Hello again! I'm very happy you are liking this story, thanks so much for all the follows and comments. My plan is to publish a chapter every Friday, which shouldn't be a problem because I'm already on the second season.
Like I said in the first chapter feel free to leave any comments or advice and I hope you enjoy this new episode. Just in case I would like to warn you all in this story the main love interest for Hermione would be Daryl. I already have some ideas for Harry but I would love to read all your opinions about this.
Enjoy it!
2.
-Hermione? – he said. His voice sounded tired, nothing like the cheerful happy voice I remembered from our last trip. He put his knife down and hugged me so hard I was almost chocking, but it didn't matter. I didn't even know how much I needed something like this, I embraced his hug putting on it all my feelings from the last months and started to cry. Harry, relaxing and putting down his knife and hiding his wand turned around to close the main door. Someone else, a black man with a kid who I supposed it was his son, went to secure the windows while I was completely losing it. It took me more than 5 minutes to stop crying every time I looked at Rick, Merlin he was so similar to my dad. The same blue eyes, the same gentle face. Though the last few years of my father life he was starting to look much older than he truly was. He spent the whole time rubbing my back and shushing me, telling me everything was going to be okay on his sweet accent.
-I'm sorry.- I whispered.
-Not at all, I'm so happy to see you.- he hold me face, caressing my cheeks with and amazed look in his eyes.- How are you here? Are your parents with you?
I willed myself to not cry again, I couldn't do it again. But I didn't need to say anything, he just looked at me and knew, he knew they were gone. I wasn't sure if he heard about what happened, if he knew about the car accident or he just assumed it just happened.
After that we did the formal introductions, Harry introduce himself as my best friend and Rick introduce us to Morgan and his son, Duane. They had help Rick after they found him in the street alone and disoriented. We couldn't stay in this house, it wasn't safe. Too many windows and doors and not enough blinds and wood planks to keep the walkers -that's how they called them- away from us. He told us about how he woke up alone in a hospital after a coma with his family gone and the world gone to hell. Thanks to Morgan we knew RIck's family- his son, Carl, and his wife, Lori- was probably in a refugee camp in Atlanta.
We went to the sheriff station Rick used to work on, he was sure there would be enough weapons in the armory, enough for us to make our way into Atlanta. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one who though the same and we barely found a few small guns and a couple of shot guns along with some ammunition. The only walker we found there was an old sheriff deputy that Rick knew from before, he shot him in the head and we said goodbye to Morgan and his son. We tried to made them come, there was power on numbers. But they had to do something for themselves. It was a sad goodbye, all of us were very aware that we might not see them again in the future. Even though Rick gave him a walkie talkie and promised to make contact every morning the odds were against us.
Right before we got in the sheriff car and Rick and Morgan were talking for the last time, Harry grabbed my arm and said in a low voice.
-You have to tell him. He needs to know about our magic, this could be much more easier if he knew.
-What if he kick us out? What if he doesn't want us around him because of our magic.- what if I lose him too?
-Is his choice, Hermione.- he told me and I knew he was right. He had the right to choose who was traveling with him.-Do you think he is going to react badly?
-No, no, no at all. But is a shock and I'm not sure if is going to be too much. He just woke up from a coma, completely alone in the middle of the apocalypse with his Loriand his son gone. That could break anyone.
-He deserves to know the truth. Just like we deserved to know what was happening.
We spent a couple of hours in the car making small talk, making plans to find his family and when we were finally quietly enjoying the lack of walkers in a very long road, the car ran out of fuel. The car stopped with a gurgling noise, not wanting to delay the trip anymore we took everything from the trunk and left it behind. We had half of the way ahead of us and plenty of time to talk.
-Uncle Rick, I need to tell you something.
He turned to look at me with panic in his eyes.
-Were you bitten? Are you hurt?
-No! I'm fine- I hurried to say.- Is something different, something you need to know.
He was looking at me expectantly. Harry was behind us with his wand in his hand hidden under the sleeve, just in case this didn't work out as we hoped.
-I'm a witch - I said bluntly- We have magic.
Rick looked at me for a second, he took off his sheriff hat and changed sides before talking.
-I... I already knew, Hermione. I've known for years. Your father told me everything last time you guys came to visit.
-What? Why would he do that? He put you all in danger.- I was in shock, I always thought I could trust my father with that secret, but apparently I was wrong. Not only that, he put them in danger during the war.
-Well... he had to tell me.- he said starting to walk again.- Because we were planning to bring you here to live with us.
-What?!- this time both Harry and I shouted in shock.
-Hermione… your parents had a lot of problems. I don't want to talk bad about them, they were good people, you know that. But…
-I know they had problems. I lived with that problems for years, almost my whole life.
He stopped in the middle of the road to look at me, looking sad and defeated. He took of his hat again, I started to see that gesture as a nervous tick of him.
-I'm so sorry, Hermione. I should have done more, push for the papers to go through and fight more.
-What do you mean the papers?
-Do you remember the first time you came? You brought so many things, your suitcase was bigger than you.- he laughed at the memory.-Back then I already had the papers to adopt you, maybe something temporal until your parents got better. But your mum back off and you went back to England. We couldn't make contact with them for months… They swore they were getting better, they were going to a program… And I believed them…
-They weren't.- I said.- Back then they used to use me as a delivery kid for their crap.
-God… I'm so sorry.- he wanted to hug me but was trying to give me space.- When they finally made contact with us they refuse to go through with the adoption. They even said they would cut all contact with us if I kept putting pressure on them. I even went once to visit you, before you left for school, but they didn't let me see you. We hired a lawyer but he told us we didn't stand a chance. Different country, far away from your parents, they were doctors… It was almost impossible and we didn't have the money to fight for to long.
I couldn't believe what I was listening. I could have had a normal childhood. But then I wouldn't have gone to Hogwarts either. Who knows what would had happened then with Harry and the war.
-The next time you came your dad was terrified. He confessed they weren't clean and that they had problems with some drug lord back in England. So we started with the papers again. It was then when he told me everything, that you were a witch and you needed to go to a different school. He even told me about a possible war in the magic world… We were even talking already with a school for you… I think it was called Ilvermorny, or something like that. But for some reason they back off again and after that I couldn't make contact with them again. I tried to call you, you were old enough to make the choice for yourself, but couldn't find a way either. You banished.
I had to sat down. I remembered our first trip there, the huge suitcase and my teary mum telling how much she loved me. And the trip just a couple of years ago when they had to run away after they got in trouble here too. I could have lived here, with somebody that wanted to take care of me instead of just use me.
I plummeted down to the grown, I couldn't hear or see anything else. I kept seeing myself all of those times I felt alone and used. All of those times I had to deal with their problems and the consequences of their acts.
Harry and Rick rushed to me, I knew their were trying to talk to me, make me say something. But couldn't listen a word. I burst in tears.
-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.- Rick kept telling while he hugged me tight.- I should have gone there, I should have done more.
-Is not your fault.- I whispered .- You tried.
We spent some time there with Harry on watch in case any walker appeared around us. When I finally stand up the part of me that was grieving my parents death was gone, destroyed by their selfishness. I was sorry they were dead, but in my head, in my heart, they weren't my parents anymore. Not since I was a kid.
He smiled at me again and we started to walk still holding me. We spent the next half an hour answering every question Rick could think about the magic world and what had happened to us. A shorter version of what had happened in the last few years and what had happened with the Weasley family. He looked outraged at the thought of me getting married to Ronald and Harry laughed, more relaxed after my meltdown, agreeing with him.
We offered to use our magic to help him to survive this new violent world and to look for our family. We made some small demonstration of some simple spells, some transformations, a patronus, levitating something... He was delighted, he couldn't stop saying how much Carl would love all of that, how much he would love to have a big sister. And strangely I felt more at home than in a very long time.
Later on we found two horses in a large field, Rick smiled at me and said.
-Do you remember what I taught you last time you came?
In our last visit, Rick had insisted on teaching me "American" ways, that meaning riding a horse and shooting a gun. My parents were nowhere to be found that day so I went with him, happy to spent some time together. I would have never thought how useful would be those skills for me. There were only two horses so Harry would have to ride with me, which wasn't a problem because he didn't have any idea of how to ride a horse -riding a thestral or a hippogriff wasn't exactly the same-. That made Rick mutter something about teaching important things to kids and that he would have to do it.
The morning of the day after we were entering Atlanta. The roads to go out of the city were completely full of abandoned cars, just a few walkers were spread all over the lane or stuck inside some of the cars and there were clear signs of fire. That reminded me of the bombings the newspaper were talking about.
We stop the horses and silenced the noise of their hooves and kept going with the deep feeling that something was going to go wrong. The city was filled with an unnatural silence. If there was a refugee camp around here, there should be noise, right? A big group of people is bound to make a lot of noise whether they like or not.
But there was nothing, not alive. The remote sound of dragging corpses and their moaning was hitting the sides of the buildings, working like a echo chamber, making it almost impossible to pin point the source. Of course we found the source soon enough, and the source found us.
We entered a wide street that used to have offices and big shops. There were rotting corpses everywhere and birds feeding from them, cars upside down in the middle of the road and an abandoned tank. We were quiet knowing how well the sound of our words would carry in the silence of the city.
Then we heard it, a sound so out of place that scared us, a helicopter. Soon after we saw it flying away from the city and we follow the direction only to find ourselves in front of a sea of walkers. There were hundreds. We spur on the horses to turn around a run away but we didn't realize that even thought we covered the noise from the horses we have pulled the attention of many walkers to follow us. There were more behind us and our horses finally panic making us fell off of them. They were everywhere, hundreds of decaying faces coming towards us, their hands trying to grab us and pull us to our ends.
We started throwing bombardas in every direction along the shots from Rick's gun, giving us some space to move but not enough to run away. He told us to get under the tank but even with the limited space there were to many of them. I heard him, he was saying sorry to me, Carl and Lori and starting to point his gun to his head when he realized. There was a small door in the bottom of the tank open right in front of us. We shoot a couple more of spells and got into the tank followed by him right on time.
We relaxed for a second trying to catch our breath. Inside the tank there was a walker dressed as a soldier that, as soon as Rick took a gun from him belt, woke up like if he had been there alone for far too long. Rick pointed at him and shoot his gun in panic and all we could hear for a good while was a high pitch noise accompanied by a pinching pain in our ears. Between the noise and the pain Rick stand up and went to close the entrance on the top of the tank.
When the pain was starting to fade away we tried to focus in a new plan. We had highly underestimate the dangers outside, thinking our magic would be enough to save us in every situation. We imagined things were bad but nothing like seeing something for yourself to get a reality check.
-We could apparate close to the portkey place.- said Harry still making pressure against his right ear.
I explained to Rick what that meant, a place away from this mess where we could start with the search again.
-I have to keep looking for Carl and Lori, Hermione. I'm sure they aren't too far from here.
-We still can do it, we just need to avoid the city. Go around maybe? We should look for a map and check places around here. A place they would have go when the city got overrun.
We were getting ready to apparate away from there when the radio started crackling.
-Hey you.- a voice of a young man came from the radio- Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Are you cozy in there?
Our plans stood on hold, if someone was talking to us through the radio that meant they were close enough. Maybe he was from the refugee camp.
-Hey, are you alive in there? – asked the voice again.
-Hello?Hello?- said Rick jumping to get the radio microphone hitting his head in the process.
-There you are. You had me wondering.
-Were are you? Are you outside? Can you see us right now?
-Yeah, I can see you.- the voice stopped for a second.- You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news.
-There's good news?- asked Rick.
-No
A simple word that crushed us in a second.
-Listen, whoever you are. I don't mind telling you. We're a little concerned in here.
-Oh man, you should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out.
Harry snorted at that, like we weren't freaking out already.
-Got any advice for us?
-Yeah, I'd say make a run for it.
-That's it? Make a run for it?
-My way's not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horses went down. You with me so far?
-So far.
-Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you guys move now while they're distracted you stand a chance. Specially if you used those explosions again.
We looked at each other, whoever was outside had seen us making magic. What would they do with that information?
-Got ammo?- he kept talking.
-In the duffle bag I dropped out there and guns, can I get to it?
Harry made a sign, he would attract the bag with an accio while we were running.
-Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?
-Hang on.- we checked Rick's gun and whispered around to have a set plan on how to get the duffle bag back before answering. Rick check around just finding a grenade.
-I've got a Beretta with one clip, 15 rounds.
-Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank , keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. Be there.
-Hey, what's you name? – asked Rick.
-Have you been listening? You're running out of time.
We got ready to get the hell out of the tank but Harry said.
-We still can apparate somewhere else.
-No, we can't.- answered Rick.- That man might be putting himself on danger to help us, we can't turn our backs on him.
And taking an emergency ax from the wall of the tank, he took a deep breath and nod to us. It was time to move. I took a few seconds to breath, the last few months of not doing almost anything at all were a heavy weight now.
He opened the door with a swift move and hit the first walker with the ax, jumped off rolling over and started running as soon as he saw we were following him. We were running after him, Rick was shooting every walker that came too close to us and I was sending bombardas tackling 1 or 2 walkers at the same time. Harry was behind me casting an accio on Rick's duffel bag, the bag came to his hangs knocking a couple of walkers on its way and we made it to the back alley were a young asian man said:
-Whoa! Not dead! Come on! Come on!
We followed him down the alley and up a service ladder in the side of the building. Under us a sea of walkers were trying to get up the ladder but fortunately they didn't know how to. I put that information in the back of my head to analyse it later. When we got to the top the asian man looked at us and said.
-What the fuck were those explosions?
I hold my breath for a second, I could just erase his memories but it felt wrong. Meddling with someone's mind always felt wrong to me for a reason. Rick was standing ready next to him, assessing him, looking ready to throw him over the edge if necessary.
-That was so cool, I've never seen something like that before.- and what that simple sentence we relaxed a bit.
-It was magic- Harry said simply.
-Harry!- seriously, he couldn't just say something like that. We surely had to be a bit more careful, right?
-Like getting a bunny out of a hat?
-Something more real.- I said.- But we are good people, we are just trying to survive. Like everybody else. And please don't say anything to anybody, not everyone reacts as well as your are doing. We don't want to be burn at the steak.
-Sure! Of course, as long as are good is your secret to keep. My name is Glenn. Is that how you got the duffle bag? It was definitely too far away from you.
We nod at him without giving any more information, we weren't ready to trust him that much just yet.
-Thanks for helping us, Glenn. I'm Rick, this is my kid, Hermione. And her friend, Harry. I didn't mean to create all this shit show, we are sorry.
-You're welcome. Now we have to go up there.- he said pointing to next ladder going to the roof.- Bright side, it'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy.
With that we started climbing up the ladder. First Rick, he wanted to see what was in the roof just in case it was something dangerous for us, then me and finally Harry carrying the duffle bag. Glenn guide us from roof to roof, through windows and emergency exits and down a small latch in one of the roofs. It was pretty obvious he knew were to go and how to do it. When we were crossing through a door he talked through his walkie talkie, telling someone that there were a couple of walkers. But when we were ready to take them down the door opened and a couple of masked men got out and took care of them. We followed Glenn inside and a blonde woman pinned Rick to a wall saying:
-You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you all.
The other people there, the two masked men -their masks off now and looking mad at us- and another woman, try to calm down the blond woman who was called Andrea.
-We're dead because of this stupid assholes.
Harry and me look at each other, with our wands in our hands ready to use them. Glenn saw us too and he knew what we were capable of.
-Andrea, I said back the hell off.- said one of them.
She kept pointing the gun at Rick's head and I was ready to throw her a stupify when she backed off, almost crying. She looked like she was stupid, but she wasn't a murderer.
-We're dead. All of us.- she said crying.- Because of you.
The man that make Andrea back off guide us to one of the main doors while telling us they were there to scavenge for supplies. He was pretty piss off with us, which was understandable, but I hold Harry's hand because I knew how bad he dealt with that kind of talking. The glass doors of what use to be a shopping center were blacked out by hundreds of bodies, walkers hitting the glass, trying to get inside, to get to us. And they were doing a fine good job.
-What the hell were you doing out there, anyway.- said Andrea much more calm now.
-We were trying to flag the helicopter.- answered Rick.
-Helicopter? Man, that's crap.- said the black guy.
-You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens.- said the black woman in a gentle tone, like if she was trying to deal with a sick patient.
-We saw it, the three of us saw it.
We nodded to that but it didn't really matter, the helicopter was gone and we were trapped here with an army of walkers trying to get inside. T-Dog, the black man, was trying to make contact through the walkie with some other people.
-Is there others? The refugee center?- asked Rick full of hope.
-Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us.- told him the black woman again.
-Got no signal, maybe the roof.
In that moment we heard a shot and all of them panic again.
-Oh no, is that Dixon?
All of them ran upstairs, so we did too. In the roof we found a white man in his 30s soothing down the crowd of walkers with a riffle, with very good precision.
-Hey Dixon, are you crazy?- shouted Morales, the one that made Andrea back off.
-Hey! You oughta be more polite to a man with a gun! Only common sense.- he sia d
-Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got, man! And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill.- said T-Dog, everything but chilled.
I was starting to think that we should have apparated away and leave this group to fix their own problems, it was clear they had many.
-Hey! Bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you?
We looked at Glenn who unfortunately didn't look surprised they were fighting, it looked like it was something usual. He made us a quick sign saying to just leave them. It was the moment when Dixon said nigger when all the hell broke lose. T-Dog tried to punch him in the face but Dixon had much more experience with this kind of stuff and knocked him down hitting his face with the back of his riffle. After that he hit anybody that tried to stop him, including Rick, and kept kicking T-Dog that was in the ground already. Harry and I were ready to petrify him, petrify everyone and then we would have to obliviate them. The kicks kept coming, we were ready to fight the dead but we weren't expecting to find ourselves in this situation.
Merle took his gun off his belt and pointed to T-Dog's face and spat on him. But after a few seconds it was clear he wasn't going to kill him, this was more a scaring tactic. He was trying to assert his superiority over the rest of us.
-Let's talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else? – said standing up and letting T-Dog go. -Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh? All in favor? Huh?
Rick chose that moment to hit him in the head and knocked him down, cuffing him to the closest pipe.
-Who the hell are you, man?
-Officer friendly.- said almost losing his own control.- Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together.
-Screw you, man.
-I can see you make a habit of missing the point.
-Yeah? Well, screw you twice.- answered Merle, he was an asshole.
-Ought to be polite to the man with a gun.- repeated Rick.- Only common sense.
-You wouldn't. You're a cop.
-All I am anymore is a man taking care of his family.- said looking at us.- Looking for his wife and son. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that.
He patted him and took something from his pocket saying:
-Got some on your nose there.- he looked at me while throwing that stuff over the edge of the building. We didn't want that shit anywhere close to us.
-What are you gonna do? Arrest me? Hey! That's my stuff! You hear me, you pig?
-Yeah, your voice carries.
But it didn't matter what Merle kept shouting, we had to look for a way to get out of there. Soon enough we had a plan. Glenn, who was proving to have more courage than most of the people I had ever meet in my life, would go down the sewer while the rest of us were watching out for the walkers.
While Glenn was down there Harry and I started to put things from the shop in our charmed backpacks. Trying to be discreet, we just took some food, clothes and some tools. We heard Andrea apologizing to Rick and talking politely while we were going through the vending machines.
I left Harry to finish doing that and got to the roof, I wanted to check on T-Dog's injuries. When I got there they where talking about the same again.
-You don't get tired of that crap? -I said tired of that fight already. -Let me check you out, I have a first aid kid in my bag.
T-Dog was fine, bruised and hurt in his ego, but he would recovered.
-Merle.- I said with a firm voice.- Can I check on you?
-I don't need any damn check, now tell your damn dad to get me out of here.
I didn't correct him when he said dad, it still felt weird but nice. I squat in front of him, letting him see we wasn't intimidating me. Dilated pupils, quick breathing, sweating profusely. I had seen all of that before. I didn't know if I could blame his erratic and violent behavior to the drugs, but I was pretty sure they were a big factor.
-Your pupils are dilated.- I said low enough to keep T-Dog from listening.- I'm sure you know you can overdose without getting to much and I can see you are pretty close. Is that what you want?
-And how a good pretty girl like you knows about that, huh?
-Because I've seen it before.
He didn't answered to that but he knew I wasn't talking about myself.
-Is that what you are trying? Are you so sick of fighting?
-You don't know shit.- he spat next to my right foot and looked at me ready to fight.
-What I know is if you are not careful enough and stop being an asshole you are going to die.
The rest of the group got to roof then with bad news. The sewers were a bad idea after all but we still needed to get out of there and as soon as possible.
With a pair of binocular we started to look for something around the building and soon enough we found a construction site not too far away. After a few minutes of thinking we got to the conclusion that walkers were drown by sound and smell and Rick came up with a crazy idea. Glenn and him would bath themselves on walkers insides and would walk among them. The idea was crazy and the execution disgusting but we were out of possibilities, the option of just apparating away from here was in the back of my head all the time. But after spending some time with these people we couldn't just leave. So we spread the blood and fluids all over them, covering every single inch. The smell and sight was revolting.
Right before they went out there Rick whispered to me.
-Go to the roof with Harry, if something goes wrong I need you there to help us out.
I nodded to him and Glenn who was close enough to hear us and ran with Harry upstairs, not without putting a guarding spell in the glass doors now that we were alone. That will give us some more time, but not much judging by the amount of walker trying to break in.
We got to the roof and with one hand in our wands and the other in our bags holding closer our broomsticks we waited for them. There they were, it was working. A huge wave of relieved spread inside my chest and Harry pat my shoulder. Merle was yelling at us to let him go, that we couldn't leave him there, and he was right. We came here to find my family and help people even if they were pricks like Merle, we couldn't leave him there. T-Dog had the keys for the cuffs but it wouldn't be to hard to open them with an alohomora.
Rick and Glenn kept walking, it was working and we just had to wait.
-I should have go with them.- I said to Harry.- I could help them, make it easier.
-I'm going downstairs, I'll keep an eye on the doors and look for more supplies. I'm getting sick of waiting here.
I nodded in agreement and kept looking at the mass of walkers. But of course it couldn't be easy. It started to rain very hard, washing off the smell, exposing them to the walkers. We saw them running, shooting to some walkers and getting with a jump in the van. They were save.
-They're leaving us.-said Andrea, she was very prone to judge people badly.
-What? What? -said Merle still handcuffed to the pipe.
-No they are not, they'll come back. I know.- I said firmly and I meant it. I trusted Rick and for some reason, I trusted Glenn too.
-They are leaving us here, they are abandon us here!- kept yelling Andrea.
The van ride away drawing most of the walkers behind them. I could hear Andrea sobbing and T-Dog cursing but I chose to ignore them. We needed to be ready to run as soon as they were back. I started checking my bag and all the supplies scattered along the roof. Merle was finally quiet, looking at me, squinting his eyes knowing I was up to something.
-Get this off of me.- he said to me in a low raspy voice.- We will need to run as soon as they are back.
I ignored him and kept going. I was starting to wonder how these people had survived up until now if they reacted this way before any problem. Probably luck. At that moment a car alarm started blaring around the city and the radio crackled with Glenn's voice on the other side.
-Those roll up door at the front of the store facing the street. Meet us there and be ready.
I handed the bags to everyone ready to go while Merle was yelling at us that we couldn't leave him there. Damn he was right, we couldn't leave a human being there to die from starvation or from being ripped apart by walkers.
T-Dog turned around to help Merle while I waited holding the door for them but he fell down and threw the key down a drain.
-You son of bitch, you did in on purpose!
-I'm sorry, man.- he said while running through the door passing me.
I looked at Merle. I was sure I was going to regret this. I put a finger on my lips, signing him to keep quiet, but he thought I was sentencing him to death.
-Come on girl, you can't leave me here. That's not humane!
I took my wand out of my sleeve and he shut up immediately. My brain recorded the fact that he knew what I was holding but I couldn't think about that in that moment. He thought I was going to kill him. Some kind of mercy, maybe.
With a silent alohomora I opened the handcuffs and yelled.
-Come on! Move!
He didn't need any more. He ran through the door right after me and we flew down the stairs, passing in front of the main doors that were starting to fall down letting the walkers in. I sent a couple of bombardas behind him and he knocked down a walker that almost caught me. We got to the roll up doors right on time to hear the car alarm closer for a few seconds and then going away. When Merle got a sight of T-Dog he tried to jump on him again but Harry and I pushed him back.
-Shut that shit know, Merle.- I told him. If we wanted to survive, if he wanted to stay in the group, he had to leave behind that crap. I hadn't fight a war against wizard supremacists to deal with his shit now.
-Yes, ma'am- he said in his best southern accent.
We jumped in the back of the van right when the walkers were getting to the door and drive away. With the adrenaline fading away from my blood stream I realized how close we were to die there. We were reckless going in the town like that, we had to be more careful from now on.
-Is every body okay?- yelled Rick.- Hermione? Harry?
-We are fine.- said Harry siting down next to Rick in the front seat.
Rick drove away from Atlanta and when the roads were clearer and we were far enough, Harry told Glenn to stop the car through the radio. He got out of the van, stop the alarm and got in the fancy car with Glenn.
In the back on the van the tension was palpable, Merle had seen me making magic and based on what I knew about him he was a prejudice asshole. So what could we expect? Would I have to sleep with an open eye? Did I need to making forget about everything? Merle looked quiet, he looked once in a while to everyone with that brawler expression on his face but he was mostly reflective. And how did he know about magic?
The drive was short and my first thought was we were not far away enough from the city. Those things could walk forever and get in there in a matter of a day or campsite was a small thing, sheltered in the quarry with almost no protection at all except for a RV with a man on top of it holding riffle. Just a bunch of tents and cars and people trying to survive. Glenn and Harry got there first and a few minutes later we were there, parking the van and getting out of the back. Harry was standing next Glenn being introduce to everybody in his usual uncomfortable demeanor.
-Come meet everybody.- said Morales patting Rick's arm and smiling at me. We were alive after all.
Rick looked at me while the rest were going ahead.
-You alright?- he asked me.
-Yeah.- I said in a whisper.- Hey, we are going to find them, okay? I'm sure about that.
-I know.- he answered but without any light in his eyes.
We started to walk after them. Andrea ran to hug who I supposed was her sister, Amy. Morales went towards his family and T-Dog and Jackie joined Harry and Glenn.
-Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello!- yelled Morales.
It was then and there when uncle Rick saw them.
So this is it. This is the second chapter and I feel like the story is going to be true to the first season for the most part. But there are huge differences after that.
I hope you like it!