Julie is too close. Her arms wrap around me. Her fingers slip through my hair. Her breath is on my cheek. And I feel it. I feel the desire to crack her skull, bite through her arm. See her memories clear in my own eyes. I feel the desire to kill.
Though breathing is optional, I suck in a sharp breath anyway. I need air. I need to be away from this girl.
"R?" Julie says softly into my ear. I cringe at her voice, unwilling to fulfill my needs. "R, don't let it take you. Don't let it take you from me." As she speaks, I'm finding myself more and more confused. I don't understand what she means about taking me away from her.
I stiffly pull away from Julie, wondering if she could hear the creaks of my bones. My skin seems to have thinned; I can see the veins in my arms quite clearly. My skin is so pale. Have I been locked in a dark room for a really long time? Or does death just make us all look like freaks?
Her fingers leave my hair, her arms dropping from my shoulders. "R… You have to stay here." Julie insists, stumbling to her feet as I get to mine.
I hobble towards the door and pause before reaching it. My eyes trail over a certain table to my right, piled high with dead electronics needing a charge. Julie walks to my side, her finger tracing through dust besides an old iPod. "Nora found them all in an old Apple store. She thinks they'll be a cool thing to hand out to the kids. Something to show them we're improving."
I frown, staring hard at all the pointless technology. I don't truly remember life before my death, but technology seemed to be a huge factor in humanity's downfall. All of us, watching the world and everything else change around us through a touch screen.
"Here," Julie whispers, lifting an iPod off the table slowly. She grabs my hand, setting the electronic device into my palm. I let it sit for a moment, the coldness of its metal back matching my own frozen skin. I wonder how my body grew this cold, only to remember my blood stream has probably long since stopped.
In a matter of seconds, the music player is on the floor. The screen is cracked, fragments of glass lining my shoes. "Damn it, R." Julie mutters, bending down to pick it up. I feel her hand graze my shoe and I jump backwards drunkenly.
I can't bear to be near her anymore. I continue absorbing her scent, her life. She slowly stands back to her full height. "R…" I ignore her, my hand extending to slam down on her shoulder. She winces at my effort and tries to move backwards. I tighten my hold. "R, stop." She pleads, but I can't focus on her voice. She's in pain. I'm hurting her. "R!" She's yelling now. I continue to squeeze until I sense the blood under my hand. Her skin turns hot.
My eyes train on hers, everything else blurs. I can hear her whimpers, but my hunger has taken over. Slowly, words escape her in dramatic gasps. "I'm… Sorry." She mumbles helplessly and I cock my head in confusion.
Directly after the words slip through her lips, a gun is pressed against my chest. She decides to go after my heart, not my brain. She doesn't want me dead.
As the bullet penetrates the cells and tissues wrapping around my blackened heart, I shut my eyes. My stomach knots. I find myself wishing for an absolute darkness.
And something shifts, my very core readjusting to my new cravings. I gasp, my dry throat forcing it out in a hoarse cry. My hand falls from Julie and I propel backwards.
"R?" Julie yells, her voice sounding distant in my ears. The bullet buries deeper into me, lashing out with vigorous pain I didn't think I could feel.
Was I ever fully done with my transition? Was I ever a truly reanimated corpse this time around? Did Julie, this all too trusting girl, just kill me?
Once again, a shorter chapter, but I'm getting over the flu... Still, hope you enjoyed :)