THE ROMANTICIST | C. GRIMES

05 | CHAPTER SEVEN

"Let's get this party started." Carl said.

"Move over, I don't wanna get pelted by glass." Mollie huffed, shoving his shoulder lightly. They both moved until their backs were against cabinets. Carl raised his gun, clicking the hammer back. She focused feeling a pair of strong vines begin to rise from the ground. It only took a few seconds until they were level with the window. "Alright. Three, two..." The glass shattered loudly, one vine shooting forward to brace against the door while the other swished around the window to clear out the glass. "Okay it's clear."

"You first." He said, keeping his gun and eye trained on the door. She shrugged her bag off, throwing it out the window before pulling herself up. It was nearly ten feet but she tried not to think about it as she swung her legs out.

"C'mon, let's go!" She said before letting herself drop. Of course she fell backwards, but she hadn't felt her ankles get hurt and that was all she cared about. She laid there for a moment before sitting up as she heard Carl drop. "Vine's still up."

"Well let's not waste any time." He said as he pulled himself to his feet. She sighed waiting another moment before getting up. Carl had already picked up her bag so she took it from him and looked around. Forest, all forest, but at least there was no one waiting for them. "Let's get out of here."

"The vine won't hold."

"Then let's be quick." She sighed, glancing back up at the window before nodding. Their footsteps weren't exactly quiet as they crushed leaves and snapped sticks, but the sound of the metal door crashing open was much louder.

"Where the hell did they go?!" A Savior's voice roared from the building.

"The window! They're outside!" Another Savior yelled.

"Keep moving!" Carl called. They could hear more voices yelling, and even a truck fire up, and then Carl saw it. "Holy shit a road! There might a car we hotwire!" Their feet hit heavy against the concrete.

"You see any?" Mollie asked, her head whipping around to try and find anything that could get them out of there faster.

"No, you?"

"No." She sighed. "What do we do? We can't just run forever."

"I know, but we can't stay here."

"Maybe we don't have to..." Carl turned around, looking to where Mollie was now walking. The road they'd come onto ended in a bridge. It was a broken bridge, with a large gap between it and the other side, and a raging river below it.

"What are you doing? That's a dead end." Carl argued, starting to follow her. Mollie ignored him, continuing down the road until she reached the end of the bridge. "Mollie, come on."

"It doesn't look too far." She said, walking past him towards the side of the bridge. She leaned against the side, seeing that the hillside wasn't too far off from where the bridge had broken. "I think I can make us a bridge."

"Alright well do it then, we can't have much time." Carl pulled his pistol out. "I'll keep watch, but make it quick."

"I'll do what I can." She nodded. After a few moments of focus, a multitude of vines sprouted from the closet spot she could see. They snaked up the bridge support, wrapping around the concrete as they stretched forward towards the gap. The vines swung up from under the bridge, wrapping around the exposed rebar and beginning to weave a bridge as they stretched out across the gap.

"How's it coming?"

"Fine, let me focus." Mollie heard him sigh behind her, but she didn't let her focus break for long. The vines inched closer and closer, and Mollie could feel herself getting antsy. It was becoming near impossible to keep her focus by the time the vines finally reached the rebar on the otherside. She didn't brace the vines around the other side of the bridge more than the rebar, feeling herself beginning to get weaker. "Okay, you first. If anything happens I can fix it before you fall."

"Alright..." Carl approached the edge of the bridge, inching one foot out onto the vine bridge and trying to put as much pressure on it as he could.

"I thought you wanted to hurry."

"I'm going, I'm going." Carl's first few footsteps on the bridge were slow and careful, but as he found his footing he sped up a bit. The bridge swayed slightly, but Carl didn't stop moving. Just as he reached the end, one of the vines snapped beneath his feet. He jumped, easily landing on the other bridge. "Alright, come on!" Mollie glanced back, not seeing any Saviors, so she started her way across the bridge. Things were going fine, until she got about halfway through. Too focused on keeping her footing, she hadn't realized a few Saviors had come out of the woods until she felt one of the vines snap. When she looked back, there were two Saviors hacking away at the base of the vines.

"Carl!" Mollie called out. Carl hadn't been paying attention, sliding off the hood of the car he was sitting on and pulling out his pistol. She tried to hurry forward while keeping her footing, Carl beginning to fire off shots. She felt another vine snap and she stumbled, catching herself easily. She got back up, trying to quicken her pace again, though the bridge was now wavering far more than it had been before. Carl managed to get one of the Saviors, but the other had ducked behind the bridge's support. Carl didn't have a view, and the Savior was still hacking at the vines.

Another vine snapped just as Mollie's foot hit it, causing her to slip. She just managed to catch herself, fingers lacing through the woven bridge.

"Mollie!" Carl yelled out, coming to the side of the bridge. He didn't know if he could risk going out there, but he also couldn't just let her hang there. "Hold on, I'm coming out to get you!"

"No!" She yelled back, trying and failing to pull herself up. "Just go! Get to the Hilltop!"

"Mollie I'm not leaving you behind!" He argued.

"They don't want me, they want you!" She yelled back. "You can't let them get you! Just run!" He didn't listen, getting down on his knees and now slowly making his way out onto the bridge. "Just leave me, Carl!"

"No!" Another vine snapped, and the bridge began to sway more. "I'm not just gonna let you die!"

"And I don't want you to-" Mollie was cut off by the final large vine snapping. The bridge immediately began to fall, both Carl and Mollie letting go as they plummeted to the harsh rapids below. Mollie hit the water hard, but she managed to keep her mouth shut. The rapids jostled her around, and she could feel the bow on her shoulder snap against the force of the water. Just as she felt like she was running out of air the rapids calmed, and she was able to claw her way up to the surface. Her hair clung to her face and neck as she gasped for air, beginning to tread water. "Carl?" She called out. She turned around as the water continued to push her down river. "Carl?!"

A loud gasp and splash sounded behind her. She turned around, seeing Carl pushing the hair out of his face. "Are you okay?"

"My back hurts but yeah, I think I'm fine." He nodded. "Oh shit." He swam forward, catching his hat that had started to float away. "You?"

"I'm fine." She said, turning back so she faced the direction the water was pushing them. "There! We can grab that and climb out." There was a fallen tree laying across the river, obviously a makeshift bridge. As they passed it they both grabbed on, Mollie managing to pull herself up first. She sat on the log before helping pull Carl up, both then sitting on the log to try and catch their breath. "That was really stupid of you. You should've just ran."

"And miss this?" He breathed out. She scoffed lightly, hitting his arm. "We we're heading this way." He pointed behind him. "Should we keep going?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "Put as much distance between us and those Saviors as we can."