Hello my lovelies! Thanks for being so supportive! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter. It took me a while to finish it, but hopefully it wasn't to disappointing. Also i am super sorry about how long this chapter has taken, i was trying to reach 5K words. And i think i did a good job of hitting it.
ENJOY!
Harry had been thoroughly amused when the woman had approached him with a whole contingency of armed guards. Though he wasn't sure just one person warranted six men with various firearms, given the type of world they lived in. The gun shots would bring the inferi. But it told him that something very bad had happened here, and they had either caused it or survived it. He just wasn't sure which was the better of the two. But no matter the details, it still remained that these people had his people. Heaven help these people if anything had happened to them. His run in with other survivors had brought home the fact that people would kill for any reason. And it was protect or die.
While staring at the woman, Harry came to the realization that had these people not captured his own group members, they probably wouldn't have stayed. If they were that paranoid about people approaching the settlement, then there was no telling how they settled any sort of disputes. But after having nearly been captured by two madmen, Harry was through automatically giving people the benefit of doubt. And those that didn't agree could go bloody jump off a cliff for all he cared. It was survival that mattered, building a life would come afterwards.
Though the amusement hadn't come to him until the whole group had noticed first, his cane and second, his slightly injured appearance. It had seriously thrown then off, so much in fact that they'd all paused briefly to stare at him. The woman had recovered quickly, signalling to her men, who had then surrounded them, before herding the two back inside the large metal doors. Harry's gut seemed to sink further with that action, which did not make the teen optimistic about his visit. Almost as if his entering the compound meant that he wouldn't be able to leave, should he want to. Once they were safe inside, all but one of the men left as the woman began fussing over him. It was a rather creepy reminder of Mrs. Weasley, whenever he'd gone over during the summers.
"Your an absolute mess hun, whats your name? Where is the rest of your group? We'll get you all fixed up, don't you worry." She rambled on.
Harry had just stared at her, and then the man before sighing. He hadn't expected that to go so well, "Hadrian. I'm on my own."
He was aware that a lot of people didn't bother with last names anymore, and all his did was remind him of painful memories. Though he'd never get them, not ever. But the woman just nodded along to his answers, before turning to have a near silent discussion with her armed friend. Neither had introduced themselves nor spared him another glance, which Harry had found odd, and a bit unsettling given the feelings he was already having about the compound. He wasn't sure if the bad feeling was because of the city or its inhabitants, now he wish he'd brought one of the others with him. The teen idly noticed the other man walking away from them.
"I'm Mary, now lets get you shown around. Alex just went to grab my son, Gareth. He's in charge around here." Marry stated, before moving ahead of him.
Harry zoned out her rambling, as he looked around the compound in concern. It looked very run down, and not at all fortified. Even their fencing could have done with further reinforcing, but they'd done none of that, which further confused Harry. A herd of inferi would tear it down in minutes. They needed to up the protection, have people set up to spot potential inferi herds ahead of time, while they worked on making their fencing stronger. He wasn't sure if this was something that he should bring up with Mary, he'd just have to wait and see.
With the world having been over for so long, Harry expected there to be more people in Terminus. Especially since it had been advertised as a safe haven, a place for those to live and survive. But the place was nearly deserted. There was probably only ten people that he had counted in total, even his group was bigger than this! The lack of people made the sinking feeling heavier, nearly making Harry nauseous. What the hell was it about this place that was so unsettling, it made him wish he could morph or leave all together. It also didn't help that people were eyeing him in trepidation and fear.
Mary led Harry around the courtyard, grimacing every time she discreetly looked at his cane, as if his injury was a personal offense. "Can I asked how you got hurt?"
Harry glanced down at his cane for a moment, "Would it be alright if we sat for a moment?"
Without much fuss, the two sat down as Harry told her about coming across the prison and working to fix it up. Telling Mary how he had hoped to so the same they they had, opening up a Safe Haven for people. He went on to tell her about the awful man that wanted him for nefarious reasons, which resulted in all of his injuries. He had to fudge a few facts, like the timeline, otherwise his partially healed wounds would be suspicious if he said they were only a week old. It wasn't too soon after that, when Harry saw several of the group from the forest being led into a train car, when the woman noticed what had caught his attention, she just smiled. The lady missed as the Dixon's crept passed them, following the new prisoners. Of course the brothers wouldn't be caught, but dammit now there were more possible casualties.
"They tried to sneak in, so they are on probation in the only place that is secure." She was quick to assure him, though he wasn't sure why. Perhaps she thought he was afraid of them. He'd let her go on believing that.
"How long have you guys been a sanctuary?" They seemed well fed with food to spare, and a large amount of supplies. Even for the small amount of people they had, it didn't seem as if their people were going without. "It is exactly what I would have liked my Prison to have been like."
Mary just smiled at him, making him uneasy as she continued on the tour, "Since the beginning really. But we had some trouble at first. The undead brought the worst out in people and we had to resort to another way of surviving. And yourself?"
The way that the woman spoke sent warning vibes up Harry's spine, what did 'another way of surviving,' mean? "I've been on my own mostly. I've only joined up with two groups, and neither were not wholly my decision. But other than that, I've been a loner. Safer to be by yourself sometimes."
"That's true, can't trust someone like you can trust yourself. Why wasn't your decision to join them?" She sat them down at a picnic table close to a large grill. "
"Mostly because of how I look and how young I am." At her horrified expression, Harry had to backtrack. He certainly hadn't meant it to mean anything perverted or sexual. "No! Nothing like that. People assume I'm too young to survive on my own, because I look much younger than I actually am. Though I suppose that some groups I've had run-ins with were thinking something of that nature, but they could never catch me."
The lady just nodded, seeming strangely relieved that something nefarious like that hadn't happened to him. But he was just as happy that something hadn't as well. It just made him wonder what a community like this one went through to have so much, yet so little people living here. When a younger man brought Mary a plate of raw meat, he sent Harry a wave and a smirk, which Harry returned halfheartedly while rubbing at his leg as it was beginning to ache. He needed a potion soon, he hated being sore. But then that brought up the question of who had his trunk. It wasn't as if he could summon it to himself, that would be opening the door to so many questions from these people. He'd wait until they'd rescued everyone before summoning it.
"Is there much more to Terminus?" Harry asked softly, he wanted to retire and rest so that he could go out and help the Dixon's free the group. He hadn't expected another half of their group to get captured while his was touring the so called sanctuary.
It threw a wrench in their original plan, but he'd have to improvise, not that he wasn't used to doing it. But in order to think of a new plan, he needed to get away from these people and into a secluded area. If he could just get some runes slapped together, he'd be able to take the whole group together. However, the group had better pray that they had been caught unaware or ambushed, otherwise they were getting a piece of his mind. Bloody idiots that they were. And the Dixon's weren't being excluded from that, they'd get just as severe a reaming as the others, especially since they were still loose.
"Why?" The younger man jumped in.
"Gareth! Manners!" Mary scolded, but her tone was slightly amused. "Hadrian, I'd like to introduce you to my son, Gareth. He runs Terminus."
The teen smiled thinly as the man sat across from him, "Hello, I'm Hadrian, as your mum has said. Thank you for allowing me entrance."
Gareth seemed to be sizing him up, staring at his cane for few moments before shrugging. "No problem, why did you want to know if there was more to the compound?"
Harry just stared at the two for a short moment, before wincing as his ribs twinged, he needed to get the wrap off for a bit. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come off as rude. It's just that i think i did too much walking, between arriving here and touring your sanctuary. I think I strained my injuries."
Mary said something to the man, Gareth, in a quiet tone, before he approached Harry. "Follow me. I'll show you to your room, that way you can rest. I'll come back and get you for dinner."
"Thanks," the teen stood slowly, trying not to jar his injuries further. They were nearly healed, wouldn't do for him to set himself back, "Mary, thank you for showing me around, and bringing me inside."
The older woman just waved him off, as she too stood with her plate before wandering over to the grill. Harry zoned out Gareth's voice as he followed him through the remainder of the compound and to his room. The man was being generous enough to going at a slower speed, due to Harry and his cane, which the teen thought was suspiciously courteous. He said a quiet thank you and turned to inspect the small room. It was around the same size of the one he had at the Dursley's house, though everything was in one piece and not broken. Harry hobbled over to the bed and sank down gratefully. He sighed in appreciation as the pain muted itself, since he was no longer standing.
"Definitely need to never strain myself so much," Harry muttered to himself as he shrugged off his pack, "Should've realized sooner that i'd end up doing more harm than good. Damn my bloody pride."
A small grin worked its way across the teens face, he could faintly hear footsteps leading away from his room. He'd figured the man would stay behind, to see if he could gleam some other fact from Harry, but he'd lived in a castle with Slytherins. He knew when he was being spied on. Gareth should really practice more.
Harry wasn't sure when he'd fallen asleep, but his back was not thanking him for having slept slightly skewed. Why was he always falling asleep? Though he did have to admit he felt better each time he did. Made him wish he could sleep for a few days straight, perhaps then he'd be healed completely. Harry pulled his wand from his sleeve, having fashioned a holster for it. The teen cast a quick Tempus, which showed him twenty after Seven, he'd slept longer than he'd thought. He was sure Gareth would be around to get him soon. Harry double checked his pockets, grinning as he felt a small rectangular shape, at least he had one of them. Pulling it out, Harry was so happy to see the small truck, though that happiness dimmed when he saw that it wasn't his.
But beggars couldn't be choosers, and right now, Harry desperately needed one of the potions that he knew was stored inside. Thankfully, it had a bit of everything else, including a small weapons cache. It wouldn't do for him to go out there weapons drawn, without the weapon. Though going out there with weapons drawn could also backfire, especially if the others weren't ready yet. He resized the nondescript trunk and searched through the enlarged space quickly, Harry wasn't sure when the others would commence their attack, especially since he hadn't checked in with them. He could only imagine the verbal beating Michonne would be giving him. So the teen need to be ready and as pain free as possible.
Sudden gun fire alerted Harry that the group had started the rescue without him, he downed the pepper-up potion, shrunk the trunk, and limped his way from the room as fast as he could. Though he could feel the potion begin to numb everything a bit. There was no way he would allow the brothers to have all the fun. Though he wished that he could have questioned Gareth and Mary some more, but it wouldn't do to dwell on what-ifs at that point. He limped his way through the halls, not really remembering where he was going. It wasn't like he'd been paying attention to Gareth when the man had been leading him to his room. Something he was kicking himself for now.
When Harry reached the main courtyard, everything was crazy, people were shouting and shooting at one of the buildings. Though he could see that inferi would be joining the rabble, as their fencing wouldn't hold them out for very long. He figured that was where the group was hiding out at. Several people just shot him suspicious glances, but were too busy defending their home to do much about the fact that he was limping through a potential war zone. He knew the group had had questions about his magic earlier, so he shrugged and pulled out his wand, aiming at the fence. It was time to help their get away, by getting a little distraction started. The teen wrapped his magic around a section of fencing and pulled back with as much strength as he could. Screams erupted around him as inferi made their way into the compound, ignoring him for the most part as they sought out those making noise.
Harry pulled out his knife since he wasn't able to use his bow, stabbing the inferi that came to close and using his cane to push others away until he could dispose of them. He hadn't clearly thought about himself when he'd broken the fencing down. He probably could have waited until he was with the others as he dodged his way around the Terminus members still alive, and the inferi that were quickly over running them. His clothing clung to him, soaked in question fluids from the undead, as he fought and stabbed his way through the growing horde to the warehouse. Harry needed to get to the rest of the group, and get them the hell out of here.
He wasn't sure how long the mayhem in the main courtyard lasted, as Terminus members, his group, and the inferi clashed together in some insane battle. Harry avoided everyone he could see, knowing that his own people would all be in the warehouse together. He just needed to reach them. They needed to get out of there fast, and in one piece. Not that they really had anywhere to go, but they could definitely find a new home. There would be plenty of places to rebuild and start over. But it certainly wouldn't be here. As far as Harry was concerned, Terminus, had died when its people turned into closet sadists for survival. Like seriously, who kept people in train cars, in Georgia heat no less! Did they want their captives to come out with dementia or some such?
Just as he was about to step inside the warehouse, someone grabbed him from behind. Harry yelped as the arm tightened around his previously broken ribs, even with his injuries, the teen struggled and fought against the man holding him. He had been unfocused and careless again, but he wouldn't allow anyone to take him down without a fight. It was becoming a reoccurring oversight, and he hated himself for it. So he used every trick he could think of, ignoring the sharp pain coming from his ribs, using his cane the teen tried to beat his captor with it, but screamed when more pressure was added to his ribs. If he didn't get the other person to let go, they would end up re-breaking his ribs. Which was not something he wanted as he would never hear the end of it from Michonne or the Dixon's.
Despite having downed a potion not even an hour ago, exhaustion swept through him as the struggling made his wounds hurt worse. He was surprised that it had worked as well as it had, but it wouldn't do much with reoccurring pain being inflicted. His body did not like the strenuous activity his struggling was causing. He sagged in the restrictive hold, if it weren't for the arm supporting him he would have hit the ground already, Merlin he was tired. Harry wasn't sure of much other than the fact his ribs were killing him, where was his wand? The teen tried searching for it but couldn't feeling it in his pockets, before groaning, he must have dropped his wand when the person grabbed him. Moody would definitely be giving him an earful, Constant Vigilance, his arse.
"I knew you were special when you showed up. Though your injured, you probably would taste the best." Gareth breathed in his ear. "Though I didn't expect you to be magical."
Harry grunted as he was shoved towards the same warehouse he'd been about to enter, nearly falling as he got tangled up with his cane. He went to rush the man, but Gareth was expecting it, opting just to beat him with his rifle. Harry groaned when Gareth put pressure on his re-injured ribs, the man was an obvious sadist. But Gareth just continued to shove him forward roughly, knocking the teen into the door frame on purpose. The ravenette yelped as he lost his balance, seeming to land on every injury all at once. It made him want to scream, but he wasn't going to give this man the satisfaction. He needed his wand, holding out his hand, Harry whispered a soft Accio, and his wand returned itself to its holster. But other than that, Harry didn't do much more than just trying to breathe through his pain. He hurt to badly to safely use his wand, to much turmoil to get the intentions correct.
Gareth rolled him over though, not giving him more than a minute of reprieve before straddling his chest. "I've never eaten Wizard before. What does your kind taste like?"
The teen felt as if his lungs were being crushed, he could barely breathe as it was. Though his heart was pounding like crazy, they were Cannibals! It made so much sense now, the teen moaned as Gareth sat on him fully. "Can't. . . Breathe. . .Bugger. . .Off. . ."
It was no wonder there had been so few people to defend the community. They didn't actually allow travels to stay, they ate them! Was that what was going to happen to those that had been taken to the train cars? The thought alone made harry pissed off. Every one of his people had better be accounted for! It gave hime the strength to struggle once more, doing anything to try and dislodge the older male. Though nothing seemed to be working as Gareth just sat there and watched him struggle to move around. It made Harry want to curse and rant, but unable to due to lack of oxygen.
"Can't do that, who knows what your kind can do." The man just chuckled, before putting even more pressure on the teens weakened ribs.
Harry screamed, his body felt like it was on fire. The pain wasn't as severe as a Crucio, but his ribs had already been tender since before the rescue mission. He jerked when he felt a knife being pressed to his throat, it made his mind go blank momentarily. Then kick start into overdrive. It wouldn't be the first time that someone had threatened him with a knife, but it made struggling that much harder, since struggling could cause a wound. Though he was vaguely aware that Gareth was speaking to him, he couldn't actually hear or understand anything the man was saying. Everything was being blocked out by the frantic beating of his heart and the pounding of his blood. He tried to wiggle his arms free, if he could just get his wand, then he could get rid of Gareth.
But the pain was overwhelming, and the blade was being pushed into the skin of his throat slowly, he was having a harder and harder time breathing with Gareth sitting on him. Though he'd certainly had worse, the pain from his over abused wounds was making his vision go spotty. Harry struggled, trying to throw the heavier man off him, but said man just clamped his legs tighter, pulling a pained screech from the teen as the blade bit into him. It caused the teen to cease all movements, knowing that any movement would make the small incision larger. Not something he could risk.
"That wasn't very nice of you, Hadrian." Gareth tsked him, as he pulled the blade away.
Harry grunted as he brought his knees up, hoping to jar the man enough to get to his wand. But Gareth just tightened his hold, before wrapping his hand around the teens throat. Causing him to choke and scrabble to pry the mans hand from his neck. He wasn't sure how long he struggled against Gareth, before the oppressing and suffocating weight was torn off him. Making the teen choke on air, which made it twice as hard to pull in a breathe, his wounds felt raw and he could feel blood coming from a few new cuts. That included the new one on his throat. He struggled to roll away from whatever had taken Gareth off him. Harry wasn't sure he could take being in another scuffle at that point, he was ashamed to admit that a no-mag had nearly killed him.
"Bloody fucking arsehole!" Harry rasped around his abused throat, he wanted so badly to turn the wanker into some small animal. Like a mouse.
It took a few minutes, before his hearing slowly returned enough that he could hear a scuffle going on a few feet away. The two people fighting, Gareth and someone else, were going at it and cursing up a storm. The teen silently cheered on Gareth's opponent, wishing it were himself. Harry just laid there and focused on breathing, though his abused throat wasn't thanking him for that, or having spoken. He kept one hand on his ribs and the other gripping his wand tightly, he hated himself for allowing someone to get the jump on him. The ravenette promised he would return to his previous training, from before having joined the group. He was obviously loosing his edge. As the teen waited for his hearing to return, he took stock of the warehouse he was in, it was large and very empty.
He could see Rick and the others off to the side, helping those that had been tied up and bent over troughs of some sort. When he glanced back at the fighting duo, he was filled with feral amusement as Gareth was getting his ass handed to him by Daryl, though it begged the question of where Merle was. The warehouse itself was a large, mostly empty space. Very dirty and grimy, caked with some kind of sludge and it stank of rot. Filled with butchering tables and supplies and a half dozen or so troughs. But now that he knew they were Cannibals, Harry didn't need to ask what the equipment was for. Just being in the room was making him super nauseous, they needed to leave before he ended up getting sick. And wouldn't that just be the icing on his cake.
The teen tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't hold him up long enough for him to get his balance. But he really needed to get away from the space that stunk like death. He muttered a few prayers as he tried to stand again, clutching at the nearest surface to try and pull himself up. But nothing seemed to be cooperating with him. It made him want to cry at the unfairness of it, but he had to admit, he was probably in no shape to be walking or standing. He was stubborn however, Harry would do whatever it took to get up off the floor. Having rolled himself over, the teen struggled to his knees, nearly cheering in accomplishment when he could feel his body sagging in exhaustion.
Someone stopped him from falling again, and pulled him up, "Easy now pixie, yer alright. Easy now."
Harry just barely refrained from flinching, but groaned as they began moving, his body ached worse than it had before this whole endeavor started. "How many did we lose?"
He wasn't really sure that he wanted to know, but needed to know how many more deaths he'd caused. Whether that was his direct fault, was questionable, but if he'd acted sooner and not fallen asleep, then they wouldn't have lost anyone. It made him chuckle sadly, bringing up old thoughts of his friends reassuring him that the wizards or witches that had died in the war weren't his fault, but they were. Every last one of them. Especially since they'd been fighting with him. It would only be the same with this group. They were fighting with him to free everyone else, again, and those that died would be on his head. At least those lost would get a burial somewhere. He'd make sure of that.
No one answered his question, though given how fast everything seemed to be happening, the teen wasn't completely surprised. And it didn't bother him to much. He would find out eventually, especially when they had to stop and bunk for the night. He sorely wanted to ask how they had all escaped, but his throat was hurt too much to do anymore talking, and it made him all the more desperate to find his trunk. And though he didn't really want to lean on anyone for help, he didn't protest when he was handed off to someone else.
"Does anyone have my trunk?" He rasped out, while they were moving through the compound and into the trees. His trunk was the most important thing to him in that moment. It was the only thing that stood between him and a week on bed rest, or being half-carried around by the Dixon brothers. And he had no delusions that the brothers would carry him around, just to embarrass him.
Merle chuckled from behind them, "Yeah, pixie. We got yer tiny ass trunk. Don' worry bout it."
So Harry didn't, he trusted the group enough to do what they needed to keep everyone together and to stay moderately safe. There wasn't much he could do for them anyway, not until he got a hold of his trunk and his potions. His body ached and he was absolutely no help to anyone. Harry wasn't even lucid enough to notice that everyone seemed sad. If harry had been more aware, he'd notice that they were a few people short.