Consequences (Warm Bodies fan fiction)

Chapter 14

Thick, suffocating, black smoke populated the street air. The wide gaping maw of the ruined city surrounded them, watching them closely. All around them were small craters, fire, outer-casing of ammunition, blood, and mangled, fallen bodies – foe and friend. It looked very much like a full-scale war-zone. A heavy silence bore onto the group, about as much as their own pain and blood.

"R!" John rushed over to the fallen young man and knelt by him. R lay against the car limply, his eyes wide and blood running down his arm. "R?" John probed as gently as he could, trying to reach the boy. It took him a few minutes to respond, but he finally did.

"I...I'm... I-I'm okay..." R told him quietly, recovering from his shock. This wasn't the first time he got shot, but he hadn't seen it coming the first time. This time he had seen the barrel of the gun pointed at him, had seen the murder in the eyes of his attacker. His only thought at that moment was he would never see Julie again, that all of it, breaking away from his curse, keeping her safe, falling in love with her... it would be for nothing. R jerked, startled when John's hand pressed against his wound.

"Stay still," John commanded, checking over his shoulder. He wasn't a medic or anything but he knew enough, and they had lost theirs during the fight anyway. Besides, he wanted to personally make sure the young man wouldn't die. "Looks like the bullet grazed your arm, nicked you pretty good," John inwardly sighed in relief. "You'll be fine. Just hold your hand against it."

"Thank you..." R nodded, going back to clutching his warm and sticky shoulder.

"What in God's name got into your head, boy?" John threw his arms up in exasperation. "That was a damn reckless stunt you pulled," he frowned. Maybe he was being a little harsher than he should have been. He had just saved his life, after all. But John was old and R had his whole future ahead of him.

R smiled weakly, glancing over to where M stood nearby, keeping vigilant. His old friend was also sporting a serious expression. "Is it really reckless for wanting to keep the father of the... woman I love... alive and well?" He questioned, giving John a challenging look. For the most part, John continued to just stare at him with a grim expression. After a few minutes though, R was relieved when John simply nodded in acceptance and put his hand out. R took the older man's hand and was hoisted back onto his feet. He winced, his arm burning slightly from the sensation. For a simple graze, his blood certainly seemed to enjoy flowing like a river.

"Does anyone have any spare-" John's question was cut off.

"I have gauze, Sir!" A soldier ran over, digging in his pockets for the bandage. "Here you go," he readily handed it over. He caught R's gaze and nodded to him, a look of respect in his eyes. There were more men and women being tended to of course, but there was enough of it at least. John took the bandage and wrapped it around R's arm tightly, ignoring his pained expression. At least he didn't make such a big deal about it, took it like a man. John respected that.

"Alright," John looked around the area, frowning at the sight of so many dead men and women. So many people who needlessly died for something as stupid as a disagreement. "Check the bodies for anything we can use and form up again. We're getting the fuck out of here," he ordered his soldiers.

It was gruesome work, digging through the bodies of fallen people, but in this world they lived in, they couldn't afford to waste any resources. Scavenging had been branded into them since the start of all of this, even before zombies started appearing. The world had been spiraling down the drain far before the apocalypse happened. John hoped dearly that now that there was so much good change happening, that the world would rise up out of it's ashes, start over. He prayed to God humanity would learn from it's mistakes this time. But how many times had they had that opportunity already?