Luke purses his lips, the furrow between his brow deepening as he weighs their options. The selfless thing to do would be to refuse the pipe and to hand his rudimentary knife to Clementine – and for a time the white, sharp-edged fear of losing someone else he deeply cared for cuts deep enough that he does consider giving up his weapon. But he knows effective decision-making means untangling himself from emotions and trying to regard the situation as objectively as possible. The key word being trying.

“You hold onto it,” He decides after a beat, his voice sure and steady. They have an edge over Clem as far as range and upper body strength are concerned, and with Nick surely as willing to shield her as much as he is he feels comfortable enough to proceed with the plan. “Clem, you keep between us. Shouldn’t take more than a minute to get where we need to be, but let’s be fast an’ let’s be careful."

Pausing, he makes eye contact with each of them in turn. Seeking their agreement.

"We got this." He adds reassuringly. "Once we got you set up, we'll scout for a place to meet an' rest up if things get hairy.”