What if....Lucas and Max took a journey up to the mountains and started a new life? (Continues after chapter twenty nine) (Light Fluff and light Angst)

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"Good morning Eleven."

"Morning Eleven."

"Unit is meeting in room B."

Eleven nods her head, her going to make her way down the large hallway, her being in the base of the GuardRunners, her going to make her way inside of the room where all of the unit is, her seeing Mike Dustin and Suzie as well as the others standing around.

"Hey." Mike smiles at her.

"Hey." Eleven says back, her going to look around a little. "Where's Max?"

"Not sure, she normally isn't late." Suzie responds.

"Alright unit." Hopper, the commander says while he makes his way inside of the room, him looking around a little bit. "Where is Sinclair? And Mayfield? They are both on this unit."

All of the guards go to look around. "Not sure sir, we haven't seen them at all today." One of the guards mention.

All of them look towards the door when they head a knock on it. "Enter!" Hopper says.

A guard enters inside of the room, him going to close the door behind him. "Commander there is something that you should know."

"What the hell happened to your face?" Hopper questions, looking at his black eye and the bruises on his face.

"Well...." He trails off. "Last night...well really earlier this morning—"

"Get to the point!" Hopper yells.

"Lucas left." The guard mentions. "He didn't want to risk anyone."

"You let him leave?!" Hopper exclaims.

"Sir he wanted to and—"

"Which meant you opened the door!" Hopper points at him madly. "We are trying to find a cure!"

"He still didn't want to risk anything, he still wanted to be known for all of the good that he has done." The guard mentions. "I didn't want to take that away from him he wanted to leave sir."

Eleven's eyes widen, her going to quickly make her way out of the room, the others following her closely behind, all of them having the same train of thought as they begin to follow Eleven, all of them going to run towards Max's quarters.

Eleven quickly opens the door to her room, her going to look in her closet to see some of her clothes missing, some of her weapons missing as well.

"Guys...." Steve trails off, him looking at the nightstand to see Max's radio laying neatly on the nightstand with a note by it as well.

Eleven turns around, her going to brush in front of Steve and pick up the note. Her heart begins to beat more faster while she looks at it, her going to just slowly shake her head.

"Well?" Nancy questions with a stressed shrug, everyone else looking at Eleven.

Eleven slowly goes to turn to look at them, her looking down at the note before she looks back up at them. It now explains the bruises and wounds on the guards face, and why Max was so bothered the night before during the celebration.

"She went after him."

Our mission is to protect and save the innocent, I am doing my job.

- Max

~

"Yo sleeping beauty!"

Lucas slowly begins to open his eyes, him squinting his eyes a little from the bright sun, seeing Max look down at him while she stands over him at his side, her arms being crossed while she lightly shakes him with her foot, the fire being well out and Max already having her backpack around her shoulders.

"Come on Cinderella time to leave the pretty castle." Max tells him sarcastically.

Lucas goes to slowly get up, him putting his sleeping bag back in his backpack as well as his other things. "I thought you would have left." He says while looking up at her.

"Well you thought wrong, good thing you don't get paid to think otherwise you would be fucking broke." Max tells him, throwing him his jacket. "Now move your sorry ass."

Lucas sighs a little while she goes to walk away, him going to put on his green jacket before he puts his backpack on his back, him picking up his bow before he begins to walk, them beginning to walk side by side with each other at a little distance, not to far but not to close as well.

Lucas doesn't bother saying anything, knowing anything he says will only make her more pissed or give him a slap to his face which he really doesn't want, he has already gotten to many of those. He really wants her to just go back to the city, but he knows she will not listen because she is incredibly stubborn, she never listens. The only time he has seen Max listen to anyone has just been a handful of times. He doesn't include the commanders orders because that is something she willingly signed up for, the only times he has seen her give in is with Eleven or sometimes with him when he gets angry enough.

He doesn't like getting angry, Lucas hasn't actually gotten so angry before but she does push some of his buttons, buttons he didn't even know he had until he met her.

Max looks over at him a little bit, seeing how he just looks aimlessly ahead of him, playing a little with the bow in his hand that he made on his own. Max goes to turn off and look ahead of her before he looks over at her, her going to take out some of her knives and begin to clean them.

Lucas looks at her for a moment, still seeing her jaw clenched as the small rag cleans her knives that she holds. Lucas turns back to look ahead of him, him just looking at the beautiful horizon of the sun slowly beginning to rise up more and more in the sky, knowing at least he has both the beautiful sight and the soft wind while he walks.

Both of them continuing to walk in silence.

~

The infected man quickly snaps his head to look behind him, his back being slouched and his eyes a blood red, his teeth sharp, him going to open his mouth to try and let out a loud snarl, but him being to slow when a arrow goes right in his forehead.

Max brings her crossbow from in front of her face, her looking when Lucas shoots an arrow right in a zombie's forehead as well. "Hey what do you call a zombie that doesn't joke around?" Max looks over at him.

Lucas looks over at her with a quirked brow. "What?" He questions confused.

"Dead serious." Max tells him.

"Dead serious about what?"

Max just rolls her eyes. "That was the joke dumbass."

"Oh." Lucas says, him looking ahead of him and thinking about what she just said. "That was a really bad joke."

"Just like your excuses are really bad." Max says back, her looking back ahead of her and going to kill another zombie with her arrow.

Lucas sighs quietly a little. "Are you going to keep throwing these little shade comments at me?"

"So why was the zombie sad?" Max questions while she kills off another zombie. "Because he just wanted to be with zombodie he loved."

Lucas just shakes his head with a little smile, him looking ahead of him. "That was really bad."

"No it wasn't I thought of that one that was very much smooth." Max says.

"If you say so."

Max smiles a little bit while she looks ahead of her, the trail being clear of any infected. "So what's your plan here Lucas? You know good and well you can't just keep walking. So what you are just going to keep walking until you fall out from exhaustion and let zombies eat you?"

Lucas puts his bow back on his back, him putting his hands in his jacket pocket. "I was going to go up the tallest mountain and settle there." He admits. "Maybe build a house, but mostly enjoy the landscape, the wind, the view, make a garden if I can until I run out of medicine."

Max stops in her tracks while she turns her body to face him. "Stop." Max says, him stopping and looking at her. "What do you mean until you run out of medicine? Don't you mean until your last day?"

"No." Lucas shakes his head. "I meant what I said Max, I don't want to turn into one of those things."

Max looks at him while he continues to walk, her just looking ahead of her with her eyes wide a little bit before she catches up to him. "So what you're going to what? Jump off of a cliff or something when you run out of medicine?"

"Pretty much." Lucas shrugs simply, him beginning to walk again.

Max's eyes widen, her just standing there for a moment in complete shock a little, just a little frozen before she goes after him. "Lucas that was a fucking joke!"

"Keep your voice down." Lucas tells her.

"Lucas—"

"I'm not joking Max." Lucas tells her, him standing in front of her. "I don't want to turn into something that I can't even control, I don't want to feel myself getting lost, getting consumed in something I can't take away, feeling myself fade away, I don't want that." Lucas admits while shaking his head. "Because that is more scary then being one of those things."

Max swallows the lump in her throat, she clenches her jaw while she brings her backpack in front of her, her opening up the zipper and rummaging through her things. "You still have time."

Lucas eyes widen when Max shows him four small cases of the medicines, each case being filled with the medicine. "Max?! Did you steal—"

"Relax they can make more." Max tells him, putting it back in her bag. "We needed them until a cure is found."

"There is no damn cure." Lucas sneers.

"Yeah you kind of don't know that." Max shrugs. "Plus what if I get infected out here I would need medicine too—"

"Don't say that!" Lucas states angrily, her taken aback by his tone. Lucas breaths a little while closing his eyes, telling himself to calm down a little before opening his eyes back. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell." He says. "Just don't say that, don't. That won't happen okay?"

Max looks in between his eyes, her going to turn back a little when she hears a bush move behind her. "Did you hear that?"

Lucas looks ahead of him, seeing the bushes rustle a little and snarls beginning to be heard. "Come on." He quickly says while taking her hand, them running over to the bushes at the other side, them going to hide behind it.

Both Max and Lucas look when a group of infected leave out of the bushes, some going right and some going left but most of them beginning to slowly walk towards them mindlessly. Max and Lucas slowly begin to walk down the right, them looking down to make sure they don't step on any branches to make their steps more louder.

Lucas still holds her hand, them slowly going to walk more before they pass by the infected ones, Max and Lucas killing off the ones on their own quietly before they leave out of the bushes. "See why we have to stop yelling?"

"That was you this time." Max tells him. "Which I don't know why you would get so mad if I got infected, you had no problem just leaving without a word, so who cares if I die right?"

Lucas looks at her in confusion as she goes to walk away. "Max." He tries, her just continuing to walk off with her back being turned to him, her jaw being clenched a little bit.

Lucas looks down a little in thought before he begins to walk, beginning to walk besides her, both of them just going to walk in dead silence, not wanting to say anything else.

~

Max and Lucas continue to walk, the sun being close to setting, it being close to evening time about to be night. Lucas rubs his eyes a little bit, him getting done drinking all of the water in his large canteen, Max getting done drinking the rest of hers as well.

"You hear that?" Lucas questions.

Max stops in her tracks, her going to look around a little while listening. "Stream?"

"Exactly." Lucas says, him beginning to walk ahead more. She follows him, both of them making it to a pond after a minute. Max goes to fill up her canteen as well as Lucas, them taking out all of their bottles and canteens and going to fill it up.

Max looks towards Lucas when she sees him take off his jacket followed by his shoes. "What the hell are you doing?"

Lucas looks over at her while he unbuckles his belt. "It's been days I need to bathe."

"Well yeah clearly but...." Max trails off a little when he takes off his shirt, Max never seeing him shirtless through her three years of knowing him. His toned stomach and eight pack is clearly visible, his chest and stomach showing some scars here and there, but his body being very large in a muscular way and well built.

"Woah woah woah woah!" Max says, her hands being out in a stopping manner when Lucas is about to pull down his pants and boxers at the same time, him stopping his motions and looking up at her. "What...Lucas what are you doing?" She questions while looking up.

Lucas gives her a confused expression. "Getting in the water."

"Okay that's fine but don't fucking strip down with me in front of you dumbass!" Max scolds.

"Okay...." He trails off a little. "Well could you maybe...give me privacy then?"

Max looks at him before she just shakes her head and walks away. "You're so fucking annoying." She grumbles to herself.

Lucas just gives her a confused expression, him not wanting to figure it out because he has been trying to figure her out for so long and she is just one big huge jigsaw confusing puzzle, and he is to tired to figure her out. He just pulls down his pants and boxers before he goes to get in the water.

Max waits until his back is turned to her before she goes to strip down, her going to get in the water as well. She goes to bathe, her going to slowly look up at Lucas across the way.

She sees how he slowly rubs the soap and water on his upper body, him looking down at himself while he does so, him putting his head under the water before he comes back up, going to run his hands through his hair as well.

Max goes to look back down while shaking her head, her going to turn her body away from him, her back facing him. She goes to bathe herself, running her hand through her hair while she bathes herself, her letting out a little sigh of frustration.

Max's eyes widen when a hand goes on her mouth, her back hitting a rock hard body and an arm snaking around her waist, Max struggling a little while she tries to break free.

"Shhh." Lucas hushes in her ear, him holding her closer to him.

That is when Max spots three zombies across the way, Lucas slowly bringing their bodies down in the water, only letting their heads show while Lucas hand is still over her mouth. Max watches as they look around a little, them hearing a noise in the bushes making them snarl while they go to run in the woods, Max and Lucas eventually not hearing their snarls anymore.

Lucas slowly takes his hand from Max's mouth and waist, him pulling back a little. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle—"

Lucas head snaps to the side for the upmost time when Max turns around and slaps him across the face once again, him just clenching his jaw a little while closing his eyes, him slowly going to look at her.

"Don't fucking do that again." Max says firmly while pointing at him. "A silent signal would have gotten my attention, so what you need to feel good about yourself by sneaking up on me?"

"What? Max no—"

"Don't do it again, otherwise I will knee you where you really don't want me to." Max says, her going to swim away and leave out of the pond.

Lucas just sighs a little bit, him going to bathe himself for a few minutes more before he leaves out of the pond, going to dry himself off before he puts on a new set of clothes on him, Max getting done putting on her jacket.

"But hey at least you didn't up and leave, so kudos to that jackass." Max says.

"Max..." Lucas tries but she already goes to walk away while putting her backpack over her shoulders, taking out her crossbow.

Lucas sighs, him going to begin to walk as well, them walking side by side at a distance. The tension can be felt between the two every time it grows silent like this, it being a awkward and tense silence but neither of them go to break it. It is to much to break, both of them know that but they know if they try to break it they won't be able to say anything because they wouldn't know what to say, that is just how complicated it is.

So again, they both continue to walk in silence for a long time, until it is to dark for them to walk and their bodies are exhausted from all of the walking they have done.

Them starting a fire and camping out for the night.

~

"Ah shit!" Max curses, feeling a splinter go in her hand as they make it up the large mountain, them finally being on top of it.

"Let me see." Lucas tries.

"No I'm fine." Max slaps his hand away, her going up more at the top of the mountain.

After a long month of walking and walking and camping and hunting and fighting off infected they finally made it up the mountain, both of them looking around the large area, a water stream not being to far off either for them. Max goes to take out her canteen, her going to sit down while she begins to down her water.

Lucas looks out at the view, seeing how the sun begins to set. "This is a safe zone at least, the infected definitely cannot climb up this high."

"Clearly." Max states simply.

Lucas looks over at her. "I'm going to get some firewood."

"Yeah you go do that." Max says back, Lucas just shaking his head before he goes off to get some firewood.

After a few long minutes Lucas comes back with firewood, him going to set down the stacks of it including sticks, him going to start up the fire. He goes to take out his packaged food and sleeping bag, Max taking out the same thing from her sleeping bag, both of them beginning to eat.

"I'm sorry." Lucas says after some time, Max stopping mid chew to look at him, both of them being across from each other in front of the fire. "I honestly don't know for what but...you're mad at me I see that. So I'm sorry."

Max just rolls her eyes, her taking a angry bite out of her food. "You're an idiot you know that Lucas?"

"Why do you hate me Max?"

"For fucks sake Lucas I don't—" Max starts but stops herself, her just shaking her head and clenching her jaw while looking at the fire, hearing how it cracks a little here and there, the warmth of it and her frustration making her more hot so she takes off her jacket. "You're just a selfish prick."

Lucas just shakes his head while looking at her in confusion. "How am I selfish? I was thinking about the whole goddamn city when I left." Lucas tells her. "I was thinking about you."

Max shakes her head while she looks at him. "No you weren't."

"I was Max." Lucas nods his head. "I was."

Max shakes her head, honestly feeling some tears begin to prickle her eyes but she quickly begins to blink, not wanting to shed a single tear in this moment. "No you weren't Lucas, because if you were you...." She trails off. "You just weren't."

"If I'm so selfish and you hate me why come after me?" Lucas questions. "Why leave your friends? Why leave the city that is about to be one hundred percent safe? Why put yourself in danger by coming with me?"

Max looks over to her side a little bit before she turns to look at him. "Because even though you are a selfish prick Lucas I understand you." She tells him. "We both lost our families to the plague, we both had to make hard choices, we both had to live through things, unimaginable things. No one deserves to go through that alone."

Lucas looks at her for a moment, seeing how she look at him for a moment before she goes to look down at her food, going to take another