What if R and Julie hadn't met outside the city? What if R had been captured and taken inside the city? 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 17 – Social Life – Night Out

Even through the closed door I could pick up General Grigio's scent. Nora looked over at me, and whispered quietly, "Is it him?"

I nodded, just as a heavy knock came at the door.

Julie rolled over in bed, looking around sleepily as she rubbed her eyes. Nora got up and went to the door, opening it just a crack.

"Hello, Nora," I heard General Grigio say. "Is my daughter here?"

"Yes, but she's sleeping. She's had a tough few days, as you can imagine," Nora whispered.

Julie had frozen hearing her father's voice. I caught her eye and closed my own in a theatrical way, hoping she would get the hint. She did, and closed her eyes, feigning sleep.

"I wish you would have called me when you heard from her," the General said. Apparently he was pushing on the door, but Nora leaned against it from the inside, keeping it closed with her body.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "but I just got so excited when I heard her voice. I jotted that note for you and took off. But right now, she's asleep. Where will you be, so we can find you once she's showered and dressed?"

The General murmured something in a low voice, and Nora whispered, "OK. Until then," and firmly shut the door.

Once she heard his footsteps leave, she went over to Julie's bed.

Julie sat up, staring at Nora. "Is he…?"

"Yeah, I think it's worse," Nora said. "We've got to get Rosy over here, and alert General Steiger. He's known your father for years. He'll notice- I'm sure of it."

Julie threw off the covers and got out of bed. "Sorry, R. Nora and I talked before we went to sleep at the house outside the city. She's noticed that my Dad's getting strange, too. Actually, she thinks a lot of people are beginning to notice."

I just stared at her, and she bit her lip.

"I think what you said may be right," she told me in a small voice. "I haven't told Nora yet, though. I keep hoping it's impossible."

"Tell me what?" demanded Nora.

"Let me take a shower and get dressed," Julie replied. "Do they allow daily showers here?"

Nora nodded, and Julie grabbed the green knapsack Nora had brought from her house and headed down the hall.

"Tell me what?" repeated Nora.

"Is he…going…Boney?" I asked.

"No, he wasn't bitten. We would know," Nora said firmly.

"Not…what…I asked," I replied.

Nora stared at me for a minute, her eyes widening. "Is that possible?"

I shrugged. "Seems to…be…with him…"

She put her head in her hands. "How can we tell, now? It used to be so clear cut. But now…first you, and you're not quite either one. And now he's becoming one of them without being bit? Where does it all end?"

I didn't have an answer for her, as I had no idea myself.

A few minutes later, Julie returned and told us she wanted to see her father alone, and wanted Nora to stay with me. That suited me fine, so I lay back on the bed. But I didn't sleep. I just stared at the ceiling. Nora sat close by, at the small desk, trying to study, but finally gave up. She stood up, pulled on a jacket, and motioned to me to follow her. "Come on," she said. "We're going to find a phone."

When we looked outside, and saw that it was raining, Nora didn't bother trying to put any make-up on me. Walking down the street towards the center of the city, she soon found an office with a phone, and asked permission to call the other dome. The soldier nodded, and left the room to give us some privacy.

After Nora seated herself at the desk, she picked up the phone and made her phone call. "Rosy? It's Nora. Julie and I are fine, we're at Steiger's place…Yeah, we ran into a problem on the way over, and frankly…I feel better over here. Can you come?...Thanks. See you later today."

She hung up the phone and looked at me. "Rosy's coming. If anybody can sort this out, it will be him and Steiger, you'll see."

Eventually Julie rejoined us. Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had been crying, but she just told us she didn't want to talk about it. She and Nora stuck close to me for the rest of the day, and tried to keep anyone else from getting too close to me.

Nora was beginning started to relax around me, but she still kept an eye on Julie and I when we were together, watching us carefully.

In the middle of the afternoon, a woman in a gray uniform came by our room, and asked to talk to Nora. Nora went out with her. When she came back a little later, she was excited, her cheeks flushed.

"It's great news!" she exclaimed. "That was the nurse practitioner. Steiger told her about my request to shadow someone, and she's offered going to let me work with her in the medical tent! I'll have some experience, in addition to my book reading!

Also, she told that they have a kind of night club, just like the Orchard Bar at home!" she said excitedly. "It's supposed to be really nice, too. It's called 'Noir'."

After dinner, we made our way over to it. My pace was getting better, maybe it was being around humans, but I was able to keep up with the two excited girls.

We had passed Noir several times on trips through the city. It was in a building that was painted bright red on the outside, like much of the rest of the block. They had divided the city like a clock, and this was in the 10:00 block, whereas our guest quarters were in the 2:00 block. As we made our way over, we passed some soldiers on patrol. One had a dog, and the dog instantly went on guard as I passed. It growled, pulling at its chain, trying to move closer to me for a sniff.

The guard yanked him back. "Thor, no!" he said. "Sorry. He's trained to do that with the Dead, but every once in a while, he seems to take a dislike to one of us." He pulled Thor with him as walked away, but the dog looked back at me, hackles raised.

Thor had my number, no doubt about it.

The atmosphere was a bit more subdued after running into the soldier with the guard dog, but the girls' spirits lifted as we got closer to Noir. We could hear the sound of voices and laughter from over our heads as we approached. Like the club in Julie's dome, Noir was perched on top of tall thin building. The only way to access it was to climb a narrow stairway that wound around the outside of the building. I still had challenges with stairs, and the fact that this set was a repurposed fire escape, consisting stairs made of steel bars linking platforms made with open gratings, made the climb a bit unnerving for me, so it took us a while to get to the top.

Once we arrived, we found the door was open, and the interior was packed with the Living. I was worried about someone touching me, but Nora reassured me, saying, "It's dark in here. No one's going to notice you, believe me. They'll all be looking at Julie."

I hoped she was right.

Two guys did look a bit closely as soon as we entered. Almost as soon as we found a table, a brown haired waitress quickly appeared, setting down three cups of hot coffee. Julie looked at her surprised. "From the guys at table four, with their regards." She pointed to a table behind her, and two guys raised their hands.

After she was gone, one sauntered over and handed Julie a dramatically folded cloth napkin. "With our regards, and welcome to the Goldman Dome," he said, with a bow.

Julie giggled and handed Nora napkin. "Thank you," she replied.

"With our regards," he said, giving a dramatic, low bow. "My name is Tom, and that..." he waved to the other guy still sitting at the table "…is Dick."

When Nora unfolded it, she discovered a bottle inside.

"Irish whiskey," she murmured admiringly as she turned the bottle in her hands, all the while holding it under the table.

"It's for an Irish coffee," Tom told us, then returned to his table.

Nora surreptitiously poured the whiskey, dividing it equally into each of the three coffees, and we all had a sip.

"Mmmm…" said Julie and Nora at the same time, then they looked at one another and giggled.

I tried a mouthful. It was hot – and something else. It packed a punch. I felt light-headed, and suddenly had a memory flash of other drinks, at other tables. Only these memories were definitely mine. People weren't dressed like they had been at either dome. In my memory, I felt the sensation of loud music around me, and saw the flash of red velvet and gold sequined dresses from a nearby dance floor. There were smiles across a table, and the sound of laughter. Someone was starting to speak…

Then just like that, the memory evaporated, out of my reach. I was frustrated, as this was now the second of the flashes from my own past life I had experienced. I tried to tell myself that if I had experienced these two, surely there would be more. But I wondered if they would only happen as long as I was around Julie.

I noticed that I was starting to get really light-headed. I could have sworn I heard a dog barking somewhere, and the noise and crush of people in this small dark room was becoming overwhelming. I needed to get some air.

Tom came back to our table, with Dick in tow, and they asked Julie and Nora to dance. The girls got up to join them, Julie's eyes were flashing with excitement, and she gestured to me, indicating I should try to dance too.

I shook my head. Dancing, that was something that was way beyond my developing abilities. Climbing those stairs had almost winded me. After all, I was barely able to walk like the Living. This blending process was taking a toll on me. It occurred to me that I couldn't remember the last time I ate.

But apparently, getting sick was something I could do, I suddenly realized. I shouldn't have finished the coffee.

I stumbled out onto the roof, looking for a bathroom, hoping I wouldn't have to toss my cookies off of the roof.

But what I saw below sobered me up quickly: General Grigio, standing with the dog handler. The barking had not been my imagination-it was the German shepherd from earlier. Even from this vantage point, I could tell there had been a change in General Grigio's scent. It was murkier, not as fresh an intoxicating as a normal Living's scent would be. I couldn't see his face clearly in the darkness, but it appeared the bones on his face were more prominent.

"You're saying the dog had a strong reaction to Archie, Julie's friend?" the General was asking the soldier.

"Yeah, Thor ran back here, slipping his leash when I put it down to brush him," reported the soldier. "He got this far, but he was having trouble with these fire-escape steps, so I was able to grab him."

The General looked up, and I flattened myself against the wall, pressing my head and back onto the wood in an effort to hide. He was suspicious. I had to leave.

Just as General Grigio was starting up the stairs, General Steiger appeared out of the shadows and approached him. "General, I heard you had arrived. I have something I need to show you, as soon as possible. There has been a development…"

"Of course," John Grigio said, starting to leave with him. As he turned to walk away, he gave a frustrated look over his shoulders at the side of the building, seeming to see me in the shadows at the top of the stairs. From my vantage point in the shadows, I could see that his already beady eyes were becoming more like dark slits in his face, as if they were starting to disappear into the bony cup surrounding the eye. All of the bones in his face appeared much more pronounced than the last time I had seen him. And since I was accurately aware of a Living's gait, I noticed that his was becoming different. Jerkier and faster.

After watching him follow General Steiger back towards the city center, I began to work out my escape route from the city. However painful, it was time for me to go, and leave Julie with her own kind, the Living.

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