Don't Fade Away

Chapter seven

Even though Luke won't admit it, he would do anything for his dad. I could tell by the way he immediately started running towards camp when he heard his father's voice.

As of right now, we were currently running through the woods. It was hard keeping up with Luke because of his long legs, so I was about ten feet behind him.

He suddenly turns around and grabs my hand, entangling our fingers like he had done last night. I felt butterflies in my stomach, no eww that's gross. I probably just felt nauseated from being around Luke for too long.

Choosing to ignore the pounding ache in my shoulder from Luke dragging me, I run faster. What if Grant is in trouble? What if he's surrounded by a horde. Oh gosh, how would Luke react?

I break out of my bad thoughts as we reach camp. I didn't see anything abnormal, everything was in place. I heard a soft murmuring coming towards the other side of Grant's tent, so I lead Luke over there.

I'm honestly shocked by what I see. Standing before us was a man who looked to be in his late thirties, with short brown hair. He was probably around 5'10".

Beside him was a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties, with a plump figure and reddish hair. She gave off a loving and warm aurora. In her hands was a baby.

Beside her was a teenage girl who looked to be around thirteen. She had dirty blonde hair and an oval shaped face, which made her green eyes pop. She looked friendly enough.

Grant smiles, clearly happy with the idea of other survivors. "Charlie, Luke, this is Max Keely," He points to the man. "Linda, his wife, and their two children, Lisa and Clayton."

I feel Luke stiffen beside me as he squeezes my hand even tighter. I rub my thumb over his knuckles reassuringly and he sends me a tight smile.

"And this," Grant says, pointing towards me and Luke, "Is my son, Lucas and our friend, Charlie."

Since Luke doesn't try to say anything, I awkwardly wave at them. Max and Linda chuckle, while Lisa gives me a small smile.

"Where did you find them?" Luke asks Grant. This was the first time I have ever seen him like this. He was usually sarcastic or playful with me, but now he was cold and judgmental.

Grant sends a frown at his son, obviously not liking the tone he was using. "Well, I was starting up a fire when I heard yelling. Of course, I couldn't just sit there, so I went to investigate. Turns out, they were being chased by five walkers. And now, here we are!" He playfully elbows Max in the ribs and gleefully chuckles, bringing a lighter mood into the situation.

Bless his soul. It would suck to have to deal with a moody teenage boy, (A.K.A Luke), all of the time. No wonder he's always tired. Luke isn't that bad around me, at least. But I could definitely see Grant and Luke butting heads a lot.

Linda breaks the awkward silence, "Well, we were wondering if you have any room for a couple more survivors?" Her voice sounded hopeful.

Luke looked very disinterested and he was quite determined to tell them that. I could all but hear the growl building in the back of his throat. Yes, growl. Luke is a very strange child. But before he could do anything, I began dragging him away from everybody, which he obliged to.

"We'll be on laundry duty for today. Just gather up your clothes and we'll wash them by the lake!"

I hear a muffled 'okay' from Grant followed by 'she's such a sweetheart', which I so desperately tried to ignore. Luke snickered when he heard it, which made it even worse.

"So, sweetheart, are we really going to wash clothes?" He smirked.

I glare at him, "Yes. Yes we are. Unless you want to go back and talk to-"

Luke's eyes widen, "No! There's no way in hell I'm going back there!"

We were currently walking back towards our tent, (if you could call it that), walking lazily side by side. It was times like these that Luke actually didn't seem like a bad guy, as long as he wasn't around other people.

"So," I shove my hands in my pockets, "Why do you hate the new guys so much?" I really was curious. We had just met them, how can he hate them already?

He shrugs, "I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about them. Like, everything about them screams 'fake'. I feel like there's something they aren't telling us."

I nod, letting the conversation drop. We were quiet the rest of the way down there, neither of us knowing what to say.

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"Do we really have to wash everybody's clothes?" Luke whines from behind me. We had made our way around camp, grabbing every piece of dirty clothing we could find. I made Luke take the heavier basket, while I took the smaller one.

When we finally made it down towards the lake, Luke had dropped the clothing basket down, scattering clothes everywhere on the ground.

I roll my eyes and scowl, "Great going, Luke. You managed to make the clothes even dirtier."

He smirks lazily, "Thanks, babe. I try."

I huff, "What did I say about the nicknames? I swear to god, the next time you call me something other than my name, I will call you 'cupcake' for the rest of the day. Don't freaking push me." He just laughs.

Choosing to ignore him, I start rolling up my pant legs. Well, more like sweat pant legs. I take off my flannel, but I keep my black tank top on. When I look back up, Luke has the dumbest look on his face.

He scrunches his eyebrows at me. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean what am I doing? I'm rolling up my pant legs so they won't get wet." I give him one of those 'why the heck are you still here' looks. He glares back, but does the same as I do.

Once Luke was ready, I picked up the small laundry basket. I heard him groan from behind me, knowing that he was taking the heavy basket again. I smiled a little bit. We headed out in the lake a little bit, sitting on a large rock that fit both of us and the baskets.

I grab the dish soap we had found, (don't judge, it was the only thing we could find), and used it to start washing the clothes.

Soon after that, we had a system. I would scrub the clothes, and Luke would rinse them off and put them in a basket. We were making great progress. That was, until I got bored.

We were almost done with the clothes when I had the brilliant idea of pushing Luke into the water. I pointed at nothing behind him,"Hey, Luke, do you see that?" He turns around.

Before he has the chance to turn back around, I push him in. I can see the top of his blonde hair at the surface, so I'm not worried. That is, until he goes completely underwater.

I wait a few seconds and he still hasn't shown up. Oh gosh, what if he hit his head on a rock? What if there are walkers down there? I need to go find him. As I was about to jump in after him, something grabs my leg and pulls me in.

Or should I say, someone. I crash through the surface of the cold dark water, which was so black that I wasn't even able to see three feet away from me. I feel Luke's warm strong arms wrap around my waist and lift me towards the surface.

Hallelujah, I can breathe again. Now, if only I wasn't so cold. I'm pretty sure Luke can feel me shivering, because he brings me closer towards him.

It was weird, seeing him like this. Something about him looked really off.... "Hey, your hair isn't all puffy!" I say as I mess his hair up.

He rolls his eyes, but smiles at me. "Yeah, no kidding. See what you did?" He quickly ducks his head underwater once again, erasing the mess I had made of his hair.

I didn't understand this, the water was too cold. It was the middle of June, for goodness sakes! I shivered again. "Cold?" Luke asks me.

I nod. He brings me closer towards him, until we were hugging. I instantly felt better. This kid was like a human heater he was just that warm!

Oh god, what have I dragged myself into?