It had been three months since the world fell to the dead; it was now November and Naya had celebrated Clement's eleventh birthday despite still being nine. A few things had happened since the group moved to the Motor Inn and barricaded it for their safety against the undead. Hayden and Naya had been stunned by the arrival of Mark, an old friend of Hayden's that Naya had considered an uncle. He had shown up with a large supply of food that won him a place in their small group however, the food did not last in the three months that had passed.

And Lily had been very strict about the rations from the moment the supply started to dwindle. Instead of everyone getting a ration of food, only a few pekple would get food while others had to go without. The adults were adamant about the three children eating as much as possible but Naya and Clement felt some guilt over others starving for the sake of their own full bellies; Duck didn't mind so much. Lee and Hayden had been the ones to encourage the two to eat their rations even if they were hungry themselves. The only person who had a problem with it was Larry who practically demanded food all of the time.

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But not everything was terrible, Naya had become close friends with Clement and Duck in the three months they've been at the Motor Inn. The trio would often been seen playing Tag, Hide and Seek or even playing soccer with the ball that Kenny had found for them. Other times they would be spotted colouring pictures or drawing with chalk on the ground, the adults admiring the smiles on their faces despite the world falling apart around them. It was clear that Clement and Naya had a closer friendship but so did Lee and Hayden who had became best friends in the past three months.

Lee, Hayden and Kenny had gotten to know each other and became their own trio; a matching reflection to their respective kids. Naya often spent time teasing Clement including the one time she had sneakily taken Clement's hat from his head while Duck distracted him, she ran off and pulled the hat onto her own head with a teasing grin while Clement sent her a playful glare despite adoring the way his hat looked on her head. The hat had clearly shaped against the curls of his head which made it look bigger on Naya's small head, she had to hold it so it wouldn't cover her eyes.

"Okay, you're adorable but give me my hat back," Clement told her as he cornered her in the motel room that Lee and Clement stayed in. "And if I don't?" Naya asked with a wide teasing grin on her face. Clement raised a brow at that before rushing forward sprouting giggles from Naya as she attempted to dodge her best friend only for him to tackle her to the ground and begin tickling her. "S-stop!" Naya shouted through giggles, Clement laughed at the sight and continued to attack her sides before finally pulling back and letting her breath. "Do you give up?" Clement asked with a smile. "I -- give up," Naya held out the hat to Clement who pulled her in for a hug.

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Unfortunately, Clement's hat had gone missing and the three kids had searched the Motel completely for the important item only to come up with stickers, new colouring books and some magazines that Mark had taken from them. In hopes to cheer Clement up, Naya placed some dinosaur stickers onto the walkie-talkie along with a singular flower as a symbol of Naya's friendship with him. Clement had smiled brightly at Naya when she returned the walkie-talkie to him, her eyes brightened as he hugged her and admired the stickers. However, Naya was the next to be distraught when her stuffed cow, Beef had gone missing leaving her a mess to nightmares and anxiety.

Clement had informed Lee of his missing hat and Naya's missing stuffed cow and Lee had promised to try and find them. But that promise had been made couple days prior to the moment where Clement and Naya were kicking the soccer ball back and forth with one another while Duck was laying on the ground colouring. Lily was sitting on top of the RV as the lookout, she keeps her focus on the woods across from the Motor Inn as Lee, Kenny and Mark were out hunting while Carley, Hayden and Larry stayed in case they needed to protect their home. Lily's eyes turned to look down at Naya and Clement, she smiled seeing them acting like kids; it was something that eased the adults.

"Duckie!" Naya called in time for the boy to move his head, her kick of the ball was miscalculated. "Careful, NaNa," Duck called back with a chuckle, Clement laughed at the sight. "Maybe soccer is not for you," Clement told Naya who stuck her tongue out at him. "You kicked the ball too hard and I wasn't prepared," Naya told Clement who simply grinned at her, Duck laughing as he got up and kicked the ball to Clement. Naya waved the two boys off and sat down to the side with the journal Lee had found her after Hayden mentioned she enjoyed writing, she continued writing about the events of the past week. Clement glanced over at her making Duck tease him with kissy faces.

The two boys began playfully wrestling each other until Lily heard a rustle in the woods, the older woman stood up and aims her rifle towards it, watching carefully at the scene ahead of her. Lily looks down towards everyone and whistles, the sound causes everyone to stop and fall quiet. Clement and Duck quickly rushed over to Naya and pulled her up before the three hid behind the RV per Hayden's orders. Naya held both boys hands in her own as they stood in silence waiting for whoever or whatever is out there to reveal itself to Lily to determine the threat level they would be facing.

Suddenly, Lee runs out of the woods calling out, "Get the gates open! We've got wounded!" Hayden rushes forward with Carley and Katjaa to get the gates open for them. Kenny and Mark come up behind him with a man being held up between them, a teenage boy runs up behind them with a panicked and confused look on his face. "Shit! What the hell are they doing?" Lily growled out while the kids peeked out to see what was happening, Naya moved forward spotting the missing part of the man's leg causing her to gasp and hide her face in Clement's chest, Duck resting his hand on her back in hopes to help soothe her.

All of the adults were talking over one another, asking questions to Lee, Mark and Kenny about what had happened and why they bought new people back. Mark and the teenage boy take the man and lay him on the bed of the truck who's left leg had been amputated at the knee thanks to Lee's quick work of freeing him from a bear trap as he explained to Hayden once the man pulled him aside for answers. "I'll see what I can do," Katjaa told them, Hayden nodded and moved to assist her with his limited knowledge. "Kat, can you fix him?" Kenny questioned his wife. "Jesus, Ken! I... I don't know?!" Katjaa replied to him panicked.

"Hey, hey, relax guys. We do what we can and thats all we can do," Hayden calmed the situation knowing the panic would do more harm than good. "Lee! What the hell?! You can't just be bringing new people here! What were you thinking?!" Lily exclaimed angrily once they stepped away from Katjaa and Hayden. "Hey! You wanna calm down for a fuckin' minute!" Kenny snapped out at Lily in an annoyed tone. "Hey! Watch your mouth!" Larry growled out at Kenny, he didn't like the way his daughter was being spoken too. "No, I don't!" Lily growled at Kenny, "I want to know why you thought bringing more mouths to feed was a good idea?!"

"He would have died, if we left him!" Lee snapped back at her, he still had important morals in his life that weren't going to wash away just because it was the damn apocalypse; he had kids to influence in a positive light, not turn them into killers with no care for living beings. "So what!?" Larry asked, Hayden sneered from where he stood, he looked forward to the time they got rid of Larry's dead weight. "We are not responsible for every struggling survivor we come across!" Lily exclaimed to the men, "We have to focus on our group! Right here, right now!" Kenny and Lee were clearly unimpressed by her words.

"Well, hang on! We haven't even talked to these people yet! Maybe they can be helpful," Carley suggested. "Come on, Lily. These are people! People just trying to survive like us. We gotta stick together to survive!" Mark exclaimed from his point of view. "The only reason you're here is because you had food. Enough for all of us, but that food is almost gone, we've got maybe a week's worth left," Lily replied to Mark with a glare on her face. Naya whimpered from where she stood with Duck and Clement, they didn't really want to starve nor did they want to leave people to die.

"And I don't suppose you guys are carrying any groceries, are you?!" Lily asked the teenager. "Um... no," The teenager stammers fearfully. "Fine. You guys fight it out, then," Mark scoffs before he turns to the teenage boy, "Welcome to the family, kid." He walks away as Naya stepped forward, "But Lily, with more people, we have more resources to search for supplies and food." Lily was silenced by the child's words especially as she continued, "What if... that was you and your sick dad... would you want to be left behind like you weren't worth fighting for?" Lily's glare softened greatly at the girls soft tone, she was bouncing on the heels of her feet as she picked at the skin of her nails.

"Sweet pea, why don't you and the boys show Ben here your drawings," Hayden suggested with a sweet, proud smile on his face; Proud smiles were seen on Kenny, Lee, Carley and Mark's faces from her words. "Come over here and see what we drew," Naya spoke as she gently took Ben's hand in her own, "I want to know what you think and it'll help you relax." Ben was hesitant at first but decided he'd rather face the kids than the angry adults. Naya smiled as she stopped by a wall, "Ta-da!" Ben smiled at the drawing on the wall, it was a drawing of a wild animals running through the sarfari.

"Who drew this?" Ben asked the three children, the two boys pointed at Naya who blushed lightly in embarrassment. "I love art... art is subjective," Naya told Ben who nodded and sat down with the kids. Over with the group of adults, Kenny turned to Lily with his simmering anger returning, "You know, you like to think you are the leader of this little group, but we can make our own damn decisions! This isn't your own personal dictatorship!" Lily glared at Kenny as Carley spoke up directed at Kenny, "Oh, come on! You're being dramatic!" She scoffed at the two, "Everything always turns into an power struggle between you two. I'm not going to be part of that!"

Carley walks away leaving Lee and Kenny standing with Lily and Larry, the older man glaring down at the two men. "Hey, I didn't ask to lead this group!" Lily said to Kenny. "Everyone was happy to have me distributing the food when there was enough to go around. But now that it's running out, suddenly I'm a damn N*zi!" Lily exclaimed feeling like nothing she does was good enough for the two men standing before her. "It doesn't matter who's in charge!" Lee snapped out at the two, "Those people are here now. I guess we just have to decide what happens next." Kenny and Lily were both unhappy with Lee's view.

"No, Lee, it does matter!" Kenny said to his friend, "One person can't be in charge of everything! You know, it might feel safe for you to sit on the fence, but sooner or later, you're gonna have to decide whose side you're on!" Kenny walked away from them to cool off knowing the conversation was getting nowhere if Lee wasn't on his side. "I don't see any of you stepping up to make the hard decisions! My girl's got more balls than all of you combined!" Larry shouted at Lee. "Dad, please. Why don't you go help Mark with the wall?" Lily asks her father, calmly. Larry looks over at her before glaring at Lee, he walked away from the two to follow his daughters instructions. Lee sighed as he looked up at Lily, the woman frowning.

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Rosemary Speaks

Another chapter and some more in depth sights into the friendships. Oh boy, Duck's storyline is gonna hurt....

Thoughts, questions or suggestions?

See you in the next chapter!