A Crushing Truth (Shane and Harliquinn)

Harliquinn had been woken up by Dale when the whole group had begun to notice that the lights and the air conditioning were going off, she had been sound asleep and enjoying being so but she did need to be woken up for this for her plan to work. So. She was going to let the fact that Dale had touched her to wake her slide.

He hadn't meant anything by it she was sure.

Humming softly she wandered down the corridor with the other people, they were all heading to the central hub down the hall and she couldn't blame them, it was more likely where Jenner was. She as a newbie to the CDC too would have less idea about what was going on. Of course, she knew what was going on.

Otherwise how would she have planned around it to look like the hero? Laughing wickedly inside she couldn't help but smirk at each thing that the doctor said, explaining to the people what the countdown meant, what would happen when it reached zero.

"Come on we have to get to the generator room! This can't be the only fuel that there is left in this place!" Rick had shouted, bidding the other women and children to stay put but Harliquinn joined them with an expression of grim determination mixed with an air of panic on her features.

Hanging by Shane she dashed down to the generator room and immediately went about looking around the room, going for the place where she had left her jerry can.

"Here, I brought some fuel I syphoned from my car, I thought that I could keep it in case there was an emergency....guess this is a pretty big emergency. I don't know how to get it inside though, do we just...like pour it in?" Harliquinn asked, showing the fuel tank to Rick, Shane and T-Dog.

Immediately T-Dog took the jerry can, hugged her with a sheer force it almost cracked her back and set about pouring the small amount of fuel into the generator. It was just enough to open the door and keep it open...for a few minutes.

Of course they didn't know that, Harliquinn did though, she had monitored the fuel use it took to open the doors to the CDC and ensured she had just a little more fuel than that in the can, for an emergency such as this.

"Come on we don't know how long that fuel is going to last, we have to get those outside doors open." Harliquinn stated hurriedly as she ran back to the steps, dashed up them and raced towards her room, picking up her suitcase and throwing the rest of her belongings inside of it, before joining the others, who had already packed in the Central Hub.

Shane had woken up with a killer headache and Rick standing over him, fully dressed and ready to leave. That immediately caught his attention and he had shrugged off the worst of his hangover to rushed along with Rick and the others to the main room of the CDC, trying to find Edwin. He was really starting to get a massive headache from the booze last night but it was the revelation that at the end of the countdown they were all going to die that got him the most,

"Fuck you Jenner!" he growled at the scientist, ready to shoot the guy in the head without a second thought, "You knew about this the whole time and you didn't think to tell us? I'm going to kill you Jenner!"

It had taken Rick, T-Dog and the glimmer of hope that Harliquinn had given him to finally decided that he wouldn't kill the bastard just yet. The jerry can of fuel waiting for them was a god send and he gave Harliquinn a tight hug of his own,

"Thank god for you being here Harli... without you we'd all be dead right now." he admitted to her before gritting his teeth as they made their way back up to the central hub of the CDC, the countdown numbers still clicking away, "We need to get out of here guys!"

Rick nodded in agreement as he came back from speaking to Jenner, looking paler than normal. He coughed and nodded,

"Alright everybody move! Daryl, T-Dog, Shane, Glenn and Harliquinn and I will scout ahead, put the kids in the middle, after us, and the other stay behind us all to cover us!" he told everone with Shane nodding, holding Harliquinn's hand in one hand and his shotgun in the other as they passed through a heavy set of steel doors,

"Come on Harliquinn... I'll carry you if I have to but I'm going to keep you safe no matter what!"

Harliquinn couldn't help but enjoy the little flicker of happiness that went through her when they thanked her for saving her, it was always nice to know that you had saved lives, after all who would be left to suffer on later if not for the people that she helped now? Of course, she wouldn't kill everyone, the small children were rather sweet and surely didn't deserve such a death, not yet anyway.

Now that she was ready to leave she nodded her head and decided that she would follow what Rick said, just because she wanted to seem compliant with his leadership, everyone seemed to trust him after all and she didn't want to make waves. Not when her place in the group might still be under contention among the others.

Reaching out she grabbed Shane's hand, tugging her suitcase along beside her as she dashed towards the doors leading to the outside. Pegging it up the stairs with the children behind her, she couldn't help but enjoy the thrill.

"I'm right behind you Shane!" she declared as they arrived on the top side, the doors were still open and she was nearing them, pushing the children ahead of her, when Carl had passed she too ran through the doors "I don't suggest we stop here, we should get into your cars and make a break for it, there's no clue when this place might go up in flames."

Throwing her suitcase in the back of one of the cars Rick had opened for her, Harliquinn slammed the boot shut and turned to the CDC in time to see Dale rushing out of the building, Lori and the other woman Carol were not far behind.

Crunch.

From here she could hear the delightful snapping and squishing of bones and muscle. An expression of utter horror and shock appeared on her features, but inside she was laughing, overjoyed that her plan had finally come to fruition, the weaker females of the group were gone, dead, and Lori had been compacted by the door, like she had desired.

"Oh my god Lori!" she squeaked out , staggering forwards a few steps as if to make sure what she was seeing was real, in truth she was just sad she wasn't closer to see it happen "Damn...I didn't save enough fuel I..." she whispered, upset.

Shane couldn't help but notice that right now Harliquinn was adding more to the group than anyone else and it was great! She was proving that she deserved a spot in their group and that she was willing to fight tooth and nail for it. And to be honest he couldn't hold that against her at all; it must really suck to be an outsider looking in and all that.

He gave her a confident grin when she told him that she was right behind him even as she grabbed his hand. Shane knew that he would be rather reluctant to let go of her hand when the time came but that wasn't his concern right now,

"Come on then we need to get the hell away from the building!" he agreed with Harliquinn, it's going to burst into flames and I don't want to be around the place when it does!"

There was a sound that made the hairs on the back of Shane's neck stand up.

Spinning round, all of the group saw Lori being crushed to death in the same second and the reactions varied. Shane couldn't help but feel guilty that the last words he'd spoken to her were in anger about how he hated her constantly judging everything he did and assuming that everything and anything he did was solely for her entertainment and benefit.

Sophia and Carl started crying their eyes out due to Lori's death and Carol being trapped.

But Rick was the worst.

"NO! NO! NO NO NO!" He roared and dropped what he was carrying, trying to rush towards the CDC, "NO! LORI!"

Tackling his best friend to the ground to hold him down, Shane turned to Harliquinn,

"Make sure the kids stay back!" he told her right before the CDC exploded in a ball of massive fire. Seeing there was no point in holding Rick down, Shane backed off as his friend screaming in despair for a few moments as he cried. Shane turned back to the rest of the group, his entire body feeling limp, "Is everybody... everybody else... alright?"

Harliquinn's cold heart almost felt guilty when she heard Rick screaming for the loss of his dead wife, it made her feel just a little bit guilty for what she had done, especially doing it in front of him and his child. Who would probably have nightmares for a long long time about his mother being crushed and then bursting into flames, at least she wouldn't become a walker though, there was always a silver lining to these situations.

Holding the kids back, Harliquinn hugged Carl into her, turning him to face away from the CDC, doing the same with Sophia on the other side, them each being held to look over her shoulder in the other direction. The sobbing of both children at the loss of their mothers touched Harliquinn and she wasn't sure she liked it.

The explosion however made her smirk wickedly inside while she gazed at it awed by the magnitude. Nothing would be getting out of that, and that was the last CDC in the world that could stop her...the thought made her want to physically chuckle in sheer delight, she had managed to do what she had dreamed of.

"Hush now...hush." she whispered softly to the children as she stroked their hair to try and soothe them "Don't look now...let's get you two into the rv."

Sighing softly she picked them both up with ease and hugged them to her as she walked them towards the RV, which was a bit difficult seeing as she had to do it backwards so they wouldn't turn and look at the wreckage behind her. Once they were inside with Dale helping them, Harliquinn moved back outside to Shane, who was shellshocked and Rick who was...self destructing seems like a good word.

"I'm fine." she whispered softly, her tone was soft and quiet, her hands had a tremble to them as she realised her own body was in shock "God I am so sorry I didn't have enough fuel to get us all out...I...I'm just..."

Tears filled her eyes and she turned and fled to lean against the RV not wanting anyone to see her cry, even though her real emotions were not behind them.

Shane looked at the burning remains of the CDC and couldn't help but feel the strong urge to tell someone that he told them so. So naturally he turned to tell Rick that he told him so... and immediately felt like the biggest asshole in history for even considering saying that to the man right now. He pulled his friend to his feet and gave him a hug, knowing that his best friend and partner needed some support right now,

"Hey... hey it's alright Rick..." he assured his friend, "Come on... you have to be strong. You have to be strong for Carl and the rest of your group man... they look up to you and they need you to be strong. Come on man... I need my best friend back..."

Rick seemed to pull himself together enough to talk but he was not going to be to strong enough to do a lot of things for a while at least. Bundling his friend into the RV with the others, Shane sighed a little bit as he checked to make sure that everyone in the RV was ready to leave soon-ish. He swallowed his own guilt a little bit before following after Harliquinn,

"There's no way you could have know about how much fuel you would need to keep the doors open those extra seconds." he assured her gently before pulling her into a light hug, "You did the best that you could and because of that... the rest of us are alive. That counts for a lot in my book."

Pulling away, he frowned slightly, his face conflicted,

"Besides... I was the one who's last words to Lori were in anger..." He sighed a little bit, "The guilt is... it's very powerful and it's threatening to eat me away inside... I can't let it can I?"

Harliquinn knew that the people would get over the loss that had occurred, she knew that it would happen and although it might take some time they would eventually move on with their lives. She was certain that Lori could not have been a very good wife nor a very good mother if the things that Shane had told her were true, they had a chance to live without her now and form new lives. She would love that chance if her mother was killed.

As she was pulled into a hug by Shane she rested her head on his chest and continued to sob softly, she didn't know when she was going to stop but thought that when she calmed down from her shock, the tears would eventually begin to subside away.

"I...I guess not." she whispered softly "I am just so...so angry with myself that I couldn't save everyone, I mean, poor Carl and Sophia they just they were there and they watched that happen!" Harliquinn sighed softly, wiping at her tears and hoping that no more were going to form.

Gently she cupped his cheek in her hand and smiled a rather soft smile up at him, she wanted to comfort Shane as much as she could, and she could do that by being physical with him. After all she didn't want him to even think about Lori now that she was dead, there would be a lessening hold on his heart now she was no longer here as a reminder.

Now he would be all hers.

"No, no you must not let that happen." Harliquinn whispered softly "You said what needed to be said and you had no idea they would be your last words to her, she knew that she was someone special to you, without you having to say it. I'm sure she bares you no ill will."

Sighing softly she massaged the bridge of her nose and looked towards the burning wreckage; "We should move, the walkers would have been attracted to the sound of the explosion, it will be dangerous to stay here. Where should we go...?" she asked, biting her lip softly as she hugged him tighter to her, not ready to move just yet.

Shane didn't know how it had happened but within the space of about two minutes he had become the rock for the remainder of the group and it was honestly rather distressing. What did he know about comforting people? Even back when he was a cop he had left the breaking of the bad news to Rick or some of the other officers. He just didn't have the empathy to really deal with other people's problems as well as his own,

"Carl and Sophia will just have to... move on, like the rest of us." he told her with a small sigh, "But they're tough kids and smart too. They'll be fine and so will everyone else. You can't beat yourself up about it when you saved so many of us."

He sighed a little bit and nuzzled his cheek into her hand a little bit. The comfort from her touch alone was beginning to make him feel a little better, a little bit less alone in the whole experience. He smiled faintly,

"I know it needed to be said but it is kind of weighing on me a little bit..." he admitted before smiling a fake little smile, "Ah it'll go away soon I'm sure. I'll pull myself together and stop acting like a little girl who's had her Barbie broken in half."

When it came to moving on he sighed a little bit and nodded, taking her back to the whole group so that he only had to say it once,

"Right we're heading to the nearest fort like I said before... Dale, Glenn, Carl, Sophia and Rick in the RV. Daryl on your bike. T-Dog take a car." he turned to Harliquinn and smiled as he led her over to another car, "Leaving me and you alone on the road... do we need road-trip music I wonder?"

Harliquinn as beginning to try and calm down a little bit, she would have thought that she should have stayed distressed a little while longer but she wanted to be a rock for the group too, especially the children because as odd as it sounded she actually has a small soft spot for the kids in the group although she hadn't really spent a lot of time together.

But she would much rather spend time with them than she would with Daryl or T Dog for example who she did not much like at all.

"I'll try not to place too much blame on myself but, it's hard not to think that it is at least partly my fault." she stated, chewing her lip slightly as she thought about how it was totally her fault and she would do it again in a heartbeat, despite the pain that it caused the group because she knew her own pleasure would be great from such an event.

Gently she placed a kiss on Shane's cheek and shook her head; "No no, don't think of it like that at all, you were close to Lori, and she was a part of your life for a long time, you have every right to be upset and grieve, I will try and help shoulder the burden of taking care of the group, so you can have your own time to mourn."

Agreeing with the plan that Shane placed forwards, Harliquinn smirked softly, it was going to be a good chance for her to get in to the running of the leadership for the group now that Rick was so weak, and Shane was more than definitely on her side. Dale was warming to her and she made sure to give him a weak smile as they were stood next to each other in the rv.

"Good luck everyone." she murmured softly as she left the RV with Shane, T Dog and Daryl "Be safe out there."

Giving Shane a weak smile Harliquinn laughed softly and shook her head; "I don't think we need music, we could always just have a good old talk...I can imagine there must be a lot on your mind considering what just happened back there...I don't mind if you want to vent, especially about what happened with Lori last night."

The fact he had gone to speak with Lori made her smirk wickedly inside, he had done as she had suggested, he was already being such a good boy.

Shane could see that she was going to insist on taking some, if not most, of the blame onto herself and he really didn't agree with it. After all, she had done her best and done a damned sight more than what anyone else had done. There hadn't been anything that anyone could have done and that had been proven time and time again. He sighed a little bit and kissed her gently on the forehead and rested his forehead against hers gently,

"What was your fault was that some of us made it out alive rather than all of us being trapped inside and left to burn to death." he told her honestly, "That is what is your fault. Awful? Hardly. You're a hero Harliquinn."

He shook his head a little bit as he tired to put thoughts of Lori out of his mind, "Lori cut me off completely during out little argument. She cut all ties between us... not me. So I don't feel too bad about it all."

Shane waved to the RV, T-Dog and Daryl as the began to drive along the road towards the fort. Jumping into the car he followed them with Harliquinn in the passenger seat. He chuckled a little bit when she suggested that they could talk instead of listen to music,

"Sounds like it could very easily become depressing." he joked a little bit as he continued to drive slowly, "Lori last night... we spoke a lot about her treatment of me and how much/little she respected me and my actions. And oh the fuss she kicked up... I swear it was like she thought I'd just slapped Carl or something. Asking 'how dare I ask about what she did for me' and all that shit."

Now she was sitting in the car with Shane, driving along a little slowly at first while they cleared the rubble and fires of the CDC, she thought about what he had said, that she was a hero. It was something she had never really been called before. Perhaps her calculating mind could actually do something useful for a change instead of being destructive like she normally decided to use it for. It might be nice to try a new leaf.

"A hero..." she hummed softly "Well if you insist...I guess I can't say anything differently about that, why would I want to? I'm just happy that you managed to get out alright Shane, and the children. We can all look after little Sophia now I suppose."

It made her smirk inside to hear about what had happened between Shane and Lori last night, it sounded like he had gotten her good and riled and like the bitch she was she had struck back. It left him with a negative impression of the woman and that was what she wanted, Harliquinn didn't want any stray thoughts of Lori crossing Shane;s mind in the future.

Snorting a little bit Harliquinn gently traced Shane's hand on the gear stick as he changed the gears, wanting to keep that closeness up while they spoke, it seemed to do wonders for keeping his confidence up to tell her these things.

"The sure sign of a guilty conscience, I am sorry that your last meeting had to be like that...it mustn't be a very pleasant last memory but, it must feel good to know you said all that needed to be said before the...well before the end. Both of you had closure on your situation." she stated with a small smile, closure was good, it meant that he wasn't going to be pining much for the horrible woman she would have enough of that from Rick and Carl.

Shane could tell that she was not used to being referred to as a hero but if he was a 'hero' worthy of a police medal for punching a few drug dealers then she was a hero for saving most of the group. He actually decided to do something to how her how much of a hero he thought she was and how brave her actions were. He reached into his pocket before dropping a silver medal into her lap with a little chuckle,

"For bravery... above and beyond the call of duty." he told her with a smirk before nodding a little bit, "Yeah well I'm glad that I'm not dead either to be fair. As for Sophia... I don't know what'll happen to the poor girl even with our help."

He could tell that something had made Harliquinn smile a little bit when he told her about the sort of things he had been saying to Lori the night before. Was that just his mind playing tricks on him or something? He didn't know.

When her hand touched his he gave it a gently squeeze even as they began to slow down a little bit again, not a single Walker in sight anywhere around them. He smiled a little bit sadly and nodded a little bit,

"Well it set the record straight and that was what I was going to talk to her about so it could have been worse. Definitely could have been worse." he admitted before smirking a little bit, "There was closure but I think she was just pissed off that she was the one being dumped I think."