After Midnight

Zazu smiled and added, “Funny that when the apocalypse that’s been plaguing us for months, killing us in droves and ruining our lives, finally ends, the first thing we do is go get coffee.”

It was odd, though. Everyone was overjoyed and no one quite understood why, but the only thing people wanted to do was go back to how things were before, and at the same time they couldn’t, because even as bright, cheery happiness spread like a virus through the fortified city, dead eyes sill looked out from worn faces and hungry bellies.

The worst part, was that right now, Zazu didn’t even care.

Even happiness was dangerous, in it’s own way.

The man had gotten in line behind her and was scanning the room in mild boredom. Zazu wondered what he was looking for.

He smiled back at her, meeting her eyes before looking around the room again. He thought for sure that he would have seen Rita by now. Sure, they had gone time without seeing each other before ... but always when he was out hunting. Now that he didn't have to do that ... it was weird to not see her around. Now that he didn't have to do that ... it was weird to do anything, really.

As soon as he heard the question of the girl in front of him, however, he realized just how rude he had been. "Sorry," he said with a slight smile. "I was just looking for my girlfriend. I thought she might have been here, what with so many people here and everything." He shrugged slightly, smiling lopsidedly. "But I guess I was wrong. She's probably around here somewhere."

Zazu stood in the crowded line for morning coffee, books tucked under her arm and bags slung over her shoulder.

The shop was filled with the warm buzz of customers chatting and laughing and celebrating the end of the Apocalypse. Down the street, someone yelled “God bless Hera” in a loud, raucous tone, his call accompanied by a wild cheer and the sound of breaking glass.

People were just happy to be happy, and finally they had a reason to.

Zazu herself was overjoyed, of course. Finally things would go back to the way they were supposed to. She could get a university degree, finally stop being Simba’s babysitter and be his friend again. She could live her life like she thought she would before the apocalypse struck down all her dreams in one heavy zombie step.

But she was curious. How had Hera, if it was her, been able to finally stop the curse, and how did she do it so fast? Zazu herself knew of the difficulties of dealing with zombies, of how the research had been trudging along even though the facility was the only building who got near 24/7 electricity.

Perhaps Mufasa would know. He was certainly higher up in the facility hierarchy than she was, and he responded directly to Hera herself. If anyone knew, it was him.

Of course he was happy that the apocalypse, what he had fought against for so long, was finally over. And yet, at the same time, he felt himself suddenly ... purposeless. What did he do now that he could no longer be a hunter? It left him feeling restless. Happy, but restless.

He wandered aimlessly for a while, trying to find Rita or someone to talk to about all of this, before he finally decided to enter the transformed coffee shop. Just the other day, the shop was grey and dismal and filled only with a handful of antisocial and miserable people but now it was alive, bursting with chatting and smiling people. He thought maybe he'd see Rita inside but a quick scan inside revealed that she wasn't anywhere in the shop.

Still, the smell of coffee enticed him and now, without any real thing to do, he figured that he might as well join the long line of people waiting to order. He squinted, trying to find out where the end of the line was.

I feel like eating a salad. 

I never thought I’d live to see the day.