CHAPTER 9: INSIDIOUS
Early next morning, the group had another sudden meeting again after Harry had got the corpses buried properly. It was a long painful night mixed with a melancholy and gloomy air filled with blood and of flesh, suffocating them to no end. Even though Harry's group had no loss, the fact that one of his members had caused the death of those innocent people was pretty much killing him inside. The sun rose again, and everyone had somewhat calmed down from the incident last night, including Mary who was sitting under a tree some feet away from the group.
"So we've established that magic can't be used anymore and we're quite short on weapons. Knives, scissors, and sharp sticks are useful but surely stand no chance against a big herd. It's high time we think of a way to equip ourselves with more modern weapons." - Harry said.
"Are you talking about guns, Harry? I've thought of that too...but things just aren't as simple as in those American movies. Civilians in UK are not authorized to possess firearms at home, and ammunition is also limited. It's hard to find such things even in London, and it's a sad fact that we're in the suburbs, more or less a middle of nowhere." - Hermione shook her head.
"We have to, one way or another. Gun is the most effective weapon right now. It causes noises, that much is true... but if 'they' come in numbers, we have to be sure that we could maintain a relative safe distance from them while we take them down by shooting. And of course, we could never underestimate other sharp weapons so we'd better find more. The more the better."
"But where do we go to find guns?" - Neville raised the point.
"I know where!"
Draco suddenly said which surprised the gang as none of them had expected him to contribute into their discussion. Harry threw him a wary look.
"Oy, Potter! Cut that annoying look! Back then when I used to hang out with the archery club at the bank, our opponent club was a gang of wizards who preferred using muggle guns on their hunts. There were hunting competitions held between the two clubs from time to time… And of course I wasn't interested in such filthy muggle technology but in between the chats, I did learn where the supply came from. So yeah, that's the good news. Bad news is...are you ready to go back to London?"
"Can you lead the way?"
"I guess I could. It's about time I find myself a worthier weapon than this stick."
After the group had agreed on the London supply run to find more weapons, food and medicine to keep on surviving until rescue came, the hardest decision right now was to pick who to come along and who to stay at the camp. There was no way Augusta, Marry and Teddy could go so somebody got to stay behind and protect them. Harry took a deep breath as his eyes glanced at the familiar faces in this camp, lingering a little longer at a certain pair of deep cinnamon eyes.
"Malfoy will lead the way. Luna, Parkinson, you two will join the run. Neville, you stay at the camp. We need a man here to look after Augusta, Teddy and Hermione...er...you…" - Harry suddenly felt a chill running through his spine with her icy glare.
"Why do I have to stay behind?" - Hermione took a step forwards, rolling her eyes in disbelief.
"Well because...Teddy, he ...er... and you...uhm..." - Harry stammered, not knowing how to explain it to her. It was clear that if she was to stay at home with Teddy, Harry would feel more comfortable. But it was also clearer that Hermione would never agree to be a damsel-in-distress and certainly not in times like this. She always insisted to go along with him...like that time at the Ministry with Sirius for example.
"Oh Harry...I'm not a baby sitter to your son! We have Augusta here, let him play with her. Neville and Luna too, the boy enjoy their presence I'm not the only one here bonding well with him!" - Hermione leaned closer, hissing in her lowest voice so that only him could hear what she had to say.
Harry opened his mouth then... closed it helplessly. He had never won an argument with Hermione, never ever and she was forcing him into a pretty hard position. Right then Harry heard Draco grumbled loudly to someone.
"Stay here! No need to tag along. You're too bothersome!"
"But I want to be with you. I'm worried about you!" - Pansy defended herself.
Harry immediately grabbed the occasion and turned things around:
"On second thought, Hermione will join the run with us. Neville, Parkinson you two protect the camp and everyone here. And Parkinson, by the way...thought you should know by now that there are supposed to be a lots of walkers at London, so you might not be fond of the place like you used to." - Harry tried to scare her and that seemed to work as Pansy didn't object his decision anymore.
"Let's go! No time to waste now and we'd better get back here before sunset." - Draco said and went ahead.
So in the end, there were four people: Harry, Hermione, Luna and Draco on the weapon run.
...
Harry drove the Porsche out of the camp area and back to London. He went at average speed and kept his eyes on the surroundings, avoiding any unnecessary encounter with either the dead or the living. Draco sat next to him. The guy didn't say anything either. His eyes seemed to focus on the passing by woods, deserted field and country houses alongside the road. Hermione and Luna sat at the back seat. Occasionally, Harry's eyes would catch that sweet cinnamon color of her eyes in the rear mirror which seemed to be fading slowly in the wind. If not for the fact that they were in an apocalypse, Harry would have thought that they were going camping in a quiet peaceful countryside, together with their loved ones...Wait, loved ones? What was wrong with him? Draco and Luna? Hermione and him? Right, how funny was that…
Along the way, the blonde occasionally hummed a soft foreign tune. In this situation, if there was anyone still in the mood to sing or care about music at all, it'd be Luna Lovegood. But much ironic as it was, no one in the car objected the idea. Each and everyone of them seemed to immerse themselves in the magical song, feeling peace came back to their tainted souls. Even Draco looked as though he was relaxed and less irritated or angry at the world.
The wide deserted road in front of them still continued stretching to forever.
...
It took them nearly an hour before London appeared at the horizon. Harry turned to their reluctant guide.
"We're almost there, where's next?"
"The E25 ring road, make a turn at the A13, near Thames River. What's the use of map for, Scarhead?! They've been illegally smuggling weapons that way."
"What? That's it? If all you could ever do was just to spill out such ambiguous address, why the heck do I have to take you along, Scarface? Seriously..." - Harry grumbled as he flipped through the map.
Draco snorted - "I'll know once I get there!" - He gnashed his teeth.
"If it's just around London edge, we might not encounter the walkers or armies. They're probably still busy chasing and fighting one another in the city centre. But we've got to be careful with the arms dealer though." - Hermione warned and Harry nodded.
Around 15 minutes later, they reached the A13. It was a deserted foggy road filled with stinky odor. The Porsche slowly rolled past the empty and quiet store houses. After a few minutes, Draco whispered:
"We'd better stop the car here. Their base is just a few houses from here and the last thing you want is to attract their attention if they haven't got eaten; or worse, attract the things that ate them and things they turned into."
So the team got off their vehicle with everyone holding weapons in their hands: knives, scissors, baseball bats and sticks. Harry went ahead, leading the team towards the white house with red brick roof that Draco had told them before. Hermione was right behind him. The door seemed to be locked and it didn't look to them that the house was attacked at all. Harry turned to Luna and the girl nodded in response. He took a step back, made room for Luna who was now standing in front of the door. She pulled a golden butterfly hair clamp off her hair which seemed blended so well with her hair that none of them had ever noticed it before. Luna then pressed its tip to the lock as she pressed her ear to the door and twitched her fingers rhythmically. Soon they heard a soft 'click' sound and Luna pulled up with a bright smile.
"Whoa-wait-what? So it's opened? Just like that?" - Draco gasped in amaze.
This skill of Luna had proved very handy in the horcrux run years ago which Harry had witnessed many times when they needed to get into certain places. Harry raised his eyebrows slightly and slowly turned the doorknob.
It opened.
He put a finger up motioning for the team to be silent as he walked first inside. Hermione immediately grabbed his hand but he soon patted his own on hers with an assuring smile before venturing off inside on his own. He then noticed there was light coming out of a room at the end of this narrow corridor. So there's people inside, and alive ones indeed. He held his breath, continuing tip toeing towards said room. Harry pressed his back to the wall nearby...and slowly took a look at the sight inside. There was a man lying on a sofa with a gun clenched in his hand, beer bottles and cans of food scattering around him. If this was a normal situation, Harry would have tied him up with no effort, but using magic right now was obviously downright stupid so he had to be careful with his next step. Harry bit his lips, wasn't sure how many of them were left in other rooms so he took the risk and approached the drunken man slowly. He knelt on one leg and pulled a dagger from his waist to press at that man's throat. When the cold sharp blade of the dagger came into contact with his skin, the man startled up. Harry pressed the tip deeper as he whisper in his low and dangerous voice.
"Any noise and you're dead. Understood?"
The man nodded in gasp while Harry had almost died with the stinky smell of alcohol emitted from his breath.
"Now tell me, how many of you are here? I have my gang of about a dozen surrounded this place but I don't want to make a scene and attract those rotten corpses which I bet you don't either, so let's make a deal. Let's share what you're having here." - Harry threatened the guy with his dangerous voice.
"We...we have four, not included our boss. She was out at this moment. D-don't kill me!" - He stammered, begging Harry.
Four. Harry's group only had four while they had even four. If the two groups were to have direct clash, his was on the losing side because they had two girls with them while the opponents were smugglers. Harry had no choice but continuing on with his game.
"Get up! Follow me! Be quiet." - Harry pressed the dagger on his throat, the man immediately stood up and fully obeyed the order.
Harry pulled him to the corridor, then motioning for the other three to enter. They tip toed to Harry's side. He said:
"How's thing out there? All good?"
Harry winked at Hermione while Draco seemed lost at what he had just said. But of course, Hermione would understand what card he was playing and her role in it too. She nodded and said:
"The house is fully surrounded by our men! No walkers around."
Luna tapped her foot with interest.
"Where's the rest of your gang?" - Harry growled threateningly into the man's ear.
"Th-they... are playing cards in that room..." - he tilted his head towards an opposite room.
Harry nodded. Hermione immediately pulled Luna and Draco to the door sides, pressed their backs at the wall and weapons ready in their hands.
"Call them out! Quick! Tell them there are walkers!" - Harry pushed the knife tip into the man's throat, just enough to pierce his skin.
"WALKERS! WALKERS, GUYS! RUN!"
Just as Harry anticipated, the door burst open. Three big men came storming out, carrying guns with them. Since they were pretty panicked, none of them expected to be ambushed right in front of the room door. Draco was the first one to act. He raised the baseball bat up and struck a man behind his neck causing him to collapse onto the ground. Seeing the sight, two other immediately pointed the guns at the attackers, one at Harry and the other at Draco. Immediately Hermione jumped forward and stabbed her dagger into the the guy's hand. Surprised by the sudden move, he accidentally pulled the gun trigger. Harry ducked just in time while the bullet hit the abdomen of the man he was holding hostage. That guy screamed and also fainted onto the floor. Not wasting any time, Harry kicked him aside and jumped on the back of the previous man who now turned around to attack Hermione. Since Harry's build was pretty modest compared to that giant, it took him awhile to distract him enough so that Hermione could stab him in the side and officially defeated the third man.
Bang!
The deafening noise of bullet ripped through the air started Harry. He turned around and found the only smuggler left was holding his leg writhing in pain. Luna was standing above him with a pistol in her hand while Draco gave her a stunned terrified look. It seemed as though Luna had just saved him.
"You ... Do you know how to use a gun, Luna?" - Harry eyed her suspiciously.
"Nope!" - Luna smiled as she shrugged and pointed at the trigger - "But I often see in movies that they hold this while pull to shoot."
Harry stood paralyzed, not knowing how to react, whether he should laugh or cry or snatch the gun out of Luna's hands before she could even try to do that again.
"Let's tie them up, Harry! Quickly!" - Hermione reminded him.
After they had finished tying the four men, Harry divided the group into two pairs to scavenge the goods. Harry went with Draco so that he could tell the guy what to get and similarly Hermione did with Luna. This place was practically a treasure box in times like these,Harry thought. Not only did they stock up pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, ammunition, explosives but also canned food too, a lot of them he might add. They tried to stuff as much as possible into the sacks they carried with but since there was a limit to what they could hold, the group regrettedly left some behind.
"Are you sure you want that thing, Scarface?" - Harry looked at Draco suspiciously when the guy put a bow over his shoulder and the arrow holder behind his back.
"I'm not in for Muggle toys."
"Yeah right , hope you won't regret this."
Harry said sarcastically before he threw the sack on his shoulder and stepped out, unaware of the real danger that was lurking right around the corner. As Harry turned, he found Hermione, Luna and a woman. She was pointing her wand at the girls and Harry couldn't believe in his own eyes because even right at this moment, that old hag was still haunting his life and causing troubles everywhere she went: Dolores Umbridge.
"Hello, Potter!"
She greeted in a sing-song voice. Harry gritted his teeth wondering why couldn't she just have died in the war that year. All of sudden, his left hand twitched slightly as if the wound of the past had just been reopened, haunting him and filling the inside of him with hatred.
"So you're also a part of this Muggle smuggling ring, huh?" - Harry growled.
"Why not? It's easy money, honey!"
"Get out of the way if you know what's good for you!" - Draco gave her an order.
Umbridge rolled her eyes from Harry to Draco, a scornful smile hid in the corners of her mouth.
"Oh, young master Malfoy, I am so glad you are safe. But the world had changed, my dear. Now even the words of your parents hold any value to me , let alone such a mama's boy like you." - She said then hissed - "You prats. Immediately return what is mine to me and get the hell out of here before I hex you all to oblivion!"
No way Harry would give up. He gritted his teeth. These were the best things they could get at this moment. Things that could help them fight and survive this whole ordeal at least until all hope were extinguished. Harry wouldn't let this old hag have her way. She'd better know that the opponent facing her right now wasn't a fifteen year old Harry anymore.
"I don't think it's wise to have a fight with each other right now, Umbridge. And it's not as if we're taking away everything, we're just asking you to share in time of chaos." - Harry softened his voice.
"Who cares about sharing?! You prats better not touch my things! For the last time, are you leaving now or do I have to hex them?" - Umbridge pressed the wand tip to Luna's face.
"Wait! Wait!...hold on...using magic isn't the smartest idea right now! Don't you know..." - Hermione warned.
"Shut up, Granger! Don't you even try anything funny. Your game of deceit is getting too old for me." - She yelled back.
Harry was practically mad. Even though the woman was on her own, she had a wand. What worse was that she would have lured a herd of walkers here with magic before she could even kill them all. And to die here because of Umbridge's stupidity was definitely not in his agenda today. He knew she wouldn't believe them if they told her magic interacted with walkers. No, not a chance, not one bit. At that moment, Harry saw Draco quietly stepped behind his back. Bastard. Was he scared?
"Pfff...Can you distract her for a few seconds?"
Harry shivered as Draco whispered into his neck, the ferret was probably had something up his sleeve and it was now up to Harry to divert Umbridge's attention. But how?...In that fleeting moment, his eyes glanced towards Hermione, meeting hers, silently communicating with her in a way he didn't know how but somehow, someway she looked as though she understood and was now raising her voice up:
"We're speaking the truth. And the truth is that you cannot do anything to the walkers with that thing." - She nodder her head to the direction of Umbridge's wand in her hand.
Umbridge turned to glare at Hermione, just as she opened her mouth to say something, an arrow flew straight from behind Harry's shoulder, soaring on the wind and hit straight into Umbridge's shoulder. He heard a loud scream when she was hit with that sharp, cold object while Draco complained that if it wasn't for Harry standing in the way, he could have shot the arrow to her throat. Whatever, Harry didn't have time to bother with him so he rushed to his former professor in order to pull the wand out of her grip. He shouted.
"Run, everyone! Run!"
The girls immediately ran towards Draco. But Hermione seemed too reluctant to go. She stopped on her tracks and turned her head back to find Harry. As soon as she did so, a spell flying off from Umbridge's wand which was still held in her uninjured arm was about to hit her. Hermione titled her head just in time to dodge the attack.
"You..." - Harry growled in his throat. That was the last straw for Harry's tolerance towards this old hag.
"Prat!" - Umbridge gritted her teeth as her nails dug deep into Harry's hand. Ironically, that was the very same hand she once used to carve letters on Harry's hand which had left a permanent scar ever since then.
Knowing he could not tolerate her anymore just because she was a woman and an old one of that, Harry raised his hands up to strangle her, choking her until she collapsed onto the floor, seemingly fainted by the lack of oxygen. Right then, Hermione rushed to his side and pulled Umbridge's hands behind her back, tying it with her shoes' lace. Harry stood up, narrowing his eyes and looking at the messy dirty pink sack writhing on the floor. While he was still uncertain on whether or not he should leave her here, there was pounding sound on the front door, echoing off the dark hallway. Walkers.
"Uh oh...Things are not getting good Harry! It seemed that the walkers have surrounded and blocked the front door. It's magic...Magic lured them here!" - Said Hermione, panting in her breath.
Harry gasped, trying to calm down.
"Search for another exit, everyone! Quick! There must be a back door or something!
The group spread out and went to every corner of the house searching, after a few minutes they heard Luna called from another room.
"There's a door here but I can't open it. It's probably blocked by something from outside."
Harry and Draco hurried onto her side and without saying any word, the two used all their strength, shoulders, hands and feet to pound continuously on the rusted iron door. Finally there was a metal clink sound and the door got burst open as bright light entered the house and revealed a wide empty street ahead of them.
"Let's go!" - Harry screamed as the dangerous banging sound got louder and louder with each passing minute, telling them that the front door couldn't hold off any longer.
Harry found Hermione standing near to the door, looking hesitantly between the door and Umbridge who was lying on the floor with a bleeding shoulder. And Harry immediately knew what was bothering her.
"Let me go, prats! Let me go at this moment or I'll kill you and then I'll kill the little monsters out there." - She started throwing curses at them.
Harry winced, then kicked her wand away before he stepped over and untied her. He; however, didn't help her to get up nor remove the arrow from her shoulder. After he had finished, Harry stood up and told her with a tone as cold as ice.
"Either you try to murder us or you run for your life from the walkers. It's your call. But choose wisely 'cause your damned wand is useless now."
Harry spoke as he grabbed Hermione by the hand and ran to the back door right before they heard the collapsed sound of the front door and the hungry groaning sound of walkers who started roaming inside the house.
"Are we going to leave her here, Harry?" - Hermione asked.
"That old hag wouldn't let us save her anyway. Besides, she's the kind that would make one hell out of us if she ever got out of this place. It's not our business anymore. Either she kills or she is killed!"
"Hurry up! There's a truck over here!"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other as they heard Draco screamed, without a word both dashing out immediately. Harry could hear the sound of flying spells and all the groanings and screamings mixing altogether creating a bundle of tragic haunting memory that Harry was sure he would never forget. Harry closed his eyes for a few seconds and then ran out to the truck which Draco found at the backyard. A fifteen-year-old child might have sought revenge, but a twenty-three-year-old man wished none of that.
Harry jumped on the truck's driver seat and...suddenly felt an impulse to glare non stop at the steering wheel as confusion spread over his face.
"What are you waiting for, Potter? Drive away!" - Draco urged impatiently.
"Ah well... uhm... I need to study this a little bit!" - Harry ran his hand frantically through his hair. He could drive an automatic car, but this one seemed to be a manual transmission model which Harry wasn't familiar with.
"Argghhh"
Harry poked his head out of the window and found Luna being dragged backwards, out of the truck by a walker who appeared out of no where. There was one more coming right along his side.
"Damn!"
Harry opened the door, ready to jump out but Draco had grabbed his shirt collar just in time to stop him.
"You'd better stay here studying this thing!"
He spoke, jumping out of the truck with an arrow gripped tightly in his hand.
Harry then turned his attention back to the truck and silently prayed for the girls' safety.
-o-
Draco lunged right in when Hermione had shot down a walker from afar and Luna was still struggling with the one grabbing her hair. Hermione seemed hesitating to shoot for fear of hitting Luna. So Draco grabbed the walker's neck, trying to keep its mouth away from the girl as much as possible while he raised an arrow up and stabbed it into the walker's eye socket. And so, the walker slumped down dragging Luna along with him; her dirty blonde long hair was now wrapped tightly in his dirty bloody hands. It seemed to hurt too much that tears started falling down on her face.
"Are you hurt?" - Draco asked.
Luna shook her head, trying to pull her hair out of the walker's grip but it wasn't as easy as she thought so Hermione knelt down beside the girl and helped her on this task.
"Your hair got tangled, Luna… probably because the walker was clenching and grabbing it so hard. I guess we have to cut it…"
"No...don't...you can't cut my hair!" - Luna protested.
"Why not?" - Hermione seemed surprised, while she was trying desperately to disentangle Luna's hair...
"Cutting hair will cause immediate loss of magic. Don't you know the story of Rapunzel?" - Luna was whimpering and explaining her logic behind all of that which caused Hermione to stare blankly at her and Draco to silently wished that he should have left this girl in the woods that day.
"Give me a hand, Malfoy!" - Hermione asked, seemingly frustrated.
Seeing there was no other way, Draco reluctantly joined the saving Luna's hair mission for fear that if they insisted on cutting it, Luna would scare herself and die on the spot.
Just as the last strands were removed with a handful of hair left behind, Harry had managed to start the truck engine. Hermione helped Luna get in the back trunk while Draco stood aside and watched over the two girls until they settled safely in the truck. It wasn't exactly because he was worried, Draco was just seemingly unable to break his gaze off Luna's golden blocks which now was disheveled and smeared with blood and dust. He didn't know why but for a fleeting moment there, the golden strands were flying and dancing in the wind in an oddly fascinated way which somehow enchanted him. So that was why Draco almost jumped in surprise when he heard Harry's scream that if he didn't get in the truck, he would leave him behind.
The way back home proved to be more difficult as Harry had to take many turnarounds to avoid the many walkers that Umbridge had called upon for using magic. That woman was a trouble magnet herself, even till death. A truck had its downside of causing loud noises and the inability to hide away compared to a car but then again, it'd be easier to get the whole group, food and weapon all in one scoop and drive away if needed.
-o-
It was dusk when Harry's group got back to camp and Teddy jumped into Harry's arms happily when he got out of the car, unharmed. Neville reported that everything was normal. It seemed that every walker in this area were attracted to the camp last night and already taken down. So as long as they didn't make any more mistake, they were relatively safe.
Since Harry couldn't sleep that night, he asked Draco to change their nightshift to which the guy immediately agree upon without any hesitation. Sitting beside the flickering flame, Harry was now staring into the bizarre figures of ashes and burnt logs, thinking about those cannibals, those who were living but no different than the dead or those who were already dead but still had to live a cursed life and wait for their turn to die again. Harry was terrified and felt pity for them at the same time. None of them wanted that fate. No one wanted to become a merciless cruel creature. His mind was drifting in an abyss of memories, of those who had lost their lives and those who had lost their heart. His hand accidentally brushed on the wooden crucifix hidden behind his crumpled shirt…
This time even God failed to guide him to the right way.
He had left Umbridge there, leaving her to fight and struggle stupidly with a herd of walkers, knowing fully well that she wouldn't make it out of there alive. Harry could have tied her up, threw her into the truck then left her somewhere on their way back to the camp, somewhere safer… Yes it definitely could have gone that way. But he didn't do so. Harry just had to untie her and leave her there, fighting and dying in her foolish pride. Was it right or wrong? If it wasn't right then what would justify his action? Who was he to play god and make a call for a person's fate. Harry didn't have any answer. There was so much to lose that he didn't dare gamble the safety of his friends. He didn't want to bring back a timed bomb that could explode any minute. Since Harry had never felt any compassion towards Umbridge, would her death have any impact on him at all? Would he feel remorsed? He used to think the woman deserved a painful death, and from time to time he had even thought of strangling her with his own hands. Now that the wish was granted, now that she was probably dead… did he feel happy?
No. Not at all.
Harry was loathing himself. Hatred and fear turned him into a coward who couldn't dare save his enemy while they all had a bigger common enemy. He left Umbridge there as a living bait to the walkers, to buy more time so that he could get Hermione and escape. In that very moment, Harry felt as though he had betrayed everything he had ever lived for in trade of a chance to live and not facing any more loss. As long as the object of sacrifice wasn't anything or someone important to him, he was willing to take the deal. Harry just...he just couldn't take any more pain.
As the world was falling apart, the humanity and ideals of the toughest people seemed to be faltered away too. How possibly could they get any lower than that?
To be continued ...