CHAPTER 7: THE OUTLAW
Bad, really really bad, it had gone from bad to worse, the dead, those who came from 'only-Merlin-knew-where' had flooded London, and even the best wizard stood no chance against them. Those people, no he wasn't sure if they were still of the same kind as him or not... compared to the good old Death Eaters, were a dozen time more brutal and bloodthirsty. He used to be one of the Death Eaters, witnessed and acted like a follower of Darkness, but Draco Malfoy had never experienced such a feeling of being surrounded and suffocated by the stench of death so much like this; when the world was starting to fall apart again, and this time was even worse since there was no choosing-side game, he couldn't see which way to go to benefit himself most as those around him, whether good or bad, could turn around and attack him any moment once they got infected.
Bad, really really bad, Draco lost count of how many times he had been swearing and cursing and blaming Merline for what was happening within the last forty-eight hours. His splendid magnificent manor was over-run by a group of cannibals who had eaten all the beautiful singers and dancers that he had invited to his place for the sole purpose of entertaining him. Of all the time they could have attacked, the damned creatures decided to charge into his house at the only time he was relax after three months long working under that scarhead Potter. Such was his luck. Draco couldn't contact his parents for they were on a vacation somewhere on Earth after his dad had decided to kick him out of the Director position in the bank due to excess spending of company budget on his own entertainment. And so Draco's miserable life ended up at the Auror Department when his dad had asked him to be the assistant to the assistant to the assistant of Harry Potter. So back in the present huh... he was now in a forest - the only place he thought was safe and would be easier to spot a cannibal if any. But as if that fact alone wasn't bad enough, Draco was suffering endlessly with a stalker who had been following him ever since he went into the wood and found her struggling with two bloodthirsty creatures. Draco, of course, could have easily ignored her, but then again he had become so damn soft after years of quitting the dark forces and that in turn forced him to help her so that he wouldn't be eaten alive by the guilt in his conscience. And now Draco was starting to regret his decision because she - Luna Lovegood kept following him and asking that boring question - "Hey, do you know which way to Birchanger Wood?"
Damn it! Damn it!
-o-
Harry raised his hand for the snowy owl to perch on and got out from her leg a small piece of paper with hasty writing on it.
"Fortunately, those murderers couldn't fly so we can use owl to communicate. Anyway, you must be careful, Hedwig II. Oh hey look, Hermione! It's a letter from Neville..."
Hermione dropped Teddy down after cleaning the boy's face with her small handkerchief. It was dawning right now and they had spent a long night resting in the stolen Humvee. She then ran to Harry and looked over his shoulder as she read out loud the familiar handwriting…
"Dear Harry and Hermione! I've told everyone I knew and met along the way about our plan. We've reached Birchanger Woods a few hours ago. Apart from me and grandma, our group also got Luna, Malfoy, Parkinson, and some other Muggles. Grandma and me had helped the Muggles escape from a group of attackers and they wanted to tag along, even though they were not really comfortable with it. Look out for a few signs I've left on the way for you. Hope to hear from you soon."
Harry breathed out a sigh of relief, at least not everyone he ever knew died. He turned to Hermione and received a reassuring smile from the girl.
"Neville did it. Awesome! Now how far are we from Birchanger Woods, Harry?"
Harry went to the car and pulled out a Muggle map.
"Lucky they have this on the car...Well we're at the forest edge, so if we avoid the highway and take the small road instead, hopefully we can reach there by one hour driving, provided there's no further trouble."
"But Harry... I've just checked and there isn't much petrol left. In fact, I'm wondering if we could make it all the way there."
Harry stayed silent. That wasn't a long distance, but extremely difficult to get by. They would need a car filled with petrol and fast enough to drive past a herd of walkers if that should ever be the case. Not to mention the possibility that they could encounter the armies from both sides anytime now. His brows were furrowing in a dangerous way which Hermione was sure she wouldn't like one bit.
"Listen, Hermione..."
"You're about to do something reckless, right?" - Hermione narrowed her eyes.
Harry squeezed her shoulders tightly, while Teddy was holding on to Harry's leg demanding to be picked up.
"You have to listen to me this time. There's no chance we could reach Birchanger Woods without enough fuel and preparation. I know a garage a few miles away from here. If I'm not wrong, there should be some cars in good condition there, and who knows...they might have petrol too if we're lucky. I'll go there and get a car back, we aren't sure if the place is overrun or not... It could be dangerous so..." - Harry stopped, bent down to pick up Teddy - "...Could you help me to look after my son? You and Teddy should get on the Humvee heading to Birchanger direction. Wait for another thirty minutes from now before you guys go. Keep a slow pace, no need to rush and wait till I clear out the site if it's really dangerous over there. Let's meet up halfway, ok?" - He said then threw Teddy into Hermione's arms. His brunette friend hastily grabbed on the boy, stuttering not knowing what to say.
"B-but..."
"Please, Hermione! I can't take you and Teddy along. That would distract me with your safety too much. And we really need to get to the camp by today. Please, Hermione... knowing Teddy is safe staying with you will put me at ease in this mission."
Hermione stared at him worriedly. It seemed like thousands of thought were rushing through her mind, considering each and every option to reduce the chance of him risking his life out there.
"Daddy...you going somewhere?" - Teddy puffed his cheeks.
"Yeah. I'll go get something. Teddy be a good boy and listen to auntie Hermione, okay? I'll be right back in a blink." - Harry ran his hand through the boy's head and kissed his cheek.
Hermione remained silent. She looked up at him, there were so many things she wanted to say but thoughts just wouldn't form to words. Her lips slightly moved as she held Teddy tightly in her hands. Harry smiled gently at her, his hand softly traced the contour of her cheek as he wrapped one arm around her shoulder, pulling both her and the boy into his embrace.
"Be careful, Hermione! I'll be back soon!" - He whispered into her ear.
-o-
Harry then ran along the wood edge to get to the garage, trying his best not to cause any loud noise from his running footsteps. He reached the garage in about twenty minutes time or so and still no trace of the walkers. The garage was eerily quiet with its rolling door hanging halfway down as if something had happened to the people inside, stopping them from closing the door completely. Either they all ran away or…
"Hello! Is anyone here?" - He spoke up, wanted to test the water. No response after a good ten seconds, no voice not even a growl. Harry gathered a quick breath before he manually pushed the garage door up. Then Harry held the scissors in his hands as he stepped into there.
He looked to the left and saw a white door next to him. Harry peeked inside through the door gap. Good. No walker. And it was a toilet. There was even a medicine cabinet too. He walked right in, and took almost everything he found inside the cabinet before moving onto the shelves. There was one particular thing that he was sure would melt Hermione's heart when she saw it. Harry thought then put the said thing into his backpack.
Then he walked back out and found there were about four or five cars inside this garage. Harry examined the cars slowly to decide which one could get them to Birchanger at the fastest, all the while not forgetting to pay attention at every dark corner he turned. There were exactly five cars, but two of them were being repaired so they were pretty much useless. Two down. Three to go. An old gray Audi, a blue BMW and a black Porsche. Harry's grin broadened. He hastily ran to the the black car. Great, the key was inside. He turned it on and almost jumping around happily finding that the fuel meter was full.
Harry suddenly felt a chill ran through his body as he swung around to find three or four walkers wearing mechanic uniforms lumbering from the darkness of another room which Harry had failed to notice. He slowly backed away from those rotting breaths. That was clearly the fate of people in this garage. Harry looked around...he couldn't figure how many of them were still inside and the space was too narrow that he might easily get trapped. Too dangerous to stay and fight but the walkers were pushing Harry away from his dream car too. No...if he ran now, he would fail Hermione and Teddy. No way he would ever let that happen. He gritted his teeth before charging forwards and stabbing his scissors right into the eye socket of a nearest walker, pushing him backwards to the others and making them wobbled, fell back into a pile on the floor. Just as then, Harry realized a walker had went around to the other side of the car. He quickly opened the door to get into the Porsche while kicking into the face of a crawling walker who wanted to follow him.
Harry slammed the door shut just in time he heard the hungry growls had surrounded the car. Their dirty bloody hands were pounding on the car window and trunk crazily, attempting to pull him out of there. He shifted the car into reverse gear before pressing hard on the brake pedal. The Porsche sprang up and started reversing backwards, hitting the attackers and rolled over them as cold sweat poured out of Harry's temple. He increased the speed, driving at full throttle towards the door losing some of the attackers behind. Good. He had managed to get out of this mess. Just when he was about to reach the garage door, Harry heard a moan from the backseat. With the Auror's reflex, he stopped the car just in time as a rotting hand emerged from behind and grabbed at his shoulder. Harry left the steering wheel and used his hands to grab the sides of the walker's head. A sickening feeling surged up inside him at the contact of his hand with the cold slimy skin.
Harry was now using all his strength to stop the attacker's head from reaching closer and biting his teeth to Harry's throat. The scissors he had used earlier as a weapon was now resting on the passenger seat beside him.
"Damn!"
Feeling the hard cold fingers digging into his shoulders, Harry knew time was running out. Then as fast as a lightning, Harry pulled his hands back from the damned creature, slumped down on his seat and pushed the attackers' hands out of his shoulders. He grabbed the scissors and was about to end that thing's life when a sudden thought halted his intention.
No...No...No...Hermione and Teddy were going to sit in here.
He made a call of not letting this car turned into a bloody grave and decided to turn around, leaning over through the driver seat and once again, grabbed the walker's head with his bare hands. He twisted it hard and caused that neck to break as a result. But the moaning just wouldn't stop and even with a skewed head, those sticky hands were still trying to reach up towards Harry.
Harry tsked. No choice.
He opened the car door, grabbed his scissor before jumping out and opening the back door to pull the walker out and finished it with a fatal blow to the head. But then again, his recklessness had brought him more trouble as he struggled to fight back the previous walkers who had caught up to him in the chase.
By the time he got his hands on the steering wheel, Harry was almost out of breath and his whole body was trembling viciously. He pressed on the gas pedal, this time really leaving the undead behind.
As he left the garage, Harry hit on the button to roll the window down and let the cold air flow in, cool down his burning lungs. After a few minutes, his breathing pace went back to normal. But just as his life was destined to be miserable, Harry then heard the siren of a police car patrol. Looking at the rear mirrors, he slammed his hand hard into the steering wheel.
"You gotta be kidding me..."
Harry intended to drive faster but suddenly remembered that there was high chance he would lead the police back to Hermione and Teddy too. Again, it was a no-no thing. Harry slammed on the brake and made a U-Turn, came to face with the police car. A police officer popped his head out of the window and gave Harry an order:
"This is London Police patrol force. I command driver of the black Porsche, plate number OU7 14VV to stop the vehicle and pull over immediately! Again I command driver of the black Porsche plate number OU7 14VV to stop and pull your car over! "
Harry clenched at the steering wheel as the car growled dangerously. The police car was growing closer and closer as the warning was getting louder and louder with every second passed. He narrowed his eyes dangerously as he pressed the gas pedal, the Porsche plunged forwards with a pretty high speed. The police officers were taken aback at his suicidal action and steered their car to the left while Harry steered his to the opposite direction. The two cars narrowly missing each other. Not wasting any time, Harry accelerated the speed and drove madly ahead while the police car was chasing right behind him. He looked into the rear mirror, when both the speed and distance had met his calculation, Harry suddenly slammed his foot on the brake making the Porsche drag on the street surface before turning an angle of 90 degree, lying across the street. The police car couldn't stop in time at this sudden turn and hit directly into Harry's one, got knocked into the air before landing on back on the street with a few rolls; causing deafening noises before lying dormant after some seconds. The Porsche even though got a few scratches, didn't suffer from any serious damage and its driver was completely luckily unharmed. Harry sat motionless on his seat. Eyes staring at the scene he had cause as sweats started pouring out from his body.
"It-it worked? For Merlin's sake I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I only tried this game on video game, Please don't let anyone get hurt...!"
Just as he saw the officers scrambled out of the car, Harry felt relieved and took up this opportunity to turn the car around and ran for his life. He quietly mouthed a 'sorry'. Great! Resisting arrest huh? His name would probably be shining in the outlaw list right now.
...
A little bit later he saw the Humvee approaching him slowly, obviously was running out of petrol. He made a wide U-Turn and stopped the Porsche right in front of the Humvee. Harry jumped out, opened the door for Hermione, picked up Teddy and transferring all stuffs in her car to his.
"Get on Hermione, there's police car near by!"
Harry threw Teddy to the back seat and buckled him up then got back to the driver's seat. Hermione had already got on beside him. The Porsche sprinted away, passing by the deep forests and leaving behind all the fear and death itself.
-o-
"Harry! Hermione! There you are!"
Neville raced towards Harry, throwing his arm on his friend's shoulder with an incredibly excited tone in his voice.
"It wasn't easy. You left too subtle a sign to see..." - Hermione smiled as Neville came up and hugged her in his arms too.
"Hi Teddy!" - Neville looked down at the boy then looked up and noticed that Harry was shaking his head, implying that Teddy was the only one came here with them.
"Hi uncle Longbotong..."
"It's Longbottom!" - Hermione corrected.
The boy looked up at Hermione with a wide mischievous grin.
"How are you doing, uncle Longbotong?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. That little brat was teasing her and she obviously wouldn't bite the bait. So she went on and completely ignored the so-called precious son of her best friend.
Neville smiled at Teddy before continuing with his story:
"Come on! Everyone is over there."
-o-
Neville led the three of them to the camp area. They had chosen a location near to top of the hill, surrounded by woodland and a small stream. Harry could see that the group had set up six tents and gathered a few of firewood piles.
The first person Harry saw was Draco Malfoy with that usual cockiness on his face but today there was also a look of angriness as well. Draco was sitting in front of a tent and poking at the ground with a dry stick seemingly bored.
"You wouldn't expect it, Harry... but Malfoy came here with...Luna." - Neville said.
"Really? How did..." - Harry's eyes widened.
"I don't know..." - Neville shrugged - "But Malfoy clearly wasn't pleased with that fact."
Harry laughed, apparently it had been a really long time since he last laughed. Amid all the bad things that were going on with no place to be safe...finding a friend and joking with said friend about other friends made Harry felt relieved.
"Hey everyone! Harry and Hermione came!"
From inside the tents, friends started coming out and it seemed that Neville didn't inform them prior of their sudden visit. Luna stepped forwards and hugged Hermione before she turned to peck Harry on the cheek. The girl then looked at them with her usual dreamy eyes and distant smile without any further comment. Following Luna, Augusta hugged the two as well while she whispered soft thank you to Merlin for his blessing on their safe return. Harry looked over Augusta's shoulder and saw Draco standing up. His face clearly got that 'oh-no-not-again' look when their eyes met. Good, the feeling was mutual. Pansy Parkinson was standing on that Slytherin's prince side with arms crossed over her chest and squinting her eyes at Hermione. His bushy hair friend had never been one to accept defeat easily, threw a hateful glance back at the other lady.
Women… Harry sighed.
"Potter! Can't believe you made it here all in one piece!" - Draco stepped forward, greeting the superior of the superior of his superior with an insult.
"Piece of cake. And look, aren't you the one surprising me most now? Surviving three full days out there with no one to boss around. Whoa, the miracle of 21st century." - Harry smirked, wondering if this was a harsh twist of fate. Why was his life always stuck with that Slytherin ferret?
"Then you'd better wait. More surprises will come." - Draco, even though irritated by Harry's comeback, fought to keep that usual smirk on his lips. He then walked straight to where he was sitting earlier.
"Harry..." - Hermione approached him, glancing her eyes at six strangers who were sitting huddled in a corner of the farm, obviously Muggles.
"What should I do with them...?" - Harry gave her his puppy face which always worked anytime he asked her to let him copy her homework.
"Okay...Okay...Stop that!" - Hermione surrendered - "Here, take your precious son!" - Said Hermione before she pushed Teddy back to Harry's arms and walked to their reluctant companions.
Harry grinned. Who would be better to deal with people than Hermione?
-o-
While Hermione set off on her diplomatic mission, Harry led Teddy closer to the tents.
"Are there enough tents for everyone, Neville?"
"Yeah...I guess, I gathered them on my way here...you know, the supermarkets and shops have plenty of stocks..." - Neville said, hint of guilty on his eyes -"Well not exactly plenty if everybody has the same idea as us." - He said, one hand rubbing a bruise on his left eye that Harry could only guess was due to a fight with others while Neville was out getting all these things.
"You did your best, Neville. And you did that for the best interest of those who are living." - Harry patted his friend - "How's the tent arrangement?"
"As you can see, right now the six Muggles are staying together in those two tents over there. My grandma and me stay next to them. Malfoy's one is the one in front of us. Parkinson insisted that she would not share a tent with Luna so they each take one of the remaining two. Time for another arrangement, I guess?"
"So...Parkinson, I hope you don't mind sharing a tent with Luna!" - Harry politely turned to Pansy when she was whispering something to Draco.
The girl rolled her eyes in a very unpleasant way, but still nodded - "Ok!"
It was easier to negotiate in time of crisis. Harry thought.
"But if she tries to bring in any strange creature, I'll kick her out." - Pansy added.
Well, it wasn't as easy as he had thought. Harry took back his comment.
Then Harry took Teddy to where Draco was sitting. He really didn't want to, but Harry didn't want to leave open any opportunity which Draco could use to criticize that Teddy wasn't educated properly either.
"Say hi to your uncle!"
The boy nestled closer to Harry's legs, mouth shut tight and gave Draco a discontent look.
"No need. I can't figure out the exact relationship between me and that kid so I'd better off not having such distant relative."
Harry looked from the big guy to the small guy in front of and behind him. They were definitely relatives. Both were unbelievably stubborn. Back to the tent issue, if Harry stayed with Teddy, then Draco would stay with Hermione? No way in hell he would let that happen. Then Harry thought of putting Teddy and Draco together, relatives they were, so Hermione and he...well, could stay in the other tent. No big deal, he guessed, back then the two used to share a tent when they were seventeen and were on really on good terms, no fighting at all... but with the way things went right now...it seemed that both reasonable and unreasonable reasons were deemed invalid. And Harry had to curse himself for having such inappropriate thought of Hermione, even just for a brief moment there. Harry sighed before he spoke up.
"Since there's no other choice, I'll share the tent with you, Malfoy. And Teddy, you could stay with auntie Hermione!"
"But I want to stay with you, daddy!" - the boy pouted, clinging to his legs stubbornly.
Draco squinted, threw a scornful look at father and son, then went to the tent without saying anything.
"Sleeping with Hermione isn't that bad, son. She will tell you many stories, she knows a lot of good ones!" - Harry coaxed the boy.
"...Such as the one about a certain trio wandering around the castle at night, looking for a three-headed dog huh?"
Harry startled, since when had Hermione been standing behind him with her arms crossed and watching the amused negotiation between him and Teddy? He smiled sheepishly at her.
"Er...How's your diplomatic mission going?" - Harry asked curiously.
"They now know who we are, and not really uncomfortable to be exact. We have reached a deal though. They understand that it'd be safer to travel in number so they agree that all should stay together but try to limit the interference with the other group." - Hermione reported.
"Great! I also settled the tent issue!"
"I know..." - Hermione looked down at Teddy and gave him a smile that said you-do-not-have-any-choice-honey.
So the boy, of course, continued to hold on to his dad's legs with a discontent face.
As for the rest of the day, everyone were working together to reinforce the camp and dividing the food ration. The men set up the alarm wires, allocated personnel to keep watch while the women prepared food and did the laundry. Each had their own respective task to do. While a few were not too happy with it, most cooperated.
-o-
Those were the longest three days in Hermione's life. When she went into the tent and lay down on the makeshift mattress, the moon had risen high up there. The solitary cold air enveloped them as darkness fell, all the dangers that were lurking somewhere out there without any known way to detect; the more crowded they were, the easier they were discovered; the hellish predators that were always hungry, and always on the hunt to kill; it was a world that one could only kill or be killed; when all of the suffocating events temporarily lay down, only then did Hermione allow the poignant feeling inside her to resurface.
She missed Ron, she missed Ron so much. Every time she was down, he had always been there to cheer her up, he didn't have much success though, but it was the thought that counted and Hermione couldn't deny that she did indeed feel better when he was around. Life seemed to be less stressful and everything was pretty simple in his eyes. Now that Ron was gone...there was something bitter lumping in her throat that Hermione found so hard to swallow. She squeezed her eyes tightly, preventing the tears from flowing out and exposing her weakness to the outer world.
"Auntie Instant-Noodle..."
"Auntie Hermione!" - Teddy's soft voice pulled Hermione out of her thoughts and immediately she corrected him for the thousand times. Someday she would have to sit down and seriously talk to Harry about Teddy and this ridiculous nickname. But not now, not this time, especially when he was sitting cross-legged, looking at her with watery eyes, the usual mischievous gleam was no longer there.
Hermione startled, she sat up and pulled him closer to her.
"What's wrong honey? What's the matter? Are you feeling ok? Are you hurt? Want me to call your dad…?"
"Teddy miss grandma. Teddy want grandma.." - He wept.
Hermione stared at him blankly. It was the first time she ever saw Teddy like that. He was a nosy, mischievous and stubborn child who always took every single opportunity to drive her crazy which she wasn't sure from whom did he take after that trait. But right now, he was a lone frightened child who went from having a cozy home to being pushed out on the run as life kept getting worse and worse, having to witness things that a kid at his age shouldn't have to. Hermione gently stroked his cheek and gave him a reassuring smile:
"Your grandmother is at a far far away place right now, so Teddy...you must stay here and wait for her. Be a good boy. Be brave. Maybe someday you'll see her again."
The boy nodded, his tears threatening to fall down again.
"But I can't sleep. I feel uncomfortable... I'm scared..."
"Then why don't we have some bedtime stories reading. Or we can play some games before you go to sleep."
At that moment, Hermione felt like she was an angel. She was coaxing a child to sleep - a mission that Hermione had always found impossible. But looked at her right now, wasn't she successful in calming him down and Teddy looked like he was really obedient. Tomorrow, Harry would be surprised, definitely. But about an hour later, her dream shattered completely as Hermione started to regret her offer to the kid.
-o-
"What's wrong, Hermione?" - Harry gave her a concerned look as he finished his night watch and switching shift with Draco.
"What?" - Hermione grumpily questioned back.
"Didn't you sleep last night at all? Your face looks..."
"Why don't you take that question to your precious son, huh? I had to stay up all night and did all sorts of things to console him; from telling stories to playing puzzles to even singing. All night, Harry, all night!" - Hermione burst.
Ah, so the moaning he heard several times last night weren't the sound of wolf howling but of Hermione's singing?
Harry was about to ask but when he saw Hermione's bloodshot eyes, he decided to get rid of that suicide thought. Nope!Definitely not a good idea at all. He turned, took a quick glance at Teddy who was now hopping and jumping around with Luna; so Hermione had found someone to take care of that 'tiny mischievous trouble' huh? And it amazed him how the boy could manage to be full of life after all night long?
"I guess you should go to sleep then...It's Luna and Draco's shift this morning. Let Luna play with Teddy."
"And you too. You had stayed up all night keeping watch." - Hermione rubbed her weary eyes.
"Sure. I'll rest after I've discussed a few more things with Neville!" - Harry massaged Hermione's shoulders as he pushed her back to the tent -"Be a good girl, get some sleep! Oh right...I almost forgot. Here! This is for you!" - He reached into his backpack and grinned at her as he slid a brand new box of tooth brush into her hand, with a mini tube of toothpaste too - "I found it at the garage."
He winked as she gave him a radiant smile, whispering thank you while giving him a quick peck on the cheek - "Sweet dream!"
"You too!"
After he had finished his discussion with Neville, Harry decided it was high time he needed his bed, if not sleep then at least rest because his back had begun protesting after such a long period of just standing and sleeping sitting up. When he lay down, the feeling of gentleness suddenly appeared out of nowhere and invaded his body, making Harry close his eyes and fall asleep immediately.
-o-
Draco was sitting alone under a tree with a stick that had been carved sharply on one end and looking around him, everything seemed quiet. He suddenly remembered his parents, even though the Malfoy family bond had never been one of the thing he could be proud of, Draco couldn't help feeling worried, he really needed to know if the disease had spread to where they were on vacation, or if they had been warned of this and escaped. Draco had never been one that let his emotion get the best of him, but this time sense of loss was spreading inside him with a pace not slower than this disease and it kept pulling him back to all those horrendous thoughts.
Draco sighed, casting a closer look at Luna and Teddy who were playing hide and seek not far away from the edge of the forest. Should he stop them? It wasn't smart to wander around near the woods right now. Phooey...why cared? That wasn't his business anyway, and Luna Lovegood… she might have had some mental issue, but she wasn't exactly stupid either.
To be continued …
A/N: After this chapter, it's clear to you who auntie Instant-Noodle is, right? The idea was originally came from her bushy hair and we twisted it into a comical and childish look. But we love the idea of our reader who thought that was due to her bad cooking skill. Well, it's true in a way, ha ha. And since this is just our off-screen explanation, you are free to think of any reason behind Teddy's idea to nickname her in the official context.
We hope you enjoy this chapter as more characters joined in the run for their lives. :D
