[ while there might be some zed "subtext" in a chapter or two, there's not gonna be any kind of actual love triangle since i went with the whole werewolf soulmates thing. but up in my head, there's a version of this story that is a love triangle resolved by her just dating wyatt AND zed and i think about it a lot. addy and zed will still be happening... even if i did lowkey want them to break up in the third movie after realizing they were better off as friends. but don't get me started on that ]

☽︎

ZED, WANT TO INTRODUCE YOUR FRIEND?

NOW

While it may not have officially been hazing, Carson didn't like her brother's so-called initiation. She, Addison, and Bree were forced into a van with Bucky's face on it shortly after being given their official uniforms. And then, with Lacey in the driver's seat, they all drove into Zombietown, not having to fear the enforced curfew since they were human,

"Wow," Addison breathed out, looking through the window. "Zombietown."

"Buck, what are we doing here?" Carson asked suspiciously as the van came to a stop. Instead of answering, Stacey opened the van door and ushered the three newbies out onto the street.

"Zoey! Dinner!" they heard a deep voice yell. A young zombie girl — presumably Zoey — ran into a nearby home, somehow not spotting the bright pink and green van.

Carson took the time to look around since it'd been so long since she'd been to the zombie side of town. It was beautiful in its own way with lots of twinkling light gardens and varying colorful decorations. It was a nice change from the rest of Seabrook that was only a mix of pastel pinks and blues.

"Wow," Addison said under her breath, still marveling at the new sights.

But then Bucky called for their attention again, leaning out the window a bit. "Every year, for cheer initiation, we like to remind zombies that we don't accept freaks in this town." Carson frowned as Lacey handed him a carton of eggs, which he then put in Addison's hand "Egg that zombie house and you're all officially one of us."

"Yeah, right," Carson said, scoffing. She knew she was good enough that she didn't need to go through with something like this to validate her spot on the team.

Addison and Bree looked back at the house with wide eyes. "Oh. What? No, we can't do that," Addison quickly said, shaking her head.

Before Bucky could argue, they heard a new voice. "You look lost."

They all turned to see a middle-aged zombie woman at the other window of the car, who was just checking on them. But Bucky and all the Aceys screamed at the top of their lungs before driving off so fast that the tires screeched. The woman looked unimpressed at their reaction as she rolled her eyes, already over the situation.

Then, as the woman looked at the girls, Addison and Bree acted quickly, running away. Carson stayed put and watched with a confused face as they crouched down, still completely in sight.

"She can still see you," Carson said, raising an eyebrow.

Again, the zombie woman rolled her eyes before leaving altogether. But before the other two could stop hiding or Carson could cross the street to them, someone came out of the house they'd been instructed to egg. Carson was surprised to see it was Zed, and the same man from earlier called out.

"Everything okay out here?" his father asked, having heard the screams.

"Carson?" Zed questioned, surprised to see the cheerleading standing on the street in front of his house. Then he turned and saw Addison and Bree crouching a few feet away. He also saw the carton of eggs and his face fell, knowing that this happened every year to someone in the neighborhood. "Zed? Anybody there?"

"Um, it's a friend from school," Carson spoke up, loud enough for the man in the doorway to hear. Addison and Bree tensed up, unable to believe she was going to hold a conversation with these zombies. "I, uh, didn't get a chance to ask if he made the football team."

"A friend?" Zed's father asked, moving to get a better look at her. His eyes widened when he saw she was human. "Oh! Y - you can come in if you'd like! Did you walk here all alone?"

"Yup," she lied. "Just me. But I don't want to impose. I heard you calling your daughter for dinner."

"It's no trouble," he said, smiling. "Then Zed can walk you as far as the gate once we're finished. Wouldn't want you alone in the dark."

"That's very nice of you, Mr..."

"Necrodopolis," he introduced. "Now come on in."

As Carson passed the girls, she simply whispered for them to go home and throw away the eggs. She'd be fine at this house, even if she didn't have magic powers. It was a little awkward as Zed led her up the steps and to his house, where his father was waiting.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Necrodopolis," Carson said to him, smiling.

"You can call me Zevon," he said, moving inside. "So, Zed, want to introduce your friend?"

"Dad, this is Carson Buchanan. We met in the hallway earlier," he said, glossing over the Z-alarm details.

"Lupin-Buchanan," she corrected instantly while looking at Zed. "Bucky's family adopted me after my parents died."

"Lupin?" Zevon asked, coming to a stop. "Say, your pops wouldn't have been Weston Lupin, was he?"

Carson swallowed thickly before nodding, knowing many zombies would've known her father's name. "That's him."

"Cool, you knew her dad?" Zed asked, raising an eyebrow. "How—"

Zed's question was cut off by someone with very small feet running out of the dining room. It was the same girl from earlier, wondering why her family left her alone at the dinner table. "Daddy, who was at the door?"

"It was a cheer-o-gram," Carson joked while kneeling down to Zoey's height. "You're Zoey, right?" she asked, using the name from before. "I'm Carson. I go to school with your brother."

"No way! Zed made friends with a cheerleader?" Zoey asked excitedly, looking at her uniform.

"Well, she wasn't a cheerleader when we met," he pointed out. "Congrats on that, by the way."

"Thanks, Zed," she said, standing up. Then she smiled sympathetically. "I'm assuming by the lack of jersey that you didn't make the team."

"Didn't even let me try out," he mumbled.

"At least you got out of the basement for a few minutes," she said, trying to find a positive. "It won't be like this someday."

"She's right, son," Zevon said, clapping Zed on the shoulder. "I mean, you have no idea how many years in the making just getting you kids in school was."

"I'd say about fourteen," Carson said under her breath. Zavon was the only one to catch it, also understanding the meaning. He shot her an apologetic look, knowing he shouldn't of said something like that knowing who her father was.

Bored with the topic of school and tryouts, Zoey demanded Carson's attention once more. "Let me go get my pom poms and then I can show you the routine I made up!"

"Ooh, maybe after dinner," she said quickly. "You don't want that food your father fixed to get cold."

"But I'm not hungry now," she whined. "I wanna cheer with you. Who knows when you'll be back over again."

"Zoey, if you want to be a cheerleader, you have to eat and get strong," Carson reminded her. Then she slightly lifted the hem of her cheer top and flexed her stomach, showing off somewhat outlined abs. "You've got to build your muscles up for all the stunts I'm gonna teach you on my next visit. I've heard brains are great for building up muscle."

"Okay. Okay, let's go eat," Zoey said. She reached for Carson's hand and dragged her to the dining room, where three plates were set out. Zoey then instructed Zed to get a new chair and put it right next to hers.

"I'm sorry about her," he whispered while coming up behind Carson with the chair.

She grinned while smoothing her skirt underneath her legs and sitting down. "It's cute that you think you have to apologize for the most adorable little sister in the world."

☽

"I can't believe I just witnessed you running around your living room, acting like a dog," Carson said, laughing. Zed, as his father previously stated, was walking Carson back to the gate separating Zombietown and Seabrook behind. She'd spent nearly an hour with the Necrodolplis family before realizing how late it had gotten — Bucky was probably convinced that she'd been eaten and was making a big fuss at home, while also lying about the fact that he was the one to abandon her with Addison and Bree.

"You can't tell anyone about that," Zed said, chuckling. "As embarrassing as it is, I can't tell Zoey no. She's way too spoiled."

"Oh, she deserves to be spoiled," she told him, thinking his sister was adorable. "As soon as zombies are allowed pets, I'm finding her a dog. One that's the size of a horse."

That made Zed laugh harder, already picturing her on the back of a great dane. "Only if you're gonna be the one to clean up after him."

"Hmm, I think I'll be far too busy with cheer," she said jokingly. "But you'll manage, I'm sure."

As they walked, Zed took notice of the fact that Carson seemed to know where she was going. He didn't have to walk in front and lead her as they went. "Have you snuck into town before?"

"Not snuck in, per se," she said, looking down and kicking a rock with her sneaker. She'd have to wipe the scuff off before the pep rally tomorrow. "Uh, I used to come with my dad a lot. He was the liaison between zombies and humans before he died, so he made a lot of trips over here. He liked to bring me when he wasn't doing anything too important."

"Ah, so that's how my dad knew him," Zed said, nodding. Then he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Do you, um — I mean, my dad seemed kind of sad. Was his death sudden?"

Carson felt her throat tightening up for a moment. "Yeah, I guess that's the word for it." Then she took a deep breath. "Actually, um, he was really close to getting the bill passed for zombies to go to school, and that was when I was five. The mayor was gonna sign it and everything."

Zed's eyes widened in surprise. He'd never heard about zombies potentially going to human schools before this year. "What happened?"

"Not everyone wanted it," she said quietly. "There was... a group of humans that blamed him. After all, no one had even considered it before my dad got the job. It was too much change, and change makes people angry."

"How angry?" he asked, eying Carson. Part of him felt he shouldn't have been asking.

"Angry enough to attack our house," Carson whispered, her eyes watering. "I think they just meant to scare him — thought he'd change his mind if they got a little rowdy. But some kind of fire got started. I don't really know how, though, 'cause I was out and messing around in the forest, I think. But my parents got trapped inside. Next thing I know, I'm being adopted by the Buchanan's, and zombie desegregation ended for the time being."

"Shit," Zed breathed out in disbelief. "God, Carson, I'm so sorry."

She simply shrugged, trying to not think about it. "I don't know if it... helps, but I don't remember them much. Like, at all, actually. It's like, memory repression or something. But I made new memories with Bucky. He's not always the greatest, as I'm sure you've found out, but we're still siblings and shockingly similar."

"Really? You have a hot pink van with your face on it too?" Zed asked with a raised eyebrow, trying to lighten the mood.

Carson snorted and shook her head. "One can dream."

By the time they reached the gate heading out of the city, Zed managed to crack enough jokes to get Carson smiling again, forgetting all about losing her parents.

"I'm sorry about the cheer initiation, by the way," Carson said as they came to a stop, knowing Zed couldn't go any farther with how late it was. "I wasn't going to let your house get egged though, even if Bucky hadn't been scared off."

"I believe you," he said, remembering the looks on her face, as well as Addison and Bree. "And we're totally gonna eat those eggs that Addison put in the trash can."

"Be my guest," she said, giggling. Then she sighed. "I know things are gonna be hard for you guys at school, but can I ask that you not assume all cheerleaders are as bad as my brother? Honestly, even if I wasn't here, Addy never would've put up with the initiation either."

"I can tell. I actually met her earlier. We got trapped in the same safe room during the alarm situation earlier," he revealed. "She punched me in the face."

Carson gasped and then covered her mouth to hide a smile, unable to believe Addison actually used physical violence. "Are you serious?"

"Very," he mumbled. Then he smiled. "But we talked, and she didn't get scared. Seems the acceptance between you and your cousin outweigh Bucky's intolerance."

"I'm glad you've at least found two friends, even if we're not going to classes together," she said. "And you'll have to introduce me to your other friend from the fence this morning. I'm assuming he never got a hug."

"That's Bonzo," he said with a grin. "He and Eliza are my best friends. Fair warning though — she hates humans, and he only speaks Zombie."

Then Carson did something that made Zed's jaw drop. "Gurzuk gar zakug har ge zergak ur!"

Lucky, I know how to speak it!

"You know Zombie?"

She nodded proudly. "Have no recollection of learning it, but I'm assuming it came from my father's love of your people."

Zed let out an amazed laugh. "You are full of surprises, Carson Lupin-Buchanan."

"Well, hopefully, you'll learn the rest of them."

☽

The following morning was filled with Bucky groveling for Carson's forgiveness. It was a good thing she wasn't scared of zombies or else she'd have given him hell for leaving her there. And she'd have told their parents, who would've grounded Bucky in an instant, who'd never even been grounded before. But eventually, Carson forgave him after he helped braid her hair and carried her books on the walk to school. He didn't ask about what she did in Zombietown for so long, and she didn't tell him to keep the peace.

As they reached the fence at the school, Addison finally ran up to her cousins, seeing them for the first time since the initiation attempt. "Hey. Hey!"

They both stopped to look at her, smiling in greeting. "Hey, what's up, cuz?" Bucky asked, already forgetting how she too was abandoned and had to walk home with Bree.

While taking in a shaky breath and hiking her bag up on her shoulder, Addison looked up at Bucky. "Um, zombies are students at Seabrook, too, Bucky. Picking on them isn't right," she said, feeling brave for standing up to him.

That made Bucky scoff, and he glanced at his sister, who clearly wasn't going to take his side. "Zombies distract people from what's really important. Like cheer. Us," he said, smiling at them.

"And you?" Carson guessed, knowing her brother. His smile widened as he nodded.

"But we can't go around tormenting them," Addison said, shaking her head.

In response, Bucky brushed some of Addison's hair — well, her wig — over her shoulder, which made her tense up. "It's best if you don't question things. Pep rally today, cuz. You're gonna rock it."

Addison instantly nodded, not wanting to risk Bucky exposing her white hair or removing her from the squad. Then she scurried into the building, trying to not think about it. At the very least, though, she was going to sneak to the basement and apologize to Zed on the small chance Carson didn't for her.

"You shouldn't constantly threaten to expose her hair like that," Carson said to her brother quietly. Sure, Bucky thought Addison's hair was weird, but he wasn't going to carry out any of his threats. It was just to keep her in line.

"It's just what I have to do," he said, shrugging. "She's going over to the zombie side, and I can't have that."

That made Carson roll her eyes. "It's not so bad. I'm the same as Zed and the others."

Hearing her say Zed's name made Bucky cringe. "You and those zombies are not the same."

"Okay, but we are, Buck. You're not scared of me, so why are you scared of them?" she asked. In fact, Bucky thought Carson's magic was cool at times, especially when it benefitted him. "Why do you hate them?"

Bucky scoffed in disbelief while looking at the fence. "They used to eat people, sis. Literally! Last I checked, you don't do that."

Carson bit her lip. "I guess that's a somewhat valid point, but still!" she said, crossing her arms. "The Z-bands keep them in control. Change is happening, Bucky, and at the end of the day, do you really want to be on the wrong side of this history that's being made?"

"The only history I'm interested in making is continuing the cheer legacy here at Seabrook," he said stubbornly. "Now, let's get ready for the zombie-free pep rally."

Little did Bucky know, Addison was about to ruin that for him too.

☽

"There's zombies at the pep rally!"

Every single person in the cheerleading tent froze as Bree spoke from her potion where she was spying on the growing crowd. Addison was the first to rush over excitedly, unable to believe Zed accepted her invitation.

Carson eyed her brother who was practically shaking with anger, furious that their presence would be taking attention away from him. "They wouldn't dare," he muttered.

The Buchanan siblings, followed by the Aceys, all looked out the opening in the tent. And there Zed was, leading Bonzo and Eliza, as well as a handful of other zombies up to the top of the bleachers. It was easy to keep an eye on them with their green hair and dark clothes.

"Stacey, Lacey, Tracey, bust out the spirit sticks," Bucky ordered, not looking away from the zombies. "Addison, you're in for Stacey as a flyer today."

Carson narrowed her eyes at Bucky, feeling uneasy about the so-called spirit sticks. She also didn't like that he handed Addison a flyer spot, but knew it was just for one routine — at least, it better have been for just one routine.

It wasn't long before everyone was in position and the marching band was playing. All the cheerleaders either ran out or cartwheeled out onto the gym floor as the crowd got on their feet and clapped. Then they all began chanting for the man of the hour.

"Bucky! Bucky! Bucky!" Carson chanted with them, clapping her pom poms to the beat.

Then the cheer captain jumped through the giant banner with his face on it, a dazzling smile on his face as he landed smoothly. "Welcome to the Seabrook High Cheer Rally!" he said to the crowd. "It is gonna be a great year. We are gonna win the State Cheer Championship again!"

That sent the crowd into another wave of applause. Carson couldn't help but giggle when she saw the Bonzo guy cheering in Zombie language, obviously having a great time out of the basement.

Soon, the music started back up and the cheerleading began. Though they'd only just learned the routine, Carson hit each mark flawlessly. It wasn't long before she was being lifted in the air, performing more daring stunts than those being lifted and holding poses. As she did so, she chanted along with her fellow cheerleaders. "Go, Seabrook! Go, Mighty Shrimp!"

Because she wasn't on the ground, she didn't hear when Bucky ordered the Aceys to bring out the spirit sticks. But she did see how they sparked on the end and knew just what they were for now.

"Let's turn up the heat," Bucky said, waving a spirit stick around and eyeing the group of zombies that had gone wide-eyed. "Let everyone see them for who they really are — monsters!"

"Oh no," Carson whispered while staying balanced on one leg and holding her other straight up.

"Fire!" Bonzon shouted while shoving people out of the way, his phobia taking over. None of his more in-control friends could stop him as he barrelled past students.

Or as he ran straight through the boys waiting to catch Addison as she was finally tossed in the air.

Carson screamed for her, eyes glowing red as she was prepared to use her magic and save her, not caring about the audience. A fall from that height could've done serious damage if it didn't kill her.

But before Carson could fully break her fall, she saw Zed — a fully zombied-out Zed covered in purple veins — rushing forward to where Addison was going to fall. So, Carson's eyes went back to normal and she watched as he arrived just in time to catch Addison in his arms. As he did, his malfunctioning Z-band reactivated, returning him to his normal appearance.

Several gasps sounded, having witnessed him saving her. Addison held him tightly, her eyes wide.

"Hey," Zed greeted as casually as he could.

"Hey," she breathed out.

The moment was broken up by the football Coach, who saw how Zed tackled several guys out of the way to reach Addison in time. "You!" Coach snapped, drawing Zed's attention. "Me! We gotta talk!"

Zed awkwardly set Addison on her feet, and Carson rushed to check on her. "Are you hurt?" she asked.

"N - no," she said, shaking her head. "Thanks to Zed."

Then Zed smiled at Carson, taking a moment before having to go get yelled at by Coach. "Hey, Carson. You did great out there today."

"So did you," she said, nodding to her cousin. "Maybe they won't be too hard on you."

☽

THEN

"How'd that grow in so fast? You told me you lost the tooth last Thursday," Carson said, peering at her new werewolf friend, who was grinning wide enough to show all his teeth.

It was the third night in a week that she'd snuck out into the Forbidden Forest and met up with Wyatt the werewolf. She always would wait until her parents tucked her in for the night, not wanting to upset them like she had the first time.

Despite her initial wariness, Wyatt was growing on Carson. She found herself constantly thinking of him, whether she saw something cool in the color purple or when her father mentioned the werewolf story. Speaking of, she hadn't mentioned to her father that she now knew werewolves were real. But she wanted to ask if his bedtime story was true every second of every day spent with him. But then he might find out about Wyatt and keep Carson from him and the forest.

Now, she was looking at his mouth, taking in the small, sharp fang that grew in on the left side of his mouth. It'd been an empty hole just two days ago when she saw him last, but now the tooth was fully grown in. Her teeth had never grown so quickly.

"Werewolf, remember," Wyatt said, clearly amused by Carson's confusion.

She huffed and rolled her eyes before leaning closer. Then she surprised him by grabbing his hair tightly, though not so tight it hurt.

"What are you — hey!"

Carson ignored Wyatt and carefully poked the sharp end of his fang with her index finger. She flinched a little when it actually hurt and pulled back.

"What did you think was going to happen?" Wyatt asked as she put her finger in her own mouth, not wanting to wipe the small dot of blood on her clothes.

"How have you not cut your lip?" she muttered, still talking with her finger in her mouth. Then she pulled it out and put pressure on it.

"I have, but again — werewolf," he said, jutting out his bottom lip that had healed over a ton of bite marks since the tooth came in.

"I want fangs," she said, pouting. "That's so cool."

"Maybe you're a secret werewolf," Wyatt said, smiling. Of course, he didn't care what his mate was, but it'd be cool if she was a werewolf just waiting on a moonstone necklace. That made him frown for a moment, as moonstones were practically nonexistent now, and they were losing their charge more and more each day. So maybe he didn't want Carson to be a werewolf.

"Nah, I'm not a werewolf," Carson denied, shrugging. After all, she was a witch — a fact she hadn't told Wyatt just in case the war between the two species from her stories was also true. She knew she couldn't be both a wolf and a witch. "Oh, I can't stay out super late tonight, Wy."

Hearing the nickname pass her lips so easily made Wyatt smile. "How come? You don't have school tomorrow."

"Yeah, but Dad's taking me to Zombietown early tomorrow morning," she told him. While Carson liked Zombietown, she wasn't pleased about losing her Saturday morning sleep.

"I thought humans didn't go to the zombie part of town?" he questioned, tilting his head. He hoped Carson would be safe there.

"Not really. But Dad's on the city council and is like their rep - pre—" It took the five-year-old a second to pronounce the word correctly. "—representative or something."

"What's a representative?" Wyatt asked her.

"Uh, he, like, tells the humans what the zombies need and helps the two people communicate. He's been planning something big, I think," she said, recalling a few conversations she listened in on. "It's something to do with the schools, but he thinks a lot of people will be angry."

"Like, let the zombies go to your school? Or just make theirs nicer?" Wyatt didn't know much about school in general but he did know the humans and zombies learned separately.

Carson shrugged. "I don't think they'll ever let zombies into my school, so probably not that," she said, shaking her head. "Have you ever met a zombie?"

"You're the only person I've ever met outside my pack," Wyatt told her. "But sometimes my sister and I will watch Zombietown from the edge of the forest. They keep it surprisingly well-lit."

"Oh, the light gardens they make are so pretty," she said, smiling. "You'll have to see one up close one day. And bring your sister. I wanna meet her."

Wyatt grimaced, wondering how that'd go. Willa wasn't fond of humans, so how would she react to finding out his mate was a human? His guess was not well.

"It'll probably be a while before you meet Willa," he told her, scratching the back of his neck.

"Hmm, I see. You want my awesomeness all to yourself," Carson said teasingly.

"Yeah," he said, letting out a laugh. Warmth surged through him when he leaned his side against Carson's and she didn't pull away. "That's exactly it."