The next morning, Nick was the first one up. He stood at the safe room door, on guard watch. He turned to face Ellis and Maya; they were sleeping. Nick put his Magnum in its holster and walked over to Maya and Ellis. Nick kneeled down and rubbed Maya's head gently, trying not to wake her.

"She's so frail." Nick mumbled to himself as he stroked her layered bangs.

Ellis opened his eyes and nearly jumped out of skin, trying not scream, but a small yelp came from his mouth anyway.

Nick narrowed his eyes in annoyance and shook his head.

"Jesus, Nick. Trying to make me wake her up?" Ellis scolded.

"I was checking up on her." Nick grumbled.

"She's fine, Nick." Ellis sighed.

"You didn't fuck her over night, did you?" Nick whispered viciously.

Ellis narrowed his eyes. "No, Nick! Why would I do that her? She's too young for that kind of thing!"

"Just making sure." Nick backed away from Ellis and Maya.

Ellis stretched his muscles out but he didn't move too much, he didn't want to wake Maya up. He sat up and carefully crawled out of the sleeping bag and sat against the wall to watch Maya sleep.

Nick took a quick glance at Maya and watched for a brief moment to see her sleep.

"You seem very interested in her, Nick. You always watch her sleep." Ellis whispered with a small grin.

Nick sighed. "You're one to talk, Ellis. Plus, I only watch her because I don't want her to die so early in her life. If I were her father, I would give anything to protect her."

Ellis smiled at Nick. "Aww, that's sweet, Nick. But why treat her like you don't like her? She looks so much like you; the hair, almost your eyes and she has quite a beautiful face for her age."

Nick shrugged. "I know nothing about taking care of a child, niether do you, Ellis. And I don't treat her like you do because I don't get attached to people quickly, like you do."

"Well, let her stay with us for a while and maybe you'll get used to her faster." Ellis suggested.

"I'll think about it, Ellis. I can't say that I'll say yes, but I can't say I'll say no either." Nick sighed.

After a little while longer, Maya finally awoke from her slumber. Nick was on guard once again and Ellis was packing supplies. Maya kept quiet and slipped out of the sleeping bag as quietly as possible. She got to her feet finally but she winced in pain a little as she walked slowly to far end of the room.

"Where do you think you're going, missy?" Nick spoke finally without looking at Maya.

Maya jumped when Nick spoke to her.

Nick looked over his shoulder at Maya; Ellis looked at Maya too.

Maya moved her eyes to the floor and stood still with her hand on her wound. Nick put his Magnum away and walked over to Maya. Maya stood still; her back was to Nick.

When Nick got to Maya, his head was to her ear. Maya felt his breath along her neck and she flinched when she felt his presence.

"Something bothering you, kid?" Nick said in a low whisper.

When Nick spoke, Maya nearly jumped out of her skin and faced Nick with slight hestation.

Nick gave her a small smile then it went back to a frown. He stood tall again and walked over to Maya in a calm manner and kneeled down to her face; his face was about only a few inches from hers.

Maya's face turned a little red when Nick was that close to her.

Ellis watched them both and gave a quiet chuckle to himself.

"Is your wound bothering you, kid?" Nick asked with a smirk.

Maya looked into Nick's green-eyed gaze. "Yeah, a little bit."

"Alright, take your sweatshirt off, I'll check your wound." Nick said calmly.

Maya sat on her knees and removed her sweatshirt and lifted her blood-stained white t-shirt.

Nick knelt down and moved Maya's hair out of the way and got his first aid kit from his bookbag that was on the floor. He opened up the first aid kit and got a fresh bandage patch and the anti-infection spray.

"Ellis, stand guard at the door. The zombies will smell her blood once I take her bandage off." Nick demanded.

Ellis gave Nick a nod of agreement and walked over to door and got his pistols out of his holders. He looked outside for any zombies; none were around.

"Alright, kid. When I start taking the bandage off it may sting a little but just remain still, alright?" Nick spoke in a calm voice.

Maya nodded and lowered her head and looked at the floor. Nick peeled the bandage off her wound; Maya gave a little yelp of pain when her wound was exposed to air. Nick inspect her wound; it was healing, but fairly slowly.

Nick heard gun shots; it was Ellis. Nick was right, the zombies did smell Maya's blood and they were quick to smell it.

Ellis heard a Hunter growl; he glanced over at Maya, she looked so still but he noticed she was trembling.

"Nick, Maya is trembling. She heard the Hunter." Ellis told him.

Nick looked at Maya and saw her eyes were wide with fear and she was trembling. She looked as if she was going to scream when the Hunter would yell. Nick covered her mouth so she wouldn't scream; he wrapped his other arm around Maya's waist to comfort her.

"Ellis, kill that Hunter before she has a heart attack." Nick demanded.

"Alright." Ellis responded as he shot the Hunter in the head, killing him.

Maya stopped trembling, but she kept herself close to Nick. Nick let go of Maya's mouth and looked down at her. Maya had her eyes on the door; Nick tapped her wound for a second to get her attention; she gave a wince of pain and she looked at his chest.

"You alright, kid?" Nick asked reassuringly.

Maya shook her head. "That was the thing that killed my parents, and was attempting to kill me too." Maya gave a little whimper.

Nick hugged her gently and laid her against his warm chest. "Trust me, kid. That was a Hunter. You have nothing to fear, me and Ellis are here to protect you, I promise." Nick said to her as he hugged Maya a little bit more tightly.

Maya closed her eyes for a minute then opened them again and saw claw scars on Nick's chest. She lifted her hand and was about to touch them, when Nick grabbed her wrist.

"Kid, don't get ideas about touching those scars. They have nothing to do with you." Nick sneered.

"S-sorry." Maya mumbled and looked at the floor.

Nick let go of her wrist and turned her around so that her back was facing him. He lifted Maya's shirt up to see her wound; he got the anti-infection spray and sprayed some on it. Maya cried out in pain; Nick quickly put his hand over her mouth and he narrowed his eyes as he did so.

"Do you want a Hunter to come in here and give you more wounds like that, kid?" Nick sneered.

"No, that just really hurts." Maya mumbled as she wiped tears of pain from her eyes.

"Nick, she's going to be in pain until she heals. You were in pain too when you got wounds like hers."

"Yeah, I know. I at least I didn't scream everytime I got this medicine in my wounds." Nick pointed out.

Maya narrowed her eyes and wanted so much to punch Nick in the face; but she held her anger in.

Nick put a fresh bandage patch on Maya's wound and lowered her shirt. He put the anti-infection spray back in the first aid kit and put it in his bookbag.

Maya stood up and put her sweatshirt on again and got her bookbag and threw it over her shoulder; as painful as it was for her; the only thing she did was close one eye and tremble for a moment.

"You two ready to go?" Nick questioned as he threw his bookbag over his shoulders and got his Assult Rifle in his hands.

Ellis gave a nod and got his AK-47 in his hands and threw his bookbag on. Maya just stood quietly beside Ellis and looked to the side of her at the ground. Ellis gave Maya a look of sympathy for her since he was the only one who could protect her since Nick was leading them onward.

One hour later. . .

After walking for nearly an hour Nick and Ellis were keeping up with killing zombies but Maya was beginning to fall behind. Her turquoise eyes were beginning to lose their color; Maya was starting to get weak; really weak.

Ellis went to Maya and was trying to encourage her to try to keep her moving but it seemed too much for her; her wound was beginning to open up again; it wasn't healing properly.

"Maya, you have to try and keep walking." Ellis suggested painfully.

"I-I can't, Ellis. My shoulder hurts; really bad." Maya said as she closed both eyes in major pain.

"Nick! We have to stop, Maya is losing strength." Ellis yelled to him.

"For Christ's sake." Nick mumbled to himself as he began walking towards Ellis and Maya.

Suddenly, all three of them heard a horde call; at the worst possible moment too. Nick ran towards them but was suddenly tripped up by a Hunter.

"Nick!" Ellis yelled.

Without warning, a gunshot came from out of nowhere and killed the Hunter that tripped Nick.

"God damn, I hate those crazy-legged jumpers. I hate all these zombies; they're disgusting." A female voice spoke.

Nick looked up to see a girl with shoulder-length, layered, bright pink hair. She wore a leather jacket and black skinny jeans. The girl lowered her hand to Nick's level to help him up; he grabbed her hand and was helped up.

The pink-haired girl grabbed a pipe bomb from her belt and threw it behind her; seconds later, the zombies that had chased the pipe bomb blew up and some blood and guts landed on her.

"Ahhhhhh! God damn, get the the blood and guts off me!" The pink-haired girl screamed and began running in tight circles and shaking her head to get the blood and guts out.

"Uh. . . ?" Nick was speechless and he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Nick, who's that?" Ellis yelled from a distance.

"Just another lunatic, Ellis. But this one has pink hair." Nick yelled as he began to chuckle.

"HEY! I'm not a lunatic! And don't make fun of my hair!" The pink-haired girl growled. She ran her fingers through her hair to get the small clumps of guts out of it.

"Uh-huh." Nick said as he looked at her with a smirk and crossed his arms.

"You better watch your bad attitude ass, man. Unless you wanna get fucked up?" The girl said as she narrowed her hazel eyes and wagged her fist at Nick.

"Psssh. Are you kidding me? I'm not gonna fight a pink-haired lunatic who just "happened" to save my life." Nick narrowed his eyes and stepped in front of the girl about few inches from her face.

"You're asking for it, man." The girl began threatening Nick.

"Nick, just stop arguing with her and ask for her name." Ellis yelled from where he sat with Maya.

"See, that's someone who is nice enough to ask what my name is. The name is Rhett, Rhett Conan." Rhett said as she flipped her hair flirtatiously.

"Oh brother, even her name says it all. She is a lunatic." Nick sighed as he grinned a little.

Rhett raised her fist and was about to punch Nick in the face when Ellis walked over to Nick and Rhett with Maya in his arms; blood was on his hand from where he was holding Maya's shoulder.

"Ellis, what happened to her?" Nick asked as his attitude changed.

"Nick, her wound opened up. It needs fixed right away or else, Maya will die."

Nick's face turned into anger and didn't even want to look at Maya's still breathing body. Nick turned away and walked only a few steps and said something horrible.

"Ellis, I told you. I didn't want her to come. Now shes going to die because her wound is costing her life." Nick sneered in anger.

"Nick, was it? I can fix her. I took some medical classes, We just need to get to a secure area for me to perform the surgery." Rhett said as she rested her hand on Ellis' shoulder.

"Surgery? Are you crazy, lady?" Nick yelled.

"Yes, I am. I am also abnormal. But it's only a minor surgery, it'll be quick." Rhett reassured both Nick and Ellis.

"Fine, lets just get going." Nick demanded as he began to walk.

Two hours later . . .

Finally, Rhett, Nick, Ellis and Maya made it to a secure house out in the middle of the woods; before they were on an abandoned highway. All four survivors walked into the house but Maya was still slightly unconcious; she whimpered in pain a few times before finally waking up to a state of agony.

"Shh, Maya, calm down. I realize you're pain but you have to stay quiet." Ellis told her gently.

"Ellis, lay her down on the floor and remove her sweatshirt. I'll begin surgery right away." Rhett said as she threw some white rubber gloves on that she got from her first aid kit.

Ellis lay Maya on the floor on her back and removed her sweatshirt; he then turned her over on her stomach and slid the one half of her shirt off gently and sat down beside Nick.

"You guys might want to cover your ears, in case she screams really loud." Rhett said as she got a needle ready for stitching.

Nick and Ellis looked at each other; thinking if Maya was hurt that bad, she wouldn't live much longer.

Rhett lowered the hand that had the needle and began stitching Maya's shoulder wound. Maya gave out a loud cry of agony and her eyes teared up.

Ellis turned his head away, covering his ears and closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to hear Maya's loud screams. Nick kept watching but as Maya kept screaming everytime Rhett put another stitch in her deep wound, he clenched his fist tighter and tighter, wanting to just punch a hole in the wall.

After half an hour of Maya screaming in agony; she had finally calmed down after Rhett had finished stitching her wound up. Nick had sat on a couch and held Maya in his lap for her to rest.

"Poor Maya, she looks like she's gone through so much since this apocalypse started. She's all kinds of beaten up." Rhett said sadly.

"We've all been through so much since this started." Ellis pointed out.

"Ellis is right, Rhett. We've all been through so much." Nick agreed.

"Did you two lose people very important to you?" Rhett asked in a calm voice.

Ellis sighed in emotion."I lost the love of my life, my girlfriend, Zoey."

Rhett's eyes widened."Oh. . .I-I'm so sorry, Ellis."

Nick rolled his eyes."Ellis, you need to get over her."

"I can't, Nick. I loved her, she was my everything." Ellis said in an emotional tone.

"Okay, okay you two. Nick, you don't just "get over" the love of your life. Didn't you lose someone you loved as much as Ellis did during this apocalypse?" Rhett said in a soothing tone.

Nick looked down at Maya and thought about Rochelle right away. He lifted his head and looked at Rhett.

"Yeah, I lost a good friend of mine, her name was Rochelle." Nick said finally.

"I'm sorry to hear that you lost a good friend of yours, Nick." Rhett sighed as she looked to her left side at the floor.

Eventually, Rhett had fallen asleep upside down in a chair. Nick fell asleep holding Maya on the couch, and Ellis fell asleep in a loveseat next to Nick's couch. The group was beginning to grow bigger, little by little, but for how much longer? The journey for survival has only just begun.

~Took me a while but chapter three is done. I hope you like it. Vote and comment please ;) <3~