Alone Again - TWDG/TWD

Arc 3: Chapter 14

I wake up cold. Everything is a bright white blur. I begin to sit up but I feel a hand press on my chest stopping me.

"Stay down, you're still burning up." he says pressing me back down into the snow.

"I... I'm fr- freezing." I shake.

"You need to stay in the snow, it's the only thing I can think of that can break your fever." He says.

"But I'm freezing, L- Lu--ke." I stutter.

"I know, but it'll bring your temperature down." he says.

I begin shaking badly and I throw up again.

"Oh shit!" He panics.

He yanks me out of the snow as fast as he could and puts me back in the car.

"She's freezing! Her body temperature is dropping fast!" He says.

"She needs to get warm! Why didn't you just listen to her! She said she was freezing!" Carl barks.

"Fuck, we don't have any blankets!" He says ignoring Carl.

He looks around thinking of anything he can do to keep me warm. He pulls off his orange sweater exposing his bare body. He puts the sweater over me hoping it will warm me up.

"L-Luke no... y-you'll freeze t-too..." I say.

"You need it a lot more then I do..." he says softly.

I've never seen him shirtless before. It was weird. In a good way.

Carl climbs in the back with me and tries to keep me warm.

-

We arrive at an empty cabin. Luke starts a fire for me.

Carl helps me inside and sets me next to the fire. Luke finds some blankets and covers in the closet. I take off his sweater and hand it back to him. He covers me with them. Luke sits next to me on the floor. I watch the fire and listen to it crackle as I try to warm up. Im still freezing, I start shaking. Luke wraps his arms around me and I snuggle up against him and rest my head on his chest.

"L-Luke..." I start to say something but trail off.

He looks down at me and give me a warm smile before kissing the top of my head.

Before long I'm asleep.

I wake up in the middle of the night, Luke is still with me but he's now laying on the floor and I'm still resting against him. I'm really hungry. I haven't attempted eating since I got sick. I quietly get up and go through Luke's bag searching for food. I grab a stale granola bar and hope it stays down. After I finish it I lay back down and curl up next to Luke's warm body. I eventually fall back asleep.

When I wake up its light outside. Luke walks into the room.

I look up at him with sleepy eyes.

"How ya feeling?" He asks.

"I... I don't know. Not as bad as yesterday, but still bad... If that makes any sense." I say.

"Well we're gonna stay here for a few days to let you recover." he says.

"Thank you." I say softly.

"Alright, well rest up." he leaves the room.

I lay my head back down and stare at the fire. Several hours pass before I make myself get up.

I walk into the kitchen and see Luke sitting at the table alone. His hands are on his head and he stares at the floor. I can tell he has a lot on his mind.

"Luke?" I say softly as I walk up to him.

"Clem? Ah... what's up?"

"Are you okay?" I ask hesitantly.

"I'm just thinkin." He says.

"What about?" I ask.

"You..." he says.

"Why me?"

"I've been worried about you lately... I just want to keep you as safe as you can be. When you got sick... it scared me. I thought you weren't gonna make it." he says.

"Luke, I'll be alright." I say taking a seat at the table with him.

"I know, but what if you weren't. I don't think I could handle loosing you." he says.

"I just... I- I love you Clem. I don't want anything bad to happen to you." He says

"I love you too." I say awkwardly.

He smiles.

"I want to protect you." he says.

"You already do." I say.

"I wanna do a better job." he says.

"You already do a great job." I say with a slight smile.

"Look at you, I've done a shitty job. I've gotten you into so much trouble. I'm gonna step up and try harder. You're all I have left and you're all I care about." he says closing his eyes imagining him being the cause of my death.

He sighs and looks away from me.

I stay silent.

"You should get back to sleep, you need your rest." He says.

"Alright." I say going back and sitting next to the fire.

I'm worried about Luke.