CHAPTER 3: DEATH IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
After leaving the hospital, Hermione returned to her flat, showered, changed into a white shirt, a pair of black jeans and sneakers then prepared to apparate to the Weasleys but strangely, for some reasons she couldn't do it.
Weird...! The Weasley couldn't have cast the anti-apparition spell, could they?... But they'd never done that before...
Suspicious... she tried apparating to some other places such as St. Mungo's Hospital or Flourish & Blotts bookshop but none of her attempts was successful. Since she had no intention to give up, Hermione tried switching to other transportation methods namely the Floo powder or Portkey but still got the same result: none worked. So she hastily ran out and opened the mailbox in front of her flat to read the latest Daily Prophet article. Hermione wanted to check whether the Ministry of Magic had ordered a temporary ban on movements and transportation in the whole of UK territory. Yet she couldn't find a single line mentioning such thing and that worried her even more.
What happened? Hermione thought. Harry...Right, perhaps Harry knew. She thought then pulled out the phone from her bag, intending to call him right away. But just as she was about to press the dial button, a thought passed through her mind and stopped her from doing so.
Harry was tired and had enough troubles to take care of. She shouldn't bother him with such ambiguous matter. And just because he was a Head Auror didn't mean he must be Mr. Know-it-all. Percy Weasley, on the other hand, might know. He was a senior staff in the Ministry, working under Kingsley directly. Yes, she should go to the Burrows and check with him on that matter first, then she would call Harry later if it was something important.
Having thought of that, she took her car and drove to the Burrows. On her way there, she passed by five Axminster flying carpet, the twelve seats type which was used as ambulance vehicles, carrying a few dozen patients from London suburbs to St. Mungo's Hospital in the city centre. Hermione couldn't help wondering what tragic accident would have caused and sent such a large number of people to the hospital.
-o-
Soon she arrived to the Burrows and parked at a nearby park not too far from the house. The accident at second year had caused a psychological trauma to Ron resulting in his weird behavior (jumping out of seat) every time he heard a car engine approaching. She often teased him that there was no way Ron could have survived in the Muggle world with his extreme paranoia. His face to be as red as a tomato every time she did so. Ron in turn protested that there was no reason on earth justifiable enough to drag him into that dangerous four-wheel steel cage ever again.
Hermione's mouth twitched slightly at their happy memory but soon that smile melted away when she remembered Ron's situation now. Her fiance was now laying lifeless in a hospital bed and she didn't...couldn't know when would he regain conscious. Would he ever at all? Did he know that she was really worried for him?
She sighed, took her bag and stepped out of the car, walking along the small trail in the green field leading to the Burrows. Her footsteps got slower as Hermione noticed the unusual silence in the atmosphere. Normally, the Weasleys were very chatter and loud that one could hear their laughter standing 300 ft away. But today...today was so quiet that she couldn't even hear the chirping of birds, let alone any laughter.
Hermione strode faster, almost running across the field to get to the Burrows. Then suddenly, she saw the crimson color of blood scattering on the sweet green of summer grass. Her heart was racing in the chest, urging her to come closer to that red spot, closer and closer...until her breath was stopped abruptly as she took in the scene.
"Oh no!" - She exclaimed, one hand covering her mouth while her feet stopped dead on track as she realized there was a person sprawling facedown in the grass, who seemed to had some serious wounds in her shoulder and several chunks of flesh was torn out the body. Blood loss was probably the cause of death. The blood trail had dyed a red streak on grass stretching across the field from the Burrows to here.
"N-no..." - She realized what that meant...This was one of the Weasleys. Right, red hair...red hair was soaked with red blood. This dress...this long dress. Could it be...no...
Hermione kneeled down beside the woman and lift her face upward. She blinked, feeling her vision getting blurry as tears rolling down her cheeks when she realized who was lying on her hands...
"Molly! M-Molly?" - She couldn't believe in her own eyes when she saw Molly's disfigured face, chunks of flesh were missing on her right cheek and nose leaving behind the visible bite marks. This area usually had no predators but...
"Why...why did it happen? What kind of wild animal had caused this tragedy?" - Hermione checked Molly's pulse for the last time before putting her body back to the field. She drew out her wand with a wary look. Her hands wiped away the tears as she tried to calm down. She would come back later and had a proper burial for Molly. Definitely. Just not now, not today. What she needed to do at the moment is to determine the condition of other people and find out who or whatever were behind all of this.
Hermione then followed the trail of blood leading back to the house, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest, worrying for her parents' fate and the rest of the Weasley family: Arthur, Percy, George and Ginny. Since Ron's admission to the hospital, other siblings visited the Burrows frequently to check for Ron's condition and also take turn visiting him in the hospital. Charlie was busy with work in Romania and couldn't come home this week, while Bill and Fleur family went back to France to attend a Veela conference for the whole month. A family reunion was supposed to be a good thing, but right at this very moment, she'd rather no one returned to the Burrows at all.
The front door was opened and there was traces of bloody fingerprints smeared on the surface of the wooden door. Probably from Mrs. Weasley's…
Hermione hid behind the door, looked closely into the house to make sure there were no threat, no killer or predator inside before she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and stepping in. Just then, she caught sight of a person lying on the floor.
George ... this time was George.
He was lying motionless, probably dead, and half of his face looked as if someone had ripped it away.
Then she looked to her left. Not far from where she was standing lay a man... who was one of the two person she hold dear to her heart for the past twenty years or so.
"D-Da-d!" - the words stuck in her throat as she couldn't form a comprehensible sentence. Hermione dragged her feet towards him slowly and got down on her knees beside him - "Dad! Dad! Please dad, wake up please... Dad please...wake up." - She put one of her hands behind his back to hold him up. But as soon as she grabbed his shoulder, Hermione turned panic when her hand was soaked with red blood oozing out from the wound on his back. She pulled his head against her chest, holding him tightly as if she couldn't believe this was real at all. If it was just a nightmare then please, somebody please helped her, take her away from the harsh cruelty of this dream - "N-no... W-wake up dad! Please! Don't leave me! It can't be! Dad please..."
She was too hurt to cry... too painful to shed any tear. But even in this heart broken moments, she couldn't help feeling something important was missing. Her mum... Right, she had come here with her dad. So if her dad was here... then her mum also...
It was too late to save him, but perhaps she could save her. Come on. She must find her as soon as possible. Having thought of that, Hermione stood up with wand in her hand, and murmured to herself that she must be calm to handle whatever awaited her next. She tiptoed, crept along the wall leading to the kitchen and gently pushed on the old wooden door. It creaked open and revealed the inner sight.
There were two shadows inside...
-o-
After Hermione had left, Harry walked out to the hospital yard to do some stretching exercises. About ten minutes later he went back inside, passing by the cafeteria to buy a chicken sandwich and a take-away pumpkin juice. As usual, that was his breakfast. On the way back crossing through the hall of the hospital, Harry saw a lots of healers and nurses running around frantically, carrying patients from some Axminster flying carpets that just landed at the hospital front yard to the emergency rooms.
Must have been some tragic accident, Harry thought.
Right then, there was a group of Soldiers came rushing suddenly into the hall with wands ready in their hands. One group evacuated people while the other stood guarding in front of the emergency rooms. These Soldiers were different from Aurors as they were under the command of Department of National Defense, specially operating at national level tasks. The force was established after the war with Voldemort in order to prevent a similar case to ever happen. If Aurors were equivalent to the Police force in Muggle world, these Soldiers' counterpart were the Armies. And just like anywhere else on Earth, where there was the presence of Army, there lay...
" ... trouble!" - Harry frowned. He hesitated a moment before walking over to the nearest Soldier - "Hello! I'm..." - Harry couldn't even finish his introduction as the soldier seemed to have realized who he was so he raise his hand up saluting Harry.
"Good morning, Mr. Potter! I am Mathias Muller. Private of 3rd Infantry Regiment."
Sometimes, being famous had its own benefit. It would be easier to get people divulged the information. Harry sighed before he opened his mouth to ask - "Would you mind if I ask what is going on here?"
"Mr Potter, in no way do I mean to be disrespectful but as a mere Private, I have to face certain restrictions. I can only tell you that we've received an order from our superior that there are several dozens injured from an accident in the suburbs and we are here to guard and protect the hospital."
"You meant protecting the injured people?" - Harry stressed as that there was a contradiction in Muller's words.
"No! it is the hospital that we are to guard and protect... that is all I could say." - Muller shook his head, expressing his regret.
Harry nodded, knowing that was as far as the young Private could disclose so he saluted and walked away. However, he couldn't help feeling there was something odd with the order. Did "Protecting the hospital" mean abandoning those poor victims? If so, then why were the soldiers guarding in front of the emergency rooms? What harm could those patients possibly do? Even though Harry didn't see them all, he managed to catch glimpse of some victims and they all seemed to be attacked by some wild animals, losing parts of their bodies and thus rendered them harmless.
Harry felt a little bit uneasy so he decided to floo to the Ministry of Magic and asked Kingsley, the current Minister, if he was aware of such order. As he he was about to do so, Harry heard someone called his name from behind. He turned around just in time to see a nurse bursting frantically to his direction.
"Mr. Potter! Thank Merlin here you are..."
Harry cut her - "Did something happen to Ron?" - He realized that was Samantha, the nurse in charge at Ron's ward. She nodded and he immediately racing to Ron's place. On the way back, Samantha informed him that Ron was experiencing rapid heart rate and a violent convulsion.
When Harry reached there, he was forced to stand outside of the ward and watching the Healers trying to save Ron through the glass wall. His friend was shaking violently and uncontrollably so much that Harry felt like his own heart stopped beating from just watching that scene. He didn't bother asking Merlin why or how this happened, he couldn't do anything but to say a silent prayer, hoping that Ron would once again pull it through. In the heavy and quiet atmosphere of the empty corridor, Harry seemed to hear the sound of someone crying and shouting.
Ron had yet gone to hell, Harry reminded himself.
But then the screams which started small now grew larger and larger to the point that it became unbearable and Harry could no longer blame it was due to his illusion or imagination.
He stood up with a puzzled look, half turned to Ron's ward while half turned to the empty corridor. The saving-people-instinction in him was calling for his action and Harry had never been able to turn his back on those in needs. But at the same time, he couldn't abandon Ron...while his friend was on the verge of life and death. There were Soldiers down there to protect those poor civilians, right? So what was he worried about then? But again, Ron also got the Healer and nurses to take care of him. If so then why was he worried? No...people wouldn't scream if they were safe. It just didn't make sense. But what if Ron wouldn't make it while he was out there…
They needed him and Ron needed him too.
Just like that Harry stood still and hesitated for a moment before he finally decided which came as a priority. He wouldn't be able to do anything for Ron right now but standing helplessly while there were those out there who might need his assistance.
"Be safe, Ron!"
He whispered and started turning away. Harry needed to know what was going on so he walked along the corridor, then quickly ran down the stair leading to the hall at ground floor. Each step he walked was echoed with a scream. Each second passed by, he heard a spell casted. His heart was burning with worry for the fates of those down there.
Just when he reached the last step of the stair, someone's hands suddenly emerged from behind and put them over his mouth, sealing it tightly.
"Shh! It's me, Private Muller!" - the mysterious person hiding behind the stair spoke up and Harry calmed down with a sigh of relief. The young Private was lucky for if just a second later, Harry might have pulled out his wand and defended himself - "Mr. Potter! I will... put out my hands but please...you must keep your voice down."
Harry nodded then turned behind to look at the young soldier with bewildered eyes.
"Private Muller! What happened to your leg?"
Even when he was wearing a black uniform, a streak of blood was visibly oozing out from a wound in his left calf.
"You're hurt. I'll take you to a Healer. Quick!"
"Don't!" - Sweat starting to pour out on his young face - "You must save us. My comrades..." - Muller was short on breath and seemed to have trouble talking - "Those p-patients...they've gone mad... they bit the h-eal-ers...We tried to stop them...but all spells cast at them...were useless...and seemed...seemed like mere papers. My comrades...I...and a lot more were wounded. S-Save us, Mr. Potter… Please save us!"
"I got it! I'll do my best! You stay here and leave the rest to me!" - Harry reassured Muller while taking off his plaid jacket and gave it to the young Private before running off to the hall - "Here to tie your wound and stop the bleeding."
Since he was warned, Harry didn't rushing to the scene recklessly but rather approached it slowly in a careful manner. He tip-toed, hid behind a wall and looked over to the hall. Unlike earlier, he hardly heard the sound of spell casting but rather there were more screaming and moaning. He tried to stand firm on his feet as he took in the miserable sight in front of his very eyes.
How could it have happened?
The experienced Soldiers who had been through so many battles for years ended up becoming victims of those injured patients who couldn't even stand on their own feet. Some of them turned cowards and ran out, some didn't give up and continued fighting but no spell seemed to hold enough power to defeat the enemies, some were crying, some were screaming and some fell down to the floor dying, leaving their fate to Merlin as those victims earlier crushing up on them and devouring their bodies. The stinky smell of blood was stretching all over the main hall, dying red the white blouses of healers and nurses. The sound of flesh ripped off, chewed and swallowed of whatever was left of their own kind echoing off of the walls.
Harry felt like throwing up. He was panicked, truly panicked. What on earth was going on?
Then as if time wasn't patient enough to wait for an answer, one of the 'victims' earlier seems to have spotted him. It was a blond young man who would have been a handsome guy if his nose and chin weren't chewed off his face. He slowly stood up with a bloody leg, the growling escaped his throat freely while his long tongue was dangling there. Then he dragged his injured leg and moved forwards to where Harry was standing, his hands held out readily like a beast about to catch his prey. Seeing as there was no other way, Harry got to do what he got to do: Self-defense.
"Stupefy!" - Harry pointed his wand at that guy and cast the spell. A red beam burst out from the wand tip flying straight to his heart which was supposed to make him freeze on track but strangely, it didn't seem to affect him at all, meanwhile the sound involuntarily attracted the attention of those who were devouring others from afar. They all looked up and turned at Harry with hungry eyes.
"Damn!" - Harry muttered, taking a few steps back and decided to try again - "Expecto patronum!"
A white stag popped out from Harry's wand and charged into the enemy, but Muller's words once again rang true. As the deer was unable to hurt his opponent, he accepted his failure and disappeared into nothingness.
Harry began to realize that the situation was not in his favor when not just that guy but the others also started to walk towards him. Experience from more than ten years running into troubles told him that now wasn't the right time to play "hero" but to retreat and fight another day.
"Go!" - Harry headed back to where Muller was, putting the young man's hand over his shoulder to help him run. Luckily, those guys seemed to move pretty slow so Harry was able to manage a relatively safe distance from them - "Let's go upstairs. Look like they don't know how to climb stairs, and even up they do, height will slow them down." - Harry said then knelled down to carry Muller on his back and started climbing up to the first floor, the same one as Ron's ward was in. He looked around and spotted a store room of drugs and medical tools at the end of the East wing's corridor where he sought refuge and put Muller in.
"You sit here and rest. Huff ... I'll check on Ron and come back soon. Remember to lock the door. Don't open it for any stranger ... huff" - Harry gasped, wiped away the sweat on his forehead.
"Thank you Mr. Potter! I couldn't image...you'd save me..." - Muller said, his voice weakened and face was deadly pale. His blood soaked wet Harry's jacket.
"Don't bother! I did what anyone would do in that situation!" - He nodded then closed the door and racing to Ron's ward in the West wing of the hospital.
As he was running, Harry pulled out his phone to call Hermione. His hunch was telling him to call her, even though she was at a place very far from here and probably wouldn't encounter such thing. The phone kept ringing for a minute long but Hermione hadn't picked it up yet. Could it be that she was driving?
"Uh oh..." - His thought was stopped abruptly as Harry set feet in front of the ICU area. A terrible sight made him retreated a few steps and hid himself behind the wall leading to the corridor - "Why...?"
It seemed he had once again gone out of the frying pan and into the fire. In front of his eyes was ... about a dozen 'cannibal victims' both male and female scattering all over the corridor.
No way. They couldn't get up here that fast.
But earlier, when he passed by the hall connecting two wings… he still saw them down there at ground floor. How could they...
By then Harry's eyes had catched a glimpse of the signage hanging on the room to the right side a few meters away from where he was standing.
"Autopsy room"
That explained why. Some victims were probably deemed dead on the way to the hospital and were transferred into this autopsy room. It turned out they weren't dead and for some reason, rose up and attacked others.
"Damn it!... Ron..."
He wanted to move forward, to save Ron...but he couldn't. His magic was useless and they were blocking the way.
Ron! Please don't let anything happen to you!
Harry looked around, desperately trying to find a way but this was a hospital, even the knife used here was only meant for surgery and so tiny that it was hardly called a 'weapon' at all.
No more choice. It was an all or nothing matter.
So Harry closed his eyes and outlined a plan in his mind. (1) To take a deep breath, (2) To run as fast as possible, passing these cannibals to Ron's ward, (3) To lock the door, (4) To escape together with Ron through the window and call for reinforcements later.
That sounded good!
Harry thought then prepared himself to perform step (1). But just as he was taking a deep breath, he saw a shadow of someone staggering toward the corridor. Thanks Merlin, that person seemed to not have noticed Harry as he was hiding himself behind the wall and continued moving forwards, the growling sound couldn't escape his throat.
That was one of them, but...this man somehow seemed familiar to Harry. His white hair looked as if it was dyed with the crimson color of blood while his glasses was badly broken...By then Harry was sure that the man was healer Ritchie Montgomerie. And the woman sprawling a few feet away from him who was being devoured by those monsters was Amber Valleta. Her blonde curly hair left no room to be mistaken. That meant... they had become the latest victims of those cannibals and even worse, they had been the medical staff that were trying to save Ron in the ICU before he left here. Something happened. Something did happen. And if even these healthy people couldn't avoid the scythe of death, what were the chances of a person in coma like Ron to survive this whole ordeal?
Then...Ron...Ron had…
Harry hands moved to cover his mouth tightly, sealing his cry to escape from his throat. But even so Harry's vision was quickly become blurred with tears. Could this be Ron's demise... could it be that his friend was one of those corpses over there…
Just the thought of Ron's body torn to pieces and eaten alive made Harry felt like vomiting the whole of his breakfast if not for the fact that he hadn't had time to eat anything this morning. Harry stumbled, his feet seemed to not be able to support his weight anymore and he had to lean back to the wall, using one hand to guide himself back to where Muller's was while the other hand still covered his mouth. When Harry had reached the store room, he called and asked the young man to open the door.
"Mr. P-Potter...wh-what's wrong?"
"I..." - Harry choked, couldn't find it in him to retell the story, couldn't find the courage to re-live his pain so he changed topic -"I...uhm...we must get out of here. I'll try to climb out through this window."
BOOM !
Suddenly there was a loud bang as if a dragon had just blown off a partial of the hospital with its fireball. Thank Merlin, Harry's reflex was quite good so he immediately pulled Muller down and both were trying so hard to hold their breath.
Right after the explosion, a command was ordered - "Destroy this place all at once. Kill everyone on your way, be it alive or undead. This is not a massacre, this is our preemptive strike to prevent the disease from spreading out to the community. Remember, Soldiers! Nobody shall walk out of here alive, even if that person were the the Minister of Magic."
Harry could recognize the voice of General Cornelis Kridge, the leader of the Magical Army and also the most frightful general that he ever knew. Harry understood that he was in a very dangerous situation as both the Soldiers out there and their leader would never let him walk out of this place unharmed despite of his status. So he pulled the drug racks together and used them to block the storage door in hope that they would go pass this room. Then he sat down and listened to the troop movement outside the corridor. The sound of spell casting, running footsteps, cries and screams were echoing, rushing like wave after wave throughout the hospital and Harry could only imagine out there was a blood bath. Memories of the catastrophic war with Voldemort in the past once again surged up in his mind, grabbing and squeezing Harry's heart tightly before tearing it into million pieces. He buried his face in his hands, having difficulty breathing as he wondered where all would go from here.
-o-
In that old kitchen sat two figures, more precisely one lay motionless on the floor with the other kneeling beside, head bowed down and hands hidden under the disheveled brown hair as if he or she was holding something.
Hermione clutched her wand, ready to attack if this was the perpetrator of all this tragedy. But then just for a brief moment, her eyes were glancing at the blue plaid scarf around the person's neck and Hermione couldn't help feeling an undeniably sense of familiarity as that scarf was the gift she made with her own hands to her mum.
Could this be her mum? And she was alive?
Hermione called softly, barely hide the joy in her voice - "Mum..."
That person continued sitting still as if Hermione voice didn't reach her.
"Mum!" - She repeated, more firm and clearer this time.
Only then did the woman seem to hear her and turned around looking at Hermione with a bloody mouth while she was munching whatever was left of a human finger, her hands were holding something long and soaked with blood that Hermione could only guess that was the intestine of the person laying on the floor.
Her heart dropped out.
"Mum...Percy..." - once again tears flowed out of her eyes. Her mum was alive. She was still alive. And she was the one behind all of this?
Her mum stood up tottering towards Hermione with a deadly glare.
"Mum! It's me, Hermione, your daughter!" - Her voice trembling, she took a step back as her mum stepped forward - "Mum, don't you recognize me?"
She responded Hermione's question with a growling in her throat not any different than a predator preparing to hunt for its prey. Then she pulled a hand at Hermione and the girl dodged, tilting her head to the side fumbling backward.
"Mum! I'm begging you! Please ... please don't you remember me?!"
She screamed, begging her mum but it looked like the older woman didn't hear a word of what she was saying. Her bloodshot eyes had already clouded her soul and turned her into a bloodthirsty monster who was about to kill even her own daughter. Knowing that it was too late to talk sense into her mum, Hermione raised her wand and cast a spell in hope that it would freeze the old one. But no matter how many times she tried to wave her wand, she couldn't make the spell worked. And while Hermione was trying all different spells she could think of, her mum had already cornered her so she looked around hoping to find a way out. There was that knife on the kitchen counter that she could have used as a weapon, but ... how could she? How could she use it to the one that had given her this life even though that said person has caused this tragedy. No...No...she couldn't! Hermione took a deep breath, realizing that her mum's speed was very slow...and who knew, with a little bit of luck she might be able to outrun her mum and got out of this place.
She thought then briefly closed her eyes before throwing a cutting board aside to attract her mum's attention then quickly running out to the hallway. Just when she thought she had escaped, Hermione immediately encountered another weird stranger with his right arm looked as if someone had stripped off all the flesh up to his elbow...
How...Oh Merlin...How...
But there was no time to think because he had leaned forward, baring his bloody teeth at her.
Whack! Whack!
Hermione quickly used her bag to hit at that guy non-stop, but to her surprise, he still moved forward. Meanwhile from behind, her mum was also walking out of the kitchen, surrounding and blocking her she realized there was no other choice, Hermione violently threw her bag at the guy's face and buying enough time for her to run to the laundry area, hiding herself in a cabinet.
Her heart was beating so fast and loud enough that Hermione had to cover her mouth tightly to not let out any breathing sound. Looking through the louvre, she could see two pairs of feet out there: one from her mum's and the other was that stranger's earlier. Hermione was pretty sure he wasn't one of the Weasleys as his hair was black and at shoulder length. But who was he and why was he here was beyond her comprehension.
Her line of thought was suddenly cut off when a sing-song voice ringing beside her.
Scarhead calling! Scarhead calling! Pick up your phone darling!
Oh Holy Merlin! It was Harry's ringtone! That shameless idiot had recorded himself and sneakily changed his ringtone on her cellphone when she didn't notice. Harry, you git! The ringing had certainly attracted the attention of those two out there and they were now looking all around for the source of the sound while she couldn't turn the phone off as it had dropped out of her bag earlier.
The phone was only an arm length from where she was hiding, a little bit deviated to the left of the cabinet door. If only she could open the door, crawl out and take it but life had never been that simple for her. The only thing stopping her from doing so was that her mum and the other man were standing in front of the cabinet looking curiously at the singing device, seemingly determined not to move away anytime soon.
Scarhead calling! Scarhead calling! Pick up your phone darling!
Shut up! Just shut up, Harry! You idiot!
She leaned back against the wall and decided to wait until they leave, or for a better chance to take the phone back and ... oh... call Harry.
Hermione swallowed a heavy sigh.
-o-
"She didn't pick up my call!" - Harry put the phone down and turned to Muller - "Don't you think something might have happened to her?!" - No answer. He gulfed then turned away, couldn't bare to look at Muller's cold body sitting next to him. Two hours ago, the young Private took his last breath due to blood loss. An hour ago, there was a power outage in the hospital which Harry doubted was due to the military order. Harry had been sitting here for probably more than three hours and things out there seemed to get quieter with each passing minute. Not even a scream or sound of spell casting. Strange. They couldn't have retreated, could they?
Harry stood up and was about to open the door to take a glimpse at things outside when he noticed Muller's finger had just moved slightly.
It couldn't be!
Because Harry had checked Muller's heart rate before with his own hands so there was no doubt that the young man was dead. Could it be a miracle?
"Hey, Muller ! Do you hear me?" - He kneeled down and grabbed Muller's shoulder, shaking the guy slightly. Then as if it was a magic, his eyelids slowly opened up... revealing a pair of reddened eyes while his mouth seemed to be muttering something...
"Muller?" - No. Something was wrong.
The soldier suddenly grabbed Harry by the hands as he tilted his head baring his teeth and was about to bite Harry, fortunately Harry's quick reflexe helped him to dodge the attack in time. He snatched his hands out of the Private and fell backwards while Muller slowly stood up, one leg after the other and started staggering towards the Auror.
There was suddenly a click in Harry's mind, he muttered as realization dawned on him - "You're one of them..."
Not losing any time, Harry immediately stood up and looked for a way out. If this was in a normal condition, he could have easily opened the door and run out but the problem was that he had used the racks to block the door earlier. If the soldier couldn't get in, he couldn't get out either.
Brilliant, Potter!
He thought sarcastically and gritted his teeth. Think Harry! Thin-uh oh... out of time!
Muller plunged in, Harry dodged to the side making his attacker land on a rack full of medical tools, as a result syringes, needles and scalpels from the boxes fell down to the floor. The impact was so strong that Harry thought the guy must have fractured his spine or something like that. It turned out that his neck was broken and yet Muller continued glaring at him with a crooked neck that looked so weird and gross. He still succumbed to his hunger, let it control him and drive him to Harry. The auror dodged again, but this time he slipped on a syringe on the floor and lost his advantage as Muller was now pinning him to the ground. His bloodthirsty mouth kept trying to bite Harry while he was desperately blocking the attack with one hand strangling his opponent's neck and the other pushing so hard at his shoulder. Harry didn't realize it before but Muller seemed to be lighter when he was alive. Now that he was dead, his corpse turned so heavy that Harry couldn't push him off. He struggled, trying all possible moves to get himself out the deadly situation but still failed miserably. Even though he became quite desperate, Harry wasn't about to give up. Not so soon. Not until his last breath. His eyes glanced aside and spotted a scalpel falling near in his reach. If magic couldn't hurt this monster, the physical injury might.
This was his last chance. He must be quick, precise and hit at the right spot.
As soon as Harry's hands let go of Muller's shoulder, he used his free hand to grab the scalpel and stab.
.
.
.
The scalpel pierced through Muller's temples, carving deeply into the brain. Then as fast as a toy car out of battery, the Private's arms dropped down, his whole body stopped moving as he fell limp onto Harry.
-o-
"Hermione?" - Harry called, carefully stepped into the kitchen of the Burrow - "Hermione? Are you here?"
"Harry?"
As he heard a faint whisper from behind the closed door of the cabinet, Harry immediately bursted there and opened the door just to find Hermione sitting huddled in a corner. She raised her head, looking up at him with a pair of reddened eyes while a relieved smile spread across his lips. He found her. He found her. And she was safe.
Harry grabbed Hermione's arms and pulled her up but then all of a sudden, she plunged herself into his arms, squeezing him tightly. So tight that he couldn't breathe as all air was forced out of his lungs. His shoulder was hot and wet with tears for he knew what she was about to tell him would be as unpleasant as what he would tell her.
To be continued …
A/N: The walkers finally made their entrance to the fic, worth the long wait, right? By end of this chapter, some of you might wonder how Harry got out of the hospital, that will be revealed in the next chap. So stay tune!
Also I'm looking for a beta (mostly in grammar) so if any of you are interested or know any beta out there who's specialized in horror and romance field, pls let me know. Thanks.
