Beyond the Barrier: Zombie Town One-shots

She's Got Everything

(I'm finally back with more BtB~ If you didn't read the latest Limelight, I've been having a hard time writing but I decided to work on multiple stories at once this past week and I ended up making some progress, I've even started the Big Project! I was hoping to have part 1 uploaded by Sunday at the latest but it might be a bit later now. But it's happening! Anyone have any guesses on what it is...? A clue - the whole point of the project is the format of it, it's a format you don't usually see done as fanfiction but I've had a lot of ideas that work really well for this kind of story

And now, onto today's one-shot! Paizley's here this time, and god do I love writing her, I especially love the voice/tone I've given her...! This one is based on a conversation I had on Tumblr with kokinu09 (Kreatable23 on WattPad~) who also gave me an extra little idea just now for a last minute detail so thanks to her for the inspiration/ideas!

And yes, the title is a Little Mermaid reference. That's thanks to Starlight623 on fanfiction.net comparing Paizley to Ariel~)

"Alright, I got some good stuff this time!"

Zed's 13th birthday was fast approaching and Bonzo was still in desperate need of a gift for him. But, just a few hours ago, Paizley had been walking by with her usual early morning haul from Seabrook's dump.

"Droz grog, zama."

"Yeah, yeah, like every time. But look..." Paizley threw open the wicker basket sitting in her wagon to reveal a mountain of new (as she called them) treasures, "At this...!"

He hadn't actually thought to ask her about Zed's birthday present, in fact he didn't even get a chance to, she was so eager to show him her latest offer.

She briefly dug through the contents of the basket and pulled out what looked like a metal tube, and in an almost perfect bell shape.

"Figured it would come in handy if you're still tryin' to build that tuba, right?"

She had been right, it was exactly the part he needed.

Bonzo was prepared, as always, and reached into his coat pocket. He presented Paizley with a magnifying glass and her smile widened. It was old, obviously, and slightly cracked but it would probably be much more useful to her.

That would have been the end of it. It would have been, had he not seen what else was hidden away in the basket.

The usual "thank you"s were exchanged and Paizley was about to move on but then something caught Bonzo's eye. There, peeking out from underneath an old leather book, was a football. Solid, unscathed and almost new.

And that's when he remembered Zed's birthday.

Zed didn't have an actual football; he used anything he could find of a vaguely similar shape. He did have one once, but it was practically ancient, so worn and falling apart that it didn't last long. And, surprisingly, footballs were hard to come by in Zombie Town. They only really had what came to them of Seabrook's leftover and unwanted, imperfect junk. Footballs... didn't seem all that popular. So, of course Bonzo was going to take this chance.

She stopped him as he tried to take it out, placing a hand on the ball, "Ah, ah, ah...!", and pointed at him.

Oh, Z, he knew that look – that grin, the tilt of the head, the way her fingers tapped playfully on the ball. She could tell just how desperately he wanted it and now she was in haggling mode. Bonzo always found himself getting stuck at this part. If he was going to walk away with exactly what he wanted, it wasn't going to be easy.

"You know the rules, what else you got?"

Bonzo heaved a sigh and shrugged.

"... Zonzig." Nothing.