"So...feeling any different yet?" Mollie asked. It'd been two hours since he'd drunk the tea made with the herbal mixture.
"Besides the fact that even though I've brushed my teeth four times I can still taste that shit, I feel the same." He said. "Wonder how long it needs to take effect... Wonder if it even worked at all."
"Well I hope we never have to find out." She said, raising her eyebrows at him. He laughed and nodded. "How long are you gonna be?"
"Couple hours, tops." He said. "That guy...I mean, I left him food yeah, but I don't see why we shouldn't try and talk to him more. My dad thinks he could be a Savior, but..."
"But...?" She raised an eyebrow.
"But I don't want to live that way." He said after a moment. "I don't wanna start assuming the worst in absolutely everybody I run into out there. We can still save people, we have to. Not everyone's an enemy." She nodded lightly. "I'll be back soon." He began to pull the gate open, so she moved to help him. "You sure you've got Judy?"
"Yeah, totally." Mollie nodded, glancing at the stroller behind her. "I helped around at the school and daycare in the Kingdom, I've been around a few babies in my time Carl." She chuckled. "Hey, she'll be fine. There's so many people here who know her better than me, if I need help I can ask anyone. You just focus on finding that guy, hmm?"
"Yeah, okay." He nodded. "Thanks, Mollie."
"Of course." She smiled. "That's what friends are for, right?"
———
"Hey Carl." Mollie smiled, seeing him coming her way. She'd brought Judy to the gazebo. "How'd it go?"
"His name is Siddiq." Carl explained, taking a seat with a sigh. "He's a doctor. And I know my dad would flip shit if he was just walking around when he got back, so I set him up down in the sewers with food, water and stuff to keep him comfortable. Not ideal but...a hell of a lot better than out there."
"A doctor? Holy shit, Rick would be insane not to let him stay." Mollie breathed out. "Hey, Michonne and Daryl and the others all came back, except your dad. They're all heading back out soon."
"Yeah, I know, I talked to Michonne when I came in." He nodded. "Was she good?"
"She was great." Mollie smiled. "Hey, you okay? You look...worried."
"I um..." Carl's voice hitched. He sighed, looking down and running hand over his face. "I'm okay. Just can't stop thinking about my dad...where he might be. If he's okay..." She nodded. "But I'm trying to think positive, right? I know he can hold himself in a fight, gun or fist, I've seen it a million times."
"It's okay to be worried." She said, scooting across the bench towards him. Judy reached her hands out, so she shifted her into his lap. "But you're right. Worrying won't do you any good, so you should stay positive. We've all come this far, and now with those walkers inside the Sanctuary, it's basically a done deal. We can do this, okay?"
"Yeah, okay." Carl flashed her a smile.
———
It was late, and Mollie was wandering. She felt more and more restless as the day went on. The final attack on the sanctuary was tonight, soon in fact. Mollie could see the cars being loaded up by the gate from where she was standing by the pond. She knew that this was it, that after this, their win was all but a guarantee. But still, she felt on edge for a reason she couldn't explain. Just as she plopped herself down on the waters edge, three loud metal clangs came from the front gate.
"You may be wondering why the hell your looks didn't sound the alarm." Mollie's blood ran cold as Negan's voice came through a loudspeaker. She got to her feet, starting to look around for anyone else. "See, we are polite. I mean, I don't know when they're gonna wake up from that kinda shot, but they should wake up. So let's just cut through the cow shit-you lose. It's over. So you're gonna line up in front of your little houses, and you're gonna work up some apologies, and then the person with the lamest one is gonna get killed." Mollie found Carl and Michonne on the other side of the pond, near the storm drain that led to the sewers. "Then I kill Rick in front of everybody, and we move on. You have three-count em, three minutes to open this gate, or start bombing the shit out of you!"
"They got out." Michonne whispered. Negan began to whistle through the loudspeaker.
"Come on!" Carl turned back, hurrying to pull open the storm drain. Michonne didn't notice, still frozen, so Mollie hurried to help him. "Michonne!" Carl stood back up as soon as the drain was open. "Come on!" Michonne finally moved, and the three of them started running. Everyone was quiet, as if they already knew exactly what to do and where to go. Carl and Michonne ran towards their house, while Mollie hurried for her apartment. She moved fast, collecting anything and everything useful she had sitting around before hurrying back outside.
"Two minutes, people! Dig deep!" Negan called our. "I want these apologies to be memorable." Mollie spotted Carl and a group of others down the road, so she hurried to meet up with them. "Bonus points for creativity! Work up a poem, sing a song. I love that shit!"
"Get going." Carl told the small crowd. "There's gonna be people in the infirmary. They're gonna need your help."
"Look we got guns, we can fight them." Tara argued.
"We will, but not now." Rosita shook her head. "Carl's right."
"Carl, we can't just let them have this place." Michonne said.
"We can." Carl nodded. "All we need to do is survive tonight. This is my show, you said it. This is my plan, and you're gonna do it. You're all gonna do it. So let's go!"
YOU ARE READING
THE ROMANTICIST | C. GRIMES
Fanfictionmollie mccloud had only ever seen the human world through a tv, until said world crumbled and she set out into it. after finding and joining a human settlement called the kingdom, mollie has plenty of learning to do. along the way she makes friends...
