For the ppl who read "The Long Walk" by Stephen King?

Question

I did not get the ending! what happened?? Garrety was the last one, and he ran towards that black figure after he felt someone touch his shoulder...???? i dont get it!.. what happened??

Answer 1

After five days and hundreds of miles of walking, the Walk eventually comes down to Garraty and Stebbins - who reveals himself to be the illegitimate son of the Major and the "rabbit" set up in the race to make the others walk further. At the end of the book, Garraty decides to give up after realizing that Stebbins has shown almost no weaknesses over the duration of the Walk. Garraty catches up with Stebbins to tell him this, but before he can speak, Stebbins grabs his shirt, says "Oh, Garraty!", collapses and dies; thus Garraty is declared the winner.

At this point, in a severely degenerated mental state, Garraty sees a "dark figure" beckoning to him. Some readers have interpreted this dark figure to be recurring Stephen King villain Randall Flagg, who is often referred to as "The Walkin' Dude" or "The Dark Man" (this is notably mentioned in the book The Stephen King Universe by Wiater, Golden & Wagner). A second speculation comes from Stebbins' earlier reference about the souls of the walkers being close by, and that the dark figure is the specter of either McVries or Baker. A final speculation is that since Garraty "knows the figure like he knows himself," is actually chasing a figment of his own personality--his hope, which he believed was lost after Freeport. Ignoring (or most likely unaware of) the celebration going on around him, Garraty gets up from Stebbins' side and walks after the dark figure; when someone - possibly the Major himself - tries to grab him, he begins to run.