Molly (1/10)

Chapter 30

Molly sat on the ground, dust rolling out then settling. She brushed her hair with her hands, never taking her eyes off the forward path, then looked up at Teddy.

"We might have to go back to the station."

Teddy exhaled. "That doesn't sound like a great idea."

"There are events happening in the city I did not foresee happening."

"Molly, you're only one person. You can't be more than that."

Molly thought about what Teddy said for a long while, going over and kicking a pebble down the hill, towards lights unending.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I've been leading you on. I don't really know how to make things right. I thought I did. I thought if I just...helped, it would be fine, but this rot is very deep. Very, incredibly deep." She sighed. "I don't know."

"You're doing what you can." Teddy said, waving smoke out of his face. "That's why I'm still around."

He looked out towards where the station lay, towards the docks.

Eventually they went down, hiding from the rain. They came upon bodies scattered here and there. Wouldn't be long now, Molly thought. In a lot of ways this was only the beginning.

They went into a warehouse. Above a massive gear churned, the pulleys rising up and into rafters where spools of coord turned endlessly. Energy to feed a nation. Molly couldn't believe the facility was still standing.

"Holy shit," Teddy said, walking up to it.

"We have to hide it."

"Molly..."

"I know. Maybe...shit."

She dusted off her pants, then sat against a strand of metal, touching her forehead.

"You okay?"

He was simple, yet Molly found him to be better than anyone else she'd found so far in the city.

"I'm fine. I...think I have a plan."

He offered a hand to help her up, then: a sharp ping, followed by the rumble of something large moving against metal.

They darted away. A giant metal-creature fell into sight, burrowing against the earth, its skittering legs like that of a lizard's.

"What the hell is it?" Teddy whispered as the machine lumbered past them, snapping at the sky and then shuddering against a cool gail-wind breeze.

"A mistake."

"One of the scientist's?"

"No," Molly said, shaking her head slowly. "Another machine, made from the ground-up. Something new we have to contend with."

The machine was gone; what was left was a hole, a gash in the city itself.

Teddy sighed, coming up alongside Molly and squinting towards that same horizon.

"What's going to happen when we get up there?" he said, nodding at the station.

"There's going to be a climax," Molly whispered, then stirred. "We have to go."

As she walked, she realized Teddy wasn't following.

"You gonna tell me how it happened?" he said.

"You know what happened. The rockets came down."

"Yeah, but--"

"And that's all you'll ever know for sure," she stated. "That's it."

Molly didn't like talking down to Teddy, but there was a lesson he had to learn, and quickly:

"I need good people who can come together to make things right. I have no idea if this is even possible anymore. We might just be treading water. But I'm going to try anyway. You can leave anytime. It's your call."

After a moment, Teddy cleared his throat, then smiled.

"I'm ready."

Molly searched Teddy's eyes, to find a hint of a lie.

Nothing.

"Okay."

She took his hand. At first, Teddy just stood there, staring at it, then when Molly walked away she heard him exhale and follow.