Fragile Hearts [DANGEROUS FELLOWS]

⚠️TWENTY-FIVE: MORE THINGS MISSING⚠️

The next morning, it was quiet at breakfast.

Everyone was there except Lawrence and Sue. Hailey was sitting in a chair in the corner trembling like a leaf, watching the door with scared eyes. Everyone was waiting for the leader to arrive, waiting to see what would happen.

"Do you think he's coming?" you asked Zion quietly, who was idly spinning a chocolate bar on the table.

He shrugged. "Who knows? But I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't show up at all."

Ten more minutes went by. Zion proceeded to use the chocolate bar as a finger board, and Harry put his head in his hands, shuddering.

You wanted to tell him it would be okay, but not even you believed it. Instead you put a hand on his shoulder, trying to be comforting.

Harry looked at you, somehow still managing a smile, even if it was weak.

"Are you worried?" he asked.

You nodded, thinking back to last night. If today was anything like it, you weren't sure what would happen.

"Me too," he said. "But during times like this I learned to be optimistic."

"I'm optimistic he's gonna burst in here with a gasoline can and blow us all to bits," Jay spoke up, his cheek propped on his hand.

"Someone's coming," Hailey whispered, and you heard footsteps approach the door. Everyone straightened up, avoiding eye contact as it opened, revealing Sue and Lawrence.

"Good morning," Sue greeted everyone. "I apologize for our tardiness. Lawrence has something he would like to say to everyone."

Zion gave you a look as Lawrence cleared his throat. "Last night I took the time to think. About everything," he began. "My actions over the past few weeks, the actions of all of you, and the Safe Zone. I'd like to apologize to everyone about what I've done, first."

"It's fine, we all have shitty days," Zion dismissed.

Lawrence shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I still stand by what I said. The dangers of going to the Safe Zone outweigh the positives."

"Could I say something?" Harry spoke up. "We still don't know who started the fire in (Y/n)'s room. I think that alone makes it dangerous staying here."

"That's true," Sue agreed. "Also, Lawrence and I have been mapping out stores and other resources for a while now, and we're running out of places to go. We've also been keeping track of the amount of newly infected people we come across, and the number is alarming. It makes me believe the virus is becoming more infectious."

"W-what?" Hailey cried in horror. "You never told us that."

Sue nodded. "Because before, we didn't have anywhere else to go. But now we have a real chance of survival. It's time we lay everything we've got on the table."

"It has to be better than here," Eugene pointed out.

Lawrence seemed stuck. He crossed his arms, deep in thought. Then he looked across the room at everyone, letting out a long sigh.

"If this is what you all truly believe," he started, "despite everything we've done here, then so be it. We'll make plans to go to the Safe Zone."

Lawrence held out his hand towards Sue, for the flyer. Sue reached in her right pocket, then her left, and then checked both back ones.

"I must have left it in my room," she said, but there was doubt in her voice. "One moment."

Silence fell over 1-C as Sue left. You had an awful feeling that she wasn't going to find it, that your last hope had vanished. Just as you thought, she came back empty-handed, looking bewildered.

"It's gone," she reported. "How can it be gone?"

"No one remembers the location?" Eugene asked, looking absolutely crushed.

"I didn't have a chance to write it down," Sue groaned, covering her face with her hands.

You jumped to your feet, slamming your hands on the desk. "Then we'll look for it," you announced, not willing to give up. "We'll search this whole school."

You were surprised when Hailey stood up as well. "(Y/n)'s right. W-we can't just give up. This is our last hope!"

"I guess there's no harm in trying," Lawrence said, but for some reason he sounded like he knew it wouldn't be found. "We can all split up and look after breakfast. But for now, let's get something down."

Breakfast was comfortingly conversational, Zion telling an interesting story about a time he shot a firework at his math teacher's house, and then Eugene following it up with a strange story about trying to kidnap crabs at the beach.

Mealtime flew by and then everyone got to work, Zion your search partner. The two of you checked around the storage room first.

"Man, that paper could be anywhere," Zion grumbled, searching through shelves. "It's real funny how it goes missing all of a sudden."

You had to agree, it was a little too coincidental. But the last thing you wanted to do was start more trouble when you were so close to something so amazing. You just swallowed your suspicions, going back to searching.

"It's not here," you said, wiping off your hands. "Let's should try the first floor next."

The first floor had nothing to offer except dust. You both went into the yard, checking thoroughly, but it wasn't there either.

"We should keep looking," you told him, feeling frustrated.

"Where else? The others are already looking through the rest of the school," he asked in annoyance.

"I don't know," you replied, dropping down on the ground with a heavy sigh. "We're never gonna find that paper, are we?"

"Hey, don't look so down in the dumps," Zion said. "It'll come up."

"What if it doesn't?" you asked. "We'll be stuck here, and we'll run out of food and water and then we'll die."

"Jeez, don't be so depressing." he grumbled, sitting down next to you.

"How can I not be? What are we gonna do?" you cried. You were counting on that paper.

"It's not the end of the world if we don't find it," Zion assured you. "You think we're just gonna sit here and die?"

You shook your head slowly.

"We'll keep on going just like we have been. Or maybe we'll just try finding the Safe Zone on our own, or we find the paper and get out of this place. Whichever it is, I guarantee we aren't gonna die. Okay?"

You nodded, feeling slightly comforted by Zion promise. He gave you a grin and a solid thump on the back before standing, wiping grass off of his pants.

"Now get up and let's go," he told you, and you obeyed.

You were glad that Zion had made his promise, because that day, the paper never turned up.