Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 8
Daylight soon immersed the quarry, showing the destruction of what had happened last night; Walkers and their own dead littered their camp. The silence was welcoming to Harry, before all this happened there would be planes and helicopters zooming by, birds tweeting, cars going by, horns honking the whole nine yards. Now all was silent, it was as if the entire world was on pause, animals, people, tried to get around in utter silence in fear of being discovered. Despite his worry that nobody would sleep, everyone had dropped off at one point or another, probably after the adrenaline rush had left them shaken. Harry didn't know many of them, he kept himself to himself, and in fact he couldn't in all honesty tell you the names of those that died except Ed - Carol's husband. They were good people; at least they seemed to be, but Harry more than anyone else knew looks could be deceiving. Still they hadn't deserved to die, none of them did but the world had gone to hell. Harry heard moving around in the RV before the door opened but he didn't glance down to see who it was.
"Have you been up there all night son?" Dale asked, staring up at Harry who was on watch, he looked exhausted. His hand was up trying to keep the glare of the sun from his eyes as he watched the young man.
"Yep," Harry replied finally glancing down, giving him a firm nod before going back to watching for any sign of those diseased ridden corpses.
"I'll take the woods today," Dale suggested, feeling guilty that they'd all slept and Harry had remained awake and vigilant against the walkers. Grabbing a bottle of water from the RV he moved up the ladder his pace slow but sure, once he was on the top he handed over the water, concern playing across his face before he took one of the rifles. "Drink that, we can't have you getting dehydrated." the young man was no doubt unused to their weather, from what he knew about Britain they didn't get as much sun as they did.
"Alright," Harry replied, "Be careful," he added, they'd suffered enough without losing another person so soon. Everyone in camp liked Dale, he was a fatherly figure to them all, and mostly Andrea and Amy, he thought of them like daughters he never had. He didn't have any malicious intentions, in fact as far as Harry was able to make out reading surface thoughts he didn't have a bad thing to say about anyone or a bad thought as it may be. He watched him disappear into the tree line, picking up the binoculars keeping an eye on him, trying and failing to convince himself that he didn't care he was just being extra cautious.
Narrowing his eyes when he noticed him stopping, was it a walker? Looking along he found him right next to Shane who had his weapon raised only to blanch slightly, he had it raised to Rick's back, his entire body trembling as if he was getting up the guts to fire on him. Shane was hot tempered a crappy leader but he had never thought for a second he actually had homicidal tendencies. It would bear further looking into, he didn't want to dismiss it and end up on the receiving end. Well, the moment had passed for now, he realized as he saw Rick, Shane and Dale making their way back. He continued to watch Shane's back; if he had to he would have no qualms about putting the bastard down, even Death Eaters had the guts to fight face to face and not shoot once your back was turned.
When Harry turned back he blinked, it seemed everyone was coming out of the woodworks now, getting ready for the hectic day ahead of them. Nobody was going to the quarry for water, or making food, truthfully he didn't think anyone would be able to eat anything; the smell of the dead was permeating the air making it utterly rancid. They should eat though, they had no idea how long they'd be on the road before they came across shops that had foodstuff still on its shelves. He couldn't be giving out too much from his trunk without questions being raised over how it was able to house so much stuff. Stretching his stiff muscles, he sighed softly, he couldn't remain in this cramped position for very much longer, murmuring Latin under his breath, he lips quirked a little before he drank the now cold water, as if it had just come straight from a fridge. Sighing softly, he stood up, stretching some more before he made quick work of getting down the ladders.
He jogged over to his tent, ducking inside and zipping the tent back up, he opened his trunk and pulled out a box of cereal bars, it would have to do. Opening a different compartment he pulled out a bandana a rueful smile on his face, he was a wizard, he could get rid of smells, yet he was resorting to bandanas to keep the smell from overwhelming him. Sometimes he wondered if he hadn't made a mistake and should have kept himself in his own community, but he knew he wouldn't have learnt what he needed to survive if he hadn't met the brothers as accidental as that had been. Suffered for it too, but wasn't that the story of his life? Grabbing a brush he put his hair up, a few tresses fell down, but most of it remained up, there wasn't much of a pony tail to speak off, but given time there would be. He hadn't cut his hair in a long time. Locking the trunk back up, he grabbed the full unopened box of cereal bars and wandered out of his tent.
"Oh, thank you," Carol said as she saw him place the food on the floor beside the fire pit which wasn't lit. She had been extremely anxious about getting something at least for Sophia who was extremely hungry, along with all the other kids in camp but they were still squirreled away in the RV.
"I would say I'm sorry about what happened to Ed, but I'm not, he out of all the people here had it coming, maybe now we will all get to see the real Carol." Harry teased her, paying no mind to the fresh tear tracks but glad he could at least get a half-hearted chuckle out of her. "Go on then, best get them to the kids, they're bound to be starving."
"You are very protective of them," Carol commented, as she ripped open the cardboard box.
"Yes," Harry nodded his agreement, glancing sideways when a pickaxe was placed beside him, gloves on the handle he didn't need to look up to know it was Daryl by the shoes.
"Did you have any of your own before this happened?" Carol asked quietly as she picked up some of the cereal bars.
"No, no I didn't," Harry said a far away look on his face, just had a godson, Teddy, who hadn't lived to see his first birthday. Andromeda and Teddy had been attacked; they suspected by a few remaining Death Eaters who'd escaped from Hogwarts without being brought to justice. The house had been completely destroyed as well, worse than his own house in Godric's Hollow had been when he was a child. They'd been caught, sent to Azkaban, now they were probably Walkers now, slowly starving to death locked behind bars. It had hurt Harry when Teddy died, made him close himself off from the world further. Now as much as he hated to say it, maybe it was a good thing, this world…it was no place for a kid, how long did the group think they could honestly protect four kids? He just knew he would do whatever it took to protect them as best as he was able.
"You comin'?" Daryl hollered bringing Harry out of his thoughts, it wasn't the first time he'd seen Harry space out like that, he did it a lot, Merle thought it was post traumatic stress disorder. The nightmares he had, the avoidance in talking about it, the fact he rarely showed what he was feeling by numbing himself all emotion. The way he would just stare off as if he was caught in some sort of Flashback.
Harry nodded grimly, grabbing a cereal bar and opening it, quickly scoffing it down with one hand, his other holding the heavy pickaxe. He was exhausted, but as always he continued on. The next hour was utterly disgusting; as they made sure every single walker there was actually dead, by slamming the axe down into their heads. Meanwhile Jim and Morales set a fire going over the first walkers they'd done.
"Our people go over there!" Glenn snapped when he saw Daryl and Morales trying to put one of their own into the truck to be dispatched into the flames. "Did you hear me?!"
"Glenn!" Harry shouted sharply, bringing the boy out of his hysterics. "What the hell is wrong with you? It was agreed before any of this happened that the walkers would be burnt." he wandered over to the boy, wondering if he needed a calming draught or something. Last night had shaken them all, but it seemed to be getting to Glenn more than most.
"They aren't just walkers! They're our own they deserve better!" Glenn argued, wiping his eyes, whether it was sweat or tears Harry didn't know.
Harry's hand went to Glenn's shoulder, gripping him tightly, "People cremate their own all the time, it's not a sign of disrespect, giving them a burial wont make you feel any better about what's happened here. If this virus can be wiped out we must do all we can to ensure that it cannot be brought back by burying the infected."
"You don't believe that though," Glenn argued, his mind taken off what had to be done at least temporarily.
"Glenn the human race has gone through hell numerous times, but guess what? We always come through, desperation makes for wonderful incentive. One day they will find a cure, until then well all we can do is avoid the walkers and survive." Harry told him grimly. Maybe finding out more about the Walkers was a good thing, this virus; it could help Hermione, Luna, Neville, Draco and Severus back at Hogwarts which was still on lockdown. All of them were down in the chamber of secrets having set up a lab and kept themselves cut off from everyone while they tried to work it out (Hermione's idea of course, and since they knew the word for open they had gotten in effortlessly). Relying on him for information from the outside world, what he knew about the walkers and things. Maybe the CDC would have information he could give the others, but there was no way that place could be still up and running. He knew it, but he also knew Rick was determined to go. "They must be burnt for the sake of us all, they can still be mourned, still be given respect it just means handling them with care."
Glenn nodded at a loss, knowing he was right sort of punched the fight out of him. He gave Harry a half hearted smile as he squeezed his shoulder in comfort before he let go.
Harry nodded at Morales, and both of them hoisted the body from the truck, and added it to the pile of dead bodies that lay smouldering in the flames unable to reanimate due to the fact their brains had been beaten in by the pickaxes. Male and female, they hadn't lost any children though and that was one of the most important things in Harry's opinion, they more than anything else were the future of their doomed race. Merle was right behind him adding another body to pile grumbling under his breath the entire time. Harry just ignored it as he usually did when it came to Merle's grumblings. He did notice it wasn't as bad as usual though, but he suspected it was due to the fact he wasn't higher than a kite.
Once the last body was removed from the truck Merle started it, ready to go back to the clearing to remove the last of the bodies. Morales and Glenn jumped in as well, and Harry swiftly jumped into the back, giving it a few thumps so Merle knew to move the car. It was something he started doing when he observed Daryl and Merle doing it, now it was habit.
This time would be the last, there were only a few more bodies to put in the trunk, thankfully Rick and Daryl took over, Harry honestly didn't know if his arms could carry anyone else. As always Shane was just walking around, not even trying to help.
"Here," Merle said, throwing the keys at him which Harry caught expertly.
"Why?" Harry asked curiously, arching an eyebrow.
"You can drive," Merle grunted, he'd driven twice now someone else could do it he'd done his part.
"I can't drive," Harry told him, becoming aware that absolutely everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at him in disbelief. "What?" he snapped defensively, uncomfortable with all the looks he was getting.
"What age are you?" Glenn asked in disbelief.
"Twenty-one," Harry replied still on the defensive.
"How many times have you failed?" Shane asked in amusement, eyes gleaming wickedly.
"Never even had a lesson," Harry shook his head.
"Did you leave school early?" Rick asked.
"What does school have to do with it?" Harry enquired peeved.
"You get driving lessons while in school," Glenn said but it was more of a question.
"Not from Britain you don't," Harry replied finally understanding their looks. "You need to be seventeen or eighteen to drive, and you have to get the lessons yourself."
"Get in," Merle grunted, giving him a nudge towards the car, by a nudge that meant nearly ploughing Harry to the ground with his weight and bulk.
"I don't think Daryl will appreciate me fucking up his truck," Harry told Merle once they were in it.
"You won't be going fast enough to," Merle told him, then he went on to tell Harry about everything important about the car and it took him all of a minute or two. The gears, the hand break, lights, things he would or could need, then he instructed him to put the keys in the ignition and guided him into driving the car to same spot as before. Then guided him in how to stop it in his usual no nonsense voice.
Harry turned to face Merle once the truck stopped, "Thank you," he said honestly, giving a rare grin of real delight. Seeing how uncomfortable the older guy was getting, he jumped out hoisting his bandana up over his mouth again and he got to the messy work of putting the last of the walkers into the fire Merle joined him and before long they were finally done.
It didn't take them long to return to the others, who were sitting about discussing who knows what. He ambled over to his tent and grabbed a few bottles of water and made his way back beside Merle and Daryl. Handing them out, keeping one for himself, leaning against the truck he turned to Daryl after drinking half his bottle. "What do you think of the whole CDC thing?" he asked him, as always surprise filtered through those blue eyes, he noticed not even Merle asked his opinion just made it for him it was why Harry asked him things - to see where his opinion differed. He knew both boys were different, even though Daryl tried to play the part as Merle. It was natural though, Merle was his big brother and younger brothers always looked up and tried to imitate their older brothers.
Daryl just shrugged his shoulders, biting at his thumb nail listening to Shane beginning to speak, watching how everyone reacted, he picked up on everything. He knew before Morales opened his mouth and said he wasn't coming; he had stood and listened to everything looking guilty and awkward. Scoffing when Rick and Shane handed over ammo and a gun for the family.
"They've got kids," Harry stated after nudging him, informing him of why Rick and Shane were giving away weapons. "He's got that right." Harry snorted when they both heard Shane muttering that their own chances weren't any better than Morales family for once agreeing with him. There was no sure thing anymore, not since the dead had woken up and claimed the earth as their own.
Harry knelt down when the kids approached him, giving him a hug before they made their way back to their parents. "I hope for their sake you know what you're doing." Harry stated, shaking Morales hand, "Be careful, and take care of your family." he added grimly.
Morales nodded stiffly, having second thoughts but pushing them aside, he was doing this for his family.
There we go! I didn't want to add too much of the words from the series since it just makes it feel dull and repetitive so I hope I succeeded in making it at least a little bit exciting with new and different information despite the fact its happened in probably nearly all FF about the walking dead out there! :D the CDC it is! how many of you are surprised Harry hasn't revealed his magic yet? and by the way he wont for a long time! I've noticed in nearly all stories he shows his hand quite quickly so that's something I want to make different :D just wondering when would be the best time myself any suggestions feel free to chip in ;) only one problem with the story so far Darly isn't one for talking...so getting him to realistically open up is frustrating :D will it be when Sophia is lost that Daryl begins to realize he can't hide his feelings? how will Merle react? ;) R&R please