Let's not a monologue today, eh? Let's just read the story already. That's what I wrote it for.

Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or Mass Effect. (Note: If you become a writer, this gets real old, real fast.)

A New Future Ch.18

Jane's POV:

Jane examined the wreck that she'd been in just two days ago. Vince examined the tire and found a rifle shell. Army issue. As she searched the wreck, she found the supplies that they had taken with them. It wasn't a bunch of hungry scavengers. It was something else. Wyatt called out to them and, as she went to ask him what happened, he pointed to the ground. There was a set of tire tracks that were not from the truck. They had parked their vehicle at the top of a hill. Perfectly overlooking the entire road.

The shell for the bullet was right next to the tire tracks. As Jane's eyes reflected her growing anger, she got in the back and sat down as Molly drove after the tire tracks. She couldn't wait to get her hands around the one who put her groups life in danger.

Clementine's POV:

As Clementine woke to the scarlet rays of sunrise, she heard the sound of a grizzly bear snoring. Oh wait, that's Kenny. She couldn't believe he hadn't been shot by now. Hearing the sound of clanking metal, she got on her feet and Andy was standing there with a frown on his face.

He simply said "You're hunting today. Just simply checking the traps and bringing what you get back here. You're heading out with Mervin. He's an asshole, but just do what he says. You best bring something back or no dinner."

Leaving her, Andy was soon replaced by a tall man in hunting clothes and a rifle. He had brown, but graying hair, a goatee, and very pale skin. Clementine wondered in her head "Is this guy a vampire?"

As they trudged through the woods, she thought she heard a truck, but shook it off as a trick of the stomach, the penalty of not eating whatever they had been giving her. They had been wandering for about two hours before Mervin led her to a clearing where she could see clearly... two turkeys that had somehow been able to avoid survivors and walkers. She saw Mervin lick his lips in the corner of her eye and she couldn't help but feel disgusted by him and sorry for the turkeys. She watched as Mervin raised his rifle and cocked the hammer. Before she knew what she was doing, she shoved Mervin just as he fired! The shot rang through the trees, the turkeys scattered, and Mervin looked at her with murderous rage. He grabbed her arm and said "Someone else can do hunting duty. You and I are going to St. John."

With him tugging her along, Clementine felt stupid as she saw the wall coming into view. She had risked and probably lost her life for two birds.

Andy came out of the cabin and demanded "What happened?!"

Mervin replied "I had gotten a bead on two of the biggest turkey's I've ever seen in those woods. I was about to fire when your "old friend" here shoved me and I missed the shot! You gotta teach her a lesson, man, or I will."

Andy shoved the raging man to the ground, grabbed a brick, and as he started hitting Mervin, he shouted between each hit, "You... will... not... tell... me... what... to... do!"

As he dropped the brick, Clementine took a look at the battered face. Mervin was coughing up blood, along with teeth, he had a busted nose, imprints of the brick, and a bleeding forehead. She didn't know how he was still breathing. She was dragged into Andy's cabin and was ordered into a chair.

Andy washed his hands and face as he said "I knew Lee was stupid, but did he teach you to be stupid too? Endangering yourself for fat birds? That's a whole new level of idiotic. Clementine, I know you don't like this place, but trust me, it's better than the alternative. To be honest, I'm hurt. I think I've been generous. I could've taken you and your little group and done terrible things to them. Could've killed that asshole Kenny by feeding him to walkers. That kid, Luke, is that his is name? Could've worked him until he dropped and then some or I could've whipped him with razor wire and left him to bleed out. I could've let the citizens of this fine institution work out their "tension" with that Lilly bitch. I didn't. That's because I know that while discipline is fine once in a while, it can get to be a bit much. So, Clementine, next time you want to rebel, think about those things happening to your friends. I have learned mercy through all this, but not that much. Now get out."

As Clementine walked out, she saw the sun was high in the sky. It had been around eight when she had woken up. Two hours after that, she had finished the hunting trip. It had taken about an hour for her and Mervin to get back since he was pulling her instead of slow and silent. Then it had been 30 minutes since she had come back. That meant it was around 11:30. As she walked back to her cell for lunch, she wondered about that noise in the forest. It may have been a truck, maybe Andy's. Before she got in, a woman blocked her and said "Come on. You're on watch duty with me. Andy assigned it."

As she climbed the watch tower, Clementine felt the heat of the sun on her back. It felt like someone had put a fire too close to her back. As she pulled herself up, she couldn't help but admire the view. The watch tower was made out of an old antenna tower. Andy's group had made a platform with the crane and the parts of it were welded together and to the crane. There was also roof cover for snowy, rainy, and heated days.

She sat down on the metal surface and watched the forest. There was about four people there, including her and the woman who came to get her, each assigned a part of the wall to watch. She looked through the binoculars and tried to stay focused.

Jane's POV:

Jane checked her .44 Magnum for the seventh time. Unloaded, disassembled, cleaned, checked, reassembled, and loaded again. Vince tried to beat her time, which he almost did, if they hadn't had a shooting comparison right after. When he had tried, the gun had been missing it's firing pin. That's why she was the only one who touched it from then on. She had been having nightmares again, but instead of the demons from her past, it had started becoming the horrors her future might hold. She remembered the scent of blood, Clem's hat on the ground, surrounded by blood. Clementine in a chair with a bullet in her head. It changed from that to a broken little girl, then to a scarred corpse.

Jane almost couldn't bare it. She knew the crew was still alive, so right now her only concern was Clementine. Her thoughts shifted to the little boy that had died when the Reapers had invaded. The boy who's body the Catalyst mimicked. She had felt guilty about him for so long, but she had realized that she couldn't have saved him. One way or another, he could've died. Her mind went back to Clementine and she thought "Not again. No more. I'm not leaving her to this place. Once I find her and kill whoever took her, I'm leaving here with her once Joker finds us."

She went over the plan again in her head again. Two-pronged approach. All that was left was finding Clementine. They had been on the road for a few hours now. As they bumped along the forest floor, Jane tried to figure out who could possibly have taken her. Bandits? Unlikely. Another group? Maybe for supplies, but why would they take her group. That leaves it to personal. She knew Clementine's group had made a lot of enemies when Clementine was with them. If it was personal, it would explain why they would take prisoners. Then she thought of possible candidates. "The Stranger" as Clementine called him was dead, so not him. Vernon? Possibly. Clementine had mentioned he had offered Lee to take her. Then the last two. The St. John brothers. Clementine had mentioned that "Danny" had been injured by a bear trap. Then the walkers showed up. So, unless he crawled away in time, that left Andy St. John. That was her top possibility. Of course, after Savannah, Clementine and the survivors could've made other enemies, but Jane only deals with facts.

Listening to Clementine's stories again, she derived from it that Andy was a practical normal guy at first, but when you see the ugly side, it won't end well. She also determined that he was a moderate fighter. He would try to use hostages as an advantage. She supposed he was a better deal than Danny. From what she had heard, Danny felt that hunting humans was like hunting game. Andy didn't sound like one who would stay alone through this. If he had a large number of people, there would most likely be a larger number of weapons. As she mulled this over in her head, she heard Molly shout back to them "Shepard! We found them!"

As Jane climbed out, she saw Clementine's prison. Molly had parked the truck at the edge of a hill. Jane took the binoculars Wyatt offered and peaked through. As she looked, Molly said "Wyatt saw the smoke coming from those fires and... well, you know. We checked it out and here we are."

Jane scanned the camp and looked for weaknesses. When she saw the watch tower, she thanked every god she knew from every race and every culture. There was Clementine, sitting there. As she moved on reluctantly, she saw a man leave the big cabin and ring a bell. She determined easily it was Andy. In this world, big leader gets big house. Vince spoke up "It won't be easy. Those guards in the tower will give us away once we're anywhere near them. Stealth ain't an option. Then there's those guys with the heavy machine guns. Probably took them from other groups or an Army base. RPD's, M-130's, et cetera. They'll chew through our armor."

Shel interrupted "Not to mention the wall. Even if we busted through that, our armor would take a beating."

Becca whimpered "I don't think your plan is going to work."

Bonnie said "Yeah, what you got right now is a suicide run."

Jane replied "What's new? New plan then."

Looking at the truck, she drawled out "And I know.. just what to do."

Clementine's POV:

As the sun sank lower from the sky, Clementine observed the colors blooming in the sky. Purple, blue, orange, a kind-of gold-ish yellow, and a fierce scarlet. She heard "Clementine! Dinner's ready."

As she descended from the ladder, she heard someone say "Andy wants you at the Big House for whatever reason. You can go there with us or you can eat pig slop with your group. Your call."

Knowing that if Andy wanted her, it wasn't a request. It was an order. So she followed them. She grabbed a plate and had a simple meal. A sandwich, some grapes, and an apple. Once she sat down, she simply looked at the apple. It was a crimson red apple, freshly picked and watered. As she sliced half of it open, she pulled out and counted the seeds. She counted 12 in all. After she had eaten her apple and hid the sandwich and grapes for the others, She heard Andy call her over. He too sat alone, but he simply lead her back to the watch tower and went up. She followed him up and found him sitting at the edge, drink in his hand.

It was so tempting to push him off the tower, to end his life so she could get herself and the others out of there to find Jane. Instead, she asked "What are you doing?"

Andy replied "Look at this Clem. You say I'm the bad guy, but I'm the only reason these people are still alive. Not everything's black and white."

When she sat down, she couldn't help but look at the moon. As she did, she caught a flash in her eye. She looked for the source, she saw it again.

There stood a lone figure on a hill, highlighted by the sun's disappearing glow. Then she saw movement on the road. A truck sped along the road, heading straight at the wall! She saw a figure jump out of the drivers side and the truck kept coming, the giant ram heading right for the wall. Andy saw the truck and yelled "What the hell?!"

Just before the truck hit the wall and tore through the gate!

Jane's POV:

Jane smirked as she saw the truck tear through the wall like paper. Then she watched as machine guns sprayed bullets from the back. Andy's guards rushed from the mess hall and returned fire. A few lucky bullets from the truck hit a few unlucky faces. Jane watched as the guards went for cover... with their backs exposed to Jane's team. Then the bullets from the truck stopped and Andy's group returned fire. A few seconds later, the truck went up in a billowing cloud of fire and metal. When it stopped and she heard talking, she raised herself and cocked the hammer of her rifle back and heard the others do the same.

Hearing the chorus of guns readying, the guards turned around and Jane couldn't help but feel satisfied at the looks of horror and anger on their faces.

3 hours earlier:

Jane looked over the plan and knew it would be perfect. Instead of the truck being the main offensive, it would be the distraction. After the guards in the watch tower went to eat, they would dig a ditch for Molly to hide in. Wyatt would drive the truck, ramming speed, and ditch before he got too close to the wall. When he drives over Molly's ditch, she would sever the gas line. Once Wyatt was a safe distance away and the guns stopped firing (It's like those trap guns in Char in Gears of War 3.), he would light the fuel, join Molly, and head to the jail cell with Becca. While all that was distracting the guards, Jane's team, which included everyone else, would cut through the wall using the blowtorches. Once the guards calmed down, they would "negotiate."

Present:

A man came rushing to the front of the guards and shouted "Who do you people think you are?!"

Jane shouted back "Who do you think you are to take my group?"

A voice timidly called out "Jane?"

Jane looked to the voice to see Clementine pushing her way to her. Jane said "Clementine, please, just stay there. I'm going to talk with this guy and then we'll leave okay?"

At Clementine's reluctant nod, she asked "You're Andy, right?"

Andy nodded his head in affirmative, but asked "How do you know my name?"

Jane replied simply "Clem told me about you. Look, I don't want any trouble."

Andy shouted back "You got it when you broke my wall and you killed two of my people!"

Jane replied "I wanted to do this without violence and that wall made it impossible. I just want my group and then we'll go. Give me the rest of my group and no one else has to die. We leave, you live, we all go home happy. Simple, right?"

At first, it seemed like he was listening to reason, but then he said "No."

Before she could react, he grabbed Clementine and put a gun to her head!

He shouted to her "I already lost one home to people like you! I ain't losing another!"

Jane replied coldly "Do anything to her and I'll rip you to shreds. Let.. her.. go."

He laughed at her words and said "That ain't gonna happen!"

He walked slowly backwards to the house and then whispered to his group "Kill them."

Catching the words, she shouted "Take cover!" Just as each person ducked behind the metal, a wall of bullets rushed at them.

She heard Clementine scream "NO!"

Bonnie shouted "What now?!"

Jane shouted back "We need to give Becca more time!"

When Andy and Clementine entered the house, Jane waited for the signal. When she heard someone say "Don't fire until I tell you!", Jane yelled "Now!"

Six canisters went up into the air and she heard someone cry out "Smoke!"

As Andy's group retreated, Jane heard Kenny shout "Now!"

Suddenly, bullets were sprayed towards Andy's group from the right! Looking for a second, Jane saw Kenny, Luke, Molly, Lilly, Becca, and Wyatt providing covering fire! As Andy's group scrambled for cover, Jane weaved her way to the house. She opened the door quietly and pulled out the Magnum. As she looked around she found muddy footprints that lead upstairs. Moving slowly and carefully, she followed the mud to the attic, where Andy was waiting with Clementine. Andy said "Stop right there. You really are persistent to a fault. Drop your weapon."

As Jane dropped the Magnum, Andy said "I know who you are. You're a thief. You're a murderer. We're both the same. We're both dead inside."

Jane replied "I'm not dead yet."

Andy smiled and said "Easily changed."

He raised his gun to her, but before he could fire, Clementine bit down hard on his hand!

As he pulled her off, Jane rushed him, but he just hit her aside. Looking up at him, dazed, she watched as he leveled the Glock to her head, brought the hammer back, pulled the trigger, but instead of a BANG!... there was a click! Turning her head, she saw Clementine had the magazine! Her relief was short-lived as Andy threw the gun away, grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, and punched her, again and again. Jane felt the world blurring and spinning as Andy kept hitting her. Willing her barrier to life, she gasped at the relief from the pain. Catching his hand, she pulled his arm down and pushed her head to meet his! As Jane breathed in and out in exhaustion, she saw Andy on his feet, shaking his head from the pain of her impact.

Pushing herself up, she ran forward and kneed Andy to the face. As she recovered from the muscle pain, Jane saw Andy on the ground, barely conscious. Jane walked over, raised her leg, and brought it down onto his head. Before she could do it again, he grabbed her leg and pulled hard, causing her to fall! As she struggled to stay awake, Andy staggered to his feet, grunted "Come here."as he lifted her by the shoulders, and then threw her into a mirror!

Seeing this, Clementine looked around and found what she was looking for... Jane's gun. She reached for it, turned to Andy's direction and fired blindly. The bullet had caught his shoulder and when he fell, and Clementine ran to Jane's fallen form. As Jane fought through the blurry pain, she heard a muffled voice crying out "Jane, no! Please get up! Please! Get up! Try to get up! I can't do this again!"

As her vision cleared, she saw Andy stand back up, grab Clementine, and slapped her to the ground! Fury reddening her eyes, Jane felt adrenaline and biotics rushing into her veins! Completely wreathed in scarlet and violet biotic flames, Jane roared "Don't touch her!"

Completely abandoning reason, Jane launched herself at Andy and all she could hear as she hit him was wood snapping and bone's breaking!

When Jane opened her eyes, she felt rain pattering on her face. As she looked around, she realized both groups were in a standoff, she saw a huge gaping hole in the attic, and Andy was beneath her. When she heard him groaning, her rage restored as long as his heart continued beating. As she raised her fists, she caught a flash of silver in her eye. Turning to the source, she saw her Magnum on the ground.

Her hand wrapping around the weapon, she raised it to Andy. Before she could fire, she heard "Jane, stop!"

Turning to the source, her rage-filled eyes found Clementine, walking out of the house towards her with AJ in her hands. Jane replied "He took you, Clem! He was going to kill you and you want him to live?!"

Clementine shouted back "I'm not asking for him! I'm asking for you! I know you Jane! You're not a monster!"

As Jane thought about it, she couldn't help but ask herself "Am I a monster?"

Taking in a breath of smoke-tinted air, Jane Shepard made her decision. As the silver gun slipped from her fingers, Jane felt her biotics fade from her body. She heard the clash of thunder in the night sky and rain pouring to the ground. She finally felt what Anderson had felt those ten days ago. It hadn't felt like ten days to her though. More like ten years. She had always been fighting the same battle, to survive. Now it was over. She was free.

As she rolled off of Andy, Jane felt her implants repairing the damage to her body, her eyes fading back to emerald green. She heard footsteps coming towards her and found Clementine standing near her. Jane heard her ask "Are you okay?"

Jane replied "I'm okay Clem. Everything's going to be alright."

As Jane pulled herself up, she caught movement near the gate. As she went over to the demolished gate, lightning flashed and revealed the movement to be... "Walkers!" Clementine yelled to the others.

There had to be thousands. Jane leaped for her gun and fired accurately into the giant wall of corpses. The others quickly followed her lead. As Jane fired at the walkers, more and more kept coming. Some of them must from the herd at Carver's, but the others... she had no idea. Clementine asked "What are we going to do, Jane?"

Just then, she heard a truck starting. She turned to see Andy's group leaving. Andy was hunched over, looking at the scene in satisfaction. As they took off, Jane yelled "You can't just leave us here!"

One of them shouted back "I forgot where you were our problem. We had a good thing going and you took it from us. Karma, bitch!"

Kenny roared after them "You fucking cowards!"

The giant 16-wheeler just paved it's way through the walkers and disappeared from sight.

As more and more walkers poured in, the group resorted to their hand weapons and their pistols. Clementine trembled with AJ in her hands and asked "Jane, what are we going to do?"

Shepard looked over the herd and replied "What we've always done. Survive."

Then, as she raised her machete in one last dance-off with Death, she heard a sound she never thought she'd be so relieved to hear.

Following the sound, a Kodiak drop-ship came out of the clouds above them! She heard in her ear "Take that you sons of bitches!"

Turning to look, she saw James manning the turret, chopping down everything in his path! Kenny yelled "What the fuck is that?!"

Jane replied while waving her arms "That's James, firing a big gun."

She heard a familiar voice on the comm "Shepard, that you?"

She asked "Cortez! It's so good to hear your voice! Where's the Normandy?"

He replied "On it's way. We had to split up to cover more ground."

James jumped in "Yeah. I was scared of old Scars for a bit. He's on a rampage to find you."

As they landed, James jumped out and yelled "Lola!"

He jogged over to her and engulfed her in a giant bear hug! Jane chuckled and said "You're a little more emotional than I remember James."

He set her down and said "Sorry, ma'am. Just happy to see you alive and kicking ass."

Jane heard Clementine say "Swear."

James looked down to her and asked "Who's this ninita?"

Jane smiled and said "This is Clementine. Clementine, this is James Vega."

Clementine stuttered out "N-Nice to meet y-you, sir. Thanks for the help."

James saw the hole in the house and asked "What did that? Brute? Banshee?"

Jane replied "Tell you later James. We better get out of here."

Just as she said that, the Normandy roared across the sky, followed by Joker humming "The Ride of the Valkyries" on the comm. As he landed, the Normandy's hull crushed the house beneath it. She heard Joker sarcastically say "I'll never get the deposit back on that one."

As she watched the ramp lower, she heard the cheering of a large group of people.

When it fully lowered, Jane was tackled to the ground by a krogan wearing silver armor! She heard a woman cry out "Grunt, we just found her! Don't make her run off again!"

As Grunt got off of her, Jane saw the rest standing at the edge of the ramp, waiting for her approval. Well, except Wrex. He was laughing at how Grunt had tackled her. She walked forward and they joined together in a group hug. Jane said while laughing "I thought I'd never get to see you guys again."

Then when they heard a throat clear, the group parted for her to see a handsome turian with blue tattoos across his face and faded scars along the right side of his head.

Jane walked over to him and gently caressed his mandible. As he closed his eyes at the touch, she leaned forward and placed her forehead on his. He whispered to her "It is you."

Pulling away smirking, she said "You didn't think I was going to leave so soon, did you?"

Grabbing her forearms and pulling her towards him, he said "Not on my watch. After all, I did order you to come back alive."

Jane smiled and said "I missed you Garrus."

She heard a fake cough behind her, followed by Kenny asking "Care to explain?"

Jane turned around and said "I can explain later, Kenny. Right now, you guys can make a choice. Come with us and leave this place or you can stay with the walkers."

One by one, the group piled onto the Normandy, until only Kenny, Clementine, and AJ remained.

Jane asked "Clem, what are you doing? Please, Clem. Come with us?"

Clementine looked at her and said "No more secrets?"

Jane nodded and said "I promise Clem."

Jane reached out and Clementine took it. Kenny looked at them and said "I'm not sure. What about the other people on this rock? We can't just leave them here, in this hell."

Garrus said "We can't go back for them, either. The drive we used to get here wasn't meant for this. The rift is already closing and if we go for the others, we'll all be stuck here."

Clementine pleaded "Please Kenny. Think about the baby. There's nothing left for us here. Please, come on."

He looked between them and the walkers that were coming towards them and reluctantly, Kenny stepped aboard and with that, the Normandy streaked back to the stars.

As Jane watched the dead Earth disappear, she felt two strong arms embrace her from behind. She heard Garrus whisper in her ear. "Our parents are here. Your mom, my dad and sister. Your mom got knocked out due to the deceleration. Chakwas is treating her and I asked my family to stay in their cabin until you're ready."

Jane smiled and said "Thank you. Before we go to see them, we need to talk, Garrus."

Do you know how hard this was? Fight scenes are hard. I didn't want it to be too one sided. If you think something was wrong with this chapter, tell me. Anyway, the end of our road's coming. Review, tell me what you thought and I'll see you all next weekend.