Chapter 19: Prisoners, Bars and Calls
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It had been a week since Randall had joined the camp, and he was behaving. That might have to do with Daryl making sure that the young man was scared to death of the redneck. While he had been running with the gang, he hadn't been with them long. Which was a good thing, because Remus and Sirius had hunted them down and watched them a few times. When they noted just was arseholes the group was, they kept a closer eye on Randall.
"If these guys are killing, why didn't you stop them?" Peggy wanted to know after they reported to the main group on what they saw. It just happened to be the next morning.
"What makes you think we didn't?" was the returned question from Sirius.
"Oh, well…" she trailed off.
"How though, there are no prisons?" Harry wanted to know.
"There is a prison," Daryl said, thinking that it might be a good place to secure.
"Yeah, the West Georgia Correctional Facility, out near Newnan," Rick stated from the table next to theirs. "But I'm sure it's not running or anything. I'd be surprised if there's anyone alive," he added.
"We should check it out," Sirius said, glad the question of the gang was forgotten.
"Might be a good idea. A place like that could be set up as another safehouse," Remus agreed.
"Rick, you were a cop, do you know where it is?" the dogman asked, turning to talk to the ex-sheriff.
"Yeah, we can take one of the flying cars there. Should only take an hour as the crow flies," the man answered.
"We'll go after breakfast then," Sirius said, grabbing his cup and taking a sip.
"Sure," Rick said, returning to his breakfast.
"Can I come?" Harry and Mike asked, then grinned at each other.
"No, to both of you. We don't know if anyone survived, or if the place is filled with zombies," Sirius said, firmly.
"Fine," Harry sighed, knowing it was only logical.
After the meal Sirius, Kingsley, Daryl and Rick got into one of the flying vans. Just in case there were survivors. Rick and Daryl carried guns, and Daryl's ever-present crossbow. They flew over the city and noted that the zombies seemed to be out and about. They took potshots as they flew by. The prison was a good forty miles from Atlanta but easily flown too.
When they got there, they hovered over the fenced in yard, and shot and killed many zombies. The noise brought more out, and they continued firing until there were no more in the yard. Sirius landed the van and they all armed themselves with fresh guns, well not the wizards. Cautiously they crept in the prison. One by one they entered from the main door.
The prison was set up in a block like manner. The main entrance was inside the gate but facing the inner yard. The cell blocks lined the yard. There were towers at each corner, and a walkway surrounding the whole thing.
Dead bodies were everywhere, and the wizards banished each one they came across. A few zombies were still shuffling around but were easy work for the crew. After an hour or so, they came to the cafeteria, which was chained shut.
There were voices inside, talking in hushed tones. It was like someone was trying to yell out but was shushed by the others.
Sirius knocked on the door. If it was zombies, they would not be talking. "Hello in there, we're here to help," he called out.
There was more frantic talking coming from behind the doors.
"How do we know that?" came the question.
"What choice do you have?" Rick rebutted.
More talking. Then the door creaked open as far as the chains would let it. A face poked out. It was a thin face of a white man. "You're here to help?" the man asked, looking them up and down as if judging them.
"If we can," Sirius said, keeping his wand ready. These were prisoners, after all.
"Hold on, let me talk to these guys," the man said, closing the door.
"Don't tell them about the wards," Sirius said, quietly. "Don't tell them about us either," he added quickly.
"Why?" Rick whispered.
"I want them to forget us if they're intent on harming us. But I want the prison empty," he explained softly.
"Oh, so you're going to take them with us and let the wards sort them out," Kingsley said, nodding his head in agreement with that plan.
"Yeah, but it means driving the van back," Sirius said, thinking on the logistics of that.
"Wasn't there a roadblock," Daryl asked, he too was thinking on the condition of the roads.
"We can knock them out and then wake them when we get to the campground," suggested Kingsley.
"Might be better," Sirius agreed.
Just then the door opened again. "Can you get the chain off?" the man asked, looking as innocent as he possibly could.
"Sure, close the door," Sirius said, when it was shut, he shot a spell at it and the chains fell to the floor.
They opened the door and went inside. Daryl and Rick holding their guns up. Sirius and Kingsley keeping their wands down. The stand off lasted one moment when a skinny Hispanic man lifted his gun.
"What do you want?" he asked, training his gun on Rick, who for some reason still wore his uniform.
"We have a safe haven," was the answer.
"Tell us what the hell is going on. We've been trapped in here for months," one of the three black men demanded.
"Zombies," was all Daryl said, pointing towards the courtyard.
"The hell you say," the Hispanic man said, still holding his gun to Rick.
Sirius and Kingsley fired at the same time, taking out the gun toter, and then the rest. They only hit them with stunners. All five men slumped to the floor.
"We can modify their memories enough for them to think they came calmly," Kingsley explained to the other two. "Let's get them in the van, and put temporary wards up," he stated, pointing his wand again.
With Sirius and Kingsley's magic it was child's play to get them settled. The four then continued to scour the prison killing more zombies and clearing the place out. The magicals banished each body they came across. After an hour the prison was empty. The two wizards put up the keep out the dead wards.
The four tired men went back to the van and flew it until the highway was clear. Then they stopped and awoke the other five men. They were handcuffed, just in case.
"What the fuck, dude, I thought you said you were here to help?" the white man said, struggling in his cuffs.
"We are, but you weren't in prison because you were a nice guy," Rick said, turning to look at him from the front.
"We've got kids where we're going, and I won't take chances," Sirius stated as he drove to the campground.
"You never did tell us what was going on," the same black man said, accepting his handcuffs as logical.
"Daryl wasn't lying, it is the end of the world as you know it. The dead started walking," Rick said, still looking back at them. "I didn't believe it either, but it's the God's honest truth."
"Shit," was the collective reply.
"Are we to be your prisoners now?" the Hispanic man asked with venom.
"That remains to be seen," Kingsley answered not turning around.
"And how will you be doing that, homey?" the man inquired.
"That is for us to know," Daryl said, stopping Rick from explaining.
"We'll be there in a moment," Sirius said, pulling onto the campground road. They stopped at the intent ward, just like with Randall. The four main group got out and one by one took the prisoners out.
"Come on," Sirius said, taking the lead.
They walked single file and the Hispanic man and the white man both were thrown out by the wards, making the three black men look on with fear and awe. Not to mention a great deal of confusion.
"What the fuck," the largest of them said, looking around to see where the two men had disappeared to.
"Walk this way," Kingsley said to the one man who hadn't passed the wards.
With a look of fear the man went through the bushes. He passed without issue.
"What just happened was, the two men that disappeared had thoughts of harming those in this area. What you just passed were magical wards. Yes, magic is real, and I am a wizard. Here, let me prove it," Sirius said, waving his wand and making the handcuffs fall off.
"Shit," all three said, jumping back from the cuffs on the ground.
"Are you all… wizards?" one man asked, looking around again, and seeing the two that got booted walking back down the highway. They looked dazed and confused.
"No, there are only twenty or so in the camp," Kingsley stated, moving forward.
"Come on, we have to see if you're healthy," Sirius said, catching up with Kingsley.
"More magic?" the largest one asked, timidly moving to join them.
"Yes, but the good kind," Rick said, trying to calm them.
"Move," was all Daryl said like he was tired of the lollygagging.
"We're moving," the smallest one said.
They passed the health wards with no issue and were given the rundown of the camp and how it worked. They introduced themselves as Axel, Oscar and Big Tiny. They seemed to accept that they were better off here than at the prison but were told that Sirius and the others were going to make the prison a safehouse. That it would need to be occupied so other survivors could get in it.
The three men said they didn't want to go back there.
Sirius accepted that.
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"So, remember when we said we should open a place for the adults to relax?" Sirius said one night at dinner.
"Yeah," Remus answered, picking up his fork.
"I assigned one of the tents for that. Since we don't use money, they can trade off something to have a drink or two. Nothing big like food, but one of the extra things like a movie or something," the dogman explained, digging into his meatloaf.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Harry asked, looking at his godfather.
"Sure, why not. It's not like we're going to let them get drunk. It'll only be open from nine to eleven each night and you can only go twice a week," Sirius said.
"Oh, that's good."
"So, you're only going to open it for two hours a night?" Peggy asked. "Is that even really enough time for somebody to relax?"
"Sure, it's plenty of time for them to relax. Just not plenty of time for them to get drunk." serious explained, picking up his napkin and wiping his mouth.
"I for one am glad of the short hours.," Rick said. Turning from the table beside them. "One of the things I hated about being a sheriff, was having to deal with drunk people."
"I concur with that." Kingsley said.
"Which is exactly why I'm putting a time limit and a day limit on it. People tend to lose their sensibilities when they're too far into their cups." Sirius explained.
"It sounds so much better when you put it like that," Harry said.
They finished dinner with some mundane talk. Sirius got up at the end of dinner and made the announcement for the adults. It was met with great cheer.
The bar opened the next night and there was a line waiting to get in. A great deal of men, and quite a few of the women, were lined up to get their first drink since this whole thing had started.
Since it was a magical tent, it was expanded, so all of them could come in at the same time. Unfortunately, they all had to wait for the house elves to serve on a first come, first served basis. Since the house elves were in charge of who did what when they were working, they knew who deserved to drink and who didn't. There were quite a few people who were turned away because they hadn't worked hard or long enough. Still, the bar was a great success.
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A few days later Harry received a mirror call from Hermione.
"Oh, Harry, it's good to see you," she said from a dark place.
"Where are you, and why is it so dark?" he asked, peering into the mirror like light would appear if he looked hard enough.
"Oh fiddlesticks, hold on just a minute," she said, turning her face away from the mirror for a minute. "I've got a blue flame here, it's just I put it out of reach. Hold on."
"Why are you hiding in a dark room with just a blue flame?" he asked, looking at the mirror at an angle, like he could see what she was doing if he tilted it just right. He couldn't, not even with a magic mirror.
"Well, you said you didn't want anybody to know that I had the mirror," she said, bringing the blue flame up to her face so he could see her better.
"Oh, that makes sense, sorry." Harry said glad that he could now see her face. She looked like she was doing really good. Strong and healthy. Unlike some of the people in the camp. Well, they were healthy but not many of them were strong. There were still quite a few that were regaining strength from their time hiding. Potions only went so far. The healers had them all on training programs.
"So, tell me what you've been doing. You've said so little in your letters." Hermione almost demanded, making Harry smile.
"Mostly we've been taking survivors in, and putting them to work, feeding them, and giving them energy, not much else. We have almost twenty-five magicals here now, but there are about two hundred survivors. Oh, we did see some werewolves last time we were out," he said, in an excited voice.
"Oh, really. Well, I guess it makes a little bit of sense. It's silly to believe that all the werewolves are on Voldemort side. Or in Britain for that matter," she said, thoughtfully tapping her chin.
"Well, we don't know if they're on the side of good. They did bite somebody right before we chased them off. That means we now have a new werewolf to run with us during the full moon. We're still looking for them, but they seem to be hiding pretty well." Harry explained, his eyes downcast in frustration.
"You're being careful, right?" Hermione said, peering into the mirror as if to see if he had been harming himself.
"Yes, but you can't tell anybody. Remember you're the only one of my friends who knows that I'm a werewolf," Harry said almost frantically. Then he was struck with a thought.
"I've kept your secret this long. I'm pretty sure I can keep it a little bit longer. Honestly," she said with a great deal of exasperation.
"Actually, you know what? It doesn't really matter," he said, waving his hands like it wasn't a big deal. "You're there. I'm here. There is no law anymore. It doesn't matter if anybody knows if I'm a werewolf or not. That doesn't mean you should go around shouting it out to the world, but you don't have to keep it a secret anymore." he said, thinking on it very carefully.
"That's true. We are kind of stuck in this castle. I mean, what could they do if they find out? They can't leave," she said just as thoughtfully as him.
The two talked about regular things for quite a few hours until Sirius said that it was time for him to put the mirror away and go to bed. Because of the time difference, they set it up for the time that she had called just then, and she would call every couple of days to get news on what was going on with Harry. Hermione and Harry said goodbye until the next time.
It had been a good call.