Chapter 24: Meeting the Neighbors.

I forget, who are the non-violent groups. I know there were ones that were being used for extortion, but I don't remember who they were.

Hphphp

Woodbury was a very fortified place. There was a log fence that stood nine feet high and had pointed tops carved out. It was all strung together with thick rope. There were two towers at the huge gate, like a medieval fortress.

They drove up to the gate and stopped about half a mile away. Close enough to be seen, but far enough to not be a threat. They noted a guard left and so they waited. Sirius had no idea who they would meet, but he was hoping for the head honcho. He still wasn't sure how he was going to handle this, but he would wing it, as they say.

Ten minutes later five men walked out. Sirius recognized Merle and Shane. He turned and said, "Okay, change of plans, Rick you stay in here for now. Kingsley, you come with me and the others. I didn't know Shane was that high up on the hierarchy. I don't want him to know you came back to us," he said, thinking of keeping Rick as a wildcard. He then opened the door and got out. Daryl, Michonne, Kinsley with him. They fanned out behind him, much like the Governors men were doing.

"Merle," Daryl said, from Sirius' right, cradling his loaded crossbow.

"Daryl," his brother replied, with a nod. He was standing to the right of the Governor.

"You two know each other?" one of the men asked. Sirius was sure it was the Governor. The man wore an eyepatch, and sorta reminded Sirius of Mad-Eye Moody. He wondered if the man was just as paranoid.

"Brothers," they both said, still staring at one another.

"Ah, I see," the man said, then turned to Daryl, "Did you come to join your brother?"

"No," Sirius answered for him, though he looked at Daryl who just nodded. "We heard about your community and wondered if you needed assistance," he added looking at the leader.

"You're the group Shane here told me about," it wasn't a question.

"Probably."

"Why did you come here? Judging from the way your look, you're doing fine on your own," the Governor stated, hooking his thumbs in his pants waistline.

"We didn't come looking for assistance, but perhaps to trade," Sirius tried again. He knew Shane couldn't tell the man more than they were near Atlanta, the wards would prevent it. All the man knew was that his friend had abandoned him for Sirius' group. He knew he had been part of a large group then he was alone on a highway outside of the city.

"What could you possibly trade?" the man asked, though Sirius saw the glint of greed in his eyes.

"Food, clothes, water, services," Sirius named off, tapping his wand on his right leg, and keeping his left hand on his gun.

"You have water?" one of the unnamed men asked, looking to the Governor, who glared at him. The man cringed back like he had done something stupid and got caught.

"Yes, we have water, and some generators that we can trade, if you have something to trade in return," Sirius said, getting a bit nervous over the looks he was receiving. Still, they had a plan of evacuation if needed.

"What's to prevent us from just taking your water and power?" the Governor asked, looking them over and seeing they weren't weak in any way.

"You have no idea where we are, or what our defenses are," Kinsley said, keeping wand at the ready.

Guessing from the looks their wands were getting there were no wizards here. Or if there were, they were hiding.

This led to a standoff, Daryl lifted his crossbow at the Governor, and had every gun on the man's side turned his way. Michonne lifted her gun and kept her other hand on her sword. Sirius and Kingsley raised their guns and hid their wands at their thighs. Everyone had a weapon raised, other than Merle, and the Governor.

"Merle," the man said, lifting a questioning eyebrow.

"I ain't fighting my brother," Merle said, spitting on the ground.

"The others?"

"Ain't my problem," the redneck said, moving to the back of the crowd. He was going to stay well away from this fight.

"You best go with your kin then," the Governor said, point a finger to Daryl.

"Let's not do this," Sirius said, though he didn't lower his gun. "If you don't want to trade, we'll just leave," he added as he started backing up to the van.

"What makes you think you can go?" the leader said, holding up his hand, whether to stop them or his band of bandits, Sirius didn't know.

"No, we will be leaving," Sirius stated as fact. "Merle if you are coming, then get in."

"I'll find you," the Governor threatened, his eyes never leaving Sirius'.

"You can try. We're everywhere," as the answer he got, making the man think they were nomads.

"I'll still find you," the other man said, staring Sirius down. The coldness in that man's eyes chilled Sirius. He knew then there would be no friendly meetings with this psycho. Only his mum had caused him to feel like this, she was just as batshit crazy. No, if they met in the future, he would kill this man.

"And I'm done with this conversation, goodbye," the dogman said, raising his wand and obliviating the group of men of ever meeting them. Kingsley cast a Confundus charm and then they got in the van and Sirius drove backwards until they were out of gun range. Then he drove a bit longer before he took to the sky.

"Holy Shit!" Merle yelled, looking down at the ground from his point of view. "This thing can fly?"

"Yeah, all our vehicles do," Remus said, grinning at the man's surprise.

"You ken ride one of the motorcycles," Daryl said, also taking satisfaction in his brothers gobsmacked face.

"Any magicals there, Merle?" Sirius asked the new man, breaking them away from the ribbing.

"Killed the only one that came out of hiding," was the expected answer. "Burned him alive. The man thought it was funny," he said, giving them an idea on how sadistic the Governor was. "If there are more, they ain't talking."

"Shite," the magicals said, angry enough to go back and risk losing.

"I erased his memory of meeting us. He'll think that he was outside to send Merle off. There was no time to do more. Still, we need to keep an eye on this group. If he burned a magical then we're talking a danger to us all," Sirius said, keeping his eyes on the 'road'. Wouldn't want to hit a bird, or helicopter. If there were any around.

"Yeah," was the collective answer.

"Merle, what can you tell us?" Kingsley asked the man.

"That man is one crazy sonabitch," Merle said, rubbing his cheek in thought. Daryl handed him some chew, which he gratefully took. "He keeps zombie heads in fish tanks. He has a daughter who was bit, she's kept in a closet. Right now, he's all charm and niceness, but he's plumb crazy."

"Do we have to worry?" Rick asked, handing the man a cup to spit in.

"Iffin what Black said is true, then no. If he don't remember you, then he can't come after you. However, I would keep a look out for him if you leave the city. I wouldn't trust him at all," the redneck said, thinking hard on what he had seen during his time at Woodbury.

"He might attack anyway. He seems like the type that needs to be in charge," Kingsley said, looking back on the speck of a town. He didn't like the vibes he had gotten from the man.

"We'll be careful," Sirius said, trying to figure out how to warn everyone without making them paranoid, then thought that maybe a bit of paranoia would be good.

"Town meeting tonight. Even the Vatos, I want everyone, including the ambulatory elders, there," the leader said, steering them to the campgrounds. "The house elves can watch the infirmed and the kids."

"What time? and where?" Remus asked, already making plans on how to get the Vatos there.

"The nursing home, in the cafeteria, at nine. That'll give parents time to put their kids to bed."

"I'll make sure everyone knows," the werewolf said, since he was Sirius' right-hand man. More like secretary, but right-hand man was manlier.

"You guys help him spread the word in your buildings. We really need to get a better system set up," Sirius said as he landed the van. "Well, Merle, here's where we find out if you can behave," he added as he got out of the van.

"More of your mojo shit?" the man questioned, getting out of the van and looking for whatever it was that was going to judge him.

"As long as you mean no harm to anyone in our community, then you'll be fine," Remus said, walking up the road that led to the campground.

They gave him a quick rundown on how things worked, and then encouraged him to go through the bushes, so the wards could evaluate him. Like Daryl, he got warned by the invisible barrier, but it let him through.

"Well, I'll be fucked," Merle said about the sensation of having ants crawl all over him.

Hphphp

After dinner and a small bit of family time, everyone who was over eighteen gathered at the nursing home. Someone had taken the tables out of the dining area and put in chairs. There were four hundred non-magicals and one hundred twenty-five magicals. There were over five hundred house elves.

The room was buzzing with people wondering why they were there, but it all stopped when Sirius stood up.

"I'd like to think that at the time of Armageddon," their leader said, starting his speech, "that people would flock together in order to survive. However, we are not the only group out there and from what my informant tells me, we're one of the only peaceful ones. Now, I plan on finding as many other nonviolent groups and bringing them here. However, we have to be wary of the violent ones. We came across one today. The man leading the group is a psychopath, according to my source. Unfortunately, we will meet more of these types of men.

"I want all magicals to keep their magic hidden outside these walls. This Governor person already killed one. So, hide it. Kill anyone you have to, to survive, but if you don't need it, don't use it. I'm going to have the warders put up a beacon to attract magicals. They will still have to get by the wards, but if we have more here, than the safer we are.

"What I'm saying is be careful out there. We still need to venture out of the wards, and we still need to reach out, but we have to be cautious on who we reach out too. If this had been any other time, we would not be friends and neighbors with the Vatos, they are why stereotypes are not a good thing.

"Everyone in our community is important. You all have jobs that are necessary. We are a well-oiled machine. I'd like it to remain that way. However, there will always be people who will want to take what we have and destroy it if they can't have it. That is why you must take the self-defense classes nightly. I want you to be able to defend yourself, of at least get away.

"You have seen how those look that come to us. They are tired, dirty, starved, and most have given up. We take them in, feed, bathe, clothe them. Then make them part of our community. We are stronger as a group.

"We have the wards to keep us safe, but it only takes one warder to open them. Even if it is only a small hole, it will let the wrong people in. That is why whenever you go anywhere, I want a magical with you.

"Any questions?" he finished, grabbing a glass of water to sooth his parched throat.

"Will they come here?" one of the elders asked, making Sirius rethink having them here, because they all looked like they were going to have heart attacks.

"You are well protected. You have strong wards, and good caretakers. The Vatos are no easy mark. I'm sure your healers would also be great protectors," the dogman answered. "That and you're in the middle of the city. If the border is breached, then we will send more here. This will be our safe house."

That got people to talking.

"Are there wards all around the city?" a woman asked, looking a bit nervous.

"We are putting them up daily. Magic is finite, that means we have to rest and recharge daily," Sam explained, standing so everyone can see him.

"But he said, the wards could be breeched," someone accused.

"They can, but by the time it takes them to get through, we'll already be there to put them back up. Remember there is a proximity ward. Anyone gets close, we'll know it. Someone drops that ward, we'll know it. We keep someone monitoring them 24/7," Sam said, looking at everyone one person at a time so they could see that he was true to his word.

"With that, we'll end here. Go home and talk amongst yourselves. Remember this is not a prison. If you are fearful to be here, you can leave. You won't remember where we are, but you can go if you want," Sirius said, knowing that almost everyone will stay. This was one of the safest places around.