There was a crispness in the air the next day. Victor zipped up his coat on our way over to the zombie commune, while I strode beside him in shorts and a t-shirt. Thanks to the higher body temperature werewolves have, the chill barely registered on my skin. However, the heightened sense of smell I now had was a significant detriment once we got there. I was sent reeling backwards just from Mercedes opening the front door.

"Sorry," said the congenial zombie before closing off the offensive smell.

"Don't apologize for existing," I said while taking heaving, steadying breaths several yards away from the commune entrance. "But, I do think I'll spend the tour out here."

"Delilah..." There was a desperate whimper in Victor's voice, but I stood my ground against my younger brother.

"You've survived werewolves, vampires, and ghosts. You can manage zombies on your own. I mean, just look at Mercedes—she's a ball of sunshine."

"I am so pleased to meet you!" The zombie representative held out her hand and greeted Victor with a wide, hopeful smile. Unlike the wolves, the zombies maintain a standard human temperature and so the perky woman had on a light denim jacket embroidered with bright spring flowers. She also wore a pink V-neck shirt and a comfortable pair of jeans. Her blonde hair was swept up in a bun with a few loose curls dancing against her rosy cheeks.

She really was the picture of happiness, just an undead one. It was hard to fathom how she got along with her sullen partner, Raid. However, opposites attract supposedly and they could not be on farther ends of the spectrum.

"H-hi," said Victor, taking her hand as he swallowed down his fear. "I'm Victor, Delilah's younger brother."

"Aren't you just the cutest!" Mercedes shifted from a handshake into a full-on hug before releasing my traumatized brother. "I have so much to show you. I think you'll like our most recent addition. We've been tight on finances in recent years due to a lack of food, but Tuck has been a blessing and I've finally been able to put in a proper game room!"

"Who's Tuck?" he asked as she opened the door again unleashing another revolting wave of decaying flesh.

"The Undead Cuisine Kitchen, of course."

"Right..." He glanced back at me from over his shoulder. There was a pleading there, but I met it with a wave and a smirk. He rolled his eyes and followed Mercedes in.

For the first few minutes, I walked around the expanding garden outside of the commune. Mercedes had recently lengthened the patio and added some bushes at the end of summer. I figured she was done with that project until spring rolled back around.

Despite the patio's paving stones being formed in a fresh herringbone pattern, the furniture filling the space was well out of date. Four weather beaten plastic lawn chairs formed a semicircle around a rusted fire pit. I was considering whether it would be more comfortable sitting in them or on the grass when the front door opened again, smacking the stench across my face.

"Del!"

It took me a moment to recover from the smell, so I didn't quite recognize Liz before she had her arms wrapped around me.

"It's been awhile since we last saw you."

At the mention of "we", I looked over her shoulder to see she was accompanied by my first friend in Whisper Valley, Bungee.

"Hey, Del. How's it going?"

"Been better." I moved out of Liz's arms with a gentle grin on my lips before embracing Bungee. "I've had my hands full with a surprise sibling. How have you two been?"

I released my friend and took a step back so I could look at both of them. However, I was surprised by the nervous smiles that met me.

"Well," said Liz after awhile, looking to Bungee for confirmation before turning to face me in full, looking somehow more radiant than the effervescent Mercedes, "Bungee and I are thinking about getting married."

"What?!" The question was more a gasp than a fully vocalized word

"Well," continued Liz as Bungee urged us to take a seat in the old plastic chairs, "both Bungee and I had some dating experience before we died and we've also had a couple decades as zombies to explore what we need in our lives, so now that we've found it..." She shrugged and looked to Bungee, who placed a reassuring hand on her knee. Then, he turned to me.

"It just felt right," he said. "It seemed counterproductive to deny what we feel between us. So I recently asked if maybe we should do something official about it."

"We've just moved in together in one of the family dorms. It's essentially two dorm rooms connected together and one bathroom. But, it gives us space to figure out if this works. And if it does..."

Liz's face grew an even brighter red, unable to finish. Bungee leaned down, resting his forehead against hers. He comforted her in a low voice that my sharpened hearing still picked up.

"You don't have to tell her, if you don't want to."

"No, I want to share. It's just so crazy to say it out loud."

They both stayed in that intimate position for so long that I thought it might be best if I got up and gave them some privacy. However, before I could do anything about it, Liz took a deep breath and pulled away from Bungee so she could face me.

"The other nice thing about being in the suite is that there's enough room for a baby."

My jaw dropped and words came out as squeaks. The two just chuckled at my reaction until I managed to find my voice again.

"You're pregnant?"

"Oh no," she said with a flurry of hands. "I just meant that we're thinking about it and since we've moved in together, we've been talking about how we might arrange the space to accommodate a baby someday."

Her words tightened up as her chest swelled. There were some tears gathering in her eyes and I couldn't help but feel the depths of her joy. If this was what she looked like thinking about having a baby with Bungee, I couldn't imagine how ecstatic she'd be once she had one.

Thing was, I didn't think they could.

"Can...can zombies have babies?"

For a moment, I worried my question might be too intrusive, but Liz simply giggled.

"Yes, we can. You don't see too many youngsters around the commune because Raid demanded everyone practice safe, uh, intimacy while food was short. Honestly, I'm not sure protection was even needed considering how unwell we all were. Our bodies could barely keep up with the virus eating away at us, having a child would have been near impossible."

"The virus keeps everything, but the immune system running so long as it has dead flesh to feast on," continued Bungee. "Pregnancy operates outside the immune system and so Liz and I are perfectly fertile."

"Oh, okay, I remember you explaining some of that before." I looked to the clear blue sky as I tried to shuffle through my memories on zombie biology. "So, the virus also makes you immortal right? Like you don't age?"

"Yeah, so," said Liz as she wiggled in her seat with thought, "the virus doesn't want to put too much work in, I guess. It just deactivates the immune system and keeps everything running as they would have the moment before your death. I will forever have the capabilities and appearance of a 25 year old, excluding any injuries I endure. But so long as my human body had the ability to get pregnant, then I can still get pregnant now. And my body would recover just as a 25 year old body would. Does that make sense?"

"Maybe," I said, though my brows drew up with confusion. I shook my head and sighed. "I've learned not to think too hard about these things or else I'll lose my sanity. That being said, would your baby forever be a baby."

"Oh, so," said Bungee, looking rather eager to share his fun fact, "when it comes to ovum, since Liz was born with all her eggs, what she currently has in her are human eggs."

"Though, I should note," added the potential mother, "that I still go through periods, meaning I do lose eggs. So there is a time limit in that sense, but I likely have another decade before I'm all out."

"Anyway," continued Bungee, "new sperm is generated every day and so those would carry the virus in them."

"So," I said, drawing out the word, "that mean's your baby would be half zombie?"

"Yes." Liz nodded her head like it was all a simple concept. "A child would grow as humans do. This is beneficial for the virus as a baby doesn't have many capabilities, so the virus doesn't interfere in any way. However, once the virus determines its host is in prime shape for hunting meat and producing more hosts, it will freeze the brain state, so to speak. From what we've heard from others in the commune and from what we've read, this averages around 22 years old, with very rare outliers."

"At that point would the child be a full zombie?"

"No," said Bungee as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Which is funny since they might seem more voracious than a full zombie."

"Since the host is not dead, the virus can only take sustenance from decaying meat consumed. If a child cannot keep up with that need, the virus will start shutting down systems so the host will effectively die."

"I take it that would be painful."

"Very much so," answered Liz with a cringe.

"There are a few naturally born zombies in the commune. All of them have become full zombies and only one of them did so unwillingly. Most born zombies are killed by choice, usually through an injection. That way they can avoid such ravenous hunger."

"Wow." I looked to my hands, trying to absorb all I heard. "Here I am trying to teach Victor about all the clans and there's still so much for me to learn."

"You have a long life ahead of you," said Liz, placing a reassuring hand on my back, "it will be more interesting if there are still things left to learn."

"Plus, you know enough to educate your brother on what's imp—"

Bungee was cut off by the slam of the front door against the aluminum siding of the massive building. We all jumped in our seats and spun around to find the source of the commotion. And though I wasn't surprised to see the back of Victor as he bolted for the trees, I still groaned with disappointment.

***

Del learns that her friends are starting to move forward with their lives. Will that encourage her to do the same? Even with Victor adding more stress to her life?

A bit of an info dump here, but this is laying some ground work for future titles in the Whisper Valley universe. That's all I'll say about that. In general though, try not to think too hard about the science behind these things. Just go with the flow ;)