“Yeah,” Imani says.
“That’s for all of us, though,” I say. “It’s okay, I promise.”
I say it because I can see that they want to push the issue. They want to swear that they don’t mind and I should ask my question at the photo op.
But the photo op isn’t about me asking my question. It’s just a quick moment, to memorialize our day, and beyond that our friendship (and how much we love Hunter and Human Wasteland), and I’m not going to change that.
“The photo op is going to be great!” I continue. “I can’t wait until we’re all there together.”
We step off the escalator and walk forward, past the floor-to-ceiling exterior window wall and around the volcanic rock waterfalls to the bottleneck forming at the center set of exhibit hall doors.
“I just hope I can act cool during it, and not become a complete dork,” I say.
“You are cool,” Imani says.
“Thanks, Mom.” I roll my eyes at her.
She thwaps my shoulder, laughing. “Stop that, young lady.”
“June, you really are, you know.” Siggy adjusts the side-tie of her jumpsuit while we wait in line. “You’re cool and awesome and hilarious, too.”
“Aw, stop.” I feel my eyes start to well up. “You’re fun and beautiful and you have such a free spirit, Siggy.”
Imani gives a polite little cough. Ahem.
I turn to her, smiling.
“And you’re absolutely brilliant and loyal and your convictions are such a force for good, Imani,” I tell her.
Imani loops an arm around me.
“June, you’ve got the best sense of humor, you’re so smart no matter what you say, and you have the biggest heart of anybody I ever met.”
“Stop, I’m gonna cry,” I say.
“Too late,” Siggy says.
“What are we gonna do next fall?” I ask.
“I don’t want to think about it,” Siggy says.
“We’ll talk all the time,” Imani reassures us.
Siggy swipes her fingers under her eyes. “Aw hell, why don’t I ever have any Kleenex?”
Imani hands us tissues out of her purse and even has to dab at her own eyes.
We all stand in line, in our little trio, dabbing at our eyes and honking our noses and saying I love you guys so much and Stop talking, okay? I’m still crying and Siggy starts humming the theme from The Golden Girls and that gets us over the emotional hump.
We inch forward, waiting to show our badges to the door guards. Behind us, there’s a ruckus, a person shouting “Whoa!” and laughter.
I turn and there are two people in head-to-toe hazmat suits pushing through the crowd, holding up some kind of scanner, sweeping it at people.
Imani laughs, and she lifts her phone for some pictures.
“Weirdos,” Siggy laughs.
“No, it’s cool!” I half wish I was cosplaying, but then decide I want to experience my first con as me.
In front of us, two zombies, a man and woman, sink a little when they see the hazmat guys.
“Ruh-roh, they’re coming for us,” the man zombie says, smiling at me. I guess because he heard me say the cosplayers were cool.
“Don’t let them get you, babe,” the woman zombie replies. Her makeup is so cool. There’s a gaping bite mark in her neck, her skin looks positively necrotic, and her eyes are clouded with milky cataracts.
“Wow, you guys look amazing,” I say. “Can we take a picture with you?”
“Absolutely!” she says, so we get in the exhibit hall and slide to the side. I ask a man to take our photo, and the three of us act scared while the man and woman strike hungry-zombie poses at us.
“Thanks! Have a great day!” Imani says. The man groans and makes these wet choking noises, and the woman lets her head fall forward as she starts shuffling away.
The man stumbles after her, takes her arm, and steers her down the first aisle on the right.
They hold hands, and stumble-shuffle away. People all around are laughing good-naturedly, taking pictures of the zombie couple.
“True love, you guys,” Siggy says. “Till death do they part. And then not even then.”
“Those sweet kids. I hope everything works out for them,” I say.
“They’re already dead,” Imani says. “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
7
We start wandering into the center of the massive exhibit hall, just wandering at first, then I remember our schedule and turn at the middle aisle to cross to what will be the biggest celebrity autograph line.
“Wow, I feel like a rat in a maze,” Imani says.
“Sure, but an awesome rat in an amazing maze!” I say.
“Just as long as we don’t get shocked or anything,” Imani says.
“Bad things happen in mazes,” Siggy groans in a creaky voice.
I’ve never seen so many T-shirts, fan art posters and paintings, jewelry, and 1940s-style pinup dresses and pleated skirts made of comic-book-printed fabrics. There are books and comics tables, and so much more, we’ve barely scratched the surface of everything there is for sale.
The aisles are separated not just by the rows of tables and shelving and display racks in each booth, but also by tall black curtains that act like a wall between rows of merchandise.
On the ZombieCon! map the layout of the exhibit hall was styled to look like the Red Cross symbol, but with one wide center aisle bisecting multiple rows.
In the middle of the exhibit hall where the center rows meet the center aisle, there’s a hub of sorts. It’s a large, elevated square stage surrounded by folding-chair rows and food and beverage carts with tall round standing-tables. When I find the hub, I can turn left to cross to the left wall of the hall, where the biggest star of the show will be for most of the day. The other show actors take shifts at nearby signing tables only, and the less famous, B-movie actors are at a separate signing area called Autograph Alley, which is on the opposite side of the exhibit hall.
But I know from my research that the line for the lead actor, James Cooper, will only get longer as the day goes on, and since we don’t want to spend all day waiting for one autograph, our second stop of the day, and our first stop in the exhibit hall, is to go see if the line for James is still doable or not.
We reach the hub. On the elevated stage are a few armchairs and stools, as well as a black-tablecloth-covered table with a mixing board, mics, and headsets. Throughout the day, fandom podcasters are going to be recording new shows with the cast and crew of Human Wasteland as well as the other horror genre actors and authors at ZombieCon!