Fragile Hearts [DANGEROUS FELLOWS]

⚠️SEVENTEEN: SUNDAY SHOPPING⚠️

The first shop was small, and filled with sports equipment. You had both finished your ice creams before looking around, the shelves teeming with all sorts of stuff.

"Go long!" Harry cried, throwing a frisbee to you. You reached out to catch it, the disk fumbling in your fingers before falling to the ground at your feet.

"I'm not so good at sports," you explained sheepishly, feeling embarrassed. You picked up the frisbee and put it back with the other ones.

"Me neither," Harry admit, his eyes suddenly lighting up. "Hey, look at these!"

You went over to where he was, and saw him looking at a stack of little square scooters with handles. He took one off the top, obviously having a memory.

"These were my favorite as a kid," he said, placing it on the floor. "I begged my mom to buy one for me and then rode it down the stairs. I thought I was going to die."

He sat down on it, but his face had changed from a smile to a frown. "My mom," he repeated, looking down at the ground. "I miss her. She.... the zombies..."

You put your hand on his head and he looked up at you sadly. "You don't have to finish," you said, kneeling down to wrap your arms around him. He did the same, holding onto you tightly.

"It's okay," he said after a few moments of comfortable silence, pulling away. "Have you ever used one of these before?"

You felt like you remembered a distant time as a kid, but nothing was very clear. "I might've," you said, taking one of the scooters and dropping on the ground, plopping on top.

"You just grab the handles and push with your feet, see?" he said, spinning off down the aisle.

"Show off," you sighed, accidentally sending yourself flying back towards a rack of athletic socks, crashing into it and causing them to rain down on top of you.

"You have to look behind you, like if you're reversing a car," Harry said with a laugh.

"I've never even driven a car," you said, feeling hopeless. Frustrated, you pushed yourself towards Harry, colliding into his scooter and making him topple over. The speed made you fall as well, landing on top of him, both of you bursting into loud laughter.

"You two sound like you're having fun," came a voice, and you looked up to see Lawrence by the register, examining rolls of athletic tape and instant cold packs. You saw he had a box of air-activated hand warmers already tucked under his arm, so he had to have been in the athletic shop for a few minutes before you even noticed him.

You got off of Harry, standing and taking a deep breath to control your laughs. He did the same, picking up the scooters and going to put them back in place.

You walked over to Lawrence, who had taken off his backpack to fill it with his findings. "Get anything useful?" you asked, your eyes wandering to something on the ground behind the counter. You put your hands on it's edge, leaning over to get a better look.

"Oh! No, don't look," Lawrence said suddenly, grabbing your waist and pulling you away from the counter, making you gasp in surprise.

"Sorry, I was going to tell you, but I got distracted. You don't want to see, trust me," he told you, zipping up his backpack and slinging it back over his shoulders.

"We should move on to the next spot," Harry said, coming over from putting the scooters back. You nodded, wondering what Lawrence had protected you from seeing. Pushing it to the back of your mind, you followed them out of the sports store, looking around to see where to go next.

The three of you popped into a pharmacy where Harry filled his backpack with plenty of water bottles. You saw him looking through bottles of pills and decided to give him space, going over to the snack section. You found a couple chocolate bars and slipped them into the side pocket of your backpack.

The next stop was a home store where Lawrence picked up a couple thick blankets. You didn't see anything you thought would help, so you milled around until you noticed Harry waving to you from one of the aisles. He called you over, and you went up to him to see him holding a polaroid camera.

"Say cheese!" he said, aiming it at you. You smiled, putting up a peace sign for extra effect, and Harry snapped the picture, laughing. Slowly a small, blank photograph came out, and Harry waved it until it developed.

"Aw, look at that," he said, pointing to you in the picture. He smiled at it proudly, searching the shelf until he found an extra pack of instant film and a few polaroid frames. He slipped the picture of you in one of the frames before putting it all in his backpack.

A grocery store was after that, then a Chinese restaurant where Lawrence raided the fortune cookies, and a barber shop where you grabbed a couple pairs of scissors, just in case. By that time the sun was beginning to go down, casting long shadows into the center.

"We should get going," Lawrence said, looking around, and you assumed he must be looking for Zion.

"He said he would be on the left side," you recalled, looking across the shopping center. He must be in one of those shops.

"Let's make this quick," Lawrence said in a low voice, and his words gave you a flashback, searching for water with Jason and his dad. You blinked it away, nodding, and hurrying over to the other side of the center.

"Zion!" you called. There was a small smoke shop tucked in the side and you saw a shadow move past the window. You ran towards it, pushing through the door, the small bell over it ringing.

"Zion?" you repeated, suddenly feeling uneasy. It reeked of tobacco and you coughed, making your way to the back, where a closet was. You opened it, looking inside, but the only thing in there was a broom and some cleaning supplies.

"Here I am," came a voice. You spun around to see a man standing in front of the door, blocking the way out. He grinned, something sinister in his eyes, something that made your skin crawl and a chill go down your spine.

And it definitely wasn't Zion.