Chapter 1 'The Outbreak and the way to Atlanta'
September 5th, 2010. Harley's POV.
Luna and I had been on the road for almost 2 months now, we were in Montgomery, Alabama on our way to visit a Magical Creature reserve we somehow missed on our road trip when I started hearing some strange reports on the muggle radio so I decided to contact the closest MACUSA office in Atlanta to see if I was just being paranoid, or there was in fact something going on and we needed to cut our trip short.
I was told to head to the nearest magical community or to the offices in Atlanta directly for a special portkey extraction asap, that the muggles had some trouble a few days back and were now evacuating people in some of the largest cities. I was also told to avoid the streets and to use a broom and concealment charms if I had the possibility because roadblocks were being set up as to 'direct traffic' or something like that.
September 25th, 2010.
Getting to Columbus was a drag, it somehow took us 20 days to get here and almost every magical community was closed off or overrun.
It turns out that the muggles fucked up, badly; somehow, they managed to release a virus that can create zombies, non-magical zombies, I mean, inferi are created with necromancy and no one really knows how zombies reproduce (I'd assume it's some sort of ancient curse), but these things? If they bite a muggle, they infect said muggle, then the muggle dies and after some time, the corpse of said muggle starts walking again, no magic of any kind involved (I'd know, I am an auror after all, and I got training to become a healer before I joined the DMLE).
(AN: I think I forgot to put that in the last chapter so if I haven't updated it by the time I post this, here you got it anyways: Harley trained to be a healer a couple of years after she got out of Hogwarts but didn't join St Mungo's or any other place like that)
The worst part of this whole thing is that while wizardkind seems to be immune to the virus, we can still get overrun by them, Luna and I watched as a wizarding bookstore here got overrun and the wizard that worked there got torn to bits and pieces.
I also got no word from home on my phone or my computer and I'm not sure I want to send Athena out on an international trip, I know she can be careful, and I know she could make the trip, but I'm afraid she won't make it if things are worse in London, that is if there still is anyone left alive over there.
These last few days we have scouted out some places for supplies, we still have a lot but it never hurts to get a few more things, I left my muggle bow and arrow set to Luna and I've got to say, she is quite a decent shot, she hasn't conjured new arrows in a week or so, and she still has the original 30 I gave her.
A little later today we are going to the magical district here, just to see if there is still someone alive or to see what we can find, but my guess is that it will either be overrun or completely empty and deserted.
"Somehow I'm surprised that the entrance isn't by a pub or a diner like Diagon Alley." Said Luna when we found the entrance on the side of a public park.
"It's probably going to be overrun with walking corpses Luna, when we enter, we got to get up high or run outside and hide so please, be ready." I said while drawing one of the micro crossbows
"I know Lia, honestly, you worry too much, though I don't really think we're going to get in that much trouble in here."
With those words from Luna, I got my wand ready and opened the passage.
It was remarkably empty, maybe a zombie or two but they were no trouble so with not much to do we started looking around for stuff.
Luna found a store like the camping store back in Diagon Alley I got my stuff at, and there was still some camping gear still in it so she grabbed almost all of it in an extended hiking bag that was a bit smaller looking than the ones I had bought a year ago, she then grabbed whatever camping and spell books she could find inside before reuniting with me.
I went straight for the library, healer shop and the potion shop for any books and supplies that were still usable as the plants in the artificial greenhouse in the camper wouldn't be ready for quite a bit and some others would be in very low supply in the near future.
We reunited outside the pet shop to see if we could rescue any of the animals in there (Luna's idea) and I saw no problem with it. We only found 2 barn owls (probably a breeding pair) and a female elf owl, though we found plenty of food and trats for them which would last for a long time with some stasis charms and maybe some rune work by Luna
We searched some other stores and eventually found the dark magic section where Luna got herself a magical sword and a newer bow and arrow set that she said could probably use an upgrade for the enchantments, but that it would be best if we check everything once we got back at the RV.
On our way out I stumbled upon the wand shop and found it relatively intact, almost all of the wands were in the shelves so I grabbed one of my beaded bags and grabbed all the wands I saw, I couldn't use them without them exploding on me but if we get to the MACUSA office I'm sure they can see about storing them properly.
Just for curiosity I checked the back room and found myself a little chest with wand lore and wand crafting books, but I couldn't figure out how to open it once I closed it. Damn, I'll open it someday, I'm sure.
October 8th, 2010
1 month into this thing and I realized I should have put the self-maintenance charm in the muggle bow and arrow set I gave Luna; the string snaped today and nearly took her eye out, a 'reparo' would do for now but I believe it would be best to find a muggle camping store and get a few spare parts and gear; after all, we can't go breaking the statute of secrecy just because the world ended right?
It's a good thing I could upgrade the other one to be like my own, unfortunately I don't know the specifics of the skill-mastery enchantments yet so someday I'll be making sure I get other muggle bows for testing.
Luna suggested we go straight for Atlanta because searching for magical communities is proving near to impossible with the normal unplottability charms they have. So, we're going to take a few days more to scavenge for more supplies and maybe go back to the magical district for anything we missed on our first trip out.
October 9th, 2010
We found 4 empty metallic jerry cans and 2 siphon pumps with their hoses today, and while I still have the magical ones I got included with the RVs (Just in case the fuel enchantments stop working or something), we thought it would be best if we put an expansion charm (and colour changing charms to better identify them) on them and filled 1 with petrol (a.k.a gasoline), 1 with diesel if we find any and leave the other 2 empty for whatever we need.
Another thing we're still doing is getting normal supplies, even though we have a surplus of them, I'm talking canned food, refrigerated goods cleaning supplies, etc; we even found some guns, shotguns, and a couple of hunting rifles but they are too noisy for my liking, and I don't know if a silencing or the muffliato charms would work on them
October 12th, 2010
We are stuck in Greenville, still trying to make our way into Atlanta but some of the roads are completely clogged with cars.
I now believe Luna when she said we'll have to go by broom or foot the rest of the way. I have no problem with flying but with 3 other owlets with us we are going to have to be careful if we let them hunt for themselves, I seriously doubt they're as fast as Athena is.
October 13th, 2010
I had a feeling some magical creatures had to be out in the open, even with something like this going on. We were flying just out of Greenville when Athena alerted us to go down in a little forest, we did and found a small colony of fairies up high in a tree.
I got really confused by that, I didn't know there were fairies in America could be found in the wild, and I certainly didn't expect to see any this high up as they kind of like being seen by wizardkind. Anyways, after some sort of back and forth, they came with us and into the RV when I unshrunk it, which is great because I forgot to bring some from home with me, now I'll have to be careful and make sure to put Muggle-Repelling charms on the door, just in case they come out of the more magical sections of the RV.
October 19th, 2010. General POV
Harley and Luna were on the outskirts of king county letting the little owlets stretch their wings, so they started exploring around the place for anything useful but didn't find anything truly useful, not really surprising as they were in the middle of a deserted road by a forest that had seen better days, there were a few cars crashed on the middle of the road that were already looted.
Luna, becoming a magizoologist some years before, was delighted when they found the owlets and the fairies, she believed that many magical species could survive the virus and if she could, she would convince Harley to rescue or 'take in' as many creatures as they could take.
They had the space, and Harley had her elves doing most of the stuff when it came to the maintenance of the magical sections in the RV, or the spaces set up in Harley's trunks.
Luna wanted to take care of these creatures, provide a safer place for them until the whole thing died down.
Luna's thoughts of the situation would only prove to be half right though 'Harley told me these things are different from Inferi and that while they are similar to zombies, they are not magical in origin. That means they are not immune or resistant to the passage of time, to decay, even if the muggles find themselves a cure or something, time would take care of these things on its own.' As she didn't even know how long it would take for a normal body to decompose and these 'zombies' were far, far from normal.
October 20th, 2010.
Harley had just returned form hunting, she was in her wolf form with a medium sized deer on her back and a few squirrels tied to her neck (she increased her size a bit, as her animagus form was already about 1 meter tall and 1.70 meters in length).
She saw Luna outside the RV, they had stopped their journey and diverted to a route that went into the forest for a bit because of a funny feeling hey had; neither of them were true seers, but Luna did pass her divination O.W.L., so when it happened Luna tried figuring it out this way, the funny feeling proved right when Athena returned from hunting and in her own way told Harley about a horde passing by the motorway, or highway as Americans would say, that they were on
After dropping the newly acquired meat Harley changed back and called her elves to prepare the meat.
"Hey Luna, are you sure about going into King County? I mean, we could just go to Atlanta using the motorway we were on." Questioned Harley not wanting to risk going into a possibly overrun site.
"Yes, I'm sure, when I tried the divination spells earlier one of them said there are some survivors there…" said Luna while looking into a small crystal ball in her hand. "We were late to save so many others, both magical and muggle so, I want to help them get out of this mess."
"Fine, we're going, but I'm not risking both of our lives alright? I'm going to use magic if it becomes necessary for us to get out." That was the last thing Harley said cursing her and her brother's 'saving people' thing before Feesy popped out of thin air to tell them that lunch was ready.
October 22nd, 2010.
The duo arrived at a small neighbourhood early in the morning and came across a man named Morgan jones and his son Duane. This meeting happened when Morgan and his son walked out of a house after not finding a lot of supplies and seeing the RV entering the street they were in.
"Hey, you two…" Harley said after stopping near them and rolling down the window. "… are you guys okay? Do you need any help?"
"Yes, we're just fine." Said Morgan not really trusting the woman in the RV, but he was betrayed when his sons' stomach growled a bit louder than normal.
"Are you staying somewhere nearby? Parking the RV in the middle of the road doesn't sound like a very smart idea to me while cooking something for you."
Duane looked at his father questioningly, not wanting to contradict him, but Morgan while not entirely trusting of the situation seemed to give in because of the apparent invitation to come on board the RV the woman was driving and sighed. "Yes, me and my son are staying a few houses over in that direction, in the house that's been boarded up just at the end of the road."
"Perfect, we'll meet you there." Harley rolled up her window and started driving to the small parking space on the side of the house Morgan pointed out.
Moments after turning the engines off both Harley and Luna exited the RV and waited for the two men after stretching for a bit
When the two men arrived, Harley approached and greeted them "Hello, the name's Harley, this is my friend Luna." Luna Looked at Harley for a second but quickly smiled and waved with her own "Hello."
"Hi, I'm Morgan, this is my boy Duane, why did you girls approach us? Not many people would after being out here for a while." Said Morgan still a little wary of them.
"Well, me and Harley have been on our way to Atlanta and looking for survivors for a while, it's been a while and you guys don't look like you would do anything that bad." Told Luna while looking at something that apparently no one else could see.
"Do you two want to come inside for some food or do you prefer to use the house? It could get a bit crowded in here after all." Harley said while walking a bit towards the door of the RV.
"The house would be better, we have a gas stove we can use to heat up the food." Said Morgan.
"Alright, let me just grab some stuff from inside and I'll see you there, Luna could you help me for a bit?"
"Yeah sure." Said Luna finally focusing on the situation at hand.
Harley with Athena on her shoulder and Luna beside her entered the house with some canned soup and some of the meat Harley had hunted before, the two men were surprised by the amount of food they had on their hands and Duane stared at Athena when she hopped off of Harley and to a chair near him.
"Hey, Miss Harley? Can I pet your owl?" asked Duane still staring at Athena.
Harley and Athena looked at each other for a few seconds and Duane stared at them wondering what was going on before hearing Harley's answer. "Umm, yeah, you can pet her, just be careful and don't annoy her or she will bite and nibble you a bit hard."
"Her? Aren't female snowy owls known for having more spotted feathers?" Morgan asked getting the attention of Harley.
"Yes, usually that's the case but her sister and her were lucky enough to be born this way" Harley answered half-truthfully with a nervous laugh, she knew Athena was unusually white but had no idea if it was because of genetics, magic or both.
They had an interesting day knowing each other, and while they didn't quite trust each other with everything, at the end of it the adults had one similar thought, they would stick together and survive at least until they made it to Atlanta.