Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help.
Vince lay on the ground pale and barely conscious. His breathing was slow. Molly took a deep breath and tried to stay calm, knowing Vince would die if they didn't help him quickly.
"Stay with me, Vince. Just stay with me." Molly kept pressure on the wound, her heart rate picking up as she noticed how fast Vince was losing blood.
"Wh-What do we do? We gotta help him!" Russell panicked.
Molly met his gaze and said in a firm tone, "Go inside and get some bandages. Hurry."
Russell nodded and went to do so.
Kenny pulled himself together and stood from his spot on the ground. He felt anger rushing through him but knew they had more important things to take care of now. He quickly went to go check in on the others.
Molly was still keeping pressure against Vince's bleeding injury. She wished Russell would hurry with the supplies. She also knew she needed to get Vince inside. Having him laid in the snow wasn't going to help him in any way. "Vince, can you hear me?"
Vince groaned slightly, not giving an intelligible response, but letting her know he was somewhat aware.
"We're gonna fix you up, okay?" Molly assured him. "You're gonna be just fine."
Molly noticed his eyes crack open a bit as he gave the smallest, barely noticeable nod. Molly was relieved that he was at least responding, though she didn't know how long he would stay conscious for.
Molly moved her hands for a moment to check Vince's wound, seeing that the bullet had gone straight through. Fortunately, it didn't seem like it had hit anything major, but from the way his body was shaking, she was worried the combination of cold and blood loss might cause him to go into shock. They needed to get him out of the snow and into the house to treat him.
"You're gonna be okay…" She said again, trying to reassure both him and herself at this point. She really hoped he would be okay.
It wasn't long before Kenny made his way over. Molly barely noticed his presence as she had been keeping her focus on Vince.
"How is he?" Kenny asked as he went to Molly's side.
"We need to get him inside… Now." Molly said.
"Alright… Alright…. Are you sure we should move him? What if—"
Molly cut Kenny off, "Well, we can't treat him out here. The cold's not gonna be much help and the last thing we need is him going in shock."
"Yeah… Yeah you're right…" Kenny agreed, seeing her reasoning.
"Alright… Help me get him inside." Molly said.
Kenny nodded.
Before they could do anything, Becca rushed outside with a smile. "She's awake! Clem's—" Her smile quickly faded as she noticed Vince's condition. "Oh shit! What happened?"
"He got shot…" Molly said.
"W-We heard the gunshots, but we didn't know what- What the fuck happened?" Becca asked.
"Those Ruskies did it. They fucking shot him and stole the damn truck!" Kenny said.
"Wh-What?" Becca stammered in shock.
"Get back inside, Becca." Molly said. "Go tell your sister what happened and ask her to get some disinfectant and something to stitch this wound up.
Becca nodded and rushed back inside to go alert Shel.
It wasn't too long before Molly and Kenny had carried a barely conscious Vince into the house. As the get him inside Molly realizes her girl is in fact awake though the child seemed dazed.
"Russell, how are those bandages coming?" Molly asked.
"I got them!" Russell rushed over and handed them over.
"Good, Shel, get me a needle and thread quickly." Molly said.
Shel nodded.
Meanwhile Wyatt tried to find something to help with pain and numb the wounded area, but to his surprise, the medical bag as well as most of their food was gone.
Through what supplies they had left; Shel was able to get Molly a needle and thread and some hydrogen peroxide.
While Vince's wound wasn't life threatening, Molly knew she needed to make sure it was clean, or it would cause infection and infection could kill faster than any wound.
They worked steady for the next half hour, Vince eventually passed out from the mixture of exhaustion and pain.
Molly managed to stop the bleeding, checking his breathing and heartrate the entire time. She then cleans then stitches the wound closed. She bandages it and covers Vince in a blanket to keep him warm.
They all sit in silence, listening to Vince take even breaths.
Everything was a mess. Just when they thought things would get better, things actually got worse.
The next several hours were tense for them all. They waited anxiously for Vince to wake up.
Molly checked in on Clementine. Though the small girl was conscious she was clearly dazed. Molly knew it could take a while for her to regain her sense of reality, but she was just glad her girl was okay.
"They took all the food…" Wyatt suddenly spoke, dulling everyone's spirits even further.
"All of it?" Russell asked.
"Well… practically everything. Other than the supplies in this room right now." Wyatt said.
"Those sons of bitches!" Kenny snapped causing Clementine's little form to flinch and baby AJ to whimper a bit in Sarita's arms. Sarita gently shushed both children.
"What do we do now?" Russell asked.
"We stay put. And wait." Molly said
Kenny shot her a look. "Stay put? Are you out of your mind?"
"Wait for what?" Russell asked.
"We wait for the weather to clear. We wait for Clementine and Vince to recover. We wait until we have enough food to leave." Molly said.
"I've had it with this." Kenny scoffed. "No one wants to listen to me. If you think y'all know everything you can figure shit out themselves."
"Kenny… don't do this. Please…" Sarita said.
"Exactly. We don't need this bullshit right now." Molly said.
"It's not bullshit! We have to go after them, that what we do!" Kenny said.
"Kenny, no." Molly said.
"Why the hell not? We can't just let them get away with pulling this bullshit! They couldn't have gotten far." Kenny said.
"It's not about if they got far, it's too risky to try and hunt down two assholes. One of them is shot, I doubt they'll last long anyway." Molly said.
"That's more reason to go after them and finish the job." Kenny said.
"Kenny don't talk like that." Sarita said.
"I'm just being honest, if you all would've let me take care of them from the start we wouldn't be in this situation." Kenny said.
"You didn't make things any better with how you were acting." Wyatt said.
"You're still not help things either." Russell agreed with Wyatt.
"Not helping? Bullshit!" Kenny snapped. "I had a working truck! We could have left and been on our way to Wellington but y'all wanted to stay! Look where that got us!"
"Enough about Wellington! It's nothing." Molly said.
"Wellington is everything! It's all we have." Kenny said.
"We've been over this before, Kenny. Clementine was in no condition to move…" Shel said.
"Maybe not on her own, but Clementine's a little tiny kid. We could've carried her. So quit using her as an excuse." Kenny said.
Shel frowned at that. "We're not—"
"Oh really? Clem can't do this. Clem can't do that. Clem's a damn child. It ain't that hard to get her around." Kenny said. "Now Vince is shot and we're fucking screwed. We're not gonna be able to go anywhere until he wakes up."
"Wakes up? He needs time to heal up before we go anywhere!" Russell said.
"We don't have that much time. This place is freezing. AJ can't stay here, Clementine can't stay here! None of us can stay here!" Kenny said.
"We don't have a choice, Kenny!" Molly said. "Now I would appreciate it if you calmed the fuck down."
"You know what, I don't get you people. I spent my time trying to help you all and you act like I just shit in your cereal!" Kenny said.
"You think you're helping but newsflash, Kenny, you're not." Molly said.
"Fine… If you think you people know everything than deal with shit on your own." With that Kenny stood and stormed out of the room.
"Kenny," Sarita called to him.
"Just let him go, Sarita…" Shel said. "He needs time…"
"Yes… Please let him go." Molly groaned.
Sarita shot her a look. "Both of you are acting childish." She said while rocking AJ."
"I'm not the one trying to march people to a place that might not exist. That's all your man." Molly retorted.
"Kenny's just… Doing what he thinks is best." Sarita said.
"Exactly what he thinks is best, with no regard for anyone else. He needs to realize that the things he wants to do are going to put everyone's lives at risk." Molly replied.
"He's trying his best." Sarita said.
"Well, his best isn't enough." Molly said.
"Enough, both of you." Shel cut in. "All this fighting isn't helping anyone. We need to come up with a plan."
"Yeah…" Molly sighed. "You're right…"
Molly waited while they tried to come up with a plan, but most of the group seemed paralyzed on what they should do. Molly knew she had to take matters into her own hands. "First and foremost, we need to take stock and inventory of any food and medicine. Any supplies that we have left over period."
The others nodded.
"We should also take a look around the house. Cause from the looks of it we might be here for a while." Molly added.
The others sighed but knew her words were true. They weren't going to be leaving anytime soon.
The group was silently going through supplies, grouping cans of food together as well as other alike items. Vince had yet to wake though they made sure to keep a close eye on the man, all convinced that he would be okay.
Little Clementine had fallen back into a slumber. Molly worried that the child hadn't been very responsive. In fact, despite the little one's eyes being opened and her sitting upright, it had been as if the young girl was still unconscious.
Molly knew it took a while for someone to adjust back into normal life after a coma, she would have to be patient with the child. She had only just woken up.
As they continued to look through supplies Kenny soon returned to the room. The man glanced around but didn't speak as a he made his way over to Sarita. He took a seat by the woman then finally broke the silence in the room.
"How is he?" He motioned to AJ who was dinking from a bottle that Sarita was feeding him.
"He's doing okay, Kenny." Sarita said.
"Here, I can take him for a while." Kenny offered.
Sarita didn't protest, allowing him to take the baby.
"What are y'all up to?" He finally asked the others.
"Taking inventory…" Russell answered. "This… is all the food we have left."
Kenny looked over what was stocked up and furrowed his brows. "No… That can't be right."
"It is right. This is what is left, Kenny." Molly said.
"How? We had more than this." Kenny said. "I know we did."
"You're right. We did, but this is what we have left. Which means we're not going anywhere until we stock up on food."
"And how are we gonna do that? I don't see any grocery stores around." Kenny scoffed.
"The same way that people did before they had access to stores. We hunt and we scavenge." Molly responded.
"It's winter. That's not gonna be easy." Kenny said.
"It won't but it's either that or starve. This food isn't gonna be enough to last us more than a week." Molly said.
"So what are our options?" Kenny asked.
"Stay here until we stock up." Molly said. "Like I said before."
"Ain't this some shit." Kenny grumbled.
AJ seemed to whimper from the noise while Sarita shot Kenny a warning glance. "Language."
"Sorry…" Kenny huffed. "Ain't this some crap."
"For now, our best option is to stay put and rest. We'll figure things out in the morning." Shel said.
The others simply agreed.
When Vince woke, his head was pounding, and he felt nauseous. He could hear muffled voices around him. He tried to sit up, but the pain stopped him, causing him to groan. Slowly the voices became clearer as his hearing and other senses came back to him.
"You're awake!" Shel's voice reached his ears.
"Y-Yeah… Wh-What hit me?" Vince asked.
"A bullet." Was Molly's straight answer.
"Damn…" Vince mumbled.
"Yeah… How are you feeling?" Molly asked.
"Like crap, but I think I'll live." Vince said.
"Well, you scared the crap out of us, so it's only fair that you feel that way." Shel half joked.
"Thanks." Vince gave a slight chuckle which turned into a pained cough and a wince, "I'll give you a warning next time I get shot."
Molly rolled her eyes at that.
"Let's make sure next time doesn't happen." Shel replied.
"I'll try." Vince said. "…Where are the others?"
"We tried to take inventory of our supplies last night, but everyone was exhausted so we're trying again, making sure we didn't miss anything." Molly answered.
"Where are Sarah and Becca?" Vince asked.
"Sarah's helping Kenny and Sarita with the baby and Becca is helping Russell and Wyatt take inventory." Shel answered.
"Oh… And the kid… How is she?" Vince motioned to little Clementine who was sleeping, with her thumb in her mouth.
"She's fine. She woke up actually." Molly said.
"Really? That's great." Vince gave a small at that. He was glad the kid was okay.
"She's doing okay. But she's not at one hundred percent yet. And neither are you." Shel said.
"She's right. You should rest, you've been shot and have a long way to go before you get better. " Molly said.
"l can't just rest." Vince said. "I'm good. You don't have to worry about me."
"Well, we do worry about you. And you should worry about yourself for once." Shel said.
"I can't just be selfish. It's not in my nature." Vince said.
"I can tell." Molly said. "But we're being serious. You need to try to rest."
"Yeah, yeah… So…What's the plan?" Vince asked.
"Our plan is to let you rest and recover." Molly said.
Vince sighed at that. "I'm fine. I'm rested and—"
"Not nearly enough. You don't need to push yourself, Vince." Shel said.
"I can't just lay around and do nothing. Let me help with something." Vince said.
"You can help by focusing on recovering. The sooner you're all better the sooner we can leave." Molly said.
"We can leave whenever you guys are ready. I'm fine." Vince said.
"You're not fine, Vince. You don't gotta act so tough all the time." Shel argued.
"I'm not, Shel. I—"
"Then rest and take care of yourself." Shel said.
"We're not going anywhere anytime soon anyway." Molly added. "We need to stock up on food."
"Stock up? What about all the stuff we had?" Vince questioned.
"They took all their shit and stole some of ours." Molly explained.
"Fuck… I…" Vince frowned upon hearing that. "Just… This is my fault… I thought they seemed harmless… but I shouldn't have let my guard down."
"Vince, it's not your fault. It's nobody's fault." Molly said.
"If I had been more on guard—"
Shel stopped him. "We all had our guards down. Don't beat yourself up about this. It's not your fault."
"If it's anyone's fault… It's Kenny's." Molly said.
"Molly…" Shel sighed.
"What? I'm being honest. You saw how he had been acting." Molly said.
"But we don't need any more arguing." Shel said.
"Alright, fine…" Molly shrugged.
"So… what are we gonna do about the food situation?" Vince said.
"We're gonna sort through what we have… It's snowing now, but soon as it stops, I'm gonna go out there and see what I can forage. Maybe try to do some hunting tomorrow too." Molly said.
"You're not going alone, are you?" Vince asked.
"I'll do better alone." Molly replied.
"You'll do better with someone watching your back." Vince argued.
"I offered to go with her." Shel said.
"I'll be fine. I'm not going far, and I can handle myself." Molly said.
"But still, you might need help." Vince said.
"Well, you're not gonna be helping me if that's what you're thinking." Molly replied.
"I can…" Vince said.
"Don't even think about it." Shel said. "You need to focus on recovering, that's all."
"Agreed… If it makes you feel better, Shel can come with me. But you'll stay here and rest." Molly said.
Vince groaned at that. "I guess that's doctor's orders?"
"Yep." Molly said.
"Okay, okay…" Vince sighed.
"Good." Shel said.
A moment of silence fell before Clementine suddenly let out a few whimpers. Molly frowned as whimpers became cries. The woman went to the little girl's side and tried to soothe her. The child woke after a while and mumbled through tears, "I'm sorry, Lee…" Before promptly returning back to sleep.
Molly was glad that the girl was at least verbalizing now, that was a sign of improvement, but she felt bad for the kid.,
"Poor kid…" Vince spoke. "I really hope she feels better soon."
"So do I…" Shel said.
"Yeah… We all do…." Molly muttered.
With no choice but to stay put for the time being the group tried to brainstorm options of how to keep warm. Molly suggested that they pin up some blue tarps they had found. The group soon proceeded to do so. That fortunately did help to keep some of the cold out, and though it wasn't super warm, at least they knew they wouldn't freeze their asses off in the bitter cold.
They spent the rest of their day making the house as comfortable as possible, not knowing how long they would be there.
Molly and Shel headed out as soon as the heavy snow eased up, along with Becca who begged to come along. The three began searching for edible plants and things to forage.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" Becca asked.
"Anything edible." Molly replied. "Berries, mushrooms, bark."
Becca wrinkled her nose. "Bark? As in tree bark?"
"Exactly." Molly said.
"Why would we eat tree bark?" Becca said.
"Black birch trees have edible inner bark. Some people use it to make tea, believe it or not. The Eastern hemlock and pine trees have edible bark too." Molly said. "When you have no other options, you understand why foraging anything you can is important."
"So… Berries, mushrooms, and tree bark…? Is this supposed to make a meal?" Becca furrowed her brow as she asked this.
"Not a full meal. Think of them as trail rations." Molly said. "We'll stock up on as much stuff as we can, as often as we can, build up a good supply. And we'll do some hunting to get meat. That'll be good for all of us."
"Okay…" Becca said.
They continued walking in silence for a while, Becca shivering a bit.
"Damn it's cold…" Becca huffed.
"You're the one who wanted to come." Shel reminded.
"Yeah, yeah. I wanted to help. I didn't know it would be this cold." Becca said.
"Well, it is winter. It's probably only gonna get colder soon." Molly said.
"God… I hate the winter." Becca said.
"You say that about the summer too." Shel chuckled.
"Well, I hate them both." Becca said.
"You hate a lot of things, don't you?" Shel asked her younger sister.
"I hate not being comfortable." Becca replied.
"Don't we all—"
"Shh…" Molly shushed them. "You see those tracks,"
The two nodded.
"There's been a deer around here. We might be able to track it." Molly said.
"Oh shit, we're gonna hunt a deer?" Becca beamed.
"If we can find it. Which means, quiet down. We don't wanna scare it away."
Becca nodded in response. She and Shel followed Molly's lead as the woman walked forward, looking for more tracks.
After several minutes of walking, they hadn't found the deer. Molly figured the animal must have ran off. The woman sighed, finding food wasn't going to be easy. Winter foraging was tough; Molly knew that much. Especially when things got freezing cold. And though it was possible to find food in the winter, she knew certain factors would complicate the process. For one, the cold would have an effect on both the environment and their bodies. And the snow on the ground covered and obscured many things from view. The frost would also limit their access to some roots and tubers. Molly had to search for clues above the snow. She would check the shape and concentration of the trees.
Molly managed to find a grove of frozen wild plums still on their branches and as they continued on Molly found rose-hips, and wild cranberries.
"Berries?" Becca noticed.
"Yeah, these are wild plums, and wild cranberries." Molly showed them. "And these are called rosehips."
"Rose hips? Sounds like a weird name." Becca commented.
"They're not bad. Try one." Molly offered her one.
Becca did so with some hesitation. "It's actually pretty good."
"Yeah, just don't swallow the seeds." Molly said.
Becca nodded and spit the seed out.
The trio continue for a while gathering what they could. Molly showed them what kind of trees had edible bark and which area of the tree to get the bark from. Before long they had a good supply of berries and edible bark, which they stashed into bags to take back to the house.
Before they headed back, they managed to shoot down a rabbit for dinner. Knew the shot would draw the attention of the geeks, Molly suggested they take what they had and head in for the day. Shel and Becca agreed.
Though they hadn't caught much, one rabbit was something. Fortunately, they still had some food at the house, so they wouldn't be going hungry, at least not tonight.
The next few days forced them to stay put. Molly couldn't help but be upset with herself for not trying harder to track that deer. They're food supply was steadily dropping, even with their extreme rationing. They had a lot of people to feed in their group, and barely enough food to go around.
But as heavy snow fell outside, Molly knew there wasn't much she could do right now. They had to stay put in wait.
Fortunately, they had enough formula for baby AJ to last for a good amount of time. But Molly knew they would have to stay longer to stock up on food and the weather wasn't making the job any easier. The unfinished house was by no means the best source of shelter. It was freezing, but it was all they had.
The cold weather and Vince's wounded condition also meant they had to wait for him to recover.
Plus Clementine wasn't doing much better. The girl seemed to be having frequent delusions of her past. Molly knew that when a person woke from a coma the brain needed time to go from a dream state to connecting with reality, and at first, it could be hard to tell the difference. So, it was no surprised to hear Clementine talking about Lee and other things from her past. The girl was facing hallucinations because of the aftereffects of her coma, and it didn't help that she had been experiencing delusions already.
Molly preferred the more pleasant hallucinations such as Lee, and her previous group members, but there were times when the child would be in a complete panic believing Carver was present and wanted to hurt her. She would constantly see things that weren't actually there, but to her it was real. Molly had to go over what was real and what was not to help the young girl piece together what was truly reality
Not only was she struggling with her mental state, but the child's muscles had weakened a bit and the girl spend most of the days resting. As the days went on, she could move around more, though she quickly became exhausted, and it took days before she was able to communicate properly, which was frustrating to the child.
Molly still remembered when they brought Clementine out of that ice. She looked so cold, so lifeless. It reminded Molly that the girl had nearly did in that same way before. Molly never wanted to see the poor girl like that again.
Molly glanced outside the window, watching the snow continue to fall. As soon as the snow let up, she would head back out, and spend the entire day hunting. This group was relying on her. Her girl was relying on her.
The next time Molly headed out, both Sarah and Becca asked to tag along.
Molly didn't mind one bit. It was a good opportunity to teach both girls more survival skills.
Becca and Sarah were complete opposites, Molly noticed. Becca was more ready to try new things, while Sarah seemed hesitant and nervous. Molly figured that having them both out her would be a good chance to get them some weapon practice. Sarah, for one needed to practice with a gun, but all of the kids, could use a lesson on melee weapons, Molly figured.
By the end of their trip they had gathered a few cattails and nuts, as well as a couple berries. Molly had allowed Sarah to take a shot at a squirrel, but the teen had missed. Molly figured the girl did it on purpose considering the girl had been shaken up on the idea of shooting the animal. But Molly just let it slide. It was only her first try anyway.
The woman couldn't help but recall how Clementine was when Molly first taught the small girl how to hunt. She remembered how reluctant and upset Clementine had been about shooting a mother bird. And now when she thought about how far her girl had come, she couldn't help but feel so proud.
When they returned to the house they were met by Russell and Wyatt who had gone to do some hunting of their own. They had brought back a few rabbits. Molly was glad that everyone was pitching in. Maybe things would work out for them after all.
"How are we gonna turn this into food?" Becca asked as she looked at all the things they gathered through the week.
"I'll show you… The cattails for example, we peel them and boil them. With the nuts and acorns, we soak them for three days to remove tannins, then we can boil them and make them into flour." Molly explained.
"Really? That's so cool… I didn't know you can make flour with nuts." Becca said.
"Yep." Molly nodded in confirmation.
"What about these things?" Becca pointed to the water muscles.
"We wash these. We gotta scrub them pretty good. Then we boil them, and they should be good to eat." Molly explained.
"What do they taste like?" Sarah asked.
"Well, some of this stuff won't have the best taste, but food's food. Beggars can't be choosers." Molly said.
"Okay…" Sarah said.
Molly taught them how to prepare some of the things they had gathered, both of the teens were impressed. Even the adults were impressed.
Molly was really proving to be the best choice for a leader.
Clementine was surprised to hear that she had been in a coma, and even more surprised to hear that Vince had been shot. She immediately felt guilty.
And as she struggled with her own recovery all she could think was she deserved this.
She was suffering because she was naughty. She knew it... And she made everyone around her suffer too. Part of her wished that she had died under that ice.
"Are you okay, Clem?" Molly asked, pulling the child out of her thoughts.
"Y-Yeah... I'm fine." The young girl stammered.
"You sure? You seem like something's bothering you." Molly said.
"I'm fine. Really..." Clementine muttered.
"Okay..." Molly knew better than to push the kid to talk. The girl needed time.
"...Can I go with you next time?" Clementine suddenly asked.
"Go where?" Molly asked.
"Out, next time you go to gather food. Can I go too?" Clementine asked.
Molly smiled at her. "Of course you can, kid."
"Thanks." Clementine said. She wanted to help, even just a little.
She needed to prove she wasn't useless, and even if everyone else didn't see her that way, she needed to prove to herself that she wasn't.
The days continued on and became weeks. Kenny was by no means happy with their extended stay and complained every now and then but even he knew that they couldn't just leave yet.
As the days continued on the group feel into a routine of foraging, hunting, and survival training for the girls. Vince was getting better. And Clementine also had made a speedy recovery. In fact the girl was doing well enough that she was showing the others the dos and don'ts when hunting and foraging.
The group actually felt like a functional group. They made the best of what they had and although they didn't have the best shelter or a huge amount of supplies, they had made the unfinished home comfortable.
As their food supply increased the arguing slowed down drastically, although the girls figured everyone was just too tired from daily tasks to argue. The girls weren't complaining though. They were glad the adults weren't fighting so much.
During the days when the weather was bad and they were forced to stay put the adults would argue more, which proved to the kids that everyone was usually just too tired to argue after a day of hunting or foraging.
Overtime they learned that the cold truly did have an effect on the undead, which made things a lot easier for them. They had less geeks to worry about. They could simply focus on gathering food, which was a good thing.
Whenever they went foraging Molly would note the shape and appearance of bark on trees, and hope that squirrels and birds hadn't gotten too many of the acorns and berries before she arrived. She taught the girls how to tell which trees were safe to eat from, and which berries were edible.
When Clementine was well enough to move the child would tag along and teach Sarah and Becca a thing or two as well. The girl showed them how to scrap through the snow to find plants such as dandelion and wild onion.
Unfortunately, a lot of stuff was dead or not growing due to the cold. Her options were limited. The cold also caused her to lose some indicators that would normally help her find food.
"Hey, look, there's a mushroom. Can we take it?" Becca asked.
Molly checked it then shook her head. "That one's really toxic, we can't mess with that one."
Molly taught them how to harvest cattails and water mussels by sloshing through water and mud and muck.
Molly taught them the difference between berries and how to look at the vines and thrones.
She showed them how to find edible bark and how to get immature pinecones. She explained how to tell if something was edible based off the look and aroma. Cambium from trees. She taught them how to gather bittercress and mugwort leaves. She showed them which mushrooms were okay and which were toxic, teaching them how to spot oyster mushrooms, brick cap mushrooms, honey mushroom, and chicken of the woods.
Explained how if they saw green moss, there's water flowing. And that there was a good chance they could find cattails or something else in the wet area.
She even talked to them about how people could eat snakes or worms, which the kids found gross. Molly was amused by their reaction.
Both Sarah and Becca admired Molly's skills. For days while the others floundered helplessly, Molly took charge and would go out, sometimes on her own, bringing back small animals she had hunted or fish she had caught.
Becca and Sarah both had a lot of respect for how much Molly did. They were enamored by the woman. Their group was thriving thanks to Molly and Clementine.
Though the group had been set on finding supplies, Molly and little Clementine taught them all that they could adapt to anything if they can make traps and gather food in other ways.
Molly taught them how to make snares and other traps. She helped the girls to carve their own knives out of wood and made sure they knew how to defend themselves. The two teens learned the rudiments of a gun and the utility of a blade.
During their downtime the group would exchange amusing stories of their past and make small talk, it was all nice, but the girls had started to look forward to their hikes with Molly.
"See this. It's called Bull thistle" Molly said. "We can cook the stems, we just gotta remove the prickles."
"Will it taste good?" Sarah asked.
"It'll be okay. And this is called wild mustard." Molly showed them another plant.
"Doesn't look like mustard." Sarah replied.
"Well, the color does." Becca said.
"Yeah… But still…" Sarah muttered.
"Molly, look," Clementine called, drawing the attention to herself.
"What is it, kiddo?" Molly turned to the young girl.
"I found some worms!" Clementine said.
Becca and Sarah exchanged looks. Sarah cringing a bit as her little friend picked up one of the worms.
"W-Worms?" Sarah stammered.
"I told you. People can eat them…" Molly said.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Becca muttered.
Sarah agreed and Molly chuckled a bit.
As the snow melted away, the group members would often go out to check traps they set. Some of the group would be tasked with fishing while Molly would take the girls foraging. Sarita often stayed at the house caring for AJ.
They had amassed good supply of food, to everyone's delight.
During their foraging trip that day they managed to find some feral apples and milkweed.
Sarah and Becca both thought it was amazing when Molly explained why milkweed had its name and showed them the milk-like substance that oozed from the plant.
Meanwhile Clementine spotted deer tracks and immediately alerted her guardian. "Hey look, Molly. Tracks."
"It's probably that buck again…" Molly sighed. "I can't believe we haven't caught it yet."
They had been tracking that buck for weeks and no one had been able to catch it.
"Shouldn't we try it again?" Clementine asked.
"I guess so. Wanna lead the way?" Molly replied.
"Sure," The child said.
Clementine led the way as she followed the tracks. The others followed behind her, making sure to keep quiet and out of sight of the animal.
Once the found it, Molly passed Clementine the rifle she had been carrying. It wasn't hers, as she preferred Hilda over any gun, but Vince had offered it to her for protection and Molly wasn't going to turn it down.
The woman helped Clementine properly aim the rifle.
"A-Are you really gonna shoot it…?" Sarah frowned.
"The meat will go a long way." Molly replied.
Sarah lowered her head but didn't protest. She understood why they were doing this, after all the days she spent hunting now.
"Alright, you ready… Aim like this and…" Molly helped adjust the gun in the child's grip. "Whenever you're ready… Take your shot, kiddo."
The girl wait a moment, making sure she had the buck in her sights and lined with the gun before finally pulling the trigger.
The bullet hit the buck and it responded with a squeal to the pain. The kickback of the gun caused little Clementine to fall back on her rear.
"You okay?" Molly helped her up.
Clementine nodded in response.
She managed to get one shot and then the buck took off.
A quick clean shot was the objective of every hunter but the fact that little Clementine had shot the deer so easily was amazing.
"Nice shot, Clem. Come on, let's catch it." Molly was sure the buck wouldn't live long. They chased after the wounded animal, following specs of blood, Molly helping Clementine along knowing her leg was still healing. Eventually they caught of with the creature that had laid on the ground, slowly dying.
"I… I did it," Clementine said.
"You sure did." Molly said.
"Not bad, Clem." Becca said.
"Thanks." Clementine said.
As Molly watched the girls' interaction, she felt like things were starting to look up and for the first time in a long time Molly felt that they were going to be okay.
