"Once again! Who are you? And what are you doing here!?" The man demanded, as he pulled out a pistol and aimed it directly at my forehead.

"Me? My name is Tom, and it's a pleasure to meet you" I said with a smile, "The others are Doug, Lily and her dad, Larry. As for your second question, well we saw the car here stashed with food, and in good conscience, we were waiting for the owners to show up... we were gonna give you guys around two days... and if you didn't return by then, well... we'd take it as you would all likely be dead... but, anyways... who are you guys?"

The man looked perplexed by my honesty and slowly lowered the gun.

"...Alright, my name's Stanley and this is my wife Tess and our daughter, Elizabeth..." Stanley said as he gestured to his wife and child.

"Um... hi" the little girl Elizabeth said shyly.

"Hi, nice to meet you..." The woman, Tess said.

"Say, did you see a little kid around here?" The man, Stanley asked.

"No. Why?" I asked back.

"...I lost our son Adam, we were out looking for him... to be honest, I don't think he made it..." Stanley said sombrely.

"Oh..." I said, at a loss for words, "I'm... sorry"

"It's... alright, he's not the first member of the family we've lost... just a couple of weeks ago, we lost my brother Alex... he got bitten... had to put him down," Stanley said.

"I know that feeling..." I said.

"Yeah, it sucks right... anyways, do you guys think you could give us a place to stay for the night? It's always kind of cramped in the car..." Stanley said.

"Wait, how did you know we were from a group?" Larry asked.

"I didn't. But, you just confirmed my theory" Stanley said with a smile.

"I like him," Doug said, "He's smart enough to pick up on the fact that just us four together wouldn't be able to survive... so, using some analytical abilities and guesswork, well... he figured out we're from a larger group"

"Alright, so, uh... should we carry the food to the motel or get some gas in this thing and get it running so we can get there at a quicker pace... and it'd be safer too," I said.

"Well, do you guys have any gas on you at the moment?" Stanley asked.

"Nope" I answered simply.

"Then, I guess that we should get the supplies out of the back and one or two of you can help us with a guide and protection from the... dead," Stanley said.

"Alright, I'll guard and Doug will guide... that good?" I asked everyone.

"Yeah, alright, that makes sense..." Doug said.

"Alright, I'll get two boxes!" Larry said as he went to the back of the car and pulled two boxes of supplies out effortlessly.

Everyone else grabbed a box and we set off, back to the motel.