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 15 – the Gold man Dome
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.
And to my amazement, I felt my body relaxing, and I realized that I was falling asleep.
I wish I could say the sleep was refreshing and peaceful, but it wasn't. In my dreams, I was taking the place of the Dead I saw in the classroom, being cut open with a knife while still conscious. I was the one lying on the table, strapped down, watching the knife descend. As it cut into me, I was shocked to feel pain.
The terror woke me up, and I jerked upright, gasping for unneeded breath, panicking. It was only a dream, I told myself. I knew, however, it had probably been the reality for the Dead I had left behind in the enclosure I had escaped after killing Perry.
I fought sleep, but felt my limbs growing heavy. I tried sitting up, but somehow the sound of Julie's even breathing above was lulling me to sleep, however unwillingly. Soon I found myself back in my dreams, or rather my nightmares. Back on that table, strapped down, watching the knife descend.
The next morning, when I woke up for the final time, I was startled to find myself blinking in the morning light. The light coming through the window was hurting my eyes a little. What was happening to me?
Julie and Nora came downstairs shortly after I woke up. I didn't tell them of my nightmare, and after they rummaged around in the kitchen, finally finding something to eat, we left the house.
we all climbed into Nora's Hummer, deciding to leave my convertible behind since the top didn't go back up. No need spewing Living scent along the route we were about to travel. I was placed in the middle so that Julie could have the passenger's side seat belt, and then we headed to the Goldman Dome. That was the other dome nearby; the one General Grigio was supposed to be working on a merger with. Perry Kelvin's father had died while working on a tunnel that was to connect the two domes.
Apparently, as Julie and Nora were going to bed, they had come up with a plan to take me with them into the Dome. This plan involved using the makeup that Julie had brought from my 747 to try to disguise me as a human. I guess they realized I wouldn't be able to wear Perry's helmet all the time.
As Nora drove, Julie put the base layer of make-up my face. After dabbing on the foundation with a sponge, she started to comb my hair.
"Will be…wearing helmet," I said, as she tugged at my hair with the small plastic comb.
"I know, but you're going to look good before that helmet goes on," replied Julie. Finally she set the comb down and began rubbing a little makeup on my cheek with her fingertip.
"Actually, R, you are looking pretty good as it is," Nora commented. "Your eyes…they're gray, but they have more life than I'm used to seeing in you corpses," she said.
Julie hissed, and Nora started to apologize.
I raised my hand. "OK…she complimented…" I told Julie.
"Yeah, we're just not used to talking about you in friendly terms," Julie said. "I mean, really, what do we humans know about the state of being of a corpse? We've been taught to fear it, I mean you…"
"You should…fear," I replied. "But…we say 'Dead'…not corpse."
"Wow! That's getting a lot closer to a sentence. And the General claims you guys can't talk," said Nora.
"Most…can't…just groan," I replied.
"That's what I've been telling you, Nora," hissed Julie. "They're changing!"
"Not…Boneys," I said firmly. Julie paused in her application of the make-up at this statement. I looked at her, longing to say more, but it just wouldn't come. The Boneys were terrifying, but they were different from us. They were faster, and seemed to move together, in synchronized motions, as if in response to internal commands the rest of us could not perceive.
"Yeah, we noticed," Nora observed. "And they've always been worse than you guys. Or seemed worse, anyway."
"We Dead…are in-between…Living…and Boney," I said.
"That's kind of what I thought," she said, smiling. "Hey, is it true that if you eat the brain of a human, you get their memories?" Though her tone was light as she asked this question, it hit too close to the truth about Perry for comfort.
Stunned, I said nothing.
Julie said, "Nora," in a low voice.
We drove in silence for another few minutes, when suddenly the there was a loud thump on the roof of the Jeep. This was quickly followed by the appearance of skeletal hands on the passenger side window. Julie screamed, startling Nora, who slammed on the brakes. As the Jeep skidded to a stop, a Boney that had been on the roof slid off the roof, crashing into the road ahead of us. It quickly got up and turned back around to face us, but it wasn't alone.
We were almost instantly surrounded by the monsters, who must have been waiting for us. Surprisingly, they didn't immediately attack the Jeep. Instead, they formed a circle around the Jeep, as if waiting for someone. The two girls pulled shotguns from the floor, and Nora set hers across her lap while she tried to restart the Jeep, which had stalled out when she hit the brakes so hard.
In an eerie, synchronized gesture, the Boneys open up their circle on the left side of the Jeep, and a slightly taller Boney stepped through the break, and approached the driver's side door. The sun glinted off of one of his gold teeth, and I knew immediately who it was. This was the leader of the Boneys, the one I had seen a few times at the airport. The other Boneys seemed to follow him like bees following a queen bee. No questions, just drones after their leader.
As he approached the Jeep's open window, a low humming began from the circle, and he as he got closer, he opened his mouth and began to utter a low roar. I was terrified, for myself as well as the girls, and leaned over Julie, frantically trying to push open the passenger side door so I could get her out and try to escape.
But any action on my part was proven unnecessary as Nora took her hands off the steering wheel, picked up her gun, and blew the Boney leader's head off. Bits of his skull exploded out in all directions at the impact, and the rest of the Boneys froze.
Nora then restarted the Jeep and smashed through the line of Boneys ahead of us, scattering them as she powered ahead.
Once we were clear, Julie looked out the window behind us.
"Wow, Nora! That was…awesome," she said. "And they're not following us. It's like…well, they're closing in around that guy you smashed or something."
"That was…their…leader" I said, struggling with my fear. What would they do to us for having killed him? I thought.
Nora's head jerked towards me when I said that. "Watch…road," I muttered.
"Right," she said. "Their leader? What does that mean?"
"Don't…know. Go…get safe…fast" I stammered out, looking over at Julie.
Nora turned her eyes back on the road, narrowly avoiding a pot hole. "So you guys have leaders?"
I shook my head. "Not…us. Them," I said, becoming increasingly frustrated at my inability to vocalize complete thoughts.
While Nora and I were talking, Julie had put her gun back on the floor, and retrieved the make-up, which had fallen down when Nora slammed on the brakes. She turned my head back towards her, and began touching my face with her make-up sponge again.
I closed my eyes, relishing her light touches on my face.
"How's the make-up coming?" Nora asked. "Because we're almost there. I can see the gate ahead, and they're watching us approach. This is an unauthorized visit, you know. And these days, nobody likes anything out of the ordinary."
Julie patted a last bit of powder on, put the compact away and handed me my helmet. I put it on carefully, trying not to smudge the layers of make-up. She looked at me, turning my face back and forth, and then nodded to Nora.
"I think we're good. I don't see any gray, just beige flesh tones," she told her.
Nora slowed down the Hummer as we approached, and finally stopped once we got to the no-man's land of obstacles made of wood and barbed wire designed to thwart an all-out, massive attack. We got out, closing the doors behind us, and walked slowly up to the gate. Though the guard at the door clearly recognized Julie, he still made us wait while he called inside on his walkie-talkie.
After a few minutes, the massive gate opened, and a man in a uniform similar to Julie's Dad walked through. But the uniform was the only similarity between the two generals. This man, tall and white haired, carried himself with dignity, if a great deal of caution. His gaze was piercing, but his eyes were intelligent, not flat and dangerous like General Grigio's.
As he walked out, he stopped in front of the three of us. "Julie?" he said. "We heard reports that you and Perry Kelvin were lost on a salvage. And yet you stand here in front of me."
Instead of answering, Julie started sobbing. I realized that she had been holding back around me, but hearing Perry's name from someone else seemed to break down her façade. Nora put her arms around Julie.
The new man waited, patiently, head bowed, until Julie recovered herself.
"I'm sorry, General Steiger," Julie finally gasped out. "I just saw Perry die in front of me, two days ago. Archie here…" she gestured towards me "…he had been hiding in the building's upper floors. When Perry and I split off from the others, Archie came up the stairwell because he heard us. He said his brother was downstairs, and we went down to see him. You know Perry, he should have called Marlowe before heading down, but he was determined to handle this himself.
We were surprised by some Boneys who had managed to get the stairwell door open and enter the stairwell. Archie managed to kill several of them and get the door closed, but one got behind us and bit Perry before we killed it. We ended up losing both Perry and Archie's brother."
She started crying again.
Nora kept her arm around Julie and told the General, "Julie and Archie took shelter in an abandoned house, and she called home as soon as she found a working phone. I was there, waiting, and was so glad to hear from her, as well as so upset about Perry, that I acted like a fool and raced out to get her. We got cut off by some Boneys, so we came over to your dome. "
The man, General Steiger, looked over at me. I had put Perry's flak jacket on before leaving the 747, and had his helmet on, but this time the visor was up.
"I'm pleased to meet you, son," General Steiger said, extending his hand to me. "You saved the daughter of an old friend."
As I was wearing gloves, I took his hand, but tried to return his firm grip with one of my own in a handshake. Something I hadn't done since…well, I didn't know how long I had been Dead.
"You are welcome here," the General continued, gesturing to the city behind him. "Nora, Julie, I will call General Grigio and let him know you arrived here safely. I'm sure he'll be sending someone immediately to pick you up."
Julie stopped crying. "No, wait. Can I stay here for a few days, maybe a week? I just feel as if…well, everything back home is going to remind me of Perry. I'd like to be able to clear my head."
"The normal pass is three days, as you know," the General said sternly. Then his eyes softened, looking at her tear-stained face. "But of course, in the case of such grief…I'm sure we can work something out. You can stay at one of the guest workers' houses until we get the details arranged."
With that he turned and led us in through the front gate.
The difference between the two domes was striking. While the other dome had houses thrown up at weird angles, looking unsteady, the buildings inside this dome appeared to have been built according to a master plan. The houses, though tall and narrow, appeared stable, and were painted bright colors. It looked like the blocks were color coordinated.
The General watched my stare with an amused smile. "Yes, we had time to do some planning," he commented, seeming to be answering my unspoken thoughts. "Grigio took in everybody until his space was full, and people put up what they could, where they could in that dome.
We did that initially, but we quickly managed to get some planning underway. The blocks of buildings in this dome are out on a large circular grid, like a large clock. The different sectors are color-coded with paint, to aid navigation among the houses."
He paused as I looked around. I could now see that the rows of houses, with tidy paved streets dividing the blocks, were painted a variety of colors, from blue to yellow to green. But each house was of a slightly different hue, and a variety in trim colors succeeded in breaking up what would have been single blocks of color. The impression was startling, but also one of life and vitality.
"It does give a certain, Dr. Suessian look to the city, I will admit," the General continued. "But I think it keeps it cheerful. Whether cheerful or absurd, depends on your point of view, I suppose. I prefer cheerful."
He started down one of the streets, where the houses on one side were green, and on the other side yellow. As he escorted the three of us to our quarters, I marveled at the ingenuity of the city's layout. The circular grid meant that they had managed to pack a lot of buildings into this small space. And perhaps most amazing of all, there were tiny parks scattered throughout the area. Little patches of green, with playground equipment on them. It all lead to a cheerful yet organized look. So different from the depressing, desperate appearance of Julie's dome.
"I'm a firm believer in green spaces," said the General as we passed one of the tiny parks. Looking more closely, I saw there were small flower beds within each park. Some had flowers in bloom, others just had greenery that appeared to be between season. "I think people need to feel connected to the earth and other living things. Helps keep them sane."
Nora smiled, listening to him. "I think people are healthier here, General," she said. "We all have about the same diet, but I looking around me, I see more smiles. I think where there is beauty, people do better."
"Nicely observed," said the General.
"Thank you, sir," Nora replied. "I've always wanted to be a nurse, and I've been studying the people around me. I read Gray's Anatomy, but I really need to find a clinic so I can do a real internship. Just knowing the body parts, and some basic First-Aid, doesn't feel like enough to me."
The General nodded thoughtfully at her remark. "I've been hoping to get enough doctors that we can have some trainees follow them through their day," her replied. "But we've so few skilled medical personnel, that we haven't been able to spare them to do a teaching program. Which, of course, is short-sighted. Maybe I can introduce you to one of our nurse-practitioners while you're here, and you can talk to her about some training?"
Nora's eyes lit up at this suggestion. I thought she was going to clap her hands with excitement, but instead she just clasped them together, biting her lip with excitement.
Just then we rounded a corner and arrived at a two-story building with a small, hand-painted sign over the entrance. "Here are your quarters," the General said. "You'll have the two rooms on the second floor. Gentleman on one side of the hall, ladies on the other, please."
He saw us inside of the door, and then bowed, turned crisply on his heel, and left. As I watched his retreating figure, I felt a great deal more confident than I had after meeting General Grigio. Confident that Julie would be OK here, under his protection. As for myself, I needed to get out of here quickly, though I didn't know where I could go. At this point, I was neither Living nor Dead. I seemed stranded somewhere in between. But I couldn't risk endangering Julie by staying with her.
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