Warm Bodies: The Little Brown Bear

The Understanding

Time froze as Julie's hand slipped from R's, and she felt a shuddering, aching sense of loss inside, an ending, a leaving that she'd later be unable to wrap words around and explain. But R, as empty as his eyes were, as lifeless as his body was, somehow seemed to dull even more, to thin out, until the body before her felt more like a shell with no substance at all.

Devastated, her heart collapsed in on itself, and she squeezed her eyes shut against an overpowering grief, unable to handle seeing anything more.

"Holy!" one of the medics yelled in front of her, and she flinched as the sound tore through the dark place she'd retreated into.

Then from nowhere, a hand brushed against hers, and cool fingers sought and threaded desperately through her own.

And squeezed.

With a startled gasp, echoed by a sharp cry from Mark and the Colonel around her, Julie opened her eyes and saw R, alive, his bloodied hand wrapped around her own, squeezing her so hard his knuckles were white.

His battered, bloodied body was rigid, arched in pain as he gasped wetly through the tube down his throat, his eyes blinking and squeezing shut as his mouth moved around the plastic in his attempts to breathe, to speak.

"R!" Pushing away from her father, she wrapped her arms around R's chest and his head, kissing his cheek as she cried, her heart bursting back into life. Frantically, she told him how much she loved him, and thanked him over and over for coming back to her.

At her words, at the touch of her mouth against his skin, and as he focused on her, his body seemed to relax, growing calm as he sank back to the carpet, and the creases of pain around his eyes eased.

She watched as he tried to say her name around the tube, and slowly rolled his eyes in what she took to be frustration. The effect was so incongruous she laughed, pressing her forehead against his temple, and started to cry again, relief riding the wave the laughter brought.

"Well.. damn..." mumbled Bill, the medic, his eyes wide, as he sat back on his legs. Then he seemed to gather himself, grabbing some sealed tubing and needle packets from his kit. "Setting up IV, blood."

The other medic, Taylor, didn't say anything for a moment as he stared down at R and Julie, then nodded slowly and grabbed the blood bag in readiness, shaking his head. "Never seen that before Bill."

"I hear you. Line's in, we need to get him on the stretcher."

R pulled his arm away as Bill finished taping the needle, and slowly reached up.

His father had watched everything with a numb shock, bent over R with his hand resting on his son's shoulder. Julie watched as R's hand rose to the side of his father's face, and gently his cool fingers patted there, seeking to reassure, to comfort.

Mark gave another choked sob, and grasped his son's hand desperately, squeezing it, patting it, as the tears fell down along his jaw.

"Son... don't ever, ever do that to me again, okay?" he whispered, and looked down at R with a fragile smile.

R gave a slight nod, trying to smile around the tube, and slowly, his eyes drifted shut.

For a moment, everyone held their breath, except for Julie, who could still feel the steady soft beat of R's heart against her skin. Could still feel him inside, calm and peaceful.

Then Bill spoke up, as he watched R carefully, catching the soft rise and fall of his chest, "He's out. Let's get him in the truck."

"Wait a moment," the Colonel said quietly, and everyone turned to look at him. The craggy lines of his face were sharply thoughtful, and Julie felt her heart squeeze in worry over what he would do next.