Plans for the safe transport of Harley and John to Sydney began to take form while the pair healed from their varied injuries.
While the group of people willing to risk their lives to accompany the duo was small, they were a tough crew, and completely devoted to the mission. Along with Robby and Edvin, Perez, Foss and Taylor rounded the coterie up to seven, including John and Harley.
The arrival, and subsequent events surrounding the pair had created a rift between some of the town's people, but even more so, the remaining members of Cooper's battalion, the very people who were best trained in dealing with the world outside the walls. Their unyielding devotion to their leader prevented most of them from agreeing to participate in anything regarding Harley, save for Perez and Foss, who weren't blinded by the illusion of loyalty. Both understood the two situations as separate and unconnected entities and moved forward with that knowledge.
In the interest of assuring Harley and John's safety during the rest of their stay in the town, everyone gathered together at Robby's house to sort out the logistics of their impending trip. It was decided that the group would be divided up into two armored military vehicles when they day came, and that after crossing through Port Augusta they would travel up the Princes Highway. With the help of this group of people, John was confident he and Harley would make it to Sydney safely and this brought him great comfort.
Aside from the plan to leave the town and venture South, John was also focused on how he going to deal with Shaun. He couldn't, in good conscience, allow a predator to roam the streets of Wudinna and he couldn't allow that sorry excuse for a man get away with what he'd done to Harley. John wasn't sure yet how he would make him pay, but when he found a way, Shaun would understand then what is was to suffer. Of that, John was certain.
As the meeting concluded, John was urged to accompany everyone to the vehicles they would taking so that John could be taught the ins and outs of how the machines worked. It would be important for him to know that if he and Harley were to find themselves alone.
He asked Harley to join him and the others, but Harley shook her head sternly, unwilling to leave the house and risk running into the family she wanted nothing more than to forget.
John argued, "I don't want to leave you alone"
"I'm a big girl, mate," she assured as she stood at the top of the stairs looking down at John on the landing.
John scratched the stubble on his cheek, "Lock the door behind me then, yeah? I won't be long"
"Aye-aye cap'n," Harley saluted as she trampled down the stairs to John's level.
John smirked as he walked out onto the front step. As Harley began closing the door after him, he turned around quickly, "Lock the back door too!"
"Yeah yeah," Harley rolled her eyes, then closed the door on John and flipped the deadbolt.
She was more than desperate for a little time to herself. People were exhausting, and more than that, she'd heard about all she could take of the tedious plan to get to Sydney, and the very specific way in which that plan would be executed. Harley was happy to be leaving Wudinna soon, but she hated how the whole thing had become such a meticulous, number one priority mission, with her being at the very heart of it all. She hated being the center of attention.
Once the coast was clear, Harley went into the box of toys that Robby had gifted and retrieved from its depths a small, red rubber ball. She could think of nothing more soothing than playing with her pup, and proceeded to do just that, after sitting on the floor and resting her back against the wall in the living room.
As expected, Rebel's first encounter with a ball was a hilarious sight to behold. Instead of chasing the rolling, circular object, he decided to lay on his belly and repeatedly slap it with his paws while his head reared back, suspicious of the strange object's intentions. As the ball inevitably rolled away from him, Rebel used only his front paws to drag himself forward, while his back legs trailed lazily behind as if he were paraplegic.
Harley snorted at the sight just before there came a knock at the front door. Assuming it was John back from his driving lessons, she hopped up and paced casually down the stairs to the landing and heaved open the door.
"Hi, Alex," Kristen smiled sheepishly from the other side of the threshold.
Harley was jolted by the surprise of seeing Kris on her front step and reflexively motioned to slam the door in her face.
"Please! Could we just talk?" Kris begged as she halted the door from closing with her hand.
Harley backed up a few steps, staring at the floor as Kris let herself in. Clenching her jaw, Harley turned and paced up the stairs into the living room where she sat slouched on the love seat, pulling the beak of her cap down over her eyes and crossing her arms in discomfort.
Kris shut the front door and followed Harley up the stairs, sitting across from her on the sofa. She looked nervous and concerned.
"It's been so long, Alex. I mean just look at you, you're all grown up," Kris smiled weakly, "When I saw you I couldn't believe it, you know, it's just so rare these days to see people you knew from before"
Playing alone, as Rebel quickly discovered, was highly unappealing, so he sauntered over to where Harley sat and used the couch to hoist himself up onto his hind legs, waiting expectantly for Harley to pick him up. She did so tenderly, but kept her head down and said nothing to Kris.
"I'm so, so happy to see you alive. I really am. I just don't understand why you reacted the way you did in the market the other day, or why you left us back then for that matter.. I don't understand of it," Kris expressed sorrowfully.
Harley brought her hand up to her mouth and took to chewing on her thumb nail.
"We were friends weren't we? We were like sisters. I was so heartbroken when you ran away. We all were, but especially Shaun. You two were so close"
Harley pulled the beak of her cap down even further and began to anxiously rock her knee up and down.
"I just want to understand, Alex. Please talk to me?" Kris questioned, her eyes glossy with emotion.
There was a brief and painful silence between them, until all at once, there came a quick succession of sharp knocks on the front door. Harley looked toward the direction of the sound and as swiftly as she could, wiped a stray tear from her cheek. Before Harley could even think to get up from the loveseat though, the door swung open,
"Kris?" Shaun's worried voice echoed off of the high ceiling.
From the space between the spindles of the banister, Shaun could be seen. He made his way up the stairs quickly as Harley dropped her head, hooked her arms tightly around herself and froze in precisely that position.
"Hey?" Kris greeted, looking confused, "Everything okay?"
"Uh, yeah, I just couldn't find you," Shaun lied as he walked over to the couch and took a seat beside his wife.
"I just came to see Alex," Kris explained, looking over to her.
Shaun cleared his throat, "Right. It- it's really good to see you again. Been a long time"
Harley felt her heart hammer in her ribcage and her body began to tremble, overwhelmed but she was a statue of a person, physically unable to move or flee.
"We, uhm, well we heard about your immunity. It's incredible," Shaun continued nervously as he took Kris's hand into his own.
"It's a miracle. You're a miracle. You're going to save all of us," Kris added.
Staring vacantly at her knees, Harley willed one of them to rock up and down as a small release from the burning anxiety she felt.
Kris sighed, "Alex, I just wish you'd talk to us. Tell us what happened. And, we'd love to have you in our lives again. You were family and we've lost everyone else. I just feel like this is a sign that we should be together. I mean what are the odds? And Evan. You saw him at the market. I was pregnant with him when you disappeared," Kris smiled, "I remember when we first told you we were having a baby, you were so excited to be an auntie. Do you remember? Alex, I know it's been a long time but we, Shaun and I, would love to pick up where we left off"
"And," Shaun began, "You know, we're different people now. We don't have to let the past define us"
Harley wasn't sure whether she was going to laugh or throw up, but she wouldn't get the chance to find out because just then, the front door opened yet again and in stepped John and Robby.
It only took a passive glance in Harley's direction for John to ascertain that something was amiss. He could see from space between the spindles of the banister, Harley curled tightly into herself, ready to implode and become a black hole.
"Harley?" John said as he took his first step up the stairs.
The sequence of events after that moment unfolded so quickly that one could argue they hadn't happened at all.
John spotted Shaun sitting not five feet away from Harley, and torpedoed up the remaining stairs to the main level, not stopping until he towered over a frightened looking Shaun. John gripped Shaun's collar and viciously wrenched him up from the couch.
"Hey!" Kris yelled in a cloud of confusion as John shoved Shaun toward the stairs, causing him to stumble and almost fall.
Shaun corrected his balance, "Come on, Kris"
"What is going on?!" She demanded to know as she stood from the sofa.
"OUT!!!" John roared, pointing his finger to the exit.
Kris looked about ready to cry as she scooted past John and Robby, following her husband, "I don't understand," she said softly, looking to Robby with questioning eyes.
"Sorry, Kris," Robby uttered as he pulled his hat off and scratched his head. No one knew it but Robby had overheard Harley's confession about Shaun while he'd been trying to sleep in the next room.
Shaun heaved the front door open and fled the scene, while Kris followed closely behind, "What the hell, Shaun?" She interrogated as she exited the house and slammed the door behind her.
The moment Shaun and Kris were gone, Harley exhaled and collapsed forward, hiding her face in her knees. John hurried to her side, put Rebel on his lap and sat down, "Why were they here? How'd they get in, Harley?"
Her answer was muffled by her thighs, "They just showed up"
"What happened? Did they-" John began but Harley cut him off, "When are we leaving this place?"
John sighed, "Just a couple more days"
Harley jumped up from the love seat suddenly, surprising both John and Robby. She took to pacing back and forth, shaking her hands as if they had been numb, then balling them into tight fists, struggling to cope with her emotions. John brushed his hand over his mouth, watching Harley suck in deep, shaky breaths as she paced, "What can I do, Harley? What do you need?" He asked, feeling helpless.
Harley paced over to the wooden banister and clutched the railing tightly with both hands. She felt dizzy and bent over, dropping her head. Harley stumbled back a step, then forward but still clung desperately to the smooth rail for support.
John stood from the sofa, pained to see Harley fighting against herself in such a way. He took a step toward her just as her legs buckled beneath her and she fell to her knees at that exact moment but still she gripped the railing with such force that her knuckles turned a disquieting shade of eggshell white.
Robby put his hands on his head, overwhelmed on Harley's behalf, and unsure of how to help.
John paced over and fell to one knee beside her, reaching his hand out to rub her back.
Harley recoiled from his touch, let go of the banister and slapped the palms of her hands down onto the floor, trembling and doing her best to catch her breath.
Resting his elbow on his knee, John could only watch and wish that he could take her pain away.
After a few long moments, Harley appeared to relax and leaned back, resting her bum on her feet and her hands on her thighs. She gazed vacantly at the wall on the other side of the banister, almost appearing to have stopped breathing altogether.
"Harley?" John spoke softly, trying to break her from her trance.
She sat like a statue for just a few more moments before suddenly rising to her feet and stomping right through the living room, past Robby and into the kitchen.
Before either of the guys had a chance to see what she was doing, Harley dashed past them and down the stairs, wielding a large chef's knife.
She heaved the door open viciously and darted down the front steps. Robby and John rushed after Harley, stomping down the stairs in a frenzy and went outside to see her running barefoot down the sidewalk, weapon in hand.
John and Robby sprinted through the yard after Harley, worried, not for Shaun but for Jade and Evan and Harley's troubled state of mind.
Robby managed to catch up to Harley first and wrapped his arms around her torso, heaving her backwards until both came to an abrupt halt. Harley bucked and struggled against Robby, blind with rage.
"Harley, stop!" Robby commanded breathlessly.
John quickly caught up and pulled the knife from Harley's tight grip, dropping it to the sidewalk where it landed with a sharp clang. Harley relaxed a little, still panting but no longer fighting Robby's hold. John paced around the interlocked pair and worked to catch his breath, "He'll get what's coming to him, Harley. I promise you that"
Robby could feel Harley's body trembling in his arms, "It's going to be okay. Just try to relax," he cooed.
Harley gulped a breath of air, "I'm good," she insisted as she tried to escape Robby's arms. "I'm good!" She repeated, that time breaking free.
Robby put his hands up in surrender as Harley stomped back up the sidewalk toward the house, leaving John and Robby standing where they were, bewildered.
But Harley had one last thing to say before she was finished raging. She whipped around and spoke breathlessly, "He doesn't get my vaccine!!" She yelled, pointing furiously into the air before spinning back around and continuing on her way.