This New World We Live In (A Walking Dead fanfic)

Light It Up (Chapter 31)

A/N: ((IMPORTANT)) ish

Hey guys, so this chapter will be extra long because....

It's the last chapter of the book.

I know that came out of the blue, but this chapter will end with my version of the Season 2 finale.

BUT

I will be making a sequel :) it will be called "No One Is Safe (A sequel to TNWWLI)". (Because I'm simple too lazy to write the full title, so ill just do the acronym)

But before I start the sequel, I will be revising and editing this book. I hope to get a chapter done every two days. I've already edited some, so I would estimate that the sequel will be up in 3-4 weeks from now... Maybe sooner idk it's too early to tell.

Okay, there'll also be an Authors Note at the end, so read that too, please? Okay thanks. 

Now, without any further ado, I give you the FINAL chapter of This New World We Live In.

Here's 31 :)

*UPDATE*

No One Is Safe (A Sequel to TNWWLI) Is up right now!! 

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Katie's POV

I slowly relaxed my body and even opened one eye. To my delight, I wasn't shot. I felt my torso and arms for a bullet hole. I found none.

I opened both of my eyes and sighed in relief. I looked over at Rick to see if he was still standing, which he was. He was wide eyed and his hands were shaking, but he was still standing.

I knit my eyebrows together in confusion. If Carl didn't shoot at me, and he didn't shoot at Rick, what did he shoot at?

A loud thud from behind me caused me to quickly spin around on my heel. It was then that I had my answer.

Shane.

No, not Shane. This was something else. This was Shane five minutes ago, but now it's just some carnivorous monster that was going to try and kill me.

When I turned my head back to Rick and Carl, I saw that Carl was on the verge of tears, and Rick was approaching him, probably to comfort him.

"Let's go back." Rick said, kneeling down to Carl's height.

Carl nodded as Rick got up, and they started heading back to the house together.

I jogged quickly to catch up with them. When I did, Carl looked at me. "Are you bit, too?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No."

He nodded and kept walking. "Shane was."

"That wasn't Shane." Rick warned. "You know that."

"It used to be." Carl stated. He then paused. "What happened?" He asked, looking up at his father. "We're you guys attacked? I mean, I heard a gunshot, but I didn't see any walkers nearby..." Rick just kept walking and didn't give an answer. Probably thinking one up. "How did Shane die?"

Rick suddenly stopped and looked at Carl. He sighed and adjusted his feet, preparing to tell him the truth. I stopped also, but not because of that. I thought I heard a noise. It almost sounded like growling.

My head shot in the direction we came from, and my eyes landed on a wave of bodies stumbling towards us, about 100 yards away. About the distance of a football field.

"Oh my god." I mumbled, catching Rick's attention.

He looked at me with knit eyebrows, then averted his gaze to where mine was.

"Go. Go, go, go, go, go, go." He said rapidly, gently shoving Carl ahead of him.

* * *

Daryl's POV

"They ain't back?" I asked them, walking into the house.

"No." Lori answered.

"We heard a shot." Glenn told them.

"Maybe they found Randall?" Lori asked.

"No, we did." I told her.

"Is he back in the shed?"

"He's a walker."

The group all looked at each other uneasily before Herschel spoke up. "Did you find the walker that bit him?"

"Yeah, that's the thing... He wasn't bit." Glenn explained.

"His neck was broke." I told them.

"So he fought back?" Patricia suggested.

I shook my head. "Nah, thing is... Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him." I explained. "No, they were together."

Lori walked up to me. "Would you please go back out there, find Rick and Shane and figure out what the hell is going on."

"You got it." I answered. "Yeah and I'll find Katie, too while I'm at it." I scoffed.

I opened the door and stepped outside the house and my ears instantly picked up the sound of moans.

"Guys." I called, eyeing the herd in front of me. "You might wanna see this."

* * *

Katie's POV

"Should we just book it back to the house?" I asked.

"No, we'll never make it."

"What about the barn?" Carl asked.

I looked at Rick and he nodded, getting up from his crouching position behind the tree.

I got up, and looked towards the barn. It was a pretty straight shot. Maybe 25 feet. If we ran down low, we'd probably get there unscathed and hopefully unnoticed, but that was a long shot.

Rick then tapped my shoulder and I knew it was time. I then ran behind Carl, with Rick beside me, all the way to the barn.

I heard a growl beside me, and I saw an arm swing towards me. I swerved to the right, dodging it, but running into Rick. I shot him an apologetic look just as we reached the barn.

Rick closed the doors just as my eyes landed on the pen-cleaning shovel on its rack. I took it in my hands and slid the handle through the handles on the barn doors.

I took a deep breath in relief, knowing that at least for now, we were away from them. But that relief didn't last three seconds, before I heard banging on the barn doors and I knew we had been found.

"What are we gonna do?" Carl asked frantically.

I shook my head, not knowing. But then, my eyes landed on a stack of three Jerry cans in the corner. I ran over to them and checked for gas. They each had about a gallon.

"Hey Rick, you got a Zippo?"

"Yeah."

I smiled and gestured to the cans. "Light 'em up."

I popped a cap open and started pouring the gasoline around the barn. Rick caught on and poured the second can all over, while I finished the first one and moved to the third, splashing the walls, too.

When I finished that, I saw Rick giving Carl instructions on when to drop the lighter. I just caught his last words to him. "Carl, I love you."

Carl scrambled up the ladder and into the rafters of the barn, while Rick made his way to the barn doors. Knowing I would be no use to Rick down there, I sighed and hurriedly climbed up the ladder behind Carl.

I looked down to see Rick banging on the barn doors and screaming at the walkers to draw them in. "Hey! Hey! Come on!"

He then pulled the shovel out from the handles and he opened both doors at once.

He then faced the walkers and ran backwards quickly. "Come on! Come on!" He had almost reached the ladder. "Hey! Over here!"

Rick started climbing the ladder, but stopped halfway. "You want some of this? Come on!"

Rick then climbed the rest of the ladder very quickly. "Carl, now!"

I watched as Carl successfully lit the metal lighter, then dropped it into the swarm of walkers below us. I watched on as they all set ablaze and still kept coming, just slower.

Within few moments, the hay at the bottom of the barn started catching. I knew we had to get out of there.

I searched for the window and then climbed out of it. "Hey, come on!" I called to Rick and Carl.

They followed as I stepped out onto the roof of the outdoor stables, about 10 feet off the ground.

I took a big gulp when the walkers from down below surrounded us.

"Shit." I mumbled under my breath.

"Hey! Over here! Park it here!" Rick called.

I snapped my head up to see the RV fast approaching us. Thank you Dale.

"Alright! I'm comin'!"

It wasn't Dale's voice, though, coming from the driver's seat. It was Jimmy's.

Rick jumped on the RV first, then pulling Carl over behind him. He stuck his hand out for me. I took it, then jumped across. It wasn't very far, maybe a foot or two of a jump. But I've never really been good at that kind of thing.

Rick was first down the ladder of the RV and I immediately heard him fire off shots. I got my gun out and started picking off a couple walkers from the top of the RV.

"Katie, lets go!" Rick called.

I nodded and climbed quickly down the ladder, continuing to gun down the walkers as we ran. Where we were going? I didn't know. But Ricks gotten me this far, so I'm not gonna question his decisions.

"The woods, go! Now!" He ordered, ushering Carl and I forward.

Okay, now I started to question it. The dark, ominous woods was the last place I wanted to be at that moment.

I looked to my left and saw Dale with a big wooden stick in his hand as a weapon. Just past him, I saw my Dad with his pump shotgun, struggling to keep the walkers at bay.

"Look!" I told Rick. He looked at them both and nodded.

"I'll go get your Dad, you get Dale." Rick ordered.

I nodded and ran off to the left. I saw Dale hit a walker in the face with his stick. I ran as fast as I could to reach him. Once I did, I ran up beside him and shot another approaching walker. I heard a growl from my left and I aimed my sights on the walker and pulled the trigger.

Click.

My eyes went wide when I realized that I had ran out of ammo. I cursed under my breath as I took my emergency clip out of my pocket and frantically replaced my magazine. I fumbled with my gun for a few seconds before I heard the growl again, this time right in front of my face, as the clip clicked into place.

I looked up to the the walkers teeth inches away from my shoulder and I knew I wouldn't have time to kill it before it got me.

But then I heard a gunshot and the walker went limp. I looked ahead of me and saw Andrea standing there, gun raised. Just as she went to turn around, a walker stood directly behind her, making it almost impossible for me to shoot it without hitting Andrea.

"Andrea, look out!" I screamed.

She turned around just in time and shot the walker down. The limp walker, though, fell on top of her with a thud.

Knowing Andrea was alive, I shot down the walkers that approached her. But, I knew that if I ever wanted to get out of there, I'd need to save some of my ammo.

"Dale!" I called and he looked at me, eyes wild. "Run over to Rick!" I told him, pointing to where Rick and Herschel were stumbling towards the red Chevy.

"What about you?!"

"I'll be right there, I gotta help Andrea!"

Dale nodded and ran off to Rick, dodging walkers as he went.

I turned back towards Andrea, but saw that the walker was face up, and she was no where in sight.

I looked over to the woods to my right and I saw what looked to be Andrea with the bag of guns on her back, running to the forest. Alive.

I took a deep breath and faced forward again.

I went to go run over to the Chevy, but there were now about 20 walkers heading towards me, coming from that way.

With my heart pounding, I ran straight ahead of me, weaving through walkers, trying to run off the farm.

I snapped my head and looked left, to see a group of about 5-10 walkers barreling towards me. I turned towards them and shot the first few, before turning back and heading straight again.

I could still hear the last couple that I didn't shoot, and they were getting faster and closer, as I got tired.

I turned towards them again and shot the remaining walkers. When I got to the last three, I knew I was using up the last of my ammo.

BANG.

Two left.

BANG.

Shit.

I missed. The bullet grazed the walker's neck and didn't kill it.

I lined up my shot again. This time, though, when I pulled the trigger, no bullet came out of the chamber. And I was met with that dreaded sound.

Click.

I didn't even have time to groan in distaste, before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I spun around quickly, and came face to face with a walker.

Unintentionally, I let out a blood-curdling scream of terror, before shoving the walker off of me. It stumbled back, but then came right at me again. I kicked it back and stumbled backwards, away from it, still desperately trying to get off the farm.

I swiveled my head in all directions, doing my best to make sure I don't get snuck up on.

When my head turned to the right, I saw a small herd of them, more than 30, headed in my direction.

I wasn't sure if all if them had seen me yet, but I knew that a lot of them did.

Despite the overwhelming fatigue that took its toll on my body, I pushed my legs harder, desperately using every ounce of energy left in my body to get away from those things.

The moans and growls coming from my right were getting louder and I knew they were closing in on me.

I attempted to push my body harder, to run faster, but as much as I willed myself to get over the pain, I couldn't. My side was burning and my legs started to shake. I could feel myself slowing down, and I knew that no matter how fast I go, walkers don't tire. They would outrun me, and then they would overpower me.

I started walking for a split second, fatigue and exhaustion coursing through my body, before I heard the oh-so-familiar revving of a motorcycle engine.

It snapped me out of my trance as I started running again to meet up with him.

"Daryl!!"

I looked around, searching for the Harley.

I heard the revving close behind me and I turned around to see Daryl fast approaching on the motorcycle.

"C'mon, I ain't got all day!"

I used every last bit of energy I had to sprint over to the motorcycle. I hopped on and clung on to Daryl for dear life.

"Go!" I screamed into his shoulder.

Not even a second later, Daryl twisted the handlebars and we went speeding off into the distance.

* * *

I tried to catch my breath as we sat there, but to no avail.

We've been riding this bike for at least 20 minutes, and I was still panting hard.

"Where we goin'?" I asked him.

"Don't know. I was just gon' drive around, see if we can find anyone else on the road."

"We should go back to the highway... Where we left supplies for Sophia."

"Why?"

"'Cause that's where Rick will go."

"Alright, alright."

I rested my head on his back again, and wrapped my arms tighter around his torso.

"Hey." He said, turning his head very slightly to look at me out of the corner of his eye. "You okay?"

I nodded my head into his back. "Just scared shitless."

"Don't be."

I nodded again into his back, and then it dawned on me. My dad, Maggie, Beth?

"Did they make it?" I asked Daryl. "Did anyone make it, did you see?"

Daryl shook his head. "I didn't see nothin'..."

I sighed as I felt a tear roll down my face.

"Hey, I'm sure they're f--" he started, but then paused. "What the hell?"

I raised my head off his shoulder to see Shane's Hyundai, covered in blood, with its left tail light burnt out.

"Stop!" I yelled. "Its me, Katie. Stop!"

I saw the red break lights come on as the SUV came to a stop just in front of us. The lights then turned off and someone got out of the car.

"Glenn!"

I hopped off the bike, ran over to the open door and slammed full-force into Glenn. I wrapped him in a big hug. I pulled away after a few seconds.

"Maggie?" I asked him.

He gestured with his hand towards the inside of the car.

I felt myself smiling as I went around to the other side of the car. I saw Maggie through the window, hugging her knees close to her chest.

"Mags?"

Her head shot up at me and a smile smeared itself all over her face. She quickly opened the door, stepped out and hugged me tightly.

"I wasn't sure if you'd made it." She said, laughing.

I laughed with her. "I'm glad I did."

"Okay, c'mon we gotta go."

I shot Daryl a playful glare before looking back at Maggie. "See you back on the highway."

I ran over to Daryl who was standing beside his bike and instead of hopping on the bike, I slammed into him the same way I did Glenn, only I held him tighter and longer.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." I mumbled into his shoulder.

"No biggie."

I pulled back, smirked, then got on the back of this bike.

"Well come on then, I ain't got all day."

Daryl smirked back at me, hopped on the motorcycle, then pulled in front of Glenn and Maggie.

"We goin' straight to the highway?"

"Yeah, that's what I told Maggie."

"Alright then... Vamanos."

I smiled as the engine roared to life. Daryl then revved it as we made our way to the highway.

* * *

"Did you fall asleep back there?"

I heard Daryl's voice ask as I opened my eyes.

"Hmm." I mumbled.

Daryl chuckled. "Alright, Sleepin' Beauty. We're 'ere."

I popped my head up to see that we were coming towards the highway.

I looked past Daryl's head and managed to make out three figures. Dale, Carl and Rick.

I held my breath as we came around the other cars. My eyes scanned everywhere for my Dad.

Finally, just as we reached them, my dad came out from behind the red Chevy and into my view.

Daryl had barely stopped the motorcycle before I hopped off and ran towards my dad.

"Daddy!" I called, running up to him and greeting him with a hug.

When I pulled away, Maggie took my place and soon, Beth followed.

"Beth." I said, smiling. Beth turned her head towards me and smiled back, before hugging me.

I pulled away and my eyes scanned the rest of the group.

"Dale." I called to him, smiling. He turned around and hugged me tightly.

"We've both saved each other's lives now." He pointed out.

I nodded and smiled at him, before turning around and leaning against Otis' blue truck that T-Dogg was driving.

"We made it."

I turned to Daryl who leaned on the truck beside me. "Thank god we did."

He smirked at me, then slung his arm around my shoulder, before hugging me into him and pecking me on the head.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked, pulling away from Lori and Carl.

"This guy had his tail light out, zigzagging all over the road... Figured it had to be an Asian drivin' like that." Daryl replied, causing everyone to chuckle.

"Good one." Glenn mumbled, smiling.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.

"We're the only ones that made it so far." Rick answered.

"Shane?" Lori asked.

I tensed up and looked at Rick. He glanced at me, before shaking his head solemnly.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked.

I looked at him. "She's alive." I told him. "She saved me, then killed a walker. It fell on top of her. I talked to Dale, turned around and she was gone." I explained. "I saw her run into the forest with the bag of guns."

"Patricia?" Dad asked.

Beth shook her head from beside him. "They got her too... Took her right from me. I was holding onto her, Daddy, she just--" Beth couldn't finish her sentence. She started sobbing into Dad's chest. "What about Jimmy?" She asked, raising her head.

"He was in the RV... It got overrun." Rick answered.

"Are you certain you saw Andrea?" Dale asked.

"Yeah, she's alive. Saw her shoot her way through the walkers and go into the forest." I answered.

"I'm goin' back." Daryl offered.

"I'll come." I added, hopping onto Daryl's Harley.

"No." Rick denied.

"Well we can't just leave her." Dale argued.

"We don't even know if she's there." Lori said.

"She isn't there, she isn't." Rick told us. "She's either somewhere else, or she's dead. There's no way to find her."

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" I questioned.

"No, we gotta keep moving. Theres walkers crawling all over here." Rick answered.

"I say head East." T-Dogg suggested.

"Stay off the main roads." Daryl warned. "The bigger the road, the more walkers. More assholes like this one." He said, gesturing to a lone walker stumbling towards us. He picked up his crossbow. "I got it." He said, then he shot it down.

* * *

BEEP

A short, curt honking of a horn from behind us alerted Daryl and he stopped.

We had been driving for a half hour, heading East, and we were told to honk our horns if we needed to stop, and I guess someone needed to stop.

Once Daryl came to a full stop, I hopped off the motorcycle and walked towards the rest of the group getting out of their cars.

"You out?" Daryl asked Rick, referring to gas once he got out of his car and met up with the rest of the group.

"Running on fumes." Rick confirmed.

"We can't stay here." Dale warned.

"We can't all fit in one car." Glenn said.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick decided, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Stay the night here?" Dale questioned. "Are you certain?"

"I'm freezing." Carl complained, hugging his sweater closer.

Rick walked up to him and handed him the jacket off his back.

"We'll build a fire, hmm?" Lori suggested, and all of us nodded in agreement.

"I can go out to get firewood." I offered.

"Well then I'll go too." Daryl agreed. "We need to stay close... I'm running out of arrows. How you doing on ammo?" He asked everyone.

"Not enough." I answered.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out." Maggie pointed out.

"Watch your mouth." My dad scolded. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."

"We need to set up a perimeter." Rick ordered. "In the morning we'll find gas and some supplies... We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go back on a run now, try to scavenge some gas." Maggie said quietly.

"We stay together." Rick ordered. "God forbid something happens, people get stranded without a car."

"We're stranded right now." Glenn pointed out.

"I know it looks bad. We've all been through hell and worse, but we found each other." Rick countered. "I wasn't sure we'd all find each other, I really wasn't, but we did. We're together. We need to keep it that way." Rick paused. "We'll find shelter someway, there's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around." Glenn said. "There's walkers everywhere, they're-- they're migrating or something."

"There's gotta be somewhere. And not just where we hold up, but where we can bunker down... Fortify. Pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there, we just gotta find it!" Rick preached.

"Even if we do find a place... We can never be sure for how long." Maggie argued.

"We think its safe... But it never will be." I added. "Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe."

"We won't make that mistake again." Dad defended, looking at me.

"We'll make camp tonight, over there." Rick said, pointing at a few stone walls next to each other. "We'll get on the road at the brink of day."

"What if walkers come through or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked.

"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl told everyone, causing me to look over at him. "He'd turned, but he wasn't bit."

I knit my eyebrows together in confusion.

"How is that possible?" I asked.

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asked.

"Shane killed Randall." Daryl said. "Just like he always wanted to."

No... That's not possible... Is it? Shane wouldn't do that. He wasn't the type of guy to take measures into his own hands.

Oh wait-- yes he was.

Shane killed Randall.

After all the work Dale and I did, Shane just went off and killed Randall without the group's consent.

I cast my eyes down at the floor, realizing that Shane wasn't as good of a man as he let on.

He put a gun to my face.

He almost killed Rick.

He killed Randall.

He killed Otis.

He threatened Dale.

He let the walkers out of the barn.

He was the first to lose hope for Sophia.

He told Lori her husband was dead, then he cheated with her.

He tried to take Lori from Rick.

He tried to take Carl from Rick.

The list could go on. But, after I mentally noted all of the bad things he's done, I remembered something.

'All I've done-- all I've been doing is tryin' to keep this group safe. All my outbursts, all my yellin' and screamin'... That ain't me. That's just my instinct.'

Shane killed Randall, because he didn't want Randall to break loose and bring his men back to hurt the group.

Shane killed Otis, because if he didn't, neither of them would've made it and they wouldn't of gotten the surgical supplies for Carl, who would probably be dead right now.

He threatened Dale, because he was getting in the way of what Shane believed to be the best thing for the group.

He let the walkers out of the barn, because he wanted the group to feel safe, which you can't do with 20 walkers in your backyard.

He wanted to abandon the search for Sophia, because he knew we wouldn't find her, and he wanted the group to be more productive than searching for 'A little dead girl.'

He genuinely thought Rick was dead, and that's what he told Lori. And with Rick dead, he could finally express his love for her. Although cheating is not justifiable, you don't choose who you love.

There are more than a few things that he's done, though, that I can't justify. But Shane was not a bad man. He was a good man, with good intentions, just a bad execution.