Before Molly knew it, she and Jacob had been in the camp for a week. A whole week of nothing but slight boredom and very little entertainment. Once the excitement of camping wore off, Jacob had made it his mission to ask Molly every chance he got when the two of them were going home. Though it annoyed her to no end, she would always smile at him and explain that honesty, she really wasn't sure.
One thing she was slightly shocked over, was that she hadn't bumped into Merle since she had seen him at the water station. She knew him like the back of her hand and knew it would've been difficult for him to stay clear of the chance to annoy her. Molly had an incline that it had something to with Daryl, with whom she had yet to set eyes on.
The reason the two of them had even worked out was due to their similar mindset. If it was the other way around, Molly knew she wouldn't go looking for him after what had happened. After all, she did leave with little explanation and though she tried to tell herself it was perfectly fine, Molly couldn't help the ache in her heart that caused her to feel bad about the whole thing.
Placing the final bottle of water into her bag, Molly zipped it shut as she pulled it onto her back, brushing the dirt from her trousers. She brushed a hand through Jacob's hair as she passed him, smiling softly at the grin he sent her when he looked up. In an instant, he had looked back to Carl, his eyes blown wide as he listened to the older boy read him the comic he had retrieved from his tent.
Glenn had mention to Molly that he was taking a group back to the city and was wondering if she wanted to tag along. Preferring to do things for herself rather than sit back and let others do it for her, Molly had agreed, asking Lori an hour later if she'd be kind enough to watch Jacob for her. Though she hated leaving him behind, Molly knew there was no way she'd take him into the city with her.
The gravel crunched beneath her boots as she made her way towards the minivan that would take the group down and into the city. She smiled at Andrea who held her hand out, taking Molly's bag from her and placing it into the back of the van.
"Glenn said you'd be coming." Andrea said, smiling softly at Molly. "Nice to have another woman on the ride." She added, pointing towards Jacqui who was talking to T-Dog. "Jacqui was going to tag along but I think she's changed her mind."
"Can't say I blame her, really." Molly muttered, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "Last time Glenn and I went, it wasn't pretty... Who knows what it's like down their now." Andrea nodded, agreeing with her as T-Dog climbed into the driver's seat, Morales taking the passenger seat.
Molly patted Andrea's shoulder as she made her way to the side of the van and climbed in, taking one of the seats by the window. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to mentally prepare herself for the trip into the city.
Though it didn't take as long as she thought it did, Molly didn't re-open her eyes until she felt the van move. She kept them closed when the van was filling up, ignoring the doors slamming and the engines starting. She groaned loudly, however, when she did open her eyes, glaring at the figure that was grinning at her from his spot opposite her.
"Long time no see, Jam-jar." Merle stated, folding his hands across his chest as he raised a brow. "Anyone woulda' thought yeh' been avoiding me." He added, grinning at the tight-lipped look Molly gave him. "Bu' we both know tha's not true, huh?"
"You know him?" Andrea asked from beside her, raising a brow as she pointed towards Merle. "You never mentioned anything…"
"Know me?" Merle laughed loudly, wiping a fake tear from his eye as he grinned at the two woman. Folding his hands across his chest. "We lived together. I sure 'ope she knows me!"
"You and Dixon?" Andrea muttered, looking as though she was trying her hardest not to judge and keep the disgust from her face. Molly noticed that Glenn, Morales and T-Dog were all trying to listen in without being caught. "Wow... I never would've th-"
"I'd never get with him if the population on earth was counting on it." Molly told her, shaking her head with a grimace. "We lived together sure, but we weren't together… We weren't fucking."
"No, tha' was my baby brotha', huh?" Merle was quick to speak up, acting as though he wanted everyone in the car to know her business. Molly glared at him, shaking her head as she huffed out a deep breath, trying her hardest to keep her temper under control.
"I thought you said it was just you and Jacob?" T-Dog asked from the driver's seat, looking in the wind view mirror with a raised brow. Molly's heart almost stopped beating as her eyes widened slightly, she could see the frown that had taken over Merle's face.
"Tha' fuck is Jacob?" He demanded, no longer looking humorous and looking as though he demanded an answer within ten seconds. "Yeh' got yerself another man?" He added, raising a brow as he leaned forward, slapping her knee when she didn't reply. "I'm talkin' to ya'!"
"Fuck off!" Molly growled, kicking her leg out at his hand as she returned the glare. The two sat glaring at each other. Molly really wanted to smugly tell him that if she did have another man, it was none of his business.
"Nah man, it ain't her man." T-Dog spoke up, feeling slightly tense and as though he had done more damage than good when he had mentioned Jacob. "Jacob's her boy." If looks could kill, T-Dog would've died in that moment.
Molly glared at the back of his head, hating the fact he had just brought up the topic she had all but hidden from the Dixon's since before she had even left them. She brought her eyes back to Merle, noticing the shock evident on his face as he opened and closed his mouth like a puffer fish.
"She's gotta' kid?" Merle asked, a grin taking over as he shook his head. "Yeh' sure it's alive? How tha' fuck did yeh' manage to keep somethin' alive when yeh' could barely keep ya' self alive?" He asked, not waiting for an answer as his brows furrowed. "Yeh' hate kids."
Molly sighed, brushing some hairs off her face as she looked at him, trying her best not to roll her eyes. "I hate kids but I like my own." She muttered, leaning her head back against the seat as she noticed Merle's eyes narrowing.
"The fuck did yeh' get knocked up?" He muttered more to himself than to her. "Kid must be like one or Somethin'." He added, looking as though his brain was beginning to hurt from all the thinking. Molly knew she was done for as soon as she noticed Glenn opening his mouth.
"Jacob's three." He said with a smile that fell at the look Molly was sending his way. "Er, sorry, I didn-"
"Fuck off!" Merle exclaimed loudly as Molly felt the van jerk slightly. T-Dog jumped at the explosive sound that had left Merle's mouth. He steered the van back onto the road as he glared at Merle's head in the wind view mirror. "How tha' fuck is he three if yeh' left us like fou-" Molly shook her head quickly, watching as his eyes widened and he pointed at her. He could remember the kid clear as day, could even see his facial features and the colour of his eyes as he sat on the ground, throwing dirt in the air. "Tha' kid gotta be Da-"
"I slept with Eddie Walters before I left." Molly told him, thinking of the first name she could remember from her past. "Yeah, he was hot as fuck, who was I to say no?" She winced at the look he gave her as he shook his own head, nodding slightly as though he found out the answer to every question he ever had about her leaving.
"You fuckin' little liar!" Merle hissed, pointing a finger in her face. Molly swatted his hand away, opting for looking away from him and ignoring his presence than give him the answer he already knew. "Ya' think I ain't gone tell him as soon as we get back?" He laughed dryly. " Yeh', we'll see what he's gotta' say 'bout it! One more look at tha' kid and we'll know."
Andrea finally broke through, raising a brow softly as she asked the question everyone else in the van so desperately wanted the answer too. "Tell who what?"
"None of your business." Molly muttered, before she moved her gaze back to Merle, all but glaring at him. "Shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"
"Tha' fuckin' kid of 'ers is my blood! Yeh', he's Daryl's boy, ain't he Molls?" He thought of it as a slight revenge to tell Andrea exactly what the two were talking about. Merle hated other people knowing his business and he wasn't sure why he even told them. He could see the hurt in Molly eyes along with the sheer anger.
"You can't prove shit, Merle!" Molly growled, shaking her head as she looked back out the window, noticing they were driving through the backstreets of the city. "Jacob's mine, no one else's."
"We'll see 'bout tha'." Merle grumbled, crossing his legs as he looked out the window, a deep frown on his face. Molly knew he was thinking about everything that had just happened because she was doing the same.
She tilted her head as she followed his lead and began to look out the window, noticing that the mini-van was driving through the back roads of the city. She winced at the bodies that littered the streets, flesh torn from uncoordinated parts of the bodies. Molly noticed rather quickly that not only were there bodies of different ages and gender, but also body limbs and blood covering random patches on the road. She fought a grimace and looked upwards, taking in the building structures for what they had become.
At first glance, the building themselves could be mistaken for being abandoned. However, once Molly's eyes began to adjust to the centre T-Dog had stopped the mini-van behind, she could see that most of the windows had been smashed in, along with the doors. Through the broken windows, Molly noticed that the store to the left of them had been severely looted.
"Let's try to do this as quietly and as quickly as possible..." Glenn mumbled, looking as though he was beginning to re-think agreeing to taking more than one person with him. He ignored the racial name Merle had mumbled under his breath and slid the door open.
Molly held her hand out in front of her, motioning for Andrea to exit the van before her. She waited until the blonde was out before she stood and exited after her, making her way round to the back of the van and taking the bag Morales was holding out for her with a small thank you. In no time, everyone had grabbed whatever it was they had brought along with them and followed after Glenn in a single file line.
To any spectators, it'd probably be a funny sight to see the six of them making their way towards and into down town Atlanta's abandoned shopping mall. Glenn lead the way, his head whipping in every which direction at the smallest of sounds while he held a baseball bat out in front of him. Morales followed close behind him as he too, had a bat held in front of him. However, it was clear that Morales knew how to hold one better than Glenn did. T-dog left a small gap between him and Morales as he followed third, a set of tools in his left hand as he walked a little more casually than the two in front of him. Looking out of place, Andrea walked behind T-dog, looking as though she'd rather be anywhere but where she was. Molly had her hands looped in the straps of her bag as she followed after Andrea, looking around at the city that she had never been to before the outbreak but had always wanted to visit. Finally, looking the least bit worried and more annoyed, Merle. Molly could hear him scoffing under his breath every so often.
One of the main reasons why she had taking such a curious mindset over the building structure was mainly to try and block out the groans and growls that were filling her ears from the distance. To say it scared her slightly would be correct. Molly had only seen glimpses of what actually happened when the virus took over and she could honestly say that it wasn't pretty.
In no time, Glenn had the back door open and was holding as he ushered everyone inside with his arm. Molly made her way inside after Andrea and hear Glenn shut the door not to long after. The group let out a few deep breaths at the fact that they had made it into the store without any run in's with the infected."How do we know there isn't any inside?" Andrea asked, staying behind Morales and T-Dog.
"We don't..." Glenn trailed off, noticing the slight look of horror that passed her face. "I mean, it was safe when I came here two days ago... The doors out front were intact and I don't think anyone got inside the door we just came through." Molly snorted, shaking her head as she pushed through the double doors and out into the open space where there were racks of clothing."Molly!" Glenn hissed.
Molly ignored her name being called as she surveyed the large room, noticing what Glenn was saying about the doors still being intact. She could see clearly through the glass and at the few infected people that roam the streets. She gulped slightly, noticing just how unaware they actually were as a man walked into a bin and fell to the ground dramatically. She snorted slightly, feeling bad for laughing but doing so under her breath any way. "It's clear!" She called out, spinning on her heal to face he door.
She stumbled slightly, noticing that Merle had accompanied her silently. She gave him a dirty look and ignored the grin he wore. She knew he had heard her laugh at the man outside and couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him. Molly shook her head, looking away as the rest of the group came in and broke of to search for anything useful.
Something towards the left of Merle caught Molly's attention. She began to make her way towards wall silently and kept her eyes on what it was that had peaked her attention. After a few moments of looking at the pile of what she had thought was dirty clothes, Molly noticed a head and arms. As she looked down at the body that lay against the wall, slumped over, Molly found it hard to look away. The level of decay the woman had been subjected to was almost nauseating. Not only was she missing skin on numerous parts of her visible skin, she was also covered in a mixture of caked blood and dirt. "Is she dead?"
Molly found herself asking no one in particular. She jumped with a yelp as Merle came from beside her and kicked the woman in the ribs. "Fucker's dead." He told her, bending down to rummage through her pockets as Molly scoffed and shook her head. "Wha'? Bitch is dead ain't she?"
"It's disrespectful, Merle." Molly hissed, forgetting that the woman in front of them was actually dead for a moment. "How'd you like it if it was you down there and I just kicked at you and stole your things?" She didn't wait for an answer and instead, made her way towards the back where she saw a medical kit and bandages.
However, half-way towards the back wall, Molly froze in her space as the rest of the group followed her lead. An alarming amount of gunshots had broken through the air around them, chilling their bones instantly as growls and groans began to follow. She looked towards Andrea, mutely asking if what she was hearing was real. It was then that she noticed Glenn was missing. Though she knew it'd be impossible for it to be Glenn, mostly due to the fact he didn't have a gun on him, she couldn't help but panic slightly.
As if the situation couldn't get any worse, Molly jumped as multiple infected people began to bang on the glass doors, noticing that there was living people within the building.
"Shit... Where'd Glenn go?" Molly hissed out, keeping her voice low as she looked around, noticing that Morales was point towards a side door that was open. She made her way towards it, noticing that the door hid a set of stairs that went up.
Sighing deeply, she took a seat on the bottom stair and decided to wait for Glenn before trying to figure out what the plan was going to be. There was no way she was going to leave him behind and if the others wanted to go, she'd bid them farewell and wait alone.