Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 34
Harry carefully climbed over the next fence, trying to make as little noise as possible, but it wasn't easy the fence rattled each move he took, getting worse the higher up he got. Once he was at the top, he slid his hand into his pocket to retrieve the Pliers, grunting slightly, as he tried to keep himself steady, using his full strength he used his right hand to cut away at the barbed wire, wincing when it caught him in the face. Blood oozed out of the newly created wound, his green eyes glanced around worriedly, he knew they were drawn to the smell of blood, and the noise would only make them more determined. Once he was sure he would be back on the ground before anything attacked him, he slid his left leg over before swinging his body then right leg before scaling down, and his dismount wasn't as smooth as his last one as fatigue began to set in. He ended up on his backside, after his leg bucked under his weight.
"Harry!" Sophia called out, concerned for him.
"Are you alright?" Andrea, Dale and Amy all asked, talking over each other.
"Shit," Harry grumbled, slowing standing up, using the fence to push himself up, keeping his weight off his throbbing leg, slowly stretching it out a bit at a time until some of the pain abated. "I'm fine," he stated shaking his head in annoyance. This was child's play; he'd been hurt way worse over the years.
"How's your leg?" Luna asked, watching him ride out the pain, a little fall wasn't going to kill him, and she knew Harry didn't do well with being hounded over something so trivial. Hell he'd fallen a hell of a lot further from his broomsticks after being attacked from Dementors and walked out of the hospital wing the next day probably in pain but refusing to show it.
"It's not broken, thankfully," Harry told her, tentatively placing his weight on it a grimace spilling on his face. This was the last thing he needed right now, they had a lot to do, so he pushed his pain aside, and began to make his way over to the second gate, trusting the brothers and Luna to have his back if anything came at him, he didn't have his compound bow with him this time. He'd left it on his floor before he climbed the fence. As an afterthought he added, "Stay at that side, we can't risk any broken bones, the ground isn't as even as the other side." this fence was electric as well, so the chances were of a crank being in place was big.
Harry sighed in relief when the pain dimmed further; he knew it was going to hurt like a bitch later though. He tried to keep as much weight off it as possible regardless. The others he noticed were moving with him, ready to open the gate; he glanced behind him just to be on the safe side. Once he was at the crank lever, he began to pull down, having to put more and more of his strength into getting it to move, but once it got started it was a little easier, only a little though Harry thought grunting as he finally heard the gate moving he sighed and leaned against the fence. Waiting on everyone coming in, his green eyes keeping an eye on everything, he knew better than to let his guard down.
Everyone scrambled to the vehicles Luna much to everyone's surprise jumped into Daryl's trunk, prompting Daryl to give her a confused look but jump in and drive in nonetheless.
"Give this to Harry when nobody is nearby," Luna stated pressing it into his hand, handing him the less half full vial of pain reliever mixed in with a muscle relaxant. Anymore would make him drowsy and not able to react accordingly not something she wanted not with an unknown amount of walkers in the area. "He won't take anything if I don't force him." Luna added seeing the look on his face. "He'll try and insist he's had worse or that the potions should be kept for worse things. I don't want to see him taken down by a damn walker if his leg acts up."
Daryl smirked and nodded in agreement, it was his observation as well, admittedly it had been later he'd put all the pieces together. That is what he did, observed his surroundings. He'd had absolutely everyone at the quarry pegged within a few days, one of those days he had been out hunting. Most of them he knew wouldn't survive long; they were too scared, too fragile at least mentally to endure this new world for long. They'd constantly complain about things they missed, each and every day and had the audacity to think things would go back to normal sooner or later. Dale had been high up on that list, while Amy had gone further down when she began training. Carol was another one he hadn't expected to survive, but she'd proved him wrong. The majority were all too full of themselves though, smug and superior some more than others. Seeing the majority of the people die in the quarry during that attack had been the wake up call they needed made them even more fearful and scared. Even Shane had been terrified beneath his cocky demeanour, and as time went on he had gotten steadily and progressively more pronounced but he had what it took to survive though, him and Rick. The only one who had remained unafraid from the get go, was Harry. Even Merle had been scared although you'd never notice unless you knew him well enough, which of course he did, he was his brother after all. Who wouldn't be with what was happening, the dead coming back to eat you and turn you into one of them, it was the stuff of nightmares.
Harry had endured the pain of an arrow wound for over a month while it healed without taking anything. He obviously hadn't been able to take anything due to his magic reacting but it wasn't until they were all at the quarry he'd found out about his potions supply, and the fact he had potions that would have helped him. Harry certainly hadn't hesitated to give him potions when he required them. He'd had Harry pegged wrong in the beginning though, he'd assumed he was one of those city boys, it was obvious with the clothes he'd been wearing he was well off, and the way he spoke was also a bigger give away well other than the obvious he wasn't from around here. He'd come off as impassive, then Daryl noticed that he was observing them, watching them right back and he'd realised they were a little similar. Then three days after he'd been hurt Harry had asked to learn how to hunt, he'd been too weak (and in too much pain) to do much to begin with so he had started showing him how to skin mostly rabbits and squirrels. He'd skinned two himself, and then handed one to Harry. Only for Harry to get it right the first time, not perfect mind, but he didn't have anything to complain about - not that he would have that was more of his brother's area of expertise. In that short window Harry had earned his respect.
"Incoming," Harry stated sharply, hearing them before he saw them, glancing to his left to see Sophia clutching at his back terrified. "Hey, remember our training?" Harry said placing a hand on his shoulder, "You have the means to fight them Sophia, don't let fear get the better of you, while fear can help us, it can hinder us too."
"You said not to use guns, I don't want to be too close to them," Sophia confessed her blue eyes still wide but her fear was receding just slightly at Harry's confident nature and words.
"Then I will find you something you can use afterwards, but there may come a time when you need to get near them to defend yourself," Harry promised, "Now show me what you've learned," he told her, unsheathing her gun he put it into her hand giving her a serious nod. Twisting to his right when he felt something being pressed into him, giving another nod of gratitude he loaded his compound bow, and both he and Daryl used what arrows they had in taking some of them out before they got closer.
Sophia then took three shots of her own, concentrating desperately, trying not to let the fear get the better of her like Harry suggested she wanted to be brave like him. Elation flowed through her when she hit all three of her targets head on. She automatically looked towards Harry for praise just as any child would from her father.
"Well done, Sophia that was perfect." Harry said proudly, his green eyes gleaming, "Alright, let's deal with the rest of them, stick together, do not under any circumstances deviate unless its vital for your survival or another member of the group." unsheathing his daggers, he moved forward the rest of the group moved with him. Not that there were too many, two each if they were lucky depending on whether anymore came through that damn gate, they had to get that gate shut. This would give them confidence in dealing with walkers up close, vital in case they ever came upon a larger herd.
Harry was able to swiftly and quickly deal with his own, as did Daryl, Luna and Merle, Harry then observed everyone else, the first thing he noticed was that they had a lot of anger. But it was Andrea's actions that made him grit his teeth. "Whoa, whoa, what the fuck are you doing?" Harry snapped, quickly making his way over and stabbing the walkers Andrea was supposed to deal with. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"What?" Andrea was genuinely taken aback by Harry's words.
"You know very well how the hell to take care of the walkers, kicking and punching them isn't going to do the trick!" Harry reprimanded, "It gets you distracted so another one can get to you or better yet for that one to grab a hold! All it takes is a single scratch! Never hesitate or feel the need to take your frustrations out on them. You kill them quickly and as swiftly as possible and avoid someone else getting killed for your mistakes." with that said, Harry stalked away and began to yank out his bows from the heads of the walkers, which didn't take long due to the fact he only had four, four slots to place them in, he didn't have his quiver with him. He was able to differentiate their arrows, his were all blue and white while Daryl had a combination of green and red, white and red and even a few handmade ones with feathers both new and old before the apocalypse.
Wiping them he affixed them to his crossbow again, slinging it across his back he walked away from the group. What the hell had she been thinking? Kicking and punching at a walker while everyone around her tried to get rid of them. Was she seriously trying to get herself killed? Them all killed?
"Wait a minute, you can't just say things like that and walk away," Andrea protested going after Harry, and incidentally Anubis who was following Harry. "Not without allowing me to defend myself!"
Luna groaned, now Harry would tell the whole truth and make her feel really bad. She should have just left well enough alone, shrugging her shoulders she just sighed. Perhaps it was for the best really, she had to learn if she wanted to survive. He'd been watching her quite stunned herself. Any walker near her already dispatched, she loved the sword Hermione had given her a great deal. Merle had been pretty much the same; he was fast with a blade.
Harry choked out an incredulous bark of laughter, as he turned to her, "You think you can defend what you just did?" he asked her starting aghast.
Andrea gazed at Harry cautiously, "I was only doing what you asked."
Dale opened his mouth to try and defend Andrea, but Luna lay a hand on his arm, sombrely shaking her head. There was a time and place for everything, and now wasn't the time to try and get in the way. Andrea had brought this upon herself by opening her mouth; she had to know to learn how to live in this post-apocalyptic world.
"When exactly did I say feel free to kick and punch at them in hopes of getting yourself scratched or bitten? You need to think before you act! How do you think your sister would fare if you ended up dying because of stupidity?!" Harry stated calmly, despite his annoyance at what happened.
"Don't. Do not bring Amy into this." Andrea replied vehemently, wondering when it had all gone to shit. "You said yourself that we would have to fight them that Sophia would have to fight them."
"Of course she will! She's shorter than all of us here! She needs to kick them on their arse to deal with them until she's taller!" Harry cried out exasperated. "You have absolutely no excuse for what you just did, how the hell can I trust you to have anyone's back let alone mine? Because let me tell you, after seeing that I wouldn't want you to have my back even if we were the last two standing." she made mistake after mistake, he tried to remind himself that he had as well, but he'd been a kid back then, a pre-teen and a teenager not an adult.
Andrea felt as though she'd just been slapped, stepping back from Harry worse still she could see the disappointment radiating from him. He shouldn't be able to affect her like that, she was older than him, and she had nothing she could say in her defence. It would have been easier to bear if he had been shouting, illogical, but he wasn't, he was calm, precise and she knew he was telling the truth, he would never trust her to have his back.
The others just watched awkwardly, stepping from foot to foot not sure what to do or say especially in situations like these.
Harry ignored all the looks and jogged towards Daryl's truck and unshrunk his trunk, which was easy to do since the truck side was bigger than his trunk itself. Opening it he shifted everything around until he found the padlocks and chains, it was just a temporary measure until he had the entire prison secured. In the meantime these things would make sure nothing surprising came their way.
"We ain't gonna need them," Merle told Harry, his brow slightly puckered.
"Not for long, it's just until we find the keys, albeit IF we find them, we have no idea what's on the inside the guards might have ran and we might literally have to drill our way in." Harry explained, "It's just for this one, so we know that this bit is secure, we'll be heading in that door in a few minutes from there I won't have a clue where I'm going…" he said sardonically, ruefully shrugging his shoulders.
Dale pressed an old wrinkled had on Andrea's, giving her a small sympathetic smile letting her know he was always on her side, no matter what happened. Andrea just stared blankly ahead, processing everything Harry had said to her.
"Should I get a permanent marker? So we know where we are going and how to get back out?" Luna suggested.
"Maybe spray paint?" Carol suggested.
"We have spray paint?" Harry asked bemused.
"I think so, one can of it for certain," Carol explained.
"I have my crayon set? It will be easy to wipe off if we don't need it anymore?" Sophia suggested, yes she was too old for crayons but even colouring in helped stave off the immense boredom of having absolutely nothing to do. That and she'd had to do her school work on crayons when it was all that was left.
"Good suggestion but they break too easily," Harry commended her, "If there's only one can there's no point to using it, might come in handy to have a few but that can wait…I guess a permanent marker it is," praying that it was in fact an actual permanent marker and not something magical.
"I'll be right back," Luna said quickly making her way to the RV where her trunk had been stored.
Harry gave Merle a look, gesturing with his eyes, telling him to go with her.
Merle nodded before he followed Luna, having a good idea why Harry had asked him to go. Luna didn't know much about normal stuff; Harry was just worried she would reveal something magical to them without even realizing it. After spending a week with her he knew it to be true.
"You're right," Andrea admitted, not quite meeting anyone's eyes.
"Just learn from it and move on, okay?" Harry said honestly, smirking a little in respect giving her a nod of approval for that at least. Having the guts to admit your mistakes wasn't easy; hopefully she wouldn't make such a stupid mistake again. Turning back he noticed Luna and Merle returning, and true to Luna's word she did have markers with her. She must have picked them up during one of the scavenges.
Surprise flittered over her face before she relaxed and nodded back, relieved beyond belief.
"Get ready, we don't know what the hell is waiting on us in here," Harry said, trying to see in the window but having no luck, it was disgusting and grimy, possibly even boarded up at the other side. Listening for a few seconds, he heard nothing, tensing he swung the door open; in the darkness he could hear the groaning.
"We should use flashlights," Daryl stated, glancing around trying to pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from.
"I agree," Harry muttered, "It's too dangerous to do this in the dark," if only he could just use his damn magic the entire hall would have already been lighting up. With that they did come at him, but he had his knife slicing through their head before they could so much as properly grab him. Merle had the other one they'd heard embedded in the wall, within a few seconds, before yanking his sword back out causing it to fall to the floor, "Thankfully I've got ones that will light the prison up quite well." he had about twenty to thirty torches, around ten of them large enough to light up the corridor no problem as he said.
Luna sighed in silent agitation, and Harry knew why, for he was beginning to feel it too, things would be so much easier with magic.
I was actually able to fit more Daryl thoughts into this surprisingly! didn't think it would work :) and also the lack of ability in using magic is beginning to take its toll on Luna and Harry. this part about Andrea mostly comes from the part where the others go and batter the hell out of the walkers using shovels in farming equipment after Dale's funeral in the series...i thought it was stupid and i half expected one of them to get killed/hurt by being idiots and not just taking care of them right away! obviously once they have the prison things will slow down and i'll be able to work more on the pairing...:D it's going to be fun! and I'm honestly not sure whether I'm being sarcastic or not :P LMAO! R&R please