Welcome back another Friday! As you can see the story is starting to change in a few details but is going to follow the path of the first season. Now I'm working on the second and that's much more different.
I hope you like it!
We where entering the camp when I started to hear a mix of shouting and whimpering.
-What happened?- I asked Amy who was coming with Andrea and Jackie from the bottom of the quarry.
-Shane beat Ed.
-Ed is a son of bitch.- told me Andrea and for the first time I had to agree with her.- And he got what he deserved. He was watching over our shoulders so we wouldn't laugh or have any fun. God forbid we are something more than his maids.
As far as they knew he was in their tent, hiding from everyone. With his face and pride crushed I couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for him, or even to check on him for any serious injuries. He deserved that and worse. I looked at Daryl for a second, our good mood gone now and said bye heading to my tent to preserve and organize the ingredients. I had a cauldron in the bottom of my bag but I just couldn't start making potions in the camp fire like nothing was happening, so I had to look for a way to make my potions in secret.
Carol kept going with her chores during the day, disappearing from time to time to check on Ed while Sophia stayed with Carl and me. Carl had started to follow me around the camp to talk about nothing and everything and far from being annoying it was sweet and endearing. It was like having a little brother. It made me think of how my life could had been. I sat down with them to make sure they were doing their reading, a simple a easy way to keep the anchored to some kind or normalcy. I wondered if giving the circumstances they should learn to use weapons too. I would have to talk to Rick and Carol away from their prying hear. Those kids were nosy.
Merle and Daryl returned after lunch with a few more squirrels which triggered a face of disgust in Lori's face. I couldn't believe her nerve, so I hyped up the kids about a good squirrel soup for dinner, very loudly. I saw how Rick, who usually kept himself away from Merle, went to talk to him. Merle dropped a squirrel from his hands and hold his knife ready to stab someone, starting to walk towards Ed and Carol's tent. But Rick stopped him, he didn't need to touch him or even rise his voice. I got closer to them and listened to what he was saying. Rick didn't stopped talking when he saw me coming, on the contrary, he made me a part of the conversation.
-I'm sure you'll be more than capable of keeping an eye on Ed.- said Rick to Merle.- He wont get closer to Carol or Sophia, ever again. I can't be there all the time, we need to keep running the camp and make sure they are protected from him all the time. I've seen this kind of shit happen before, the husband is beat by another man, he's ashamed, and his wife and kids pay the price. He wont get close to them. Ever again.
-He deserved that.- I said quickly, who knows for how long he had been hurting Carol and Sophia.
-He does.- said Rick to me, a clear look in his eyes. He didn't want me to think he was siding with Ed.- But we should have done this differently, know we have a ticking bomb in our hands. He's like a rabid dog, ready to attack.
-And if he tries…?- asked Merle with an open question.
-Then we'll have to stop him.
I looked at Daryl. I didn't like to appeal to violence to fix every problem, but in this case it was more than justified. He was looking at me with those light blue eyes and I couldn't rip my eyes from them. He had stopped skinning one of the squirrels when Rick approach to talk and now the bloody animal rested in a plastic bucket. The situation should be off putting, right? And still, I felt drawn to him.
Dale chose that moment to shout from the top of the RV. Finally breaking eye contact, we went closer to the RV. Dale informed us about Jim, who had been working for hours in the same spot of the field, digging with a shovel what looked like 5 graves. We all went to look at his work, to talk him out of it.
-Hey Jim. Why don't you hold up, all right? – said Shane in his I'm the leader tone.
-What do you want?- answered Jim.
-We are just concerned.- said Rick, making his voice more gentle, trying to make Jim feel comfortable and I wondered if that was part of this sheriff training kicking out.- Dale says you've been out here for hours. You probably need water, some time to rest.
-Why are you digging, Jim? -said Shane trying to regain the control of the conversation.- Are you heading to China, Jim.
-What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone.
-Except maybe yourself. It's 100 degrees today. You can't keep this up.- said Dale trying to be the voice of the reason, teaming up with Rick.
-Sure I can. Watch me.
-Jim, they're not gonna say it, so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter.- said Lori.
Carl and Sophia were at my sides, more curious than scared. I squished their shoulders, a clear sign to stay next to me.
-They got nothing to be scared of. I'm out here by myself. Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?
-Alright, Jim.- said Rick, to be fair he wasn't doing anything wrong. Yes, digging graves was creepy, but each person deal with their mental problems in a different way.-Just make sure you don't exhaust yourself.
Rick made Harry a sign to stay close by, keep an eye on Jim just in case. But Shane wasn't having that.
-Why don't you take a break?- said Shane getting closer to Jim.- Get yourself some food and shade. Why don't you give me that shovel?
-Or what?- asked Jim stopping his digging to look at Shane.
-There is no "or what". I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you.
It has started so good, I was almost thinking that I was being to harsh towards Shane. But of course he had to finish the sentence with one of his threats.
-And if I don't, then what?
-Then nothing.- said Rick.- We just want you be careful, that's all. We'll bring you some water and you should rest soon enough.
Rick was trying to make Shane back off, feeling how the atmosphere was getting more tense every second.
-Oh no.- said Jim.- Then he'll beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you? Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it. See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you.
-That was different.- said Rick, and he was right. I wasn't a fan of Shane but Ed had it coming.
-You weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife.- said Andrea from behind me.
-That is their marriage. That is not his. He is not judge and jury. Who voted you king boss, huh?
-You've got to be kidding me. Are you really going to justify what Ed was doing. What he has done?- I shouted at him.
-Jim, I'm not here to argue with you, all right? Just give us the shovel, okay?
-No, no, no.
Then Jim tried to hit Shane with the shovel and in a matter of seconds Shane and Rick had reduce him while Jim was yelling that they had no right to do that. They had Jim's face pressed against the ground, giving him space to breath but not to move.
-Nobody is gonna hurt you, Jim.- said Rick. Trying to calm him down.
-That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys. I said it 100 hundred times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. The were dozen of 'em.
We left in that moment, all of us except for Rick and Shane who were still trying to calm down Jim. That wasn't a show, it was a poor man who had lost his family and was still grieving about it. The best we could do was leave them some space and privacy. Hours later the three of them came back to the camp with a more relaxed Jim. But everyone had his words in mind.
While we were having dinner that night everything went to hell again and we were reminded of how our lives were now. It was so easy to forget when everything was peaceful. We were having a good dinner chatting with each other, even Daryl and Merle were there enjoying their time. Merle was making the kids laugh with his nasty wordbook while the adults laughed at their naivety. Glenn, who had started to warm up to Merle and Daryl as soon as the first one had stopped being a racist prick, was laughing next to me. Sometimes he would ask me questions about magic, whispering so nobody could hear us. He was really interested in the magic world and the fact that all of that had existed his whole life without him knowing. Harry was comfortably talking with T-Dog and Dale about cars, learning as much as he could about how they worked. We had to say the first day we couldn't drive, which had raised a choir of gasps and disbelief, and Dale and Merle were trying to make Harry learn about car as fast as possible. It was actually valuable information and Harry was happy to learn about it. Rick was sitting to my other side, hugging Carl from time to time and relaxed. It was nice to see him like this, in the past few days he had become more and more tense. Lori on the other hand looked uncomfortable, sending quick looks to Shane and not taking part of the conversation. Carol would reprimand Merle sometimes, but for the first time since we arrived to the camp, she looked happy. She would even blushed sometimes to Merle's comments. Daryl was half paying attention to the conversation, half immerse in his own thoughts. I caught him sometimes looking at Glenn and me, squinting his eyes and biting his lip. We were having such a good time.
Amy left the campfire to take care of her needs and after a few minutes we heard her screaming. We all jumped from our seats around the camp fire to see Amy being bitten by a walker on her arm. She shook off the walker from her arm but another two walkers came out of behind the RV. No one had been on watch that night, we thought since we were all having dinner together we would hear if they were coming. But we were so wrong. The camp was filled with screams and gun shoots. There weren't many of them, maybe a dozen, but we were unprepared. I started shooting my gun, missing their heads most of the time, feeling awfully limited not being able to use my magic. I could see Harry a few meters away, shooting his own gun but holding his wand underneath his sleeve, just like me. Merle and Daryl had opted for a quieter way to get rid of the walkers using their knives and crossbow and Rick and Shane were soothing accurate shots. It felt like an eternity but it was over in just a few minutes and we were left with a camp full of corpses and sorrow. I could hear Andrea's sobs, still crying over her dead sister's body. Carol left the group with Daryl to check on Ed, just to find him dead inside their tent.
We started to work in silence, moving the walkers and making sure they were completely gone. The kids were in the RV with a shaken Carol and Lori. Andrea was still looking at Amy, she would be there until the morning when we were ready to burn the dead and she wouldn't move or talk. Rick came back from his daily routine of talking through the walkie talkie, hoping Morgan would listen, and tried to talk to her. He got a pointing gun as only answer.
-You all can't be serious.- said Daryl holding the pickaxe he was using to make sure all the brains were destroyed.- Let that girl harmstring us? The dead girl is a time bomb.
-What do you suggest?- asked him Rick, exhausted after all the work we had done.
-Take the shot.- said Daryl getting closer to him.- Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance.
-No.- I said in what I hopped was a firm voice.- She just needs time, she's grieving. She just lost her sister.
Seeing nobody was going to be on his side Daryl turned around and went back to his work. He was helping Morales to drag one of our people to the fire when Glenn stopped them.
-What are you guys doing? This is for geeks. Our people go over there!- said Glenn pointing to a different pile of bodies, waiting to be buried.
-What's the difference. They are all infected.-answered Morales.
-Our people go in that row over there.
Glenn was shaken and tired. It would never be easy to lose someone you knew, someone you wanted to protect.
-We don't burn them!- he shouted- We bury them. Understand?
Daryl and Morales agreed quietly and dragged the body to be buried by Harry and me.
Burning and burying dead people was exhausting under the hot sun, specially for me wearing a long sleeve t-shirt at all times. It was terrible job for a beautiful sunny day and I wondered how a day like this could be so painful. Not too long after Carol had to take care of Ed, bashing his hear with pickaxe between sobs and Andrea shoot Amy when she turned.
But we had to face yet another thing that day. Jackie had discovered Jim had been bitten last night and we had to go somewhere else, do something else.
-We have to move, we can't stay here. This is not save.- I said again, and this time nobody could tell otherwise.
The conversation went along were to go and what to do with Jim. Jackie was trying to cool him down and make him feel as comfortable as possible. As comfortable as you can feel when you've been bitten and infected by an unknown virus.
-What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure.- said Rick.
-I heard that too.- said Shane.- Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell.
-What if the CDC is still up and running?
-Man, that is a stretch right there.
-Everything is big stretch right now.- said Harry to nobody in particular.
-If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs. Wouldn't they?
-I think that's right.- I said but Shane cut me.
-Of course you agree with him. He doesn't need you to be his yappy dog.
Shane had been trying to make me lose my temple the whole day, unfortunately for him I had much more experience with bullies and assholes than he though. But that didn't stop Harry, Merle and Daryl from jumping in front him ready to start a fight.
Rick got in the middle of them, stretching his warms to make space between the two sides. Calming Harry and the Dyxon brothers surprisingly fast.
-Back off, Shane. Don't forget Hermione is my kid, too.- Lori moved uncomfortable after his comment.
-We are here to listen to everybody, if you have an opinion this is your moment.- said Rick to everyone.- What were you saying, Hermione?
-They use to study dangerous viruses there, that kind of place was highly secure. They were ready for terrorism, wars… Okay, maybe they weren't ready for this kind of event. But I'm sure they had supplies enough to last for a long while, even with no power.
-We all want those things, I do too, okay?- said Shane.- If they do exists they're at the army base. Fort Benning.
-That's 100 miles in the opposite direction.- said Lori casually.
-That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now, listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed.
-The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that!- answered Rick to Shane.- The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance.
Harry saw Daryl looking at Jim before anybody else and he was ready to stop him when he said.
-You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!
Right before Daryl could reach Jim, Harry was next to him, his gun pointing at him and his wand in his other hand. If he didn't know about magic he wouldn't have seen the wand peeping under his sleeve, but Daryl knew it was there. Rick positioned himself at the other side of Daryl, pointing with his gun to him too which meant Merle was pointing at them now.
-We don't kill the living.- said Rick giving space for Shane to put himself between Daryl and Jim.
-That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head.
-We may disagree on some things.- said Shane.- But not on this. You put it down. Go on.
I turned to Merle while Daryl was nailing his pickaxe in the ground and made him a sign to lower his weapon too, we both knew nothing would happen today.
The idea of going to the CDC was bursting in my head. Maybe it was a stupid hope but if I could go there, check if they had something to work with, maybe we could work on a cure. Maybe use an existing potion with a few modifications. I was pretty sure a place like that would have a connection with the magic world, maybe a connection to the floo network or a phone or something like that. That was our opportunity.
We finished burying the dead and got back to the cars, we still had to pick up everything, tents, supplies… And that job was tedious without magic. Lori and Shane were talking next to the RV. No, not talking. They were fighting like a couple in love when Rick got out of the RV. I didn't need to listen to the conversation to know that things were going to end badly for someone.
Finally, and after a bit of convincing, we decided to go to the CDC. Morales and his family had decided to drop out of the group, they wanted to go look for their family and I couldn't blame them. I had done the same. We picked up everything from the camp, packed a few things for them and said goodbye. Another sad and heartbreaking goodbye.
When the time came to get in the cars I faced the choice of with who should I share the trip. Dale was driving the RV with Jackie, Jim and Harry -he wanted to be there in case Jim died during the trip and turned-. Rick, Lori, Carol and Sophia were traveling in their own car and as Lori had told me quietly they didn't have enough space for me. Shane was driving some kind of jeep by himself, but going in his car wasn't even an option in my mind. T-Dog was with Andrea in another car. And finally Merle and Daryl were in their own truck with Merle's bike in the back. Only Glenn and I were left to chose transportation.
-I'll go with you.- said Glenn looking at Daryl's truck.- I have more questions, if you don't mind.
-Sure.-I told him getting in the back of the truck behind Merle and Daryl.- You can ask away. They know about me too.
Glenn looked at them lifting his eyebrows in surprise.
-Yes, we do.- said Merle.
The line of cars started to move towards the city and we had a couple of hours of trip before us.
-T-Dog was wondering how did you helped Merle with the handcuffs.- said Glenn.-I told him you use a pair of shears we left in the rooftop. Just in case he asks you, that's the official version.
-Thanks Glenn.- it was good to have someone else to share this kind of things.
-So? How did you do it?
I looked at him and then at Daryl and Merle. They looked relaxed, like if we were talking about the most normal thing in the world. It felt so good to have a support net, other than Harry.
-I used an alohomora, an unlocking spell. Standard book of spells, chapter 7.- I said looking at him, evaluating how he was taking the information.
-What I would have done to have that so many times during my life.- said Merle laughing.- So you could get inside any place and steal whatever you want.
Glenn was looking at me, excitedly waiting for an answer.
-Yes.- I said and after a few seconds I continued- I have.
Glenn gasped and laughed and Daryl turn in his seat to look at me.
-So the good girl isn't that good after all, huh?- laughed Merle.- What would your father say?
I looked down. Yes, what would my father say? If we were talking about the father who used me to sell drugs and lie to everybody, he would probably be okay. As long as it was be good for him, he would have done it. If we were talking about Rick… something was telling he would be proud of me for fighting for a good cause, to protect my friends and my world.
Daryl looked at me, knowing I was hiding so many things but making no attempt to pressure me into talking.
-What happened? Did you steal something?- asked Glenn excitedly.
-It was only once.- I said trying to take importance to the story.
-Of course, only once.-laughed Daryl.- That's exactly what Merle used to say to the cops.
I hold my breath for a second before blurting out the story in just one sentence.
-I had to get into a high security vault from a magical bank to get a 1.000 years old powerful sword to finally defeat a dark wizard and put an end to the war.
The three of them stayed silent for a few seconds, processing all of that.
-Hey, if you don't want to talk about what happened is okay. But you don't need to lie.- said Glenn in a pacifying voice.
-I wish I was lying.- I said, and I started telling them a short version of all the events happened in the last few years. It was therapeutic to talk about what happen without holding myself back to not hurt someone, like I had done always when Harry was with me. I knew how he blamed himself for me suffering during the war. I didn't say anything about the problems with my parents though, that was a story for another day. I didn't talk about the torture either, my scars were covered and they didn't need to know about that anyway. Not yet.
We had to make a stop during our trip to the CDC to drop of Jim. He was deteriorating faster than we had hoped and wanted to stop fighting. It was heart breaking to see someone give up like that, consumed by the infection. After the stop the trip was quiet, a heavy atmosphere had settle among us.
-So, are we looking for any hoodoo you might need?- said Merle when we got in front of the CDC.
-Actually yes.- having them to help would be great.- I want to see if they have any information of a possible cure, something that we could use. Maybe I could blend non magical medicine and medimagic, anything might be valuable.
The three of them nodded to me, ready to leave the car and face whatever was out there.
-And look for a chimney.- I said before getting out of the car.
-A chimney? -asked Daryl looking me hesitant.
-Yes, if there's any it would be in one of the big boss offices. It probably looks very old, made of stone and wood. I might try to sent a message through it.
A new plan was taking shape in my head and I needed to share it with Harry as soon as possible. We needed to look for a way to contact Minerva McGonagall, if she was still alive she was probably in Hogwarts. And Hogwarts was the perfect place to hide from the dead and build something, a community of people, both magical and muggle. But in order to do that I needed to make contact first.
Well here it is, we are almost done with the first season and I'm very happy of how is going. Hermione and Harry are building their relationships with the group and some of the members in particular.
Don't forget to let me know your opinion!