The screams that echoed around Molly made her whole body seize up. It's a known fact that we cannot feel the pain of another, but the screams coming from up ahead was agony seeping into Molly's skin. Her eyes shot upwards and landed on Sophia; the cause of the screams. Molly watched as the young girl struggled to shuffle out from under the left side of the car.

Molly frowned, not understanding what the issue was. It took her all of two seconds before her eyes drifted over to the right from Sophia and take note of the decayed walker trying to grab at Sophia from the other side of the car.

Without a care for anything or anyone other than Sophia in that moment, Molly told Carl to keep quiet and to stay where he was as she shuffled out from the car they were under and around the left side of it.

She crouched down, insuring nothing was about to jump out and grab her before she ran for the car Sophia had been under, reaching down and helping her out while she eyed the small group of walkers that had stayed behind due to the commotion. "Shit." She mumbled, not wanting to draw the other walkers back to them. "Sophia." She hissed when the young girl had clearly panicked and backed herself up in order to climb under the metal road side behind them.

Molly swore again and followed suit, looking over her shoulder to insure she was out of arms reach. She easily caught up with Sophia and gripped her hand, pulling her along through the woods in order to try and put some distance between them and the walkers who had followed.

She counted four walkers who were stumbling after them, tripping as they did so. Molly gripped Sophia's hand a little tighter and nudged her behind her own form when something, or rather someone had came to a stop in front of them.

Rick seemed to materialize out of nothing, breathing a little heavier as though he had run faster than the two of them had in order to catch up before the walkers. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine." Molly replied, looking at Sophia to insure that she was actually okay.

"S-Shoot them!" Sophia seemed to be out of her mind with worry as Molly could feel the young girl shaking.

"Those walkers on the road would hear it, Sophia." Rick hissed out, shaking his head. "Then it wouldn't be just four, it'd be hundreds. Come on, Come on!" He added, grabbing Molly's arm and pulling her along while she pulled Sophia.

Rick lead the way, continuing to look over his shoulder to see if they made a tolerable enough distance between the walkers and themselves. He came to a sudden stop, forcing Molly and Sophia to stop behind him as he eyed the small drop that lead to a small creek.

"Rick." Molly warned, noticing that the growls were growing louder once more.

He eyed where they had come from before he jumped and landed in the small water with a splash. Molly held Sophia's hand's and helped her climb down into Rick's arm's who helped her land on her feet. She took Rick's hand he was holding out and climbed down herself, her shoes and bottom of her trousers instantly becoming damp.

"You two stay here." Rick said, pushing the two of them towards some undergrowth that was growing from where they had jumped.

"Rick, are you sure you can handle four on your own?" Molly quickly asked. She had no doubt that he'd be able to do it, just a little doubt on if he'd come out of it unscathed.

Rick nodded, motioning with his finger to his lip for them to stay quiet. Once the walkers were in his vision, he made a show of making as much noise as was humanly possible.

The walkers took to the bate and threw themselves from the small ledge, landing the the water where they stumbled to their feet and followed after Rick.

Molly closed her eyes and for a moment, she forgot the world she was in. For a moment, she was back at her small cabin, the birds chirping and the sun rising while she sat out on her porch with a freshly made coffee and Jacob asleep in his bed. She smiled. Smiled as though everything was okay and everyone was living normal lives.

She smiled until she was tugged slightly. Instantly, she was torn from her bliss. She looked down at a petrified Sophia and shook herself from her daze.

"M-Molly?"

"You're fine." Molly smiled, nodding as though she was trying to convince herself of what she was saying. "We're both fine and we're going to give it another minute just to be sure we're alone and I'm going to get you straight back to your mum, alright?"

Sophia nodded, gripping at the doll she had been clutching the whole time.

As planned, Molly counted a full two minutes before she even thought of moving again. She gripped Sophia and moved her as far back as possible before she slowly inched out from the undergrowth and scanned the area.

Not seeing anything, Molly inched herself out until she was fully exposed once more. She spun around, looking in all directions before she let out a whistle, listening for any sort of noise. When she was certain the two of them was alone, she called for Sophia who was quick to stumble out and grip onto her.

Molly lead the way, moving around the undergrowth and helping Sophia to climb up onto where they had originally been. Once Sophia was up, she climbed up, gripping the trees to help her get good footing on the ground.

"Right." Molly sighed once she had made it up. "Were going back to the highway now okay? Now listen, we're not going to talk. We're not going to make any sort of noise because I can't be sure how safe it is. We're going to walk, not run and we're going to stick together okay. You don't let go of my hand, not for anything. Okay?"

"Okay." Sophia's voice was almost a whisper.

"Give me your hand." Molly mumbled, gripping Sophia's hand in her own and setting off in the direction in which they had ran from.

As the pair moved, Molly wondered if Rick would be back with the others. She wasn't entirely sure what she was meant to do but didn't fancy waiting around when there was still a risk of walkers stumbling upon them. She also wondered if Rick was alright or not. Four walkers is a lot to take on.

She took calculated steps forward, her eyes flicking from the surrounding area to her shoes where she insured she missed anything she deemed could be too loud. Twice she had taken to big of a step in order to miss out a pile of leaves and twigs that she didn't want to crunch.

Credit to Sophia where it was due, the young girl seemed to pick up on how Molly was moving pretty quickly and almost mirrored her walk in a way. As in, Molly would take an awkward step in order too narrowly avoid stepping on a branch, Sophia would follow her steps to a t. Even if that meant almost stumbling over in the process.

Suddenly, Molly came to an sudden stop. The snarling noise of Walkers had filled her ears. The noises grew louder with each passing second. "Shit." Molly muttered, gripping Sophia's hand a little tighter and made a u-turn. She speed up, almost jogging back the way they came.

"W-What's happening?" Sophia's terrified voice asked, the young girl looking far from okay.

"We're fine." Molly spoke, forcing a smile down as she shot a look over her shoulder.

A small cluster of Walkers seemed to have broken off from the initial hoard and found themselves roaming the side forest. Unfortunately for Molly and Sophia, they had chose the side of the forest they were currently in. Not wanting the frighten the girl more than she already clearly was, Molly opted for speeding up rather than trying to explain the predicament they were in.

With nowhere she truly knew, Molly wasn't entirely sure what she was aiming for. She slid around tree's, avoided colliding into them while also trying to keep her footing. All while dragging Sophia behind her.

It was almost as though there was a God above who heard her silent pleas for seconds after she had took a narrow turn, a cabin up ahead came into her view. In a split second decision, Molly made a beeline for the cabin, Sophia being pulled behind her.

Molly opened the door, not caring if anyone or anything was inside and slid in, insuring Sophia was behind her before she pushed the door closed and dragged the bookshelf across to cover the door.

Sophia was just about to speak but was silenced by Molly who stared her down and held a finger over her closed lips. Molly pointed to the corner where the bookshelf had been and thankfully, Sophia understood. The young girl moved for the spot and slid down while Molly walked the cabin, insuring it was safe and that there wasn't a second door she needed to cover.

Molly moved back to Sophia, crouching down and pulling the girl forward before she slid behind her and wrapped Sophia in her arms.

Together, the pair sat silently in the corner for what could've been hours. The snarl of the Walkers had come and gone and the light from the sun high in the sky had disappeared. Sophia had closed her eyes and had not opened them for a good few hours, her chest slowly rising and falling while Molly sat with her eyes shifting from window to window.

She prayed for a miracle, that she would be able to find the others when morning came, that she would be able to find her bearing and most importantly, that she would be able to keep Sophia safe until she managed to reunite the young girl with her mother.

(A/N; This chapter isn't as long as the others as I haven't updated this book in ages and just wanted to get something out for you guys. Hopefully I can get the next one out much sooner. Thank you for being patient.)