Nothing's Gone Forever (Only Out Of Place)

Chapter 4

(Well, here we are. It's almost over. This is the last proper chapter of Nothing's Gone Forever (Only Out Of Place)...! There will be an epilogue next week and then my next ZOMBIES multichap will start by the end of the month

I have a title for the new multichap, which is once again focused on Alonzo and Zephyr of the BG zombies, but that title is too spoilery so it's nicknamed the future fic. Look for that in the fic summary so you recognise it~ And if you still haven't read Limelight, you will need to for this fic! It's sort of a sequel, so at least make sure to read all the chapters about Alonzo, Zephyr, Zach and Roz!)

Chapter 4 theme songs: A Conversation from Mary Poppins Returns, How Can A Moment Last Forever? (Montmartre) from Beauty and the Beast (2017) and The Place Where The Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns

"... Zed? Are you OK...?"

~ I'll carry on the way you told me, I say that like I have a choice, and though you are not here to hold me, in the echoes I can hear your voice ~

Zed couldn't understand why Paizley was suddenly spending so much time with Zane. She'd never liked Zane all that much before. She'd never liked any of the other kids before. And they didn't like her, either. She was supposed to be his cousin, wasn't she?

Paizley couldn't understand why Zed was acting so distant. When he wasn't with his family, he was spending all his time with Eliza and Bonzo, and although she was starting to think of Bonzo as a friend, he always seemed a little hesitant to talk to her when Zed was around, and Eliza was surprisingly intimidating for a nine-year-old. She probably got that from Zinnia – Azalea was the same.

Both of them just wished they could go back to the way things used to be. But what could possibly change this?

– NOTHING'S GONE FOREVER –

No-one could have seen it coming, and yet it was no surprise how it started. It was common for the humans to make these kinds of attacks on the zombies for one reason or another. They didn't care, they just wanted to see them suffer. Humans (teenagers, mostly) were always vandalising their property or harassing them from the other side of the fences or climbing over the barrier at night to cause trouble. Still, there hadn't been anything like this in so long. Not even the raid and bonfire quite measured up to this.

This wasn't a 'demonstration' by the zombie patrol. This was cruel, reckless humans of Seabrook looking to do some damage.

At first, it was just voices coming from behind the barrier. Zia glanced briefly over her shoulder as she served her customers but did nothing else. Hearing humans spouting slurs and insults from the other side wasn't too much out of the ordinary. But then they were throwing things – a few rocks came crashing down from over the wall, accompanied by the shouts and jeers. Zane turned to his mother, suddenly scared and she ushered him behind the stand with her. The other zombies looked at each other then slowly began to move away. All too soon, the projectiles grew more and more concerning. Bricks, glass bottles, even a couple of firecrackers, which left Zia, Zane and their customers, who had abandoned the stand and tables to run a short distance away, fearful for what else they might do, and it escalated far quicker than any of them expected. It got worse.

It got so much worse.

Everyone scattered, screams ringing out, as a Molotov cocktail crashed to the ground right next to the stand, both the stand itself and a chair beside it catching fire, which quickly spread. Then a second struck the house right next to the barrier, the porch and the family's display of decorations outside now up in smoke. One of the house's residents happened to be with those at the cauli-brains stand and as he ran to help his family get out, other zombies on the street were fleeing the scene. Not too far away, the Reiligs had just left their house and were shocked by what they saw.