What if R and Julie hadn't met outside the city? What if R had been captured, taken by soldiers into 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 27 – The Battle

Everything was silent and still around us.

Then the Boney wearing a general's uniform shirt's mouth opened. "Julie," he rasped out.

From behind me, a sweet voice replied, "Daddy, I'm here."

Julie had followed us. And with my decreased sense of smell, I never realized it.

The Boney that had been John G stepped forward and leapt up onto a Jeep, his black eye holes fixed on Julie. I realized that he was their leader, as the other Boneys watched him, their heads fixed in his direction as one.

It was now full dark, and I could barely see Julie. She was just a pale glint, a bit of ghostly yellow hair and white face behind me, standing by the tunnel entrance. One of the soldiers turned on the headlights of a Jeep, which almost magically lit up the space between Julie and the Boney, creating a path of blazing light in the darkness, like a carpet between them.

I couldn't let Julie go to him. I started towards her, but Lieutenant Holton grabbed my arm.

"I have orders to get you back," he said simply when I turned to him, startled he touched me.

"What about… her?" I demanded, tugging at my arm, trying to break his grip.

"She had orders as well," the Lieutenant said abruptly. "Whether she follows them is up to her."

"You mean… the General knew… she was coming?" I asked, shocked.

"I didn't say that. This isn't easy for me either," he muttered in a frustrated tone.

Meanwhile, Julie had started walking towards John G. The silence was broken by what seemed to be a low hissing coming from all around us. The assembled Boneys were making their trademark noise, as they appeared to be watching this Living – Boney transaction with a great deal of interest.

As Julie got closer to her father, there was a commotion behind me. M had climbed out of the hole in the construction site, and moved into the light from the Jeep. He was pushing himself as hard as he could, trying to get to Julie. Julie seemed to hesitate slightly at the sight of her father, now only recognizable by the uniform shirt he was wearing, which gave M the time he needed to get to her.

Finally reaching her, M grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off of her feet and carrying her back towards the tunnel. I heard him hiss to the other Dead as he passed, "Save her. At all costs."

The eerie sound of the Boney's hissing was broken as John Grigio opened his mouth and let out a terrifying roar.

The Dead lurched towards the Boneys as one. Though they formed a disorganized line, their courage was impressive. Their faces looked determined as the moved toward what would most likely be their final deaths.

John G clearly became furious as he watched his daughter being carried off by M, and he nimbly leapt off of the Jeep he was standing on, going after Julie and ignoring the Dead headed towards him.

From behind us, I heard a shotgun blast, and watched John G's head exploded, pieces flying outwards in every direction. Julie screamed, and I turned to see Nora behind me, reloading her shotgun.

"Not going to happen, not now, not ever," she was muttering.

Nora backed towards M, who was still holding a now struggling Julie, reloading the gun as she moved. As she caught up to him, I heard him say, "We're quite…the team."

The Dead had now reached the Boneys, who seemed to be wavering as they saw their new leader lying on the ground headless, still wearing his General uniform. The Dead lunged forward again, and the Boneys began to defend themselves, yanking off the advancing Dead's arms, heads, and other limbs. They seemed strangely hesitant in their movements though, barely seeming to know how to act.

Seeing their allies being attacked, the soldiers started firing on the Boneys. They moved forward carefully, keeping the cars between themselves and their enemies, shooting for Boney heads, trying to avoid hitting their new allies, the Dead.

As I stumbled towards Julie and M, I held out my arms for her. M released her, and she ran to me, letting me embrace her as she clung to me.

I closed my eyes as I enfolded her in my embrace, tipping my head down to smell her hair. Though the time between seeing her and Nora's shot could only have been a few minutes at most, they had felt like hours.

"Don't do that to me…again," I said softly, inhaling her scent.

Suddenly I felt something hit me in the back. I staggered forward from the impact and was struck by a wall of pain.

Pain!? This was something I hadn't experienced in years.

Julie looked up, obviously having felt the impact as well, and put her arm around my back. When she pulled her hand back, it was covered with red. I looked around and saw the soldier who had shot me, still pointing his gun in my direction.

Things seemed to begin to happen in slow motion, but I saw Lieutenant Holton gesturing at him, yelling "Why?"

And the man saying, "It looked like he was biting her…"

I turned back and looked at M and Nora, who were staring at me in horror, while M was saying, "Red?" referring to my blood on Julie's hands.

I dropped to my knees, unable to stand with this feeling of pain overwhelming me. I started choking, and feeling I needed air, but couldn't get it. Julie knelt in front of me, holding me up, screaming for help as she tore off her jacket and put it against my back in an effort to stop the bleeding.

I felt myself being lifted and carried, while the sounds of gunfire were everywhere around me. Julie was crying, and I could hear Nora saying, "No, no, no! He can't come back to life just to die!" and then everything started to fade.

I woke up to find myself nearly blinded by intensely bright lights above me. As I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the lights, I began to make out faces above me, partially covered with blue masks. I could feel terrible pain and pressure, all around me. I also felt unfamiliar sensations inside of me, throbbing and pulsing, from different parts of my body. The few places that didn't hurt felt very cold. Was this really what it felt like to be Living?

I vaguely heard Nora saying, "R? They're operating on you, trying to repair the damage done by the bullet. Can you hear me? You need to let them know you can understand."

I tried to nod, and then realized my head movement was restricted, and I had a tube in my throat. I felt a horrific pain in my abdomen, and when I looked down at my chest, I watched in horror as I saw a hand using a knife to slice into my chest.

I was living my nightmare, the one I had been having since meeting Julie. Was this a dream or was it real?

With a shock I realized it was real. Though I struggled, I felt the knife continue to cut open my chest. I saw more rather heard Nora trying to stop the surgeon, and being pulled back. Her eyes met mine, and I saw that they were full of tears, and then she was gone.

I began to wonder if I was being vivisected like that other Dead I had seen on my first day in the Grigio dome.

Finally, mercifully, things began to go dark, as the pain once again overwhelmed everything else. All I could hear was my own breathing. Then I heard nothing.

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This was a tough one to write. R's nightmares of vivisection have come true.

Only a few chapters left. You do want the next one, right?