Shots in the Dark - Warm Bodies One Shots

Oneshot #1

R lay quietly among the piles of Julie's clothes in her dimly lit room, staring up at the words on the ceiling. Quotes from John Lennon apparently, though they were all just jumbles of illegible symbols to him. He squinted, trying to make out some of the words, but his undead mind just made it all a foggy mess. Giving up, he glanced around at the rest of the things in the room. The stolen art Julie and Nora had collected from the local abandoned museums. The pictures of Julie with Nora, with Perry, with people R didn't know. R stared at the empty yellow wall, the “Hope” wall as Julie called it. He wondered when she would start putting things there. It seemed like she was full of hope. Leaving this wall blank was a curious thing to him. What would she end up putting on this wall? Would she put pictures of herself there? Her friends? Him? He blinked at that last thought. Why would she put anything related to him on that wall? That was a foolish thing to imagine, even if he was trying to...do something. What was he trying to do exactly? Change the world? That seemed like a pretty big thing to accomplish all by himself. He'd have to let Julie in on what was going on in his head soon. Her help with whatever change he was triggering would be indispensable.

The girl in question rolled over on the pile of clothes next to him and he glanced her way. She made a quiet noise that sounded like a tired sigh. She was awake. Had she been awake this whole time? Julie stretched a little bit and R saw her eyes open to look at him.

“R?” She whispered so she wouldn't wake Nora, who was sleeping on the bed across the room, snoring like a delicate chainsaw.

“Hm?” he responded, just as quietly.

“Can't sleep,” she muttered. After several moments of silence, she continued, “I still can't believe you came here. Can't believe you managed to get inside the stadium.”

Her voice was as full of mirth as it could get considering how tired she was. R just shrugged, realized he had, and was grateful Julie hadn't seemed to notice. She would have chided him. Told him to use his words. But he had nothing to say to her comment. Of course he came to find her. They had only been together for a week or so, but being with her already seemed like such a natural thing. He missed her when she left him. Plus the whole changing thing. That was something important and the only person that would believe a Corpse, that would believe him, was the blonde girl laying on the floor next to him. She smiled tiredly and he found himself drawn to her, this beautiful girl that had somehow come to trust him. He was content in that moment, just being with her, and he felt like he would have wanted nothing more than to stay like that forever.

Julie sat up a bit, leaning on her arm to support her, and her face grew serious as she gazed at R. She looked like she wanted to say something and he waited patently, staring at her, unblinking.

“R?”

“Yeah?”

“If I kissed you, would I become...like you?”

R stared at her for a moment. This was the second time she had asked this question since he got here and he thought he was hearing things. Going insane. He was sure she must have been going insane too. He was a Corpse. Why would the thought of kissing him ever go through her mind? And how was he supposed to know what would happen? He was pretty sure that particular question had never been asked before, ever. He glanced over at Nora's sleeping form on the bed, then shifted his eyes back to Julie quickly.

“I...don't know.” he answered truthfully, though he thought back to the beer they had shared at the airport and was fairly confident that a bite was needed to spread the infection since her drinking from the same bottle as him hadn't done anything. Still though, was confident speculation enough to risk Julie's life? She could end up like him. Could he take that chance? With the way she was looking at him at that moment, the answer was a definite maybe. He rolled on his side and mirrored her position, leaning on his arm, still staring into her beautiful blue eyes. She had gotten closer without his noticing, he had been too caught up in his thoughts, and they were only inches apart. If he could blush, he would have certainly been a bright red. For a moment he thought he felt his heart beat, but that was impossible and he decided it was just his imagination.

“Well...” Julie whispered, now close enough that her warm breath tickled R's face. “I want to try...”

She slowly leaned in and he did the same, their eyes closing before their lips met gently, almost tentatively in R's case. Her lips were soft and warm compared to the rough, chapped, and cold of his own. Her hand came up and threaded through his hair, pushing on the back of his head a bit, drawing him closer. He obliged and leaned into her more, ready to deepen the kiss, until the sound of Nora making a noise and turning over in her sleep made them break apart quickly with a quiet gasp. They both lay back down flat on the floor quickly, staying motionless for a few moments until they were sure Nora was still asleep. They turned their heads to look at each other again. Julie smiled and R grinned back at her shyly. She seemed to be fine. The infection hadn't spread. That was good, but the major thought going through R's mind wasn't whether she was infected or not. All he could think about was the fact that she wasn't repulsed by him. She willingly kissed him and seemed to like it as much as he had.

If they got through whatever hardships changing the world would bring them, R was sure of one thing; he wanted to be with Julie. The thought of kissing Julie more made R grin wider as he turned his gaze back to the quotes on the ceiling, and he swore he could now almost make out some of the words.