Chapter 23: Brother Found
I was going to write more, but I like where it ended.
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Time moved on, and the community kept growing with stray survivors. One building of condos was already almost full. Most of the families had moved out of the CDC and Rick was still in charge with Jessi. The CDC was still being used, but now for its original purpose. The healers and doctors were doing their best to find a vaccine.
The prison now housed twenty criminals. There was talk of the Death Penalty, but there was too much debate for it to ever take hold. A lot were against it, saying that there was too much death now. But there were those that said, they should not be wasting supplies on criminals. It was a heated an ongoing dispute. Sirius was for, but Remus was against. Good thing people kept it to arguments, and no fights had broken out, yet. Everyone knew that if fist were thrown then the perpetrator would be booted. That was keeping thing civil.
They did go out and look for more groups in the flying vehicles. They came across quite a few farms, both empty and full. They were thankful that Dr. Greene agreed to be their veterinarian. Most of the animals were shuttled to working, warded farms. The farms were almost bursting with animals.
Since one of the primary crops in Georgia was corn, they had plenty of it. There were a wide assortment of nuts and fruits to. The cotton was beneficial as well. The house elves started using the crops for meals, and clothes, to keep the reserves full.
There were plenty more of house elves too. The more magical families that died, the more free house elves there were. So, they would come to the only place open to them. The campground. They said they tried to get into the schools, but most were warded or had an overabundance of elves.
There were still groups sent out to scavenge, but there was more fresh food on the table. Which was to everyone's benefit. They were all healthier and in much better shape than when they first arrived. The nightly defense classes helped keep them in shape as well.
One of the new jobs was clearing out the buildings. Slowly but surely the zombie population was decreasing. There were far less zombies out of the city and the numbers were down in the city as well. It was nothing to get in a car, or on a motorcycle and just start shooting. They were safe in the air.
One day after such a search, Sirius called Daryl to his office. "I found your brother," he announced. "And Shane," he added.
"Where?" was the quiet reply.
"There's a group, not far from the prison. A place called Woodbury. We flew by, invisible, to see what it was like. They're pretty fortified there. Your brother and Shane seem to be in good with the head man. Some bloke that goes by the name Governor. Seems like a reasonable fellow. I thought we'd go see if they need help," Sirius said, rubbing his goatee.
"If my brother is with him, he might not be 'reasonable'," Daryl said, thinking on the type of people Merle would hook up with. His brother was definitely not on the side of angels.
"Good point," Sirius said, wondering just what he was getting into. Still, he needed to try and negotiate at least a neutral standpoint. In a 'leave us alone, we'll leave you alone' fashion.
"Bring your wands with you, and don't use the flying cars. Or at least bring them down before we get there," was Daryl suggestions. His face was grim.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's get Shack and Rick," Sirius said, thinking on who else he would bring along.
"I'd take a couple of days to plan," Daryl said instead of leaving to get the two men. "We've been lucky so far, but this group might be hostile. We don't know."
"Alright, we'll plan out something with me, you, Rick, Shack, Remus and Michonne. They are our heavy hitters. I'll make sure everyone is behind wards before we leave," Sirius said, taking the threat that there are unfriendly groups out there seriously. He knew the wards were strong, but if a hostile group had a ward breaker, then the wards could fall. Not quickly, and they would certainly defend themselves with everything they had, but…
"Good," Daryl said, going to find the people mentioned.
They all came into Sirius' office and planned out what to do about or with the group in Woodbury. It was decided that they'd go on the weekend and take just them. They fly/drive a van, which would have back up weapons. Shack and Remus would stay in the van while Rick, Michonne, Sirius, and Daryl would go talk to the Governor.
Daryl wanted to check on his brother, and Michonne would be underestimated, because she was a woman. They would go in plain clothes, though they couldn't hide how clean and healthy they were. Sure, they could dirty up, and probably would, but they were still strong and fit, and you can't hide that. Still, they would try.
"I would like to offer a trade agreement with him," Sirius said, putting a piece of paper on his desk. On it was listed all of the food they farmed. "The only problem is, I don't think he has anything we need, or want."
"That is true," Remus chimed in. "We've pretty much gutted a good part of the city. There's not much he can trade with. Services, maybe?"
"What can he offer that we don't already do?" Kingsley wanted to know.
"I don't know, I'm just throwing out suggestions," the werewolf defended himself.
"We could have him hunt down that elusive group of werewolves," suggested Michonne.
"I hate that group," Sirius said, thinking of all the times they searched for those buggers. They could never get close enough to grab them, but they were not out of the city limits. It should have been easy, but it wasn't. He just hoped they weren't like Greyback. That's why they wanted to find them.
"Only if the have magicals with them, and even then, do we want an unknown, possibly hostile group in our city?" Daryl countered.
"You're right, we should get to warding the outer buildings in this city. I mean the more we ward, the less chance of people sneaking up on us," Remus said, tapping the table thoughtfully.
"I'll get with Sam and the other warders. That sounds like a good idea. If we can get a border done, then we can start working our way in. when all is said and done, we'll have the whole city under wards," Sirius said, thinking hard on how long that would take. Still, the perimeter would suffice for a warning and there would be no more zombies joining the fray.
"Okay, now this Governor guy, do we know anything about him?" Kingsley asked, looking to Sirius.
"Only that he is in charge. I only know his name because I had an extendable ear. I heard Merle call him that," the leader explained.
"I'm not even going to ask what that is," Michonne said, shaking her head at the silly sounding, but obviously useful magic gizmo.
"So, we have a plan?" Rick inquired, studying the map they were using. "We fly to here," he pointed to a spot about five miles out of Woodbury, "set down and drive the rest of the way. What are we going to tell them?"
"That we're another group of survivors that want to trade. We'll tell him what we have and see if he has anything we need," Sirius said, once again referring to the paper with the goods on it.
"I think y'all are wasting your time," Daryl said, only agreeing so he could see his brother.
"If so, we'll know and avoid the man," Rick said, thinking pretty much the same thing.
"We have to try," Sirius said, folding the map and paper and putting them away. "Saturday," was all he said, breaking up the meeting.
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Rick and Lori were on their way home when she pulled him aside. She didn't want to have this discussion with Carl around.
"You're going on another mission with that woman?" Lori accused, jabbing her finger at his chest.
"And with a few men," he agreed, and then added. "What's your point?" He gave her a pointed look.
"You seem to be spending an awful lot of time with her," was the snappish answer.
"She's one of our best fighters," Rick said in a tone that said, 'go ahead and deny that, because you can't'.
"Why you?"
"I'm one of our best fighters as well," he said, shaking his head at her.
"You're going to sleep with her, aren't you?" Lori stated as if it was a done deal.
"Wasn't planning on it, but now that you've brought it up…" he trailed off, looking defiantly at his wife. The whole time keeping his cool. He knew that she was jealous, she always had been. It was one of the reasons they were having difficulties before the dead started walking. The fact that she was carrying a child not his, well, she had no room to talk.
"If you do, I'll divorce you," she threatened.
"In what court?" was his comeback. "Until death do us part, sweetheart. And with the way the world is right now, that just might happen sooner than later." He still was cool as a cucumber. He knew better than to get angry, that was what she wanted. As if him being angry put him in the wrong.
"There are times I hate you," she said, balling her fist up in anger.
"Sirius knows where Shane is, do you want me to give him a message?" Rick asked, almost smugly.
"Don't you love me anymore?" she asked, crying now from his coldness.
"I thought I did, but now I'm not so sure," he said truthfully.
"How could you be so cruel?" she said, sobbing now.
He took her in his arms and said nothing, just let her cry it out. They stood that way for a long time, then she pulled away and turned and walked to the portkey area. She was going home.
He just watched her go. They had not had sex since his return, while he still had feelings for her, it wasn't love. More like familiarity. Something comfortable. With the world gone to hell, he just couldn't bring himself to fight for something that was once so important. Now it was trivial.
Michonne watched the couple, she could see he still cared, but there was obviously tension. She wasn't sure how she felt, but she knew there was attraction there. Still, he was a married man, for what that meant nowadays. When Lori left, she almost went to him, but decided against it. She just walked away.
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Saturday came and they were ready to go. They all piled into a van and took off from the highway. They got to the point where they were to land, and it was full of cars. They landed off road and went about moving the vehicles. It was easy enough with magic, a wave of a wand and presto no pile up. They then pulled on to the road and went to Woodbury.