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

I Want To Be With My Family (Chapter 7)

Third person POV

"The CDC thing, Lori," Shane began, "It's a mistake."

"What else am I supposed to do, Shane?" Lori asked, shaking her head. "He's my husband."

"You can't tell me that fixing your marriage is worth putting people's lives at risk." Shane responded, through clenched teeth, anger boiling up inside him.

"The folks around here can make up their minds with out bringing my marriage into it" She retorted, "that's a habit that you need to break"

"I guess I'll just have to list the habits I'm breaking," Shane replied, as Rick started to come down the stairs of the RV, "whether I like it or not."

"What habits?" Rick stated as he reached the two talking in a hushed voice.

"I'm talking about my need for a plan, man." Shane responded, eyeing him.

"I think we should trust your gut" Lori said, looking at Rick.

Rick nodded as Shane thought of what to say. "Let's go do another sweep before we go." He said, directing it at Rick. Rick nodded again and walked off to find his shotgun.

* * *

"If we head to the CDC," Shane began, "we might be up there on our own." He said to Rick as they walked through the forest, eyes and ears peeled for walkers.

"Well, If it was your family, you'd want to go. You'd feel differently." Rick responded.

"What'd you say to me?" Shane demanded, stomping ahead to catch up to Rick, as he had straggled behind. "I kept them safe, man. I looked after them. Like they were my own!" He said, slightly raising his voice.

"You're misinterpreting me, man" Rick said, desperately trying to back-track. "You're just hearing it wrong-" They were interrupted by a faint twig snapping.

They both snapped there heads in all directions, trying to get a glimpse of the source of the noise. Rick nodded to Shane and the two moved diagonally away from each other, separated by a bush of branches. Rick headed out faster, slightly in front of Shane.

Shane readied his gun, spotting rhythmic movements ahead of him. Realizing it was Rick, he loosened his grip on the gun a little, but he didn't take Rick out of his scope.

He started shaking. His hand inching closer to the trigger. Touching it, now. But he couldn't do it.

Not yet.

His body relaxed, and his gun came down by his side. He turned around, scratching the back of his neck when he saw Dale behind him, wide-eyed.

"Jesus." Dale whispered to himself.

"We should start wearing reflective vests or something out here." Shane said with a fake chuckle, trying to cover up what he was about to do. "Come on, Rick!" He yelled, "It was just Dale!" He kept his eyes on Dale as he headed back to camp.

* * *

Katie's POV

"I've known this man for a long time." Shane started, after everyone gathered around the fire by Shane's request. "I trust his instinct," he continued, "I've been thinking about this plan, about going to the CDC. Those of you who agree with it, we leave first thing in the morning."

I could tell that he wasn't happy about it, that he was reluctant to agree, but he did. And that's all that mattered. I nudged Daryl beside me, with a questioning look. Daryl nodded. I smiled at him and got up, heading back to my tent when Daryl stopped me.

"Uhh... goodnight." He said with a shy tone. I could tell he wasn't used to being nice and caring. I smiled.

"Goodnight." I replied, squeezing his hand, "See you in the morning."

* * *

Maya's POV

"Dale, Glenn, Andrea, Jacqui, you guys take the RV with Jim. Keep an eye on him." Rick said. "I'll take the red Sedan with Lori, Carl, Carol and Sophia. Shane, take the Highlander, T-Dogg gets the blue pick-up. Daryl, take Katie on the Harley and you guys can take your Jeep." He said, pointing at Drew and I with a very authoritative tone.

"Sure thing," Drew started, "but there's barely any gas left. We wouldn't make it a mile." He said.

"I can siphon a few of our cars," T-Dogg began, "then when we get on the highway, I can try some more." He said.

The group by the RV all nodded and T-Dogg got to work with his funnel. In half an hour, we had more than enough gas to get us to the highway, to siphon the other cars. The owners of the cars would be dead, or turned. They don't need them as much as we do.

We were about to head to the Jeep, when Morales spoke up, "We're not coming." He said, "We got some family in Birmingham, Alabama. We're gonna go stay with them." He said.

"You guys sure about this?" Rick asked them. They all nodded, and Rick handed them a walkie talkie. "To keep in contact." Rick explained, "If you need us, just turn that thing on. I'll be on every day at dawn." Rick told Morales.

"Thank you." Morales responded, and with that, everyone headed to their cars.

We stepped in the Jeep and Drew started the engine. The fuel light was off and we both sighed in relief.

* * *

We started following the group. "We're going to be all right." Drew said, turning his head in my direction. "You know that, right?"

I nodded, smiling at him. He turned back towards the road. "This is going to be good for us. This group knows what they're doing." He said to me, still looking straight ahead.

I chuckled and shook my head while smiling.

"What?" He asked me.

"I've always loved how you can make light of any situation" I said.

He smiled at me. I almost didn't notice the red break lights in my peripheral.

"DREW WATCH OUT!" I yelled as he slammed on the breaks, stopping inches away from the RV ahead of us.

He got out of the car. "Why did we stop?" He asked.

"It's Jim," Jacqui started to say, clearly in a panic, "It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."

Rick had also gotten out of his car and ran into the RV when he heard this. I followed him and heard Jim speak what could of possible been his last words,

"This ride's killing me." He wheezed, "Leave me here. I'm done."

"That's the fever talking, Jim-" Rick began, but then Jim cut him off.

"No. I want this. I-I-" he choked out, "I want to be with my family."

Rick nodded and sighed, carrying Jim outside of the RV and tying him to a tree. Jacqui started crying as everyone said their goodbyes. Jim gave us a weak smile and we hit the road again.