Serendipitous

26.

"Molly, dinner" Carol's voice calls out from the dining room, Molly doesn't answer. I turn to walk down the hallway, maybe she's resting in one of the bedrooms.

"She's not in there" Maggie tells me.

"Where is she?" Dale asks both of us, I turn to face Carl.

"Carl, when's the last time you saw your sister?" I ask.

"This afternoon" He answers.

"She seemed worried about something but wouldn't say, asked me not to say anything" Andrea chimes in, she knew Molly left and didn't say anything to me?

"You knew she left?" Lori asks now looking upset, "And you decided not to tell me? I'm her mother. Did she ask you not to tell me?"

"She didn't say that" Andrea responds calmly. Wherever Molly went, she couldn't have gone too far, but why wouldn't she at least have told me?

"Nobody panic. Gotta be around here somewhere" I tell them, but I know I must look panicked. Without hesitation, I don't waste anymore time before going outside and walking around looking for Molly. It's getting darker out and the sun is going down too quick for comfort at this point. Maybe she decided she needs some air so she can figure out how to tell her mom she's pregnant, maybe she just wanted to make a run into town by herself—But that would be reckless. She's barely learning how to shoot and on top of that she's pregnant. That would be very dangerous for her to just take off on her own like this just to make a trip to the store. When I reach the brink of the now darkened road, the sun has completely gone down and the stars are out. My eyes catch sight of a old beige car that I don't recognize. The car is laying on its side, clearly flipped a couple of times, two walkers snarling rabidly trying to get to whoever is on the inside of the car. The could be a complete stranger—or it has to be Molly. Part of me hopes not her, and if it is her, if she is found then I hope both of them are alright. I hope she doesn't even have a scratch on her.

"Molly?!" I shout, worry and dread fill me as I run toward the car. I grab my knife before stabbing the two walkers in the head killing them instantly, the snarling stops as the hushed sound of quick breaths can be heard from inside of the car through the cracked glass of the windows. When I kneel down to look in the car, my eyes are met with Molly who looks completely horrified. I don't ask her what happened, my hands react before my thoughts can connect with what happened, all I can think about right now is getting her out and making sure she's safe—that they're both safe. My hands jerk the car door but it won't open, I go to the other side of the car where the window is shattered out completely.

"Give me your hand, you're gonna have to crawl out" I tell her, my hand outreaches for her. She doesn't speak but her petite frame begins doing as I instruct as she makes her way out of the window. Her small hand connecting with mine once she stands to her feet, I pull her body close to me and hug her tightly.

"You're all right?" The words leave my mouth sounding a lot calmer than I actually feel. But how do I know the baby is alright? If she's alright then what about the baby? How many times did the car flip?

"I'm fine" She breathes, still seeming to be shocked from the incident,

"You're not fine. I saw the wreck. Let me look at you. Oh." I sigh deeply at the new small cuts on her left cheek as well as a few scrapes on her right shoulder, "What happened?" My hands cup her face careful not to touch the wounds on her cheek.

"Looked down at the map and hit a walker..." She speaks quietly, blinking once before going quiet again. Why did she leave in the first place? She could have been hurt so much worse.