Chapter Four
NOTES:
I have no clue what’s gotten into me, but this chapter fell out of my brain and into my laptop.
Again, please do not expect this to be a normal occurrence, I don’t know when my ADHD brain will have me fixated on something else.
Please don’t hate me for how some of the characters act and how different it is, I did state in the first chapter note that characters will be OOC (out of character).
WARNING AND DISCLAIMER:
I should have already added the tag for mentions of child abuse, but it seems I didn’t, anyway, it's being added.
I do not own The Walking Dead or Harry Potter and anything you recognize is made by their creators, I do not get any money from this fix it is purely for entertainment only.
Chapter Four.
Merle took Harry over to a fire pit with cookware around it.
A lady with close-cropped greying hair was tending to a meal that was cooking over the fire.
“This here is Harry, he needs a good meal and some rest if you can manage that for us sugar,” Merle said as he gestured for Harry to take a seat next to the skinny woman.
The lady just nodded her head, keeping her head down, she was meek and timid, compared to everyone else around the camp. They were all cautious but still all seemed on alert, the lady who was cooking didn’t act like the others.
“Carol is gonna look after ya good, come find me later if ya need, I’m camped over by that bike there,” Merle informed, pointing out said bike a way down the line of tents.
He took off after, to check if his brother had returned from his latest hunt.
When Merle had reached his tent, it was empty except for their few possessions.
With a weary sigh, he collapsed onto his bedroll.
He was crashing hard from his high.
The damn cop getting rid of his starch was still grating on his nerves. He was now in for one hell of a detox, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
The heat was not helping with the seat and the headache he already had forming.
He would be in for a hell of time over the next few days to a week, which was for sure, endless he managed to get his hand on some more stuff.
He was no stranger to detoxing. His stints in and out of the big house had made sure he went through it more than once. He knew what he was in for and how vulnerable it would make him. He was going to have to rely on Daryl to be his eyes till it was mostly over.
But for now, he could use some rest himself, and despite the humid tent and throbbing headache, he managed to get some sleep in.
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Harry wasn’t sure what to make of the camp, there were more people here than he was expecting.
The lady Carol had handed him a bowl of what looked like stew and told him it was fairly good.
It tasted good to Harry, not that he was fussy with his food. He had to resort to eating from the trash a time or two at the Dursleys when he was being punished with no meals for something or another, Harry would never turn away food, not now especially as it might begin to become scarce.
Once he had finished eating, Carol introduced Harry to her daughter Sophia, she was a tall skinny girl with short blond hair, she came across as a friendly child, but Harry could tell she wanted to be anywhere else than sitting there next to her mother at that point.
The girl was watching Carl as the boy clung to his dad and the adults all grouped together and talked.
“He’s so lucky,” Sophia said quietly only Harry heard.
“It’s good they found each other” Harry responded.
“He has a loving dad now, he was always whining about how Shane said he died, but he didn’t believe him, and that his dad was coming back to save us all,” Sophia explained jealously.
Harry wasn’t sure what she was jealous of, but she still had her Mum, who seemed like a loving woman from the small interactions Harry had seen.
“Rick will be just glad to be with his family now, that was what was keeping him going, the thought of getting back to them,” Harry said he was a bit envious of the family.
His parents could never come back from the car crash his aunt said killed them. As a younger child, he often dreamed about being whisked away from the Dursleys by some other unknown family member who would not hate him as they did for some unknown reason.
But it was also great to witness the heartwarming reunion of the family group, he was happy for Rick.
“Yeah whatever, I’m going off to play with Eliza,” Sophia said as she got up to find her friend.
“Can I come?” Harry asked hopefully, the food had helped with how tired he was, and he wasn’t yet ready to go to bed seeing as it was too early.
“We don’t play with babies” Sophia snickered,
Carol had heard and had chastised her daughter for being rude.
“I’m not a baby, I’m seven” Harry informed the girl feeling affronted at the implication he was somehow lesser due to his size or age, it shouldn’t matter what his age was, he could still keep up and play.
He had completely missed the shocked look Carol had given him at his outburst.
“How? You’re tiny, even smaller than Louis.” Sophia asked in disbelief.
“I’m not that small” Harry denied.
“Why don’t you take Harry with you and introduce him to Louis?” Carol placated the children.
“Yes mamma” Sophia complied.
Harry followed the girl along the path that was made up of tents and vehicles, once at the end, they joined up with the two siblings,
Sophia and Eliza began to snicker and talk quietly tighter, as Louis stood off to the side just wanting to play with his toy car.
Harry hadn’t really played with kids before. He wanted to get to know them, and finally not having his cousin here to bully them into not being his friends might mean he could have some fun with the kids.
It didn’t seem like it would happen though. After an hour or so of just hanging around each other and not really playing, Sophia and Eliza grabbed Louis and began to run away from Harry. Laughing and snickering about not wanting to play with a baby.
It hurt Harry’s feelings, but he was also used to it, he guessed it might not have always been his cousin after all, maybe there was just something wrong with him that made others not like him.
Feeling dejected Harry decided to see if he could find something else to do to waste away the afternoon.
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Later that evening before dark, while everyone was sitting around the low-burning fires, a discussion had been had about going back to the city to get Ricks's lost bag of guns, they were planning on heading out at some point in the morning.
Not everyone agreed to go, some thought it too dangerous, but others said they needed to go back as they hadn’t brought enough after the last trip was cut short due to the hoard.
Rick managed to get some to agree to go with him however and they planned for a bit, His wife Lori was one to disagree on the trip, she had just gotten her husband back and was scared of him going off again so soon for some guns that might not still be there.
Rick just assured her he would be safe and continue to disregard her concerns.
Night had fallen and everyone had eaten dinner, sat by the fire a little more, and then headed off to their different tents to bed down for the night.
Harry was ignored for the most part. He sat a little away from the group, by a fire pit that was nearly out.
He wasn’t told to go to a tent to sleep, none of the adults seemed to care that he was there on his own.
He decided to just sleep in front of the fire, it was getting cooler at night and the soft warm glow would help keep the worse of the chill away.
Using his backpack as a pillow he laid down and went to sleep.
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Merle woke with a grown and throbbing headache, he laid in his bed for a while trying to will the pain away to no effect.
He covered his eyes with his wrist as if it would do any good, he was reminded of the damn cuff still attached to it when the chain whacked him in his closed eye.
He was thinking about it more with a slightly clearer head now. The hacksaw hadn’t done anything to help get it off. So how did the combined strength of Merle and a scrawny little kid pulling at it, make the chain break?
It was like a miracle or something, there was no way in hell he was getting free of the cuffs, and lil bit seemed desperate to help get him free.
The kid didn’t even know a damn thing about old Merle, but he wasn’t going to let that group of pansies leave him behind.
The kid was either just too stupid or too trusting to really survive in this new world, Merle wasn’t sure what he should do, but he would watch out for the kid for now, he owed him that.
With a groan, the man got up and went to get some food and some much-needed water.
It had grown dark, he wasn’t sure of the time, but there were only the two watchers awake and looking out from the top of the RV.
It must have been pretty late.
He ambled over to the fire they left the food at and grabbed what he needed, a bottle of water was quickly downed with gusto, and his stomach turned at the smell of the now-cooled stew, but Merle knew from experience that he needed to keep fed and hydrated while he detoxed.
He sat down and had a few bites before he took a good look around the camp.
“Ah fucks me” the man cursed as he spotted a sleeping Harry curled up by the fire.
He was pissed. No one had seen fit to give the boy somewhere to sleep, the mangy dogs.
Merle was a real hard ass, but he wasn’t cruel enough to leave a lil one out in the cool night unprotected.
With another growl, he got up to stumble his way over to the sleeping boy.
“Hay, come on now lil bit, this is no place to be sleepin',” he said as he gently roused the child from slumber.
“Merle?” Harry sleepily asked.
“Yeah come on, Merle has an empty bed roll you can bunk in till my brother gets back, then we’ll work it out” Merle knew most people saw him as some dirty redneck with a careless attitude but when it came to kids he was quite protective, it came from a childhood like his, not wanting other young’un to be going through what there da put him through.
So, he made sure Harry was bunked down for the night, safe in his tent, before he went back to the fire to finish his food and have a smoke.
He was going to have to have words with the other poor excuses of human beings in the morning about this.
Officer Friendly should have been watching the boy still, sure he might have been busy with his missus and kid now he had them back and sure as shit was he looking forward to the drama that will ensue when he finds out about his bitch wife and the dog cop.
But it wasn’t a good enough excuse to Merle to not make sure the kid you had spent quite a bit of time with on the journey was still safe and accounted for.
And hay if no other son of a bitch in this camp would step up, then Merle will just have to show them how it’s done.
‘Bet it will shock them pussies something fierce.’
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Harry woke the next morning to the lively sound of the camp.
He was lying on a bed roll in Merle’s tent, he remembered being woken by the man, before he was led to the tent and pushed into bed. He had fallen asleep again instantly and he was far more comfortable this time round.
Merle was asleep next to him on the other side of the two-person tent, his snoring was loud and rumbling, Harry was surprised it hadn’t woken him up earlier.
With no reason to stay lying about Harry got up, he made sure he had his bag with him as he exited the tent.
It looked like everyone else had been up for a while.
Carol was at the cooking fire once again along with her daughter and Carl.
It seemed like everyone had something to do.
Walking over to the three he decided it was no good to avoid people.
“Good morning, Harry, did you sleep alright,” Carol asked sweetly, she seemed to be feeling better today, she wasn’t acting meek towards Harry, he wasn’t so sure if her behavior had more to do with Merle yesterday or not.
“Yes ma’am” Harry replied gently.
“Gosh, such good manners, I bet your mamma is so proud of you” Carol gushed making Harry dip his head in awkwardness.
“My parents are dead ma’am, and have been for six years now,” Harry told her sadly.
A look of pity crossed Carol's face before she ducked her head down to get back to work at the water boiling.
“Where might be a lavatory?” Harry asked, he received giggles and odd looks from Carl and Sophia but confusion from Carol.
“I’m not too sure what you mean love” the shy lady replied.
“Oh, um, where might everyone be going to the loo here?” Harry asked in embarrassment, he hadn’t seen any proper restroom facilities while here and he didn’t want to go somewhere he shouldn’t.
“Oh yes ok, the guys tend to just go out in the woods, easier for them and all but the ladies have been given leave to use Dale’s RV over there, if you ask, I’m sure he will let you as well” Carol said after she had understood his meaning.
“And what’s the loo paper situation” Harry enquired.
“Let me get you a roll, ok you can keep it in your bag whenever you need it.” Carol got up to get the toilet paper for him and Sophia and Carl used the distraction to run off to go play.
“Thank you, Ma’am, it’s much appreciated,” he said as he was handed the roll.
“Not to worry sweetheart, you can call me Carol if you like, ma’am makes me sound much too old.”
“Thanks, Carol” Harry took off after that into the wooded area, he didn’t want to go too far in case he got lost but also didn’t want to be too close to camp either.
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Merle woke to the shouts of his name, it seemed his little brother was back from his hunt finally.
“Stop your shouting Daralina, I’m here.” He yelled out the tent flap as he spotted his brother Daryl approaching.
“You get anything good?” Merle asked eyeing his brother for any injuries. The other man looked fine, but he was wanting to make sure anyhow.
“Na, stupid motherless poxy bastard was gnawing on my deer, I was hunting that son of a bitch all night” Daryl moaned,
Merle understood the frustration, food was getting harder to come by and hunting was going to be the only thing that saved these damn city slickers.
“Ain’t that a bitch” Merle agreed as he made way for his brother to enter the tent. His bro was probably worn out from being out all night.
It looked like he had managed a few squirrels at least.
“What you do at my bed?” Daryl asked, his blue eye squinting at his older brother in accusation.
“Nothin, just had a lil tyke in here last night is all,” Merle informed him only to see complete confusion on his brother’s face.
“Why?” Daryl asked, Merle wasn’t offended by his brother’s skepticism, it’s not like they go out of their way to help others.
“Cause none them other sons of bitches cared he had nowhere to sleep, lil bit was curled next to the fire when I went out late last night, not one them people thought to give him somewhere to go, stupid self-centered pricks.”
Merle was pissed off still, you’d think anyone of them mammas would have had an ounce of decency, but nah, all they care about was them own kin.
Daryl just grunted in reply, accepting that his brother knew what he was doing. Daryl wanted to get a bit of shut-eye, but they were both interrupted by the arrival of Rick and Shane at the entrance to their tent.
“Doing alright here guys” Officer Rick asked as he bent down to their level to peer into the tent.
“Here for a cavity search officer?” Merle asked mockingly, he was still pissed with the group who went to Atlanta the day before. He would make sure he got them back. He would just leave them thinking he wasn’t going to before he made his move.
“I can tell you are already detoxing, I reckon you don’t have any more culture ban on you,” Rick stated as he gazed around the inside of the tent.
“We are heading out back to the city to go grab them guns and I wanted an extra set of eyes on the trip,” Rick informed the brothers, Merle couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy.
“After the last run why, the hell do you think I’d go with you,” Merle asked sneering at the two men.
“Well, I wasn’t actually asking you,” Rick responded to Merle before he turned to Daryl.
“What do you say, we could use a good marksman at our backs,” Rick asked.
Merle could see his brother thinking about it before he turned to Merle giving him a questioning look.
Merle just shrugged his shoulders in reply to the unasked question, his baby brother was an adult and could make his own damn choices. Was he wishing he would decline, yes, he was but he wouldn’t take his brother's freedom away from him.
“Whatever, when we leaving?” Daryl asked,
“Soon, might want to get ready,” Rick replied as he prepared to leave.
“One more thing officer friendly!” Merle called. He didn’t know when he would get another opportunity to speak to the man.
As the man stopped to turn back to him the officer’s eyes landed on the cuff on his wrist.
Giving a huff he fished into his pockets and pulled out another key.
“Not what I was going to say but, still all the same. You might want to keep a closer eye on Harry, no one saw fit to make sure he had somewhere to sleep till I found him last night. Mighty cold of all you to not care.”
Merle reported as he took the little key from the officer.
“I’ll keep that in mind, I’m sure someone won’t mind him bunking with them” Merle growled at Rick’s response.
So, the pig wasn’t going to do any more than brush the kid off to someone else, was he?
Damn, the man was cold.
It just made it all the easier for Merle to accept the responsibility from now on.
Daryl had left with the group heading for Atlanta, and Merle had warned his brother about the last trip and what could happen. He made sure to let his brother know to get back to him no matter what. That the people he was going with didn’t care if he lived or died.
Daryl accepted his brother's warning before he joined the others and left.
The group at the camp were all out doing their own chores, the group of ladies were down by the water watching clothes and it looked like Harry was down there with them helping out.
Shane had taken Carl down to muck around in the water. He could hear them talking about frogs from the distance he was at.
Everyone else seemed to have a job except the queen B. She was just standing around and watching while everyone worked.
With a huff, Merle decided to skin and prep the squirrels to have for dinner.
A half hour later a commotion down at the water made Merle look up to see what was going on.
From what he could tell Shane was beating the hell out of Ed, Carol’s abusive bastard husband, the ladies were all yelling and calling out for Shane to stop.
Merle spotted Harry hiding behind Jacqui with wide fearful eyes and decided to go down to get him away from the stupid drama.
At Merle’s approach everyone seemed to tense once more, he scoffed at the simple-minded judgemental pricks.
“Wow, you beat that bastard good,” Merle muttered as he got a glimpse of the brutes’ face. He was bloody and already swelling and bruised.
“Bout time the prick got a taste of his own medicine,” Merle said to the group at large. He was told to shut the hell up by the blond bitch Andrea, but he ignored them in favor of getting Harry away from the crowd.
The boy looked like he was about to start hyperventilating any second.
Bending down to pick the boy up, Merle began his journey back to his tent.
“Come in lil one, I’m sorry you had to see that. Must have been scary.” Merle soothed, he was getting disbelieving looks as he walked away with Harry in his arms, the child clung to him and hid his face in Merle’s neck, it was noticeably clear that the altercation had an effect on the child.
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Hours went by and the group in in run hadn’t returned yet.
Lori was clearly worried as she paced around the camp not doing much of anything except continue to glare at Shane and brush her own son off.
Harry and Merle were sitting outside the Dixons tent, Harry had taken the time to calm down after the panic attack he had earlier when the one-sided fight had started.
After some time of sitting in silence as Merle went back to preparing Daryl’s kills, Harry piped up and asked if he could learn. Merle was eager to show him as it was a great distraction from how crap he was feeling.
It seemed the camp couldn’t be without its drama for so long as Merle watched everyone rush off up to the hill where he could just make out that the group was confronting the man named Jim.
Raising an eyebrow, Merle decided to see what all the fuss was about now.
“Stay here lil bit,” Merle told Harry as he took off to follow the group.
He stood back and watched as everyone crowded around the man.
“Why are you digging? Are you heading to China, Jim?” The dick Shane asked causing Merle to scoff at the man’s stupidity.
“What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone.” The man informed them gently.
“Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's a hundred degrees today. You can't keep this up.” Shane was trying to just as gently, but it came across as condescending.
“Sure, I can. Watch me.” Jim told the group as he continued to dig in the ground.
There were several holes already dug and Merle was impressed with the man’s dedication.
“Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter.” Lori noted Merle was sure the kids hadn’t even seen what Jim was doing so it was just the bitch’s way of trying to guilt the man.
“They got nothing to be scared of. I mean, what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself. Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?” Merle had to agree with the man.
“Alright shows over people, leave the man alone, I’m sure you all have better things to be doing,” Merle said as he stepped forward.
“What the hell do you care Dixon?” Andrea asked defectively.
“Just that Jim’s right and he ain’t hurting no one, get the man some water and food and I’m sure he will be right as rain, right Jimmy boy” Merle asked, he could see what the people were fearing but Merle was quite sure the man wasn’t going to hurt anyone in the group.
And the idiots surrounding him and producing all types of hidden accusations was the worst idea ever.
Unfortunately, none of them listened and instead tied Jim to a tree to cool off. He was never at any stage hostile to anyone. Merle was getting sick and tired of every single one of them.
It took hours for Shane to deem Jim as a nine threat and release the man.
Not once did the caring man ever complain about the way he was being treated and instead admitted they had made the right call.
Merle was astonished that anyone would accept being treated that way.
The group in Atlanta had still not returned and everyone was trying their best to not dwell on it. Andrea and Amy had caught a heap of fish down at the quarry and everyone was enjoying the meal by the fires as they discussed different things.
Merle had stuck to his tent and had left Harry sitting with the other kids for a while. He was starting to feel shaky and nauseous, he couldn’t wait for his brother to get back, he needed someone he trusted at his back.
Screaming woke him from slumber what felt like a few short minutes after he had laid down. Grabbing his gun from his pack he was on his feet in seconds and busting out of the tent, coming face to face with a walker.
He took it down fast with a shot, he was wide awake now and ready to fight.
He just hoped the kids were safe.
He made his way to the RV killing any walkers he came by. He had to grab his hunting knife and use it as well, there were too many of them and too few bullets.
Not May in the group could fight.
He could see lots of them had fallen to the walkers as he made his way through the camp.
When he was almost to the RV, he spotted Harry hunched down and trying to hide beneath a truck. Walkers were ambling around him, but none were able to get to him under the vehicle.
It was a sight that had Merle confused for a moment as nothing was stopping the walkers from getting under the truck, but it was like there was a force field stopping them.
‘What the hell was going on’ Merle rushed over and took care of the disease. Bending down so he could see Harry better he was relieved to see the kid unharmed.
He dragged the kid up into his arms and continued to make his way to the RV where he could see everyone was congregating. Fighting walker that got in his way.
“Watch my six buddy,” Merle cautioned.
The dead were coming in smaller numbers now, as Merle put Harry down with his back to the RV and stood in front of him to protect him. It was easier to see the horrible scenes in front of them.
Everyone was shooting and stabbing the dead in the head as they continued to come after them. They were all out of bullets and down to knives and bats before long.
Merle could hear more guns going off on the other side of the RV, he was relieved when his brother walked around and into his line of sight.
He wouldn’t admit it, but he was getting worried for his brother.
With the help of the returns group the Dead were taken care of speedily.
They had been holy unprepared for the attack. All of the people thought they were so well protected away from the city. It had only been a matter of time before that changed.
Andrea was crouched down by her sister who was lying on the ground. She had several bits taken out of her and looked like she had bled out from the injuries.
Andrea stayed by her side crying till the sun came up.
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No one got any sleep that night, most to scared too, people were afraid of another attack and couldn’t let their guard down.
The sun had risen and in the light of the day, the horror of the night before was a gruesome sight.
Merle got Harry back to his tent as everyone made the rounds to make sure every head was hit. Andrea was still sitting vigil at her sister’s side, she was quiet and focused on the dead girl. Several of the group had approached to talk to her, only to get no response.
Merle watched as Rick made a go of talking to the grieving woman only to have a gun pointed at him.
The man was wise enough to back off.
Daryl was antsy having one not taken care of and was all for doing it himself, but Merle just gave his brother a look that said leave it and they both went off to get back to work.
Out of all the deaths only Ed was a relief for the group. They wouldn’t say it to Carol or within Sophia’s hearing but the man sure had it coming.
Carol put a pickaxe through her husband’s head, Merle was sure he saw a slight twitch of a smile on the woman’s lips like she was getting her revenge finally.
Most of the group was moving the dead, they didn’t want to have them lying around any longer than they had to.
Everyone’s emotions were high after the attack, and Glenn’s outburst was just the beginning.
Jacqui’s yells had everyone gathering around to find out Jim had been bitten.
A discussion soon began about heading to the CDC.
There was a debate on whether it might be overrun or not, the group was torn on if it was worth it.
In the evening they buried their dead and had a very restless night's sleep. More people went on watch duty in shifts just in case any walkers got close again.
The next morning, they packed up, only the Morales family chose not to go with them, deciding to find their family.
It was a teary farewell for the group who were closest to them. The kids, Carl and Sophia took the split the hardest.
It was a weary and tired group who left the quarry behind
Merle had packed their stuff up and loaded it into Daryl’s truck along with his bike, he wasn’t in the right state to be riding so he would be sitting shotgun for now.
Making sure Harry was safe sat in the middle seat they all took off on the road.
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NOTES:
Don’t hate me for the way Sophia acts please I have only given her a bit more personality, she needed a bit more to her character for how I’m doing the story later.
Anyway, your comments have been lovely thank you, and I’m glad you are enjoying it.
Stay Tuned XX