What if R and Julie hadn't met outside the city? What if R had been captured, to be used to train the children inside the fortified city of the Living? A different version of the R/Julie story, one where they meet in her world, not his.

Isaac Marion owns Warm Bodies. I just enjoy playing with the characters.

Dark Negative of Love

Author's Note: In the last chapter, I had some trouble finding symbols that would set Perry's memories apart from the rest of the chapter. I hope the pattern of "ooo's" works better than the pattern of "++++'s that I tried last time.

Chapter 4 - The Stadium Roof

Once inside the long low building that served as the humans' school, I found a small janitor's closet that contained a sink and some metal shelves with various cleaning supplies, plus mops and brooms. I went inside, closing the door behind me, and retrieved a bit of brain from my pocket. I was quite sure I couldn't negotiate the city streets and main gate guarded by soldiers by myself, even wearing Perry's clothes. I moved too slowly, and eventually someone would ask me a question I would need to answer verbally. Maybe a memory of Perry Kelvin's would give me some directions out of this place.

So I put a small bit of his brain into my mouth, turning it and savoring the flavor, waiting for something, anything I could use to get out of the city. What I got turned out to me much more valuable.

oooo

I am racing Julie to our hideaway, the stadium rooftop, and get ahead of her. I don't like being too far ahead, so I slow down as I reach the part of the concrete walk way where we have covered the door to the utility room containing the ladder to the roof with boards. Pulling them aside, I wait for her to catch up and get inside the small electrical utility area before replacing the wood so that no one will follow us. Scrambling up the ladder and pushing open the trap door with one hand, I reach down for her, pulling her up into our secret place on the stadium rooftop.

Alone, above the crowded and borderline squalid existence we live inside our prison/fortress walls, up here we can be free.

She laughs breathlessly, still trying to catch her breath from our race to the ladder, as she gets onto her feet on the roof. She twirls, and her golden hair flares out around her face.

The laughter does not totally reach her eyes though. The love that was in them once is gone. I have left her, though I'm still physically present. She knows it, and I know it. But I will do my best to keep her safe.

I spread out the red blanket I brought with me, lie down and reach for her. She stands over me, and then kneels by my side, and reaching out, she strokes my face. That still brings a shiver, and I wish it was enough. She lies down next to me, and soon we are in one another's arms, taking such comfort as we can from this world. Our only witness the sky above.

ooooo

The pictures end, and I come out of the janitor's closet and freeze, flattening myself against the wall as a line of Living teen-agers leaves a class room, filing past me. A few seem to recognize the jacket, and give me a "Hey, Perry" as they pass. I realize the jacket has my name, or rather, his name on it. Kelvin.

After all this time as "R", it seems I have a name now, at least to them. I nod back at them, hoping it is enough. It seems to be, as they pass without becoming alarmed. I make my way down the hall to the front door after they are gone, struggling to keep up a human façade through my gait. I knew this would be tricky, and if I had a heart, it would have been pounding from fear from that close call. Stepping outside, I strain for Perry' memories, trying to find something I can use as a guide to freedom. All around me, I see fortified walls and the Living's security measures. But to the left, I see the stadium.

I start to walk in that direction. Oddly, I feel that the more I try to walk like the Living, the easier it gets. Is just the atmosphere and surrounding rubbing off? I almost feel as if there is some life force present in this city so crowded with humans, that it is in the air, infecting me!

A sudden image pops through my mind. It is the blond girl, the one the children called Julie, the same one that I saw in Kelvin's memories. I begin to think that she is energizing me. I play my own memory of her from this morning again…with the children following her.

Suddenly I am brought to a stop. The boy's memories of her…I just ate her boyfriend's brain. Although I've never been comfortable killing humans, somehow, harming this girl seems worse.

Shaking my head to clear it, I make my way to the stadium. When I see any of the Living coming towards me, I just lean against a wall if I don't have time to get behind something. I move my head in a nod, and apparently this works. Generally, the Living give me a one-word greeting – "Zup?", and my nod suffices as an answer to this casual greeting.

I know that if I have to answer using words, my slow, labored voice will give me away. I don't know how much longer I can keep up this façade, as I've just been lucky so far. I'm sure that Perry will eventually be missed, and they'll start a search. Even if only for him, and I appear to be him, I will be lost, as they will shoot me when they realize what I am. A Dead among the Living. The momentary distraction of my fear causes me to stumble, and I force myself to focus. One foot ahead of the other, picking my feet up off of the ground to avoid the appearance of shuffling.

I keep walking, and finally I reach the stadium. I being to circle it, looking for the concealed staircase that I saw in Perry's memories.

Hours pass, and night falls, but I keep looking. It's become quite dark, but even as the light fades, I can still search by following Julie and Perry's scents. At least here, I am not encountering the Living. Julie's is steadily getting stronger. She must have been here recently. The one whiff I had of her as she passed this morning lingers in my senses. Eventually it seems to be concentrated in one small area at by an entrance gate. I pace the area, looking for anything that will take me up to the roof, then pull at a loose board, and it moves in my hand. Behind it is a small iron stairway. So Perry and Julie have been keeping this spot secret, just as I saw in his memory. I hope it's secret enough to conceal my presence while I formulate a plan of escape.

I begin to climb up the ladder, clumsily at first, as it takes a few minutes for my body to remember the moves. First, grab a bar with one hand, then lift the other hand to grasp the next rung, and then follow that by lifting a foot. Pushing myself towards the top by alternating lifting a hand or foot…over and over. Just as I was starting to get the hang of it, I was at the top, so I pushed up the trapdoor I had seen in Perry's memories, and found myself on the stadium roof. At least up here, I thought, I won't have to deal with the soldiers. Maybe I can drop off over an edge to the ground, and get back to the airport.

Walking over to the edge, I lean over the low railing, and see it must be eight stories high. Instead of dropping over the side to a near certain Final Death, I decide to lie down on the top of the roof, much as Perry had done in the flashback from his memories. The red blanket from I saw from his mind is still on the roof. A little damp, but it's a nice place to lie down. Only since it's night, I'm staring up at the stars, not at his girl girlfriend or the blue sky from his memories. As I lay on my back, I almost seem to feel cold. Must be memory, something triggered by the feeling of the wind blowing over me. After all, the Dead don't experience cold or heat.

I lay and stare. As much as I would like to pull out a piece of Perry's brain, I've eaten enough of it today. I need to save it. But I think about something else I might explore, so I dig around in his pocket and pull out the little box with earplugs I had seen him fiddling with earlier in the day.

The earplugs indicate that it produces sound, and after pushing a few buttons and dials, I figure out how it works. Music is the key to the soul, right? Though this is quite different than the record player I keep on my 747 back at the airport, still, music is music.

Scrolling down the list, I struggle with the words of the titles. For some reason, it seems maybe Perry gives me a boost from inside, as I get a flash of insight on one area, and can just make out the words "Julie's List." It's more from his memories than my own ability to read, as I haven't been able to read in…as long as I've been Dead, I think.

After listening for an hour, trying to imagine what this set might mean to this couple, I decide it's time to get back to work on figuring out how to escape from this stronghold.

So I look over the edge of the stadium again. And it is still a very long drop to the ground.

The wall is so high, in fact, that the Living are using this area as one of the walls for their fort. Smart – it's well built, and nearly insurmountable. I look around, wondering if there might be some material, rope or long banner that I could hang over the edge and use as a ladder to climb down.

As I'm turning away from the edge, a movement from the ground catches my eye, and I peek over the edge again. I am astonished to see a small group of people gathered in the former parking lot, standing among the few battered, rusted cars that are scattered across the blacktop, relics of a time when people did tailgating outside of stadiums. From their gentle swaying motion, I realize this is a group of the Dead. I am startled to see them this close to the fortified walls, though. They're in much greater danger of caught than I was yesterday, further out in the city. What are they doing in the open?

Somehow the bulk of the leader and his sway look familiar. Could it be…M? I squint down and decide to wave to him. He doesn't notice, as he isn't looking up, so I poke around on the rooftop, and finally find a half-empty water bottle lying not too far from the blanket. I toss it over the edge of the wall, and watch its progress towards the ground. My aim was surprisingly accurate - it just misses M's head.

The sound of the water bottle hitting the feet at the ground he notices, and he finally looks up. I wave; he waves back. Good – contact!

We stay that way for a while, staring at one another. Even though we are separated from a distance, I can feel a connection between myself and them. M must have come into the city looking for me, when I didn't return. If my eyes could tear up with emotion, they would.

As light starts to come up in the east, M gestures towards the nearby houses, and shuffles off towards them, leading his group out of the exposed area of the parking lot next to the stadium wall. It would not do for them to get caught by the soldiers in the daylight. I've already been dragged in here in by the soldiers, and I really don't want to see that happen to my friend as well.

Suddenly, I hear soft noises on the ladder rungs below me, and a rustling under the trap door leading up to the roof from below.

I lower my helmet and visor, and crouch immediately behind where the door will be pushed backward in order to open. Preparing to defend myself, I watch as a slender hand appears at the edge of the door, pushing it back towards me.

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