THE ROMANTICIST | C. GRIMES

08 | EPILOGUE

A low, early morning fog had settled in over the abandoned town of Bethesda, Maryland. Sun rays streamed through the fog, and the tall trees cast large, dark shadows. The light growls of distant walkers echoed around the empty streets, and a car slowed to a stop with a light squeak.

"Well, this is it." Carl breathed out, turning the car off. "As far as we can go, at least." A large fallen tree blocked the path, having crushed both buildings on either side of the road.

"Close enough." Mollie nodded, folding the map back up. "Jesus said it was on the corner, so it can't be far." They both exited the jeep, meeting up in front of it. "Visibility is shit, maybe we should wait an hour or two."

"No, I wanna get back home today." Carl sighed. "It's been what, a month? I'm tired of being on the road."

"Alright fine." Mollie frowned. "Just be careful. No one's cleared any of this out yet." They started their journey by climbing over the tree, simple enough. There weren't any walkers in the short range of distance they could see, so they started their cautious trek down the road.

"How do you think things are going at home?" Mollie sighed. The entire point of this trip had been for Carl to get Alexandria, and Rick, off his mind. Of course, this was Carl, and he didn't let it go for a second. "Do you think they found him?"

"I dunno." Mollie couldn't lie. Rick's disappearance felt less and less like a disappearance and more like a death with every passing minute-and that was even before they'd left Alexandria. Now that'd it been a month, Mollie really couldn't say. On one hand, she knew Rick was more capable than most anyone, and he could still well be alive somewhere. But the chances of them ever seeing him again felt slim. Especially these days, if you can't see someone yourself you might as well assume the worst. "I hope so."

"Yeah, me too." Neither of them spoke again for a few minutes. There was a silent understanding between them to move slow. Both of them experienced survivors, the fog easily had put them both on edge from the second they'd woken up this morning. Still, they pressed on. If Jesus had been right, then there was a plant nursery in Bethesda that was overflowing with plant life. And if they got lucky, Mollie might be able to find more Praesidium. She was still looking, even after all these years-half convinced she'd had the only plant in a hundred mile radius.

"There." Mollie could just see a few plants poking threw a wrought iron fence. "That's it!" She sped up only slightly, keeping her noise to a minimum, and Carl followed. Sure enough, it was the place Jesus had mentioned.

"Windows busted in." Carl was inspecting the small storefront as Mollie was trying to find either a gate or a way over the fence. He poked his head inside, seeing the glass was cleared away from the window. "People did this. We should be careful." She nodded, letting him go inside first before climbing through herself. The building was a tiny office, with a few shelves full of dead plants and a small front register area. There was a glass door leading out back, unlocked. "Holy shit."

Jesus hadn't been overstating when he said overgrown. Though he'd admittedly only peaked through the fence, Jesus had assured Mollie there had to be something there she could use. And she had to agree. There was simply too much for nothing to be of any use.

"What do we look for?" Carl asked as they both took in the mass of greenery in front of them.

"We'll start with the Praesidium." Mollie nodded. "Purple flowers, remember? If you find any let me know and I'll take a look." With that, they both split off. The fog made the nursery appear smaller than it was, and before Mollie knew it they'd wandered out of sight of each other. She followed the fence, weaving in and out of different sized pots and planter boxes, coming across nothing. When she finally hit a corner, she turned and kept going, head aimed at the ground.