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Calintha johnson sat on the edge of the gardens. They were pretty much laid to waste now- the fires had spread through most, and all the rest had been picked over by the survivors for possible food items. It was rather depressing, to be honest. She'd checked on her greenhouse- her plants were mostly intact, though a few panes of glass on her beautiful greenhouse had been smashed.

She'd gone searching through what was left of the dorms, and had managed to pull together a little more classy of an outfit- somewhat charred black slacks, a short black tuxedo jacket and a white shirt for underneath. It made for a pretty good James Bond look, at least in Cali's opinion. The only original item she'd kept was a star button from her cardigan, which was now a necklace, and her headband which had so many holes in it that it looked like lace now.

It hadnt done what the teenage-zombie had hoped it would though. She didnt feel cool, she didnt feel powerful, and most importantly it didnt make the girl feel any more alive. Staring down at her clawed hands, Cali turned them over slowly, studying every detail. Sure, they'd probably be good for gardening, if she could manage. They were so much more clumsy, and the girl would probably massacre anything that she tried to plant. She wished more than anything that her beautiful pink hands would come back.

Even at the thought of the word pink, her stomach grumbled, the way it had ever since she'd woken up. She hadnt succeeded in finding anything substantial to feed herself, and all it had gotten her was a face full of tennis racket scars. She shuddered at the thought of her ill-thought out attack, though whether from the fact that she'd tried to eat someone or how horrible her attack was, Calintha didnt know.

Huddling down at the base of the tree, the blonde girl curled in on herself and began to cry. It didnt help though, that the monster didnt have any tears to shed. She couldnt even cry properly now. She balled up her fist in anger and smashed it into the ground, making a small crater. Why did life have to suck so much?!

Calintha Johnson didnt know what she'd done to deserve such a fate.

Seconds before she heard Piper approaching, Calintha smelled her. Staring cross-eyed down down at her nose, she wondered how that had happened. She could smell humans now? Well, that was certainly weird. But once she had heard the girls voice, the blonde zombie absolutely knew who it was. There was no mistaking the nonsensical voice and the way she walked.

For a moment, Calintha's heart grew three sizes that day (figuratively of course. And possibly in reality as well- she had found she had a strange control over her internal organs these days).

If anyone could understand, and talk to her, and not care that she was a monster, it would be Piper. Smiling hopefully, she turned and tried to look as non menacing as possible, even though inside her zombie senses were aching to eat piper immediately, and taste her delicious bubbly flesh.

"Piper! Hi- I..." When Cali saw Piper's reaction, her heart fell, and shrunk back down even smaller than it had before.

Standing slowly, Calintha extended a green clawed hand towards the other girl, trying to reach out to her. When she saw how disgusting it looked, she was embarrased and quickly withdrew, shoving both hands into her pockets, trying to hide them. "I wont hurt you! I promise Piper!" Piper was one of the few girls that had actually been nice and talked to the girl while she was still living, and it meant a lot to Cali. Enough to stave off the incredible hunger that was growing at the smell of fresh flesh. "Please Piper...."

Cali knew Piper wasnt lying, but it still hurt her a little bit that she required the distance between them. She understood, and the blue haired girl hadn't sounded mean about it. The girl was a little perturbed that the girl had been bitten. Was this going to be like any other zombie movie? Was Piper going to turn into a monster? "Alright, that wont be a problem."

Scuffling her foot a little, she looked abashed. "I'm sorry someone bit you." Leaning against the tree a little, she looked at the cheerful girl in front of her. It was sad really, that this terrible calamity had pushed in on Piper's cheerful existence. If Piper was corrupted by it, well, then that would be a sad day indeed.

Cali followed Piper's lead and also sat on the ground, though leaning against the tree still. "Its alright, I deserved to be hit. Its not like it hurt, anyways." She shrugged her shoulders. "Its just... I woke up and I was so hungry. I couldnt even control it, because it was such a new emotion. And then I didnt know them, so it didnt seem so bad you know? Not like eating a friend. I dont think I could do that." She looked down at her shoes, slightly ashamed by her actions.

Who could blame her though? Now that she thought about it, Calintha couldnt help but shrug off her shamefulness. She couldnt help her actions. She certainly wouldnt ever harm Piper, but she had to eat something.

"Yea, just like they took care of me." Cali was actually kind've glad that she was dead, otherwise the crisscross scars on her face would've hurt like no tomorrow.

"Maybe you could name him Nancy Archibald Realan the VII? Or something." She just sort of tapered off at the end, not really having remember the name of the plant that she had. "What happened to your plant by the way, Piper?"

It seemed weird to her that Pipers plant had disappeared- she seemed to carry that thing everywhere! The only thing she could think of was the fire. Snapping out of her revelry, she looked up at Piper and just caught her last statement.

Do people taste like icecream? Do people taste like icecream? The more she thought about it, the more she wondered. What did humans taste like? She hadn't gotten to eat yet, so she didnt really know. Succulent flesh, warm blood, savory tendons... even the thought of it made her head spin and her stomach grumble.

"I don't think they taste like icecream. They might be rich and sweet like it? But I would assume its more like the best stake you've ever eaten, slow roasted basted with butter, left a little... rare." It wouldn't be two minutes along this line of thought before her zombie tendencies made her jump up and eat one of the only people she'd gotten to know at Zombie Pines.

Think non-human thoughts. Think non-human thoughts. Bunnies. Peanuts. Strawberries. Salad. Plants. Blankets? Stars. Flesh. No! Wait, that last one wasn't right! Umm...

That line of thought continued for a while until she'd supressed most of her unsavory thoughts. She picked up the plant next to her and cuddled it in her lap- Piper might recognize it as the Dionea Ebola plant that had been given to the both of them.

Calintha the waffle zombie looked at Piper with pity. She was surprised that the girl was handling everything so well, but at the same time she could see the difference in Piper. She was no longer quite the happy bubbly airhead she was before. Happy and bubbly perhaps, but now... Cali couldn't quite put her finger claw on it. It was like an undertone of sadness and loss filled her words. Her blue-haired friend had seen what the world could do, and that only made her sad.

"No on could blame you Piper. It wasn't your fault." She had no idea that the girl was possibly talking about something other than a plant. Once the other girl had started looking at the clouds, Cali followed suit. The world was a little hazy these days, like a film was over one of her eyes. She could still make out shapes in the clouds though, and had the new found ability of staring at the sun and it not affecting her. Huh.

"Uh yea... that. I think that's a great name for your rock. Name it after something you've lost, and that way it'll remind you of it." Calintha cradled the plant and gently stroked one of its leaves. It was looking a little better now, she'd gone to her greenhouse and found some of the blood that the school had given her. Most went to the plant, and well, the little bit? That was for her.

It had tasted suspiciously human, kind've like the delicious leftover steak you put in the fridge and eat the next day. It made Cali doubt where the school had gotten it from, especially in light of recent events. The zombie wondered if she could differentiate between human flesh and flesh of an animal?

Calintha raised an eyebrow at her letting her rock go like it was a puppy. While it was sort of amusing, what the girl liked most is that it reminded her of the real Piper. Piper before the horror-barren-pines-zombie-apocalypse-of-doom. She giggled a little, but the sound kind've choked in her throat.

When Piper said she was leaving, Cali had to fight every urge not to get up and hug her, or approach her in some way. It was hard, but she really didnt want to freak the other girl out. "Be safe Piper..." She looked down and to the side so the other girl wouldnt see how sad she looked. "It was nice to see you too." Calintha sighed and dropped her head into her hands, not even bearing to look at the other girl leave.

The visit had put some things into perspective for her. Mostly the fact that she didnt want to fight in front of Piper. She would have to be careful about choosing what humans she went after. It didnt help that a small draft of air caught the wind and wound around her nose, reminding her of what living flesh smelled like. It was almost unbearable.

Calintha was going to find help, then she was going to find something to eat.

Maybe chinese food? With this grim joke in mind she smiled a bit and walked away from the gardening center, clutching her poor little plant in her arms, which now had the name of Piper II.