Chapter 4

Addison fidgeted on the bench, half out of discomfort and half out of nervousness. It'd been a while even since her run in with Eliza and Bonzo. Not even a word from in the room with Zed. Was everything ok? Should she knock and ask?

She heard the harsh slam of a door open and quick footsteps heading towards her again. One sounded heavier then the other. Zed's Dad and Zoey suddenly came around the corner and looked back and forth down the hallways until Zoey's eyes caught sight of Addison, pointing at her with excitement.

"Daddy! There's Addison!" Zoey yelled. His head snapped in her direction and he hurried towards her. Zoey let go of his hand and ran in front of him, Addison bent down to her level like she always did and Zoey jumped into Addison's arms to hug her. Once Zed's Dad caught up he looked a little frazzled.

"Is he in here?" He asked pointed at the door.

"Yeah." Addison nodded, sitting Zoey on her feet and holding her hand as she stood. He gestured for them to follow him. Addison wasn't going to say no to checking on Zed, even if the assistant had said she needed to wait outside. He knocked on the door and it was quick to open, the male assistant standing in the doorway.

"Mr. Necrodoplis, please come in." He entered and Addison went to follow with Zoey in tow but the man put a hand up to stop her. "I'm sorry Miss, you still need to wait out here. Family only right now." Zed's Dad spoke up.

"She can come in. She is family now." He said firmly, the man looked hesitant but allowed Addison to enter. Addison's heart swelled. She smiled wide at Zed's Dad and he returned a warm one before they continued into the room.

Zed heard all of it and as soon as his eyes met Addison's his face lit up. Addison barely held back her tears as she saw Zed with all the stickies and wires over his bare chest. Her worry evaporating instantly at seeing his smile. His dad had rushed over and hugged him, equally as happy that he was ok, then stepped back to give him some space.

Zed lifted a hand to beckon her to him. She led Zoey to her father and quickly sat beside Zed, resting against his side as he put his arm around her, pulling her tight to his chest, kissing her hair. He wondered if she could feel the big surprise the doctor found, the reason for calling his dad in so urgently.

The doctor cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Thank you Mr. Necrodoplis for getting here so quickly on such short notice!" The doctor regarded him with a smile. "We have done a physical and ran a couple of tests on your son and found some very interesting results!"

Addison tightened her hold on Zed as if he would disappear if she let go. The results couldn't be bad right? The doctor was smiling. He couldn't just be being nice about the situation right? Zed is ok, right?! Anxiety clenching her chest uncomfortably.

The doctor pressed a button on one of the many devices beside him and the sound of a heartbeat sounded in the room. It wasn't the strongest, but it was definitely a heartbeat. Both Zed's father and Addison's brows furrowed in confusion. Zed returned the tighter hug to Addison at hearing the heartbeat. Would she feel it now? He smiled.

"Zed has a heartbeat." The doctor said. His dad froze, wide eyed and mouth agape. Addison was wide eyed too. She quickly moved her head more to the center of his chest, pressing her ear against his skin. Sure enough she could hear the faint beating. She lifted her head and saw his wide smile.

"Oh Zed!" She cried and pulled him into a hug again.

"How is that possible? He didn't have a heartbeat when he was born." His Dad asked, baffled. The doctor nods.

"We aren't 100% sure ourselves. But I have a couple theories." The old man proposed. "We have the first theory that his meeting Addison and falling in love with her started up his heart. Then the second theory I have is that the newest generation of zombies may be evolving and using the Z-bands from birth to train their systems and ultimately mimicking the effects."

"So you're saying there's a chance zombies won't have to wear the Z-bands at all?" Addison pointed out.

"One day maybe, it could take many more generations to achieve it. But that's my theory." He confirmed. But the hope was still there. Addison beamed at Zed, who had hope filling deep in his eyes.

"So what does this mean for Zed?" His father asked concerned. The doctor gave him a kind smile.

"We would like to monitor the changes, but we promise not to treat him like a lab rat." He told them sincerely, placing a hand over his heart as he promised. "As for now, we just want to get a good baseline then Zed will be free to go!"

Zed's Dad sighed in relief for the first time that whole time listening to the doctor. Addison stayed next to Zed the rest of the time the doctor and his assistants took vitals and baselines. Once they were done, they gave Zed the go ahead to leave, as promised.

The small family, along with Addison, walked down the corridors towards the exit. Zed's Dad cleared his throat nervously and scratched the back of his head with the free hand not holding onto Zoey's.

"Uh, Addison, our truck isn't big enough to take all of us back... so I, uh, had to call your parents to come get you... I'm sorry." He said apologetically, sincerity clear in his nervous voice.

"What?" Addison asked more from shock than question, her wide eyes showing the slight tinge of fear she felt. Zed squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Before any of them could say anything else, they heard the entrance door slam open. With just a turn of the head, there they were. Addison's parents.

Their eyes met and they rushed towards the group with their daughter. Her mother reached her first. Pulling her into a tight hug, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"Oh Addison! Thank god you're alright!" She cried. Addison was still wide eyed and surprised. She hugged her mom back. Her father came around and hugged his family, relief written on his strong features. Yes, her parents cared about their reputation and image. Yes, Addison had messed that up with removing her wig in front of everyone. But they still deeply loved their daughter and wanted nothing more than for her to be safe. After a few moments, they pulled back to look her in the eyes at arms length.

"What were you thinking?! You could have been killed!" Her mother questioned. The tears slowed now to a stop as she wiped her eyes, waiting for an answer from her daughter.

"But I wasn't!" She said, turning her head slightly to look back at Zed not too far away. "Zed would never hurt me." She said with a small smile and a dreamy look in her eyes, her voice expressing as if it were completely obvious. He smiled back at her.

Her father followed her eyes to the young man smiling at his daughter. He cleared his throat and straightened up as he stepped around his wife and little girl. Zed gulped and stood up straight as he stood in front of him.

"You're the zombie that my daughter risked her life to save?" He asked, voice stern.

"Yes sir." Zed said, nodding once in confirmation. Addison watched with worried eyes as her mother held her close once again, stroking her hair comfortingly while she also watching her husband's interaction with Addison's zombie boyfriend.

Without warning, her father wrapped his arms around the young man for a quick firm hug. Zed was shocked, maybe as much as Addison. The older man pulled back and patted Zed's shoulder as he offered a smile.

"Thank you for taking care of our daughter. We were wrong about you." He said returning to his family, wrapping one around his wife and resting his head against hers.

"About zombies." Her mother corrected, smiling at Zed's father and little sister. They returned the gesture. Addison had tears in her eyes as she hugged her parents around their necks tightly. Then she turned and ran into Zed, his arms welcoming her as they engulfed her in a hug. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of her hair.

Maybe things really would be different. Maybe they could change things for this 'perfect' little town. At the moment, Addison didn't care about all of that. She was overwhelmed by the joy that her parents were finally willing to accept that zombies weren't monsters. That Zed wasn't a monster. She tightened her hold on him. Whatever was to come, she would face it all with him. She looked up into his eyes, his smile spread wide on his lips.

"Gar garziga." She said confidently. Zed thought his heart skipped a beat for a second but quickly recovered.

"Yeah. I gar garziga you too." He replied with a smile. Addison's face was splitting with a huge smile as she buried her face back into his chest.

Yeah, she would face anything with Zed.