Chapter 290 - Ch: 123-127

123 Date Night

Taking a cold shower sucked. On the plus side, it woke my tired ass up for my date and I mentally promised myself to get the heated shower up and running as soon as possible. A feeling of regret briefly touched me when I realized I could have stored some of my civilian clothing back at the house before I left home, then I chuckled.

Going back there would be stupid for clothing when I could just pop over to the city that's like 20 minutes away and could raid a department store or something. I dried myself off and put my uniform on, the only clothes I had. It felt slightly warm and looked freshly pressed, which surprised me, and I put on my equipment belt and gun.

When I stepped out of the RV, a woman with short hair named Carol was there holding an iron and I saw an ironing board leaned against the RV. I gave her a huge smile and her cheeks went a little red, so I couldn't resist giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before I leaned in to hug her.

"Thank you." I said loud enough for others to hear and then I put my mouth by her ear as I whispered. "Nod your head if your husband Ed is abusing you or your daughter Sophia."

Carol stiffened slightly and then her head moved only slightly, almost too small to see. I saw it, though.

"I'll be by sometime tonight to handle it." I whispered the promise and let her go. Her wide eyes let me know she was shocked at both the offer and that I knew what was happening to her.

I didn't remind her that it was my job to take care of people and that things would be changing around here. It wasn't like I was going to take over, since that was too much work and responsibility for a single person to handle alone. I would be making things a lot more safer, however.

I walked around her and went back over to the moving van, because the two men that helped before were there. I opened the back and gave them each two metal shelves for the bases of their beds for the mattresses to rest on and handed over two of the smaller tool sets and said to drop them off at the pile of materials when they were done.

Juan came over with a ladder that Dale usually used to climb up on top of the RV to keep a lookout and he untied one of the stacks of mattresses before pushing three of them off. The two men on the ground caught them and leaned them against the moving van where they put the shelving.

"Thanks a lot, Rick." Juan said and climbed down. "A proper bed is going to make camping here so much better."

I nodded and waved them off, closed the van, and walked over to where Amy and Andrea still stood. I stopped about five feet away and pretended to knock on the air near Andrea, making the noise by clicking my tongue and echoing the sound at the base of my throat to copy a thick wood sound. It worked surprisingly well.

*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*

"Hello? Is anybody home? It's Rick and I'm here to pick up Amy for our date." I said, cheekily.

Andrea just stared at me like I was crazy while Amy cracked up laughing.

"C-come on." Amy managed to say between laughs and took my hand. She led me over to the side of the camp with the least amount of tents and I saw that we were on the edge of a medium-sized rock quarry. It explained why there was a construction company with several larger vehicles like tractors and dump trucks near the city.

"This is quite the view." I said and motioned towards all the piles of rocks and gravel, making her laugh some more.

"Are you always this funny?" Amy asked me and the smile on her face could have lit up a room.

"I'm not sure I should answer that with the truth or with a lie." I said and she gave me a questioning look. "One would make you sad and the other would make me sound foolish."

Amy's look changed to understanding and her hand squeezed mine.

"Shall we go for a walk around? I want to see how big the camp is and I want to check how safe we are." I told her.

Amy sighed. "You're going to do cop stuff on our date?"

I chuckled and squeezed her hand back. "No, I'm taking you for a walk on our date... to start, anyway. While we're walking, I'll be doing some cop stuff in the back of my head. I just didn't want to lie to you if you catch me looking somewhere else besides at you."

Amy's face went red and she looked very flattered. "Okay."

She started talking as she led me around the perimeter of the camp where everyone was staying. It wasn't organized or orderly and I tried to not frown at it. Haphazard was the word, I believe, and it did have a few protective measures. Unfortunately, it pretty much relied on isolation to keep the walkers at bay and that wasn't good. That wasn't good at all.

Of course, I made sure to keep my eyes mostly on her and Amy would blush a little every time she looked at me and caught me staring. As we walked, I found out she was 24 years old, about 6 and a half years younger than me, and she was a college student and living in Atlanta when the outbreak happened. She and her sister were found by Dale in his RV and they found the camp not long after.

Amy quickly became the camp's cheering squad and tried to keep everyone's spirits up, because she was so outgoing and positive, even with everything going to hell. Her relationship with her sister had been strained before the outbreak, mostly because of the age difference.

Andrea was 12 years older than Amy and had moved out to go to college and pretty much left her behind for years. Amy had felt abandoned back then and it wasn't until the world ended that they had reconnected and talked things out. Amy was also a great fisherman and had loved spending time with her dad fishing on a lake near their home.

When it was my turn to speak, I filled her in on the memories I had. I was 31, had Carl almost right out of high school, and my marriage was rocky long before the outbreak happened. Me being in the hospital after getting shot and then dying, gave both Lori and I the excuse we needed to break things off officially without needing a divorce.

Amy looked really happy about that. "I'm glad you didn't try to rekindle things to be with her again."

I gave her a crooked smile. "Like I told Shane, I don't want to know."

Amy leaned into my side and hugged my hand with both of hers. "They thought no one noticed them sneaking off together the last few weeks." She said and rolled her eyes. "I usually watch the kids during the day when their parents are busy and I keep them out of trouble."

I nodded. "You would know every time either Shane or Lori were busy, because they dropped Carl off for you to look after."

"Yep! I'm not an idiot." Amy said happily, making me chuckle.

We had made the full circuit of the perimeter of the camp and I brought us to a stop at the end of the driveway where the vehicles were parked. Her eyes went to the moving van and she blushed before she looked at me with both hope and a little nervousness.

"We can sit down for a while and talk some more if you want." I said.

"Yes!" Amy almost shouted and then blushed some more.

I held in my laugh at her reaction and walked her over to the back of the moving van and opened it up. I helped her climb inside, careful of her dress, then I watched as she kicked off her shoes and jumped onto the huge bed. She bounced on it and giggled, which I did laugh at as I climbed in. I closed the back, locked it, and took off my equipment belt.

"Are you really going to make this into a moving apartment?" Amy asked and her eyes glanced around at everything still there.

"I'm going to do my best with it." I said and pretended to reach into one of the boxes of supplies and took out the package of endless cookies before I sat on the bed. "I don't have the wood to make walls or can insulate it; but, I have a bunch of portable heaters that I can either pull apart for the elements to link together or place the heaters strategically around to keep the place warm during the winter."

Amy gave me wide eyes as she looked into the container and saw piles of Oreo cookies. "You're really thinking that far ahead?" She asked and took a handful instead of just one.

I handed her a napkin and she looked grateful. "It's only a week until the end of October. If I get it all set up as soon as possible, I won't be scrambling later when it's too cold to try and get it to work." I said and kicked off my own shoes before I moved up to lay down beside her to put the container between us. "The first thing to get installed is the shower, because using cold water to clean myself sucks ass."

Amy looked startled with a cookie half-stuffed into her mouth, then she burst out laughing with a spray of cookie and crumbs everywhere. I grinned at her and let her laugh herself out as I brushed the crumbs away from her and the dress and onto the floor. I would have to clean it later, anyway.

"You did that on purpose!" Amy accused me, her happy smile telling me she wasn't angry.

"No comment." I said and took my own cookie. "I really love these things." I said and ate it quickly to stop her from saying anything to make me choke, which she looked amused by. "All we need are a couple of glasses and some milk for this to be perfect."

"I can go grab some from the RV." Amy offered and didn't get up as she ate another cookie.

"That's okay. Maybe we can plan that for our second date." I said and took another myself.

"Oh? What makes you think we're going to have a second date?" Amy asked, clearly teasing me. She started eating another cookie carefully as she waited for me to say something shocking.

"Wishful thinking." I answered her instead of trying to make her laugh and ate my own cookie. "I mean, I never imagined meeting someone like you, even if it took the world ending for us to stumble across each other."

"Someone like me?" Amy asked, her tone guarded.

I turned my head and let her see a serious look on my face. "Someone that's smart, beautiful, has a great outlook on life, doesn't let the world get them down, and you're interested in an older boring man like me."

Amy blushed a little at my compliments. "I don't think you're boring."

"And now I know you're an accomplished liar." I joked, making her smile. "You're an exciting woman and you're also clearly out of my league."

Amy's smile faded. "I'm not."

I chuckled. "I know when I'm outclassed, Amy. You had plans, a bright future, and a life you wanted to live... and now here you are in the back of a van after an old man offered you sweets."

"Don't." Amy said and sat up to look down at me. "Don't joke about that. That's not what's happening right now."

My own smile faded and I couldn't resist asking the next question. "What's happening right now?"

Amy closed the container and laid it beside the bed. She gave me a searching look for several seconds, then she moved to a kneeling position and grabbed the hem of the cloth dress. My eyes widened as she easily slipped it up and off, revealing sexy black underwear and a bra that supported her perfectly.

I couldn't help myself and my eyes went to her heaving breasts and then dropped to her waist before I looked back at her face. Her own eyes dropped to my crotch and liked what she saw, which was me being instantly hard for her.

"Someone's a little overdressed." Amy said, suggestively.

My hands moved almost like lightning as I unbuttoned my shirt and I flung it off, earning another smile from her, then my pants quickly followed. My boxers had a prominent tent pole, now that my pants weren't hiding it or keeping it restrained.

Amy let out a wanton moan as she pulled my underwear off, then she reached for me and her hand wrapped around my silky hardness. Her eyes almost glazed over and she seemed to surrender herself as she dropped down and slipped me into her mouth and started sucking without any preamble or teasing.

We both moaned as she went to town on me and neither of us wanted her to ever stop. She was talented and I was pretty pent up, plus the sight of a beautiful blonde going down on me was a huge turn on. I did warn her when it was time and she gave me a searching look.

"I've been laid up in the hospital for a month. It's not going to taste anywhere near close to good after being backed up for so long." I informed her and she hummed, then she went faster and brought me that much closer to the edge. She felt me twitching and she pulled her mouth off of me with a pop and grabbed the napkin I gave her for the cookies.

We both watched as I groaned and then I shot my load. My quite huge load spurted fairly hard against her napkin-covered hand, then it spurted again and again. Amy's eyes widened at the force of it and then she frowned slightly at the darker, almost yellowish fluid, that was nowhere close to looking like normal healthy white sperm.

"H-having blue balls is a real thing?" Amy asked, clearly surprised, and she stared at the napkin that was quickly becoming soaked as the surrounding fluid was absorbed into the napkin and left the more solid parts behind.

"It'll take a shot or two to clear out the stagnation and then the new production should start." I explained and saw she wasn't sure what to do with the napkin. I took it from her, folded it up, and placed it on the floor beside the head of the bed, so I wouldn't step on it later. "Lay down."

Amy did so without any other prompting and the look on her face was a mix of trepidation and anticipation. I did not tell her that I wouldn't disappoint her, especially after what she just did. The look on my face was all I needed for her to understand my intention and she didn't fight me as I slid her very damp panties down over her ass and her thighs.

I saw that she hadn't shaved there in a while and she looked embarrassed at letting me see it. I didn't comment on it, mostly because sometimes the hairs could be used to enhance things, like with a bit of tugging or slight pulling near certain areas. Since she didn't see anything like disgust or aversion on my face, she blushed and spread her legs for me.

I accepted the silent invitation and she moaned pretty loudly when I settled my head between her legs and gave her more attention down there than she gave to me. I went to town on her, making sure she felt every brush of my tongue, every stroke of my fingers, and every kiss and nuzzle. We both lost count of how many times she got off and it didn't really matter. This wasn't a competition to see who would win.

I eventually kissed my way up her body, lingered for a few minutes on her beautiful breasts, then I kissed her passionately as she wrapped her legs around me. I ground myself against her and she moaned as my hardness gave her another orgasm easily. It must have been a while for her if she was this responsive, so I wasn't going to make her wait any longer for the main event.

Amy almost screamed when I adjusted my strokes and speared her right up to the hilt in a single go. Her wetness doubled, then tripled, and her legs were trembling as she held onto me and tried to recover. I wasn't going to let her. I started moving and she kept moaning, louder and louder, and I let my pace match her breathing.

Despite me doing the majority of the work, she set the pace, and I was sure she really loved having that control. Even in the heat of passion as we christened the new and very expensive bed, Amy never quite lost herself completely. Oh, there were moments she was almost incoherent, then she would come to her senses and would even escalate.

It was quite the experience and I was very grateful for my own skills and abilities, muted as they were. That was one of the things I had been able to keep, my prowess in the bedroom, thanks to Wiz and the others helping me so much.

I felt a pit form in my stomach and decided that now was not the time to miss my previous lovers. I had a gorgeous blonde under me and my promise to not disappoint her was going to be kept.

124 Nighttime Antics

Amy was in heaven. Good god, she was almost floating! Her mind and body had been flooded with so much of everything that she almost couldn't think straight. Rick had been... attentive wasn't the word. He was responding to her every reaction like he was a bloodhound and she was a fox trying to avoid being caught. He always caught her, every time she moved, and she loved every second of it.

The tingles were the best and the worst, because her shivers let Rick know exactly how much she had been enjoying him. Amy wasn't really embarrassed about that, even if she had wanted to hide some of her reactions. She thought she wouldn't have any real power in the relationship if he knew he could nuzzle her neck a certain way and she would let him do whatever he wanted to her.

Amy would also never admit that her sister was right. She really was acting like a slut for a man that somehow knew how to work her over so well. It was also a lot of fun. There hadn't been a lot of fun for her, either naughty or innocent, for the last two months.

At least she wasn't that far gone to let him finish inside of her, despite thinking it would feel a whole lot better than what he usually did. That Rick had a 'usual' technique with her already, after only one night, almost made her laugh. Of course, getting pregnant right now would be horrible, because who wanted to bring babies into the world while it was ending?

Rick pulled out of her and his much whiter and healthier fluid splashed onto her back. Amy gave him a very sultry look over her shoulder as he finished spectacularly, even though it was his fourth shot, then he laid down beside her while he very kindly used a napkin to wipe up the mess and cleaned her off. Again.

Who was this nice guy and why couldn't I have meet him years ago? Amy asked herself and then answered herself a second later. Oh, right. He was married.

Amy's eyes went to his hands as Rick hugged her from behind and pulled her in close. She saw the white line on his ring finger and she really was glad that he hadn't tried to get back with his wife. Just because the world was ending, that didn't mean all of their other problems had magically disappeared. It would have been a disaster in the making, especially if Rick hadn't realized his wife had been cheating on him with his best friend.

I wonder how long that has been going on behind his back? Amy asked herself and didn't hold back her sigh of contentment as Rick snuggled into her. Being the little spoon was really nice and she hoped this first date wasn't going to be the last.

*

I waited for Amy to drift off to sleep before I cast a cleaning spell on her. My magic was still pathetically weak; but, I could almost feel it stretching after each spell I used. I had to wait a few minutes before I could cast it on myself and then I waited another few minutes to cast Sleep on Amy, just to make sure she wasn't going to wake up when I opened the back of the van.

I waited for another few minutes as I dressed and then I cast silence on the moving van's rear door that slid upwards on tracks. I didn't want to leave her vulnerable, so I only opened it enough to slip out after laying down on the floor, grabbed the multiple napkins I had used, and closed and locked the door. I would be back long before she woke up from the basic sleep spell.

It was fairly late at night and everyone but the guy on watch was asleep. He sat on top of the RV wearing Dale's binoculars, and waved to me. He was one of the helpers I had earlier, so I waved back and mimed going for a bathroom break. He gave me a thumbs up and pointed to where I needed to go. I gave him a wave in thanks and moved off towards the designated spot and tossed the used napkins into the designated garbage pit.

The bathroom wasn't my only target, however. I did relieve my bladder, since my pipes needed cleaning out after all the fun, and I cast Stealth on myself as I moved off through the surrounding woods towards where I knew Carol, Ed, and Sophia had their tent. How did I know where it was? It was the only large family tent that didn't have part of a normal bed sticking out of it that I had noticed during my date with Amy.

The thing that surprised me was that Merle hadn't come over looking for his rifle. Maybe when he said later, it wouldn't be until he needed it for something like guarding the camp or hunting? That reminded me of a few things I had decided while looking over the camp, mainly more defenses. I would have to make a trip to the construction company to get the backhoe tractor I had used before.

On the plus side, with most of my inventory empty, I was sure I could store the police car safely. I could also do a few runs up and down the highway nearby with the siren blaring to clear out any stray walkers in the area. Better safe than sorry, right?

As I approached the tent, my stealth spell was still working, so I settled near the left side and cast silence on the tent. I took out a knife and made a small cut near the ground, just enough to peek through, and saw I was lucky and was behind the large man as he slept in his sleeping bag. I took out a small screwdriver with a very sharp and pointed head, then cast sleep on the man.

His heavy breathing eased off, letting me know he wasn't faking it, and I sliced the hole big enough to slip my hand through. I lined up my attack and jabbed as hard as I could into his neck. Ed caught his breath for a moment and that was it. I lined up again and jabbed right beside the last puncture, as if a snake had bitten him, and he didn't react.

My attack hadn't killed him, though. That wasn't what I had planned. You see, if he died while asleep, he would probably turn before morning and become a walker, endangering Carol and their 13 year old daughter, Sophia. No, what I did was cripple the abusive bastard and severed the nerves in his spine.

I normally couldn't get away with the snake excuse, except this quarry had a few of them. None of them were poisonous, so everyone would know the man wasn't going to die from just the bite. I just had to hope that Carol didn't take things into her own hands when she woke up in the morning and realized her husband could no longer raise his hands against her.

With my gruesome task completed, I made my way back to the bathroom area, dropped my stealth spells, and walked back across the camp to the van. I waved at the guy on watch to let him know I was okay and he nodded. I opened the back of the van just enough to slip back inside on the floor, then I closed and locked it. Amy was still out and didn't react, so I undressed and slipped back into bed with her.

To cuddle or not to cuddle? I asked myself and thought about what was going on in the world. It's definitely okay to be clingy.

Even asleep, Amy let out a soft sound of happiness as I hugged her with one arm from behind and held her tenderly. Her own arms hugged mine automatically and I drifted off to sleep with my mind at ease about everything.

*

Carol woke up in the morning and was surprised Ed wasn't looming over her or threatening her to behave. He had been worse last night after seeing the new guy... an actual sheriff and not a deputy like Shane... talk to her. The bruise forming on her cheek throbbed and she wondered if Ed would hit her again after she made breakfast.

She opened her sleeping bag and sat up before she turned slightly to look at her husband, only to see wide eyes that were full of panic. His mouth opened and closed several times as his chest barely moved up and down while he took shallow breaths.

"Honey?" Carol asked with the dull tone she usually used when talking to him. "Are you okay?"

Ed couldn't respond and he couldn't move anything except his eyes and eyelids.

Carol easily noticed this and leaned over him, looming in the same way he usually did over her, and a small smile grew on her face when he didn't move. "Honey? Can you move?"

Ed couldn't shake his head no and he couldn't even grunt, because he was only getting enough air to breathe. He didn't know what happened to him and he couldn't feel anything, not even his throat!

Carol's smile didn't lessen as she leaned over a little further to look behind him. She saw two small trickles of blood coming from the top of his neck. "It looks like a snake bit you."

Ed's eyes couldn't really react any more than they already were, so her words didn't seem to shock the man.

Carol's smile changed to look slightly deranged as she gazed into her husband's eyes. "Don't worry, Ed. I'm sure a doctor or a nurse will show up here eventually. Until then, I am going to take good care of you."

For the first time in his life, Ed felt true terror and watched as his loving wife hefted the length of metal pipe he used to beat on walkers that approached the camp. It was almost a relief that he couldn't feel anything as Carol took aim at his legs and swung.

The meaty thump was music to Carol's ears and she swung again and again, her huge smile almost splitting her face.

*

I woke up to the feeling of soft kisses on my lips and face. I opened my eyes and Amy was pretty much nuzzling me, probably half asleep, and she looked really happy with my arms still wrapped possessively around her.

"Morning." I managed to say between kisses.

Amy barely stopped her ministrations as her own eyes opened fully. "Morning." She said and turned enough to face me while she kept kissing me.

I wasn't going to turn down such a blatant invitation and returned her enthusiasm, then she turned all the way around and spread her legs for me. I slipped inside of her again easily and we had another great time. I restricted myself to only the once, even if my hard-on didn't wane at all.

Amy gave it a pat and promised to take care of it later when she had the time. When she realized she had said it to my dick and not to my face, she blushed hard and gave me a surprised look. I couldn't help it and laughed pretty hard at her expression and she quickly joined me.

Some cleaning wipes later, since I couldn't do magic in front of her, we both dressed and left the back of the moving van. I grabbed some of the dry food supplies and added some kitchen utensils on top and Amy gave me a questioning look, so I asked her for a good sized frying pan for homemade pancakes and she nodded and walked off at a fast pace towards the RV.

"Dad!" Carl shouted when he saw me and there were several groans from around the camp.

I barked a laugh and knelt briefly to brace the boxes of supplies to give him a one-arm hug. "I'm making pancakes for everyone, so thanks for giving them a wake-up call."

Carl wasn't embarrassed at being called out for yelling and took the larger box of flour from me. "I think we might have some jam left."

I pretended to reach inside my jacket and pulled out a large plastic bottle of maple syrup. "We're going with the rich stuff today."

"YAY!" Carl yelled and more groans came from around the camp. "SOPHIE! PANCAKES!"

"Yay!" A young female voice responded from the tent where Carol and Ed stayed and then a cute blonde girl shot out of the tent and ran over to us, giving Carl a hug and making the kid blush.

Amy was softly laughing as she met us by the unlit campfire carrying a large frying pan, a big mixing bowl, a large wooden spoon, and some butter. "He's as good as a foghorn for getting attention and we're lucky we're in an area that catches the echoes."

I smiled at that and set down the things in my arms beside the fire pit. "I've never overslept and it's all thanks to this guy." I said and rubbed Carl's head and ruffled his hair.

"Daaaaad!" Carl complained, even though he didn't push my hand away. Sophie beside him had an odd look on her face that I didn't miss.

I gave Carl a quick hug and then let my hand reach over and patted Sophie's head, earning a blush from the girl. "I'll have a large batch whipped up pretty fast, so you won't have long to wait. Amy? Can you start the fire for me?"

Amy nodded and easily did as I asked. She used a small squirt of firestarter fluid and lit the half-burned logs before she put the rack over the top of it and set the frying pan on top and dropped a dab of butter on it.

While she did that, I added the right amount of flour for a large batch of pancake batter to the bowl, a sprinkle of baking powder to make them fluffy, a dash of salt, a handful of granulated sugar, and nodded to Amy to drop a bit of butter into the mix.

"Any chance there's an egg or two in the RV?" I asked and she shook her head. "Then it's a good thing I brought a crate of them with me."

Amy's mouth dropped open and she stared at me as if my skin was blue and she was trying to figure out what I was. It made me laugh.

"We're not wasting them if they're used for pancakes to feed everyone." I said and handed her the bowl. "Mix that up and I'll be right back."

Amy held the bowl with the unmixed ingredients inside and didn't move or say anything.

"I'll do it!" Carl shouted and tried to grab for the bowl.

"NO!" Amy yelled and dove out of the way of his grabbing hands, miraculously didn't spill any of it, and rolled to a stop on her knees a few feet away. Carl stuck his tongue out at her and Amy looked smug as she started stirring with the large wooden spoon after mulching the butter.

I barely held in my laugh at the scene and walked over to the moving van to climb into the back. I pretended to move some things around as I reached into my inventory and pulled out one of the crates of eggs I had taken from the hospital cafeteria's industrial fridge. If I was lucky, no one would ask why they were still cold and I added a bag of paper plates and a box of plastic forks.

I locked the van back up and went over to the campfire. The other kids were there already and I was happy that Carl had made friends with them. I also noticed that they were talking back and forth so quickly that it was almost too hard to follow.

Amy saw me looking at them and whispered that they were always like that and I'd get used to it. I nodded and opened the crate and added several eggs that the pancake recipe needed and used my water container to add enough liquid for the batter. The key to good pancakes was to not overbeat the batter and to not let any lumps form.

The frying pan was hot enough when we were done mixing and I used a large ladle to scoop out four smaller pancakes and they started cooking right away and fluffing up. As I waited to flip them over, most of the adults came out of their tents and Dale came out of the RV. Not surprisingly, most of them looked well rested.

"Those mattresses were the best, Rick." Juan said as he sat across from me and his wife Miranda sat beside Amy as her eyes went to the dress. She smiled knowingly, because there were not a lot of wrinkles on it, not like there should have been if worn for a longer time than it had been.

Amy gave the woman a very happy smile back and leaned in to whisper to her.

I didn't miss the byplay as I cooked and started handing out pancakes to the kids, making them giggle and laugh as I pretended to complain as I 'accidentally' squirted too much maple syrup onto their plates. The adults easily understood what I was doing and looked grateful for it as the kids dug into their food with enthusiasm.

Amy apparently couldn't resist bragging about our date last night, probably because she was so outgoing and wanted to bring everyone's spirits up. I should have warned her that she might bring their spirits down instead if she wasn't careful about how much she shared, then realized I was okay with that. If it gave the other women ideas about how to coax their men into doing more for them, then I was all for it.

Every little bit of happiness counted these days.

125 Handy Dandy Part Two

The adults didn't mind waiting for their own pancakes and more than a few of them looked happy at both the taste and the syrup. The paper plates and plastic forks might have had something to do with it, too. No dishes to wash afterwards.

When nearly everyone was fed, myself included, Carol came out of her tent and just stood there beside it with an odd smile on her face. I was pretty sure I was the only one that saw her, so I did up a plate of six pancakes and syrup.

"I'll bring this over to Carol and Ed." I said and added two forks as I stood. "Amy, use up the rest of the batter and spread them around. If anyone wants more than that..."

"If you're offering to keep cooking meals for everyone, you can do it all you like!" Miranda said and a few of the women laughed. Amy had a look in her eye that said she was more than okay with it.

I did not miss the longing look on Lori's face as I walked around the group sitting around the campfire. I also saw how happy Shane was beside her. I nodded slightly to him and walked away from the camp and kept myself between them and Carol. Her odd smile changed to a genuine one as I approached her.

"Thank you very much, Rick." Carol said as she accepted the paper plate from me. "Will you come inside for a minute? Ed's feeling a bit off this morning."

I barely held back a bark of laughter at her dry comment. "S-sure, I'll take a look. I'm up to date on my first aid course."

Carol ducked back inside the family tent and I followed her. She sat down beside her husband and started eating the pancakes without saying anything.

When I looked at Ed, I could tell things under the blanket weren't quite right, since the lumps didn't really match the right outline for a person. I very carefully moved the blanket up and out of the way, only to wince at the multiple broken bones, bruises all over, and the panicked look in Ed's eyes.

Yeah, he definitely abused her a lot for her to be this vicious with her retribution. I thought. "Baseball bat?" I asked out loud.

Carol didn't say anything as she pointed towards a length of metal pipe within reach of where Ed slept.

I didn't say anything about it and put the blanket back over Ed before I placed a hand on his shoulder. It took me a minute to cast a very weak diagnostic spell and I let a small chuckle slip out at what it showed me.

"What is it?" Carol asked with mild concern in her voice.

"I'm not sure if I should compliment you on being so precise with your hits or worried that you managed to break both of his arms and his legs in multiple places without killing him." I said with praise in my own voice.

Carol blushed and seemed to take it as a compliment.

"Well, the good news is he won't die like this, as long as you don't move him. The bad news is he can't swallow solid food or much water with a partially crushed throat." I said and Carol frowned. "No, don't worry about it. I got this."

I took something from my pocket, that was actually from my inventory. It was a long piece of thin flexible pipe I was going to use on the pedestal sink. I measured the length of Ed's throat and added a few inches, cut the pipe with a knife, then I tapered the ends slightly, one end wider and the other end thinner.

Carol watched as I massaged Ed's throat and I slid the thinner end of the flexible pipe into his mouth and down his throat. I could feel with my fingers where it reached and it was past where Carol had whacked him good with the pipe. The wider end barely stuck out of his mouth and I bent the edges out a little further.

"There we go. I'll make up some slurry that's full of nutritional things for him and you can pour it right into his stomach. With luck, he can stay like this for a very long time." I said. "Just make sure you don't move him or hit him again until he heals up a bit."

The beaming smile on Carol's face should have worried me; but, it didn't. She could keep taking revenge on him without killing him and making him a walker.

"Thank you." Carol said and her eyes went down to my empty ring finger and back to my face.

"Amy already called dibs." I said, just in case.

Carol let out an unladylike snort and then half-choked and half-laughed, probably because she hadn't laughed in a very long time and wasn't used to it. She slowly leaned in and pressed her lips to my cheek, let them linger for a few seconds longer than she should have, and moved back. There was that odd smile on her face again and I wondered what it meant.

"I've never kissed another man before." Carol said, her tone slightly happy.

"Me, either." I joked.

Carol looked surprised and then she snorted and did that choking laugh again.

"I'll tell everyone that Ed's not feeling well after being bitten by one of those snakes and I tended to him as best as I could. Everyone should leave you alone for a while." I said and she looked relieved.

When I went to stand, her hand reached for mine and held on to stop me from moving. I looked down at her and she looked up at me, her eyes full of gratitude. I knew she would never say anything about how Ed really ended up this way, so I smiled my best smile as I bent down and gently lifted her hand to kiss the back of it.

Carol's plush was near epic scale at that chivalrous move and her arm trembled a little. "Th-those damn snakes."

I chuckled and she smiled as her blush faded. She let my hand go and I left the tent feeling much better about everything. I walked back over to the group around the campfire and everyone looked well fed and happy, even the kids.

Amy was talking to her sister and I saw that she had packed up the dry food packages. There were quite a few eggs missing from the crate; but, that was okay. If I didn't want people eating them, I wouldn't have left them there.

I also did not ask where the bottle of syrup went. If someone wanted to have a bit of fun with something tasty later, I wasn't going to call them out on it. After I had everything piled up, I took the time to explain what happened to Ed, to everyone's surprise. It set off a quick search of the camp looking for snakes and several of them were found and heavy boots were applied.

"I've got a bit of work to do in the moving van to get the hot shower hooked up, so I'm going to be busy for a while. If anyone needs me, that's where I'll be." I said when we all gathered back at the campfire. Not surprisingly, no one offered to help me. Apparently, none of the men had any handyman experience and the women had other things to do.

"Does anyone have a spare set of pants or shorts I could borrow?" I asked and picked up the dry goods. "I'm pushing my luck with my uniform as it is."

"I should have something for you while I take care of your clothes. I'm on laundry duty today." Amy said and glanced at Miranda, whom nodded.

"I'll watch the kids as they play in the quarry." Miranda offered. "Two of them are mine anyway."

Juan chuckled and put an arm over her shoulders. "I'm on watch, so I'll kind of help you, too."

"Thank you soooo much." Miranda said, sarcastically.

That made a few of the others laugh.

"Come on, my tent's this way." Amy said and whispered something to Andrea. She nodded and I followed Amy over to where they slept. "We used to stay in the RV with Dale, until it got crowded with people trying to cook food and shower all the time."

"You answered me before I even asked the question." I said and she smiled knowingly at me before we both ducked into the smaller two person tent. I watched her ass in the tight dress as she bent down and dug through a relatively neat stack of clothing. Admiring the sight didn't last long as Amy pulled out a pair of basketball shorts without knocking everything over.

"Tada!" Amy said and held them up.

"Thank you." I said and started to strip off.

Amy didn't tell me to stop, or go back to the van first, and watched me as I pulled off my clothing. I felt a bit playful, so I started humming a stripping song and did a little dance as I tossed things aside and went right down to my underwear. I pulled them off with a flourish and twirled them on my fingertip for a second, then I tossed them at her and she caught them.

"Tada!" I said and posed, my erection still quite prominent. She had a really nice ass.

Amy gave me a look from head to toe for a few seconds, then she threw the basketball shorts at my face. I let them hit me and they draped over my head, making her laugh. Before I could pull them off, I felt her warm mouth engulf me and I moaned with pleasure. I let the shorts fall to the floor of the tent as I looked down at her and into her eyes.

"Good god, you're beautiful." I whispered and Amy blushed, then she hugged my thighs and sucked harder. I cupped the sides of her head, caressing her hair, and she moaned as she worked me over fairly quickly. "I'm close."

Amy hummed and closed her eyes as she gave herself over to the sensations. She felt me twitch down there and stopped moving in order to swallow it all as it came out. She moaned at both the taste and the feeling, which let me know my skills and abilities really had carried over from the last world. Those modifications had been magic related and I thought they had been removed.

It was at that moment my inventory expanded slightly. To my utter shock, my Adventurer Card appeared with one of my wands, another 30 feet of space filled with books, Goku's workout weights I had bought a while ago, and pieces of the plane I had stored back in Familiar of Zero and the directions on how to put it together.

Luckily, I managed to school the shock from my face before Amy opened her eyes. She sat back and looked up at me with satisfaction on her face and licking her lips. I didn't say anything as I bent down to pick up the shorts, slipped them on, and grabbed my equipment belt and keys as I left the tent.

Amy let me go and didn't comment about my quick retreat, which was a relief. I did catch a few lingering looks from the women still around the campfire as I passed them, since I was pretty much naked except for the shorts. I couldn't tell if they were appreciative of the view or not, though.

I made it over to the moving van, unlocked the back, and slid in and closed and locked it again. I lay there on the floor and just... zoned out. Just the implications of what I gained was going to alter the things I had planned, let alone what I was going to do in the future.

What I had just unlocked was going to change everything.

*

Amy felt really smug and secure in her new relationship with Rick. She had gotten him off in record time and she was sure he really liked her, even if being called beautiful while sucking him off was kind of embarrassing. She slipped off the dress and hung it back on the hanger Melinda had given her and she would add it to the delicates of her own that she had to wash.

Then again, maybe if she put that off until Rick had the hot water shower set up, they could be washed properly and there would be room to hang them up to let them dry properly while out of the way. Amy slipped on jogging pants and a t-shirt and grabbed her pile of dirty clothes, Andrea's pile, and left the tent.

Amy met Miranda at the spot for doing laundry and she handed off three baskets full of clothes. Hers, her husband's, and their kids. She still didn't regret the decision, despite how much work she had ahead of her. Miranda gave her a quick hug, an apology, and fled. It made her laugh and she set up the washboard and took out the soap.

As she worked, Amy went over the date, the absolutely wonderful feeling of having an experienced man giving her many many orgasms, and how Rick had treated her respectfully. It was a new sensation for her, since she was used to guys just pounding her and not bothering to see if she got off or not. Did all married guys do that or was Rick someone special?

Amy shrugged mentally and started washing out the hardiest clothes, the denim jeans and thicker cloth pants and skirts. It was best to get them out of the way and leave the easier stuff for later. In the back of her mind, she was imagining christening the new shower with Rick and having more fun than was safe to do in such an enclosed space, which made it even more fun because of the danger.

*

After my little existential crisis, I got up off of the floor and realized most of the things I needed to make the bathroom were still outside in the piles of parts in the clearing. I didn't berate myself or anything over that, though. What was the point? I didn't have any more time to waste.

I opened the back of the moving van and ran over to the pile. I grabbed the things I knew I would need and a few I was sure would come on handy, and walked back. I gained more inquisitive looks as I did so and wasn't surprised that no one offered to help me carry anything. They were all busy doing something, probably chores to keep the camp running, and I put the things into the back.

I climbed in and closed and locked the door, then stored everything not essential into my inventory, including the huge expensive bed, to give me lots of room to work. I built a metal platform out of shelving for the entire bathroom in the front third of the moving van's space and set both the propane tank and the hot water heater above the floor. It gave me room to hide the electrical wiring, the feed pipes, hoses, and soapy water drainage to hook everything up.

As I worked, I could feel long forgotten skills slowly coming back to me, as if a fog was lifting from the back of my mind. I wasn't sure if it was memories of past journeys or previously bought skills resurfacing, and it didn't really matter. I mentally checked my Adventurer Card and nodded at the levels accruing under the skills reforming there. It was such a relief!

It became easier to work and faster to finish things, making the whole task simpler and easy to complete. Pipe flows here, electrical wiring and a junction box there, a few runes for lightning embedded in the casing and a power buffer and capacitor between that and the regulator, which was just a reworked car's alternator to keep things from blowing up.

The subtle manipulations of magic were becoming much easier with access to a wand. I even popped apart two camp stoves and transfigured the round heating elements into a long strings that were easily hooked up to the junction box and I formed an air gap and a metal casing around them to help distribute the heat under the metal floor of the bathroom.

The shower was the biggest and easiest to set up, especially after my stacked water purification thing that I technically didn't need, now that I had access to magic. I still used it anyway, just in case someone looked closer than a token inspection. The thing worked and no one would question why I never had to change out the filters or added more water. It was out of sight and out of mind, as the old saying goes.

Adding a drain under the toilet was a bit more difficult, since I didn't want to damage the moving van's undercarriage, so that took a bit of work and a few drilled pilot holes in the floor to check. I filled them closed after I found a good spot and then I had to use one of the larger containers as a repository that would be hooked up under the van.

It was easily disconnected and stored for travel, because I couldn't hide that I didn't really need it. That was too big of a thing to hide, because everyone expected there to be a lot more remains after using the toilet and if they saw the large container, they wouldn't ask why it didn't quite fill up as quickly as it should have. Most people only knew there would be more and not how much that actually was.

The sink was simplicity itself to hook up to the hot water and the water purification system, since soapy water was easy to recycle, just like the shower. With that done, I stepped back and admired the full sized bathroom I had made. I turned everything on and the metal floor was warm and the hot water heater hummed quietly.

Oh, right. I need to build a wall to hide that and the propane tank. I thought, then realized I would have to raid a large appliance store for a refrigerator and a stove, hook them up to the power and propane, and my little bachelor apartment on wheels would be set. I'd also have to get some cushion floor for the bathroom and kitchenette and carpeting for the rest, too.

I stopped my musing and chuckled, took out my wand, and pointed it at the pieces of plastic pipe I had left over from hooking everything up. They melded together and rose into the air, expanded and changed into a black and white diamond pattern, and I set it on the raised bathroom floor and spread it out to cover the metal flooring and formed it around the shower, toilet and pedestal sink.

I took out one of the pieces of wood I had and placed it on the floor and transfigured it to be an inch thick and spread it out into the right size and shape for a temporary wall and picked it up and set it around the hot water tank, the propane tank, the water purifying setup, and the electrical panel with the car batteries. Doing it that way, left the rest to be covered with a curtain for now until I found a door to mount to close off the bathroom from sight.

I did the same trick to section off the area where the kitchenette was going to be and added a thin piece of metal along the edge to make sure I knew where it was going to be. I used a piece of wood from my inventory and expanded it and transfigured it into a small counter top to separate it from the living area.

The next thing I did was use one of my baby shirts from the shop that said I saved the world and transfigured it into a nice durable carpet sample, set it on the floor, and 'grew' it out to cover the rest of the open space in the back of the moving van. I put the huge bed back into place and it almost filled it, making me laugh, and I turned it and set the side against the wall to leave a large walkway to the bathroom.

I knew I was going to have a lot of traffic when I opened the back of the van, so I set some of the dry food supplies back into a huge pile at the head of the bed and filled in the kitchenette area with most of it. It both showed it was still there if Amy looked closely at it and also let her know that was going to be the kitchen area where food was supposed to go.

The less questions she asked about things, the better. I was going to tell her eventually, especially since my plans had significantly changed. I was still going to secure the campsite, only I was also going to add a landing strip for a world war 2 airplane. How was I going to explain that I had all of the parts for that? Eh, I'd figure something out when it was time to build the thing.

126 Making Progress

Almost as soon as I opened up the back of the van that afternoon, making sure to wait around enough to explain getting so much done so quickly, several of the women ran over and started chatting and pointing. Their attention at what I'd done, soon had most of the camp abandon their chores and tasks to come over and look, too.

Merle and his brother Darrel came over as well and the looks on their faces were mixed. Darrel looked indifferent while Merle looked calculating.

I ignored him for a moment and pointed at Andrea. "I think the sister of my girlfriend should have the first hot shower."

That set off a lot of chattering and surprise, since they assumed I had already used it.

"I'm not done working yet, so I didn't try it beyond testing that the shower, sink, and toilet all work." I said and waved inside the back of the moving van. "I'm only offering the use of the shower for now, if you bring your own towels, since I don't have any until I make a run to the city. The floor's heated as well."

Andrea cursed under her breath and gave me a longing look, almost exactly the same look Lori had given me that morning at breakfast. "I'll be right back."

She almost ran across the camp to her tent and dove inside, making me and a few of the women chuckle.

I walked through the small crowd to Merle and neither of us missed Darrel tensing up and gripping his compound bow tightly in his hands. "I've got your rifle in my trunk and two spare boxes of ammo."

Merle's face changed from resting bitch face to a smile. "You really are making it hard to hate you on pure principle."

I laughed and motioned towards the squad car parked off to the side of the driveway. "If you missed seeing the gun rack on the wall of the van, you should know yours is on par with the quality of what my old office had in stock."

Merle and Darrel followed me over to the car and I unlocked the trunk. They saw the two other full gas cans and the couple of boxes of ammo I had left there, including a large crate of handgun ammo. I lifted out the rifle and handed it to Merle, barrel down, and then kept my eyes on him as he checked it over and I used one hand to grab two boxes of rifle ammo for him, which Darrel took.

"I have some experience with gun maintenance, so if it needs some tweaking or fixing up, let me know. If you just want to buff out the scratches from the pavement when it was dropped, there's sandpaper and polish in the pile of supplies over there." I said and pointed to the tarps where I had left most of the things I stole from the hardware store. "Oh, and here's a strap for it for easy carrying."

Merle huffed and attached the strap to the right spots and hung the rifle on his back with the strap across his chest. "You don't happen to have an automatic or anything, do you?"

I shook my head. "The precinct was pretty much stripped when I finally made it there a couple days ago and I took what was left, which wasn't much."

"Figures." Merle said and clapped his brother on the back. "We're heading out to hunt for some meat."

I closed the trunk and nodded. "If you're worried about any stragglers, make your way off to the far side of the quarry and shoot off a couple of blanks to get their attention." I said and handed them to him. "I should be on the highway by then and I'll start blaring my siren to clear out the area."

"You're fucking nuts." Darrel commented, his voice flat and without inflection.

I chuckled. "I did it twice already, once back home and then again in Atlanta. If you set things up first and watch your surroundings, they can't sneak up on you... and you have lots of bullets..."

"HA!" Merle said and it was my turn to have my shoulder clapped. "Next you're gonna say you're turning this place into a fortress or something."

I let a huge smile grow on my face and he laughed.

"Let's go have fun stalking prey, Dar." Merle said and grabbed his brother's arm and walked away.

"Are you going to do that?" Amy's voice asked.

I turned around and saw her carrying a couple of baskets full of wet clothing. "Let me help you with that." I said and took both of them, making her give me a relieved smile. "Yes, I'm heading into town to grab a backhoe, then I'll be back to start setting up some actual defenses for the camp."

"A backhoe? For what?" Amy asked and waved me over to the multiple clotheslines set up to hang dry clothes on.

"I was thinking trenches and high mounds as barriers, since both are difficult to climb over, and then have them herd any walkers along a set path and into a huge pit." I said and Amy stared at me. "It'll be easy to dispose of them when they're pretty much helpless. I have sledgehammers and lots of handgun ammo."

Amy shivered a little and then shook her head. She took one of the baskets and pointed me to another line. "Use the clothespins there. Double them up if you have to."

"Double them up?" I asked.

"Use one pin to hold the edge of two things. T-shirts and lighter things work best. Jeans and pants need to be hung separately." Amy informed me.

"Ah, got it." I said and walked over to the other line and quickly started to hang everything up. Even though it wasn't really a skill I had before, at least not an active one that I knew of, I still ended up finishing off the entire basket and filled half the clothesline in only a few minutes.

"How the hell did you do that?" Amy asked me, clearly shocked.

I turned and saw she had only the top part of her basket empty. "I have great hand to eye coordination." I said and glanced down at her body and then back up to her face. My distraction worked, because she blushed and then bit her bottom lip. I walked over to her and anticipation was on her face. "Is there any more I can help with?"

"D-down by the water. Three baskets. Over there." Amy said, her voice wavering slightly as she pointed.

"I'll get them." I said and leaned in.

Amy closed her eyes and puckered her lips slightly for me, so I gave her a hug and a nice kiss that wasn't too outrageous for being out in public. I felt her shiver and held in my laugh as her hands rubbed my bare chest.

I let her go and she opened her eyes, desire flaring in her gaze. "Don't look down."

Amy of course did look, saw the tent pole in the shorts, and her hand reached for it.

"Work first, play later." I said and stepped away.

"Dammit." Amy groused and gave me a mock glare.

"We now have a private sleeping area all to ourselves, my dear Amy. Believe me, we won't be wasting it." I reminded her and she bit her lip again. "I'll be right back."

I walked off fairly quickly and didn't bother trying to listen in as Miranda and another woman rushed over to Amy and started talking in hushed whispers.

*

Shane was on afternoon watch again and he used Dale's binoculars to see what was going on around the camp. Did he spend a little too much time checking out the women as they did their chores? Maybe. Did anyone know he did? Probably not. There wasn't much entertainment in the middle of an encampment that had been hastily set up, especially with no power.

The situation with his old friend Rick had turned out better than he ever expected, even with him back to life. Lori was almost resigned to everything, even if it hurt her to admit that her and Rick had been having problems long before his stay in the hospital. It was one of the reasons Shane had so easily convinced her to let him give Carl another father figure to look up to.

The best part? Carl saw him as a favorite uncle and Rick had already latched onto the most eligible blonde in the camp. Most people thought it was the older sister Andrea; but, he knew better. Amy was the fun one. The loud sounds she made while having sex, had set both him and Lori off last night, and he suspected that a lot of other couples had also enjoyed the secondhand help. There were definitely a lot more smiling faces today, that was for sure.

Shane watched Rick gather the laundry and went about putting the wet clothes on the lines, which kind of surprised him. When did he do domestic work like that? Lori always complained about doing all the cooking, cleaning, and washing since they were married.

He shook that thought off when the back of the moving van opened and he used the binoculars to watch a very happy Andrea be helped down from the back. Her hair almost shined in the sunlight and her skin glowed with health. He laughed under his breath as there was a mad scramble to be the next one to take an actual shower.

"What's funny?" Dale asked as he sat down beside Shane and handed him a sandwich.

Shane handed him the binoculars and accepted the offered lunch. "Check out the moving van."

Dale looked through the binoculars and chuckled. "Okay, I see what you mean."

"We might have to make another schedule to keep them under some kind of control." Shane said and bit into the spam sandwich.

"Naw, the novelty will wear off quickly, just like cooking on a tiny stovetop in my RV did." Dale said and Shane nodded. "I don't see any power cords or anything."

"Rick said he'd jury-rig something to get it up and running first, then would work out how to get constant power later. We should ask if he can grab some extension cords, assuming there's none in that huge pile of supplies already." Shane said.

"Camping lights do suck up batteries fast, don't they?" Dale asked and Shane nodded. "I'll head over with some sandwiches and ask."

"Thanks, Dale." Shane said and Dale handed him back the binoculars. The older man stood and went to the ladder, climbed down, and went inside to make more sandwiches.

A few minutes later, just as Rick finished hanging up all three baskets of wet clothes and Amy was just finishing the first one, Dale approached them and handed out some sandwiches.

Shane couldn't hear what was said and could only watch as Rick nodded and then made the older man laugh. Amy looked happy, not that she ever looked anything but happy, and she put her arm around Rick's waist and leaned against him.

That's right, show Lori she can't go back. Shane thought and moved his view slightly to see Lori and Carl beside the moving van with towels. The look on her face was almost a scowl and Shane smiled. Yes, that's perfect. You're mine, Lori. All mine.

*

I didn't want to wait around long, not after what I said to Merle. I still only wore a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else, so when I put on my equipment belt and my hat, it made everyone laugh. I tipped my hat at them and made sure Carl knew I had my radio on me before I drove the squad car out to the highway.

As I reach there, I heard Merle fire off the blanks I gave him, which was the signal we agreed on. I hit the siren and drove at a normal pace for a mile each way from the camp. It didn't take long before a virtual horde of zombies, some from the abandoned vehicles, started to swarm the highway. Since I was an old hand at this, I quickly found and set up a condensed area to funnel the horde into a much more manageable size.

Since I suspected Merle and his brother would be watching me, I had to pretend to need reloading of my handgun. It was an easy ruse to keep up, since the narrow area I had set up was between a burned out bus and a transfer truck, which would give me plenty of time to fire and reload in both directions. The growing pile of bodies would also be a speed bump for the follow up walkers, too.

So, I spent about an hour and a half firing and reloading, taking my time to get head shots every time, and moving when necessary to keep the flow of undead after me and flowing into the smaller firing area. I even used the shotgun a few times to keep things interesting, which kept their own interest for much longer than just the handgun sounds did.

When the dirty work was done, there were more dead bodies on the highway than there were cars, and that was saying something. I definitely needed to go and grab that backhoe and I had to do it fast, because it was starting to get late. I also needed to stop in town for a bit of shopping, too.

I spent a few minutes pulling the bodies aside enough to get my car through and I sped along the empty side of the highway to reach the city. I didn't spend too much time searching, since I knew where to go. The department store where the group had raided already and the hardware store for a refrigerator and a stove, as well as more normal batteries and extension cords to share power.

I needed to cheat and used my inventory to load the large appliances into the wide front bucket of the tractor and secured them with straps. With that ruse successful, I filled the tank with diesel and stored the police car. I wasn't going to leave it here to be either ruined or stolen, or worse, have a walker inside to stink it up or break the windows.

I drove the tractor out of the construction business and down the road. It was a heck of a lot slower than a police car and it took me until near dark to get back to the highway and I had to shoot a few stragglers along the way. Tractors make a lot of noise when they move, apparently.

It didn't take me long to use the small rear bucket to clear off the side of the highway and piled them over the bus. I may have also crushed half of the bus because it was fun. What? It really was fun. It also brought more walkers, so I spent another half an hour clearing them out as well.

It was quite dark out by the time I drove the tractor down the road to where the camp was. To my surprise, I was greeted with cheers and applause by most of them. I turned off the tractor and climbed out of the cab, only to see a smug Merle saluting me with his rifle and a reluctant nod of respect from Darrel.

I couldn't do anything but laugh at the situation and hopped down into the arms of a very happy Amy as she huged me, then she stepped back and took my hand and raised it into the air.

"Our hero!" Amy shouted and there were more cheers and applause.

I accepted the praise for what it was, relief that I had cleared out so much hidden danger from the area, and spent a good fifteen minutes describing what I did and how. The awe on their faces wasn't misplaced and I was sure I overheard two of the women in the crowd that were in relationships had subtly suggested to Amy about having a 'couples night'.

Thankfully, Amy vehemently refused and wanted to keep me all to herself. Not surprisingly, I was perfectly fine with that, mostly because I had seen Lori's interested look at the suggestion. There was no way I was opening that can of worms again.

127 A New Normal

I stashed my new clothes from my inventory inside the refrigerator and the batteries and extension cords were inside the stove, so only the stove was unstrapped and raided for the batteries. At least they thanked me for them before rushing off.

"Thanks for helping me put them in the van!" I shouted and a few laughs answered me.

"You can just load them from the bucket right into the back if you turn the van around." Amy said. She had several packs of batteries stuffed into her own pockets and looked completely unrepentant.

My brain kind of stalled and I stood there staring at her, making her blush slightly.

"I think you need folding steps or something, too." Andrea said and we both jerked slightly, because we both had missed her approaching us. She rolled her eyes at us. "Everyone's showered already, even the guy now on watch, so no one's going to bother you until tomorrow or the next day."

"Really?" I asked, a little surprised.

"No one wants to waste the water or overheat the heater." Andrea said and slipped two of Amy's battery packs from her pocket and stuffed them into her own. "I need them for... the camp light."

Amy blushed and looked away, so I understood immediately that it was for personal reasons and not for the camp light. That made me rethink exactly why the others rushed off so quickly.

"I just came back over to thank you for setting the hot shower up so fast..." Andrea said and then looked a little embarrassed. "...and for letting me go first. I haven't felt so clean in... in months."

Amy stepped between her sister and myself. "Me, either. It felt great, didn't it?"

Andrea didn't try to lean around her sister to look at me, even though the three of us knew she wanted to. "Dale and Shane came up with a schedule for use and set hours, so it won't inconvenience you." She said instead of what I thought she was going to say. She pulled out a folded piece of crumpled paper from her pocket and handed it to Amy and not to me. "The watch schedule is on there, too."

"Thanks, sis." Amy said and put it into her own pocket.

"You're welcome." Andrea said and stepped close to give her a hug, her head was over Amy's shoulder and her eyes locked onto mine. "You're very lucky, you know."

"I know." Amy said and hugged her back.

I nodded without speaking, getting her unspoken message that she would have made a move on me to have me for herself. Andrea let her go and stepped back, smiled at us, and walked back over to her tent.

"Well, that was awkward." Amy whispered and turned around to look at me.

I stepped forward and gave her a tender kiss. "Thank you for protecting me."

Amy smiled crookedly. "You're not disappointed that you can't be with a pair of sisters?"

I thought back to my adventures and was surprised that I hadn't been. "Actually, I'm not. It's never come up before and I doubted it ever would... and here we are, you defending your claimed territory from all threats, implied or otherwise."

Amy softly laughed. "You've read too many fairy tales to think a line like that ever works."

I put my arms around her and gave her another tender kiss, this one a little longer and still respectable to do in public. "I need a nice long shower after all the work I've done today."

Amy held me and didn't let me go. "Is that an invitation, Mister Grimes?" She asked, her hands caressing my back. They didn't go down lower, despite seeing in her eyes that she wanted them to.

"We can unload the appliances and my new clothes tomorrow." I said and let her go, took her hand, and helped her up into the back of the moving van. I climbed in as well and then closed and locked it, the small camping lights already on, probably because the air was a little damp and someone had a shower not that long ago.

Amy didn't bother waiting for me as she quickly stripped off and tossed her clothes on the floor beside the bed and had an eager look on her face. I had to smile at her almost vibrating in anticipation and tossed my equipment belt aside and dropped my shorts. Her eyes dropped as well and softly moaned at seeing me already erect for her. She stepped close and slid her hands around it.

"I'm really starting to love this thing." Amy muttered under her breath and stroked me a few times. She paused for a moment and looked up at my face. "Rick, I... I'm not... I don't usually..."

I put a finger on her lips. "I'm your claimed territory, remember? I didn't protest or refute that."

Amy nodded and I moved my finger. "You're really okay with... with settling for me? The others..."

"...are not you." I interrupted her. "Unlike them, you were kind, and friendly, and joked around. You trusted me and welcomed me completely. You treated me like everything's normal, despite what's going on all around us."

Amy let my hardness go and put her arms around my neck.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and gave her another kiss. "Do you know how rare that is? How great it is that I just so happened to meet you so far from where I used to live? Just the odds..." I shook my head. "Forget all of that. We met, we clicked, and I'm not wasting this opportunity or want to give you up to waste a few hours bedding someone else."

Amy blushed at my words. "Rick... I... I think..."

"Me, too." I said and kissed her again, this time passionately, and I let her feel how much I liked her. Amy let out a moan and she clung to me, almost desperately, then she hopped up and really moaned as she slid herself down onto my still very hard erection.

I brought us over to the bed and we fell onto it, making her scream with pleasure as I shoved myself inside of her as deep as I could go. I pulled out almost all the way, then drove forward and made her moan and pant as she came again.

"Mmm... more... more... more..." Amy panted and then kissed me as my hips kept moving.

We stayed in bed for several hours and Amy kept demanding I do her as much as possible while she tried to tell me how much she was falling for me. She also wouldn't let me pull out, as if she wanted to make her claim more permanent.

I assumed she would probably regret it in the morning and I could tell her then that I was shooting blanks, without telling her I would continue doing that until I paid the Karma points to make her pregnant. Maybe I could just say the hospital stay might have made me sterile instead? It depends on how she reacted when she woke up.

We both fell asleep while wrapped in each other's arms and forgot about having a shared shower.

*

Amy woke up on her side with Rick's strong arm around her. She slowly opened her eyes and felt slightly achy all over. It was a good ache, though. She didn't regret anything that happened and her mind was oddly okay with everything. Why she thought getting pregnant now was fine when the day before she hated the thought, didn't really bother her.

She felt... warmth inside... and she was sure it really was love when she thought about Rick. Having a kid with someone you love was fine, right? That's what couples were supposed to do, weren't they? Well, after a while, anyway. Was this too soon?

She wasn't foolish enough to believe in love at first sight, since that was mostly shallow and only gained people's interests to get the ball rolling. It was only after getting to know someone that genuine feelings started to come into play. After only two days was a bit fast, especially for her; but, she knew she made the right choice. She even tried to tell him about it and he agreed and felt the same, which was awesome!

Amy tried to move her arms and felt Rick shift slightly, then she moaned as he slid inside of her again. He was insatiable and she loved it. How could Lori screw things up with him? He was perfect. He was patient, listened to her, appreciated her, and didn't take her for granted. She couldn't believe anyone in their right minds would ever want to argue with him over something when he was always so reasonable.

Her thoughts screeched to a stop as she considered that. Maybe that was why they had problems? Rick was too agreeable? Could Lori have hated that attitude? It made her wonder what else Lori would have wanted him to be like. Why would she want to change him?

Amy gripped the sheets as Rick picked up speed behind her and she panted and moaned as he made her feel wonderful again. And again. She wasn't going to tell him to stop, either. She had turned him on several times already with just a kiss and now all she had to do was show that she was awake and he was inside of her.

She was glad that he couldn't see her blush, because she was really flattered that she drove him wild with such simple things. The other guys she knew, or used to know, were all cocky and full of themselves. It almost felt like a chore to try and get their attention, then she had to try twice as hard to keep it. Their eyes always wandered for greener pastures and she hated that.

Now... now... Rick was nothing like those guys.

"HNNNNNNN!" Amy moaned as she orgasmed and clamped her mouth shut to try and keep quiet.

She knew the place wasn't insulated or soundproofed, so someone was going to hear her this early in the morning with no other sounds around to muffle it. Rick pulled out of her and she groaned at the loss of feeling, then she was rolled onto her back and he was kissing her and making her feel loved as he entered her again.

YES! YEEESSSSS! Amy screamed in her head and loudly moaned into his mouth as she had yet another orgasm. How is he doing this? How can he... ohhhh, another one! He just came, too! OHHHHH!

Rick felt her clamping down on him as he pulled out again. "We need a shower."

Amy barely managed to grunt in agreement, her brain not quite up to making her mouth work.

Rick chuckled and helped her sit up, then he slipped her over his shoulder and picked her up in a fireman's carry. Amy moaned as he gripped her ass cheeks to keep her steady and he carried her over to the bathroom and into the shower stall.

Amy's expectations of some fun in the shower were fully met and then exceeded as Rick took her against the wall, then he washed her all over, and took her again from behind as she leaned under the shower's spray.

"So... sexy." Rick whispered as he kissed the back of her neck.

Amy blushed and helped as much as she could by pushing her hips backwards to meet Rick's thrusts. She really had fallen for the man... the older and quite experienced man... and she opened her mouth and let out the moans she had been trying to conceal. She decided that she didn't care if people knew, because she loved him and that was that.

*

I wore Amy's borrowed shorts again as I watched a very happy woman sexily walk towards the group campfire site with a pile of MREs for breakfast. I couldn't help but agree with what she said after the shower, because I was falling hard for her as well. It wasn't very often that you meet someone that you just clicked with, like you have always been together, and were comfortable with each other. I didn't try to fight the feeling, either.

I waited for her to start passing out the food before I went to the tractor and backed it up and out of the way. I then had to turn the moving van around and faced the back away from the camp, since that was the easiest way to get the front wide bucket of the tractor up to the same level as the door. It also pretty much hid me from view.

I still did the careful prep needed and drove the tractor slowly to the back of the moving van. The back opening was more than large enough, both in width and height, for me to set the edge of the bucket right on the floor. With it in place and no one able to see, I used my inventory to store the stove and refrigerator.

I next stored the supplies in the kitchenette and put the stove and refrigerator in the right places, then I started adding the metal shelving to use as makeshift cupboards. I added some to the other side of the moving van as well to put the miscellaneous supplies on, which I did. It didn't cut down on the available floor space because it was on the walls.

Of course, I had to fix the facade that the small countertop was, since there was nothing underneath it. I used bits of wood and transfigured them into doors, drawers, and shelves to add and filled up the space, giving me more storage space that was out of view. No one would know exactly how much actual storage was down there and I could cheat by using my inventory to find more things. I still filled it with dry goods and made two tall bar stools for in front of the counter.

I did have to make a few holes in the bathroom wall to gain access to the electrical panel and added the appropriate wires and connections to hook up both the refrigerator to the electricity and the stove to the electricity and the propane tank. It also gave the moving van another source of heat, because the propane burners could double as heaters with the flames set on low. I didn't need to do that except for appearances, though. Warming charms were great!

Since I was cheating with magic anyway, I tried to add expansion runes at the corners with added strips of metal, only for it to fail. My level in the Enchanting skill wasn't high enough, apparently. Dammit. I stripped the metal pieces out again and thought about transfiguring them into something else, then chuckled. I remembered Andrea's suggestion about needing to make steps and I had lots of metal shelving left.

The strips became four folded thicker pieces with holes, just like the metal shelving, and I used small bolts to screw each of the four pieces to the fronts and backs of three metal shelves. A slight transfiguration of the center of the bolts later to make them smooth, the steps could be slid up or down and folded together to become flat.

I hopped out the back and moved the tractor out of the way, then went back to bolt the flat piece of metal to right above the bumper. It was kind of in the way while up and that was okay, since it would only be up while driving. I pulled on it and it fell towards me, swung down, and unfolded to become three steps that could easily be walked up to get inside.

"That's really handy." Dale said and I turned to look at him.

"It's technically still just metal shelving, just offset to make them angled out and with smoothed bolts holding it together." I said and showed him how easily they folded back up to lock into place and then I let them drop down again. "It'll let people enter and leave a lot easier, anyway."

Dale nodded and turned around to look at the camp. "I heard some of the others talking about what you're planning."

I turned to look at the people eating. The smiles on their faces made me feel good about things. "Do you have any advice or suggestions?"

Dale gave me a surprised look and I barked a laugh.

"Hey, I'm not in charge here. I'm here to help, that's all." I said and Dale smiled.

"Then yes, I have a few ideas." Dale said and his smile changed to a smirk. "Like a proper latrine for more frequent late night users."

I laughed. "An extra potty for the night owls needing more than a pee? I'll handle it." I promised. "I'll even put it near the usual spot where I was shown the other night. Anything else?"

"A few things." Dale said and turned to look at the tractor. "Can you handle everything on that?"

"I can." I said and motioned for him to follow me up into the moving van. "Let's sit down at the counter and work out what the camp needs over what I think it needs."

Dale grinned and followed me inside and whistled at the nearly finished interior. "Geez, you do fast work."

"I was highly motivated." I said and wagged my eyebrows, making the older man laugh.

"I understand, Rick. I completely understand." Dale said, knowing I did it to impress Amy. We sat down on the two bar stools and started talking.