Disarm ⋙ Shane Walsh ⋙ The Walking Dead

Hunger Strike ⋙ t w e n t y f i v e

Shane took a deep breath as he scoped out the rooms. The lively chatter of everyone at the dinner table was slightly muffled by the walls, but it was still audible enough to fill the eerie silence. Shane was not comfortable here. It was safe enough, but something was very clearly off. He stumbled into a room that appeared to be a game room. He quickly collapsed onto a couch. He sighed and put his head in his hands. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. He had no idea what to do. On one hand, Shane knew that something was off. This Jenner man had to be crazy. He was completely alone and had been for God knows how long. Who knew how long it would be before this man just happened to snap. But on the other hand, it was safe from all immediate danger. It was a solid shelter, there was food and there was electricity. As much as Shane wanted the group to move on to a new place, he knew that the group deserved at least a few solid days of rest and nourishment. Especially Katherine, Carl and Lori. He had already let them down enough.

Shane was jerked from his thoughts by a small voice. "Shane! Are you going to come eat with us?" He looked up and saw Carl and Sophia standing in front of him. Shane feigned a smile and rubbed his head. "Yeah, Bud. I was just checking out the rooms." Sophia nodded and smiled. She was so timid, just like Carol. "Shane! Will you race Sophia and me back?" The excitement in Carl's voice was evident. "Well, I think I might be able to do that for you. But just to let both of you know, y'all are gonna lose!" A big grin was plastered on his face as he took off. Both Carl and Sophia erupted into laughter as they tried to catch up.

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Katherine was sitting between Rick and Glenn. She was laughing along with the rest of the group, trying to allow herself to relax. She kept glancing around, taking in the building. Despite the food and electricity, Kat couldn't shake the feeling of unease that was hanging heavy in the air. The chatter in the air was light and fun, but it was soon interrupted by the sound of laughter and heavy footsteps. Everyone looked up to see Carl and Sophia round the corner, Shane was hot on their heels. Carl ran and jumped into Lori's lap. Sophia into Carol's arms. Shane was out of breath and he leaned over, bracing himself on his knees. "Haha, Shane! We beat you!" Kat giggled at Sophia. This was the most the girl had said in quite some time. Carol grinned at her daughter. She was thrilled to see her playing and laughing again. 

Shane placed himself in-between Glenn and Dale, it was the closest he could get to Katherine. He looked over at her and winked, his award winning grin was plastered on his face. Kat smiled and blushed. She turned back to see Dale pouring a glass of wine. Dale had a mischievous smile on his face. "You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France." Lori quickly picked up on what was going on and she smiled. "Well, when Carl is in France or Italy..." Rick let out a hearty laugh. "He can have some. Whats it gonna hurt? Come on." Lori gave her husband a playful glare. Dale laughed in response. Lori smiled and relented. Dale poured Carl a small cup of wine. "There you are, young lad." Carl took a sip and his face immediately twisted with disgust. "Eww!" All of the adults at the table laughed, Katherine. Lori looked at her daughter and raised her eyebrows. "Hmm. Why are you laughing Katherine? Are you telling me that my precious little girl has tasted alcohol before?" Kat feigned shock at her mother's statement. "Me? Oh of course not!" Lori rolled her eyes while Rick and Shane laughed.

Kat glared at her dad before reaching around Glenn to thump Shane's ear. Katherine was praying that her dad didn't out her for drinking beer with him on various fishing trips. But honestly, that would've gone over better with Lori than all the times that Shane had purchased booze for the girl.

Kat sat around a bonfire with all of her girlfriends. It was a chilly fall night but that wasn't going to stop the girls from drinking Mike's Hard Lemonade and swapping gossip. It was the start of junior year and the girls were all elated to being one year closer to graduation. The night before was the first football game of the season and of course it was a victory, so it was like a double celebration. The group was laughing and having a great time. Kat's phone buzzed in her pocket. She grabbed it and saw a message from Shane. Come out front. She quickly excused herself and made her way to the front of Mona's house. She peaked out the window and saw a cop car parked outside. She quickly darted out the door and let herself into the passenger's seat of the cruiser. She looked over at Shane and rolled her eyes. "Could you be anymore obvious? If any of my friends saw you out here in this they would freak!" Shane chuckled. "Damn, Princess. I'm doing you a favor and the first thing you do is get an attitude with me?" Katherine sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry. I'm just nervous." Shane reached down to the floorboard and grabbed a brown paper bag, handing it to Katherine. "It's fine, Baby Girl. I'm not gonna tell on you. I was 16 once too. I'd rather you get it from me than some creep outside of the gas station." Kat smiled and grabbed the bag. "Thank you, Shane. It means a lot to me." Shane nodded. "You're welcome." Katherine opened the door and shivered at the sudden burst of cool air. "Where's your jacket?" Kat rolled her eyes. "I didn't think that it would get this cold tonight." Shane sighed and slipped off his police jacket. "You are just as forgetful as your father is. Two peas in a pod." Katherine grabbed the jacket and slipped it on. "Thank you again Shane, although the snark isn't needed." She stepped out of the car, bottle of vodka in hand. She heard some movement and then felt Shane grab her hand. "Be safe. Do not get in the car with anyone tonight. If you want to go anywhere you call me and I will come get you. Your safety is the most important thing to me." She nodded. "Yes, Sir." Shane rolled his eyes and squeezed her hand. "Have fun, Baby Girl."

The conversation had apparently become a little bit more serious while Katherine zoned out. A toast was being made to Dr. Jenner. A chorus of 'boo-yahs' was ringing out around the room. It was soon interrupted by Shane's voice. Kat looked over at him his face was dead serious. Oh no. "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" Here we go. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" Katherine bit her lip and looked between Shane and her father. She knew he'd be the one to step in. Always a peacemaker. "We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Shane wasn't gonna let it go. He never could. "Woah, wait a second. This is why we're here, right?" There was a pause before Shane continued. The silence a deafening. "This was your call. Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we, we uh, found him." Shane motioned to Jenner. Jenner had unbelief written all over his face. "We found one man, why?" Shane had a very furious look in his eyes. Rick's face mirrored Shane's. Jenner took a deep breath and began to speak. "Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families." Everyone was still silent, hanging on to every one of Jenner's words. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Shane smirked at Jenner. "Every last one of them?" Jenner looked dead in Shane's eyes. He knew that a challenge had been issued and he was ready to take it. "No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out." Nobody knew how to react to that statement. Lori pulled Carl closer. Katherine looked down at her hands. "There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Glenn leaned back and Katherine shot Shane a look, clearly pissed that he started this conversation.

"You didn't leave? Why?" It was Andrea. Jenner cleared his throat. "I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Andrea was clearly upset. Silence fell over the room again. Glenn pushed his chair back and stood up, bumping into Shane on the way back. "Dude, you are such a buzzkill, Man." Shane licked his lips and took another swig of wine. "Well, I'm assuming that everyone is tired. Why don't I show you to your rooms." Everyone nodded and stood up. Katherine bumped into Shane and he grabbed her hand. She glared up at him and shook her head. "We can talk about this later." Kat pulled her hand from Shane's grasp and walked away, not looking back.