Piece By Piece ~ Snippet 6

Danger

I roll over and sunlight warms my closed eyelids. I grumble and throw my arm over my face, a last line of defense. 

“Hey, is he finally awake?” I hear Viren’s voice. I don’t reply, intentionally.

“I don’t know,” Lana replies. “He’s been sleeping awhile.”

“Guys, don’t you think he’s earned it?” Aiden, I knew I liked that guy. 

“Yeah, I’ve got to agree with Aiden,” Elise adds. 

“Well, I don’t,” Savannah announces. Oh, great. She marches over to me and shakes my arm. “Hey, it’s time for you to wake up, o fearless leader.”

“No,” I refuse and hold my arm rigid. She pulls at it, but I don’t budge. After a moment she growls and moves away. Everyone is silent. Eventually I sigh and remove my arm, knowing I won’t be able to get back to sleep anyway. I squint into the light. “Ugh.” I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes. 

“He lives!” Viren exclaims. My already narrowed eyes rove over the group to pierce the noisiest of them. 

Savannah looks over at me smugly, crossing her arms over her chest. Morning, sleeping beauty. Or should I say, afternoon?” 

My glare shifts to her. “So what?” I reach behind me to pull my messy hair loose from its tie. “I needed the sleep.” I run my fingers through my hair, straightening it some, before retying it. “You act like it’s easy leading you lot around. Besides, it isn’t like we have somewhere to be.”

“He’s got a point,” Elise agrees.

“Forget that,” Viren interrupts. “Don’t you want to see what we’ve done? I think you’ll be proud.”

I rub my temples and stretch. “I’m sure I will be, kid.” My stomach growls loudly. “Especially if there’s food.”

Viren’s smile grows. “Oh, there’s food.” They take off and I reluctantly stand and stretch, reaching an arm up over my head. 

Lana looks up at me, the top of her head reaching the level of my chest. “You are really tall.” 

I crack my neck. “Maybe you’re just really short.”

Her eyes narrow and she turns away, grumbling something. “Stupid giraffe.”

I shrug and take a few steps forward, ambling after the promise of food. “Hey kid, where’d you run off to?” 

“Over here,” Viren calls, poking their head out from a nearby aisle.

“Whoa.” I turn into the aisle to find Viren sitting amongst a huge assortment of canned and dried foods. “That’s a lot.”

“We scavenged while you were sleeping,” Elise informs me, approaching from the other end of the aisle. “We wanted to take some of the burden off of you.” The corner of my mouth starts to turn up at Elise’s genuine kindness and thoughtfulness. 

“Well, I was bored.” Viren shrugs. 

I exhale. “I’m sure you were, kid.” I reach down to tousle their hair. “Thanks anyway for the help.”

“What do you want to eat?” Viren grabs a couple of cans randomly and holds them out towards me. 

“Hey!” Lana rushes past me to snag the cans back from Viren. “I just finished organizing it all.” She carefully puts them back in their proper places. 

“Well, is there anything that can pass for breakfast?” My stomach growls again to second my question. 

“It’s lunch by now,” Savannah tells me as she joins us. “But no, not really. Nothing really screams middle of the day breakfast. Can du jour is as good as it gets.” Her words are accentuated by subconscious hand movements. 

“Alright.” I bend down and scoop up the nearest can. “Baked beans it is. What could be better for a midday breakfast?” Lana groans at my ignorance of her organization, while Savannah rolls her eyes at my response. “Hey, in your scavenging, did you find,” Viren cuts me off by holding p a spoon. “Thanks.” I pop the can’s tab and pull up the lid enough to dig into the beans. 

“You can’t eat more neatly?” Lana asks. “For being practical, you’re kind of a slob.” 

I furrow my brow. “Really, I’m a slob?”

“Don’t worry about her.” Viren turns to Lana. “She thinks we’re all Neanderthals because we don’t have highly sophisticated manners like hers.” Viren sticks out their tongue at her and she gasps, before mirroring the expression. 
I grab the edge of the can lid between two fingers. “Leaving this is practical. Then I don’t have a separate piece of garbage to worry about.” 

“You also have the possibility of cutting your fingers off while you eat,” Aiden adds. I hadn’t noticed him join us, but this time he’s less helpful than he was before I got up. 

“Afraid to lose your survivalist?” I raise an eyebrow at him, before turning my attention back to the food. “I’m the only one who started off with a weapon, and it’s larger than this. I think I can handle the can lid. I take my first bite of the beans. They could be worse. That might be my only praise for them, though. 

“Mine’s bigger!” Viren grins and brandishes their thankfully sheathed machete. My eyes roll up into my head. 
“So is mine!” Savannah joins in by showing hers off as well. 

I put my free hand over my face. “And you guys wonder why I need so much sleep. I need to be able to keep up with your shenanigans.”

“What? Are you calling us exhausting?” When I remove my hand I see Savannah glaring at me with her hands on her hips. 

I shrug. “So what if I am?”

Her eyelids lower, but then her shoulders relax. “You’d probably be right.” She looks back over to the recently gathered store of food. “Speaking of which, I’m surprised that you didn’t tell us our huge stash of supplies isn’t practical.” 

“Why? I like food.” I take another bite of my mediocre meal. “Why would I have a problem with more food?”

Savannah’s eyes narrow and Elise and Viren laugh at the look on her face. Clearly she had anticipated a problem while the others hadn’t. “Carrying all of these cans around on our backs in those already full packs doesn’t sound particularly practical to me.” She gestures between the cans and her back as she makes her point. 

“You’re right,” I admit. “That wouldn’t be practical. However, it is practical to have an organized stash of food at our base.” 

“Our base?” The group asks me simultaneously. 

Aiden is the first to form a question. “You think we should stay here?” 

I shrug, taking another bite of beans. “I don’t see why not. We have this whole department store to ransack for supplies, and protection from the elements. Where are we supposed to go anyway? No one has their memories, and running around out there without an idea of where we’re going isn’t,”

“Practical?” Savannah smiles guiltily after her interjection. 
“Tactful.” I let my eyes slide over to her and she crosses her arms over chest. “For all we know, we could be running straight into danger, or away from salvation.” I finish the last of my beans and tuck the can lid back into the can. “For now it’s wiser for us to stay somewhere relatively safe while we try to regain our bearings.”

“So why did we gather supplies last night and make up survival bags when we were exhausted?” Lana’s eyes narrow at me. 

“This place may be relatively safe for now, but we can’t be certain how long that will be true,” I remind her. “We don’t know when we might have to leave.”

“You really are the survivalist,” Aiden says. 

“I just think we should be prepared,” I tell him. “We have no idea what could be out there. Having no memory really puts us at a disadvantage. We now live in a world completely unknown to us.” The mood sombers following the all too factual statement. 

“Wait!” Savannah’s outburst shocks us. She brings her right hand down as a fist onto her left palm. “I’ve got it! I know what we need to do.”

- I am late again, and if anything, I've gotten further from the intended release time. I had this week's snippet mostly finished by Wednesday, but in taking a second look at it, I realized that the segment needed to be reworked. I'm learning that the most difficult part of releasing this story as it's written is that I can't see very far ahead into the story. 

As new as it is to you, it's equally new to me. As exciting as that is, that also makes the story more challenging to write, which is why I've fallen behind as of late. This week I really had to rethink and rework the segment because I didn't want to present you with a less than successful piece purely for the sake of time. I will continue trying my best to get back ahead of the story, but I appreciate your patience when the snippets take a little extra time to release. 

I hope you enjoyed this week's snippet. Piece by Piece will continue next week. 

Piece By Piece ~ Snippet 5

Lana

"Well, Viren is true to their word." I sigh, watching as they bounce their way across every bed in the mattress section. "It is their, right?" I whisper to Savannah. 

She smiles. "Yeah, to my knowledge anyway. Not that any of us remembers much." 

"True." I bite my thumbnail. "My mind feels empty." 

Elise turns to me. "Really? I mean, who would ever peg you for an airhead?" 

My eyes narrow. "Hey. If I'm an airhead, so are you. You can't remember anything either." She giggles behind an upraised hand and Savannah laughs behind me. Aiden shakes his head, clearly trying not to join in. 

Unconcerned with our mild squabbling, Danger walks over to one of the beds, stepping in the way of Viren's path. "Hey, kid, are you done? I want to get some shut eye." 

"Kay." Viren settles on the bed, bouncing to a halt. 

Danger looks down at them. "You only get one bed for the night, so are you staying here?" Viren nods."Fine." Danger walks over to the next one and sets his bag down next to it before flopping his long frame down onto the bed. "I'm sleeping next to you, so don't be loud." Viren shrugs and falls down onto his back. 

The rest of us spread out among the nearby mattresses. There are more than six available, but we choose the four closest to Danger and Viren's chosen places. 

Aiden sits on his bed cross legged, facing in towards the rest of us. "Hey, should one of us stay up, in case there's something out there?" 

Savannah leans towards him. "Why? Are you scared?" 

"No." He leans back, even though she's still on her own bed. "I was just going to offer, that's all." 

"If anyone's going to stay up, it should be Viren." Danger mumbles, face down in a pillow. "Kid's full of energy." 

"Do you think we need someone to watch for us?" Elise asks, looking over towards Danger. After a moment he doesn't respond. 

"Is he asleep?" I wonder. 

Savannah shrugs. "He's been busy thinking for the rest of us. Can't really fault him for crashing like that." 

"You've got a point." Elise nods. "Alright, I'm going to sleep." She turns over on her side. 

"Me too." Savannah stretches before laying down. 

"But guys, what did we decide?" Aiden looks between the other two girls, Viren, and me. 

I shrug, but Savannah answers. "I'd say don't worry about it. Clearly Danger isn't." 

Aiden still looks uncertain. "I don't know guys. What if something is out there?" 

Elise replies this time. "It hasn't found us yet, and we need rest so that we'll be able to run away when it does." 

"Real reassuring." Aiden sighs. "Thanks, Elise." 

Savannah laughs. "Go to bed, fraidy cat." 

Aiden shakes his head and grumbles. "Whatever." He rolls over grumpily. 

"Don't worry, Aiden," Viren adds. "I'll probably be awake for a bit. Danger wasn't wrong about my energy." 

"Shhh!" The girls shush Viren quickly. 

"Okay, fine!" Viren throws up their hands in surrender. 

After the brief outburst, the store settles into an eerie silence. I look towards the large window I chose to be nearest too. A golden yellow light pours in from the outside lamp, illuminating my bed. Most of the others are turned from the light in order to sleep, but I sit propped up against the headboard of my bed. I set aside my new survival pack, and pull my dingy shoulder bag up onto my lap. 

I start to pull items from my bag and lay them out beside me, hunting for useful items to transfer into the backpack. I'm also hoping that maybe I'll find some of my memories buried in the depths of the satchel. I grab out a myriad of pens and pencils, along with the notebook I'd found previously. I pause with my hand on that notebook for a moment. When Danger and the others first rescued me, for a moment, I remembered my bag. I hunted for this notebook, and then, I wasn't sure why. 

My fingers trail across the light blue cover, and flip it open. The initials L.L. are written in my handwriting on the inside corner. The first page has a simple grocery list. That much, at least, I can determine without my memories. Turning the page, I see an intricate drawing of a bird. My thumb brushes across the pen lines as though the picture might suddenly come to life and fly from the page. 

Come on Lana, remember. Remember this bird. Remember why you drew it, when you drew it. Remember something, anything. I sigh when my mind remains blank. It's okay; maybe I'll remember something from the next page. I lift up the paper, but my hand hesitates. 

"What are you waiting for?" Viren asks from beside me. 

"Aah! Viren!" They put a finger to their lips, trying to calm me. I switch to whispering. "What are you doing here?" 

Viren shrugs. "I was bored over there. Are you surprised by how quiet I could be?" I nod, my heart still racing from its recent shock. "That's okay, so was I." They look back to my notebook. "Why'd you pause?" 

I exhale. "I'm trying to recover some of my memories. I thought, since I had so much written and drawn in here, that it might stir something up. But so far, I don't recognize a thing. I don't even know what my last initial stands for." 

Viren shrugs. "I guess, all you can do is keep trying. Keep looking through that book of yours. Not just tonight, but every night, if you want to reclaim your memories. Maybe eventually something will come back to you. Maybe it won't, but tonight's the first night, so it seems a little early to give up." 

I look at Viren, seeing something other than the kid full of energy. I flip to the next page. It's another shopping list. I laugh. "Well, I don't remember this, but somehow I'm not really concerned by that. I doubt it was that important." 

"Hey, what else have you got in here?" Viren starts to dig through my bag. 

"Hey!" I snatch it back. Then I peer inside. "Huh. It's just a bunch of junk." Errant napkins, paper, and gum wrappers fill the bottom of the bag. 

"Lana," Viren starts, and I turn. "Feel better?"

I nod. "I do, thanks."

Viren smiles. "Get some sleep." 

"Okay," I agree. "You too." 

- Hi everyone. Sorry, I'm running behind again. I will try to be better in the future. For now, enjoy this week's snippet, and I'll see you next week. 

Piece By Piece ~ Snippet 4

Viren

"Ummm, Viren?" Aiden is the first to speak up. I turn to him as he straightens his glasses. He opens his mouth to say something else, but then closes it. 

"Why are you wearing that?" Savannah asks. One of her eyebrows is raised, and her hip is cocked out to the side. 

"What?" I ask. "You don't think it looks nice on me?" I pretend to pout, but really I'm playing with her, and I'm curious what her response will be. 

"Nope." She doesn't miss a beat. "That thing is just too gaudy for my taste. I think it would look ghastly on anyone." 

I can't hold my laughter back. I bust into a serious belly laugh, doubling over. I have to work hard to keep from rolling on the floor and crying. Savannah laughs too, alleviating most of the tension is worked so hard to cause. "Man, I was hoping to mess with you guys more. Savannah, you had to go and blow it." 

She shrugs, smirking at me. "I don't see what the big deal is, aside from how horrible that dress is." 

"Haha. Thanks for that." I grin. 

"So which pronouns do you prefer?" she asks. 

I shrug. "Typically neutral, but I won't hold it against you if use one of the others instead." 

Aside from Savannah, most of the others seem confused. "Guys, haven't you figured it out yet? Viren's non-binary, so use pronouns like they of their instead of he or she." She takes the news in stride, and I have to admit; I admire her for it. 

"So, you remembered that you're non-binary, Viren," Elise asks as she pulls a large hoodie over the outfit she was uncomfortable in. 

I shrug and cross my arms over my chest. "It's not really something I had to remember, it's just a part of who I am. I mean, I didn't catch any of you looking down your pants to remember which genders you were." 

"You're right," Elise says, rubbing one of her arms. 

"I never want to think of that again," Aiden mumbles, rubbing the corners of his eyes with one hand while holding his bent glasses in the other. I smile, not so secretly happy about being able to disturb him. 

"Alright, you've had your fun, Viren." Danger waves a hand at me. "Go change into something more practical." 

"Yessir." I fake salute him and he rolls his eyes. As I change back into a loose t-shirt and cargo shorts, I listen to the exchange outside. Lana must be up next because I hear her talking to Danger. 

"Lana, don't get any ideas," he cautions. "Dresses aren't practical."

"Who says I was going to wear one?" I can hear the snootiness in her voice. 

"You have one in your pile." Danger's monotone reply nearly makes me laugh as I pull on my shoes. 

"So?" Her voice rises. "I just wanted to try it on, okay?" 

I step out of the changing room proudly carrying my dress. "Well, I doubt yours will be as pretty as mine, but you can give it your best shot." I gesture grandly to the door and wink at her. She shakes her head before entering. 

I throw my dress on an empty chair and sit down next to Danger. "You just like causing chaos, don't you?" 

I laugh and hold up just my forefinger and thumb. "Just a little." His eye slides over to me. 

"What? It was fun. You should have seen the looks on everyone's faces. You didn't seem very fazed by it." 

He shrugs. "Why should I be?" 

"I dunno." I rest my head on my hand. "Just seems like most people are." 

"Do you remember something?" He shifts to look at me. 

I shake my head. "Not really. I just have a feeling." 

"Ta-da!" Lana bursts out of the dressing room in a long blue shimmering dress that accentuates her slim figure. A matching dark blue clip pulls her long black hair to the side. I know her Asian hair, like mine, must be straight typically, but at the moment it moves with residual waves left from when she had it pulled into a bun. "What do you think?" 

"You're beautiful," Aiden says breathlessly. 

"Wow," is all I can manage. 

"Spin for me," Savannah adds, cheering when Lana turns to reveal the plunging back of the dress. 

"Savannah," Danger grumbles. "Stop encouraging them." 

"Where did you even pick that up?" Elise asks. 

"It's a secret." Lana winks and puts a finger to her lips. 

"No," Danger asserts. "We aren't here to play dress up. Will you put something useful on?" 

"Don't spoil our fun." She sticks out her tongue at him. "For all we know, we're the last people on the planet. Why shouldn't we enjoy ourselves?"

Danger's eyes roll up into his head. "Ugh. Somehow I don't find that scenario likely, so can we please prepare a little?" 

She narrows her eyes at him. "Fine." She huffs as she stomps back into the dressing room. 

Savannah turns to Danger. "You really are a stick in the mud, you know that?"

He shrugs. "You're the one who forced this stick in the mud to tag along." Savannah shoots him a glare from the corner of her eye, but doesn't say anything else. 

"So Danger, are you changing too?" I ask, bored after a moment's silence. 

He raises an eyebrow. "Why, do my clothes seem impractical?" He has on a pair of dark washed jeans, a loose faded tank top, and a long dark coat, split in the back. 

"Guess not." I narrow my eyes a little. "Well, for someone who loves practicality, you keep your hair pretty long." Sitting down, his dark ponytail trails down past his seat.

Savannah chimes in. "I know, I'm jealous of hair that long." 

He shrugs and his uneven bangs slide away from his face. "I tie it back, so it isn't really in my way." He turns to Savannah. "And if your hair was this long, it might eat you." 

He grins as she grabs her flaming red wavy hair. "No it wouldn't." 

Elise points up at her fluffy blonde hair. "Mine would." We all laugh at that, even Danger, whose shoulders move a little with the chuckle that barely emanates from his chest. 

"Okay, I'm done now." Lana emerges from the dressing room, appearing disgruntled. She has on a pair of plain blue jeans, an asymmetrical light green top, and a faded green denim jacket. To top it all off, she has on a hunter green cap sitting off to the side opposite the neat braid trailing over her left shoulder. 

Danger sighs. "That's probably as practical as your outfits get, isn't it?"

Her mouth drops open. "This is very practical." 

"And very neat," Aiden adds. "And that's coming from the guy with crooked glasses." 

She purses her lips and crosses her arms. "I can be neat and practical." 

He rolls his eyes. "Well everyone needs to grab a second outfit as well to carry with you, and remember that layers will help us be more adaptable." 

"I've got one." Elise says, gesturing to the small bundle in her arms.

"When did you get that?" Savannah and Lana ask in unison. I saw them steal her earlier when we split up to look for clothes. 

Elise grins. "It's a secret." She puts a finger to her lips like Lana had earlier. "Just kidding. I managed to sneak off while you were changing." 

"Alright, well, I and Aiden each have our own second outfits as well, so the rest of you need to get yours." Danger tries to redirect the conversation. 

I smirk. "I have mine." 

"Viren, don't you dare say that the dress," Danger starts. 

I point right at the dress. "Yup. That's my backup." His eyelids lower. 

"No fair!" Lana says, and she comes over to pull me up to my feet. "If I don't get to bring a dress, neither do you." 

Elise walks over to Aiden as we leave. "Here, let me try to fix your glasses." 

Lana and Savannah, newly clothed in a similar outfit to the one she had on before, split off. I briefly caution them against taking so long the second time. I duck behind a clothing rack when Lana throws something towards me in response. I peek back over it to stick my tongue out at her. My clothes don't take long to retrieve, though I do pick up jeans and a hoodie along with my tshirt. I choose from the men's section again, because loose male clothes usually read as androgynous more easily than female clothes. I'm also mildly afraid to go anywhere near the women's clothing section while Lana and Savannah are in there. Although, I do snicker to myself when I think of the stunt I pulled with the dress. 

I return to the dressing rooms where we left Elise, Aiden, and Danger. Aiden turns to me. "Hey, look! Elise fixed my glasses." 

"Here, let me see." I quickly slip the glasses off his face and put them on. The whole world is blurry, and I can't focus in even on the sign for the dressing rooms a few feet away. "Wow, you're blind." I take off the glasses and hold them out. 

His squinted eyes narrow further. "I know." He swipes the glasses back out of my hand, a little clumsy due to his lack of depth perception. He shoves the glasses back on his face. "Don't you know better than to steal glasses from the visually impaired?" I shrug. 

Savannah, just returned, adds to the conversation. "How'd you manage to fix them, Elise? They were in pretty bad shape."

Elise rubs the back of her neck. "I just bent them back into shape." 

"Wow, you must be strong," Lana remarks. "That frame doesn't look thin." Elise smiles uncomfortably. 

Danger crosses his arms over his chest. "I lifted an entire beam off of you, Lana." She shrugs and he shakes his head. 

Savannah stretches her arms high over her head and yawns wide. When she closes her mouth she looks around and sees all of us looking back at her. "Sorry it isn't the company. I think it must be from running earlier, but I'm bushed. Aren't you?" 

Danger looks towards a window letting in light from an outside street lamp. "No natural light outside; it probably is nighttime." 

I shrug. "I still have energy. What else do we need to do?" 

"Somehow I doubt that you ever run out of energy," Lana says. 

I stick my tongue out at her. "Jealous?" 

"Enough, you two," Savannah interrupts, yawning again. "We need to decide what we're doing. If we're sleeping, can we please go do that?"

Danger picks up one of the six backpacks. "We can't do much if we don't rest at some point. Grab a bag everyone, and we'll go find somewhere to sleep." 


I sling my bag up onto my shoulder quickly. "If we manage to find beds, I'm jumping on all of them before I let you guys sleep!"

- Hi, there everybody! I'm sorry this snippet is a day late. I got sick over the weekend, and I'm actually still getting over this bug. I lost a lot of writing time when I was sick, so I needed an extra day to wrap it up. I hope you enjoyed this week's installment from Viren's perspective. Piece By Piece will continue next week, hopefully back on schedule!

Piece By Piece ~ Snippet 3

Elise

We push through the rotating doors to enter the building, thankfully unlocked. We gather in the foyer, taking in our surroundings for a moment. The store extends to both sides, and vertically as well by non operational escalators. Windows let some light filter in, but the store doesn't seem to have power itself. Even so, it looks like it should be chock full of supplies. 

"Oh my gosh, it's so clean in here!" Lana notes excitedly. 

"Untouched," Danger mumbles thoughtfully. 

"I wonder why," I muse. The dilapidation outside and the apparent explosion make me think of a post-apocalyptic scenario, but if so, why are we the first to loot the store? 

"Alright, new stuff!" Viren just seems to be excited in general. 

Thankfully, Danger gives our group direction. "We should head to whatever camping section there is first. We should be able to find flashlights and other essentials there." Whatever we do or don't remember about our pasts, Danger's clearly left him better equipped to handle crises than the rest of us. 

We follow his lead down the unmoving elevator to the bottom floor of the store. Signs guide us to the camping section. "This place is huge." Aiden remarks once we're surrounded by products normally reserved for camping. At the moment, it's our best resource. 

Viren starts to grab things immediately, and seemingly at random, from the nearest shelf. 

"Hey," Danger grabs ahold of them by their collar. "Think first, take second. We need to carry this stuff with us, remember." Pouting, Viren sets down their recently acquired loot. 

Lana pulls out her notebook and pencil. "We should make a list of what we need, so that we don't end up forgetting anything." We all agree, and come up with a list to cover the essentials without overloading ourselves. 

"Should we split up?" I ask. "We can cover more ground that way."

"We should stay in pairs at least." Aiden suggests. "We may not have found anyone besides us yet, but I think if we do, we shouldn't be alone." 

Savannah loops her arm around Danger's. "Well I pick you as my partner!"

He sighs. "Why, Savannah?" 

She points a finger at him. "You tried to run off on us once. I'm your partner so that I can keep an eye on you."

He rolls his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere. It's clear you guys need me." 

"Great!" she says. "I'm not going anywhere either. See, we make perfect partners." Danger shakes his head. 

Lana pinches the sleeve of my hoodie between two tiny fingers. "Elise, will you be my partner?" 

"Sure." I nod my assent. 

"I guess that leaves us." Viren leans on Aidan, sighing dramatically. "The two youngest, misfits, left to fend for ourselves." 

"Here, misfit." Danger rips off a piece of the list, to Lana's dismay, and shoves it in Viren's face. 

Savannah snags the list and tears off a portion before passing the remaining third to me. I relinquish our list to Lana, who clearly wants it. "Alright. Happy hunting, everyone!" Savannah tells us before splitting off with Danger begrudgingly in tow. 

As we go off in search of our own items I let Lana lead. She seems to enjoy the order of the store and navigating by way of the signs. Lana tracks down each of the items we need while I light our way with one of the flashlights we each picked up from the entrance to this section. Lana manages to find a cart that we use to carry our newly acquired goods with us. 

"Hey, Elise," Lana starts, so I turn to look at her. There's enough residual light from the flashlight for me to see her face without needing to direct it at her. "Do you think this is like stealing?" 

I shrug. "I'm not sure." I take a look around. "I mean, who would be stealing from? There's no one here." 

Lana bites her lip. "You're right. At least that means we should end up with ample supplies." She crosses another item off our list as she loads handheld radios and batteries into our cart. There were only six on the shelf. That's enough for each of us to have one, but it would be helpful to have a spare. 

"Only one thing left on the list," I note, peering over her shoulder. 

"I know." Lana taps the pencil against her lip thoughtfully. "That's the only thing I haven't been able to locate yet 'water purification.' I'm wondering if maybe there's a section in here geared more towards extreme survival." 

"Hmm. You might be right about that." I nod slowly. "If there is, maybe Danger's already found it. He seems to have a particular inclination for this sort of thing." 

Lana nods. "You're right. We should meet back up with the others." 

We start to head back towards the center of the camping section. "Even if they haven't seen anything yet, we could hand out the radios so that we can communicate a little better."

"Yeah," Lana exhales. "We didn't exactly set up a meeting point so we're just hoping to happen upon them." 

Suddenly we hear an excited yell. "Well, I don't know anyone else here who would be causing that ruckus."  I exhale. 

Lana shakes her head. "Even if this whole store was full of people, I don't think anyone could sound like Viren anyway." We move in the direction of the sound, with the knowledge that we'll find at least two of our companions there. 

When we trace the cacophony to its owner, we realize very quickly that we've shifted into the hunting section. Danger holds a box high in the air, aided by his height, and Viren stands below reaching up  and jumping in vain. "Danger, come on; I found them!"

"Not a chance, kid," Danger replies, not budging an inch. "Look at how you're acting right now. You really expect me to trust you with a gun?" 

"It's the apocalypse, everyone should have a gun," Viren argues, hands on hips. "We don't have any idea what we could run into." 

"Apocalypse or not, you're not mature enough for a gun," Danger tells them. "Having a gun in the wrong hands can be more dangerous than not having a gun at all. Besides, there aren't enough guns for everyone, in any case."

"How should we decide who gets one then?" Savannah asks. "There are only three, right?"

Danger nods, seeming to mull it over. "I suppose the easiest way would be age."

"That's not fair," Viren complains. "You're the oldest." 

Danger shrugs, and sets the box on the counter. "Does anyone have a problem with me having a gun?" Everyone shakes their heads aside from Viren. "Okay." Danger takes one of the guns and tucks it into the waistband of his jeans behind his back. "So then, the next of us by age would be Savannah. Does anybody have a problem with Savannah having a gun?" I consider her fiery personality for a moment, but I'm convinced she would never harm one of her own, temper or no. Again, everyone shakes their heads. 

Viren chimes in with arms crossed, "I have less problem with her having a gun than you." Their eyes are narrowed at Danger. Danger sticks his tongue out in reply. "Oh, that's so mature," Viren mutters.

Danger hands Savannah a gun with a holster that clips around her waist. She puts it on and the gun settles on her hip. "Lana, you're the next oldest," Savannah says. 

"Oh no." Lana takes a step back with a hand raised. "I don't want a gun. I don't think I could handle one." She clasps her hands behind her back and looks down. 

Savannah shrugs. "Elise?" 

"Me?" My eyes widen as I realize I'm suddenly the next in line. I quickly tuck my hands into the pocket of my hoodie. "No. No, I don't think I'm suited for guns." I bite the inside of my cheek.

"You guys are both backing out?" Viren asks. "Aiden, you should back out too." 

Danger's eyes widen and quickly he holds out the remaining gun to the nearby Aiden. "Here, take this." 

"Oh, Okay." Aiden accepts the offered weapon, seeming a bit confused about he ended up with it. Viren pouts watching Aiden fasten his holster onto his leg. "There are a couple of other serious weapons," Aiden adds. He pulls out two machetes and two bows with arrows. 

Viren's eyes light up and they quickly snag the closest machete. "Don't tell me I can't have this one either, Danger." 

Danger raises his hands. "I won't argue. Girls, what do you want?" His gaze shifts to Lana and I. Lana looks like she might protest, so Danger cuts her off. "Everyone should have a weapon, aside from the knives we've picked up." 

Lana swallows. "Well, the machete seems a little brutish for me, so I'll have to take a bow." She steps forward to select the smaller of the two bows. I don't try to debate, and simply take the larger bow. 

"Haha! The machete is mine!" Savannah takes a long step to grab the remaining machete before Danger's outstretched hand can reach it. "And don't complain," she points the sheathed blade at Danger's chest. "You already have that humongous knife behind your back." 

"Maybe we shouldn't have trusted you with the weapons after all," Danger mumbles.

"Well, try to take them from me now." Savannah smirks in challenge. 

Danger shakes his head. "Do we have everything?" 

"We didn't find anything to purify water," Lana admits. 

"That's alright, I did," Danger replies. "Anything else?" When it's clear that everyone else found their items, Danger decides the next direction for our group. "Let's head upstairs. We need some different clothes." 

We haul our loot upstairs for Danger to sort through and organize with Lana's help. In the immaculately kept clothing section, we spread out. Danger stays with our newly acquired supplies to start going through them. Viren and Aiden each split off on their own, and I attempt to do the same. 

"Where are you going?" Savannah loops an arm through mine. 

"Uh, to get some clothes," I respond simply. 

"Why don't we go together?" Lana asks from my other side. "That will be more fun." 

A longer time than it would have taken me alone, we emerge from the women's clothing section with far too many clothes. "Go on, try them on." Savannah and Lana wait expectantly outside the fitting rooms. 

"Hey," Danger draws our attention from a spot nearby on a bench. "Keep in mind that we all need to end up with practical attire, ladies." His eyes hone in on Lana. "And I mean my version of practical."

I take the distraction to disappear into the fitting room. I rifle through the bundle of clothes in my arms to find the clothing I dislike the least. I end up with a pair of jeans and a  t-shirt. I turn from the reflection in the mirror watching me undress. I change into the new clothes as quickly as I can. The jeans feel to tight as I fight to pull them up over my thighs, and the shirt sticks to me, even when I try to pull it loose. "Hey guys, I told you these clothes would be too tight." 

"No way," Lana replies. "I'm positive I got the right size." 

"Come out and show us. We'll be your extra eyes," Savannah tries to reassure me. 

"Okay..." I take a deep breath before unlocking the door and stepping out. 

"Oh my gosh, you're beautiful," Lana gushes. "I wish I had curves like that." 

"So do I," Savannah murmurs. "You look amazing, Elise. Those clothes are perfect for you." If you don't trust us, see for yourself." She points to a mirror. My eyes follow the path laid out by her finger, but they find something else in that path. Danger and Aiden are both staring wide eyed. I quickly cross my arms over my chest, trying to cover as much of me as possible. They look away and Aiden's cheeks color. 

Although, we all stare wide eyed at the next transformation when Viren steps out of the adjacent fitting room, wearing a huge fluffy pink dress. "Well guys, what do you think?"

- Hello everyone, and thank you for reading about this week's antics with our adventurous group. Tune in next week for the next snippet of Piece By Piece.