Hey! Thank you to the ones who supported the story even when I wasn't posting new chapters :) I kind of had issues with getting ideas going. I still do. But I hope you all like this chapter! I'll post the next one hopefully sooner than I posted this one! Thank you and keep reviewing please :D

I am in existence for nothing but four reasons. Julie Grigio, the girl who will not let me live a dead man. Perry Kelvin, the dead boy I devoured and who now resigns in the back of my broken head. And M, who stares at me with such pity I feel like dying all over again.

Then there's me and the fact I don't want to go on like this. A real death would be less painful than being dead with a consciousness.

This room is dark. I am surrounded by blood stained walls, liquids dripping off onto the lifeless bodies tossed upon each other on the hard floor. They are not dead, nor are they alive. But they don't even try. I don't know why I still try. Maybe for the same reasons as always, but they fell into a forgotten category right after dumping me here.

Julie is changing me. I give in, I don't give up. I don't give in, and in some way or the other, I give up. I die and I rot away. Or I become a Boney and live for the next century while Julie rots in a grave.

I shake my head to push the thoughts away. Julie in a grave is not where I want my mind to take me. I want to breathe in fresh air, allow my slow functioning lungs to inhale and-

Corpse.

"…Perry?" I ask softly. I'm surprised to find he has not left me as well.

You're breathing. That's one step back to the real world.

I blink. Then blink again. My mind slowly turns on the information, welcoming it like an old friend. Breathing. I'm breathing. No more wheezing or unintentional groaning. I don't know why we groan. I guess it just happens from what our lungs want to do, but can't. And now mine can.

I drag myself up from the ground, surveying the new home I had been tossed away into like trash. Though this wasn't Julie or Nora or even M's idea, I am still hidden away with the remaining zombies they had rounded up and somehow couldn't convert.

I begin to sway, rocking back and forth with lost hope. General Grigio's direct order to send me here was to be taken seriously, the fear for Julie's well-being clear.

You won't hurt her.

"Are… You sure?" I whisper, questioning Perry with every turn. I have every reason to trust him, but every reason to not.

She's Jules. Julie. The blonde girl you can't get out of your head. It sounds weird, doesn't it? I mean, you are dead.

I frown, grinding my teeth together as I glance down at the bodies of my fellow members of the Dead. "Don't… Trust." I mumble, shuffling back to my cleaner corner. I collapse against the wall, sliding down until I feel the ground beneath me. "Need… To explain. To… Tell her."

Tell her what? That you didn't want to run away? Sure. Just like you didn't mean to eat her ex.

"I'm… Sorry." It feels refreshing to be able to say things like that. To be able to portray emotions I didn't think I had.

Something pokes at my thigh and I become distracted. Locking myself into a very awkward position, I dig a hand into the pocket of my jeans. My fingers slip around the creases of fabric standing up in small hills, forcing my search to run longer than anticipated. In a matter of minutes, I pull out a worn photo. Blinking a few times, I focus my vision. The picture soon becomes see-able.

"Julie." I say, waving it in the air as if I had just won an award. But it is better than any award I can possibly imagine. This is my key to something more. In my paled, scarred hands lay a picture of the girl I continue to be amazed by. Julie Grigio, though she looks more surprised than ever. I force it back into my pocket, knocking my head back against the concrete wall.

"Julie," I repeat, louder than before. "Julie. Julie." My voice rises, my syllables sharper and more fluent. "Julie." I say one last time and I hear a chuckle. A nice, warm laugh.

Julie moves into my line of sight. She is standing behind the bars to my prison, bars I hadn't noticed before due to the darkness outside matching my jail walls. "I was wondering when you'd call." She joked, resting a shoulder against a bar as she smirks.

I stumble back to my feet, delicately stepping around bodies as they groan in response. I step on a few shoulders, knees and fingers, but they don't seem to mind. I'm not sure I would either. "Julie," I say again, the sheer pleasure of her name bringing hope to me. She has a nice name. A nice name, a nice laugh. I realize I'm staring and I force my eyes down as I approach.

She laughs again, reaching a hand through the bars to drag my head up by the chin. "You know, the staring was creeping when I hardly knew you. But I've admitted a few things now and whether you remember or not…" She trails off, biting her lip as she smiles weakly. "Look, my dad's got some mission thing in one of the suburbs a few miles away. He left twenty minutes ago. I've been standing here for about four hours. I'm tired and you're obviously not going anywhere… Unless you agree to a few things." Another smirk in my direction and she gains my full attention.

"What?" I ask, raising my eyebrows as I rest my forehead on a bar. It is cold, colder than the floor. Though I don't find myself questioning the temperatures anymore. I've gotten cold enough times after meeting Julie that I have come to terms with the human aspects coming out in me.

"No eating the host." She whispers, and I feel her breath on my cheek. I hear a click and the bar moves away from my face. I drop backwards, cocking my head in mild surprise. What she is doing is risky, daring. But for me. She opens it a crack, nodding as she licks her top teeth with a smile. "Come on."

I stay where I am. I don't move. Most would call me scared, afraid of what would happen if I let Julie guide me away. But I now know I can trust myself around her. And I am sure she knows how safe she is with me. Yet I still don't move. I can't.

Need a push?

And my feet move. I fall into Julie, who chuckles and wraps her arm around my torso. "Whoa there, forget how to walk again?" I awkwardly lean into her, draping my right arm over her shoulders as I stare down at her. I don't realize we begin to walk crooked until she tightens her hold on me. "Okay, eyes on the road, buddy." She mutters upon catching the reason as to why we can't follow the path of travel. I gulp, turn my head away from her and staple my eyes onto the road ahead. It is dark and I wonder how Julie can see so well.

We continue walking until I can't walk anymore. My knees shake, my lungs heave. Julie smiles and jokes, saying things like "out of shape". I don't understand and I continue to let her say things I will never be able to decipher.

I'm surprised you lasted that long. You guys have walked a few miles. Perry says, whistling right before he sighs. Though I've seen you walk longer. Maybe you're just too hungry.

I shake my head, trying to shove Perry out of it. I can't be hungry; I can't ruin whatever is happening now. Whatever Julie is doing. I look over at her, catching the reflection of light in her eyes as she stares up at the house I faintly remember. There are no longer giant walls surrounding the city, only barbed fences, and that is only to keep out strangers until they clear security. I can not recall passing it, though it is only logical that we did.

We are standing in front of a rundown house, a single candle burning in a window and a cherry colored car sitting in the driveway. "I would've driven here, but I thought people would notice more." Julie says, removing her arm from around me and catching my hand. She guides me to the porch, wandering into the house with a relieved sigh. Empty cans that once stored beans lay out on a coffee table, as well as a magazine portraying some famous celebrity. And supposedly how she celebrates her birth-

"R?" I glance at Julie, nodding with anticipation as I consider what she may say. Though I don't have any expectations, I pray it isn't sitting around and letting her read magazines. She smiles at the look I give, dragging me towards the stairs. They creak under our weight, but we proceed anyway. "Look, we came here when you were bringing me back home. This house… This is a memory. But I'm not going to make you sleep on the floor this time." She jokes, drops my hand and opens a door. She disappears behind it as I stall in the hallway. I glance at a few family photos left behind by the past residents of the house. A family of very, very large people. I grunt, turn away and shuffle in behind Julie.