Know Thy Enemy
The Third Tale in the Wizarding World Z War
by D. O'Shae
Chapter D
Getting into China from the village of Kuti proved easy enough if one discounted the innumerable zed staggering around crags, hills, peaks, and valleys of the Chinese side of the Himalaya Mountains. The further north they headed and descended out of the main mountain range, the more of the undead they encountered. It forced them to deviate from their original plan. In fact, the team of nine people completely abandoned their initial idea after they saw the reality of the situation. China, it appeared, belonged to the dead.
"There's no bloody way we're going to make that highway in Burang with all the zed we've seen in the east," Dennis grumbled at his military counterparts during the evening of the first day.
Captain Desrochers and Sergeant Huber tried to disagree, but Dean Thomas received authority over them when the details of the mission got presented to Colonel Marwat. Because Dean saw the memories of Ronald Weasley, a feat of magic the trio of wizards needed to explain several times, Marwat decided Thomas should lead the group. While they argued for a larger contingent of men, the colonel would only lend six soldiers to accompany the wizards. Despite the acceptance of Dean Thomas within the military unit, the primary goal of hunting down zee and stopping the flow south into India from China remained in effect. However, seeing the numbers on the other side of the border made the squad doubt the eventual success of that order.
"Well how the hell are we going to make it north?" Dean moodily asked and looked squarely at the man with strawberry-blonde hair.
The soldiers witnessed Dennis' proficiency at planning and dispatching the undead in the encounters they faced on the first day. His sword flashed with deadly accuracy. The soldiers did not, however, understand the constant chuckling and giggling coming from him during every fight. They also respected Ronin's ability with his mace. Zee fell wherever he aimed it. Dean, unfortunately, did not possess similar skills with his cricket bat, although he proved adept at detecting and avoiding zombies. It explained how he managed to survive on his own for so long. It even spooked Dennis and Ronin on a couple of occasions when their comrade accurately predicted the location of unheard, unseen zed. The soldiers quickly accepted the three as the leaders of the band. It did not, however, put a dent in their argumentative nature regarding the operation.
"Ze mountains are our only route if we do not use ze road," Captain Desrochers, the lone Frenchman among the soldiers who, bizarrely enough, attached himself to a German squad. He pointed to the map.
Dennis focused intently on it, and Ronin stopped the others from disturbing him. Dennis' planning capability kept the two alive as they moved from Scotland across the whole of Europe and into the Middle East. It only took one day for the soldiers to realize that of the three wizards, Dennis possessed the greatest amount of experience with open travel in hostile territory. However, they did not fully appreciate the man's need for mental isolation when picking out a path or creating a strategy.
"Here," Dennis said after a few minutes and pointed at the map with his wand. "We can follow this gorge north, across this river, and aim for this plateau. If we come across zed, we can make for the high ground if there're too many or fight the smaller bands."
"But zat vill extend our schedule," Sergeant Huber argued. "Ve do not haff enough supplies for zat route."
"It shouldn't be too much longer," the youngest if the wizards remarked.
Desrochers and Huber glanced at one another. Behind them four men – two Americans, one German, and one Chinese – looked on. They got selected for their variety of skills. The Americans proved the most lethal with their weapons, the German came with a reputation as an excellent scout, and the Chinese knew the general lay of the land and spoke the local dialects. All the soldiers, however, complained when they learned their electronics would malfunction around the wizards. Bereft of their music devices and other distractions, it forced interaction between everyone.
"Many villages this way," Corporal Guō informed the group in good but broken English. "Many shāngshī."
"More than on the road?" Dennis asked and half-challenged.
Corporal Guō shook his head in negation.
"Plus it puts us in a straight line for Bagaxiang," Dean added.
"Bagaxiang very dead," Corporal Guō reminded them. His dark brown eyes glittered with open concern. His dark green Chinese military uniform provided excellent camouflage if one discounted the fact zed did not care about such things.
"More dead than here, here or here?" Dennis openly challenged and pointed to the towns of Burang, Jiwusi, and Na Waguojiu.
Again the Chinese man bobbed his head.
"How did Harry and Ron make it through here?" Ronin asked as he considered the varying paths they could travel, and none looked very appealing.
"Not as many zed then," Dean stated in an oddly bland voice, and then he pointed to spot just northeast of Huo'erxiang. "Plus Rimholdt dropped them in a valley in this area. Surprised that woman didn't get them all killed before they got there."
Audrey Rimholdt routinely got into trouble with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office in her efforts to adopt muggle technology to wizarding needs. One of her more spectacular contraptions involved converting a fixed-wing ultralight aircraft into a device resembling one the flying machines of Leonardo da Vinci's, a wizard who so flaunted his powers in the open he wound up being regarded as a genius by the muggles. Rimholdt used her magicked machine to carry Harry and Ron into China. Dennis and Ronin began to figure out why the mission became so classified and few details got released: it violated all manner wizarding law.
"Well, we don't have her aircraft, so we're hoofing it," Dennis said.
"What about brooms?" Dean suggested?
"Got some?" Ronin grumbled.
Zed tended to attack any object that exuded too much of a magical aura. Because brooms got highly charmed in order to properly function, the undead regularly tore them apart trying to get to the magic.
"Wait, you boys actually fly on brooms?" Corporal Davis, a young man from Oklahoma in the United States, inquired in surprise. As a marksman, he frightened the wizards.
"We even play sports on brooms," Ronin told him. "Quidditch is wicked good!"
"Here I was thinkin' brooms were only for your witches."
Ronin smirked at the man who grinned in return. Dennis and Captain Desrochers continued to debate the route they would take while Sergeant Huber added his voice. In the end, they agreed to a modified path that would follow the small ridge line Dennis liked northward and to the east of the twin lakes instead of between. From there they would aim for Bagaxiang, and then follow the river north past the Jiuma Co loch and then to the small plateau west of Kongburong upon which they would find the base where the zed, or modus inferi as Dean called them, got created.
"Zis is a long way for us to walk, no?" Desrochers half-questioned, half-complained to Dennis.
"Oh, who said anything about walking the entire distance?" Dennis rejoined and his eyebrows raised and lowered in a comical manner.
"Hold on a sec, mate! You mean to say you want to apparate through zed infested lands? That's going to draw them to us like bleeding flies to bloody honey," Dean said with more than a hint of shock in his voice.
"We did it Edinburgh," Ronin countered before Dennis. "The whole city was nothing but zed, and we used the rooftops to get around. Hell, how in the blazes do you think we got from Dover all the way to here in just under nine weeks through a zed infested Europe?"
"And we lost our only gun somewhere in eastern Kazakhstan," Dennis mentioned for good measure. "We didn't have any bullets by then, so….."
The soldiers gaped at Ronin as he spoke. The muggle men lived and died by their firearms. Ronin sometimes questioned Dennis' aversion to using guns, but he presented three mitigating factors: guns could only hold so many rounds, effective use required a clean head shot each time, and the sound attracted more zed. Once the all rounds got expended, he argued, the weapon became dead weight since reloading would expend precious seconds. Additionally, trying to get a head shot each time proved nigh impossible, and that called back to the first point. Finally, the sound of gunfire did indeed act like a lunch bell for zed, and then the first and second points came into play at the same time. Thus, Ronin learned not to depend on firearms but rather the strength of his own arms. Dennis always depended on his skill with a sword.
"I am vundering about dis apparate? Explain, bitte," Sergeant Huber requested.
Dean, Dennis, and Ronin did their best to explain the process of disapparation and apparation to the soldiers. Corporal Kowalski, the only female in the group and by far the best shot of all the soldiers, asked if it hurt. Dennis did not hesitate to say it could be very disorienting until one got used to it. Ronin mentioned that they tried to jump over one hundred kilometers between Edinburgh and Braemar and how it made them violently ill when they arrived. Dennis promised they would never apparate more than a two or three kilometers, or however far the best set of binoculars could see while still providing clear detail. None of the wizards mentioned splinching.
"But I'm going to warn you right now sometimes we need to appear right next to zed, so get your bayonets ready," Dennis suggested.
"Rather shoot 'em," Corporal Davis muttered.
"Or maybe one of us if you arrive dizzy," Ronin said. "At least with a bayonet you can push the zed away with your rifle and not kill one of us."
The four infantry soldiers glanced at one another, then looked to Sergeant Huber. Huber shrugged and nodded. In less than half a minute each rifle sported a seven inch-long black blade attached to the end of the muzzle. To Dennis' eyes the bayonets looked even more threatening than the barrels. However, he felt heartened the soldiers took the suggestion to heart. Even Dean appeared impressed.
"Who's got the best eyes?" He then questioned.
For the next ten minutes Sergeant Cleaves, the lone African descended soldier of the group who also hailed from Germany, got instructions on what features made for the best apparation sites: flat, wide, and preferably free of large rocks. At that point Dennis also divided the muggles up among the wizards. Since once wizard transporting eight people would quickly wear down the wizard, he decided that if the each carried two people they could manage a series of jumps before needing to rest. As he laid out his reasoning, both Dean and Ronin wholeheartedly agreed.
"Ja, ja," Cleaves rejoined when asked if he understood all the requirements. "Breit, flach, und ohne Felsen. Was ist mit den Toten?"
"He understands, but vhat of den dead?" Sergeant Huber responded as he translated.
"If it looks like too many, find a different spot. I think we can handle about ten or so as long as they're not grouped together too tightly," Dennis clarified. "Or at least to one side of the us if they are."
Cleaves nodded the entire time, and then nodded to Dennis. The other soldiers grinned. It appeared Huber only needed to translate in one direction.
"Man, Cleaves can tell you which fly on the other side of the room is taking a shit," Kowalski quipped and elicited laughs from her squad.
With that, Dennis and Captain Desrochers spent a few minutes showing Corporal Cleaves the route they intended to use. Dennis charmed the map so a green line traced the path. The primary strategy centered on using the mountain ridges as causeways since zed did not possess good balance and typically did not climb mountains. Cleaves appeared to understand every word said to him.
"If we don't come across too many zed, we should be able to cover a good bit of the distance today without overtaxing Ronin, Dean, or myself. Hopefully by tomorrow noon we should reach our destination."
Dennis' prediction cast a minor pall over the group. It reminded them their ultimate destination would likely hold the most danger. The soldiers did not know the whole story behind the base where the zed got created. However, they appeared serious when talking about the supposed conditions, and that bespoke the perilous nature of the mission. Uneasy glances got exchanged.
"Alright, let's get in a few practice jumps since everything looks pretty clear from here," Dennis suggested.
He considered the fact he usurped the position of authority from Dean. However, Dean did not appear upset by the development. Since they began that morning, traversing on foot until they arrived at their first accessible ridge that involved fighting several band of zed, Dean did not display any outward signs he knew how to manage a military group. Dennis, conversely, felt at home in the role for reasons he could not even explain to himself. He chalked it up to the fact he believed in his ability to determine the best course of action. In the back of his mind, a picture of Katie Bell turning into a zed remained to remind him poor decisions cost lives.
The soldiers discovered very quickly how disorienting apparation process could be. They arrived at the first location wobbling and trying to center the world. Dean reminded the other wizards to make certain to always focus to avoid splinching, a term none defined for the muggles. On the third jump some ten kilometers into China, they landed on an angled patch of ground that from a distance, even through binoculars, looked flat. At the bottom of the slope a dozen zombies lay sprawled against the rock. The undead began clawing at the ground and tried to climb up toward the living people. Two of the soldiers lost their footing upon arrival, fell over due to the weight of their backpacks, and started to slide toward the zed. Given one soldier happened to be their best surveyor and the other the squad lead sergeant, the rest went to work without hesitation.
"Ronin, slide down to the left of the zed and start cracking skulls" Dennis ordered and giggled once. "I'll take the right. Dean, send up some sparks to get their attention. The rest of you, stab any zed in the head who makes it close to you."
Much to his surprise, the soldiers did not quibble with who gave the orders. Dennis and Ronin performed their flanking maneuver while Dean put on a minor display of simple magic that got the undivided attention of the zombies. The soldiers used their bayonets to harass and kill the creatures whom managed to gain footing. Dennis and Ronin reached their destination and began to swing. Dennis learned long ago to severe necks instead of trying to slash through a skull. Once the spinal column got sliced, the bodies went limp. Even for the undead it seemed the spinal column played an important role. He laughed with every swing. Ronin could chose to either smash necks or skulls depending on his current position. Thus, the two wizards began to bash and chop their way through the zed who focused on Dean and not them.
It took ten minutes, but eventually all the undead got returned to the grave and none of the living followed them. Dennis and Ronin, both tired from the effort of fighting on a hillside, scrambled back to the main group. Soldiers offered them a hand when they got near enough.
"Whew, ya'll sure know how to use them old weapons even with all that laughing you do," Corporal Davis complimented them yet again. "If you's didn't have those blast sticks, I'd say y'all should sign up for the army!"
"Blast sticks," Dennis mumbled, and then smirked at his fellow wizards. He sat on the sloping mountain side to rest.
"You are – 'ow they say – a swordsman, no?" Captain Desrochers asked.
"A bit, I guess," Dennis answered. "Got some training when I was young."
"Don't let him fool you: he's a swordsman alright. Ask him who trained him," Ronin grinned as he chided his friend.
"Where'd you learn to swing a blade like that?" Corporal Kowalski inquired as directed.
"You probably wouldn't believe me..."
"Oh, get on with it, Denny. Just tell them," his traveling companion urged him.
The six soldiers and one wizard silently prodded him with their gazes. Dennis felt his cheeks heat up a bit. Too often in his life when he became the center of attention he usually did not fare well. He lowered his head a little.
"A number of people helped me learn, but a good bit of it came from an old English bloke named Peeves," Dennis told them.
"Bloody hell, not him!" Dean spat the words. "Why in the name of Merlin would that old tosser give you hand? He never helps anyone."
"Was ist ein alter tosser?" Sergeant Cleaves seemed to ask.
Sergeant Huber made an obscene hand gesture demonstrating the precise meaning of the word. Cleaves burst into laughter. Only Ronin blushed as the other soldiers also joined in. Dennis chuckled.
"Peeves is a thousand year-old poltergeist… a ghost," Dennis clarified.
Six people stopped laughing and stared wide-eyed at him.
"A ghost?" Corporal Davis dryly queried. "How?"
"I don't know how he died, he never said," Dennis answered. "But he trained me by explaining the principles of swordplay he learned for who knows, and then by throwing old bits of broken furniture at me at the very bottom of the grand staircase at school. Taught me how to parry and defend. He taught me to aim by throwing something at my head when I missed a specified target."
The six muggles looked at him as if worms might crawl out of his ears. Dennis admitted to himself it sounded rather looney to think a poltergeist trained a lonely teenager the art of fencing. Despite the odd expressions it garnered from the faces of the other, his training remained a fact.
The last of their rest break got consumed by describing Hogwarts and some of the more colorful personalities that inhabited the school. The trio of wizards tended to shy away from any topic relating to dead friends or relatives. Throughout the discussion Dennis thought of his long deceased brother and wondered if Colin would be proud of what he did with his life since the end of the wizarding wars. He hoped so.
"Night arrives early in ze mountains, we'd better move," Captain Desrochers encouraged the group after fifteen minutes.
The soldiers jumped to their feet. Corporal Cleaves pulled out his binoculars and scanned ahead. Two kilometers away Cleaves found the bend in the ridge that afford them a good landing site. The wizards used the binoculars of the other soldiers and focused on the location following directions translated by Huber. They improved from the earlier jumps, and the soldiers also appeared to be getting used to side affects. The made it through another four apparations before staring at another tricky point a kilometer and half in the distance.
"From what I can see neither peak offers a prime location," Dean said after gazing at the location across a valley. "It looks snow covered as well."
"Could make for a softer landing, but I like the closer location better. It doesn't look as steep as the other one," Ronin added his input.
Dennis and Dean both nodded.
"Does it look, eh, shiny?" Captain Desrochers questioned.
"Nein," Corporal Cleaves answered first.
"Not really. It doesn't look like ice if that's what you're worried about," Dennis chimed in with the corporal.
"Oui, but should zere be ice underneath, could be tricky, no?"
"Jah, that vould be problem: ice under der snow. Ve could slide down into der valley," Sergeant Huber added his thoughts.
"Doesn't look like much of slide… lengthwise that it," Ronin mumbled.
"Zat is difficult to gauge, Herr Wood, from dis distance."
Dennis fumbled with the map, whispered a spell after pulling out his wand and touching it to the paper, and watched. Once the spell finished, he announced: "That's about two hundred and fifty meters from the ridge to where the two mountain sides meet below."
"But it's not a sheer drop," Ronin guessed as he studied it with the binoculars.
"Well, we can't see much beyond that curve in the ridge, so it's either that one or the one across from it. Pick," Dean said and he sounded impatient.
By a vote of six to three, the closer point got selected. The teams of soldiers and wizards assembled, and then disappeared in a hiss and pop while twisting into the nether space between. They did discover ice under the snow, but the ice proved uneven and porous. It gave them enough foothold to climb back to the top after sliding about fifteen meters. Dennis added the experience to the growing list of lessons regarding mountain travel.
The squad moved in a northeasterly track. They kept to the mountain ridges as much as possible. After thirty-five kilometers, the terrain began to slope downward. In the distance they could just make out the edge of a large mountain lake. The friendly banter between the members trickled to nothing as they contemplated the dangerous location. Corporal Guō informed them a number of fishing and vacation villages lay around the lake. Given the proximity to the zed base, it seemed unlikely they would find any living people. Ten kilometers later Guō made them stop and examine the map.
"Here Po Shanongba," he said and pointed to spot west of northern bay of the lake. "No live there."
"How do you know?" Ronin queried.
Guō spoke to himself in Chinese for a few seconds, and then held up his hand to head with the pinky and thumb extended. He mimed talking without saying anything, and then shook his head.
"No communication," Sergeant Huber translated somewhat unnecessarily.
Corporal Guō held up his left hand with all the digits extended and said: "No talk, five years."
"Coincides with the zed onset," Dennis said aloud, but meant it for himself.
The group stood at the top of a tall hill. Each person began to scan the area. All the binoculars came out. For several minutes they surveyed the area.
"Quite a few in the lake," Corporal Kowalski stated.
"Got movement up to the nor'west 'bout a click or two away," Corporal Davis reported.
"Look north by northeast," Captain Desrochers ordered. "Merde!"
In a valley north of the bay a veritable throng of zed wandered around. The slow, gangly gait surprised most of the squad since they thought the undead should be frozen. What they saw, however, only looked stiff and very much ambulatory. Dennis tried to make an estimation of the numbers.
"I'd guess there's about a hundred or so over there," he spoke his guess.
"Add fifty to that, Denny," Corporal Davis corrected him.
"Der is another batch quarter or haff a kilometer vest. The mountain blocks my view," Sergeant Huber told them. "Ve may be looking at hundreds more."
Sergeant Cleaves' arm shot forward toward the lake and loudly said: "Sergeant, schau dort!"
Everyone turned to stare in the direction he indicated. Below on the washed out beachhead of the bay they saw movement. Those with binoculars shared with those without, and it became obvious the zed somehow noticed the nine living people. The undead turned and twisted and faced the hill upon which they stood. Some began to move forward.
"The buggers must be bleeding starving to sense us way up here," Dean said and handed the binoculars back to Corporal Guō. "We best get moving or will wind up on the menu."
They took a minute to decide on where to land. Only one peak within the vicinity appeared flat enough and wide enough to support nine people. Dean, Dennis, and Ronin held out their arms, and their passengers took hold. One after another the three groups disapparated.
They chose poorly. The peak only looked flat due to a shadow cast on it. Furthermore, loose scree covered it. Ronin, Corporal Guō, and Sergeant Huber fell like dominoes when they arrived and immediately started to slide down the hill. Ronin, in a motion often used for fighting, unhooked his mace and drove the butt end into the loose gravel. It stopped his slide. Guō and Huber, burdened by heavy packs, refused to let go of their rifles and continued to move toward the ravine. Ronin uselessly flailed his arms trying to grab one or the other, but both men gained too much momentum and it carried them out of his reach. The two soldiers kicked at the ground in attempt to end or slow their descent. Below them hundreds of zed reached up to greet them with open, deadly arms.
"No!" Ronin shouted and almost lost his grip on the mace.
One, then two shots rang out. Both Guō and Huber stopped struggling and tumbled like rag dolls toward the mass of zed, red gushing from the back of their necks. Whether the bullets killed could not be determined, but those watching the final slide into the horde of zombies knew the two would not feel themselves getting torn to pieces. Dennis craned his head upward and saw Corporal Kowalski crouched on one knee with her rifle held snugly against her shoulder. The impassive, stony cast of her face spoke for her. Sergeant Cleaves and Corporal Davis watched with the same flat, hard expressions. One did not need to guess they saw this same situation play out far too many times.
"Merde! Merde! Shit and goddamn!" Captain Desrochers yelled and pounded his fists against his legs.
"We can't stay here," Dean shouted at the group, broke the spell, and looked frantic.
"Ro, can you climb back up!" Dennis called out and focused on the one person who remained in danger from the zed. He struggled to keep from giggling and managed to keep most of it in check.
Ronin gazed at him with real fear in his eyes. Twelve meters further down, a small slide as everyone just witnessed, the undead tried to scramble up the side of the tiny mountain to get to him. More and more of the creatures started to triangulate on his location. Dennis saw it too often in the past: the zed would make a ramp out of themselves and eventually reach Ronin, and probably quicker than imaginable. Much to his great relief, Ronin did not entirely panic and lose his senses. He watched his friend close his eyes. It looked as if he might disapparate, but then his eyes opened. Ronin swore, and screw his eyes shut tight once again. His lips trembled, and Dennis sense of alarm started to skyrocket. Seconds later a hiss and a pop commenced, and the man stood next to Corporal Kowalski. He used the woman to balance himself.
"We have to leave before they bleeding reach us," Dean loudly told his companions.
"I… almost couldn't… disapparate. Felt like... blocking me," Ronin panted through the general state of suppressed panic. No one appeared to pay him any heed.
Captain Desrochers kept on cursing and swearing in French. Corporal Davis gradually appeared fit to be tied. His face glowed red with rage as he watched the undead swarming around the bodies of his fallen comrades. Kowalski watched as well, but she showed no outward visible emotions except her eyes gleamed in apparent hatred of the moment and the zed. Sergeant Cleaves sat on the ground with his head between his knees.
"The dead are not going to get what they want from those two," Dean continued to prod the rest of the team that showed signs of shock. "One they figure that out, they'll fucking start crawling up here to get us. We've got to move now!"
The African-British wizard roughly pulled the binoculars out from Sergeant Huber's backpack. He raised them to his eyes and began to turn in a small circle. After the third rotation, he stopped and pointed.
"There. Flat, in the sun, and only a little rubble. Get up and let's get in formation," Dean shouted at the other six people.
Corporal Kowalski rose from her kneeling position. She walked over to Corporal Davis and jerked on his jacket until he, too, stood. Then the two moved to Cleaves and together forced him to his feet. Finally, the three soldiers converged on Captain Desrochers. Kowalski held out her hand.
"Captain, we need to leave ten seconds ago," she said to the man. "It's done. It happened, but they didn't feel a thing. Probably weren't even alive. They won't come back. Let's go."
The corporal waggled her hand at the captain who stared it as though it might be contaminated. A few seconds later he accepted it. She helped him rise. Dennis did the same for Ronin who seemed stunned by what occurred in less than two minutes. They walked over to Dean.
"Show us where," Dennis said in an angry, tight voice.
Dean passed over the binoculars and held his arm out. Dennis peered at the location, nodded, and handed the field glasses to Ronin. The younger Wood brother took a bit longer to find and fix on the spot. After half a minute, he also nodded and handed the binoculars back to Dean, who in turn held them out to Sergeant Cleaves. The four soldiers walked up to them. Cleaves took his field glasses. The three wizards extended their arms, and suddenly Ronin went pale as the new reality appeared to sink in. The wizard stared at this empty arm. Corporal Kowalski, however, accepted his offered forearm. Seconds later, seven people departed from the small peak as undead frantically attempted to reach the group.
The teams made a second quick jump two kilometers from the fist. It put them far above the zed and out of reach. However, the lake below appeared threatening. Dennis knew thousands, possibly tens of thousands of undead could lie beneath the surface. If one got a whiff of the wizards ambient magical fields, it could draw an unstoppable mass of the dead toward them. He stuffed down his emotions, and glanced at the rest of the squad. The loss of the two soldiers, two friends, clearly held sway over the others.
"We shouldn't stay here. Who knows how many zed are in that damn lake," he icily stated his case.
"Zen we get away from ze facking place," Captain Desrochers growled. The man appeared infuriated.
"Let's move," Corporal Davis agreed and held out his hand.
It took almost an hour to make seven jumps around the eastern edge of the lake that carried them a distance of fifteen kilometers. The terrain proved difficult to gauge through binoculars, and zed swarmed in the direction they wanted to travel. The living remained rattled by the loss of the two soldiers, and it impaired their judgment once. The third jump placed them on a washout basin. Scores of undead surrounded them, but not so close as to instantly attack. They disapparated with difficulty before the first wave of the creatures could awkwardly lunge. Then next four jumps kept them clear of the monsters since they headed father east into the surround hills. When they reached the northern tip of the lake, the group halted and stared at the daunting traverse ahead of them.
"Now what the fuck do we do?" Corporal Davis droned as they stared at the largest basin they saw yet.
Sergeant Cleaves pulled out the map. They gathered around him. The bright blue dot showed their more or less precise location. Without being asked or stating what he intended, Dennis pulled out his wand. He performed a series of quick charms, and moved the tip of the wand to the distance legend and various points on the planned route. Distances began to appear.
"Zat is twenty kilometers of open space," the captain said after reading the map. "And ze undead are everywhere! I will not lose any more soldiers under my command!"
"Looks like a lot of army was here at one time," Kowalski said as she peered through the binoculars and seeming ignored the captain. "Bunch of uniforms down there."
"Dort ist eine Schlacht passiert. Ich kann die gepanzerten Personenträger sehen," Sergeant Cleaves muttered while peering around through his field glasses.
All eyes turned to Captain Desrochers since the late Sergeant Huber could not make the translation.
"He says a battle took place. Zere are carrier tanks," the captain said, performing the task.
The group turned in the direction the remaining German sergeant indicated. Even those without binoculars could make out the scene of the fighting. A line of armored vehicles and tanks appeared to form a bulwark. Dark gray craters surrounded the area where either bombs or powerful grenades got used. It became painfully obvious the living lost the standoff as zed freely milled around.
"Bagaxiang is northeast that way about twenty clicks, so the dead must've come from there," Corporal Kowalski murmured.
"Why would they fight here?" Corporal Davis openly inquired.
"Because," Dean said through a sigh, "not far from there is where the modus inferi got started… created."
He pointed to the map and used a finger to follow a road that diverged from the main thoroughfare heading northward along a river valley. The path already glowed from when Dennis first mapped it out, but Dean let his hand follow it. It showed they barely made half the distance. Moreover, the features of the map displayed rugged terrain. When he reached the final point, he stopped.
"There is where it happened. There is where the Chinese military and the Chinese witches and wizards devised these blasted buggers! We need to reach that base and… we need to go inside."
The four remaining soldiers gaped at him.
"Mon Dieu, but that is… fou… crazy!" Captain Desrochers snapped. "Why would we want to in zere?"
"Because the answer to what these things really are and the way to defeat them is in there. Two of my best mates found it… died finding it, and we need to finish their mission."
Dennis and Ronin already knew the story, but it appeared to come as a shock to the soldiers. Dennis wondered exactly how much Dean told the colonel and the other military personnel regarding the real nature of what they intended to do. From the look of things, it did not seem he told them everything.
"How many zee you think are in there?" Corporal Kowalski grated out the question.
"Probably hundreds… and these different from the ones we're used to fighting," he answered. "The modus inferi there are more… aggressive. Maybe even a little smarter. The Chinese were trying to perfect a soldier they didn't have to feed or arm or even worry about. Just drop those fucking things into a fight and let 'em eat their way through the enemy. But something went wrong. They lost control."
"That's… insane! Why the hell would they make things like that?" Corporal Davis blurted.
Sergeant Cleaves nodded his head, proving again he understood English but did not speak it well.
"By Weiss… you Americans never fucking get it," Dean Thomas blared at the man. "You're all so cocked up you're not afraid of anything, but the rest of the world ain't like that. You bastards think you've got everyone and everything figured out, and what you can't understand you threaten to kill. You don't see how much the world fears you. You're like a bunch of bleeding drunk teenagers with the worst weapons imaginable!"
Corporals Davis and Kowalski found themselves under the scrutiny of the rest. Davis put on a belligerent face while Kowalski simply appeared angry. It seemed the death of the two soldiers continued to influence the emotions of the team. Yet the level of hostility in Dean's outburst indicated he harbored those sentiments for years. Dennis admitted to himself his thoughts did not vary to any great degree. However, they needed to remain united. Ronin stayed out of the argument by continually scanning the area through a pair of binoculars. Dennis sighed.
"That doesn't matter anymore," he quietly stated. "America… North America got hit by the zed just as hard as England, France… Europe, the whole world. We, and I mean the world, needs the American… moxie if we're got to get through. Personally, right now I'm glad they're a bunch of loony, gun-hugging whackos. We need them, Dean, and don't forget it."
Even though he felt his comments fell more in line with Dean, the American soldiers appeared mollified by his general statements of support. Dennis meant what he said: they did, indeed, need the Americans. He could not imagine facing what killed Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley without some people being armed and ready to shoot at anything that moved.
"This is bigger than any single one of us," Dennis concluded. "Now, which way should we go? Those zed are going to start noticing us pretty damn soon."
"It's far, but I think I found a place we can apparate on," Ronin said as he stood stock still and peered into the distance.
"Where?" Dean inquired and turned away from the angry glares.
"See those valleys over there? They look like runoff gullies."
Dean nodded and then everyone became interested in what Ronin discovered. As he explained the location, all the other binoculars got put into use. Ronin pointed out the big river to the left, and the gully immediately to the right. It appeared to level off several hundred feet above and north the basin. Closer to the group and below in the washout basin the zed began to turn in their direction. The groaning became audible as hundreds of undead voices started to chime together. It formed a ghoulish chorus.
"The maps says it's a good twenty, twenty-five kilometers. Can we make out enough detail for a safe apparation there?" Dennis said and questioned. He glanced between the other two wizards.
"Do we have much of a choice?" Ronin countered.
"No, we don't have much of fucking choice," Corporal Davis added his voice. "Those dead down there are coming to bite our asses, and I sure as hell don't feel like landing in the middle of that low area in front of us. Now grow a set and get ready to wizard us over there."
The three wizards looked to the rest of the soldiers. One by one they nodded in agreement with their comrade. Finally, they let their gazes fall in Captain Desrochers.
"We cannot stay here, and zis is ze best option, no?" The captain counter-questioned.
"If you look at the map, you can see a main road runs from the southwest to the northeast, and I'm willing to be my wand it's just loaded with those slaggers. If you can disapparate to Braemar from Edinburgh, this should be a walk in the park," Dean urged them.
"Ro?" Dennis asked since he wanted it to be a unanimous decision.
Ronin simply held out his arm. Corporal Kowalski grabbed his wrist. Dennis and Dean followed suit, and the travel teams gelled. Ronin bobbed his head once, and he and the corporal disappeared. Dean took Captain Desrochers and Sergeant Cleaves as passengers. Dennis glanced at Corporal Davis. The man roughly seized his forearm.
The wizard closed his eyes, thought of what he saw through the binoculars in striking detail, and willed himself and his passenger to the new destination. As the disapparation started the world folded in on itself, turned in a convoluted gyre, and then it seemed to inhale itself with a hiss and pop. Dennis kept his mind glued to the mental image of their point of arrival. The turbulent forward motion, as he could describe it in no other way, came to a halt. He felt himself unfold and unwrap from around a central point. Although no clear sense of direction remained, Dennis knew they landed with their feet facing in the correct direction. They dropped a couple of centimeters to the ground. Corporal Davis steadied himself against Dennis arm.
He and Corporal Davis stood, the corporal a bit wobbly, amid their compatriots. At times Dennis did entirely understand how they managed to stay grouped together or, more importantly, did not apparate inside one another. He wondered if some inherent magical ability came into play when apparating. The wizard shoved the slightly disconcerting thoughts to the side as he took in the new surroundings. A cold wind whipped around the seven people, a reminder they still resided in tallest mountain range on the planet. Dennis turned, grabbed binoculars, and scanned the area they just departed. The zed did not change position or seem to notice seven people simply disappeared. From the new angle he saw thousands upon thousands of zed occupied the basin over which they instantaneously traveled.
"Look at 'em all," Corporal Davis whispered, echoing Dennis' thoughts.
The stocky Oklahoman with brown hair and bright blue eyes seemed discomfited by the sight. Of course, the fact they lost two comrades only a short while ago probably still preyed on the man's mind as it did on Dennis'. It seemed utterly surreal that less than an hour before they called upon the expertise of Corporal Guō and Sergeant Huber.
"Don't get down on Kowalski for what she did," the corporal started to say.
"I won't. I had to take the head off a friend some months back, so I know what courage it took for her to give them mercy," Dennis quietly stated.
He caught Davis studying him.
"My friend started to turn, so I had to use my sword on her neck," he offered a scant explanation.
"Rough," the corporal commented.
"Necessary, like those two shots," Dennis rejoined.
The muggle soldier nodded to him, and then spun around to rejoin the main group. Sergeant Cleaves studied the map and pointed out they moved too far east. He indicated the ravine with the road they needed to follow. Dennis took out his wand, whispered the measurement spell again, and all took note that fifteen kilometers separated them from the desired location. Ronin pointed out they could make a series of smaller jumps across the ravines to reach the area. Since no wanted to stay and watch the mass of undead in the washout basin, they took his advice. Once again Corporal Davis became Dennis' passengers. Dennis got the notion their brief exchange about providing mercy to comrades and friends somehow made a difference to the man.
Five jumps, twelve minutes and fifteen kilometers later the mission team stood on the side of a hill staring down at a road following a river trace. Without a word all eyes turned north. No one needed to state their destination lay in that direction. Dean lifted his head. The wind caused the fur trim around his hood to part. When he continued to stare at the sky, others looked up as well.
"Do you see ze snow, eh?" Captain Desrochers inquired, but Dennis could not tell if the man meant to be sarcastic.
"Sun will go down soon. We should head further into the hills and camp," Dean replied. "Might get some snow. Blazes but it's cold out here."
Dennis looked at the sun and realized it would soon dip behind the mountains. Once night fell the temperature would plummet. Years of hiking around the British Isles taught him the dangers of getting caught in freezing conditions. He slowly started to nod. It did not take long for the rest of the company to agree.
"You should double up with a person," Captain Desrochers recommended. "It will help stop ze freezing."
Dennis and Ronin glanced at one another, and then at Dean.
"How big is your tent, Dean?" Dennis inquired.
"It can fit two," he answered.
"How about three?"
Dean studied the two other wizards and said: "Yeah, it could, but should we? That's a lot of magic in one tent."
"Oh," Ronin quipped.
The soldiers listened and watched. Dennis saw the questions in their eyes. He gave into the silent requests.
"You all know the zed are attracted to us… magic folk," he told them. "It's the magic they want. They feed on it somehow. If the three of us share one tent, it'd be like putting up a neon buffet sign."
"I get it. Bunk with me Creevey," Corporal Davis offered.
Ronin threw Dennis a knowing look, and Dennis shook his head back and forth. Sergeant Cleaves made an overture to Dean, and Dean walked over to the man. The African-German man then mumbled something else in his native tongue, and then pointed to Corporal Kowalski.
"He says you may use ze tent with him and ze wizard," Captain Desrochers translated.
Kowalski nodded and moved toward the two.
"Then zis leaves you and me, Monsieur Wood. I 'ope you do not make ze snoring," the captain said to Ronin.
"Well, to be honest, I've never heard myself snore," Ronin replied and grinned.
Dennis snorted, Kowalski and Davis laughed outright, and Dean rolled his eyes but grinned.
"Zis is good since I can say the same," Captain Desrochers gamely replied.
The group then studied the map and found a gully further east in the mountains that would help block some of the wind. They decided to march to the location so everyone could scout for any errant undead that may be trapped in the area. Forty-five minutes later the surrounding area contained no active zed. Both Dennis and Ronin got called to dispatch a zombie as no one wanted to attract more with gunfire. The sleeping groups reassemble. The wizards stood to one side while soldiers set the tents with efficiency and speed. In the meanwhile, Dennis pulled out his bedroll.
He stopped at the entrance of the tent. One idea surged through his head, and he needed to address it lest he spend the night not sleeping. His brain would keep him awake thinking. Thus, Dennis sighed quietly to himself, inhaled, and turned to the corporal. Davis stood watching him.
"I, um, so you know: I'm gay," he told the man.
"And?" Corporal Davis asked after ten seconds ticked by.
"Just thought you should know."
"Okay, I know. Now get in the tent 'cause my nads are freezing!"
Dennis nodded to the man, who nodded in return. He tossed his bed roll into the tent, but did not go in. He spent a few moments taking off the sword. Sleeping with the weapon still attached to his side sometimes proved painful. Then he crawled into the tent to lay out his sleeping bag and blanket. Dennis lay the sword between the tent wall and his sleeping bag. He moved to one side, after which Corporal Davis entered and performed the same ritual except with this rifle. The man then closed the entrance.
"Gonna be tight, but you're skinny 'nough so we can lay down," the corporal told Dennis.
"I sleep on my side when not in a tree, so it shouldn't be too bad," he responded while adjusting his position after sliding into the sleeping bag.
Dennis and Corporal Davis lay staring at one another for a few long moments
"Can I… um… ask y'all a favor?" The corporal mumbled.
In the dim light of the tent, the sun already started to descend behind the mountains, Dennis could see rosy spots on the man's face. It surprised him when the corporal acted rather shy. However, the blue eyes implored him.
"You can ask," he wryly answered.
"Mind if I get me look at your wand? Never saw one that was real like that," Corporal Davis requested in a rush.
"Ah," Dennis began to buy himself a second to think. "In wizarding communities it's considered bad form to ask a witch or a wizard to surrender a wand without good reason."
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know..."
"Of course you didn't, and I don't fault you for that."
Corporal Davis nodded his head. Dennis, in the meanwhile, reached into his jacket and slipped the wand out of the compartment sewn into the zipper tape. He then held it up, and pointed the handle at the man laying across from him.
"Honest?" Corporal Davis said in a giddy voice.
"You may, but, ah, just don't wave it around since you might set the tent on fire," he consented and warned.
The muggle nodded in agreement and gingerly took the proffered stick. Corporal Davis held it in his hand and looked it over from tip to handle butt. The golden-red wood, burnish by the oils from Dennis' hands and over twenty years of use, gleamed in the fading light. Dennis looked at it as though seeing the wand for the first time, recalled when he went to Olivander's to purchase it, and the subtle look of envy on Colin's face when Mr. Olivander told he and his family about the properties. Dennis loved his wand from the moment he felt the rush and thrill of magic power pouring into him from the magical device.
"Red pine wood with a dragon heartstring, eleven inches long, and sturdy but supple. This was the fourth wand I tried at Olivander's, and it nearly jumped into my hand when I opened the box," Dennis told the man with an air of nostalgia. "Colin got jealous 'cause his was dogwood with a unicorn hair. I never found out why, either, since that was damn fine wand."
"So there're all kinds, then?" Davis inquired as he examined the simple looking object in his hand.
"Yeah, all sorts. Olivander only used three types of core, but a bunch of different woods. Said he got the red pine from America. He said he found it odd the wand chose me..."
"The wand picked you?"
"'The wand chooses the wizard,' as the old saying goes," Dennis told him and grinned, but then became more thoughtful. "This wand is… it's like a best friend to me. Does whatever I ask, especially when I started mucking around the countryside. Sometimes I barely need to think about what I want it to do and it's done. It got me NEWTs in charms at school even when I tinkered with the spells."
"School… for wizards? Still havin' a hard time picturing it," the corporal skeptically spoke.
"And for witches… since Hogwarts is co-ed."
With that, the two spent the rest of the twilight talking about Hogwarts and some of Dennis' experiences. Although he technically violated parts of the secrecy statute, he felt at ease with Corporal Davis and believed the man to be trustworthy. Sometimes the soldier made a comparison to military life, and, thus, Dennis got to learn more about the muggle military. He learned about the different branches of the US armed services, a name the wizard found very odd since he did not think people without arms would make good soldiers. Corporal Davis proudly announced himself a marine. Thus, the two talked about their worlds. Although neither said out loud, the timbre of the voices revealed a certain amount of homesickness. The conversation also helped them set aside for a brief while the losses from the afternoon.