Friends before Lovers {NUKE fanfic}_@Mintgal2

37

Luke
. I kicked Nick gently, and he opened his eyes.
"L-Luke..." He groaned, his voice raspy. "Shit."
"C'mon." I said, and saw Kenny already awake out near the fence, holding AJ. It smelt of smoke, from the fire that had gone down at night. I shook Clementine a little. "Hey Clem? Wake up"
Clementine woke up, and got up, rubbing her eyes with her fist. The cold whipped our face and any other exposed skin as we packed up what little we had, in preparation of leaving. The sun was still covered by the mass of trees, indicating how early this was.
As soon as Bonnie and Mike, and Jane got up, we set up in the road, Arvo still binded in his path as we walked.
"Hey." Nick said, walking up beside me, a strange glow on his face that I had never seen before. Not even when we were kids.
"You good?" He asked. I shrugged, my head rather dizzy from drinking a quarter of that rum last night.
"Uh, yeah, thanks." I said, but I was honestly lying. My leg was stiff and stung whenever I put too much pressure on it.
"You sure you're good?" He asked again. Too sweet.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. If I start to crap out, I'll let you know," I said.
"Okay, well you do that. It's no trouble." Mike said, and turned around again.
"How much further?" Kenny asked Arvo.
"Close. Very close." He answered.
"You've been saying that every time I ask." Kenny said.
"Please. Come." Arvo said.
"I'm really startin' to think...you're full of shit." Kenny said.
"Kenny." I warned. "Stop. He can't seriously be bullshitting us."
Kenny ignored me, his back turnt as we kept walking.
"It can't be much further." Bonnie said. A walker appears behind him, and Clementine jumps.
"Behind you!" She yells, and Kenny jumps around.
"What the fuck?!" He exclaims, and the walker pushes him to the ground. "Aaaargh!"
"Kenny!" Bonnie yelled. Clementine loads her gun, and shoots the lurker dead.
"Jesus christ!" Kenny curses, and pushes it off of him.
"That was close." Mike says.
"Fucka came outta nowhere!" Kenny yells.
"That was real loud, hopefully there aren't more of them." Bonnie said.
"Jesus." I mutter under my breath.
"Yeah, well, let's move. We don't wanna be around to found out." Jane said, walking ahead.
"Is very close. Come." Arvo said, and started moving ahead. We walked around a corner. "There."
The trees cleared, revealing a frozen over lake, with a house in the other side of the land, the outline and construction depicting a house.
"That piece of shit? It's half built." Kenny exclaimed.
"We're here for the supplies. Not the house." Jane said.
"Is warm. Fireplace. Very warm." Arvo said.
"I'd just like a place to sir, if I'm honest." I said, and Nick smiled. Sometimes I think he has jokes in his head, and never shares it out loud. Although I would like to hear them, to be honest.
"Is there any other way to get there? Do we have to cross the lake?" Clem asked.
"We should've stuck to the treeline." Jane said.
"The fastest way between two...things is a straight line." Kenny told Clementine.
"It's not far...just be on the lookout." Bonnie said. "Maybe there's a way around."
I searched around the perimeter, seeing only the rough, long treeline. Too long.
"I don't see any." I state. Arvo turned around, and started speaking in Russian.
"Say it in American, asshole." Kenny said.
"Is okay. Walk. Ice." Arvo said.
"No shit, ice. That's the problem." Kenny rolled his eye.
"He's saying it's fine." Bonnie clarified.
"Maybe we shouldn't clump together. We shouldn't have too much weight." Clementine suggested.
"She's right." Bonnie said.
"We need to spread out. Just to be safe." Jane said. "Less weight the better."
"Let the ruskie go first. Since he's so confident." Kenny mocked.
"Is okay." Arvo turned around,and started walking to the bank. And they started crossing the ice, Arvo first, followed by Kenny, Jane and Clem. I started limping across the ice, my weight putting pressure on it. Nick moved ahead. I saw Clementine step on an area of ice, and it started to crack underneath her foot.
"We're okay. Don't worry." I said. Clementine moved past it.
As I got closer to the middle of the lake, I heard lurkers behind us. I turned around to see them appearing from the trees. Fuck.
"We got some walkers behind us." Jane said, and Clem turned around to see the amount. Nick shared the same panic on her face.
"It's only a few of them. We should be alright." Mike said as we continued to walk.
"Let's just get to the house." Bonnie said.
"Hey! Stay with us!" Kenny yelled to Arvo, who was walking faster. I jumped, as I heard ice crack behind me.
"Fuck!" I exclaimed, and turned around to see two walkers disappearing through a hold in the ice.
"That's two less to deal with." Jane said.
"We'll just spread out, and we'll be fine!" Bonnie reassured. But I couldn't shake the feeling that I was just too heavy. And that's when Arvo stared running to the other side.
"Hey!" Kenny yelled. "Motherfucker." Kenny raced after him.
"Shit. He's gonna kill him." Mike said, and ran after them both.
"God, Kenny!" Bonnie yelled.
"Get back here you piece of shit!" Kenny yelled. As they neared the house, Arvo fell through shallow piece of ice. Kenny picked him up.
"I should let you drown, you piece of shit!" Kenny yelled.
"No! Kenny, don't run!" Clementine yelled. Kenny pushed Arvo down to the ground at the other side.
"Well, they made it." Jane said, and proceeded to move forward, along with Clementine. I started too. Nick and Bonnie walked ahead, but as I took a step forward, ice cracked slightly beneath my foot. I took a deep breath, but even then, the cracks grew bigger. Oh shit.
Bonnie turned around.
"Nick..."She said, and Nick turned around, his eyes widening when he saw me. Bonnie crept forward.
"Don't come over!" I demanded, my voice shaking. Nick shook his head. "Okay, I can make it, it's fine."
"You sure?" Nick asked.
"Yeah." I answered, although I wasn't too sure myself. I looked behind me, the walkers still approaching the ice.
"You got walkers on the way. Let me help you." Bonnie said.
"It's too thin for both of us..I just, I just gotta be careful." I said. I didn't want the ice to break, and the both of us would be gone. Nick stood, paralysed with what he was seeing. I stepped forward, my leg falling through the ice. Cold water stabbed in my leg. "Woah!"
"Luke, no!" Nick ran forward. Clementine ran forward too, Bonnie following.
"Stop! Stop!" I yelled. "I'm fine..I'm fine."
"No you're not!" Bonnie yelled.
"I just gotta pull myself out." I said.
"The walkers are almost here! Hurry!" Clementine said. God, she really knows how to calm me down.
"Yeah, I know. You ain't helpin'." I said.
"You need to help." Bonnie told Clementine.
"I can.." Nick started to walk forward, but Bonnie held him back. She shook her head to him.
"No! You're gonna fall through!" I said.
"Clem, go!" Bonnie insisted. "Go help him."
"No, Clem, do not!" I spoke over Bonnie.
"Clem, just go back for him." Nick said. "You're light. You can do it."
"No stop, Nick! Don't!" I cried. "Stop tellin' her that! Clem! Look at me! Pull your handgun out, and start shooting those walkers, okay?"
Clementine looked torn.
"Just give me a little time." Luke said.
"Clem, you can make it, but you need to go now!" Bonnie said, taking out her gun. Clementine pulled out her gun, to my relief.
"Thanks, thanks. I'll be out in a sec. you just keep shooting those walkers, okay?" I said, and started to our myself from the ice, the cold now making my leg numb and stiff. Clementine started to shoot. My shot leg wouldn't move from the water.
"Luke, you're not gonna make it!" Nick yelled.
"I...my leg. I just need to rest a sec..." I said, and groaned. Nick started creeping toward me. "Nick! Fuck off! Go back!"
"Clem, Bonnie, just keep them off us!" Nick ordered, and soon the gunshots rang out more.
"No, no, it's too much..it's too much weight..." I said.
"Shut, shut the fuck up." Nick said, and lightly out his foot down toward me. I sighed, as his hand stretched out toward me. I tried to lean up to grab it, but the ice cracked a little too much. "Shit." He said, before he fell through, the rest of the ice causing me to enter the dark, cold waters too.