'R, LOOK OUT!' I screamed to him as a Boney wrapped its arms around his neck, he swug it off with almost ease and the skeleton flew into a wall. R grabbed a fire extinguisher and crushed its skull. I stared at it until another flew at me and pinned me to the ground, trying to rip out my throat. I tried to push it off but the monster was too strong, I struggled trying to reach my gun so I could shoot it in the head but again for the fifth time in as many days R saved my life, I was gonna have to thank him somehow. He pulled me to my feet, 'thank you' I said quietly and he just smiled, well sort of. We started to run again, heading for the football stadium; well what was left of it when we were surrounded again, not by Boneys this time but by my dad's military thugs. All of them pointing their guns at us.
'Hold your fire' I heard a gruff voice command, it was my dad 'I have to get my daughter away from it first' how dare he call R an it, he stepped out infront of them. I instinctively grabbed R's hand and turned towards him 'We stick together no matter what' I whispered 'That's what you told me'
'Together' he agreed and we turned back towards my dad.
'Julie come on now, you've had your fun now step away from the corpse so it can be dealt with' I cringed inwardly at the names, R wasn't and it and he was slowly changing from a corpse, why couldn't my dad see it the way I could. I just shook my head.
'I'm sorry dad but I'm not going to do what you tell me this time, not when I know you would have R and the others killed if I did' I gripped his hand tighter and he squeezed mine in return.
'Well of course I would, they're monsters Julie. They eat humans, they don't change not for anything'
'Well R is a so called monster and he's not trying to kill anyone!' I retorted. 'And the others helped fight the skeletons, what more proof do you need?!'
'that doesn't prove anything' he said firmly and turned to his men 'take them both'
We were surrounded.
Soldiers pulled us apart 'NO! Please don't' I cried out as they pulled us apart 'Please you have to believe me he's changed!'
'I'm sorry Miss Grigio' I heard a familiar voice say, I turned round.
'Kevin please I'm begging you. Let us go and I will show you and the others that R and the others have really and truly changed' I pleaded with the man that had previously been my friend before he had been recruited for my dad's plight but he just shook his head and I watched as the others took R to God only knew where.
'Leave him alone!' I yelled, calling his name over and over again until my throat hurt.
'Julie…' I heard him call my name just once and felt a tear roll down my cheek.
Great, fat load of good that did. Telling her dad really wasn't the best plan I had come up with. I had made Julie promise that we would stick together no matter what and she had kept her side of the, I had just stood there and not said or done anything, not that it would have done much anyway. I had told her time and time again that I would keep her safe and away from harm and now she was all alone and there was nothing I could do about it, well not trapped in here at least. Why was I here anyway? Surely they should have just killed me by now. If I was honest it would be better than sitting here and thinking about how I had let Julie down or remembering the tortured look on her face as they pulled us apart, the sound of her calling my name over and over, and what would happen to my friends once they were found out? They would probably be heading for a similar fate to mine, a bullet to what was left of our brains.
I was not going to let my power crazed dad get away what he wanted. I would get out of this cell and I would rescue R, if he was even still alive…I mentally slapped myself. If they were going to kill him then they would have just done it there infront of me. He was okay, he was alive and I was going to find him and we would make it through this mess, together.
I called over to Kevin who was supposed to be keeping an eye on me, he walked over.
'I need to talk to my dad. I've realised how stupid I was to side with a corpse' I cringed inwardly again 'I want to apologise to him'
'I have orders to keep you locked up' he replied.
'Oh come on' I fluttered my eyelids at him 'Please'
That broke him. He found the key and unlocked the cell door. 'Would you like me to accompany you Miss Grigio?' he asked.
'Nono it's fine. You can go on your break' I replied and he saluted and walked away and I headed out to find where they were keeping R.
it wasn't hard to find where they were keeping him, the whole area was off limits as a quarantine site. I was stopped by another guard 'I'm here to see the prisioner' I said in my most authoritative voice, it didn't work.
'I'm sorry miss I cannot allow that' replied the guard, he was new, I didn't recognise him which ment he probably didn't know who I was.
'I am General Grigio's daughter and you will do as I say' I told him.
'Yes Miss' he said and stepped aside.
'Thank you, you may go' yet another salute, I sighed, people were way too formal nowadays.
'R…? It's me Julie. I'm going to get you out and then we'll run for it and get away from here' I told him quietly, .he stood up
'I'm-sorry…Julie' he said, gazing into my eyes.
'You have nothing to be sorry for R none of this is your fault. None, do you hear me?'
'Didn't keep-you-safe…'
'You've saved my life more times than I can remember R now it's time I returned the favour so stand back' he did so and I struck the lock on the door hard with an office chair, snapping it off, I grabbed r's hand and we made a run for it closely followed by guards hot on our trail. We kept running until we saw what looked like a way out to freedom but we were wrong, we were on a ledge and below us was a drop that would probably kill a person and if the drop didn't then drowning in the reservoir water probably would. We turned back the way we had come, that was out of the question as we were surrounded again with soldiers their guns loaded and pointing at both of us, of course I was as much the enemy as R was now. We stared back at each other for a moment.
'Trust-me..?' R asked.
'With my life' I replied as he wrapped his arms around me.
And then we fell…
I thought I would have screamed but no noise escaped my lips at all, we just kept falling for what seemed like a life time, until we hit the freezing water below and sank to the bottom. I kicked up to the surface, 'We made it R. We survived' there was no answer, I looked around. 'R? R where are you?' I looked down, he was still at the bottom of the pool…a drop no one could survive, unless cushioned by someone else. 'Oh god please no' I dived down and pulled him back up. 'R can you hear me? Are you okay?' his eyelids fluttered.
'I'm fine' he replied between coughing, I through my arms around him.
' I thought I'd lost you'
And then it happened, I kissed him and it wasn't at all like I had first expected, it was loving and gentle as if it was really ment to be and I really didn't want it to end but it had to. I gazed into his light blue eyes, blue, not the pale almost white they had been to start with. 'You really are changing more and more aren't you?'
'Corpses don't change' I heard my dad's voice 'get out of the pool Julie' he said angrily pointing his gun at R.
'Dad please…' I started to protest and he fired his gun, I stared in horror. He had shot him.
'Next one will be the head now get out of the pool!' he shouted and instead I stood between R and his gun.
'He's changing' I said 'Him and the others are becoming human again. He's…' I paused 'bleeding, dad he's bleeding. Corpses don't bleed you said that yourself but look' sure enough the water around us was changing colour from the from blood coming from the wound in R's chest 'It hurts right? You can feel where dad shot you?' he nodded and I turned back towards my dad 'What more proof do you need?' he lowered his weapon and two guards came and helped us out of the pool. I walked over to my dad and hugged him.
'Let's get out of here' He said and smiled, I smiled back.
I was human again which was good obviously but it took being shot to realise it although it didn't hurt as much anymore, more of a dull ache. Julie turned in her seat and smiled sweetly. 'How you doing?' she asked.
'It-hurts-but-I'm-alive' I replied, trying to smile back. I may have been human again but doing simple things such as talking and smiling were still difficult seeing as I hadn't been able to do them for so long. Julie reached back and held my hand.
'Don't worry R, we're going to make you alright again' I smiled at her again too tired to say anything more and my shoulder was beginning to hurt again. I leant back and closed my eyes.
We got to the infirmary, R seemed weaker than he had done before. I helped him to the tent where a nurse took over from me. She sat him down on the nearest bed and looked him over. 'Oh you're one of the…' she paused looking for the right words 'exhumed?' she looked over to me and I nodded, she turned back to R 'well that's going to need surgery to close the wound and make sure there is no part of the bullet left in or risk of infection…nono don't worry' she added when she saw R's worried expression 'it's a relatively simple procedure. Oh here is one of the doctors now, we can get you ready straight away' she turned back to me again 'you should go and rest Miss Grigio, you can come back when it's over' I nodded and turned to leave.
'Julie…' I heard R call my name weakly and turned back around.
'Don't worry R I won't be far away and will here when you wake up. I promise' and I left, I didn't want to say much more because I knew that I would end up crying even though I wanted to stay with him all the time and make sure he really was alright but he was in safe hands with the nurses, they would make sure he was okay. I would just have to try and do my best to stop worrying about him. Fat chance.
I didn't go far, I wanted to be near so that if R needed me then I could be there for him as I knew he would do for me.
But was I really hanging around for him or for myself? Had I really become this attached to R in such a short amount of time? Yes. I had. I felt things for R that I had felt the first time I was with Perry and some of the feelings I hadn't even had with Perry in the first place.
I loved R with all my heart and would do anything for him as I knew he would do the same for me.
It seemed like hours before the nurse called me back in. I walked quickly back and stopped at the entrance. R was awake and sitting up, he smiled when he saw me and I rushed towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck being careful not to hurt his shoulder again.
'oh R I'm so glad you alright again' I whispered softly, almost in his tears. He buried his face in the nape of my neck and sighed, I twisted round and kissed his cheek lightly. 'Everything is going to be alright now R. everyone's safe' I told him. 'I love you so so much'
'I love you-too' he answered.
Julie was right. Everything was okay, the newly awakened (not exactly dead) were gradually being accepted back in to the community and were being treated as equals and all the Boneys were either dead or dying and I knew what it was like to be loved again and have a real life. So I couldn't remember my life before now, so what? It would have been nothing compared with the life I was going to have with Julie and I knew with my newly beating heart that it was going to be so much better just because she was in it.
