Molly - Part 1

Chapter 18

Chelsea stepped across a jagged path of rubble, covering her mouth as she squinted through the dust still lingering. She spied a dark shadow within and risked cutting herself to get closer. Gisele called out her name, but she ignored her, lifting a loose piece of scrap and shoving it so that she could see what lay beneath.

"Oh my god."

There he was. The killer of south-end, squished under the towers it had sworn to protect. She could see other bodies--human bodies, and there lay a couple, embracing, charred.

"So many dead," Chelsea said. "For nothing. Great."

They searched for a little longer, then Gisele finally convinced Chelsea that it was over.

"Not like there was much to look for in the first place."

It was the truth: this part of the city was just apartments, where the timid lay behind locked doors. If they did come out, Chelsea doubted they'd have much to give away.

That night they lay huddled beneath what was once the stars. Gisele said nothing as Chelsea spoke of her past, their present. She was not morbid but she hadn't been so lucky in life.

That gray nothing, watching. What Chelsea would have given to peel back the lid.

"And then what?"

Chelsea stirred. "Then I moved here. We promised we'd keep in touch, but you know how it is."

Gisele lay her head against Chelsea's lap.

"Chelsea?"

She pulled back a part of her hair. "Yeah?"

"Promise we'll keep in touch, if anything should happen."

Chelsea didn't respond. The idea of being without Gisele tore her soul apart.

"I don't like forgetting things." Chelsea felt Gisele shiver. "My grandma died not knowing who I was. Who my mom was. I don't want to go out like that. Better to just..."

Gisele closed her eyes. Chelsea stroked her hair.

"I know," Chelsea whispered.

The next morning they climbed out of the rubble and made their way into the rises of the rich.

Chelsea crossed the precipice. The first to cross and not be threatened in a long time.

"I just don't think there's gonna be much."

"You're probably right."

Gisele turned to observe the border she had just passed.

"That was easy."

"C'mon. Maybe the robot was hiding treasure."

Gisele smiled.

They came upon a field that must have once been a trash heap; now the trash was spilling to the side and running into a duvet which would eventually run into the sewers. Chelsea forced herself not to breathe until they were far enough away from the smell.

Down, further into a veil of quiet nothing, the sort of quiet reserved for places of true-death. Chelsea, in the months which had followed the end, had grown used to this sort of quiet. She realized with terrible certainty that they were getting familiar with this new future.

"Chelsea."

Gisele had gone up a little ways and was now waving for Chelsea to get back. Chelsea's backpack made a soft ting when she fell against the wall, cringing as she waited for whatever had bothered Gisele to find them.