Reflection

The Past, Present, and Horrifying Future

Welcome to Seabrook, the home of the Mighty Shrimp, and the pillar of likeness and perfection. In Seabrook, everything and everyone fits the mold. Perfect houses with perfect paint jobs; perfect people who wear perfect clothes and talk about perfect things; perfect schools with perfect students that get perfect grades. Everyone wears the same colors of pastel pink and blue. Kids spend their summers doing productive things like sports or extra classes while the adults go to work and come home at the same time everyday. Everything runs like clockwork. Not a hair is out of place, not a bush untrimmed, and not a person out of line. Everything in Seabrook is the pinnacle of the dream life. That of course doesn't include what lies in the darker corner of Seabrook. A designated area for a subspecies of human that the town likes to keep swept under the rug known as 'Zombie Town'. 

You see, fifty years ago, there was an explosion at Seabrook Power. A bit of lime soda from a workers lunch mixed with the mysterious energy that has powered Seabrook since the time of the settlers, and you have the perfect concoction for creating a gas that can turn people into a bunch of monster. Zombies, more specifically. The gas began to spread outside of Seabrook Power, changing people into man-eating zombies that began attacking the town. After an intense panic, Seabrook responded by locking the zombies away behind a large wall to keep the human citizens safe. Over time, scientists developed a new technology known as the 'Z-Band'. A wrist band that zombies wear to keep them from reverting to their primal instincts. City council placed a lot of laws over the zombies as they became more human. They have to wear government assigned uniforms (as if we wouldn't already know they're zombies), they can't leave Zombie Town unless given expressed permission (such as, for work), they can't take off or tamper with their Z-Bands, and they can't interact with humans unless the human interacts first.

That last law was broken only once around twenty years ago. A man named Frank Collins worked on the special police force known as 'Z-Patrol', the squad designated to keeping the zombies in line. While patrolling Zombie Town one night, Frank met a zombie woman named Beatriz Lament. He said it was as if the stars glowed twice as bright as soon as their eyes met. The two fell in love at first sight, and they began seeing each other in secret. while it wasn't expressly against the law for zombies and humans to date, as soon as city council got wind of it, they would make sure it would be. After two years together, Beatriz fell pregnant with the first and last ever human-zombie hybrid. It didn't take long for city council to find out who the father was, a simple DNA test did the trick. As the couple guessed, city council made it illegal for zombies and humans to form relationships and have kids. Frank was fired from Z-Patrol and kept away from Beatriz and their son Zack, who were kept in Zombie Town. 

But his downfalls did not stop Frank from trying to see his family. He snuck into Zombie Town night after night to spend time with Beatriz and Zack. But when Z-Patrol caught him, Frank was arrested. City council ordered that Frank have the surgery to keep him from having children, for fear that he and Beatriz would have another hybrid child. Frank was banned from seeing Beatriz and Zack, and was kept under tight watch in Seabrook. After two years of isolation, Frank met a human woman named Melissa Warwitz. It was obvious that Frank did not love Melissa the way he loved Beatriz, but they were happy together. As was the case for most Seabrook citizens, it was Melissa's dream to have a family of her own. So after a year together, Frank and Melissa went to their friend who was a doctor to reverse Frank's surgery. They didn't tell anyone when Melissa became pregnant or gave birth, and they kept their daughter a secret for almost six years. One day, while the second illegal child was playing in the Collins' backyard, Mayor Wells' young daughter found her and wanted to play. That night, the Wells'  daughter told her parents about the young Collins girl she'd met. A warrant was placed for Frank's arrest, but he skipped town. No one has seen or heard from him since.

As you may have been able to guess, yes, I'm the second Collins child. My name is Daphne, it's nice to meet you. I don't have many memories of Frank, and I was banned from meeting Beatriz and Zack when city council discovered my existence. Even if I was legally allowed to, mom would never let me. She says that zombies are the reason my dad went crazy and left us. She and I live in Seabrook, as far away from Zombie Town as possible. It's never bothered me too much that I've never met Zack, because I talk to him all the time. For almost six years, Zack and I have been sending secret letters to each other every week. Mom would absolutely freak if she ever found out, so it's been between just me and Zack the entire time. Well, me, Zack, my best friend Addison, and Zack's mom Beatriz. The two of them are sworn to secrecy though, so we don't count them. The thing that has bothered me is that I don't know what Zack looks like. According to Zack, Beatriz is worried that I'll see what her and Zack look like and I'll be disappointed and won't want to meet them. I keep trying to make Zack tell her that that would never happen, but he says she insists on it.