Chapter 17: The Greenes and Thestrals
Nope no note
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The shelter was easy to put up, or down as it were. Magic and house elves made it quick work. Soon enough everyone that was supposed to be at the camp was there. Sirius and Daryl headed to the farms that they knew. Most farmers were now part of the overnighters at the CDC. There were portkeys and wizards to take them back to their farms first thing in the morning. Mostly portkeys, since they got up before the sun.
Still the farmers had left the second the storm passed to check on the farms. Sirius and Daryl decided to help out. Other wizards did the same. The family that Sirius and Daryl were checking on was the Greene family. They were one of the few that didn't want to have the wards for the dead up but did take them up on the offer of shelter.
Sirius and Daryl landed outside the house. "Hershel!" Sirius called, while Daryl looked for zombies.
There was a noise from the house. An older man came out with a shotgun. "Sirius is that you?" said the man.
"Yeah, we came to check on you after the tornado," Sirius said, moving toward the house. He didn't enter, they had never been allowed in before. That was fine, all they needed to know was that the farmer wouldn't shoot them on sight.
"We're fine. We came back this morning to do chores, and there seemed to be more dead around here than there were before. Lost two cows," he added, looking off in the distance.
"You've had more dead around. How many more?" Daryl asked, hefting his crossbow, aiming at nothing but wary and alert.
"Not many maybe ten or more. We took care of them," the farmer said, shifty, like he was hiding something.
"They seem to be leaving the city right now," Sirius said, trying not to judge. "I don't think there's any food for them left in there. Are you sure you don't want me to put up a ward?" he asked, knowing they needed to protect as many of the farmers as possible.
There was a long moment of silence. Then Hershel said, "Come with me I have something to show you." He moved from the steps and started towards the barn.
As the three of them got closer to the barn, Sirius and Daryl heard the moaning of the dead. Daryl lifted up his crossbow. "The hell, man." he said as he crept closer to the barn.
"This is my family," said Hershel. He moved to open the barn doors and the two other men noted that there were dozens of zombies chained in the middle of the barn. The Walkers noticed they had company and immediately started moaning louder and moved to bite the three men.
"This is your family?" Sirius asked, looking into the barn and trying to understand what he was seeing.
"Family, friends, neighbors, people who just wandered into the farm. Otis corrals them and we put them in here. We're trying to see if there's a cure or we wanna see if we can help these people. It's God's will," the older man tried to defend his logic. He was a good God-fearing man and he knew that it was the Christian way to help the helpless.
"Hershel, my friend," Sirius said, putting his hand on the other man's shoulder. "I hate to tell you this, these people are already dead," he said seriously. He looked at the dead people in the barn and couldn't understand how anybody could see the goodness in those eyes. Especially with what was going on in the world right now.
"Are you sure?" the man's voice held a great despair.
"We saw it," Sirius said, still holding the man's shoulder. "There's a doctor who's been researching. You wouldn't know him. He left. But before he did, he did the research. On his own wife, if you can believe it. He concluded once they're dead, the virus reactivates the brainstem, and they move. But the only thing that they do is eat. It's mere survival for them. They have no feelings. They have no emotions. They have no souls." He stopped, not sure if he should say more.
"Who are you to judge whether they have souls or not?" Hershel said, angrily. He didn't want to see it. They must. His wife was in there.
"They don't recognize anything or anybody but themselves. Their only purpose of being is survival," Daryl added his two cents worth.
Hershel looked solemnly into the barn and looked closely at those in there. The dead showed no signs of recognition. They were doing nothing but trying to get at the three people that were standing outside the building. He could see the hunger in their eyes, and he could see nothing else. There were no emotions. There was only the thought of getting to those that would feed their never-ending hunger.
Being a farmer, Hershel had seen animals and knew that there was thought process behind an animal's eyes, but what he could see right now is absolutely nothing. These things didn't care about the young, the old, the zombie next to them. They cared only about the next bite. He had seen what the ones he put in this morning had done to the cows. They didn't even eat them, just bit and tore them apart. These were not animals that needed to be tamed. They were rabid.
Hershel finally decided that it was the end. It was time to put these poor things out of their misery. "Do what you must. I can't do it," he said, turning away.
Darrell didn't even wait for a second, he lifted his crossbow and put the bolt through the first zombie that was in his line of sight. Sirius waited a few seconds more and started shooting off curses into the barn. All headshots, it was a complete Turkey shoot.
Hershel started walking back towards the house. "When y'all finish come to the house."
It only took a matter of minutes before everything in the barn was dead. Sirius banish the bodies. There was no sense in leaving them around to infect everything else around them, even though the virus is airborne, there's no sense in keeping it around. The two men looked at each other, shrugged and then started walking towards the house.
They got to the door and knocked. A younger woman answered and let them in. she was crying, and it looked like a few of the people gathered in the living room were doing the same. There were three women and three men. Hershel waved them to sit on the sofa.
Sirius and Daryl sat and tried to look consolatory. They did understand losing family, even though those they just 'killed' were already dead, to these people they were just sick.
Hershel was sitting in his chair and had a bible in his lap. He had a page open but was not reading it. More like a comfort thing.
"Sorry you had to go through that," said Daryl.
"Yeah, I know it must have been hard for you," Sirius added, putting his hands in his lap in a nonthreatening nature.
"It's alright," Hershel said, looking up from his bible. "If what you said is true, then they were already dead, we just…" he trailed off, like he didn't want to admit that they had been wrong.
"I can put wards up to prevent the dead from coming to your farm," Sirius offered again. "Now that your reason is gone, I strongly suggest you take me up on that offer. I wasn't kidding before. They are leaving the city. Farms like yours are open game. I still would prefer if you came to the CDC or the campground at night. We've heard rumor of a few gangs running around. You're not safe here at night," he finished, hoping the man would understand.
"Survivors?" one of the young women asked, leaning forward in hope.
"Yes, but not the good kind," Daryl answered her.
"If there are survivors we should help them," she insisted.
"Girl, you know there are bad people out there. This world ain't like it was before. They don't care about God, only killing and surviving," the redneck stated, looking her right in the eye.
"We are to help the sinners," Hershel said firmly.
"You'd put your daughters at risk for that?" Daryl inquired, guessing the two younger women were the man's children.
"Hershel," Sirius interrupted, knowing that debates like this could take forever, "introduce us." He waved at the room at large.
"Oh, where are my manners. Sirius, Daryl, these are my girls, Beth and Maggie. These are friends of the family, Jimmy and Patricia. This is my farmhand and good friend Otis. We all stay here," the older man said, waving to each person as their name was mentioned.
"Pleasure to meet you," Sirius said, nodding to everyone. "Now, I'm not going to tell you how to run your farm, but you need to know that there are more dangers than animals and zombies. We've come across a few gangs that have tried to kill anyone they see. They are killers, pure and simple."
"We'll keep an eye out," Hershel said, knowing that his preaching would be lost on Sirius. They had had the discussion in the past, and he knew to leave it alone. Still, he was going to try and save as many souls as he could. Unlike zombies, these gangs were human and needed kindness.
"We'll leave you to it," Sirius said, getting up and nodding for Daryl to join him. He, like Hershel, knew debating was a waste of time. "I'll put the dead wards up. If you want stronger wards someone else will have to do it," he added acknowledging everyone as he went to the door.
"Thank you kindly. We'll see you this evening," Hershel said as he got up to see them out.
"Afternoon," Daryl said in departure.
The two men went to the fence and started walking the perimeter of the farm. Sirius had started the ward at the house and would do the whole farm and stop at the house. The ward to keep out the dead had to be applied to an object, unless there was a ward stone, which they didn't have. A better warder would have to come and set that up.
"There are times that I hate people like that," Daryl commented, looking back at the house. "Not that they are bad people, just that they are so stubborn."
"I know what you mean," Sirius said, keeping his wand trained on the fence. "My family was the opposite, but they were just as firm in their beliefs. They thought they were above everyone, and no amount of talking would change their minds."
"I don't think Hershel believes he's better than anyone," Daryl defended the man.
"No, I mean, they were just as stubborn," Sirius said quickly. "They, unlike Hershel, were cruel and evil people. Hershel is a good and kind man. Both sides of a coin, you could say."
"Oh," was all the answer he got.
The two finished walking the farm and went to check on other farms. They got back to the campground later that day and did what they normally do. That night there was a small meeting of the main group plus Daryl.
"We went to the Greene farm, and they were keeping Walkers in their barn," Sirius said to his friends and family. "We need to make sure that other farms aren't doing the same."
"Keeping zombies in a barn?" Peggy asked, completely flabbergasted.
"They were hoping for a cure," Daryl explained as best he could.
"Oh," came the collective response. It made a bit more sense with that clarification.
"I've not seen anything like that, but I haven't been looking," Mac said, Sam nodding along. "I'll tell everyone that checks on the farms."
"Sounds good," the leader said. "We need to see if we can't get at least intent wards up on those farms. I don't like the looks of some of those gangs."
"The Vatos are keeping an eye on them too," Sam said, having spent more time at the elders' home than most. He was sweet on the healer Rachel. He used the excuse on checking the wards, but he wasn't fooling anyone. He was useful, so they let it slide. As long as he worked, he could do what he pleased.
"Sirius," Harry said, looking around like what he was about to say was going to shock people.
"Yeah," his godfather said, warily.
"I think, I'm not positive, but I think I saw a herd of Thestrals, when I checked in with Sasha today," the teen said, his eyes judging the reaction.
"Oh, what were they doing?" Sirius asked, not sure what to think of that.
"Eating," Harry said, still glancing at everyone.
"Eating what?" Tonks asked, losing patience.
"Zombies," the boy said with a shit eating grin.
"Seriously?" came the question from quite a few people.
"What is a Thestral?" Daryl asked, Peggy, Mike and Sue nodding like they needed to know too.
"It's a skeletal horse with wings. It's also a meat eater. They are said to be Death Omens because you can only see them if you've seen someone die," Remus explained, still looking at Harry.
"And they're eating the dead?" the redneck asked, looking at the teen who had brought it up.
"Yup," Harry answered.
"Don't get your hopes up," Sirius said, holding up his hands. "There are very few Thestral herds around. Only twenty worldwide. They might cull a bit of the zombies, but they are not hearty eaters," he explained, not wanting them to think this was an answer.
"Maybe with all the food, and less predators, they will thrive," Mac suggested.
"Maybe, maybe not," Sirius said.
"I just thought you should know," Harry said, still feeling like he had imparted good news.
"Thanks, Harry. How about we head to bed," his godfather suggested, getting up and heading to his tent.
"Yeah, it's been a long day of farm checking," Sam agreed, yawning loudly, causing many people to do the same. There was a bit of laughing and ribbing as they all went to their campsites. Sam, Mac, Kingsley heading to the portkey site to go to the CDC. They were the only ones from the main group that didn't stay at the campgrounds.
Tomorrow would be the full moon and Harry, Remus and Sirius were thinking of having the werewolves turn in the city this time. they would go to the opposite end from where the old folks' home was. They didn't want any accidents.