Luke was on his own.
He had lost his group months ago while trying to escape from Carver and his people. He didn't know whether they escaped or were caught or if they were taken by walkers and he figured he didn't want to know. It's not because of denial or cowardice or even lack of trying, but the fact that he was just one person. Luke wasn't Superman. He couldn't just turn back time and make everything better.
He just tells himself that they're all dead. It doesn't make it right, but Luke figures that everyone's pretty much dead on the inside already. So much more than loved ones have been lost since all this shit started. Their very way of life and morality has been stripped from them. Carver was a prime example of that.
So, Luke deals with it the best way he can. He stays alive for as long as he can because that's what people do. People are supposed to endure and adapt to their surroundings in order to survive. Luke may not be happy with some of the choices he's made, but he wants to live. He wants to make things right, somehow, and that means staying alive.
He treks the woods surrounding the cabin he's currently settled in, hunting for food like he does most days when he's not reinforcing the cabin or scavenging for supplies. Luke hasn't seen much of anything in weeks aside from a stray squirrel or opossum here and there. He would've had more luck trying the river instead, if he were being honest. The thought of open spaces didn't sit well with him, however, and he tried to put off fishing for as long as possible until he absolutely needed to.
Mind you, Luke didn't like hunting either. He held off on using his rifle as much as possible to avoid bringing a herd down on him. It was why he preferred using his machete over anything else. More messy, sure, but no less effective and quiet to boot. But by the end of the day, Luke had to eat or be eaten. Herd be damned.
It must have been a few hours since he started and he still had no luck bagging anything worth eating. Not a squirrel or opossum in sight. Luke couldn't even tell you when he last saw a healthy buck near these parts. They're either all wiped out or got the fuck out of dodge when the shit hit the fan. Walkers usually weren't one to attack animals, but Luke had seen enough to know that that wasn't always the case. Walkers could be just as desperate as the living sometimes.
Speaking of which, he hadn't noticed many walkers in the time he's been out here. In fact, it was almost too deathly quiet and this made Luke instinctively clutch his rifle a bit tighter. Luke wasn't jumping the gun, but he'd be a monkey's uncle if he let anything or anyone get the drop on him.
This is bad, Luke thinks to himself, scanning the surrounding area. Too damn quiet.
He's coming up on a clearing not far from the river that used to be a campsite for a local group of survivors, a family, but they had been wiped out by bandits some time ago. It's risky, and a bad idea, but there's a noise coming from that general direction that catches Luke's attention. It almost sounds like a dry-heave, as if someone or something is having trouble breathing.
Despite his better judgement, Luke approaches the abandoned campsite with caution and a fully loaded rifle he won't hesitate to use if shit goes south. As he nears the camp he can more clearly make out the genesis of the noise and instantly spots the figure lying on the ground near the stripped van. His first reaction is to gasp, while his second happens on reflex as he draws his firearm and trains it on his possible target.
Lying on the ground is a boy who can't be more than eighteen, judging by the letterman he wears. Luke approaches nearer to the boy, noting just how frail and emaciated he looks under the rags he calls clothes. Luke's first reaction is to let his guard down, forgetting what the world has come to for a brief second, before snapping his rifle back to attention when the kid opens his eyes to stare at him.
Luke had expected to be met with dead eyes glazed over with the fogginess of primal instinct, but was knocked for a loop when all he could see was piercing blue. Luke held his breath for the longest beat before letting it out on a steady exhale, walking just a few steps closer with the rifle still pointed at the boy just in case it was a trap. The boy didn't attempt to move, only staring as Luke neared him.
"Who are you?" Luke asks, holding his rifle steady. "You alone? You armed?"
He gets no response from the boy. Luke looks around cautiously before turning back to the kid possibly dying on the ground. Luke takes in the scene before him a little more closely with a scrutinizing gaze, taking notice of the bite wound near the boy's ankle. He looks around again to see if there are any dead walkers nearby, seeing none. All he sees is a dead dog lying a few feet away from the boy with a knife stuck in it's throat. It looked fresh, like the blood hadn't quite got the chance to dry yet, meaning it happened not long before Luke showed up.
"Did you kill that dog?" Luke interrogates, putting two and two together as he lets his shoulders drop just slightly but keeping his rifle level enough to show he means business.
There's still no response despite the fact that the boy is clearly conscious and staring at him with wide eyes. Luke takes pity and lowers his rifle, noticing just how terrified this kid must be right now and how pointing a gun in his face probably isn't the most reassuring thing.
"I don't mean to be rude. Just can't be too careful with folks these days," Luke explains as he walks up to the kid the rest of the way, squatting down in front of him.
"Y-you're not gonna.. kill me?" The boy inquires on a shaky breath.
"Of course not," Luke assures, setting his rifle down beside him but just out of reach from the boy.
The kid almost looks disappointed by this.
"Then leave..." the kid tells him with an exhausted expression like he hasn't slept in days. And maybe he hasn't.
"But... you're hurt," Luke points out, suddenly too concerned to just turn a blind eye. "I have a cabin not too far from here. I can fix you up. Clean out your wound so it doesn't get infected. Good as new."
Luke pulls out his canteen, uncapping it and holding it out towards the boy's chapped lips.
"Here."
"I don't want your help," the boy replies immediately with a snappy tone, swatting the water away.
"So, what? You just wanna die of dehydration, then? Or wait to be some walkers lunch?" Luke inquires with some irritation.
He was trying to do the right thing, but this boy was making it very difficult. The boy was stubborn as all hell and it didn't help that he was cute either, making Luke even more frustrated.
"If I say yes, will you leave me alone?" The boy asks, looking like a pitiful mess on the unforgiving ground.
"I don't understand," Luke says with a shake of his head, puzzled. "You're just a kid. Why would you want to die?"
"I don't want anyone else to get hurt..." He admits, voice cracking with a dry sob. He turns his face further into the ground, smearing it with dirt as he tries to hide his shame from this stranger. "So, please, just... let me be alone. If you know what's good for, you'll leave. Before you end up dead too."
"Listen kid, I don't know what you've been through, but I can't just turn my back on someone in need," Luke tells him, pleading for the boy to come to reason. "Lord knows I've done that more times than I'd want to admit."
Luke hangs his head, thinking about Nick, Carlos, Sarah, and all the others he was separated from months ago. He could've done more. He could've been stronger. This is his chance to prove that now. He takes a moment to sling his rifle across his back.
"So, either I can drag you outta here kicking and screaming, which I'd like to avoid at all costs, or I can carry you back to my place to get you fixed up and something to eat," Luke informs the boy in an ultimatum, giving his skinny body a once over. "You look like you haven't eaten in days."
"Why?" He questions, staring back up at Luke with a scared and confused expression. He honestly can't believe this man's generosity. "I'll just be a burden on your resources. You don't know me from a hole in the ground. Why would you help me?"
"Because that's what people do," Luke replies solemnly. "People help each other. They stick together. If we don't protect one another, then we lose the one thing that separates us from the dead."
This seems to get through to the young man because know his blue eyes are tearing up, which is a miracle considering this boy looks extremely dehydrated. The tears wash away the dirt on his face in thin streaks, prompting Luke to reach out and wipe it all away in a show of compassion.
"So, what do you say kid?" Luke propositions one last time, figuring the boy has made up his mind.
"I don't wanna die," he chokes out, wide eyes wet with a fresh wave of tears.
"You won't," Luke reassures him. "I promise."
The boy lets out an almost hysterical, but grateful, sobbing laugh as Luke bends down further to scoop up the kid in his arms gingerly. The kid immediately wraps his arms around the expanse of Luke's broad shoulders and buries his face into the front of his shirt, trembling with each sob. By the time the boy settles down, Luke's shirt is covered in tears which is a pleasant change from blood and guts if he were being honest. He spares a look down at the bundle in his arms and is pleased to see the kid already staring.
"What?" Luke inquires with a giddy smile.
"I don't know you're name," he points out, eyes puffy from crying.
"It's Luke," he clarifies, readjusting his grip a little.
"Ben," the other replies, attempting to smile a little himself.
"I'd shake your hand Ben, but I wouldn't want to drop ya," Luke chuckles, strong chest rumbling against Ben's fragile frame.
"Yeah, that would suck," Ben agrees, letting himself chuckle a little too.
"Don't worry. We'll get you back on your feet in no time," Luke promises, hoisting Ben up again for better leverage.
Ben isn't too tough to carry, seeing as how he's practically emaciated, but Luke definitely has his work cut out for him if anything decides to attack them on the way back. Luke knows he's taking a risk to help Ben. Ben was right. He's a liability and Luke doesn't know him from a hole in the ground. For all he knows, Ben can be a thief or even a spy of Carver's, but that's not what this is about. This is about maintaining what humanity he has left and if sticking his neck out to rescue Ben and sharing what limited resources he has is what it takes, then so be it.
It's a burden he's willing to bear.