To the Rescue

They had their briefing from the head of the secret service and had been prepared and trained for such an event but it had still taken them by surprise when the Prime Minister had activated their small team and sent them to Cumbria. Something was very wrong but nobody could tell if it was a magical situation or a human situation.

Kerry knew that they were supposed to refer to their forces as 'Muggle' when on missions with the magical people of Great Britain but as far as she was concerned they were human beings and the witches and wizards were something else. She also resented how stupid the word Muggle made normal human beings sound.

She was third in command of her special operations team and now found herself in charge after watching her squadron leader and captain ripped to pieces by a mob of semi naked human monsters. They were like people mad with rabies, which was how they were treating them, and had been sent out on a mission to destroy the infected people as humanely as possible.

So far their humane destruction had been to shoot the wild people in the head or cave in their skulls with the butt of their guns if necessary. Kerry's new second in command, Jim, was having trouble with his gun jamming every once in a while and they'd had to abandon their spare ammunition when the agent carrying it had been slaughtered, coating everything of use with his entrails.

She was kind of glad, for the first time in her life, that she had become desensitised to gore. The first time she realised she wasn't bothered by spilled blood and guts she had started drinking and gone to see the Ministry of Defence shrink to find out if she was losing her mind. She didn't find much comfort in being told she was just going through what everyone else went through.

She led her band of four survivors through the trees after they agreed that if they carried on with the plan as it was they'd all drop one by one and the best course of action would be to get the patients out of the clinic and over the border.

Nobody could cross the border without one of them in physical contact. The rule had been they needed to be alive, meaning uninfected, and under the charm the Wizard secret agent bloke had cast over them all. This looked as if it meant forming a hand holding chain to lead the magic nutters out into the real world.

Of all the things she'd expected as her first mission with the wand wavers, liberating a magical mad house wasn't what Kerry had imagined. The group of witches and wizards who came with them were all utterly useless without their magic; nobody wanted them armed with guns so all they had were swords and clubs. Pretty soon they were all throwing their weapons aside and coming at Kerry and the others with cloudy eyes and a craving for blood.

It turns out that smashing in the skull of a magical person is no different to smashing in the skull of a normal person.

"Sarge," one of the guys said uneasily, "I can see movement out in the open over by the checkpoint."

Kerry lifted her weapon and used the telescopic sight to follow the colourful blur as it ran across the grass. It was a red headed young man, tall and fairly skinny, followed by a dog with fur the exact same colour as the man's hair.

"Is the animal chasing him or running with him?" Jim asked as he trained his gun on the pair

"Shoot it anyway; a loose animal is too high a risk." Kerry instructed.

"Yes Sarge," Jim said with a nod of assent.

Kerry watched as the man reached the border and pulled up just before it, as if he knew it was there...as if he knew exactly where the magical barrier would be.

"Hold on Jim," Kerry said as she watched from their cover in the trees, "the guy has awareness, I don't think he's infected."

"He will be if the fuckin' dog bites him!" one of Kerry's more petulant squaddies snorted, "Put the animal down Jim."

"I said wait!" Kerry snapped, casting a severe glance at the squaddie, "Look at them, the dog's come to a stop too and it's wagging its bloody tail. We've got a clean person out in the open."

"They won't be clean for long out there Sarge," the other surviving member of the squad, a butch dark haired special operative called Redding said grimly, "one of us will have to go out there and get them or we'll have to sit tight and watch them get slaughtered."

"What's all this 'them' crap?" the insubordinate scoffed, "I ain't risking my neck to save a dog!"

"We're getting that man over the border and checking out the dog to be sure it's safe to pass through and getting that out too. If an animal like that got infected we'd be in even bigger shit than we are with the savage humans." Kerry said sternly.

"The Sarge is right you prick," Redding agreed, "I don't want a rabid animal running around this place, not another one anyway."

Kerry still remembered the psychotic badger that had ripped the calf muscle out of one of the burly wizards as soon as they entered the woods. If that dog was clean they had to get it over the border right away, for everybody's sake.

"Okay this is my call so it'll be my risk," Kerry announced as she handed her spare ammunition to Jim, "you're in charge until I get back, take this in case I don't make it."

"Don't say that Kerry," Jim winced.

"Be realistic Jim," Kerry smiled and winked, "expect the worst and all I can do is surprise you. The squad is yours soldier."

"Good luck Sarge," Redding said as she lifted her gun to cover Kerry on her journey.

"Don't all of you watch me, somebody be on the alert for infected people or foxes or...shit, I dunno, butterflies!" Kerry grinned before setting off.

Ron banged his fists against the invisible barrier in frustration.

He wasn't annoyed about the barrier still keeping people in, in fact it made him feel better that the safety of the outside world was still secure, but his heart fell to see that there were no reinforcements waiting on the other side. They had been left to die. They had been abandoned by the Ministry. It was yet another hush up job and who would ever know?

"You!" a distant voice called out.

Ron turned to look over his shoulder and saw a woman running towards him. She had something black in her hands and was dressed in the same colours as the trees behind her. Marmalade stood before Ron and gave a low growl.

"Back dog!" the woman said as she pointed the black thing at Marmalade, "If that thing's safe them hold onto it or ill shoot."

Ron grabbed Marmalade by the collar and pulled him back. The woman had a Muggle gun. She was a Muggle. They'd sent Muggles in to help them. Ron smiled at the logic of it, who better to fight an enemy without magic?

"Show me you're clean sir." The woman ordered; out of breath and still pointing the gun at Ron.

Ron held his hands out before him and looked at them in the same way he would when his mother would screech at him to wash his hands before grabbing a fairy cake from the baking tray.

"Lift your shirt, are you bleeding?" the woman instructed.

Ron shook his head and pulled the too small t shirt up his pale body to show her he wasn't infected in any way. At her gesture he turned around so she could see his back.

"The dog clean too?" She seemed satisfied that Ron was safe and pointed her gun at Marmalade who was still very defensive over his master being shouted at by the woman with the black object.

Ron nodded and tried to pull Marmalade behind him while the dog struggled to stay in front of him, between Ron and the danger.

"I really scared you eh?" the woman said with a half smile, lowering her gun, "Sorry but you know how it is out here."

Ron sighed and gave another nod.

"You can talk y'know? You don't need permission to speak."

Ron winced and shook his head. The woman frowned and opened her mouth to ask another question but Ron beat her to it by lifting his chin and pointing at the scar across his throat.

"Oh," the woman said, fingers gripping her gun tightly again but still aiming it down at the ground, "you're one of the patients are you? Escaped the hospital did you?"

Ron shook his head and pointed at himself and then waved in the direction of the clinic before pausing to try and think of a way of telling this Muggle Auror that he worked there and she wasn't to worry about him.

"You can't make a sound at all?" She said suspiciously.

Ron tutted at her and rolled his eyes. The woman froze for a moment before breaking into a smile and letting her gun swing at her side from the strap over her shoulder with a small chuckle.

"Okay so you're quiet yet funny, I think I found my perfect man."

The woman stepped closer and paused before Marmalade with caution. She slowly held out her hand and Marmalade sniffed the air before moving forward to snuffle at the back of her hand.

"You're a good dog eh? Friendly dog?" the woman's eyes flickered up to Ron, who nodded to reassure her, "Yours?"

Ron nodded again before clicking his fingers and waiting for Marmalade to turn his head and look up at him. As the dog wagged his tail Ron brought his fingers and thumbs together and then drew his hands apart horizontally. Marmalade made a soft sound and leaned into Ron's legs happily. Ron held up his thumb and then stroked his chin, winking and smiling at his loyal companion.

"Your dog understands sign language?" the woman gasped.

Ron blinked and nodded.

"Wow, impressive."

Ron beamed proudly. The woman shook her head and pointed over Ron's shoulder to the magical border.

"Let's get you both to safety then. I received a charm so I could pass back and fourth as long as I was clean and if you take my hand and hold onto your dog I can escort you through."

Ron was relieved that there was a plan in place to get people out. Maybe there would be an evacuation for the people in the clinic soon. He wondered if Harry had been found and escorted out. Ron patted himself on the chest and put his hand over his eyes like a visor and mimed searching the landscape. He held his hand beside himself to where Harry would stand in relation to him and then made two 'o' shapes with thumbs and forefingers and held them to his eyes.

"You're looking for something?" the woman blinked, "Were you with somebody else?"

Ron paten himself on the chest again and then made a fist and held it over his heart to try and communicate he was missing a friend. Again he mimed Harry's round glasses and then drew a lightning bolt on his forehead, pointed at his own scar and then back at his forehead, and could see that the woman wasn't following him at all.

"Glasses and wavy hair?" she squinted.

Ron huffed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, we've seen nobody else like you yet, you're the first." She said sadly, "Were you locked out of the hospital?"

Ron shook his head vigorously and waved towards the clinic before pushing his finger into a loose fist, the sign for inside, but he knew it was useless. This person had no idea what he was talking about.

"We're going to try to get them out okay? Just you and your dog step through the border with me and I'll get the team to the hospital for all your friends."

Ron stepped back from her and shook his head. There was no way her was leaving without finding Harry first. He pointed down at Marmalade determinately and then tapped the end of his long freckled nose before sniffing the air and then miming Harry's glasses again. He looked out at the surroundings to indicate to the woman that he planned to search the area and use Marmalade to sniff Harry out.

It was Harry's best chance to being tracked in a place where magic couldn't be used after all.

"Oh no," the woman said fiercely, "no, no, no. The doggie can't go looking for missing people. If you've lost somebody out here the chances are...well I won't let you go off looking."

Ron stared at her defiantly. Who was she to tell him what was and wasn't allowed?

"If there's anyone out there who's still clean we'll find them."

Ron pointed back and forth between the two of them hopefully.

"Not you and me 'we', me and my team 'we'."

Ron lifted his chin and folded his arms across his chest.

"I said no!" the woman said sternly, "This is not up for argument or negotiation, especially since you can't do either."

Ron snorted and threw the woman a look he hoped let her know he didn't need words to win an argument with the likes of her.

"You need to go to a new hospital and make sure your dog stays healthy and we will do what needs to be done to get the other patients out safely."

Ron huffed in annoyance and shook his head while taping the side of his head with his index finger. The woman held up both hand and took a step back.

"I didn't say you were crazy. I'm very sorry if I offended you but you can't stay here. It's far too dangerous for you."

Ron raised both his hands to his temples and rubbed, eyes closed and nerved frayed. What he would give for a quill and parchment right at that moment. There was a cracking sound that was similar to the sound of Apparition and his eyes opened. He saw a mob of infected people running from the cover of the woods and right at them. One of them fell to the ground, rolled around for a moment, and then got back to his feet to follow the others.

The woman cursed under her breath and raised her gun at the oncoming crowd. There were more cracks and Ron realised that it was the same as the gunshots he'd heard when he, Harry and Jess had been ambushed by the Death Eaters who were after Ravenclaw's power.

The woman fired twice and two of the nearer infected people were struck in the head. One was hit in the face and her whole head seemed to explode with blood as the body slammed down onto the floor. There were more distant cracks from the woods and more infected fell.

"Take my hand and grab your sodding dog Marcel Marceau!" the woman yelled at him.

The remaining infected mob were almost upon them and Marmalade was growling ferociously, straining against Ron's grip on his collar to attack their attackers, and all Ron could think of was how he couldn't leave Harry in the open with these things.

Well that and, 'Who the hell is Marcel Marceau?'