Warm Bodies: The Answer

The Corruption

This is a loooong chapter, and a LOT happens in it. There are many questions answered, many (hopefully) little surprises, and... well, I'll let it play out. Thanks for reading. Hope you make it through.

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Julie sank into a comforting darkness, wrapped herself up with it, and tried desperately to stay there, even as the angry yells of men, the sound of gunfire, leeched into the dark space and threatened to pull her out.

But then, she heard a voice.

Her dad, calling her name. And it wasn't something she could ignore anymore. So she started to rise, slowly, and the comforting blanket of nothing pulled away, exposing her mind, her heart, her skin to the real world again.

And the real world stabbed her through the heart with a word.

Rowan.

Joshua was yelling above her, his voice echoing oddly through his chest as she lay against him, yelling that he got them.

That he killed them.

Rowan's dead.

Desperately, she pulled the darkness up over herself again, wishing for oblivion, but it was short lived, as her father tore through to her again, with that voice he used, the one that commanded the attention of every living thing within a square mile and commanded her now.

So she rose, once more, and opened her eyes.

The world was a blurring mess, but she knew Joshua still held her, and as she blinked towards the figure standing nearby, she realized it was her father.

Julie called out to him, and he turned, and the look he gave her opened her wound wide and she started to cry again, her eyes seeking the dark blood on her hands.

He just... fell to pieces...

Suddenly she was moving, being handed her over to her dad. She let herself be moved and held, when normally she'd punch someone and stand on her own two feet. But her heart was numb in her chest, and she let them do whatever.

She had nothing to give or say or do anymore. So it was fine.

Until Joshua told her father what happened. And everything was not fine, and never would be again. Her body started to tremble, to shake, and she let it, burrowing deep into her fathers chest as he wrapped his arms around her tight.

Gunfire spat around her, but she was safe, and it was dark, so that was okay.

Marcus was suddenly there, his wonderful voice burbling around her... he had a way of making her smile. But then he asked that question.

Where's R?

She looked out at him, her face wet with tears, her mind clouded. Where was R?

"Is he with Mark? Did he make it?"

The words ripped through the cocoon she'd hastily wrapped around herself, and she saw them again, Mark and Rowan, lying dead on the concrete floor of that room. The dark holes that had ended them both. Horror swept her up and crushed her heart once more and she started to sob, the tears spilling without sound as her father drew her nearer still.

Gunfire.

Yelling.

Perry had warned her...

Julie shivered.

Terrible things...

She hadn't realized she'd spoken out loud until she heard her father's voice close to her ear. And chasing it, more gunfire, screams, and the scrabbling of broken nails on metal.