Beyond the Barrier: Zombie Town One-shots

Closed Doors

(I highly recommend reading A Zombie History Lesson (my mutants theory fic) if you haven't already to get a bit of context for this one, there's mentions of mutations and what else the Z-bands do here, but you might be able to get the gist of it if you just read this one. Still, History Lesson is gonna be useful to read cuz there'll be more mentions of the theory!

I asked on Tumblr which one out of three one-shots I had planned I should write next and a grand total of 2 people voted, both for "Bonzo's ableist parents"! So, essentially a sequel to the last one. Now you get to learn why exactly Bonzo flinched when the patrol officer said zombies can't be autistic! Yay! Angst! I'd noticed we don't see Bonzo's parents in the movie when he, Zed and Eliza come back to Zombie Town after being arrested and I wanted to know what they were like. I was gonna make them super doting but then my friend made one little suggestion and I ran with it and they turned out Bad. I hate them but it's my own damn fault they're like this

Remember, I'm updating either this or Another Girl, Another Zombie every couple of days)

Everything had gone wrong, and Bonzo hadn't even known how it happened.

There was too much going on. Something was wrong with Zed, really wrong. Eliza had said the Z-band software was corrupted. Then the Z-alert was blaring and everyone was panicking. All Bonzo could think to do was follow Eliza down the bleachers but in an instant his vision had gone fuzzy and he couldn't think. He was only vaguely aware of the people running from them both, and the growling he heard was, strangely, coming from his own throat. The next thing he knew, he was crumpled on the ground, a jolt of electricity ten times stronger than the Z-bands still coursing through him. A few feet away, he saw Eliza on her knees, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and they were both surround by patrol officers.

But he still couldn't think.

He barely responded as he was handcuffed, yanked to his feet and marched across the football field. All he could do right now was follow instructions. His senses had been completely overwhelmed, what with all the frenzy of the crowd and the sirens, and then his Z-band going offline. He was in a total shutdown. He heard Addison crying.

"These are my friends...!"

And Eliza, so close to crying.

"We don't have human friends."

He tried to say something but he just couldn't find his voice. He tried to look up but everything, everything, was just too much, and his eyes dropped back to the ground. His face was blank. His mind was blank.

It was all too much.

- BEYOND THE BARRIER -

He got enough of an explanation from Zed and Eliza while they were transported to the containment facility, then when they were split up into separate cells, Bonzo could still do nothing but sit, curling himself up in the corner, steadying his breathing and trying to make sense of it all. They'd been messing with Zed's Z-band. There wasn't much point in blaming him for it now, though. The damage was done. Zed felt guilty enough for it. Now, all Bonzo could think of was facing his parents. The patrol would call them. They'd know he'd been arrested. He couldn't avoid talking to them.

Even if they understood that it hadn't been his fault, talking to them... in this state... It wasn't going to be easy. His expression remained still and all his voice could do was echo the little noises of footsteps, doors opening and closing, the taps and creaks and clangs, back into the silence in between. He closed his eyes. Even the emptiness of the cell was too much.

- BEYOND THE BARRIER -

When the three of them finally arrived back home in Zombie Town, Bonzo was still silent, if a little more expressive. He could manage to follow Zed and Eliza's conversation, at least, but he couldn't seem to make any input himself. They parted ways and he couldn't help how his heart dropped when Eliza's mom rushed out to greet her, enveloping her in a hug and telling her how worried she and her father had been, or when Zed's dad grabbed him, ranting about how stupid a mistake he had made, but with so much care and love.