The group knew that it was better to take the truck and drive back to this camp of Lilly and Larry's as opposed to walking. Larry still wasn't keen on this arrangement, and Lilly seemed wary herself, due to the unsure look she sent Pete as she and her father climbed into the bed of the truck (since there was no more room inside). But this had to work...right? Safety in numbers surely had to be important.

Nick, Pete, Helen, and Luke only hoped that this would go better than it had with Liam. These two wouldn't be a lost cause, despite Larry's heart condition.

"The road will lead to an exit," Lilly explained through the open back window as Pete started the truck up again. "That's the quickest way back. Don't try anything."

"We said we wouldn't, did we?" Luke answered with a shrug.

"Don't get smart with us, boy," Larry spat.

"Let's go," Nick said, making a mental note to avoid this guy as much as he possibly could.

The exit wasn't far, maybe half a mile, and the four inside the truck were surprised to see that there were still lights on in Macon as well. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here. They kept the back window open so that Lilly, who already seemed to be a leader type of person, could give them the directions. She seemed satisfied enough that these new people were actually following them, and not taking them to a potentially dangerous place.

Maybe she was wrong about them after all; still, you could never be too sure. She knew that people could up and go crazy during times like this - whatever the hell was happening. "Make a right up here, and the camp will be on the left," Lilly finished her directions as Pete continued to drive. She and Larry were staying in an abandoned house, one that was a little ways from the town of Macon. The yard was fenced in, which was a plus, and the house wasn't too big, making it easy to protect.

She and her dad hadn't been here long, but it was long enough to fortify the place, boarding up the windows and gathering what little weapons and supplies they could. They didn't have much, been then again, it was enough for the two of them. That's why Lilly was apprehensive about letting the newcomers in...but she and Larry needed the numbers, as well as the supplies.

"That it?" Pete gestured to the house.

Lilly nodded. "Yeah."

"It's a little small," Nick commented, and Lilly glared at him through the window.

"You don't have to stay here, asshole," she retorted.

Pete sighed and shook his head. "Don't you ever think before you talk, boy?" he questioned.

"How do we know there's room for the six of us?" Nick inquired.

"There is," Lilly interjected.

"See?" Pete asked. "Everything's fine."

Larry and Lilly climbed out of the back while the others stepped out of the inside, making sure to lock up. Lilly led them all to the door - while Larry sent the newcomers dirty looks - and unlocked it. The inside wasn't very big, either - just a generic living room and kitchen, and there was a bathroom and what looked to be three bedrooms down the tiny hall. The walls were bare, though, as though a family had hurriedly taken down any mementos that may have been hung up before. But no matter. It looked safe, at least from first glance.

"Good, it's been untouched," Lilly said more to herself than to anyone else.

"This actually looks very nice," Helen spoke up, a small smile on her face. She looked around. "Y'all seem to keep this place protected well enough."

Lilly nodded once. "We keep every door and window locked when we're inside, no exceptions."

"That's smart," Pete said, approving of that.

"You, uh, get a lot of lurkers?" Nick inquired.

"There's some crazy shit going on, but we've only seen a handful in this area," Lilly explained. She briefly turned to look at Larry, who was leaning against the wall with his big arms crossed. "If we're lucky, we'll be able to hold up here for a while."

"Well you two have definitely done well for yourself so far," Luke got out.

Lilly nodded. "My dad and I are very tired...so, you guys can take the extra bedrooms and the living room and get some rest. In the morning after breakfast, we'll go into Macon and look for supplies..." she trailed off, gesturing down the hall. "Now that there's six of us, we'll definitely need more food and water."

Pete nodded. "Thanks for letting us stay here. We'll try to be as much help as we can."

"Goodnight," Helen bid both Lilly and Larry, before heading to one of the extra bedrooms. Lilly and Larry went into one bedroom, while Helen and Pete got their own, and Nick and Luke were stuck with the living room, sleeping on the tiny couches. However, at the moment, Nick couldn't sleep.

"Hey man, are you still awake?" he asked Luke.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?" Nick inquired.

Luke let out a little chuckle. "Of course I'm okay...why?"

Nick shrugged even though he knew Luke couldn't see him in the dark room. "I don't know...because everything is shitty...and your parents? You never said anything."

"It is what it is," Luke answered nonchalantly, which shocked Nick.

It was quiet for a few moments before he actually audibly responded. "I tell you what, though, one good thing about this goddamn apocalypse or whatever the hell it is, is that we don't have to sit in that damn pawn shop every day anymore..." he got out, and Luke laughed. "I'm serious, man, one more day in there and I would have lost it."

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad."

"We were flat broke in six months," Nick reminded him, wanting to tell him that entrepreneurship had been his idea, but decided not to push it. Then, he thought about it for a few moments. "...guess we did have some fun while we were alone in there, huh?" Here, he laughed too, thinking about the shenanigans that had gone on in that store for three years.

"We did; probably, y'know, scared some people away in the process," Luke answered. It was sort of nice to have a distraction from everything that was going on outside the fence.

Nick grimaced. "Thanks for the reminder."

"We should get some sleep," Luke said, changing the subject before the air became grim again. "Got a big day tomorrow, I'm guessin'. I don't think Lilly'll take any shit."

"I ain't goin' near that Larry guy," Nick commented. He frowned deeply, being reminded of his hateful father, who had passed away some years ago now. "He's got a fuckin' problem, and I'm better off not knowin' what that is."

Luke chuckled. "Goodnight, Nick."

"Yeah, night."

Morning came quickly. Helen decided to help out by setting up breakfast before most of them headed out, setting six bowls of food down. Nick woke up to the sounds of his mother, Pete, and Lilly talking, most likely about what was to happen that day.

"My dad can stay here, and maybe someone from your group, but we need most of us out there," he could hear Lilly saying.

"My mom can stay," Nick said quickly as he approached the table.

Helen frowned. "I'm just as capable as y'all..."

Nick shook his head. "You need to stay, it's safer, and you can help out with Larry. Make sure he's okay, right?" He looked for Pete and Lilly to back him up as they ate their breakfast.

Pete nodded in agreement. "He's right, Helen, it's not safe for all of us to go out there."

"And we won't be gone long," Lilly added as an afterthought. "Just enough time for us to go to Macon and grab what we can."

Helen sighed. "I suppose I could stay."

Just as she finished her sentence, Larry approached the table, and Luke began to wake up. It was still relatively early, but the sooner they went, the better. They'd be back at camp, safely, in no time. And if everything went in their favor, they'd have some more supplies and weapons before the day was over, and if they were really lucky, they might even find Larry's pills he needed. That was what Lilly hoped for the most.

"We should see if the strip mall still has supplies," Lilly directed as soon as breakfast was over. It was easy to see that she liked to take charge. "I know the way, I lived a few miles down the road from it. They've got a pharmacy there, too, but we need to check every place."

"Sounds like a plan," Pete said in approval. He seemed to be growing more trustworthy of Lilly, she already looked capable of surviving this thing if it lasted longer than a few weeks. He took his rifle and put a few rounds into it. "Let's head out."

"I don't like this," Larry threw in his two cents, glaring at Nick, Luke, and Pete. Helen looked at him wearily, knowing that this would be a long day alone with him.

"Dad, relax, I'll be fine," Lilly said. "Just...try to stay calm, okay? We're gonna see if we can find you another bottle of pills before you run out."

Larry grumbled. "Fine."

So the four of them went into the truck, Lilly in the front seat this time so she could, once again, give directions.

"So how far is this strip mall?" Nick questioned.

"About five miles," Lilly answered. "We should be able to get there quickly."

"We got a plan for when we get there?" Pete asked.

Luke laughed. "Don't die?" he suggested, and Lilly gave him a glare.

"Once we get there to scope the place out, we should be able to come up with something. We don't know how dangerous it is there...after all, it is in the city," she pointed out. But there were four of them, so getting in and getting out should be easy as long as they cooperated and worked as a team, as well as watched each other's backs when the time came for it.

"Have you been before to look for supplies?" Nick asked.

"I tried to," Lilly answered. "When all this shit started to happen...but there were too many people to risk going in...especially with my dad."

"Just hope it ain't a death trap now," Pete said. Who knew if some of those people were still there, but no longer alive?

"Turn left here," Lilly directed, pointing ahead.

There were a few dead bodies and some roaming ones, but nothing they couldn't drive through. A deserted strip mall soon came to view, at the end of a road. Lilly pointed it out, and Pete parked the truck near the first store, locking up afterwards.

"Don't use the guns unless it's an emergency," Lilly ordered. "Knives only, and anything quiet you may find in here."

"Got it," Luke said, nodding.

"We should stick together," Pete added, "Just in case." They got out of the truck, gathering what weapons they had, and surveyed the area before making any sudden moves. It seemed desolate enough, but Lilly knew better; she knew that the smallest thing could draw the walkers.

"This way," Lilly took the lead, walking slowly as the others followed her. "We'll go store by store and grab what we can if there isn't any trouble."

"Sounds good," Nick said, readying his knife. However, the first store was practically empty. There were only a few things of canned food, and an emergency first aid kit.

"It ain't much," Pete said. "But it's better than nothing."

"Let's keep going...there's gotta be something in this mall that hasn't been rummaged through yet," Lilly replied, leading the way to another store.

There were few things on the front shelves in this store, too, but they could see that the back area still looked to be somewhat stocked. How had people missed the items that were back here?

"One of us should check that back room," Lilly said, keeping her voice low for obvious reasons. "Make sure it's empty, too."

"I can do it," Nick volunteered himself.

"You sure, man?" Luke asked him.

Nick rolled his eyes. "I ain't a little kid, Luke."

Before anyone could reply, Nick took his rifle and went to the back, where the manager's office door was while the others began collecting the items that remained. He placed his hand on the knob and put his ear close to the door, listening for any sound that could be behind it. All was quiet on the other side, but the key was still in the lock. Probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, if someone had been hiding in this back room.

He opened the door, but the next thing he knew, he was pushed back onto the ground, trying to hold off a walker that had fallen on top of him. He let out a yell, trying to hold it back.

"FUCK!" he yelled, unable to help it. This walker, though, was at least fifty pounds heavier than he was, so it was a major struggle.

"Nick!" Pete called out, rushing towards his nephew. He only had his rifle on him, so he did the only thing he thought to do; shoot the walker. He aimed his rifle immediately at the head and pulled the trigger, spewing the blood and different remains on Nick who still seemed to be in shock. He stood up though, nonetheless. "You okay?" Pete questioned, but Nick didn't have time to answer because he was cut off by Lilly.

"Fuck!" she hissed. "That shot was loud enough to attract hundreds of them!" She threw her hands up in frustration as if to prove her point.

"Well I had to help him," Pete pointed out.

Lilly waived it off. "Everyone get your shit. We have to go now, before the walkers overrun this place." And just as those words had left her mouth, a horde could be heard outside the strip mall, which was never a good thing.

"Shit, come on!" Luke got out, running toward the exit.

The three men weren't far behind, but they had to kill a few of them to be able to catch up. Everyone practically jumped into the truck, and this time, Luke was the one driving. He started up the vehicle quickly and sped the hell away as quickly as they possibly could. It only took them about two minutes to get back to the little house.

Helen and Larry were still inside, seemingly avoiding each other. Helen stood up when her family, Luke, and Lilly entered.

"Back already?" she asked, but that was before she got a good look at Nick's clothes. "What happened?! Are any of you hurt?!"

"We're fine, Mom," Nick told her, hoping to lessen her worries. "Don't worry, the blood ain't mine."

"We, uh, ran into a little trouble at one of the stores," Luke added, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What do you mean trouble?" Larry inquired harshly.

"Nick got attacked, Pete decided to kill it by using a weapon that attracted more of them," Lilly explained, glaring at Pete.

"Now look here, I was tryin' to save my nephew, and I didn't have a knife on me," Pete answered in a defensive tone. He didn't look happy to be accused of anything.

"Stop, we can't fight like this!" Helen held up her hands, hoping to stop before things got out of hand.

Lilly sighed, squeezing her eyes shut. "If they make it over here, this place won't be safe anymore."

"They won't make it here," Nick said.

"How do you know that?" she shot back, turning to face the younger man. It was in that moment when she really started to regret inviting the other survivors along with them. If the house got destroyed, she and her dad wouldn't have anywhere else to go.

"They're slow, right?" Luke asked. "There's no way they'd be able to come after our truck..."

"You can never be too sure," Lilly said. "We'll just have to keep watch."