"What's been happening?" Harry asked as he sat down, groaning in relief, both at the fact his arms were empty of the trays and of course the weight of his tired aching back. He'd done all he could for Daryl, the wound would heal much quicker with the spells he'd cast helping along the way. He needed some sleep, but his stomach desired nothing more than food, he hadn't eaten much the past few days, and the hot food was a godsend if he was honest. It was actually a full plate of food, although many would find it ironic since he had an entire shops worth of food in his trunk, but he knew sooner or later it would be needed. Not right now though, the lot he'd brought back would see them at least two or three months at east.
"Searched for the girl til' it got dark, came back, no good searching in the dark, would have got lost." Merle replied, the look in his eyes suggested he wasn't fully in the room with Harry though but lost in his thought. "Slept til it got light and most of us went to look for both o' you, the idiots then ran in the direction of bells ringing in the distance. It's like they never learn, surprised there wasn't a horde." he grumbled in exasperation, "We split up into two groups, the girl Maggie came for queen bitch cus the boy had been shot, the nigger got infected so he and the chinaman left to come to the farm first. We stayed until we joined em here the next day."
"He's not from China," Harry said after eating, "You're not really insulting him so much as yourself. I mean it only makes you look thick and I know you aren't, you're smarter than anyone gives you credit for. You and Glenn are quite the strategists. That help might come in handy in the future, no not might, will. Plus he's been to neither China nor Korea; he was bloody born in America."
Merle barked out in laughter, trying to hide how much that comment meant to him. He knew how people saw him; he didn't get how Harry was different from the others. He certainly wasn't like them, but he didn't seem to mind them either. He was an odd one that was for damn certain. "You certainly have a weird way of defending em,"
"I'm not," Harry retorted sharply, "You're all as bad as each other, I'm no even going to attempt to stop it." the others might try and claim they're bloody innocent in all this but they weren't, they said bad things about the brothers in turn, dirty rednecks mostly so honestly they deserve everything Merle spouted and more. It was just a different kind of prejudice than he was used to, it happened everywhere. "It's just a waste of time in my opinion though; right now our efforts are best spent trying to survive this shit instead of goading each other. Doesn't matter what life was like before the turn, we're all gonna need each other now. Need to learn to trust and rely on each other." Harry's lips twisted as he said it, he didn't trust them and he doubted he ever would. They'd left someone he actually liked cuffed to a roof, hell if he tried to stop that shit.
Merle snorted at the thought, he knew Harry didn't trust em either.
"At the very least you have to stop antagonising everyone, I really don't want to have to come and get you from a horde of walkers again." Harry replied honestly, "You were close to cutting off your own hand man; I wouldn't have been able to fix that. If you had survived you'd have only had one hand and in this kind of world...it would have hindered you. No matter how much of a tough son of a bitch you are. If not for yourself then do it for Daryl, he would be fucking crushed if anything happened to you."
"Get outta here man," Merle said uncomfortably.
Harry just shook his head in bemusement; it wasn't the first time Merle had said that to him. Neither Daryl nor Merle could deal with that sort of stuff being said to them. They knew it but to acknowledge it? Whole other ball game that they don't play.
Harry wandered over to the window after finishing his dinner, gazing out, it was getting dark but he could still make out the area. They'd been sitting in silence for over half an hour when Harry spoke again. "What do you think of the farm?"
"So far it's been alrigh'," Merle admitted, "Too open, to exposed, lotta ways for the walkers to surprise us,"
"That and the animals," Harry pointed out idly, "I'm surprised none have come this way yet. I heard Rick has been trying to get Hershel to agree to let everyone stay permanently."
Merle just grunted in agreement.
"I'd tell them it's a mistake but I doubt they'd li-" Harry trailed off when he heard Daryl make a soft sound, glancing at him, so much for sleeping through the night. Harry knew the second awareness penetrated Daryl's mind, his hands grabbed the bed sheet that was still lying low at his hips and brought it up against his neck presumably when he realized he wasn't wearing anything on his top half.
"I'm going to put up my tent," Harry said from the window, moving towards the door and away from the brothers. Once he opened it he turned and said, "Your dinners on the table, should still be warm." with that he closed the door, the rest was on them.
Harry jogged down the stairs; the majority of the group were still inside. Amy and Beth were giggling like school girls, thick as thieves. Andrea was nowhere to be seen but that didn't surprise Harry the slightest, nor was Shane. Glenn and Maggie he noticed were passing each other little notes, not very subtle at all he thought with amusement. Dale and Hershel shaking their heads like disappointed fathers at the two of them. Lori, Rick and Carl were sitting down finishing their dinner.
"Word of advice...don't go up there, no matter what you hear." Harry informed them, rubbing his face tiredly. He wasn't sure if anything would happen, but those two expressed everything when they were roaring and shouting at each other. Grunting in surprise when Sophia barrelled into him, hugging him close.
"I see you're wearing your new boots, I guess they fit," Harry said smiling at her.
"Least they don't smell," Sophia said screwing up her nose in remembrance.
Harry laughed, "Yeah, good point," he conceded.
"They won't let me see Carl," Sophia pouted.
"I know he's your best friend, but you have to let him sleep, it will help him get better quicker so he can play with you again. He's going to be sore for a while though, and I'm sure you can see him again soon." Harry said softly, "He's very lucky to be alive, just like you." giving it to the girl how it was even if it upset her. They were kids yes, but in this world they would have to grow up or die. He would rather they lose their innocence than their lives.
"But I just wanted to see him," Sophia said, her pout gone replaced with a serious look - or as serious as a twelve year old could.
"Carl is fine, nobody would lie to you, Sophia," Harry said figuring that she might be concerned about them lying to her. "Maybe if you ask his parents tomorrow afternoon they might let you. But you're going to be busy so you better get a good nights sleep." he added.
"What do you mean by that?" Amy asked, the only one who had the guts to speak up.
"I'm going to make sure she can defend herself," Harry replied immediately, ignoring the comment that she was a child that Lori threw his way, "She was inches away from being bitten when I found her, I refuse to let it happen again, we aren't always going to be able to defend her, I will damn well make sure if she needs to she can. The walkers couldn't care less about her age." his tone becoming curt and blunt. "I would rather she lost her innocence than her life."
"That isn't for you to decide," Lori once again argued.
"Sophia's mother is standing over there," Harry pointed out vexed, "If she wasn't happy with this then she would tell me. Carol will be receiving the same training, and if she doesn't like anything I do then she can let me know."
"Which reminds me, hand over your guns," Shane said standing at the doorway, hands out expectantly.
"Excuse me?" Harry arched an eyebrow at the audacity of Shane. Taken aback when he actually looks at him, he looked like an utter idiot. Shaved head and dungarees that looked three sizes too big for him. Plus his abnormally large nose was swollen, his hex had actually broken Shane's nose, and it had to be repaired the hard way, someone forcefully putting it in place. He had to stop himself laughing at his new look though, which gave him a pursed sour look on his face.
"Hershel doesn't want our people walking around with guns," Rick explained, tense and alert.
"Ah," Harry said nodding thoughtfully, "I will adhere to the conditions for however long we are here, you have my word, but I will be putting them amongst my stuff, if that is alright with you?" Harry questioned Hershel meeting his eyes, showing nothing but seriousness.
"I see no problem with that," Hershel said giving a nod back, he might not know Harry very well, but he sensed that he could trust him to stick to his word. That and it would annoy Shane; Hershel didn't trust nor like him the slightest.
"Thank you," Harry replied, looking down at Sophia who was still hugging him. "Go on then, get some sleep,"
"Come, Sophia," Carol said giving Harry a wide smile, as she unwound her daughter from him. It amazed her how he could have so much patience with the children yet couldn't stand most of the adults in the group. She knew he couldn't, but given time it would change.
Harry followed Carol and Sophia out of the house, pointedly ignoring Shane as he bore holes into his head. He was probably pissed off that he wasn't handing over his guns. The funny thing was Shane had been trying to get them from the second he came to camp. He didn't follow them outside though, he instead sat on a chair that was there, giving another sigh, before rummaging in his pocket for the other pack of cigarettes he'd found, twirling them in his hand. Before flipping he lid open and removing one, shrugging his shoulders he put it to his lips and lit it.
"You go Harry, start smoking during an apocalypse," Harry thought to himself derisively, as he inhaled, barely able to stop himself from coughing up his gut. The second one went over a little better, man he wished he was somewhere secure so he could actually let himself fall asleep without worry that anything would happen he thought to himself as he looked out at the field.
"You know, talking yourself is the first sign of madness," Rick said as he sat down opposite Harry on the porch railing.
"Then I was mad a hell of a long time ago," Harry retorted with a wry smirk. Remembering every single year he'd wished himself a happy birthday at midnight after finding out his birth date at primary school. Happy wasn't an accurate description though, the Dursley's had made sure he had it worse on that particular day.
"Thank you for finding and protecting Sophia," Rick said, his gratitude evident, bitterness crawling up his throat, he hated the fact he hadn't been able to protect her himself, he should never have let her go, but he had known it was the only way to get them both out of there alive. To hear Harry had saved her just inches from her being bitten had horrified him.
"I did it for her and for Carol," Harry replied, blowing out the smoke, the tip of the cigarette illuminating his face as he inhaled again.
"I am grateful," Rick said, feeling awkward around the young Brit, he wanted to get to know him, but he didn't know how. He was a conundrum, Daryl, Merle and Harry were, Daryl who was extremely prejudice against the others but had saved T-Dog's life without a second thought. All three of them who looked seconds away from leaving the camp all the time were the first to look for Sophia, he wouldn't have pegged them for it at all, he was having to revaluate everything he knew since this had all gone down. Shane was getting more and more out of control, making the Dixons and Harry seem to pale in comparison. "You said you came over here when it first started? Did you plan on staying or leaving? How did you meet the Dixons?"
"They shot me," Harry said laughing at the look on Rick's face. Damn he was getting way to comfortable, he was actually laughing, had laughed more today than he had since it was just he, Daryl and Merle on their own.
"What?" Rick rasped out, eyes wide in astonishment.
Harry chuckled before continuing, "It was an accident, chose the wrong moment to appear in front of them, they were hunting game, I got in the way so suddenly that Daryl had already shot the arrow. They could have left me there, but they didn't, they took me to their home, healed me, and protected me until I could protect myself." he said honestly, continuing his cigarette. "When things began to get worse with more and more walkers appearing at the cabin we knew it was time to leave. So that's what we did, we planned on going to Atlanta where they said it was safe on the radio, we were overrun, so we decided to head up the mountain. One day we went to hunt for supplies, and then we saw them dropping napalm all over the city, watching it go up in flames even from where we were we saw people on fire running around in agony. I've never seen anything like it in my life and I've seen a lot. Fuck! It probably wasn't just here either, they probably did it all around the world. It wasn't long after that people began to get the same idea we had." and most of them were dead.
"You seem to know how to handle the Dixons," Rick said hesitatingly, not sure how Harry would take it. His stomach rebelling dangerously at Harry's description of what happened to the city.
"Handle? I don't handle them, I just learned as I went along when to leave well enough alone, or when it's safe to approach them." Harry stated, flicking the cigarette away.
"They're extremely...volatile." Rick agreed.
"They're not the only ones," Harry pointed out, he was easy to anger himself, "People can only take so much before they snap."
Rick reluctantly nodded his head, knowing it to be true, Shane had truly snapped.
"Shane and I, we're planning on finding somewhere nearby to train everyone...you're welcome to join in." Rick said, standing up, but waiting on Harry replying.
"He's been saying that for the past two months," Harry stated, "I sincerely doubt that it was his idea, hmm...maybe you're a better leader than I pegged you for." he answered honestly, "Why not? I would need to for Carol and Sophia anyway." he would need to check his trunk for a knife that was good for a little girl, then the guns, one small enough for Sophia so she could pull the trigger.