Fragile Hearts [DANGEROUS FELLOWS]

⚠️TWENTY-EIGHT: LEAVING TOGETHER⚠️

After you brought Judy food, you spent the rest of the day catching up with her. You told her about the guys and the school, and she told you about life in the van. When it started to get dark you both parted ways, promising to talk again tomorrow.

You went to bed feeling happier than you had been in a long time. You did feel a little scared of what was to come, but knowing all of your friends were going to be with you made it better.

You slept easy that night, not having any dreams, and when you woke up you felt a buzz of excitement throughout your whole body.

The sun was just rising, but Lawrence was already gone. It was going to be a big day today. You got out of bed, realizing it was the last time you would sleep in the school. You felt sad, thinking back to all of the memories here, but you knew it was for the better.

You gave the room one last good look before heading out. You were surprised to hear voices coming from 1-C, and when you peeked in you saw Ethan and Lawrence.

"Good morning, (Y/n)," Lawrence greeted, smiling at you.

"'Morning," Ethan repeated.

"Did you sleep well?" Lawrence asked as you took the empty seat next to him. You nodded, seeing the map spread out on the table, along with some notebooks and the flyer.

"I was just telling Ethan about our route," Lawrence explained, placing his finger over a building labeled with a circle. "We're here."

He traced a long, wavy path, stopping on a building labeled with a star. "And this, supposedly, is the Safe Zone."

"How come the route is so complicated?" you asked him curiously.

"It's the safest," he told you. "A lot of the buildings in this area are packed with zombies. One small noise and we'd be swarmed by them."

Ethan nodded, idly tracing his finger on the map.

The door opened, and Zion, Jay, and Harry came in, all laughing about something, with Hailey trailing behind them timidly.

"'Morning, you guys," Zion greeted cheerfully. He must've been in a good mood.

Before they even sat down, Sue entered, a stack of notebooks in her arms.

"Everyone's here," Jay said. "Let's get going."

"Hold on," you told him, looking around. "Eugene's not here."

"Of course that kid decides to sleep in today," Zion grumbled, standing up. "We'll go get him. C'mon, (Y/n)."

You weren't sure why waking someone up would take two people, but you followed him anyways.

"Be careful," Harry reminded both of you, looking concerned as always. You just smiled reassuringly at him before leaving 1-C and heading towards Eugene's classroom.

Before you could stop him, Zion knocked on the door loudly, causing the whole thing to rattle in it's frame.

"It's morning! Time to wake up!" he called. There was no response.

Nervously you moved past Zion, opening the door an inch to look inside. Eugene was wrapped in his blankets, his back to the door, and you assumed he was still asleep.

"Eugene?" you said gently, walking over to him. A bad feeling settled in your stomach.

"Dude, you're starting to creep me out," Zion said, stepping into the room.

You put an arm on Eugene's shoulder, turning him onto his back gently, waking him. He opened his eyes, struggling to focus on you. His face was pale and he was burning up.

"I think he's sick," you told Zion sadly.

"Sick?" Zion repeated, stumbling back. "Oh hell no, keep him away from me."

"Eugene, how do you feel?" you asked him softly.

"Terrible," he replied hoarsely, hacking out a cough.

"Help me pick him up," you told Zion. "We need to get him to the others."

"I don't think you should be so close," Zion said. "I mean, what if he caught the virus somehow?"

"Shut up," Eugene retorted weakly, pushing himself into a sitting position. "And I can walk on my own."

He stood up, and you quickly put your arm around his shoulder for support.

"If he has the virus, we're all gonna die," Zion muttered bitterly, leading the way out of Eugene's room and back to 1-C. When you entered, everyone looked at you and Eugene in surprise.

"What happened?" Harry asked, the first over to help. Both of you sat him down in a chair, and he looked like he was going to throw up.

"He got sick somehow," you said, looking down at him worriedly. "Maybe because of the cold?"

"D-Does that mean we're not going to the Safe Zone today?" Hailey asked, staying as far away as possible.

Sue shook her head. "This only gives us more reason to go now," she pointed out. "The sooner we get there, the sooner he can get medical attention."

"Should I go check to see if we have any medicine in the storage room?" Harry asked.

"No," Lawrence said, standing, folding up the map and gathering all of his things. "We don't know what he has, and I don't want to give him the wrong thing."

Ethan seemed to get the cue and got to his feet as well, grabbing his backpack.

"We're going now?" Zion asked in surprise.

"Get the rest of your stuff, and then let's roll," Lawrence said, like a dad taking his family on a road trip.

Jay whooped, grabbing his backpack which was already full. Harry smiled at you nervously as everyone began piling out of 1-C.

As you packed everything you needed, you thought back to your time at the school. From the first night you tried to escape, to the emergency supply storage, the shopping center, the small memories, all of your new friends, even bad times like the fire.

The culprit of the fire was still unknown to everyone except Sue, and Harry's camera had never been found. And to this day you still wondered how Lawrence had come to have the little framed polaroid of you in the home store without Harry knowing.

You zipped up the backpack, looking around the room you shared with Lawrence. It was almost bare now, with only a few rogue sticky notes here and there. You turned away, towards the door, promising to remember it.

"Hurry up, or we're leaving without you!" Zion teased, as he went past you and towards the stairs. You followed after him, going out the entrance doors, into the yard.

You turned back, looking at the school one last time. Then you looked ahead, at all of your friends hurrying towards Judy's van, and you felt yourself smile, rushing to catch up.

And you hoped that, no matter what happened, you'd all stay together until the very end.