Chapter Two: Barricaded In

Same disclaimer as last chapter, except this time the lyrics are from The Four Horsemen by Metallica.

As soon as Harry arrived back in his flat he ran and flipped the living room light switch on, leaning against the wall to avoid collapsing on the ground. At this point he couldn't tell whether it was exhaustion or fear, as the two seemed to have mixed themselves so thoroughly as to become one thing. Almost everyone he knew would have thought he'd become immune to such "human" things as fear after everything that had occurred at Hogwarts, but the site of that thing that had once been one of his closest friends rising from the ground and turning and gazing at him with that look of utterly all consuming hunger had awakened in something a primal fear. The fear of what was unnatural, and that which walked around after death was perhaps the greatest abomination against nature possible.

By the last breath of the fourth winds blow
Better raise your ears
The sound of hooves knocks at your door
Lock up your wife and children now
It's time to wield the blade
For now you have got some company

He stumbled over to his refrigerator and yanked it open, pulling out an unopened bottle of fourteen year old scotch, yanking the top off before he closed the refrigerator. After looking at it for a second he simply shrugged, put it to his lips, and began to chug, some of the deliciously soothing liquid pouring out, down his chin, and onto the floor. When he stopped he saw he had chugged a full fourth of the bottle, and almost felt like he'd be regretting that later when he remembered the charm he could use to wipe the effects away. He withdrew his wand, pointed it at his head, and muttered "claritas cerebrum," his mind now warded against the effects of the alcohol. "It's almost too easy being a Wizard," Harry muttered, walking into his bedroom.

He knew he had to get out of here and get to the Ministry of Magic headquarters as soon as possible, but he was going to need bring something with him. He opened the door to his closet, and a second later removed the false back he'd installed, revealing a small storage space that held, among other things, his invisibility cloak and Firebolt. As soon as he removed them he turned to walk out, but stopped when his phone began to ring. He ran over and grabbed it, and a moment later a panicked voice came over the phone.

The Horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die

"Oh thank Christ, Harry it's you! I don't know how you got past those freaks, but thank God you did. They just started…" the man who occupied the flat next to him, twenty year old Trevor Isakson, said, his words a continuous jumble.

"Slow down and explain," Harry said, a good idea forming in his head of who had attacked his friend.

"I was watching an episode of 'The Office' on DVD when all of a sudden this weird breeze swept through the apartment. Hell, I'm not sure why I'm mentioning it, but it just seemed so damned freaky that I yelped out in fear. Then, not five minutes I hear this pounding on my door, and when I open it there's these two people standing outside, one of them the Dominoes delivery guy I'd called a while earlier, and some batty ol' git, probably seventy something, in his boxers and t-shirt, standing there pounding on the door. I open it with the chain attached, and the Dominoes guy tries to bloody fucking bite me!" Trevor said.

"Trevor, did the z…man bite you?" Harry said, his tone a very demanding one.

"No, but he broke the bloody safety chain and the door swung open (Harry gave a definite sigh of relief at this)! I nearly tripped from shock, but I ran into the bathroom and locked the door. If I hadn't left my cell phone in there earlier I wouldn't have been able to call you; I already tried the police, and they said they'd send somebody, but I can't wait.

I don't know what the fuck to do, I'm afraid they'll break in at any minute!" The man said, the last sentence coming out as a panicked cry.

You have been dying since the day
You were born
You know it has all been planned
The quartet of deliverance rides
A sinner once a sinner twice
No need for confession now
Cause now you have got the fight of your life

"Listen, I'll be right over, I dealt with some…one similar on my way home from Bub's," Harry said, grabbing his wand and walking out the door into the kitchen.

"No, don't, the police should be here soon," the man said, desperately trying to convince his friend to stay away.

"I'm coming to get you Trevor!" Harry said, ending the call and tossing it onto the kitchen counter. He quickly walked out the front door of his flat, and after taking a steadying breath, walked to that of his neighbor's, which was still opened wide. After a moment, he heard the same guttural moan as before, and after a few seconds a zombie in a blue and red uniform stumbled into the hall. It raised its arms as it advanced, but a quick spell took care of it, the zombie collapsing onto the ground as stiff as a board (for now, at least.)

Harry simply walked determinedly forward, turning towards the door, and facing the zombie still pounding away on the door to Trevor's flat's bathroom. He muttered the same words as before, and it too collapsed onto the ground. A moment later the bathroom door attempted to open, Harry rolling the frozen zombie away and against the wall, his friend Trevor stumbling out, as white as a sheet. "Thank you!" He screamed, crying as he ran at Harry, hugging the surprised eighteen year old very suddenly.

The Horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die

"Their moans, the bite marks and blood on the old guy's arms and shoulder, I thought they were going to eat me!" He said, his hysterical sobs coming so fast that Harry was fearful he would hyperventilate.

"Listen, I'm getting out of here and heading somewhere safe, I want you to come with me," Harry said, raising his wand behind his back.

"Yeah, sure, fuck the police, fuck'em. Where are we going?" The man said, his breathing lowering down to a level that Harry felt didn't threaten his current state of consciousness. Harry quickly withdrew his wand and firmly said stupefy, the red colored blast of energy hitting Trevor before the man knew what happened. Harry ran forward and caught his friend before he could fall and hit the ground, dragging him into his flat and laying him down in the kitchen, running back and dragging the two zombies into Trevor's bedroom where he proceeded to apply a permanent sticking charm so as to prevent them from moving when the effects of the Petrificus Totalus wore off.

Time
has taken its toll on you
The lines that crack your face
Famine
Your body it has torn through
Withered in every place
Pestilence
For what you have had to endure
And what you have put others through
Death
Deliverance for you for sure
There is nothing you can do

He was pretty amazed that though all of this no one in the nearby flats had come to see what was going on, Harry squashing fears that it was due to some new occupants in their homes. He quickly ran and grabbed his Firebolt, Invisibility Cloak, and a piece of industrial chain, which he proceeded to tie around Trevor and himself after setting the unconscious man on the brook with him. "Sorry ol' friend, it's easier this way," Harry said, dropping the invisibility cloak into a traveling pouch on the bottom of the brooms. He then proceeded to cast a Disillusionment Charm on the two, the familiar cold trickling down Harry's body, and after one last look on his small but comfortable home Harry sailed out the open doors that led to his small balcony and off into the London night, sounds of terrified screams and multiple sirens already reaching him.

So gather round young warriors now
And saddle up your steeds
Killing scores with demon swords
Now is the death of doers of wrong
Swing the judgment hammer down
Safely inside armor blood guts and sweat

The Horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Please remember, if it gets annoying that I'm including music in each chapter, please tell me and I will be glad to stop. Also, to threepercentgone, any resemblance to Resident Evil is purely coincidental, as I've never played any of those games before (though I sure as hell wish I had, I've heard they're pretty good.)