THE ROMANTICIST | C. GRIMES

05 | CHAPTER EIGHT

The sun has just begun to set, and Mollie and Carl were still wandering in the woods. Of course, they were both still soaked to the bone.

"We've gotta find somewhere to spend the night." Mollie sighed, looking up at the sky. "I dunno about you but I can't keep going like this."

"No, me either." He shook his head. "Well we could just camp out here, I guess. But we don't have anything to make walker alarms with. Nothing to eat, either."

"And my bow broke so we can't hunt." She sighed, kicking a rock that was in front of her. "What I wouldn't give to be in that fucking sewer back home right now." Carl couldn't help but laugh. And in his tired daze, he couldn't stop laughing. It didn't take long for Mollie to join in, finding his laugh infectious. She wasn't sure if she'd ever heard Carl laugh like this, so heartily, so genuinely. Sure they'd been friends for about a month or so now, and they spent a lot of time together, but Carl was different when he was in Alexandria.

There was always this tightness about him, even when he seemed the most relaxed. She figured it was probably the ongoing war, as who wasn't tense these days, but there was also always something more. Something else there that she couldn't quite figure out.

"What's that?" Carl asked as his laugher died down. Mollie looked ahead, and saw a corner of red peaking out from a large overgrowth. They walked over and Mollie kicked the side of the building. Bits of dust and stone flaked off.

"Brick, I think." She looked over at Carl. "Place to stay the night, maybe."

"Yeah but look at all of this." He motioned to where the rest of the building presumably was, as it was covered in overgrown plants. "It'd take hours for us to even make a dent, and neither of us have the energy for that anyway."

"You forget who you're traveling with." She snorted. "If I can just clear out enough for us to get through a window or something."

"Didn't you tell me once that doing too much magic could hurt or even kill you?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Let's see, I've seen you do more magic in the past twelve hours than the entire time we've known each other before now." He sighed. "Isn't it dangerous?"

"Do you wanna sleep out here and possibly get found and recaptured or get attacked by walkers?" She argued. "Didn't think so. We need to get into this building."

"Alright, fine." He threw his hands up. "Work your magic." She rolled her eyes as he turned away, going to lean against a tree a few feet back. She started walking around the building, trying to catch a glimpse of any entrance. It was hard, as the building was so covered, but then she caught a glint of something. Thanks to the setting sun, she'd found a window.

"Alright, here's something." She said, moving to stand in front of it. "I can't tell how high, but it's a window." This time, she had to focus for nearly a minute before the plants slowly crept out of the way. She'd just barely managed to get the window uncovered before her legs gave out.

"Mollie!" Carl rushed forward, but Mollie had already caught herself with her hands. "I told you you were doing too much."

"Shut up." She breathed out. "Break the window and clear it out, I'm fine." Carl hesitated for a second before turning towards the building. The window was already partially broken in, so he used his gun to knock the rest out. After it was clear he hoisted himself up, glad to see the thick window sill on the otherside. He sat in the window, squinting in the darkness to try and see inside. He then knocked his gun against the wall, waiting a few seconds and hearing nothing.

"Alright, it's clear." He turned back, seeing Mollie had already gotten to her feet-though slightly unsteady. "C'mon." She hobbled over, taken his now outstretched hands and letting him pull her up into the window.

"What is this place?" She asked as he dropped down.

"Dunno." He swung his bag over his shoulder, starting to dig for a flashlight as Mollie dropped next to him. She leaned against the wall as Carl finally found his flashlight at the bottom of his bag. "Please work, please work." He mumbled as he pulled it out, hesitating for a split second before clicking the button. The light flashed a little bit, but then the beam came through strong. "Yes!" He then swung the light up, starting to look around. "No way."

"What?" Mollie's eyes had begun to droop as she stood there, so she had to shake her head to wake herself back up. "Holy shit." Somehow, someway, they'd hit the motherlode. A food bank, completely stocked, and completely untouched. "What's a food bank doing all the way out in the woods?"

"Maybe we came through the back." He suggested, taking a few steps towards a shelf. "Maybe we're not as a far out from a road as we thought."

"Yeah, let's hope." She nodded. She still hadn't moved from the wall, unable to will her legs to move. "Carl? I can't move."