Don't Fade Away

Chapter 5

Okay, that was a low blow. Of course, I would never admit that to him. I can't show weakness. I can't be weak.

I stepped up to him until we were chest to chest. Well, more like chest to head. God, Luke's tall. I could tell that he wasn't very intimidated at my act of bravery, but I was not backing down.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? Why would you say something like that? You don't know me, you underestimate me. Don't you think for a second that I would give up. I won't. I-" My voice cracked.

"I can't. If anything, I'll be the last one standing." My voice wavers so much that even I can't believe what I'm saying.

Before he can reply, I storm off. I head back in the direction that I came from, killing a few walkers along the way. I know that Luke is following me, but I don't acknowledge him. Why are there so many walkers out here already?

Luke said that he had to lead a horde away from camp. This shouldn't be happening. We should have at least another week until they start wandering from the city. We shouldn't even be seeing walkers out here yet.

Quite frankly, I feel broken. Even though I had just given Luke that whole speech, I can't shake the feeling that he will be the one who finds my dead body.

Pushing my thoughts back, I begin to see the light of the fire, still burning bright. We'll have to put that out soon before we go to bed. I'll have to ask Luke where I'm sleeping tonight.

I make it back to the campgrounds before I feel Luke's strong grip on my arm. "Charlie, no. You're right. I underestimated you. I'm sorry."

"I'm not. You're right. If I want to survive, I can't think about stuff like that."

I shrug his grip off of my shoulder. I have to stay strong. I have to do this for my parents.

I make my way over to the now small fire, extinguishing it with my boot. Once it was gone, leaving nothing more than the smell of smoke and the soft hissing of coals, I walk over towards Luke.

I don't know how I'm going to survive this. I'm not talking about the walkers, either. Just Luke. I mean, damn. I might just kill him myself before the infected can reach him, and vice versa. I'm pretty sure he wants to toss me off of a skyscraper by now. Oh well.

Not paying attention to my surroundings, I stumble over a rock. On instinct, Luke wraps his arms around my waist and brings me towards him. In the heat of the moment, I snake my arms around his waist and clutch for dear life.

In the end, it was like a very awkward hug.

"Shit, Charlie," Luke says.

I push away from him, and he unwraps his arms from my waist. For some reason, I suddenly feel all cold. Huh, that's weird.

"Sorry." I didn't know what else to say.

Luke widens his eyes, which makes him look like a fish. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at him, it's just that damn funny.

"Did the Charlie Reghan just apologize? Holy fuck, I didn't know you had it in you."

I slap his arm and he smirks at me. "Stop swearing. And yes, I did apologize because unlike you, I'm not an egotistical jerk."

He mocks hurt and puts his hand on his chest. "Ouch, sweetheart, that hurt."

I glare at him,"Don't call me that."

His smirk grows,"Sorry, sweetheart." I swear, with every word he says, his ego grows even bigger.

Trying to change the subject, I say the only thing that's on my mind. "Where am I going to sleep tonight?"

He sobers up. This thought probably hasn't occurred to him until now. Hell, I bet he doesn't care, either. I could sleep in a tree and it wouldn't bother him. Now that I think about it, the idea seems pretty smart. I just need some rope....

Luke sighs and scratches his neck, "Well, I guess you can sleep in my tent." The way he said it actually made me believe that he was in pain over it.

I nod,"Yeah, okay. Let's get going, then."

He takes off walking, not checking to see if I was following or not. I basically had to run to keep up with him because of his long legs. For every one step he takes, I have to take two.

We had headed back into the woods, but this time I felt more uneasy. I mean, think about it. Luke was leading me into walker infested woods in the middle of the night. Not to mention I can't even see him, even though he's less than two feet away from me. You can see why I would be worried.

After walking in complete silence for a few seconds, I quickly became agitated. "Luke," I whisper. "Slow down."

Of course, he doesn't acknowledge me. Sighing, I quicken my pace, (if that's even possible), which causes me to trip over a tree root and knock into Luke's back. Curse my clumsiness.

Scared out of his wits, Luke yelps like a lost puppy. After realizing that it was only me, he sighs. "Again, really?"

"Well," I scrunch my eyebrows at him, even though he can't see me. "If you would have slowed down, that wouldn't have happened."

Instead of responding, Luke grabs my hand tightly. Our fingers entangle and I have to admit, it feels nice.

Eww, what was I thinking? This is Luke we're talking about. God, what is wrong with me?

With his help, he smoothly guides me through the woods, without having any more mishaps. And after what seemed like forever, we finally reached his tent.

It was the same as the one that Grant had, but this one was blue. It was small and could possibly fit two people in it, if you were lucky. Well, this is going to be a problem.

Luke turns to me,"We can take turns keeping watch, I guess. I'll go first."

I nod slightly,"Alright, where will you be?"

He smiles. It wasn't one of those stupid smirks that he always did, but one of those boyish half smiles. "I'll be right outside of the tent, you'll be able to see me if you open up the door."

I nod and give him a small smile in return,"Thanks."

Not waiting for a reply, I unzip the tent and crawl inside. I scanned the small area, becoming aware of my surroundings. You know, old habits die hard.

The sleeping bag was on the right side of the tent, with a simple white pillow. There was a bag of clothes on the left side, which I immediately reached for. I dumped everything out of the bag, looking for the smallest clothes possible.

After a few minutes, I finally found a pair of sweat pants. I quickly discarded my clothes and put them on, tying them as tight as they would go. I took off my bloody shirt and decided to leave my tank top on since it was surprisingly clean.

I brushed my hair with a comb that I had found and put it up in a bun on the top of my head. After that I put all of my dirty clothes in a pile and put everything back into the bag. I crawled towards the sleeping bag and slipped under the covers. In under a minute, I fall into a deep sleep.