Chapter 31: Coddling is Bad
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Sirius was shocked that fewer people left than he thought would. Perhaps they were just too scared to face the new dead world. There were a few farmers that wanted to have the wards taken down, but Sirius talked them out of it. He knew they wouldn't move away from the farms, so he just consoled them into sticking to their homesteads and only dealing with the community when they dropped off their goods. He let them stop coming to the camp for the nights. It was politics.
As it was only about ten families left, and they all decided to stick together. Sirius let them have three RVs. It's not like he needed them. There was enough gas to get them somewhere. Each RV had a solar system, so they would not be without electricity. Still, they could have thanked him better. He had told them about the farms, but they were determined to make it on their own. Firm in their beliefs that their religion would see them through. He let them go.
When they had all left that morning, Sirius got the teams up and going, everyone was to take the flying vehicles. All teams were made up of six or more. He didn't want them to be caught flatfooted and undermanned.
Of the runners, only Sue and Harry were on teams. Both being fifteen. They had missed Harry's birthday, what with the whole Armageddon thing. They did have cake that night, but there was no party. Harry said, it was still the best birthday he could remember, which made everyone mad and sad at the same time.
The other runners would be doing the run-and-hide training with a few that were good at it. Sophia and Carl included. Carol and Rick were so proud. Lori, not so much. She thought it was cruel to make them continue to 'play' that game.
Now that all the teams were out, and everyone else was working, Sirius had a moment to reflect. Not that he was down on himself, just getting tired of being in charge. He never was one to lead, that had always been James, and some how he got stuck in that role. He'd like to think he was doing a good job, and he knew he wouldn't be able to do it without Remus' help. Speaking of…
He got up and left his office. He found Remus by the greenhouses talking to one of the herbologists. He waited until they finished speaking before waving Remus over.
"I wanted to ask you, did Dale leave?" he inquired, tilting his head a bit.
"Yeah, he took Andrea with him," the werewolf confirmed.
"Damn, now I have to find someone to co-mayor with you and another hunter," Sirius groused, wiping the sweat off his neck. "Bugger, but it's hot here. It's the middle of autumn, for goodness' sake," he added, smacking at a mosquito. He hated bugs. The wards kept most of them out, but for some reason let some in. Harry said it had to do with the ecosystem, but Sirius didn't know what that meant.
"What's on the agenda today?" Remus asked, smiling at his friend's discomfort. They were in the wrong part of the world for Sirius' bug hate. They had cockroaches the size of a baby's hand, and they flew. Sirius about had a heart attack the first time he saw one. Harry had laughed his arse off.
"I want to do a fly over and see how bad the zombie situation is. We've got wards up over most of the east side, so they should be somewhere around there, or far from there, I'm not sure how the wards direct their innate hunger," Sirius said, heading to the garage.
"Okay, let me tell someone we'll be gone, and they can contact us on the mirror," Remus said, running the other way. He found one of the ward breakers and passed the message on.
Getting in a car they flew over the city streets slowly in a grid pattern. Closer to the condos they did indeed see quite a few zombies. But it was nothing compared to downtown, especially near the CDC, which was weird since there were only a handful of people living there. The nursing home also had a large amount surrounding it. The wards were keeping them all at bay, but they were there.
"We should think about getting bombs or grenades. There has to be a military depot around somewhere," Remus said, thinking on things that Rick and Merle had told him. "Or develop a magical grenade, something that will send out piercing hexes in all directions. I have a few ideas I'd like to play with," he added, thinking hard on the runes needed for such a thing.
"That would make it easier for us to kill them," Sirius said, lining up a shot from where he was in the driver's side of the car. Remus doing the same from the passenger's side. "Get with Jessi and Mac on your grenade," he stated, knowing that those two would be a great help. Especially Mac, he had been an Unspeakable.
With each shot more and more zombies piled out of buildings. It was easier to get a count, well a general idea. From the looks of it, there were thousands upon thousands around the CDC, a few thousand around the condos and the nursing home. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands that were spread out over the rest of the city. There wasn't a single place that wasn't warded that didn't have at least a couple of hundred.
They did note the teams sent out were doing a good job of killing and clearing their assigned area. Even Sue was doing a good job. The cars hovered over the crowd of Walkers, shooting and killing them easily.
"She's got it down," Sirius said, watching Harry's friend take down a group of zombies with her team.
"They've been practicing," Remus said, piercing a few as they flew by.
Sue looked over quickly, along with others, and waved a thanks. They waved back. A few more flybys and they were done for the day. It was just as bad as they thought. Sometimes it seemed so helpless.
"Let's go find Harry," Sirius said, turning the car in the direction of that particular team.
"Aren't you worried that he'll think you're smothering him?" Remus asked, holding on to the door handle as gravity pulled him to the right.
"Let him, he needs to be smothered," the dogman said, grinning like a fool.
"It's your argument," the werewolf laughed, knowing the teen would get back at his godfather for being overprotective.
"He'll understand," Sirius said with no conviction. He knew he was pushing it.
Soon they came up to Glenn's team, of which Harry was a part of, and landed a few blocks away from them. They hurried over and started shooting spells at the undead crowding the team.
"We need to get up," Harry yelled as he took one out that was grabbing for his arm. Gun in one hand and wand in the other. Shoot, spell, shoot, spell, it seemed to be working for him. Still, there were a lot of zombies.
"If I break the window, they have a way in," Glenn said, looking behind him at the storefront they were fighting in front of.
"Frank, you're our magical, spell it away," Harry said, shooting some more.
Glenn came from the back armed with guns in both hands. He started covering for Frank to make the window disappear.
"Why didn't you do it?" Sirius asked as he came up from behind.
"I'm a bit busy right now," the teen groused, spelling a piercing curse in the nearest zombie.
"Need help?" his godfather asked, doing much the same as his godson. Shoot, spell, shoot, spell.
"All this noise is going to bring more," Glenn said, slipping through the window that wasn't there. "Everyone inside," he called.
One by one they entered the opening. Then Sirius waved his wand, and the window was back.
"Let's go up a few floors and start taking potshots until we run out of ammo," Harry suggested to the tired team. "Why are you here?" he asked Sirius as he went to the stairs.
It was a dress shop they were in, with mannequins that were sporting dresses that no one will wear. It was a bit saddening. Because it reminded Harry of Madam Malkin's which was probably just as deserted.
"I came to check on you," Sirius said, climbing right behind him on the narrow staircase.
"I am a big boy. I just had my fifteenth birthday," Harry snapped, not in the mood for Sirius' overprotectiveness.
"I was flying around, checking on how many zombies are still in the city, and when we finished, I came to find you. Forgive me if it looked like you needed help," the dogman snapped back, not the least bit sorry.
"While I would never say no to help, we had it under control," Harry said, waving a hand behind him to indicate the area they had been fighting in.
"Yeah, Sirius," Glenn said, also a bit peeved that Sirius didn't trust them, "we had it under control."
"I'm not sorry, so quit trying to make me feel bad. I'd do the same for any team that was surrounded," the leader snarked back, not in the mood to argue.
Harry sighed and shelved it for now. "What did your survey say?" he asked instead.
"We're fucked," the man replied, wiping a hand down his face. "A least until we get heavier artillery."
"I'd talk to Merle," Glenn said, knowing that that particular redneck had been in the service.
"I will," Sirius said, thinking on what to ask the oldest Dixon brother.
"Why are you guys on the ground anyway?" Remus wanted to know.
"We thought we saw survivors, but it was just mannequins. The dresses were moving so…" Glenn explained, with a sheepish shrug.
"No, I get that, next time fly closer. Maybe we should have brooms in the cars, for things like this," Remus said, thinking on what they had in inventory.
"Sounds like a good idea," Sirius said, thinking along the same lines.
They made it to the second story and found windows that could be used to shoot the zombies. Everyone got situated and started firing. Once the guns ran out of ammo, the magicals kept spelling them dead…er. Once they were exhausted, it was time to go home. They left from the side door and ran to their cars. Everyone made it without issue.
The flight home was uneventful. They all split up when they landed. A bunch of other teams were landing as well.
"Don't think we're not going to talk about you coddling me," Harry stated his warning to his godfather as they walked towards the man's office.
"It's not coddling," Sirius said, unconvincingly. "I just want to make sure you're safe. Like I told Albus I want you to have some form of childhood," he said, his voice pleading for Harry to understand, but not in a mushy way.
"I get it, I do, but he was right, no one will have a childhood now. Not even if we lift the chastity spell. Those that grow up this day and age will be hiding as soon as they can walk. You know this," Harry said as he stood by a tree near Sirius' office. He was tired and hungry and really didn't want to have this argument.
"It's not fair that you kids have to go out and kill," the dogman said, looking like someone had kicked his puppy.
"The world isn't fair," was all Harry said as he walked away. It was time for dinner, so he headed to the meal tent.
"No, I guess it isn't," the sad man agreed, watching the teen walk away. Maybe he'd let the kids have some more free time. With that thought, he went to his office to write down what they had observed.