not normal?" she pressed.
"No? They were red. I mean, I've only ever seen them yellow," Zed pondered. Maybe there was something else going on.
"I'm definitely gonna look into that later." She said, turning around to converse with the football players to her left.
Zed didn't see a single wolf for the rest of the school day. After the final bell rang, he checked the cafeteria, library, and even the gym that was holding cheer practice. He made awkward eye contact with Addison, but no sight of the wolves. He'll admit, he was getting a bit worried. Did the mayor issue another anti-monster rule for werewolves?
He waited for a few moments at the school gate, hoping his friends didn't already walk home. He sighed as the last of the students dispersed and his friends were nowhere to be found, so he began his trudge home. This was becoming the usual.
A few months ago, he'd regularly have his friends over, or go over to his friends houses for games or to crash for the night when they felt like it. However, he hasn't had anyone over in weeks. It was starting to become lonely after school. His little sister Zoey even had friends over, including the werewolf, Wanda. The only thing providing a distraction was his piles of homework.
Well, he was getting on good terms with the wolves, something he never thought would happen. Sure, they all banded together to get the moonstone, but many still held grudges against him and other zombies.
Zed's stride halted as he saw a red sign, overtaken by vegetation.
FORBIDDEN FOREST KEEP OUT
He laughed as he realized he had subconsciously made his way to the Forbidden Forest. Maybe his mental health wasn't improving as well as he had thought. He stood there for a few seconds, toying with the idea of visiting the wolves, despite the fact that they clearly ditched school for a reason.
Turning on his heel, he let himself walk a few meters back the way he came. After a few moments of false confidence in his decision, he stopped his trek.
Screw it. He stepped through the busted gate, crossing the concrete bridge. Hit with the realization that he wouldn't have an ice breaker, Zed scrambled to think of an opening line of sorts.
Hey! Missed seeing you guys at school. Nope, that sounds too clingy.
What are you guys doing? Can I join? Ew, that's desperate.
Saw the fight this morning, you guys are ruthless. God, no, did he want to get kicked out as soon as he arrived?
Zed groaned aloud, raking his fingers through his green hair. He was acting like a giddish school girl. He should stay simple, say he was dropping by to check in on them, then leave. They probably don't want him sticking around in their den, especially since he tossed one of the wolves last time he was there.
He wandered for what felt like hours (In reality only 20 minutes) in the forest. He fished his phone from his pocket to check the time; it was only 4 o'clock.
A cold breeze brushed his bare arms and Zed shivered, deciding to slip on his jacket from his bag. All the trees looked the same, giving no indication if he was even going in the right direction.
He should head back, it was probably a dumb decision to look for the wolves when he couldn't even remember the way to the den. Just as he turned to go back, he heard a twig snap, followed by a growl.
Zed let out a yelp as he was pushed face first into the grass, a heavy weight landing on top of him, effectively pinning him.
"Zed?" Wyatt asked, climbing off the poor zombie and helping him up. "What are you doing out here?"
"I could ask myself the same question. You guys ditched school, so I came out to see why." He brushed the grass off his jacket, frowning as he saw the green had stained his knees.
"Well, you saw, or at least heard, of the fight between Wendy and her girlfriend. We had to retreat and figure out why she almost wolfed out." Wyatt shrugged, "Not before stealing a few of the library books," he gave a cheeky smile.
He motioned for Zed to follow him, presumably in the direction of the den. "Sorry for attacking you. You were in the outskirts of our territory and wolf instincts just kicked in," Wyatt rubbed his neck, giving the zombie an apologetic look.
"It's cool. Hey, consider us even." Zed punched the others shoulder affectionately. Wyatt grinned back at him. An odd flutter made itself known in Zed's stomach. He ignored it.
It was probably nothing.