Warm Bodies Essay Example

After a mysterious plague wipes out most of the world's population, humanity is reduced to small concentrated groups held behind massive salvaged sporting domes. The narrator is an undead who only remembers that his name once began with an "R", one of the few who is still capable of thought. R is friends with "M", an older male who is also able to think and to speak. Life is changed around every now and again by the governing "Bonies," described as skeletons with skin stretched over them and a peculiar humming noise emanating from their otherworldly forms. The undead feast on living flesh, and consuming brains allows them to experience the victim's memories.
One day, R and M lead a small hunting party to the city, where they attempt to overtake a small party of living teenagers. R eats the brain of a young man named Perry Kelvin, and experiences his emotions regarding his lover, Julie Grigio, whom he was protecting. Acting quickly, R smears his blood on Julie to mask her living scent and convinces her to follow him using her name. Upon return to the airport, Julie tentatively lives in R's abandoned 747. Julie begins to speak with R and they bond. Julie confides in R that her friend Nora witnessed R taking Julie, meaning people may come to rescue her from the zombie-filled airport.
R has kept a portion of Perry's brain and continues to snack on it, experiencing other aspects of Perry's memories, learning Perry had been an orphan and had developed suicidal tendencies. Wracked with guilt, R is unable to tell Julie that he killed Perry.
R begins to have regular shutdowns that seem to be dreams. Waking up from one of the dreams, R realizes that Julie is being attacked in the Terminal by a group of zombies, including M. R promptly stops the attack, realizing it's time to get Julie back to her people in the Dome. He discusses this with M, who is both curious and jealous of R's new evolution. R accompanies Julie out of the Terminal, but they are attacked by Bonies