Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 3
True to his words, Harry wasn't gone longer than five minutes; by the time he made it back onto the roof the growling and beating at the door had intensified somewhat, but there still weren't near enough walkers to break through the padlocked door let alone the wards he'd set up on it. It was likely because the stairway was narrow, which didn't allow more than a few walkers to reach the door at a time.
Immediately upon his return, Harry crouched beside Merle's still prone form and cast a diagnostic charm over him, one of the few medical spells he was well-versed in. "His fever has come down a bit, though he still has a ways to go before he's at a healthy level," Harry informed Daryl. "Best let him sleep the worst of it off. It'll be good for us too, I'd rather get some rest before I have to deal with your brother going off the rails at everyone."
"They deserve everything that's comin' to em!" Daryl snapped.
Harry shrugged as he rose from his crouch. "If someone who wasn't Merle was making a lot of noise, attracting every undead corpse in this city by shooting off bullets they didn't have shooting at walkers that were miles away, could you honestly say you wouldn't have done everything in your power to shut them up? I can't imagine Merle left them a lot of options, he's sure to have said some pretty foul things to them."
Daryl stared unseeingly at Harry, when forced to think of it that way, he had no choice but to admit he would have put whoever was jeopardizing the group and his safety down with a single arrow to the head. This was his brother through, the second scenario didn't count. Or so he told himself. But even as he vehemently tried to think otherwise, Harry's words sunk deep and rooted within his mind, easing some of the anger at the situation, though not completely eradicating it. Far from it, his brother was all he had left, he couldn't lose him.
Sensing Daryl's silent agreement, Harry let the subject drop. "I'm going to levitate him and apparate us out of here, all right?" With a few choice words, Merle was levitating in thin air as though he was resting on a stretcher. Harry stiffened up when, off in the distance, gunfire sounded, not wanting to wait around to see who had caused the sound, he grasped Daryl's wrist and apparated back to the relative safety of the quarry.
They landed in the patch of trees where Daryl had parked his truck, after settling Merle in the bed of the truck, tucked in the shadow of his motorbike to protect him from the sun's glare, Harry and Daryl settled in to wait. It would look suspicious if they returned to camp not even fifteen minutes after leaving as the trip to and from Atlanta had to have taken at least an hour.
Daryl allowed himself to relax properly for the first time since before dawn, when he had gotten up to start hunting for something to eat. He should have known his day would be bad when the doe he'd been tracking for hours had been contaminated by that walker; he'd been really looking forward to a nice bit of juicy venison, but he wasn't willing to risk infection for it. He devoured the cereal bar Harry had tossed him in three bites before wandering off to find some wood he could use to make himself more arrows. Once he had gathered a few ends he moved back to the truck and began to sharpen the ends with his knife.
Harry watched him work in silence for a long while; once he'd made a good half dozen arrows, he moved to Merle's side to feed him two potions, sleeping potions to keep him out of it until tomorrow. He didn't know much about Muggle drugs, but he would be damned if he let Merle continue to use them - it was too dangerous. Merle was going to hate his guts, at least until he was clear.
Once the potions had been forced down the older man's unconscious throat, he turned to Daryl who was watching him closely. "That's been an hour at least, I think it's safe to start heading back now." With that said, he gingerly jumped off of the back of the truck and, after slinging the bag of guns over his shoulder and shrinking down his trunk, climbed into the passenger seat.
As they drove along the winding road leading back up to camp, Harry looked out into the woods with a pang of melancholy. His gut was telling him that they would have to move soon, and while he knew it was imperative for their safety and continued survival, he was really going to miss this place.
By the time they reached the camp, almost everyone had gathered in the main area; they all looked apprehensive when they didn't immediately see Merle with Harry and Daryl. Harry ignored them as he jumped out of the car and was immediately ambushed by the children, all shouting excited and relieved greetings at him. Sophia was the most exuberant out of all of them, the little girl was perceptive, she no doubt knew that it was Harry who had talked her father into leaving her mother and her alone and so she immediately classified Harry as someone who was safe.
"Have you all been good?" Harry asked, crouching down slightly so they were level with him. Once they all answered in the affirmative, he handed them each a sweet and received a chorus of thank you's in return. Go figure the world had to end before kids relearned manners.
"I got something for each of you," Harry said grabbing a black bag and hoisting it out of the truck. A soft and cuddly unicorn toy went to Sophia, who loved hearing tales of the magical creature. The little girl squealed in delight and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you, Harry," she said sweetly beaming at him; Harry was so much nicer than her dad.
"You're welcome kiddo," Harry replied, as he drew out another cuddly toy, this time it was a horse, for Eliza Morales who shrieked gleefully and dropped her old doll to wrap her arms around Harry's gift. Her brother, Louis, received a set of dinosaur figures, while Carl got a set of cars folded into what was supposed to close up as a lorry if he was right. All of the children thanked him profusely before running off to play with their gifts.
Harry ignored the grateful looks the adults were shooting him and turned to Daryl who was waiting impatiently by the truck. "Fix your face," he teased. "There's no need to be jealous, I got something for you too."
Daryl's brows lifted in surprise when he caught the full quiver of brand new arrows tossed at him. "I ain't jealous," he grumbled, but Harry could see the shine of gratitude in his eyes.
"Of course not." Harry moved around to the back of the truck and opened the panel so they could slide Merle out. "We're going to need your help back here, T-Dog."
The other man quickly moved to stand beside him, though he was careful to keep his distance from Daryl; he'd already been beaten bloody by one Dixon, he wasn't in the mood for a repeat performance. "Where do you want me?"
"Grab his torso," Harry instructed as he lifted Merle's upper body. "Daryl take his legs." Both men moved into position and carefully slid Merle to the edge of the truck bed. "Ready?" At their nod of agreement, they began to hoist Merle from the truck, his unconscious body was a dead weight made moving him to his tent a monumental one. Luckily Rick quickly moved over to give them a hand.
"Where would he have hidden the drugs?" Harry asked Daryl once his brother had been settled in.
"He'd have kept them on him," Daryl guessed.
Harry immediately began to check all his pockets, and found nothing in them; all he could do was hope that it was true, and Merle wasn't going to continue using. Nodding briefly, he stood up stretching, his stomach rumbled, all he'd had all day was a cereal bar, and he was sure it was nearing dinner time already.
"Guess it falls to us to cook, bloody inconsiderate shit!" Harry muttered, as he moved out of Merle's tent, Daryl followed amused, he never felt the need to defend Merle from Harry - or Harry from Merle they gave as good as they got.
Harry wandered over to the fire pit, grabbing the belt of squirrels and the rabbit he'd gotten from the traps earlier and sat down on the stump. Swiftly unsheathing his knife, he dunked the squirrel in tub of water that was next to him, getting it wet like he'd been taught so the hair didn't end up all over the meat. Cutting a layer of skin at the base of the squirrel's tail, then its hind legs. Holding the squirrel by the tail, Harry separated the skin from its hind legs, working his fingers around to keep the meat to the skin. Once done he slapped the squirrel onto the log and used his foot to keep it secure as he pulled the squirrel by its hind legs. Giving it a check to make sure the skin around the stomach hadn't stayed attached. Giving a nod of approval at his own handy work, he continued his work until the skin was pulled up around the squirrel's neck.
Picking his hunting knife back up, he sliced for a bit before snapping its neck, hands and feet. Cutting through bone with the knife would make it dull, so you were best to snap it clean off with your hands. He didn't remove the entrails, something else his friends had advised, so putting it aside, somewhere clean. He repeated the process with each and every squirrel or rabbit he had with Daryl's help they were done within ten minutes. He smirked just remembering the time the Dixon brothers had shown him, after just once; he was able to do it himself. He'd always been a fast learner, it had helped them warm to him too when he showed he wasn't like others. He didn't give a shit about their house, background, history, or whether they had money or not.
"What you smirking at?" Daryl asked, glancing at Harry seeing no reason for it.
"Just remembering when you taught me," Harry mused, a twinkle in his eyes, before he began to gut the animals, checking their livers, making sure they were healthy, all but one was dark red and healthy, one was spotted and pale, a sure sign of disease so it was discarded amongst the entrails.
"We didn't teach ya anything," Daryl replied as they cut up the meat which wasn't much especially for everyone at the camp but as always they'd make do.
"Think we can cook macaroni with this?" Harry wondered peering into the pot that was beginning to simmer.
"Should be hot enough," Daryl grunted understanding what Harry meant without further elaboration.
"What else?" Harry glanced at Daryl.
"Onions, tomatoes, canned ones are fine, tomato paste, celery, peas, carrots, salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf," Daryl listed off effortlessly, having been eating stew most of his life.
"Don't think I have celery or thyme but everything else is available," Harry nodded thoughtfully, thankfully he'd just stocked up on a lot of tinned goods so they wouldn't end up with a shortage, especially considering he had a feeling they wouldn't be here longer. Who knows when they would manage to scavenge again, so he liked to keep well stocked while he could. Grabbing an empty bucket that was next to the fire pit, he stood up and made his way over to his tent, zipping it up before switching it to the third compartment where the canned goods were stored and began to put what they needed into it, he then switched to the fourth compartment where everything was under a stasis charm to keep them fresh, a lot of fruit and vegetable was stored here, but he didn't dawdle, just in case anyone tried to come in, there was no true privacy to have here. The rest swiftly went into the bucket before he clicked it back into place and unzipped his tent and made his way back out.
On his way back he noticed the new guy was staring out at the field looking quite despairingly. Sighing tiredly, he jogged over to Daryl; they quickly dived up the food and began to chop everything that needed chopped. Everything was quickly added to the stew, it would take a few hours for it to cook. Once it was on, Carol sat down giving them a smile.
Harry stood up and moved over to the truck and grabbed the gun bag that he'd collected, and made his way over to Rick silently. He shook his head, it was a surprise he was alive, he was standing right behind him and he hadn't even noticed.
"I realize you probably have a…bad opinion of me," Harry said, watching Rick whirl around facing him. "I'm not going to take back my actions or words, because we both know you would have reacted the same as Daryl if it was your family that was left behind. I do however, want you to know that I wasn't defending Merle or his actions, but rather Daryl; I wasn't about to let anyone gang up on him, he doesn't like to be touched. You have no right to come here and get in everyone's face, telling them what to do or think as if you're king of the jungle."
"That wasn't what I was doing; I was just trying to get him to calm down so we could discuss what had happened," Rick defended himself, though he deflated slightly as he wondered if that was what the others thought of him.
"Doesn't matter," Harry replied, "I'm very defensive of my friends and I would protect them from anything. However, I bought a peace offering so to speak." With that he swung the police bag from where it was behind his back and handed them over to the stunned police officer.
"You found them!" Rick said stunned, grasping a hold of them. A huge weight fell from his shoulders, he could finally defend his family properly. "Thank you, Not just for these but for everything you've done for my family." Rick unsurely held his hand out to shake Harry's, suggesting a fresh start and to forget about the earlier incident.
Harry stared at Rick, measuring him, before he nodded and shook hands with him, it was genuine.
"I still can't believe this happened," Rick admitted despair barely hidden.
Harry frowned; the apocalypse had been happening now for two months, everyone had gotten over the shock of it. "You sound like everyone did month's ago." he pointed out, wondering if he needed to give the guy a calming draught.
"For me it is, I woke up from a coma a few days ago to find piles of dead bodies, walkers and madness all around me," Rick told him, combing his hair back for the need to have something to do with his hands.
"You encountered walkers after wakening up from a coma and didn't end up one?" Harry said impressed, "You might be what this camp needs after all,"
"I would have been bitten if a man and his son didn't rescue me and tell me everything that had happened…I could barely believe him until I…" Rick didn't finish, shaking his head bewildered.
"Saw for yourself? Yeah, it was like that for everyone I think," Harry nodded, hearing Rick's stomach growling he added, "There's food cooking, you might as well head over and get something to eat we all need our strength."
"Thanks," Rick said once again.
Harry nodded, before he walked off, going back to the fire it was beginning to get dark. He had meant to teach the women how to defend themselves today; he would need to leave it for another day. They couldn't continue to scream and run from the walkers they had to toughen up and defend themselves and not wait on the men to do it for them. There wasn't always going to be a time where they could help them. Both Shane and Rick would defend Lori before they would defend Amy, Andrea and the others. That's not to say they were bad people, since Harry himself would defend Merle and Daryl before the others. It was just the way of things.
Harry sat himself down on the earth, leaning against the stump instead of actually sitting on it, giving his back some support. He noticed that the animal entrails were gone and a new bucket of water was sitting there, shifting it towards him, he began to clean his hunting knife waiting for the food to be cooked getting some warmth from the low burning fire. He wasn't surprised when Daryl got up and left for his tent when people began to gather around the fireplace for dinner. As always though, as soon as the food was ready, Harry would join him.
Big thanks to AnarchicMuse for editing this :)