Consequences (Warm Bodies fan fiction)

Chapter 9

The next morning, R found himself laying motionless on his rickety old bed in his apartment. Various boxes and things were strewn around the room, things M and Nora had helped bring back from his "jet-house" that he had yet to go through. He had decided a lot of it he would give to the city, but there were a few keepsakes he wanted. He stared at the boxes without actually seeing them. Last night he had a nightmare, one of the many 'perks' of dreaming again. He had killed Julie in his dreams. Instead of absorbing Perry's memories, he had seen only his draining life and had then brutally attacked and killed Julie. He took a deep, shaky breath and let it out.

A knock on his door roused him from his grim thoughts and he glanced over at the door. It was probably Nora or something, coming to get him to go see Julie or something. A part of himself smiled. Nora had become a pretty good friend, seemed to look out for him almost as much as she looked out of Julie. Despite her jokes about 'wanting him', he knew how much Nora supported his and Julie's budding relationship. Another scowl marred his face. He still felt uneasy about being near Julie, despite Julie insisting she didn't give a rat's ass about his concern that he might hurt her and that he was stuck with her. A smile threatened to spill forth from him at her fiery determination. Talk about roller coaster emotions...

The knock was more demanding this time, so R pulled himself off the bed, kicking a box out of his way and trudging toward the door. He was more than a lot surprised to find John Grigio standing there, holding a pair of shotguns. R glanced at the weapons and then nodded solemnly. "Please, do it... do it quick..." he muttered, closing his eyes. He only hoped Julie would be able to move on.

"What?" John blinked at him in confusion. "You think- no! No, son, I'm not going to shoot you," John told him, shaking his head. "What's in your head, boy?" John sighed. He supposed R had a reason to think that he wanted him dead, and again felt guilty about that. "I came here because... because I decided to give you another chance," he told him. R's eyes opened and he stared at the older man incredulously. "You wanted to prove yourself, right? Well here's your chance," John roughly pushed one of the shotguns into R's hands. "Meet up at city central to get geared up, we're going on a Boney hunt," he told him.

R was surprised at himself for accepting whatever fate decided for him. He didn't want to die, but knew he deserved it. He had done... horrible things, and eating a bullet sounded about as much as he deserved. A part of him accepted this, but he also wanted desperately to live, wanted to love, wanted to be human again. He wanted what he had been denied for who knew how long. He wanted to make amends, to redeem himself. He hadn't expected John to actually offer him a chance to do this. "I..." R didn't know what to say. He had been sure after everything that John would want him gone. "I don't know how..." R glanced at the weapon uneasily.

"It's easy, I'll show you when you're getting geared up. Ten minutes," John told him, then left. R stared down at the tool of death and sighed. He really didn't want to kill anymore, anything at all... but then, part of him really wanted to help get rid of those damn dried up skeletons. Besides, if this helped R earn John's trust, then he'd be willing to give it a shot. As he made his way out, after having cleaned up and gotten dressed, he spotted a fading poster. Squinting his eyes and trying to remember what Julie had taught him, he tried reading what it said. Love conquers all darkness.

...Love?

And then R remembered what Julie had told him last night. She loved him, was in love with him. This memory of her holding him close, whispering the words he had yearned to hear from her, made his smile reach his eyes. Maybe fate had something altogether different in store for him? Yes, he would kill again, he would help John hunt down those Boneys. He would do it because he wanted to give Julie a world she would be safe and happy in.