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 14 – The Road Back - Goldman Dome
We spent the night on the plane again, but the atmosphere was different after the encounter with the Boney in the terminal.
"We leave…tomorrow…you go…alone…if…need to…" I told her. It was the longest sentence I could remember speaking.
Julie, who was eating her Pad Thai paused, holding her wooden chop sticks midway to her mouth, then nodded. "Yeah, I need to get back. They're going to be worried about me, assuming that Marlowe got out of that building and reported me missing. They know the Boneys have a hive here at the airport, and my Dad might send a search party this far south eventually, you know. I gotta get back. Do you think Marlowe's group was OK?"
That was a lot to digest, but finally I nodded. "Yes…barricaded…upstairs…"
This seemed to reassure her, so after she finished her food, she reclined in one of the chairs under a blanket, and tried to sleep. She was anxious, fidgeting and tossing in her chair before finally falling asleep.
I went up to the cockpit, and pulled out a bit of Perry's brain. There wasn't a lot left, but I needed to see if there was any more information I could glean from his memories. As I chewed, the nerve endings in my brain began to flash, and I succumbed to the pleasure of the visions that formed in the darkness before my eyes.
Ooooo
I am Perry Kelvin, and I'm sweating awkwardly as I sit in a meeting with the General Grigio and Colonel Rosso. Grigio's at the end of the table, and Rosso is sitting across from me. The General looks stiff and formal, as always, while Rosso smiles, trying to put me at ease.
They're meeting with me to help settle affairs after my father's death.
"What do you plan to do now, son?" asked the General.
"I think, no, I've decided. I want to go into Security, Sir," I reply.
"What about the Agriculture Plan you were working on?" asked Rosso. "We really need to come up with a way to develop crops that can grow inside the limited space of the dome."
"That was then, back before I met him," I turn and point to…
Me, standing in the corner!
"I'm not part of this scene. I wasn't there," I hiss.
"Yes, you were always part of this," Perry states firmly. "What I was defending against, and what I am trying to save the world from. But now, you have to carry on. You'll need to watch the plants, which were part of my human dream, as well as the Living. All living things, and that includes Julie."
oooo
I shook my head, and realized that Julie was standing in front of me, frantically calling my name. I hadn't even heard her entering the cockpit.
"R! Are you back?" she asked breathlessly. "Where did you go?"
"Memories…scraps of... past," I said. "Trying…make sense of it..."
She plopped down in the co-pilot's seat next to me. "Same here. I couldn't sleep, so I came up here, looking for you. You know, I wasn't surprised to learn of Perry's death. That had been coming for a long time. The funny thing was-we both knew it. We could both feel what we had slipping away. He was steadily, I don't know, becoming more like my Dad, you know?"
Now that was a scary thought. I had been terrified when I met General Grigio. He looked well on his way to being a Boney, even while still alive. And it seemed he was already scenting things, just as we did.
"When Perry first came to the Dome…he had these dreams," Julie said. "Dreams of positive things, like working in agriculture. He had a plan to grow or develop some crops, using a tier landscaping method, like they did in ancient times in the Near East. Crops that we could eat, as well as use to feed the livestock. Later, near the end after his father died, he moved into Security. Rosy tried to talk him out of it, but I could see it in his eyes. He was already gone. Just like Dad, all he wanted to do was put up more walls."
She was quiet, and I watched her stare at the little drinking bird toy that I had set on the top of the instrument panels of the cockpit. She seemed distracted, watching it bob its head into and out of a glass for a while. Occasionally she would tap it, and it would make its little dip into the cup, and then finally come to a stop.
Finally, the motion seemed to make her sleepy and she began to nod off. I went and got her blanket and pillow from her seat in the main cabin, and gently put the pillow under her head before covering her with the blanket. She lay that way, curled up in the co-pilot's chair, sleeping for the rest of the night.
The only problem with trying to sleep in a cockpit was the lack of shades for the windows. When the sun came up, the cockpit flooded with light, and she was awake again. She tried hiding her face under the blanket, but that didn't work, and soon she had to sit up, stretching and grumbling at the early hour.
Once she settled down, we sat together quietly for an hour, looking out the window over the nose of the jet and watching the horizon lighting up with the new day. Finally she went into the main cabin to get something to eat. After that, though I tried to interest her in the board games, she only gave them half-hearted attention, as she constantly checked the terminal though the tiny windows in the cabin.
It was soon early afternoon, and she was definitely anxious to leave. "It's been clear for a while out there," she said, gesturing to the runway. "Can we go now?"
I nodded and got up, opened the door to the jet, and looked around the tarmac. It almost looked peaceful outside. The Dead had moved inside to do their days' travels through the airport terminals. More importantly, I didn't see any Boneys.
I reached behind myself to signal her, and felt her hand slip into mine. Startled, I turned around, and found her next to me, clutching my hand. Her hand felt warm and soft in mine. The Dead don't really make contact with one another, and this felt… good.
We went down the stairs and towards the terminal garage where I kept my car. As we got to it, Julie got more excited.
I gestured that she should drive, so she got in on the driver's side.
"This is great!" she exclaimed as she settled into her seat. "I've always wanted to drive a red convertible! And a Z40! This really is a dream come true."
She turned on the motor, giggling as the engine kicked on, as I closed the door on the passenger side. After carefully backing the car away from the Hummer, she headed out of the airport. We started driving north towards the city, and she laughed with delight at the feeling of the wind blowing her hair back. That lasted a while, until the rain started. And that's when she found one thing on the car that didn't work – the motorized roof didn't automatically pull back up.
Soon, she was drenched and cold, so we decided to pull over to spend the rest of the day inside, waiting out the rain. We pulled up to a house in the suburbs, still outside of the city limits. I thought it was far enough out of our standard hunting grounds that we would be safe for the night there.
The front door was locked, but I shoved it open with my shoulder, trying not to damage the frame too much. Though I was sure we were outside of the Dead's usually hunting grounds, there was no reason to make a night-time entry simple for them.
Once inside, Julie looked around the living room and was excited to find a phone on a small end table. She lifted the received and smiled, happy when she heard a dial tone, and told me she was calling home.
I did my best to smile back, though it was tearing my heart out knowing that making that call meant she was one step closer to rejoining her world, a place where I couldn't see her again. Even though I wanted her to be safe, the thought of parting was growing increasingly painful.
However, I was interested to see her expression turn to surprise then puzzlement when someone answered.
"Nora?" she said questioningly. "Why are you at my house? Is my Dad OK?"
Though I could hear only one side of the conversation, I watched as her expression began to turn to worry. She listened for a few minutes, then finally said, "Nora, Perry's dead, but I'm OK."
After a few more minutes, she answered, "OK, I understand. But this has given me a lot to think about."
Another pause, and she giggled. "Well, I'm not too far from the Dome now. We stopped to get out of the rain…actually, it's across from where I used to live. 942 East Downy Street. Can you believe it? I'm with someone, and he's got a convertible. Only problem, the car roof only has one position – down! That's not good in the rain, as you might guess."
She was quiet for another minute, and then said, "We'll drive the rest of the way in tomorrow. Bye, see you then!"
She hung up and turned to me. "Nora was at my house. She said she wanted to be there if I called, and talk to me before I talked to my Dad.
It seems Dad is convinced that Perry died inside the Dome, even though he saw us leave together. She says he's gotten really weird, and it's like he's struggling with himself."
I listened to her with growing horror. This sounds like it might have been what it was like when the plague started. Could the Living be transforming to Boney without even being bitten? Because if the General had been bitten, he would have already changed.
Julie must have read the expression on my face, because she said in a small voice, "R, you know what? You're starting to change a little yourself. Because I can read your facial expressions now. And whatever you're thinking, it's scaring me. What are you thinking?"
I shook my head, trying to clear it. She started to say something about shrugging, but I held out my hand. "Sounds like…Boney…beginning," I stammered out.
She gazed, stricken. "But he wasn't bitten! How is this possible?"
"Don't…know. Not sure…if correct." That was all I could get out.
But I reached out and took her one of her hands, holding it in mine. "It started…somewhere…plague…now changed?" Whoa, that was a long phrase, and a complicated thought! I mean, I can think complex notions, but I hadn't been able to put anything into words in years.
Julie just stared at me. Speechless for once.
"Say…something," I said.
She exhaled, slowly. "I think I follow you, and I'm scared," she replied.
"Me…too." I answered.
We sat in silence for a while, and then she went into the kitchen. She found some canned beans, and opened them. I sat across from her at the vinyl topped table, watching her eat and wondering at my own lack of hunger, when we heard the sound of a car pulling up outside. We both froze, and Julie quickly blew out the kerosene lamp she had lit on entering.
A knock came at the front door. I held out a hand for silence while I listened carefully. I heard the heartbeat of a single person, so I whispered, "Living" to her.
Julie slowly walked to the entrance hall and opened the door, and there on the porch stood Nora, the girl from I remember from Julie's bedroom. Julie screeched with excitement as she saw her friend, and flung herself into her arms.
As the girls greeted one another, I took a long look at Nora. I had only seen her in passing when I was at Julie's house, as I was trying to keep my head down. Nora was tall and thin, with dark skin and wild frizzy hair, barely tamed by a barrette on top of her head. She was dressed in black jeans and a camouflage jacket over a hunter green t-shirt, paired with black lace-up boots. The two girls hugged one another then began crying and rocking each other while still standing up. After a few minutes, they walked into the living and sat down on the sofa next to me.
Julie proceeded to introduce me as her friend R. In the dim light, it took Nora a minute to realize what I was. She sprang back from the sofa, pulling out her gun and training it on me. Julie quickly jumped up, standing in front of me protectively as she grabbed the gun's muzzle, pushing it down with both hands.
They stayed like that for a moment, staring at one another. Not knowing what to do, I sat stiffly in my corner of the sofa, playing nervously with the fringe on a pillow. Finally Nora broke the silence.
"What are you doing?" Nora hissed at Julie, looking at me.
"He's different," Julie said. "It's hard to explain, but the Dead are changing. He talks, and he has friends. Good friends, who came to search for him when he was in the city, and warned him of danger when we were at the airport yesterday. I can't leave him behind now. The Boneys are after him," Julie said.
"After…us," I corrected her.
Nora started and stared at me, then turned back to Julie.
"Did you intend to bring him with you?" she asked incredulously. "How? Where were you going to keep him? And what about food?"
I looked down, thinking that I almost sounded like a troublesome pet. Like a small t-rex someone had found and wanted to bring home.
"Just sit, please? And listen?" Julie begged her friend.
So Nora carefully sat down, perching on the arm of the overstuffed chair next to the sofa. Julie told her the story of how we met and spent the last few days. Or at least, her version of how we had met, I thought grimly. She still didn't know my part in Perry's death.
Finally Nora seemed to relax, and though she kept her gun out, she stopped pointing it at me from her hip. "Well, you and I have to go to the Goldman Dome for sure, now," she finally said. "We can't risk going back to our Dome with him. Your Dad is just getting weirder by the moment. Rosy has noticed it, but doesn't say anything. I think some of the others in command have noticed as well. But everyone is so afraid, that they don't know what to do. So they do nothing."
Julie agreed, and suggested that she and Nora get some sleep. She had brought the suitcase with her from the plane, and she pulled it out now, showing Nora the cosmetics and other treasures. Though Nora kept a close eye on me, she was clearly excited to see the contents of the suitcase.
"Where did you get this again?" Nora asked.
"The airport terminal. R has his own plane! And he's filled it with interesting stuff, from records, to toys, to clothes…"
"Records?" Nora asked.
"Yes, he likes music. Don't you R?" Julie said, turning to me.
I nodded, and then remembered. I needed to speak. "Yes…music. Records…have better sound," I stated, twisting my finger in a circle, to imitate the motion of a spinning record.
"Wow," Nora said. "He's not only a music lover, he's a music snob!" She sounded quite impressed, I noticed. "Well, we'll take him with us in the car. But first, let's get some sleep."
As they walked up the stairs together, I saw Nora nudging Julie. "Did you two…" she started.
Julie whispered back, "No. And don't talk as if he can't hear us, because he can."
Then they reached the landing and turned a corner. I lay back on the sofa staring at the ceiling for a while. I heard the sounds of water running upstairs, and of doors being opened and closed. They must be looking for blankets, I thought. Eventually, the house fell silent except for the sound of their quiet breathing in the room above me.
And to my amazement, I felt my body relaxing, and I realized that I was falling asleep as well. Which didn't make sense, as the Dead don't sleep. And as soon as I closed my eyes, the nightmare that began made me long for the minor terrors of my zombie life as a Dead.
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