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.

A Dark Negative of Love

Chapter 13 – the Terminal

The next morning, things seemed a bit quieter out on the runway. I decided for safety reasons to forgo the trip to the terminal for food, and just go straight to my car. With the increased activity I had seen in the Boneys, I didn't believe it could be safe for her here any longer on my 747. I needed to get her back to the Living.

As we started out across the tarmac to my car, we were surprised by a group of Boneys who cut across the tarmac from one of the hangers. Turning around, I simply lead Julie towards the airport terminal instead of the car. As we approached the gate, I saw a cart filled with luggage, and swiped my arm across a sharp corner of one of the carts, cutting it.

Julie's eyes opened wide with surprise, but I shook my head, signaling her to keep her face down as I stuck a finger into the fresh cut, got some of my black blood, and smeared it on her cheek and the nape of her neck. Leaning forward, I gave an exploratory sniff. She still smelled slightly human, but more like she had just been turned. Satisfied, I turned back towards the terminal and soon we reached the doors and walked inside.

It felt like months had passed since I had been gone, instead of just a few days. With Julie at my side, we started my usual, slow circuit of the airport. Surprisingly, most of the Dead I usually passed, the ones who went on my hunting trips with, weren't there.

Making my way up to the airport bar, I looked around. I was early, but there was no sign of M. Anywhere. So I headed over to his other hang-out, the women's washroom.

Julie's eyes widened as I started to enter, but I shook my head. "Friend…like my…plane," I finally got out.

"Really weird hang-out spot, R!" she exclaimed.

"It doesn't…work…with us," I said.

"Oh right, I guess. Still…" Her eyes widened at the sight of the TV set M kept on the Koala Kare baby changing station. Darting over to the videos, she picked up one after another, gasping with surprise as she turned them over in her hands.

Turning to me, she asked accusingly, "Are you sure it doesn't 'work' for you guys? These are all porn!"

"That's…just M," I said.

"Maybe he's not such a good buddy to hang with," she said, setting down the videos.

"Came…for me…in city," I reminded her.

"OK, you got me there," she stated. "But what's the plan?"

I didn't really know. "Food…for you…then wait…"

"Well, I like the first part of the plan, anyway," she replied.

We left the bathroom and went back in the terminal and continued along my usual rounds. I felt kind of pleased to show her where I passed my days, even if I couldn't describe my feelings.

Eventually we got to the storage areas for the food courts. Behind the haphazard mess of bins that had been tipped over and carts lying on their side, we saw a wall of refrigerator units. But when we opened the first one, a blast of hot, putrid air came out.

Julie turned pale. "Close that," she said. "Whatever was there is long gone now." Walking from unit to unit, we only found bins of long decayed food inside. But I was sure that there had to be working units somewhere, as I had heard humming coming from the area when I was on my daily rounds.

Finally we located to the airports' own refrigerated units, the ones maintained for the planes as opposed to the units rented to the food court vendors. When I opened these doors, the air poured out crisp and cool. We walked in.

"Looks like the power's on, and has been on," Julie said as she rummaged through the icy metallic shelves. For the most part, the containers were covered with white frost, so picking out the images on the labels was difficult, but after scraping the ice covering off of a number of them, I finally found something she might be interested in. I remembered from Perry's memories that she liked pad Thai, so I found some boxes with that label. I pulled them down from their shelf, dropping a few on the ground.

She rushed over to help me, and then got excited when she saw what I was holding.

"Pad Thai!" she exclaimed. "It's my favorite! What a coincidence. Think we can take these back to the plane?"

I nodded, and we closed the fridge door, shuffling back across the airport.

On our way through the airport, we passed the guy who wanded everybody as they passed through his TSA checkpoint. Julie obviously thought that was weird, but didn't comment. He wanded her just as he had wanded me every day that I was there. I used to be a little jealous of him. After all, he seemed to have a purpose to his day, and some vague memory of his human life before becoming Dead. I had tried to talk to him on several occasions, but he didn't seem to speak. He just stared at me, and then turned to the next person walking through his metal gateway, so I eventually gave up the effort.

We were at the front gate when suddenly a Boney appeared. Julie was so surprised that she gasped, blowing her cover. The Boney quickly stood in front of us. I took Julie's hand in mine, and then stepped in front of her protectively.

The Boney stared at us for a moment, looking from one to the other, and then looked at our joined hands. I took her hand more firmly, holding it in both of my hands, but ready to fight to defend her. The Boney reached out one long pointy hand, and started to touch her wrist, but I held up one of my hands to strike it. He hissed, and pointed first at her, and then at his mouth, while tilting his head forward. Though he didn't speak aloud, I could hear the word "Food" reverberating through my head.

I shook it, and said, "No."

The Boney looked surprised, then suddenly pulled up very close to me, so that its nose was almost touching mine, its empty eye sockets inches from my gray eyes. I forced myself to keep my eyes wide open and stared back at it, refusing to back down.

Finally the Boney stepped back, seeming surprised that I hadn't backed down, then turned and flashed through the open glass door onto the runway, quickly disappearing behind one of the luggage bins.

Relieved that it was gone, I felt we needed to act quickly. So I rushed Julie across the tarmac to my plane, not caring who saw the speed we were moving at. Just as we were about to board, I saw M peeking out from behind some covered luggage bins at the end of the runway. So I let Julie onto the plane, and then went back down to the foot of the stairs to wait for him.

He was acting odd, looking one way then the other before shuffling across the terminal to me.

"Boneys…" he started then wheezed. He seemed to be more than usually disheveled. He had what looked like a new bite to one ear, and his head looked a little concave, like he had been punched and then tried to fix his face himself. And there was something else, something I couldn't put my finger on.

But I didn't comment on his appearance, I only nodded. "Saw them," I said.

"They're…not happy. Something…up," he said.

I nodded, and then looked more closely. His color. He looked…less dead.

"You look…different?" was all I could say.

He nodded. "You too…" he reached out to pinch my cheeks. "Some color…here…loverboy," he half chuckled.

I was stunned. We can't laugh, but he almost did.

He caught my look. "I…almost laugh…now."

"It's…her," I said, pointing to the plane.

He nodded. "They know…must go," pointing to the east lot, he added quickly, shuffling off.

I looked in the direction he had pointed, and saw a group of Boneys. They weren't looking at us, fortunately. They seemed to be standing in a semi-circle, waiting for something or someone.

I felt cold inside, worried. This would be bad for Julie, if the Boneys figured out these changes were taking place because of her presence among us. I had to get her out of the airport soon, any way I could.

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