Consequences

Disclaimer: I do not own Warm Bodies or anything related.

Note! It is highly recommended you search "Hans Zimmer – Time" on YouTube for this chapter!

A/N: WARNING! Very Adult themes! Blood, torture, strong language and threats!

What felt like hours later, Susan Martinez stirred, groaning slightly in pain as consciousness returned to her. Opening her eyes and covering her face quickly to keep the light away, she tried to figure out what happened and where she was. The last thing she remembered was seeing... oh no! That's right! Tommy! Martinez gasped and tried to sit up but a gentle hand pushed her back down.

"Hey, easy there. I'm glad you're awake, Susan, we were starting to get really worried!"

Martinez pulled her hand away and squinted to see around herself. She found herself lying on one of the cots. She cringed, feeling like she had a hangover. She was old and experienced enough to remember what those felt like unfortunately. "N-Nora?" Martinez winced, reaching up to rub her head and glare at the entirely too bright lights around her. Uh oh, that wasn't a good sign! It felt like she had been smacked with a hardcover book. At least she wasn't bleeding. "Am I-"

"You're fine. We had no idea what was wrong with you though. Me and Mary came in to work and you were lying motionless on the floor," the younger woman frowned in concern. "We had to run basic tests... unfortunately, as you know, we couldn't run a complete one. It would help if we had some bigger equipment, like a CAT-Scan, you know?"

Martinez felt slightly relieved that they couldn't scan her head. "Oh, I've... been so busy, I ...haven't had the chance to eat much. I must have passed out..." she said, trying to come up with an excuse. She did not want to worry the girl needlessly. She would go get help and once it was being seen to, then she would warn them. Nora didn't look convinced, but she didn't argue at least.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Nora stepped in front of the older woman before she could stand up.

"I was going to go get some Carbtein. I need to be somewhere, important things to do and all," Martinez sighed, trying to sound as unhurried and calm as she could.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nora asked softly.

"I'm sure," Martinez smiled at the girl warmly. "Go on, go help someone who needs it, okay?" Nora nodded in understanding and left her in peace. Martinez quickly stood, shooting her hand to the back of the chair near her bed to steady herself. She hoped she didn't have a concussion, though it was probably very likely... which meant after this, she would have to go sit down and rest. Hopefully it wasn't too bad though. She grabbed her things and left in a rush. It was fortunate that she didn't need permission to go into the command center... being the chief surgeon and all. Slipping in she found her target in the General's office, looking over reports, a very serious expression on his normally kind face. "Colonel?"

"Susan, what can I do for you?" Rosso asked without looking up.

"We may have a problem. A serious one," Martinez told him.

"What is it?" Rosso looked up then, his bushy white brows furrowing.

"Tommy Brown woke up sometime this morning. I wouldn't have thought it a problem if he hadn't attacked me soon after," she frowned. "I've seen the look in his eyes before he knocked me out cold. It was the eyes of someone after revenge. I think he may be planning something..."

"Yes... I suspected as much," Rosso sighed. "Those damn Brown brothers," he scoffed, getting up from the desk and grabbing his coat.

"What's wrong? Why do you say that?" Martinez asked in surprise.

"His brother is gone too. His cell was broken in to and the guard was found out cold this morning as well," Rosso scratched the gray bristle on his cheek. "I thought it was an isolated incident. I was actually going to send someone to check on his brother, but I got side-tracked. I'm going to go put a search detail on and scout the perimeter of the city. Did you tell anyone?"

"No, I didn't want to worry anyone," Martinez shook her head.

"Good. It'll be no help having people paranoid and worried," Rosso nodded.

"I'll head back to the infirmary now, please let me know if you find anything?"

"Of course," Rosso smiled half-heartedly and walked out.

Susan Martinez sat at her little folding table, her 'desk', and tried to take her mind off of what happened this morning. Rosso had things under control. She was sure it was just... boys being boys... right? She hoped to God it was, she couldn't imagine what would happen if they went back to the 'Purists' and stirred up further trouble while John was gone! Rosso was a capable substitute, but he wasn't quite as fierce and commanding as John Grigio. Unfortunately, Rosso was not able to find anything of substance. No sign of the two men anywhere, but they would keep looking.

Elsewhere, it was another very pleasant morning for Julie and R as they woke up in each others arms again. They spent the first few minutes simply laying in the warmth of R's small bed, holding each other. Julie smiled over at him and went to get up, but like every morning, R refused to give her up. "R? You go back to work today, remember?" Julie smiled, her hand resting over his steadily beating heart.

"...Yeah..." R muttered. Normally he would be thrilled about going back to work, but he would much rather stay in bed with Julie.

"I have a few shifts at the bar too. We should probably get up..." she told him.

"Do we have to?" R pouted for a moment, then smiled, pulling her in for a kiss. Julie resisted for a second, knowing from experience that he would try to distract her, play on her weakness for him and get carried away... but she had to be strong! She had to... oh but the things this boy did with his hands...

"R..." Julie scolded gently, pulling away just slightly and stopped his hands from roaming. R stilled as usual, giving her a look that could be described as a cross between a hurt puppy and a chastised little boy. She didn't know how he managed such an expression but it broke her heart every time. Damn. He was good! "We're going to be late..." she told him. Since when did she become to responsible? Maybe almost dying multiple times really woke up that mature side of her? Maybe. Even so, she didn't stop him from rolling over and pinning her underneath him.

"We have plenty of time..." R mentioned distractedly, leaning over her to lay soft kisses on her shoulder, caressing her long locks of golden hair out of the way.

"We don't..." Julie protested weakly, her hands on his shoulders as if she were trying to push him away, but made no move to. "R..." Julie forced herself to push on him a little, making him stop with a groan. R dutifully rolled back over onto his back and sighed, bending to her wishes. Julie cracked a smile at his sulking. "God, R! You're a machine, you know that?" Julie shook her head.

R looked over at her, seeing her head down and shaking. "I-I'm sorry," his eyes widened slightly, mistaking her actions for irritation, thinking he had gone too far. The last thing he ever wanted to do was force Julie to do something she didn't want. A few seconds later, he frowned slightly when Julie threw back her head and started laughing. "Um..."

"R! I'm not upset with you!" She snickered and leaned in to kiss his confused face. "I like that you're so... needy..." she smirked.

"...Oh..." R blushed, smiling shyly. Again, Julie couldn't help finding him incredibly adorable at times like this. Funny how he could be irresistibly sexy at one point, and then morph into this preciously cute puppy the next...

"Come on, buddy," Julie pat him on the shoulder encouragingly and took him arm, playfully pulling him off the bed with her... though she had to really brace herself to be able to do this, as he had been steadily growing heavier the more he filled out. R helped her out and stood, smirking a little at how his shirt that she wore to cover herself during the cold night, draped over her like a nightgown. For some reason, Julie wearing his shirt was probably the sexiest thing he had ever seen her wear. He shook his head and got ready for the day with her, being good and keeping his hands off her... or they'd never leave for work!

R and Julie met up with Nora on their way to work, before they split up and went in separate directions. "What's up?" Julie greeted her friend, who had a very odd look on her face.

"Not much, except that me and Mary found Susan passed out on the floor today..." Nora frowned in concern.

"What?" Julie looked alarmed.

"What happened?" R demanded, blushing when the girls gave him a curious look. "What? She's really nice to me..." R didn't want to further embarrass himself by admitting she was the closest he had for a mother.

"Everyone is really nice to you. You're too sweet to not be nice to," Julie snickered. Most guys probably wouldn't exactly like being labeled as sweet all the time, but to R it was far better than being labeled a monster, besides... she had a point.

"Not everyone is nice to me..." R said in a dark tone, no doubt referring to the 'Purists'.

"Everyone that matters," Nora chipped in. "Anyway, she claimed that she hadn't eaten much lately and passed out, but... I'm not sure. She seemed evasive..."

"Maybe she was just embarrassed?" Julie offered.

"...Maybe," Nora frowned. "I should get back to work, I'll see you guys later," she waved at them and headed back toward the 'clinic'.

"Think you're up to all the heavy lifting?" Julie asked curiously.

"Sure! The bullet wound your dad... uh, the injury I had before healed in about a week too," he shrugged fully as emphasis, smiling triumphantly. "I'm probably just going to take the bandage off later. What about you?" He asked, gesturing to her leg.

"I can barely feel it," Julie answered.

"You can barely feel your leg? Well that's not good," he chuckled.

"You know what I meant, cheeseball," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'll see you at lunch time?" R smiled.

"You bet!" Julie curled her finger at him, beckoning him to lean into her for a kiss. R was only too happy to oblige. When they said their 'see you laters' they split up and headed off toward their respective jobs, giving each other longing glances as they left in opposite directions.

R was surprised when he was greeted cheerfully when he got to work. He hadn't had the chance to meet most of the men and the handful of women there, but they already seemed to know him. Maybe they had been at the party a while ago? He felt a little shameful for not knowing their names. They had probably even stopped by to thank him for his efforts to save John, too! With a determined twinkle in his eyes, he decided that he would make a better effort at getting to know people, at least the people he worked with! Walking into the construction site, he was greeted just as cheerfully by his 'boss'.

"R! Good to see you're all better," Eddie, R's team leader, greeted him.

"I'm glad to be back doing something useful," R smiled back.

"That's good to hear, we've really missed your dedication," the older man chuckled. "Come on, I'll show you where you can be the most help!"

Several hours later, Julie Grigio sighed in relief when she stepped out into the street. "I'll see you later," she waved at a local bar attendee who walked out with her and said goodbye. She had just gotten off a shift as a bartender and was looking forward to going over to where R was working to have lunch with him. She smiled at Kevin who gave her a knowing look and signaled the gate to be open. Today R was helping to reinforce the back part of one of the building that made up the wall. She had just stepped into the alley outside of the gate, when everything went wrong.

Julie gasped as a rough hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, and tried to put her in a lock. Luckily, being trained by her father himself to fight, Julie knew just what to do. Shoving her arm through the small space between his arm that tried to hold her still and turning her body ever so slightly, she wedged herself and forced out of the hold. As soon as she was free she made her arm taunt and struck backwards as she turned quickly. The back of her fist collided with a nose. "Gugh!" A man's voice yelped and Julie turned to see Tommy holding a bloody nose.

"The fuck?" Julie gasped, not expecting to see that bastard again.

"You little bitch!" Tommy snapped and used his free arm to try to grab at her again. Julie ducked under him and spared no time to rush forward and slam her elbow into his already injured face. The shock of pain sent Tommy falling on his ass.

"Who's the bitch now?" Julie taunted.

"You are!"

Julie didn't have the time to turn this time when she was caught in a hold. Someone had come up behind and had locked her arms behind her. Tommy stood, blood trailing down his face, and back-handed her. Julie's head snapped to the side from the strike, but she turned back and glared at the man in rage.

"Nice job, Derrick," Tommy spat blood that got into his mouth. "So, the little bitch has fight in her, eh? I always knew you could kick ass, darlin', didn't know you could kick human ass though," he smirked, making his face look even more gruesome.

"I can certainly kick your ass," Julie glared. "Now let me go!"

"No, I don't think so. You'll make a good candidate..."

"For what?" Julie growled, still trying to jab Derrick with her elbows.

"For a breeder of course," the bloody man chuckled darkly.

"You're insane!" Julie gaped, horrified.

"No way. The kids that come from you are bound to be tough little brats," Derrick leered, his voice by her ear. "Bet it would be fun to knock you up, too," he chuckled, pulling her a little closer. "I wonder who's going to have the... pleasure..." he smirked, licking the shell of her ear. "Pity that corpse already violated you..."

Julie jerked in his grip, managing to slam her head back against his face. The grip loosened for a second but Derrick quickly grabbed her again and Tommy slapped her once more for her trouble. Julie spat on him in retaliation. "I'm going to castrate both of you and then beat you with your own dicks!" Julie snarled.

"...Yeah, right," Tommy snorted, wiping blood and spit off his face. "Time to go, sweet-cheeks... say goodbye to all that willful attitude you like to fling around so much. It's not going to be tolerated where you're going!" He glared, then stuffed a sock in her mouth and pulled a bag roughly over her head. Once he was sure she couldn't call for help or see where they were taking her, he gestured for his brother to take her to the waiting car.

R had just gotten off work, rubbing his sore neck with a sigh of content. Today was a hard day of work after so long of not using his strength, but it felt good to stretch his abilities like that and be useful. "Hey Kevin... have you seen Julie? She didn't come by for lunch like she said she would? Is she having a busy day at work?" R asked as he stepped through the gate.

Kevin walked over, a grim look on his face. "R..." he didn't know how to begin. How could he possible tell R this?

"What is it..?" R frowned, seeing the deep shame and sick worry in the older man's face.

"We found- the thing is... Julie... she's..." Kevin stampered.

"What? What about her?" R demanded as the older man walked alongside him.

Kevin took a deep breath and looked R square in the eyes, stopping him in his tracks. "She's been kidnapped. I would bet money on that it was by Purists, if I had any."

"WHAT?" R balked. "You... -you were on watch?!" He asked in an accusing tone.

"I... I didn't- I hadn't been looking down the alley... she went to see you and- R! WAIT!" The young man had taken off toward the gate. Kevin cursed and ran after him.

"Open the door!" R slammed his fist against the gate. "I said open it, damn it!"

A startled guard was about to do just that when Kevin ran over. "Belay that!" He yelled.

R whirled around to glare daggers at him. "What are you doing?! We have to go after her!" He screamed.

"Do you know where she is? Do you know how you'll get her back?" Kevin challenged, silencing his young friend. "We need a plan, R, we can't just run out there and look blindly. We need backup."

R's face crumbled. "...What... what do we do?" He asked, his breath coming in short from panic.

Kevin grimaced at the look of complete loss and grief in R's face. "Come on, let's go round up some men and look for clues," Kevin suggested gently, walking over and placing a hand on R's shoulder. R let himself be guided back down the street, toward the command central.

Scott Kimberley had been having a very interesting day that day. After spending some time 're-educating' one of the willful women of their little 'family', he had been present to the very pleasant spectacle of his men bringing in a potential new member! And it was someone he knew well, to boot! Someone he had been wanting to get his hands on... He leaned toward her, getting right into her face. "Julie Grigio..." he began with a deep scowl. "I don't see what my son saw in you, you're nothing but a plain little thing... barely anything to grab onto. Still, my men tell me you have some fire in you, this is good, 'means you'll have good material to offer," he nodded. "We need strong men to defend and help to repopulate this world. You'll help produce them."

"Over my Goddamn body you megalomaniac pompous sexist asshole. Go to hell, fucker," Julie answered, her eyes narrowing in rage.

"Already in it, sweetheart," he smiled humorlessly. "You'll learn your place soon enough. That dirty mouth of yours will need to be cleaned, thoroughly," he sneered.

"You sick fuck! When R-"

"-That corpse isn't going to get anywhere near you, I'm afraid," he smirked.

"He'll come. He'll find a way, he always has. And when he does find you, he'll kill you. You and all your girlscouts," Julie spat. Okay so she may be exaggerating a little, truthfully, she didn't know if R had it in him to kill, not after all he'd had to endure as a zombie... but she remembered seeing the fury and blood-lust in his eyes when he fought Tommy, knew that if he was pushed far enough, he could very well snap... as horrible as it was, she was hoping he would.

"Oh I'm sure. It's what any good little undead freak would do, isn't it? In any case, I hope he'll come! We have a nice little surprise planned for him and his friends when they follow the little trail we left for them..." He smiled cruelly. "Show her to her cell," he nodded to one of the guards.

Colonel Rosso didn't much like the idea of R going with Kevin and his group to search for Julie, but he could see the fiery conviction in the young man's eyes and knew he would find a way to sneak out if he wasn't allowed to anyway. So he allowed it. It would probably do him some good anyway, keep himself useful instead of sitting on idle hands. He set Kevin in charge, knowing the young lieutenant would be a capable leader and knew how smart he was.

Kevin had gathered a handful of men who he thought would be the best qualified and set out. A little while ago, they had found suspicious looking clues just outside of the gate, in a dirty alley. Since they really didn't have much else to go on, they cautiously began following it. "This is probably a trap..." Kevin told his men.

"A... A trap might still mean it'll lead close to their hideout, right?" R questioned, his face still contorted in painful dread.

"Possibly," Kevin sighed. He didn't want to get his friend's hopes up but it was possible. They made their way steadily, still following the trail, creeping through the city and watching for retaliation. What they hadn't been expecting, which was very foolish of them, was attacks by Boneys! "Form up on me!" Kevin yelled, but the Boneys, despite moving as if they had too much to drink, were already on top of them, having flanked them.

They were particularly drawn to R, trying their best to maim him. One of them managed to trip him, sending him falling to the ground, his shotgun skidding across the floor. R quickly stuck his foot out, keeping the skeleton horror from biting him. He swung his fist, punching the terror in it's head, forcing it off him. He got to his feet, grabbing his shotgun again and blasting it apart. He began to turn to help the others, but someone shouted a warning at him.

"Above you!"

R spun away quickly, the Boney that had tried to surprise him falling to the floor next to him. R took his weapon and slammed the end of it into the slow moving Boney, repeatedly bashing it in the head. Black gunk splattered all over his protective vest and part of his face but he didn't care. "Dude! It's dead!" One of the soldiers nearby said, but R would not stop slamming it's skull with his weapon. Finally spent, he stopped and gasped for breath, tears running down his face. "Come on, man... we need to keep moving..." the man said softly, nudging R onward again.

Elsewhere, Julie was still not having a very good day. A fist collided with Julie's stomach, making her breath leave her in a rush. Her body tried bending to lessen the pain, but she was held fast. "That's what you get for knocking me on my ass, bitch," Tommy glared. He felt enraged when she managed to smirk at him, despite the obvious pain she was in.

"S-S'the least you... deserve... asshole..." Julie gasped. "Oh hit me again, I love ...it!" she taunted him. She knew it was stupid to provoke him, but she wasn't about to give up. She was sure someone would come... if they did not, she'd just have to die, simple as that, she would not give in though, no way in hell! She wasn't raised to give up so easily and she hadn't gone through her dad's severe training to withstand the apocalypse to give into pain!

"God, you just won't shut up, will you!" Tommy scoffed, glancing toward Scott who nodded in approval. Tommy pulled his hand back and went to slap her again but just as his hand neared her face, she jerked her head back and snapped her teeth down on his hand. For the first time in her life, she wished she was a zombie! Imagine that! Tommy shouted in pain and jerked his back back. "You almost took my finger off you slut!" Tommy yelled.

"Almost? ...Pity..." Julie sighed in exhaust and groaned in pain when another punch to her stomach nearly made her lose her breakfast, as long ago as it had been. Julie refused to cry, refused to give them that satisfaction. She didn't go through hell and back just for a few 'little slaps' to make her cry like a little girl!

"I'm going to make you pay, you little whore. You're not gunna get any mercy from me when I get my hands on you!" Tommy growled. "I'm going to break you and then leave you in shambles!"

"Tommy. That's enough for now. Take her to her cell," Scott sighed in what was almost disappointment. "No food or water. Then you can try again tomorrow, don't worry, she'll break eventually," he smirked. Julie gaped at him but her vision was once again blocked by a bag over her head and she was roughly shoved down the hall again.

Later that night, the group stopped by a ruined apartment building and after making sure it was unoccupied, settled down for the night. Kevin watched R pace like a caged animal in the dull light of the kerosene lamp. "We should still be searching!" He muttered mostly to himself, running his hand through his hair in agitation. His eyes were wild and wide with panic. "She's out there. They have her...-"

"We can't go out there right now, R. It's too dark. I'm... I'm sorry, it's my call," Kevin told him in a voice of utter regret. R let out of growl of frustration, kicking a rotten chair hard, knocking it over. The other soldiers watched in silence, not used to seeing the normally cheerful young man so torn up. R paused, as if to collect himself, then turned and went into one of the vacant rooms. One of the men stood to try to see if he could help, but Kevin shook his head. "Leave the man alone..." he said sadly.

R sat on a rotten mattress, staring at his hands. Hands that had held her just this morning. How had she slipped out of his grasp like that? How could he break his promise to her again and again? He was suppose to keep her safe! He promised he would keep her safe! "SHIT!" he suddenly howled, his head drawn back to glare tearfully at the ceiling. He normally didn't like cursing, didn't like how it spoiled the beauty of language, also figuring it didn't make anything better to do so... but tonight it just made him feel better to scream it. But only very slightly.

Would they make it on time? What were those bastards doing to her? Why did they kidnap her? To get to him? Hell, they could have him! They could skin him alive if they just let her go back home, let her stay safe. "Julie..." R muttered brokenly, collapsing on his side on the bare mattress. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, his body wracked with silent sobs as sleep mercifully took him.

TBC...

A/N: Oh my gosh! Julie! And Poor R! Come on, you can say it, I'm one evil bitch! LOL! I am SO sorry for all the graphic suggestions! It's part of me trying to do things realistically, I needed to make sure you people knew how serious a situation she's in... feel free to vent on me. Again, chapter inspired by "Time" by Hans Zimmer. If you haven't listened to it yet, go find it on YouTube! It's from the Inception soundtrack. Oh and I may have made Julie a bit too tough, I was kind of following how I imagined her character from the book might react to this situation... I may have gone overboard though?

Curse The Walking Dead and it's power to inspire me! ...To tell you the truth, the game "Fallout New Vegas" kind of inspired this chapter too... don't ask lol. All my fellow gamers say HEY-OH! XD

Shout-Outs: FFS! Over 300 reviews! I'm going to burst with love for you people! XD HUGS AND KISSES TO YOU ALL!

coadhpgg: Lol! Agreed, Tommy's certainly very annoying... :)

warmbodies1d: Who wouldn't be needy with a boyfriend like him LOL! Ehem. Gotta put a leash on my little fangirl monster inside me sometimes, can't let it go rampant or it'll just embarrass me! XD

Katie T: Yes! I suppose some fluff was good before this horribly tense chapter lol I just love taking you people on a roller-coaster of emotions! I HEART The Walking Dead but the Governor needs to DIE... lol to tell you the truth, I based Scott on him lol. I wouldn't be one of those people, I would be the type that very quickly searches for a boat and gets the hell out of dodge... Or maybe even builds one!

brigid1318: It most certainly was the calm before the storm! Right you are! Yes, they're not quite so frustrated anymore, are they? Now that their needs are being met daily lol! Yeah after the end of the movie, I saw how at peace and calm they were with each other... that in my mind means lots and lots of sex lol! No one can look that calm with someone that hot (and I'm talking about both, they're both gorgeous people!) and not be getting some!

Rue Bladesinger: Awesome! I can't wait to see what you come up with :P :D

loss of control: Thank you! I appreciate your attempt to communicate with me! :)

No One: I'm not even going to begin to explain the negative feelings I have for twilight, I don't want to be rude lol. I just thought it was absurd, I would never in a trillion years compare (anything) this to twilight, that's not what I thought at all. I just thought Hollywood was being their usual retarded selves lol. Calm before the storm, you're not the first who detected that! You were both right! XD "Do well" HAHAHA! Ahh, when I read that I had to laugh evily, so how'd I do? This chapter "well" enough for ya? Muahahaha!

KryptoniteBoy: Aww, thanks! You're so sweet! XD