The Truth Between Wands and Zee
by D. O'Shae
Chapter 3
Natalie ate in her room while immersed in the briefing materials. Few answers emerged, and she managed to fill three pages of a legal pad with questions. The clock on the wall told her thirty minutes existed before she could begin to ask. For the fifth time, Natalie turned back to page one and began to read the material again. Once again the words captured her.
Forty minutes later she resumed her seat and settled down in the training room. This time Padma Bray and Dean Thomas sat waiting with Colonel Lange. The trio chatted so quietly Natalie could not pick out specific words. Once the four other doctors situated themselves, Amanda ended her talk and stood. She glanced at each of her subordinates. Her iron gray hair looked at odds with the twinkle of curiosity in her eyes.
"I know: engrossing, informative, but not entirely… illuminating," the colonel said to start the meeting and indicated the briefing packet each brought along. "I'm sure each of you can spout example after example of historical events that now appear completely magical on the surface, and you might be right."
The grin on the colonel's face became infectious. Natalie smiled in spite of herself and the questions burning in her mind. However, she found herself in the minority. Only Arliss Caldwell seemed to find any humor in her statements.
"People we once thought fictional… are not so fictional anymore. So, I'd say, yes, Virginia, there really was a Merlin."
Natalie chuckled as much in nervousness as in humor.
"But that probably doesn't answer any pertinent questions," the commanding officer said, and every military hand shot into the air. "First you need to hear from our gues… no, our colleagues. Mrs. Bray and Mr. Thomas are going to be essential parts of this unit. We need to recognize that right from the start. As such, I've arranged something for them."
Colonel Lange turned to face them and said: "Please, stand. This is official, and normies stand for official functions."
"So do… magi," Padma Bray replied while she stood. "You do know..."
"I know you're probably not Zoroastrian, but the title does work," Amanda countered.
Padma nodded and Dean Thomas huffed a bit.
"By order of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Prime Minster of Great Britain, and… and the Minister of Magic for the United Kingdom," said Colonel Amanda Lange in her most officious voice. "Padma Bray and Dean Thomas are hereby awarded the rank of major in the United Nations Defense and Expeditionary Forces, British Command. This rank is duly recorded as commensurate with the rank of major in British Army, carrying all duties and privileges. These field commissions are given in recognition for your respective roles in Cardiff and London, and your willingness to engage with this new unit."
Natalie thought of one word as she studied the reactions of Bray and Thomas: gobsmacked. They each looked stunned. Amanda then reached onto her briefcase and withdrew two small boxes covered in black velvet. She opened one, and Natalie saw light glint off an object.
"You will wearing a stylized major insignia from the British Army. Behind the crown you will a roaring lion… and I thought that was a royal insignia..."
"Stolen by Richard the First from Godric Gryffindor after Gryffindor gave him a bit of help over in the Middle East somewhere," Dean Thomas stated in an angry voice. "I heard say it was supposed to be an honor for Gryffindor, but did you even notice how he never gets mentions in any of your – what'd you call yourselves: normies? – normie history books?"
"Dean, give it a miss, will you?" Padma droned at him.
"Well, then, Mr. Thomas, wear it with extra pride and be certain you represent all of your people in England," Colonel Lange said and handed him the box.
Thomas took it and scowled at the insignia.
"Major Bray?" Colonel Lange said and handed her a box.
The newly minted major opened it, smiled at the contents, and airily said: "Thank you!"
"Atten-tion!" Colonel Lange barked. "It is my honor and privilege to welcome Major Bray and Major Thomas into the British Army and to announce they've been detailed to our division… small as it is. Sa-lute!"
Everyone in the room jumped to their feet, faced the two magic users, and gave them a crisp salute. Padma Bray did her best to imitate the gesture, and Dean Thomas lazily flopped his hand up next to his head in a vague approximation of a British salute.
"When you return to your quarters, you'll find the official paperwork, a few forms you need to complete, and a stack of uniforms for you to wear. It'll… give you greater freedom if the other military personnel know you're actually part of the British Army. One of our officers here will help you sort out the clothing and how to wear it."
"You're joking?" Dean Thomas grunted.
"Dean, I swear I'll hex you into bugbear if you don't start to behave and cooperate!" Major Bray yelled at her friend. "They're trying, see? We need their help as much as they need ours!"
Major Thomas looked abashed and stared at the ground.
"I'll get him cooperate," Bray said to the colonel.
"Mr. Thomas, you don't have to accept this commission, and you can leave whenever you like," Colonel Lange said in a manner Natalie recognized, and she gave thanks the colonel did not direct it at her. "I can arrange to have you sent wherever you think you can survive."
From the corner of her eye, Natalie saw her fellow officers react in constrained surprise. Dean Thomas, however, openly goggled a the colonel. An icy draft seemed to roll across the floor toward the stubborn, magical man. He appeared to feel it as well, although Natalie knew it to be imaginary. Dean Thomas slumped and nodded his head.
"Very well. I fully expect you to appropriately conduct yourself as an officer in her majesty's army."
Thomas opened his mouth, but not fast enough as Bray said: "One wrong word from you and you'll be rooting 'round for toadstools in Lake District for the rest of your life!"
Dean Thomas sank a little further into himself. At the same moment, Colonel Lange angled herself toward the Hindi-descended woman.
"Major Bray, while I truly appreciate your intent, we generally don't threaten our fellow officers," the senior officer said, but note a hint of reproof colored her tone.
"Is that so?" Dean grumbled.
"I said generally, and, as I said a moment ago, you don't have accept the commission."
Natalie could tell something else lay behind the exchange between the colonel and the magi man
"Fine. All right. I get it. Sure, I'll be one of your officers," Dean Thomas said and waggled the commission pins in the air. "Major Thomas at your service, headmistress!"
"It's colonel, you dolt, and just be glad McGonagall isn't here or she transfigure you into a rat," Padma hissed at the man.
Thomas grunted and fell silent.
"At ease," Colonel Lange said, but it sounded more like a question.
The standing officers sank back down into their respective chairs. Major Bray and Major Thomas did as well, but Colonel Lange remained standing. She looked first at the British contingent and then to their United States counterparts. She sighed once.
"Now that we've settled that, I want to skew the order of events," the colonel told her troops. "Before we get to the AV part..."
"The what?" Dean Thomas burbled.
"AV, and it stands for audio-visual."
"Oh, yeah, right. The Weasley..."
"Yes, Major Thomas, that," Amanda Lange cut off the man. "Since the events in Cardiff happened before the burning of London, I'd like Major Bray to recount for us what she witnessed and experienced."
"Begging your pardon, Colonel Lange, but I've read just about every report generated from..." Commander Ramirez intruded.
"Oh? So you know why why the zee horde swarmed Cardiff in the first place?" Colonel Lange interjected.
Commander Ramirez's mouth hung open and silent.
"You wouldn't know this, miss…. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name and can't read your breast tag," Major Bray filled the silence.
"Ramirez. Commander Anita Ramirez, US Navy BUMED, NATO battalion…"
"Nina," Colonel Lange said.
"Yes, ma'am?" Commander Ramirez snapped to attention.
"No, no, Nina. What I meant was you go by the name Nina," Colonel Lange hastily corrected herself. "Since I plan on us working closely together, I don't want rank or protocol to interfere too much. I think you should address one another on a more informal basis while we're behind closed doors."
A smirk tugged at the edges of Natalie's face. She could sense Colonel Lange getting ready to unleash a bit of her own magic. Time and again Amanda proved very capable at forging cohesion among her subordinates.
"Okay, maybe introductions are in order after all," Amanda Lange said as much to herself as to everyone one else. "In order of rank, Lieutenant Colonel Natalie Jenkins, United States Army Medical Corps, is one of the best virology and pathology researchers I know, and I get to call her Nat. The rest of you better go by Natalie until she gets comfortable with you."
In short order Natalie and the two new officers got fully introduced to the rest of the unit. Lieutenant Colonel Randall Miller, henceforth Randy, served with the US Air Force Medical Services and specialized in bacteriological and viral medicine. Colonel Lange repeated what she said earlier about Major Louis Savini, or Lou, but detailed some of his impressive work in nuclear biology and nuclear medicine. Major Arliss Caldwell, and Arliss remained Arliss, proved to unique in that he acted as a forensic pathologist and worked extensively in immunology prior to the zee incursion. Commander Ramirez arrived from the Navy as one of their top neurological surgeons and an expert in neuro-chemical science. Colonel Lange, who did not give anyone permission to use her familiar name, lastly recited her long list of achievements in internal medicine and genetics.
Padma Bray and Dean Thomas each appeared to shrink a little as the members of the team got introduced.
"Please, don't be put off by this rather select group of people," Colonel Lange implored the two magic user. She faced Padma more squarely.
"Right," Padma drolly commented.
"Finally, Major Garner, base sub-commander and one hell of viral pathologist in his own right, will be joining us after the debriefing sessions."
The news came as a pleasant surprise, but she noticed the roster appeared top-heavy in regard virologists and pathologists. Knowing her friend, Natalie did believe for one moment it happened by accident. The overt make-up of the unit indicated the expectation they would dig deep into the cause of the zee plague. Despite what she figured out some time before, it still came as a shock to think all previous efforts probably produced nothing of real value. Privately Natalie remained angry her work never saw the light of day. As such, the questions stacked in her mind.
"With introductions out of the way, Major Bray, could you give us a little background on yourself and your involvement in the Cardiff incident?" Colonel Lange returned to the British magic user. "And feel free to sit."
Padma Bray sat and did not move for several moments. The range of emotions that rippled across her face Natalie named one after the other. She and likely every other living person on the planet felt the same at one time or another. Major Bray gazed at the floor.
"I, um… well, like Dean I graduated from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with some decent NEWTs and OWLs," Padma began.
"Wait, excuse me, Pad… Major Bray..." Arliss Caldwell began.
"Padma is fine. I'm not really a soldier and not used to all this… jargon," the woman stated.
"Thank you, and please call me Arliss," the other US Army major said in a friendly voice. "But did you say there's a school for witchcraft and wizardry?"
Padman nodded, and the first of surreal conversations began. The standard military personnel learned schools of magic could be found in most countries, and some tended to be more prestigious than others. Europe, it seemed, possessed several elite schools. The United States, they learned, contained a number of magical schools, but only one sounded to be on the same level as the European counterparts. The non-magical officers sat in rapt attention as Padma, with the help of Major Thomas who seemed very knowledgeable about the schools worldwide, laid out the basic function of the schools. The two also gave a concise and quick history lesson regarding some of the geopolitical aspects.
"And all of this happened because the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy?" Lou Savini grumbled.
"Listen, mate, we couldn't live with you, so we decided to hide in plain sight to keep from being roasted alive," Major Thomas grumbled in return. "The Statute made sure every witch and wizard around the world followed one important law: Don't let muggles get a whiff of magic."
"Since you couldn't really see us anymore, people started to think witches and wizards were… make believe… pretend. It allowed us to live our lives in peace… more or less," Padma said as if concluding that part of the story. "But the schools of magic existed long before that. Hogwarts got founded before the Norman conquest of England, and that really was a magic war 'cept nobody really knows much about it."
"A thousand years?" Natalie heard herself say.
"Most of the muggle universities started in competition with the wizarding ones," Dean Thomas added.
"What is a muggle again?" Commander Ramirez queried.
"What you blokes call a normie we call a muggle: non-magical folk. Sorry, just too used to the word to switch just like that," Major Thomas said and snapped his fingers, causing a few sparks to emerge and hover in the air for a few moments.
"While the history lesson is fascinating, it doesn't really factor into what we are facing," Colonel Lange jumped into the conversation. "Major Bray, please, continue with the more recent turn of events."
"Right, sorry," the woman said and her cheeks glowed a little. "We had a big magic war when Dean and I were in school. Lost a number of good friends in that, but… Voldemort…"
Dean Thomas visibly shuddered.
"Oh, grow up, Dean. He's been dead for – what? – over fifteen years now?"
"Tell me you still don't have nightmares?" Thomas rejoined in a low voice.
Padma stared off in the distance for a few seconds, and then she, too, shook a little.
"After the battle with… with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…" and she paused again before rousing herself. "I went to work for the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. I got pretty good a sussing out what someone managed to do, so they sent me to Senghennydd to deal with the goings-on there."
"Bunch of bloody Welsh nutters," Dean mumbled.
"Senghennydd is a bit northwest of Cardiff," Padma said while she tactfully ignored her friend. "We knew about that lab you mug… normies have outside of Cardiff: the one no one is supposed to know or talk about."
The woman held the group with a baleful stare. Natalie heard about the lab, but she never visited even after getting an invitation. Following the Cardiff disaster, no one mentioned it with any sense of pride. Despite her rank and clearances, she did not discover the events that took place. Thus, Natalie paid extra close attention.
Padma watched their reactions and then continued: "Foreign affairs kept a good eye on that place. We had a few epidemics what came out of your laboratory, but you'd never admit to it."
"We were unaware of the effects it had on your community, Major Bray," Colonel Lange coolly remarked.
"Victims of our own making, eh?" Dean Thomas shot at her.
Colonel Lange shrugged as if to say the debate would be moot in the long run.
"Anyway, I got an owl asking me…
"An owl?" Nina questioned.
"We use owls like you used to use carrier pigeons. Can't send letter through your post, especially a howler, and this Internet thing acts funny every time we try to send an 'lectronic mail, so we use use owls. Bloody right useful birds and nobody is the wiser," Major Thomas answered and sounded a tad smug.
"I got a message 'bout some queer goings-on that way: not at the lab, but at the village normies think are a patch of woods just under Radyr. Ever wonder why they built the lab south of Llantrisant Road?"
"Um, Major Bray, I don't think any of us are conversant about the topography of England," Amanda said with a touch of embarrassment.
"Dean, you've got a decent hand with maps, don't you?" Padma inquired of her friend. "Think you can show 'em?"
Dean Thomas stood up and faced the blank screen behind Colonel Lange. He reached into his jacket, retrieved his wand, and began to wave it around while mumbling before the guards could react. Second later an intricate map of England appeared. As though he dealt with a large touch screen, the wizard maneuvered his hands until a section of British Isles came into sharper clarity. The name Cardiff bobbed in the lower right corner. Above it other names appeared denoting the various towns and villages. He pointed out Radyr, and below that a spot labeled Caerraddyyrn.
"Caerraddyyrn is a lot older than even Cardiff. Some of the stones used in the high wall go back thousands of years, and few even have old, powerful glyphs on them," the British woman continued.
"No fooling? That why floo network is so spotty over there?" Dean asked with keen interest.
Padma nodded.
"What happened in that town, Padma?" Randy Miller, the Air Force lieutenant colonel, inquired.
"Strange dreams. Feelings of dread. Some of the older folk had visions. Night walking. Their kin would find 'em in the middle of the night standing by the wall trying to lay fortification spells on it… and always facing south. When we'd wake the poor codgers, they'd start crying and carrying on like the Grindelwald or Voldemort battles were still going on."
"Did they say it?" Dean pressed.
Padma nodded and suddenly looked ashen.
"Say what?" The ranking colonel prodded.
"Inferi."
Only Dean Thomas reacted to the word. Everyone else simply stared at the two. Amanda politely cleared her throat.
"Right, right," Padma said and came out of whatever disturbing reverie held her. "Inferi are corpses reanimated by dark wizards to do their bidding, but… they're mindless."
"Like zombies… our zee," Lou interpreted.
"No, not like your zombies, and you don't even know what your real zombies are," Major Bray coldly rebuked him. "The American zombies got wiped out fast by these new… things, what you call zee."
"Our American zombies. Is there some sort of difference?" Natalie asked while she wrestled with the notion zombies might come in different varieties. Her left hand fiddled with a loose string on her right cuff. Her right hand held a pen ready to take notes.
"American zombies were created by the Haitian witches and wizards who ended up in the lower Mississippi area… Louisiana, I think. They came to it from their African ancestors, and they used their zombies to fight against the American slavers. Most stopped making 'em by the turn of the last century, but the ones they did make continued to live… well, un-live… undead life. Exist!"
"And these zombies are different because…?" Arliss requested clarification.
"Because they can think and reason for the most part, 'bout equal to a ten-year old, and they don't want to eat the living," Major Thomas responded.
The group of doctors, included Colonel Lange, gaped at one another.
"Ever wonder how they came up with the idea for Solomon Grundy?" Dean asked in the quiet and seemed pleased with himself.
The reference took them aside for a short while, and Randall Miller took several minutes to explain Solomon Grundy, the feared undead supervillian in the DC comic universe. Half way into his explanation, he and Dean began to debate the amount of memories the creature retained. Colonel Lange derailed their conversation.
"Well, then, that begs the question of whether the current zee are a mutated form of the… old world zombies," the colonel posited to bring the group back to attention.
"No, no relation. The inferius spell of today didn't exist when the American zombies got made, or at least the voodoo priests and priestesses didn't know the one they had. Their process takes a lot longer," Dean related.
Padma tossed a look at him.
"The Auror office had to deal with a few people trying to resurrect that practice," the man answered.
Padma snorted as she tried to hold off a laugh, but Randy and Arliss burst out laughing. Dean smirked at them, but added: "We had to do research to figure out what we were up against. I went to New Orleans for a few days to talk to some of the priestesses who are still alive. Totally mental."
"So the zee are not related?" Amanda asked in a flinty voice.
"No, they're not," Padma returned to the topic. "While I tried to deduce what was happening in Caerraddyyrn, you could sort of feel that something wasn't quite right nearby. It prickled at the back of my mind the whole time I did the investigation. I made a note of it. Your zee were already on the loose in India and China… in most parts of the world, but… I never thought they were connected."
"What did you do when the attack started in Cardiff?" Lou Savini questioned in his blunt Marine voice.
"Didn't start there," Padma grumbled at him. "They had some of these zee things in that lab, and they got out. The… zee ran straight for Caerraddyyrn. Killed everyone before they could mount a defense… before they even knew what was happening, and then they went after Cardiff."
"Official reports say the zee came out of the bay!" Natalie challenged. She read the accounts so many times looking for clues she memorized several of them.
"They're wrong, or they lied," Dean offered.
"The zee got into the River Taff somehow, and that's the main route they used to get to Cardiff. The current carried 'em down to the bay," Padma iterated while shaking her head. "They got into Llandaff, Blackweir, and Canton along the way. Turned whole neighborhoods overnight. The real attacked started in the upper part of the city. At the same time a whole group headed north toward where I was working… lived, really."
The military personnel cast wary looks at one another after watching location names flare on the map Dean created. None liked the fact the original and official reports cited incorrect information. It helped explain why Cardiff fell so rapidly, including the outlying areas. The wild spread of zee in and around Cardiff always defied reason. Now it made sense to everyone sitting in the room.
"They already got through Nantgarw and Upper Boat before we realized the problem we had on our hands. We didn't know what they wanted at the time, but any time zee come near any witch or wizard, we start having nightmares," Padma told them.
"Did you have nightmares?" Amanda queried
The new Major Bray nodded and said: "All of us did, but we didn't know what it meant. We sent forces out to fight zee coming toward us, and they never returned. Caerphilly and Abertridwr got consumed before we realize how serious it was. They were coming for us, and we just sat there thinking we could hold them back or get away if too many showed up."
The magical woman stopped and gazed at the floor. Tears welled in her eyes and fell silently to the ground. After a few seconds while she sank into misery, Dean finally stood and went to her side. He hugged her with one arm. She collapsed into him and began to sob.
"We'll take a break for a few minutes," Colonel Lange gently and wisely ordered. She then went over to join Majors Bray and Thomas, and offered the woman comforting words.
"What do you make of this?" Major Caldwell inquired after sliding closer to Commander Ramirez and leaning around behind her back to talk to his service branch compatriot.
Natalie stared at the short man for a quarter of a minute trying to collect her thoughts and stop her imagination from creating pictures of what possibly occurred. It became clear Nina listened to the question as her hear rocked from side to side as if considering the question. Natalie shifted her eyes to the map on the wall. The route of the zee lay in red lines, connecting the cities in the county of Wales.
"It explains a lot about Cardiff," she said in half-whisper.
"I mean about this whole magic business," the man clarified.
"Reserving judgment, I guess," Natalie confessed to him. "We're people of science. We don't allow hocus-pocus as part of the method we follow, but you've got to admit what happened with the chair..."
"Mass hallucination?"
Natalie slowly shook her head, and Nina mirrored the gesture. In the background Padma Bray's sobbing grew worse. Arliss' deep set dark eyes bore into hers as though he could extract her opinion. The rest of the contingent listened as the colonel ordered the guards to help the woman to her quarters. They carefully assisted Padma to a standing position and then guided her out of the room. Dean Thomas watched with what Natalie assessed to be deep pity and visceral anger. His dark face grew a shade darker.
"Major Bray will be retiring for a short while," Colonel Lange said in a clearly emotional voice. "Major Thomas, do you think you can finish her story."
Dean Thomas whipped around and glared at the assembled. His visage appeared accusatory and almost hateful. Those sitting behind tables began to shift uncomfortably in their seats. After a few moments Dean's face relaxed a bit.
"Right," he said in a thick voice, coughed twice, and inhaled through his nose. "By the time Senghenydd thought about mounting a proper defense, it was too late. The inf, I mean zee, surrounded them. Most couldn't get out without running into a murderous group of those… things. Some thought they could hold their houses with protection spells. They tried. They died."
"Why?" Lou asked in a flat but less brutal tone.
"The magic attracted the blighters. We didn't know it at the time, we thought we could fight them off… but they just kept coming… more and more of them."
"Senghenydd?" Amanda Lange reminded him.
"Yeah, Senghenydd. Totally surrounded. Zee pouring in from everywhere. Padma and her family tried to get out, but they got trapped at the Cwm Pore channel. With two small children and the zee coming down on them, swimming the channel wasn't the best option."
"Why didn't they do that disappearing thing?" Nina inquired.
"Strange thing that, but makes sense when you know. Seems like when too many zee are in one area, magic doesn't work too well… sometimes not at all. You don't have time to figure out why your wand suddenly turns into nothing but a stick when them things are bearing down on you with their teeth and hands and trying to get a hold of you. See?" Major Thomas stated in a constrained tone.
Natalie wished she could make herself temporarily deaf. The story she felt certain taking shape played out too frequently in too many places. She braced herself.
"They tried fighting, they did, but the more magic they tried to use, the worse it got for them. When we use magic around zee, it agitates the rotters. It's like they get angry about us using it. If we knew then… but we didn't. Padma didn't. Neither did Emerson."
"Emerson Bray," Colonel Lange said, but not as a question.
Dean nodded and said: "He was carrying the twins and trying everything he could to push the zee back, but nothing seemed to work well… if it even worked at all. They kept pressing Padma and her family back to river. One broke through and bit Emerson on the arm he was using to hold them babies," and Major Thomas' voice grew distant as he spoke. "Padma tried using healing spells on him, not knowing what she was up against. It caused him to change fast. Half a minute, maybe a minute, and suddenly she looking at a zee hanging onto her children."
The story took on a far uglier aspect than for which Natalie prepared. Her gut twisted and threatened to heave as her mind created images. She forced herself to look at Dean Thomas. The man stood like a statue staring down the path of memories he clearly did not want to remember. His lips trembled. Tears edged out of his eyes.
"She watched her husband kill and eat her children," he croaked out the words. "She fell into the river channel. It carried her out of the mass of zee while those in the channel just sank. They don't do well in water what with their bad balance and all… and they just sink. The water saved her 'cause she could swim, but… I'm not sure Padma wanted saving right then."
Natalie's body started to shake as she absorbed the story. Although she never admitted it, she never fought to maintain the integrity of her wedding date whenever some issue presented itself. Natalie completely loved Dillon, but the idea of getting married and starting a family in the horrible state of the world stymied her wants. Moreover, Dillon expressed a desire for children. After hearing Dean Thomas relate what befell Padma Bray and her family, the thought of having children almost made her vomit. She dearly wanted children. However, she did not want to bring food for the zee into the world. Padma's personal tragedy reverberated between her ears.
"She… nothing she could do 'bout. Magic didn't work, and Emerson… not her husband anymore. I knew him, he wouldn't…," Dean stumbled through a bit more of the story before pausing for a moment when he said: "I don't think she'd've made it if we hadn't been in Dumbledore's Army..."
"I was unaware any magical army existed," the Marine major curtly said.
"Did you even know we witches and wizards fought a war almost two decades ago?" Major Thomas responded with a question using the same tone.
Lou Savini shook his head.
"I was teenager, still in school, and we spent nearly two, really three years fighting one of the worst dark wizards ever to show up. He had an army, too, and Padma and her sister fought him every step of the way," the dark-skinned man at the front of the room told him. "And before you go on thinking this was some sort of finger wiggling light show, a lot of people died… including muggles. You'll never know or understand how lucky you are we stopped… him… Voldemort."
Natalie felt as if she better understood the man. Fighting battles at young age changed a person, and Dean Thomas showed some of the classic after-effects of being a child soldier. The fact he always seemed ready to pull his wand served as a good example. Walking away from London while it burned also showed him to be a survivor. It would take a tested and trained mind to escape the ravages of the London battles.
"Cardiff happened because you lot lost control of the situation in that lab..."
Half the staff began to protest.
"Oh, shut it!" Dean Thomas yelled. "Deny it all you want, but somebody brought the zee to that lab, and it sure as bloody hell wasn't us! Someone didn't do their job, and those things got out. You might not've known they'd hunt my kind down like they did, but… well, there it is."
An angry silence settled over the group.
"I'm not saying the zee wouldn't have come, and I'm pretty bloody sure they'd make their way there sooner or later, but… Merlin's Beard! You brought those rotters right into our backyard… and not just the magic folk. How many of your own people got killed and became part of them? Didn't anybody think?"
"Major Thomas," Colonel Lange calmly said as she shifted in her chair to face him. "I understand your anger. My hometown got overrun as well, but you need to address this to the British military. No one in this room was part of that… and I don't think any of them would be part of it."
Dean snorted in disgust.
"Major Thomas," Natalie said. "I'm a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army in the Medical Corp. I've examined at least two dozen zee trying to figure this out, and half of them still had an intact brain..."
She heard a gasp on her left. Dean Thomas narrowed his eyes and scrutinized her. It felt almost physical. He jammed his hands into his pants pockets as if he did not trust them.
"Every exam I conducted on an ambulatory zee took place at least twenty miles out at sea. It's standard protocol, major, in the US Army… in every branch of the military, except in secure facilities that can be locked down and blown up from remote locations," she told the standing man in her most military manner. "And just so you know: that protocol went into full effect three and half months before Cardiff, so I feel pretty confident saying you're eyeballing the wrong fucking group of people."
Natalie saw Amanda's eyebrows rise, but her mouth remained closed. She then locked gazes with Thomas, held it, and vowed to do so until her eyes dried out. Fortunately, the wizard blinked and looked away long before half a minute expired.
"Got it," he said fifteen seconds later when Natalie refused to look away.
In an odd way, it pleased Natalie that Major Thomas did not offer an apology. She took it as a sing the man still wanted answers and felt free to be wrong in his search. Hope could only be found in tenacity, she learned over the years, and Dean Thomas appeared tenacious as hell.
"I think we need to take a longer break for a while. We'll meet again after mess. Report back here at eighteen hundred hours," Colonel Lange told the group when it seemed as though the stand off would continue.
"Yes, Colonel," Natalie said and the other officers sounded off as well.
"Dismissed."
Chairs scraped against the floor as the small medical unit stood and saluted their superior officer when Lange rose and headed toward the door. In a fluid gesture the colonel snagged the edge of Dean Thomas' shirt and yanked him toward her. The none-too-subtle tactic threw him off balance and forced him to follow. Everyone in the room began to hear her whisper furiously at the man as they exited.
"What an asshole," Lou Savini harrumphed to the others remaining in the room.
"He probably has a good reason," Randy Miller countered.
"I'm not forming an opinion 'til I hear his story," Nina Ramirez commented.
"Why?" Natalie asked her while collecting her materials.
"Well, if he went through one war and survived and then lived through the razing of London, he's been through some pretty tough shit. If this guy really can do magic like… like it appears he can and he's frightened by all this, that's got to tell you something."
Four people listened to her. Only Savini appeared unaffected by her statements. He squinted his eyes.
"So does that mean I can act like asshole 'cause I served on the front at both Louisville and Chicago?" Lou toss out the questioned.
"Which Chicago?" Arliss asked.
"First and second, and the firefight in Louisville."
Natalie froze. She served on the back medical lines at the second effort to neutralize Chicago, and sometimes the nightmares of the events woke her even after three years. Savini's record impressed her, but she did not think it gave him a license to be a terrible person.
"Do you want our respect or do you want to be an asshole?" She asked the man.
He regarded her for a few moments and said nothing.
"Can't have both, Lou."
"Yes, ma'am," he grunted and finished stuffing his briefcase. "So what about the guy with the magic stick?"
"I'm taking Nina's advice and waiting to hear his story. In the meantime, I got to think over what I heard and then hitting the mess hall at seventeen hundred if anyone wants to join me."
"Ooh, a date!" Randy rejoined and grinned.
"You flyboys are all alike," Natalie returned and then headed for the door.
"How did you know I fly?"