Luke stopped and turned as he heard a girl call out to him, and he couldn’t help but smile shyly as she caught up. However when she started taking out food for him he quickly shook his head. “Thank you, but I can’t. Not right now, I um...” He’d been thinking it over quite a bit on his way over here, even more since he’d gotten here. He was just one guy, and if anything ever happened to him, then Ash would be on her own. If he had ever died or been injured when he had gone for supply runs she never would have been able to take care of herself.
 
He had quickly come to the conclusion that he needed a group to ensure both of their safety. And right here, in this camp, while it held, that would be where he would form the connections to ensure survival. So he was going to have to be able to trust these people and he was going to have to be honest with them. “Look, you’re probably going to think I’m crazy when I tell you this, but I didn’t come here by choice. I was dragged here by some military guys ‘for my own safety’, which is all well and good but my friend is still out there.”
 
He took a small breath and shook his head. “She’s waiting for me to come back. She won’t leave her spot until I do, someone takes her or if her life is threatened. So I need to get back to her before either of the other two happen. Which means I’m going back out there, some old marine guy said he’d take me. I can’t tell you all the details right now, because he said he’d be leaving soon and if I’m not there he’ll leave without me. But save this food okay? No point sending it out there where it can get lost. When I come back, we can sort everything out.”
 
He smiled slightly and gave her a small nod. “But... thank you, again. Not many people would do what you just did in a time like this.” It gave him a nice feeling of hope, knowing there were still good people in the world. And with that he turned and quickly headed off towards the fence. She seemed like a really nice girl, but no way he was letting anyone else come with him. No one else had to risk their lives to help him.