Fragile Hearts [DANGEROUS FELLOWS]

⚠️TWENTY-THREE: THE FIRST CHILL OF WINTER⚠️

You woke up the next morning with a searing headache, your bad dreams to blame. You couldn't remember much now, but you could still see fragments of the horror, like zombies surging through the hallways, blood splatters, and darkness.

You shook it off, sitting up and looking around. You thought Lawrence had already gone for a second before you saw him by the window, writing in a notebook.

"Good morning," he greeted tiredly. "How did you sleep?"

"Terrible," you sighed, stretching out your legs. You didn't want to get out of your warm blanket since it was a cold morning.

"Same here," he sighed, yawning. "I've got a lot on my mind lately."

You decided not to pry him about it, and instead stood up, realizing the sun was just rising. The others were probably still sleeping. And you hadn't heard any screams from Eugene, so that was a good sign. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes, opening the door to go.

"Leaving already?" Lawrence asked. "Still early."

"I like when it's quiet," you said, shivering against the chilly air. You thought about the jacket Zion had given you at the storage supply and remembered it must be in Harry's room from the night you stayed with him.

"I won't bother you, then," he replied, going back to writing. "Watch out for any zombies, alright?"

"Okay," you said, stepping out of the room and into the hall. It was practically freezing here, and you decided to go over to Harry's room for your jacket.

You knocked on the door gently, opening it a little to see him already awake. He was standing at one of the desks looking through polaroids, and he smiled when he saw you.

"Good morning, (Y/n)," he welcomed, his greeting much warmer and more energetic than Lawrence's. "Did you need anything? Or just some company?"

"I came because I remembered I left my jacket here," you told him.

"Oh! I completely forgot about it," he said, his eyes going over to a desk off to the side where it lay. "I put it over there so I would remember. How ironic."

You stepped in, grabbing it and pulling it on, feeling relieved by it's warmth. Your legs were still cold, but at least you felt a little better.

"How did it go? With your new 'roommate' and all?" Harry asked, looking a little worried.

"It went fine," you said, closing the zipper and sticking your hands in your pockets. "I didn't sleep good, though."

"Why not?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

Now that you thought about it, you could fully remember your nightmare. "I had a bad dream. Everyone was on the first floor, and we were all going somewhere, but suddenly there was this loud noise," you recalled. "Then zombies started getting in, dozens of them. And they took everyone."

"No wonder you didn't sleep well," he said, giving you a sympathetic look, but then quickly changing the subject. "Have you by any chance seen the photo I took of you in the home store? I can't find it anywhere."

You were instinctively about to say you hadn't until you remembered the small framed polaroid from Lawrence's jacket. You swallowed thickly, biting your tongue hard.

"No, haven't seen it," you lied, picking at a loose thread on your jacket. As much as you didn't want to lie to Harry, something in your gut told you not to tell him the truth.

"I've just been misplacing everything lately," Harry said with a laugh, and it made you feel a little better.

"We should get going. The others are probably waking up," he realized, and you looked outside to see the sun had already risen. You nodded, following him out of the room, towards 1-C, where you quite literally bumped into Zion.

"Hey, watch where you're going," he scolded half-heartedly, and you knew he didn't actually care. He pushed past you and Harry into 1-C, shivering, leaving the two of you to follow.

Ethan and Eugene were there, talking about dogs but stopping when the three of you walked in. Eugene didn't seem so happy to see Zion, but Zion looked like he couldn't care less.

"Good morning," Harry greeted Ethan and Eugene kindly.

"Good morning," Ethan repeated, and you noticed his ears were pink. "It's pretty cold."

"I'm gonna get hypothermia," Eugene whined, wrapping his arms around himself.

You silently agreed, rubbing your cold hands together to try and generate some warmth there.

Harry reached his own out, his larger ones grabbing yours. You were surprised to find that his was warm.

"Aren't you cold?" you asked him, savoring the warmth.

He shrugged, and from across the room you could hear Zion scoff.

"Why are you guys holding hands? That's pretty weird," he grumbled.

"What's weird about that?" came a loud voice from the door that had to be Jay. He went straight for Zion, grabbing his hands and pulling him out of his chair, twirling him in a strange dance.

"Look at us, just two bros holding hands," he cheered.

"Cut it out," Zion hissed, his face turning red. Hailey walked in, just barely dodging Jay as Zion let go of him, sending him crashing into the wall.

The last two to arrive were Sue and Lawrence, both carrying things in their arms. Lawrence had food while Sue had hand warmers, passing them around. You gratefully took one, taking it out of the plastic package and shaking it, eager for it to start heating up.

"Man, what I'd do for a heater right about now," Zion said, leaning back in his chair and letting out a huff of breath.

"You don't have to remind us," Eugene said, and you could tell he was homesick.

"The power can't be out everywhere. Maybe there's someplace where everyone's just kickin' it," Jay said thoughtfully.

"We'll find ways to keep ourselves warm," Lawrence spoke up. "We've been fine so far."

"How about we just lay in a pile and set ourselves on fire?" Jay suggested. "That will solve more than one problem."

"Be my guest," Zion joked drily, starting to eat his breakfast. "It will be a noble sacrifice."

You went for a box of graham crackers, tuning out of the conversation. Was there really a place that still had power? Where other survivors were staying? It sounded too good to be true, but for some reason your brain wouldn't let it go.

It was probably because a place like that did exist. And as if some unknown force was listening in on your conversations, the flyer came that day.

It was called the Safe Zone, and Lawrence wasn't too happy about it.