133 Turbulent Times Part Four
You would think flying an airplane would be exciting and fun, and it was... for the first hour or so. After that, taking notes about what I was seeing and not seeing, namely no survivor camps, signs of life, or anything I could land and pilfer, was kind of disheartening. I knew if I didn't find anything noteworthy to report or potentially bring back, the whole flight might be worthless to the rest of the camp. It wouldn't be for me, however.
You see, I knew a few things about what would have happened if the camp survivors left the safety I had made for them and we tried to go find others. I knew the dangers, the threats, and the deaths that would be caused by others wanting what we had and trying to break us apart. So, I had to do something to prevent that from happening at any time in the future.
My plan of attack? The army base. Even if it was locked down or picked over, with magic on my side, it opened up so many options for me to use to clean up the area.
What's that? There's no modern launchers for those sidewinder missiles? A transfigured holder and a push spell would easily work. A disarmed bomb that needed bay doors to drop? A flick of my wand should reattach the detonator and I could drop it from my inventory under the plane. There were hundreds of thousands of rounds for modern planes that can't be used? A slight change to the calibre on the machine guns on my plane would solve that issue.
Yeah, I had a lot of ideas that I could enact by using magic to tweak things. I even had lots of time to do it, too. Landing before dark at the army base that I was sure had been abandoned, would give me all evening, all night, and then part of the morning to work out the best way to handle things. I might even stumble across more dry foods and MREs to bring back to the camp, since most of the plane was hollow anyway.
My flight plan took me over several of the safe zones marked on the map as I flew towards the army base, only I saw burned out buildings, wrecked vehicles, and masses of walking dead inside the compounds and around the areas. It was sad, really. None of them had stringent protocols in place and let bitten people inside, thinking they were only wounds. I would not be finding any help in those places.
I flew on and made note of disabled factories, empty towns, burned out malls, and so many vehicles that had been abandoned or ruined. It was almost like someone had intentionally gone out of their way to make sure everyone had to travel on foot, which was stupid. Any vehicle could provide some safety from the walkers, as long as you weren't swarmed. They could break the glass and get to you if there were enough of them.
After covering the bottom half of the state on the longer leg of the trip, I slowed my plane down as I approached the army base's airspace. By the looks of things on the first flyover, there were no obvious breaches in the perimeter. That did not mean there were no walkers inside, however. I knew better than that.
During my second pass, I saw that the runway was inside a large fenced-off area and was attached to the army base with no visible damage, either on the fences themselves or on the runway. It had to handle the large carrier planes for supplies, so my own little single person fighter could land there easily.
I did one last flight over, just to see if anyone heard or saw me, and came in for a landing. The winds were negligible, so I didn't have any trouble setting down and slowly coming to a stop. I didn't taxi myself over to the buildings I could see, either. I wasn't stupid. I left a lot of room between my only vehicle of escape and a possible ambush by either the dead or the living.
I opened the canopy and slit it back, then slowly stood and took my gun from the holster on my hip. I slowly climbed out of the cockpit and down the grooves on the side of the plane and hopped down onto the tarmac. Nothing around me moved or made any sounds, so I stood there for several minutes and waited, just in case.
When nothing came after me, I stored the plane and went over to the hangar that had an open front door. There was nothing inside, no cargo plane, no helicopters, and no supplies. There were also no walking dead that I could see, so I went over to the office and went inside. The only things I found were a bunch of messed up paperwork and two desks with rolling chairs behind them. The blood stains told a story that I didn't need or wanted to know.
The hangar must have been cleaned out before the army people left or they packed everyone inside every available flying machine and took off. I thought and went over to the fuel dispenser and checked it. There was no power, so no pump working to get the fuel.
I debated pulling out the wires and trying to rig something up, like the electrical panels in the moving vans, then shrugged. I could easily tear up the tank covering in the pavement and siphon out the fuel directly instead. I would also need to find a container besides the barrels I had in inventory, assuming there was any fuel left inside the base's supply tank.
I left the hangar and went to the nearby motor pool building and saw the chained door. I let out a sigh and had to go back to the hangar to grab the two office desks and went back to the motor pool door. I set up the desks in front of the door, careful of leaving room for the door to swing out, and I prepared myself for another cleansing mission.
I stored the chain and lock and stepped back to wait. Nothing happened, so I carefully went to the door and jiggled the handle and leapt back behind the desks to push them into the space. There was no bang or anything like I expected, so I sighed and went back to the door.
I braced myself and flung the door open with a bang and dove back behind the desks, pushed them in front of the open door to stop the walkers from easily leaving, and left only enough room above both desks for headshots. The loud noise definitely gained some attention and I heard the groans and growls of the walking dead.
I waited until I saw the first few appear before I opened fire. The forehead caved in and the back of the thing's head exploded, dropping the dead body long before it reached the desks. I had an errant thought and took out my wand to stick the desks to the metal frame of the doorway and then took aim at the next walker and fired.
The gunshots were excessively loud and echoed among the buildings, so I had to also keep an eye out around me. It was at that moment I remembered my alert ward trick and cursed myself for not setting it up beforehand. There was no chance of doing it now, not with more and more walkers coming into sight. My eyes saw a few of them staggering along the fence and coming this way, too.
Fuck. I thought and couldn't do much about that yet. I needed to clear out as much of the motor pool as I could before I needed to handle the horde starting to gather near the left fence... and now at the right fence. Double fuck.
I had a lot of work to do before nightfall and I was extremely grateful that I had infinite ammo.
*
Amy looked up at the darkening sky and she couldn't help voicing her thoughts. "Do you think he landed already?"
Andrea put her arm around her sister's back and hugged her. "You know I hate to say this..."
Amy rolled her eyes, because her sister always made that statement when she was trying to teach her something.
"I saw that." Andrea said and took a breath and let it out. "He's smart."
Amy gave her a squinted look.
Andrea huffed. "I'm not being sarcastic when I say that. He really is smart. Smarter than us." She said and looked up at the sky as dusk fell. "He would have landed long before it started to turn dark and made sure he was landing somewhere safe."
Amy leaned into her. "Is this that mysterious big sister intuition you're always claiming you have?"
"Yes, and it's always best to listen to your sister." Andrea said and suddenly remembered what happened back in Atlanta when they first met Rick. "Most of the time."
Amy nodded and looked back up into the sky again. "Do you think it's bad there?"
Andrea fell silent and didn't say anything for several moments.
"Andi?" Amy asked and looked at her sister.
"It was one of the biggest refugee camps in the state." Andrea replied, her voice soft. She didn't have to elaborate any more than that, not after how they had escaped their own little hell with Dale.
Amy's eyes started to tear up and she didn't try to wipe them away. She looked back up at the sky and didn't say anything else. All she could do was pray that he would make it back to her tomorrow.
*
I huffed and panted as I rested on the roof of the motor pool. I looked down at the absolutely massive horde of walkers that had gathered from all the noise I had been making for hours. It hadn't been so bad until the doors to the main building had burst open and nearly a thousand walkers stormed out looking for food.
How did the army fit all those people inside the compound, have so many of them turn undead, and not have any breaches in the walls or the fences? Well, that was before I showed up. Now half the fences were crushed when I couldn't get to them to cull down the hordes in time as I fled for my life.
"It looks like it's time for the shotgun." I said and took it out of my inventory, its wider spray should help a lot with such a target rich environment. "I really needed to have some sleep tonight, too." I said as I aimed for the heads that were only ten feet below me, before I remembered I still had several gas cans in my inventory, too.
I took one out and a bit of transfiguration later, I had the world's biggest Molotov cocktail. I had to make the plastic weak and brittle and still strong enough for me to throw it without splashing it all over myself and the building I was on. The smell was going to be horrible, though. I sighed and tied a t-shirt around my mouth and nose, lit the fuse, and threw the can as far as I could.
There wasn't a huge explosion, since there was no pressure inside the can, and all it did was spread the gasoline all over a huge area and then the fumes lit on fire. The walkers didn't scream or tried to flee the fire, even with them all packed together like they were, and it spread by contact.
After about ten minutes, a good quarter of the massive horde was on fire and burning, generating smoke and a really strong smell. I couldn't tell if it was working, though. Were some of them dying? Collapsing? It was dark and difficult to see, even with the fire lighting up the place.
So, I did the only thing I could do. I doubled down on my gamble and took out another gas can. This one I cast a small barrier around and poked holes in the plastic, then I threw it as hard as I could in another direction. The weak barrier dropped in mid-air and sprayed gas all over the place like a sprinkler.
The fire easily spread with more fuel to eat and even more of the walkers caught on fire and spread it further. I started taking potshots at the closest walkers by the building and the horde moved forward slightly when there was room. The light from the fire lit up the night a lot more than I thought it would, since I forgot that there were no other sources of light to dull it down.
"You know, with thousands of you catching on fire, they can probably see you bastards from space." I said and kept firing into the horde by holding the trigger of the shotgun and pumping the pump-action constantly.
Was that cheating? Probably. Did I care? Not right at the moment. I needed to destroy as many of them as possible before I was too tired to pay attention to what was going on around me. I didn't want to die... and I especially didn't want to die because of a stupid mistake, like letting them climb over the bodies of their fellows.
Plus, it wasn't like I needed to aim with any kind of accuracy with so many of them literally at my feet. It was going to be a very long night, even with Pepper-Up Potions to keep me going.
*
Amy woke up in bed and felt soft arms around her, holding her. She tried to not let the disappointment get to her that it wasn't Rick's strong arms doing it and her thoughts went to him and wondered what he was doing. She couldn't stop worrying that his reassurances about being able to handle everything he came across, might not have been accurate, considering the mess the world around them was in.
"Did you sleep for long?" Andrea's voice asked her.
Amy turned her head slightly to look at her sister over her shoulder and saw her bloodshot eyes and worried expression. She turned all the way around and hugged her tightly, because she realized Andrea had stayed up all night, just to make sure she felt safe, and she did feel safe. She really did.
Andrea knew at that moment that forcing herself to stay awake all night was worth it, just to see her sister's thankful look again. She hadn't seen it much over the last few years and she deeply regretted that they had drifted apart, even though there wasn't much she could have done to fix things.
Then the world came to a stop and things changed, mostly for the worse, and also for the better. All of their normal worries and fears of the future had disappeared almost overnight and were replaced with survival and worrying about finding each other and then looking for food. Struggling to live had given them a chance that neither of them ever thought they could have... to become sisters again.
When you looked at things a certain way, the end of the world didn't seem so bad.
*
It was over. Finally over. I felt supreme relief as I sat on the edge of the charred roof and I was happy that metal and concrete buildings were very difficult to catch on fire. I also promised myself to give both Fate and Death a kiss the next time I saw them, because they bought the handgun and unlimited ammo for me, which gave me the idea to buy the shotgun, too. Both guns had saved my life so many times last night and I was very grateful for that. Very, very grateful.
My eyes looked upon the spread of dead and mostly burned bodies that the last 14 hours had reduced from an imminent danger into stuff I needed to wipe off my shoes. It was honestly the hardest fight I had ever been in and that was saying something, because some of the situations I had been in were just as scary... the only difference was this time I had to survive and couldn't go out in a blaze of glory.
I sat there for quite some time as I let myself relax. I had cleared out the whole horde and lost count of how many I had put down in the end. I had even used up the last of my gas to keep the fires going and threw out several stacks of wood to stoke the massive bonfire, which is kind of creepy now that I think about it. I actually cooked more of them to death than I shot, which was shocking.
I absently dug through my inventory and pulled out the pieces of scrap metal I enchanted as an alert ward and tossed them off of the roof around myself and waited until I heard them bounce from the metal roof behind me and dropped to the ground before I took out my wand and activated it.
I felt the magic click into place and I sighed and pulled my legs up. I stored my guns and wand, curled up into a ball on my side as I hugged my knees, and fell right to sleep.
134 Turbulent Times Conclusion
I groaned as I woke up covered in bright sunlight and felt my stiff muscles. Not having a divine body anymore really sucked and becoming over-exhausted and also coming down from a potion overdose doubly sucked.
You know that feeling you get when you lay down and accidentally cut off the circulation from your hand or foot, then the blood rushes back and causes massive tingling when you try to move it? Yeah, I felt that from my head to my toes. It was excruciatingly annoying, too. I think even my eyelids were sore.
I could barely move and slowly shifted myself a bit at a time, letting more feeling return as I kept moving. The pain was bearable as the price I had to pay for not checking things over in the area before trying to clear out an infected building. That mistake almost cost me everything, because if I hadn't had those two desks to climb on to reach the roof, I would have been torn apart and eaten.
I managed to sit up eventually and looked down at the ground, the remains of the dead still there. My eyes went to the still open door to the motor pool and I realized something important. Both wooden desks were little more than ash and the entire inside of the building would have been burned as well.
I groaned at losing the potential vehicles and took out my backpack filled with supplies for two days of travelling. Making breakfast was fast with MREs and I ate last night's supper and this morning's breakfast, just because I could. I also ate some cookies and drank some nice wine.
When I was done eating, I took out some metal shelving from my inventory and guessed at the roof's height. Using the same trick I did to make stairs for the moving vans, I bolted six of them together onto shelving rails into a makeshift ladder and set it beside the building. I carefully climbed down and left them there, just in case I needed to retreat again.
I took out my handgun and a sledgehammer and used the hammer on the bottom step of the metal shelving to make it rattle loudly. I braced myself for an attack and held my gun at the ready... and nothing appeared. I let out a sigh of relief and stored the ladder and hammer before I made my way inside the building I had taken refuge on.
Disappointment filled me as I looked at the charred remains of several jeeps, two Hummers, and an entire side area of ruined parts and tools. My magic was nowhere near good enough to repair anything after so much heat warping and burn damage, so I left there and went over to the main building. It was almost as bad inside because the fire damage was mixed with the destruction that the mass of walkers caused.
I wasn't going to give up hope, though. The base was massive and I had a lot of areas to look through. With luck, most of the walking dead should have been killed already, thanks to my pyrotechnics and unlimited ammo. If not, I was well rested and had eaten, so I was as ready as I was ever going to be to work my way to the storage supply and armory. I just had to figure out where they were.
Three hours. That's how long it took to find both the base supplies and the armory, and that was only because I stumbled across an out of the way office in one of the smaller buildings that was used by one of the supply clerks. He had left notes on his desk about switching shifts with one of his friends to have an extra long weekend and directions to where and when he had to show up.
I didn't bother trying to be sneaky about things, either. I had cleared the place out and hunted down any strays that weren't a part of the main horde already. I used some magic to change the metal locking pins in the hinges of the large armored door into liquid, which I knew wouldn't last for more than a few seconds before the spell ended. That would normally be useless, except it was just long enough to release the door.
A rope and pulley attached to the opposite wall let me lever the door open and it fell out of the door hole with a very loud metal clang. When I stepped inside, I couldn't do anything but grin. The place was packed to the rafters!
I loaded up on automatic rifles, the fifty crates of boxes of ammo, several crates of much larger ordinance shells that the larger cannons and rocket launchers used, the three rocket launchers there, thirty crates of grenades, twenty crates of handguns, and a hundred crates of boxes of ammo. They didn't have many shotguns, which meant they had issued them liberally to the troops before they bugged out.
I took all the remaining ammo there to add to the shotguns I had pilfered back at the police station and couldn't share with anyone because I didn't have any ammo to spare. Now I did. Was I going a little overboard with the hoarding of weapons, now that I had access to them? Definitely. Was I going to stop? Hell no!
The next thing I grabbed was tactical armor of all different sizes, just in case people like Merle and his brother wanted them. I stored the ten large M134 mounted short range automatic mini-guns and the crates of the belt-fed ammo for them. Did I really need 200,000 rounds for them? I sure as hell did. Those little bastards were going to be set up at the four corners of the camp and I was going to build a nice walkway for the guys on watch.
I wasn't sure how I was going to bring them all at once... and then I realized I had a plane and a cleared out army base. I could pretend to come back any time I wanted and could ferry more weapons back to the camp for protection. I would just have to cheat and mount a couple of the guns onto the plane and fill up the rear fuselage with ammo boxes. They were only 5 pounds each, so I could take a lot of them with no trouble.
Of course, I needed to make a farming field and a grazing field as well, only they weren't a high priority with winter almost here. They could wait until spring to put into place and it would give me lots of time to build a barrier around them, too. That also meant I had to pop open the underground fuel tanks here to see how much was there.
If I couldn't find anything appropriate to store the fuel, I'd use garbage bags as temporary containers, even if they wouldn't last long. I just needed to store the things and any container would do.
I left the armory after clearing most of it out, including the stocks of C4, blasting caps, and detonators with battery attachments. I wasn't sure where I would need to use them; but, it was better for me to take it all instead of leaving it here for whomever might show up later. I wasn't actually going to come back and would just pull stuff out of my inventory to stuff in the plane before I landed back home.
My next stop was the supplies building and I wasn't surprised that it had been raided. Most of the dry foods were gone and only MREs were left behind, which was kind of funny. The army didn't want to eat their own military prepared food, even during the end of the world. I stored them all anyway, over 10 years worth, and grabbed the few remaining parachutes there before I left.
I went back outside and looked up at the sun to guess what time of day it was, then cursed myself for taking too long while searching the base. I had slept much too long after I collapsed and it was getting late. I had promised to be back at camp by the afternoon and I wasn't going to make it, even if I flew back right away.
"Well, fuck." I said and ran out to the runway to take out my plane and remembered I still needed to gather the fuel from the underground tank. "Goddammit." I walked over to the hangar and was relieved the fire hadn't damaged anything. If the tank had somehow caught fire or overheated and exploded, that could have been really bad.
I did the same melt the hinges trick and pulled open the secured top of the hatch, unscrewed the cap on the attachment, and tapped the butt of my handgun onto the metal. My hopes plummeted at the loud echo that came from the tank. I picked up a small rock from nearby and wiped it off, closed my eyes to listen, and let the thing go.
There was no sound for a second and then there was a plop and a tink sound. The tank was nearly empty and there was no point to trying to find a hose long enough to reach the bottom. The army draining the thing would explain why nothing bad had happened with so much fire and heat around it, because there was barely anything there to react.
I sighed and went over to the runway. It was mostly clear and there was enough room for me to take off again. I thought about making another pass through the base and shook my head. I gained what I needed and now I had to go back to the camp. I had people waiting for me and I also had a couple of special deliveries to make along the way.
*
The man named Negan Smith sat at the main table and enjoyed a meal of ill-gotten gains. He had just shaken down another survivor's camp and met no resistance. They had handed over half of everything they had after a great growing season and his camp was flush with food. All of his fellow raiders were proud of themselves for surviving another month and were congratulating themselves.
He wasn't talking and only listening, so only he heard the light whistling sound. As he lifted his head to look out the nearby window to somehow figure out what was going on, his eyes widened when he saw an airplane flying away from his camp. He barely started to stand with his mouth opened to shout when the world exploded around him.
*
The tiny town of Woodbury never saw what hit them and their planned raid on the nearby prison for supplies would never happen. Philip Blake, the man known as The Governor, was in his office with his enforcers and had no clue that he was about to die a quick and painless death.
*
The guards at the prison near Newnan heard the blast and wondered what had happened. There hadn't been anything on the CB radio since they talked to the townies a few days ago, so they assumed they had been overrun.
"Hey, look!" One of the guards on the wall shouted and pointed.
The second guard turned and looked. "Is that a bird?" He asked and squinted as it got closer. "Is it a plane?"
The first guard barely managed to not make the Superman joke as the plane flew overhead and dropped something. "Holy shit, it's a mail plane!"
"Really? How could you tell?" The second guard asked sarcastically as the parachute opened and a bundled package floated down to land inside the compound.
The first guard grinned. "Didn't you see its huge balls?"
The second guard clapped a hand over his face and groaned.
"Get it? It's a male plane." The first guard said, looking proud of himself.
The second guard dropped his hand and walked over to the stairs. "I'm not talking to you anymore."
The first guard laughed and turned back to look out over the countryside where the plane went. As he wondered who it was that had a working airplane, the second guard reached the package.
"I don't believe it!" The guard shouted and the first guard turned back to look into the compound. The package was a lot bigger than either of them realized, because it was the height of a man and was two wide. It also had stacks of military MREs, cases of ammo, and a few more handguns to arm the rest of the guards. "I'm going to get the warden!"
The first guard saw his watch partner run inside the prison, clearly excited. "Bless you." He said to the plane that was just fading from sight.
*
"Light them up." Dale said and the kids ran along the runway with lit torches and lit up all of them along the path to work like landing lights. He did his best to ignore the soft sobbing from behind him where Andrea held her sister, Amy. They had all stood there for hours and their worry and sorrow grew as each hour passed, because the night had crept in on them and Rick still hadn't returned.
"It's okay. Dad'll be back. He promised." Carl said and stuck his torch in the spot to show the end of the runway. The other kids did the same to make a line before they gathered around Dale again.
Neither Dale nor Andrea tried to lie or tried to reassure him, because they didn't want to be cruel. The boy had already lost his father once and they didn't want to tell him that there was a chance that he might lose him again.
Just as dusk started to end and the only light around was the torches, they heard a sputtering sound. The heads of the kids whipped around, trying to find out where it was coming from, and only the adults looked where they needed to. The far end of the runway.
The sputtering got louder, stuttered as if it was choking, then the sputtering started up again.
"There!" Carl shouted and pointed off to the side.
It was difficult to see with it getting darker and the torches ruined everyone's night vision, so no one else could see what he saw. There was a sudden whining noise and the sputtering got really loud, then there were several clunks and the sputtering stopped.
"No!" Amy gasped, tears in her eyes, because she was the only one that understand what just happened.
Everyone looked at the runway as Rick's plane pretty much dropped out of the sky. It tilted back to a insane degree before it slammed into the ground, crushed the wheels under the wings, bent part of the propeller that wasn't spinning, and the plane skidded down the entire length of the runway without slowing down.
"Everybody RUN!" Dale yelled and grabbed Miranda's youngest boy before he dove off to the side and out of the way. Andrea and Amy were just as fast as him and tackled Carl, Sophia, and Miranda's older girl and the group barely tumbled out of the way as the plane skidded past and ground to a halt in the piles of gravel that were the runway's backstop.
It took several moments before anyone was coherent enough to realize that none of them died, then Amy yelled Rick's name and ran for the plane. The others were not far behind her and they saw parts of the plane had come off and crates of ammo were scattered around. The canopy was stuck, so Amy grabbed a large rock, smashed the glass, and reached in to grab Rick's shirt and shook him.
"You... fucking... bastard!" Amy shouted and shook him again. "Wake up! I need to yell at you for scaring me like that!"
Rick's eyes fluttered open and everyone could see the blood on his face from hitting the canopy.
Amy stopped shaking him and felt relief that he wasn't dead. "You're alive... you're alive."
Andrea hugged her and Amy hugged her back. They all stood there in silence until Rick said something that shocked everyone even more than the crash did.
"If that stupid seagull wasn't already dead..." Rick said as his eyes fluttered closed again. "...I'd kill it for making me crash."
They all stared at him and didn't know what to say as Rick lost consciousness again.
135 Everything Is FINE
My mind rose back to consciousness and I felt terrible. It only took me a few seconds to remember why. My plane was wrecked, as were a lot of my future plans. I sighed and opened my eyes, only to see I was somehow laying in my comfortable bed with Amy's head resting on my chest. Her soft snores were kind of cute and I didn't mind the little bit of drool that dripped from her open mouth and onto my skin.
The few cuts and scrapes I had on my arms and face were stinging a little and I ignored them for now. What I couldn't ignore were the sharp pains in my thickly wrapped right foot and my thickly wrapped right hand.
It just had to be my dominant hand, too. I thought and shook my head.
I still had some healing potions left, not counting the bunch I had recently unlocked, so I wouldn't be laid up for long... except no one knew I could heal so quickly. If both my foot and my hand were broken, and it sure felt like they were, I would be laid up and immobile for about 6 weeks before I could physically be allowed up and out of bed. Dammit.
Even if I magically healed myself, I would have to keep up the ruse, or let all of my secrets out. Since I couldn't do that, not with the mentality of the people on this world. None of them would ever believe in magic or powers, since it was completely against societal standards. I also didn't want anyone to call me crazy, especially Amy. I had put her through enough already.
Speaking of Amy, she started to stir and her eyes blinked a few times, then she suddenly woke up completely with a jerk of her body and her eyes locked onto mine.
"Good morning, beautiful." I whispered softly.
Amy blinked her eyes at me and they darted to my forehead, to my cheek, and back to my eyes.
"I'm alive and I'm really sorry I was late coming back." I said, not bothering to try and delay the conversation like most people would have. "I had an excuse, a really good one, actually, and I'll tell you all about it as soon as I can use the bathroom."
Amy lifted her head from my chest and gave me an incredulous look, then she realized what I meant. Her eyes dropped down to my crotch and she didn't blush, even though my morning wood was sating hello.
"Right. Okay. I can handle that." Amy said and climbed off the bed, her own nakedness not bothering her as she went to the kitchenette, opened a cupboard, took out a steel salad bowl, and came back to the bed.
I raised my eyebrows at that and she shrugged and climbed back onto the bed to settle the bowl under the tip of my member and one hand held me steady as the other tilted the bowl enough to not miss anything or spill it.
"Just try to not let it all out in a huge rush, okay? I really don't want to be splashed with it." Amy said, her voice even and without inflection.
I was a bit too stunned at her helping me so much to argue about it or to suggest an alternative. I briefly closed my eyes and tried to ignore how good her hand felt on me and concentrated on relieving myself. I also tried to do as she asked and didn't just let it all out at once.
The ringing of the metal was loud in the silent moving van and Amy's face showed a few different emotions as the stream went on and on. She started to look worried as the bowl filled up and her eyes glanced at my face, as if telling me to hurry up and stop, and went back to the bowl.
"I haven't gone since before I left yesterday." I said and let out a sigh as the pressure on my bladder finally ended and the last few dribbles came out.
"Oh, thank god." Amy whispered and tapped me a couple times on the rim of the bowl, then she very carefully moved the bowl up. "Hold that until I stand."
I nodded and my hand gripped one side and my bandaged hand braced the other. Amy nodded and slid backwards to the edge of the bed and stood up, seemed to steel herself, and started to reach for the bowl.
"Maybe carry the trash can under it as you walk, just in case." I suggested.
Amy's eyes dropped to the nearly full bowl of smelly liquid. "That's a good idea. Just a second." She said and walked over to the corner beside the kitchenette counter and grabbed the small trashcan. She came back and set the can down, then carefully took the bowl from my grip and did her best to balance it with one hand above the garbage can and then carried both to the bathroom.
I heard the toilet flush and then the water running in the sink, then I saw Amy standing there in the bathroom's doorway with a confused look on her face and the washed bowl in her hand.
"Just leave it on the toilet's tank." I said and she nodded and disappeared for a second, then she came back to bed with wipes and tissues.
Amy cleaned me up and dried me off before she gave me a searching look. "That was a little scary."
"I was about to say the same thing." I said with a smile. "I think we both did great, considering that was our first time."
Amy chuckled at the double meaning and I held my good hand out to her. She grabbed it and moved up the bed to lay beside me again. She didn't say anything for several minutes and I didn't try to push her. I had said my opening piece and had to wait until she was ready to talk about it. She took a deep breath and let it out, then did it two more times before she turned on her side to look at me.
"Okay, tell me what happened." Amy said, her voice steady.
So, I did. I didn't leave anything out, not even my desperation as I was surrounded and almost overrun. I did downplay how long it took and I didn't say I had unlimited ammo while I implied the fire did most of the work, which it did, so I technically wasn't lying.
Amy didn't look happy about me being trapped like that and having to fight for my life. She even said her sister warned her that it was one of the largest refugee camps in the state and it could be bad there. That gave me an opening and I told her about the other safe zones I had flown over and their own overrun and wrecked states, which was why I thought the army base had been safer than it actually was.
By the time I was done explaining everything and had pointed out that the notebook in my backpack had even more details of the places I had checked, Amy had hugged me tightly and had kissed me several times. She was relieved I was alive and had come back to her, even if I almost died trying to fly like an idiot at night.
I didn't bother trying to make an excuse about not finding anywhere to land before nightfall, because I didn't want to leave the plane anywhere. My inventory was full of military supplies and I couldn't fit it inside anymore, which meant what they saw was all I could reasonably let them see for a few weeks. At least. My planned ruse of more flights was well and truly shot with the plane as wrecked as it was.
"Say, did anyone look over..." I started to ask, wanting to know about the mess the plane made.
"No." Amy interrupted me and gave me a squinted stare. "Until you're better, you don't have to worry about anything."
"But, I just wanted..."
"I said no." Amy cut me off again and then she smiled. "For the next month or so, you're staying in this bed and I'm going to take care of you."
I opened my mouth to offer to help and she put a hand over it.
"You've been doing the cooking, the cleaning, and taking care of me for weeks. It's only fair I have a turn, isn't it?" Amy asked and moved her hand.
I sighed and fake pouted at her. "You're going to feed me MREs all the time, aren't you?"
Amy barked a laugh and leaned in to kiss me on the lips. "If it makes you feel better, I'll let you help with some of the food prep that doesn't involve you having to get out of bed, like peeling and cutting veggies." She smirked at me. "You have one good hand left and you might as well use it."
"Thank you veeery much." I said sarcastically at her pun and she laughed.
Amy gave me another kiss and rolled off the bed and stood up. "I'll have breakfast ready in a few minutes, then I have to go to work."
I nodded and watched as she slipped on a t-shirt and shorts, somehow making herself look even sexier than being naked, and Amy easily caught me staring at her. She beamed a smile at me, did a little twirl to let me catch a few teasing glimpses, then she went to the kitchenette to cook. The occasional sound of her intentionally dropping something and shaking her sexy ass at me, kept me hard all damn morning.
*
Shane and Dale stood off to the side of the wrecked plane and watched as all the bullets and ammo cases were picked up and stacked properly by volunteers. They might not know much about weapon ordinance; but, they easily deduced that the two large gun mounts bolted to the tops of the wings were supposed to use the ammo belts inside the cases and they hadn't been there when Rick had left two days ago.
Thankfully, neither of the large mini-guns looked damaged, despite the crash and the wings being partially buried in mounds of gravel. They had still been checked over by their local gun expert, Merle, and the crazy nut cackled like an old woman when he declared the things still worked. His brother Darrel just looked constipated at the huge things.
Merle then started to help Juan and Jim unbolt the mounts and promised to help set them up on either side of the camp to best protect everyone, if he was allowed to shoot off a belt or two for a test. Both Juan and Jim agreed, because they thought a live-fire test was a great way to make sure both guns worked and they would shoot off a belt as well. There were only 100 bullets in each, anyway.
Only. 100. Bullets. In. Each. Shane thought with exasperation as he watched the three men talk about setting up targets as well. That was 300 lost shots and a lot of excessive noise around the camp, which he wasn't happy with. If the noise brought more walkers, he hoped they could be easily dealt with and the mini-guns quickly reloaded.
"Did Amy say anything about Rick when she picked up Carl and the kids after breakfast?" Dale asked him.
"She asked Lori if she had to deal with Rick when he was in the hospital and they hit it off with their shared experiences." Shane said with a chuckle at overhearing that awkward conversation.
Dale looked surprised and then chuckled, too. "Was it the need to pee first thing in the morning or the shaving that set her off?"
Shane laughed and patted the older man's shoulder and told him what he heard and that he left when they started talking about Amy's worry about what to do when Rick needed to take a dump.
Dale looked amused. "I better go dig out the old bedpan, then. I hadn't realized out of all the things Rick brought here, it didn't include a lot of medical supplies. I just assumed he had a few bedpans and other things stashed around."
"Me too, Dale. Me, too." Shane said and turned back to keep watch on the kids as they gathered the loose bullets and brought them over to the pile where the damaged belts were. With luck, the belts could be either cut or the bad parts trimmed down to not let them get jammed into the ammo feeds of the guns. Every bullet was precious when you knew there was no way to get more of them.
*
Amy was grateful to listen about Carol's experience with taking care of someone that was laid up. A broken ankle stopped Rick from moving around and a broken wrist stopped him from using his hand, which wasn't nearly as bad as Ed's full body paralysis. Since they didn't have a wheelchair at the camp, they would both have to stay in bed until they healed.
As they did their individual laundry together, Lori also joined them at the Youth Group Van and joined in on the conversation. Amy was relieved that the woman didn't hate her for Rick choosing her and Lori almost seemed happy that it was Amy that had to deal with taking care of Rick instead of her. Apparently, she had done it enough while they were married.
The three of them worked at the large machines and hung around as they waited for the clothes to be done. It was great that their tasks were so much easier with actual machines to do most of the work and they didn't have to do it by hand anymore. None of them noticed or cared that the car batteries never needed to be charged up or changed out, despite working constantly.
"You know, now that we have power in our homes, maybe we could send Glenn out to find us some small televisions and some movies to watch." Carol suddenly said, derailing their conversation.
Both Amy and Lori gave her surprised looks and then thought about it.
"You're right, Carol. Why didn't anyone think about doing that before?" Lori asked, slightly confused. "I know why we didn't ask for a normal radio, since there's no power for the broadcast towers..."
"...there wouldn't be TV signals, either. That doesn't stop us from using them for other things." Amy added and all three of them nodded to each other.
"I'll go look for him after the next load dries." Lori offered. "He shouldn't take long to bring something back."
"I could use some shampoo." Carol said with a small smile. She was never allowed to ask before and it felt nice to say it out loud.
Lori looked at Amy. "Anything else?"
Amy thought about what she wanted and smiled. "Do you think we should embarrass him by asking for a dirty movie?"
Carol looked shocked and then blushed while Lori laughed.
"I don't think making our only gofer a stuttering mess is in the camp's best interest." Dale's voice said and all three women jumped and Carol yelped in surprise. He smiled at their flushed faces at catching them trying to cause mischief. "Amy, I figured you might need this with Rick laid up for the next month or so." He said and handed her a metal bedpan.
"Th-thanks, Dale." Amy said and hugged it to her chest.
Carol gave the thing a covetous and greedy look before she could stop herself.
Dale easily saw it, as did Lori. "You're lucky I hadn't thought of it before or Carol would have gotten that one a while ago." He said and held up a bright pink plastic one. "This one was my wife's."
All three women stared at it for a few seconds, then Amy and Lori burst out laughing. Carol had a huge smile on her face as she accepted it like it was made of gold.
"Thanks, Dale." "Thank you." Amy and Carol said at the same time.
Dale nodded at them and walked away from three happy women. His heart soared at making them laugh during these dark times and went back to the RV and climbed up the ladder to resume his watch over the camp. It really was nice to feel needed. When he saw Glenn talking to Miranda, he made an attention signal.
Glenn noticed the movement and waved back, so Dale pointed him over to where Amy was. Glenn gave him a thumbs-up and wrote something down on a piece of paper and went over to the Youth Group van. Dale watched through the binoculars for a minute and started laughing when Glenn blushed and flailed his arms around as he gestured 'NO' very clearly.
136 Convalescence
Staying in bed wouldn't be so bad if I was allowed to do anything. I say allowed when I really mean it didn't hurt like a son of a bitch every time I moved my right arm or right leg. Since I couldn't cheat and take the healing potions I had, because of the scrapes and damage on my face would heal and give my secret away, I was stuck for at least a couple of weeks as they healed normally.
That wouldn't have been a problem if I had seen my own face somehow, then I could have faked or glamoured up replacement damage to hide that I was healed. Because I had no idea how big the scrapes were or their exact shapes and sizes, there was no way to duplicate them.
At least Amy was having a good time teasing me about how helpless I was and that she would do everything for me until I was better. Even when I tried to joke about not being able to jerk off to her beautiful ass when she wasn't around during the mornings and afternoons, she promised to take over that 'duty' as well and would show up at random times to give me handjobs.
It was both endearing and frustrating, because it left me no real alone time during the day where I could read some of the books I had in my inventory. On the plus side, sometimes those handjobs became blowjobs and a few times became full blown sex, because Amy seemed to really get off on the fact that she was in complete control of it.
It took me a lot of time and mental effort to not associate her acting like that with how I had died back in the last world that had screwed me up so much. The Head Succubus had used me for her own pleasure in a similar way and I had paid dearly for it and hated that I had been helpless during that whole thing.
Okay, maybe I wasn't as over it as I thought I was. It had been traumatic, and scary, and I only survived by the sheer luck of having a touch of divinity that had brought me up to the heavenly realm's way-station where the goddess Eris was. I did not want to start resenting Amy in any way, so I made sure to use my working hand as much as possible to try and disassociate the sex acts from each other.
Thankfully, it worked and Amy ran with my suggestions of not making the sex stale by using the same cowgirl pose all the time. She rode me by sitting on each side of me, rode me backwards in a reverse cowgirl, rode me by laying on top of me to kiss me, and also laying on her back on top of me.
After about a week of being stuck in that huge bed, her sister Andrea started visiting. I thought it was a little odd, then realized Amy had no one to do anything with while she was in the moving van with me, which meant she had to do everything to take care of the place and all I could do was help with parts of the meals she allowed me to help with.
Andrea started joining us for meals, even sitting on the bed beside Amy to eat and talk to us both. It was a little strange on my behalf, because I was sure Andrea was just humoring me and was worming her way back into being a major factor in Amy's life. That I was an invalid and was literally right there for her to use as an example to make sure Amy stayed independent, just made her point more potent.
The worst part about it was that I couldn't say anything against it, because she was right. Amy had to do everything for both herself and for me, essentially doubling her work, and Andrea was more than happy to offer to help her. Amy accepted of course, and so Andrea essentially moved in during the third week of my necessary and enforced rest.
Since there was only one bed, albeit an enormous one, I was shifted more towards the wall, Amy slept right beside me, and Andrea slept on Amy's other side. It didn't really bother me, since I was pretty used to having multiple people in the bed with me. I wouldn't feel awkward about it until that weekend.
Amy had been out doing the wash and also watching the kids and returned to the van at a random time before lunch, just like she did every day, to jerk me off. That didn't bother me, because you know, a beautiful blonde was going to jerk me off. The awkward part came when Andrea walked in behind her and closed the sliding door.
"I'll get lunch started." Andrea said and walked by the bed.
"Thanks, sis." Amy said with a happy smile and climbed onto the bed.
I opened my mouth to say something, like what the hell was she doing, and she kissed me for several minutes to distract me as her other hand moved the blanket covering me out of the way. My eyes darted up over her head and back to her face, clearly pointing out someone else was there. She giggled into my mouth before she broke the kiss and slid down to start playing with me out in the open.
"Wow, you really do that every day?" Andrea's voice asked from the kitchenette. "I thought you were joking."
"More like choking." Amy joked, laughed a bit at her own joke, then she gave me a smug look and plunged her mouth over me. She kissed the skin around the base a second later and made me gasp as she licked my balls.
"You're such a slut." Andrea commented.
I blinked my eyes at that, because her voice wasn't harsh or angry. She actually sounded amused.
"Rick? Here's a sandwich cut into slices to make it easier to eat with one hand." Andrea said and placed a paper plate with two sandwiches of ham and lettuce cut into long strips.
I opened my mouth to ask her what she was doing and my words caught in my throat when she sat on the bed beside me and put another plate beside Amy and put one on her own lap. I stared at her as she watched her sister give me a great blowjob, which was odd, because I was sure Amy was showing off for her sister.
"Do you need a hand?" Andrea asked and I froze, because I honestly didn't know who she was talking to. She saw my startled face and laughed, picked up one of the slices of sandwich, and held it above my mouth. "Open up and eat."
I opened my mouth and she fed me just enough for me to bite off and not take too much to chew. I did so and swallowed, still too surprised by the situation to do anything else, and Andrea kept feeding me.
Amy pulled her mouth off of me with a slurping sound. "You see? He might be surprised you're here; but, he hasn't said no to being watched. When he kept asking me to change things up in bed so it doesn't get boring, I was starting to run out of things to do."
Andrea nodded and kept my mouth full every time I tried to speak. "And you didn't want to mention anything to anyone else, because you know they'd want to take full advantage of it."
Amy nodded. "You're my sister and I trust you to have my back."
"I do." Andrea said and fed me some more. "I will."
"Thanks, Andi." Amy said and went right back to sucking me off.
I opened my mouth again to speak and Andrea pushed the last bit of that slice of sandwich into my mouth.
"Don't worry, Rick. I'm here now. No one else will ever see you like this." Andrea said with a smile.
"That's... not... what... ohhhh." I moaned as Amy pushed me over the edge and she sucked it all down and swallowed it all.
Amy pulled her mouth off of me with a pop sound and grinned at me. "I don't know how you can have so much every single time." She said and picked up her sandwich and started eating it.
Andrea looked down at my still erect member and at Amy's face. "You weren't lying about that, either?"
Amy covered her mouth to laugh without spitting bits of chewed food everywhere. "I don't think Rick knows what a refractory period is."
Andrea laughed, too. "You are so lucky!"
"I really am." Amy said and took another bite of her sandwich.
I just laid there as Amy and Andrea talked about their sexual escapades as if I wasn't right there, my erection bobbing occasionally, and then Amy's hand lightly touched it and started to stroke it. I thought about commenting that she was petting it like it was a pet and chose not to. I did not want to put that kind of thought into her head.
Of course, I warned her when I was about to blow and she opened her second sandwich and caught it all. Both Andrea's eyes and my own were wide when she closed the sandwich and kept eating it, as if she hadn't just jerked me off onto her lettuce like it was mayonnaise.
I didn't bother trying to say anything after that and ate the rest of my sandwich strips in silence.
That night when they came home for the evening, Amy included Andrea in our usual weekend date, where we shared chips, cookies, and milk. They had also borrowed one of the small televisions and VCRs to play a movie and joined me under the bed's blanket.
I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about including someone else in our private time, especially since I had kind of opened that Pandora's Box by mistake for asking Amy to make things more exciting in bed. When the movie was over, Amy didn't strip off like usual, thank goodness, and she only pulled her pyjamas down just enough to climb on top of me and we started having sex.
Andrea hadn't turned away from us, either. She was looking at us intensely, like she was memorizing everything and didn't want to forget it. She was just... looking at my face for a while... then she would look at Amy's face. I wasn't sure if she was looking for something in particular or not, though.
Amy tried distracting me by kissing me, making me realize I had been staring at Andrea for a lot longer than I should have. I didn't want either of them to misunderstand anything, so I put my good hand between my chest and Amy's to make her stop.
"What is it?" Amy asked me, a little confused.
"I don't want any misunderstandings between us." I said.
"I know. That's why I asked Andi for her help. I don't know what else to do to." Amy responded.
I sighed and closed my eyes. I couldn't explain why I started having a phobia about the cowgirl pose, so I was at a loss about what to say about the whole thing. It was just one misunderstanding after another and now I had someone in my bed that I didn't want to be there. I also didn't want to hurt Amy's feelings after she reached out to her sister for help.
"I love you and I'm not having sex with anyone else." I said, just to clarify things.
Amy softly laughed. "I'm not really comfortable with the whole being naked in front of my sister yet, either."
Neither I nor Andrea missed the 'yet' part of that statement.
"It's just a bit naughty, you know? Sneaking around and slipping on top of you under the blanket, to have fun with you, with someone else right there beside us." Amy whispered and ground her hips on mine and lightly kissed me. "Does she know what we're doing? Can she hear us? Is she only pretending to be asleep and is secretly watching us as we make love right under her nose?"
I had to admit that was a pretty good fantasy, which my twitching member let Amy know as well and she squeezed me back as if in answer. She kissed me again and moved her hips even more to grind me inside of her, because she had become surprisingly efficient with using my tool to get herself off the last few weeks.
Both Amy and I reached a peak at the same time and we both moaned pretty loudly as we made out. As we came down from the emotional high and our lips parted, we heard a soft moan beside us and turned our heads to look. We saw Andrea's red face and her closed eyes and both of her hands were not in sight.
I looked up at Amy and she looked down at me, then we both had to fight to not laugh at finding out Andrea had the same reaction to the fantasy that we did. We kissed again to cover up our giggles and ended up falling asleep just like that.
*
Over the next two weeks, Amy still visited randomly during the day like usual to 'give me a hand' and to stop me from becoming backed-up. Sometimes Andrea would come in with her or would already be there in the kitchenette making meals for us, and she would watch without comment.
It had kind of become a normal routine for the three of us and none of us seemed to be bothered by it, despite how odd it was. Amy eventually managed to strip naked in front of Andrea and rode me in full view of her 'sleeping' sister, whom had caught on after that first night that she had to pretend to sleep to see the good stuff.
It wasn't until the middle of the next week that Andrea made an observation that I could have kissed her for, not that I would ever tell her so. I still didn't want to sleep with her, even after all the teasing.
"You're starting to look good again, Rick." Andrea said as she handed Amy and I bowls of deer stew.
"What do you mean? I always look awesome." I joked and carefully used a spoon to suck up some broth.
Andrea rolled her eyes at me as Amy smiled. "I meant the scars on your cheek are almost faded away and that huge scab on your forehead looks about ready to fall off. If it wasn't for the bandages on your hand and foot, you would almost look back to normal."
I barely managed to keep the surprise off my face and made another joke to cover it up. "Andrea, I didn't know you had such a vested interest in how big of a piece of eye candy I was."
Amy made a loud snort sound and burst out laughing. Luckily, she was between spoonfuls and hadn't sprayed her sister's face with hot broth.
"Ha. Ha. Ha." Andrea said, her voice flat, which only made her sister laugh harder.
I chuckled and scooped up some meat and chewed on it. I knew today was finally the day. I could sip on a healing potion and feel the results, then I would drink as many more of them as I could to heal up completely. I might have to stay in bed for another week or so to pretend that my hand and foot became better, playing it off as bad sprains instead, just to keep the ruse up.
Then I could get back to work, even if it was just limited duties to not strain myself after being stuck in bed for so long. At least I had eaten well and hadn't lost much muscle mass or weight, which Amy really appreciated, if her whispered words about me still being hot as an invalid counted for anything.
Yeah, working out to stay warm during the winter months was going to be my main plan for sure.
137 Back To The Grind
My ruse to play my injuries off as bad sprains worked. Sort of. As I suspected, no one would let me do anything too strenuous with my foot or hand, Amy included. I figured they would try to baby me a bit for a while, just because they were worried I might re-hurt myself in a similar way. Instead, it was a blanket ban by everyone in the camp to refuse my help to keep me protected.
Seeing Merle laugh at my situation did not make me feel any better about it, either. I could do nothing but accept it, however. I was barely allowed to gather the dirty clothes together in the laundry basket and only allowed to help with cooking if I sat my butt at the kitchenette counter and took it easy.
So I, of course, cheated. While Amy and Andrea were out and about, I slipped on Goku's weighted clothing on under my thicker winter ones and no one noticed. Thankfully, my wand allowed me to adjust how much each of them weighed, so I wasn't suffering under debilitating weight the whole time.
In fact, because of my slightly sluggish movements with weights on my chest, arms, and legs, the people at the camp seemed justified about refusing my help with things. I didn't bother trying to correct their assumption and let them think I was weaker than I actually was.
The best part? I could see my stats change on my Adventurer Card in my inventory. My level wasn't raising up, probably because I didn't know how that worked; but, my skills rose phenomenally and they affected my base stats. I also gained Power Lifting, Power Walking, and a few other upgraded skills that the gradually increasing weight were granting me.
Outwardly, I was making no progress and remained tired and sweaty in the eyes of everyone. Internally, I was becoming much stronger and more experienced with doing normal and menial tasks with more and more weight.
I was also doing various exercises whenever I could, giving both Amy and Andrea a good show. They didn't comment about me always wearing grey sweat pants and a long sleeve matching grey sweat shirt, which was great, because they had to be washed every second day. I wasn't stupid enough to work out that hard every day, even with access to my now dwindling supply of healing potions.
Dale had used up the last of the diesel in the tractor weeks ago and work with that had to stop. I still had a barrel of it left in my Inventory, except that was all I had for however long it was going to take to find more, assuming there was any more to find. I doubted it, considering how picked over everything was.
In the spring, I would have to make another fake run to the construction site to 'find' the barrel I had. I should be allowed to move around freely by then. In the meantime, I was allowed to keep watch over the camp a couple times a week and Dale usually spent the time there with me and we talked about things. I brought up the farm and grazing field ideas and he looked really happy about that.
Becoming self-sustaining would change a lot of things at the camp and would make everyone happier, too. I would have to be sneaky and make a side field to grow potion ingredients, because what I had in inventory wasn't going to last. We were staying still for the long haul and the more we prepared, the better things would be.
Also, the guys loved the two mini-guns they had salvaged from the wrecked plane. After my watch shift, I managed to convince Dale to walk with me to the runway and I inspected the crash site, then I had to admit that it was almost a complete loss. The frame was bent, a lot of the fuselage was crumpled or broken off, and the wings were shredded underneath with the two wheels crushed up inside of them.
I honestly didn't think I hit the ground that hard and sighed, because the engine was damaged and also partially filled with dirt and gravel. Yeah, there was no way to fix the thing, let alone get it flying again. At least the bullets hadn't been set off during the crash or blown up or anything. When I asked about the remaining fuel, Dale said they used it in the tractor and I nodded. Waste not, want not.
We returned to the campfire and met up with the rest of the camp to have MREs for supper. Everyone greeted us and we sat down and joined in on the conversations. It was almost normal with the things people talked about and Glenn was praised again for finding more movies for people to share and for the little things that made life camping out more bearable.
I looked around at their happy faces and I felt a small swell of pride, because I had helped to put them there. More wood was tossed on the fire and we all stayed there for several hours and just hung out. Amy and Andrea sat across from Dale and I and were chatting away about something, so I left them to it.
Carl at one point managed to somehow climb onto my lap and sat on my left leg, while his unconfirmed girlfriend Sophia sat on my right and she slipped an arm around my back to snuggle in. I wasn't sure why I suddenly became an appropriate chair for them and I supposed it didn't really matter. I put an arm around each of them and held them for quite some time.
Carl started talking and told me all about their day and what they had planned for their sleepover that night. The bunk beds really had been a brilliant idea and he and his friends loved it, as did their parents, because they had many nights to themselves and weren't worried that their kids were being left alone or were up to no good.
The fire eventually died down and everyone started to leave, Amy and Andrea included, meaning it was time for us all to head back to where we slept and could have some time to ourselves, even the kids.
Carl turned and gave me a quick hug around my neck. "Goodnight, Dad. See you tomorrow."
"Goodnight." I said and kissed his forehead.
"Daaaad!" Carl complained and his face went red as he let me go, clearly embarrassed.
I chuckled at his reaction and pushed him off of my knee, making him stumble. Carl laughed and swatted at me, then he ran over to the moving van that was the designated sleepover spot this time.
"Can... can I have one, too?" Sophia asked, her words barely a whisper and her face was bright red.
"Of course, sweetie." I whispered back and kissed the side of her head and she looked surprised, then she turned her head to look into my eyes. I saw the longing there and her arm had tightened on my back, as if she was afraid to let go. "I'm pretty sure Carl considers you a part of our family, so I should probably do that, too."
Sophia's face stayed red and she didn't say anything, so I moved forward and very softly kissed her forehead and let it linger for several seconds.
I broke the kiss and gave her my best smile. "You need to get going or you're not going to get the best bunk for the night."
Sohpia nodded and eased her hold on me, then she stood up and glanced towards where the other kids were. She looked unsure for a moment, then she turned to face me and leaned in to kiss my cheek.
"G'night." Sophia whispered and started to walk away, her posture a little hunched down, then she took a breath and straightened her back as she walked over to Carl and took his hand. Miranda was there and ushered the kids inside and closed the sliding door.
"Thank you for that." Carol's voice said from behind me and I turned around to see her standing a few feet away. "She's been... a little lost, ever since..."
I stood up and walked over to her to give her a hug. "I know. It was scary for me, too."
Carol briefly hugged me back and let me go, so I let go, too.
"Amy had the worst of it, knowing how she reacted when I landed." I said and Carol huffed. I knew she wanted to say something about that and then she sighed. "It's all right. I've been called an idiot before. Go ahead."
Carol smiled and shook her head. "Goodnight."
"Night." I said and watched her walk over to her moving van. I had no reason to stay out myself, so I went to my own and went inside before shutting the door. Amy and Andrea were already sitting at the kitchenette counter and talking again, so I left them alone and went to the bathroom. A quick visit and washed hands later, I stored my weighted clothing and put on pyjamas.
I went back out and lightly brushed my hand across Amy's back, just to let her know I wasn't ignoring her, and I climbed into bed. It was getting chilly at night, so no more sleeping naked for me. I turned onto my side to face the wall and drifted off to sleep without realizing how tired I had been. Wearing heavy weights constantly was exhausting. Who knew?
*
Over the next few weeks as a light snow fell and some ice formed overnight with the lower temperatures, Amy seemed a little lost because she no longer had to visit me at a random time during the day to help me get off. So, I kind of did it back to her. I would hunt her down at different times every other day and surprised her, then I would drag her off to give her a good licking to get her off instead.
Sometimes it would become full blown sex, since she would sometimes get off a bit too quickly for her satisfaction. I also did my best to make it as fun as I could to pay her back for what she did for me while I was stuck in bed. Neither of us were surprised when Andrea would either be nearby or would 'accidentally' walk in on us if we made it back home. She did live with us, after all.
To my surprise, Andrea never once offered to share a shower with either of us, with the excuse that it would save water. I mean, it would have been a great excuse, even if no one ever watched when I went to each of the vans to replace the water filters in the recycling tanks. I never did, since I always used magic to clean them and brought the same ones each time and left with them out of the boxes. After that, I pretended to clean the 'old' ones to use them later.
With so many working showers, no one had to visit my home anymore to use ours. They also kind of got used to staying away after I had been stuck inside for two months and they didn't want to bother me. That was great, because that finally let me lay down on my bed in peace to check out the large collection of books that I had unlocked a long time ago.
It was an eclectic mix of real books, magic books from two different magic schools, books I myself wrote, and books that I had bought in the shop. Some of them really brought back some good memories, especially the books I had written while I was in Harry Potter.
Becoming the best Harry Potter had been the most fun I had ever had in my travels and I abused that line so much that it made people groan when I barely mentioned it. Good times, good times. That also reminded me how I was punished afterwards for giving Death back the tools they had left for the mortals. My mind drifted back to how many times I experienced death and shivered at zombie worlds being the first choice for punishment protocols.
I felt an odd feeling that wasn't mine and blinked my eyes when a little blue text box appeared, the same one Fate always used.
It's all right, Rick. We've instituted a better sorting system for things. If you end up with negative Karma at any point in the future, you'll have a choice of what world you want to be sent to.
Will it still be a zombie filled one? I asked, just to see if she would admit it.
At least one will be included in the list. There are so many of them that you could always give them a hand and it wouldn't be fair if we didn't include them.
Did... did you just make a joke about me jerking off? I asked, surprised.
The word 'giggle' appeared. You've kind of earned the nickname 'Handy Man' around here.
I groaned out loud at the horrible pun and the word 'giggle' repeated several times. I guess I can't complain about that. Things are kind of fucked up here.
Oh, we know. It's why we wanted to see what you would do with how badly the last trip went. It's been enlightening to see how things have changed in certain areas after you delivered your little gifts.
I had to chuckle at that. I would have loved to see Negan's face when that crate of warheads went off.
The little box expanded to the size of a television screen and a screenshot of the man's shocked face and his mouth hanging open, made me laugh really hard. It was hilarious!
I better go. You're about to get an interesting visitor. Don't screw this up.
My laughter drifted off at that warning and then I had to blink my eyes as the sliding door of the van slid up just enough to blind me with sunlight for a moment, just long enough for someone to duck down and slip inside, then the door was closed again.
"Rick, we... we n-need to t-talk." Lori said, her voice a bit shaky.
I barely managed to not slap myself on the forehead about her being so fucking stupid, because there was only one other time she came to me and spoke that exact same line. It was just after we graduated high school and she became pregnant with Carl.
"No." I said and her eyes widened. "Not only no; but, hell no. I am NOT claiming it's mine."
"Rick, I don't... I don't want it to be a bastard. We're still technically married and..." Lori tried to explain.
"Fuck you." I said and snapped closed the Harry Potter book I held in my hand and didn't bother hiding. "There's no fucking way I'm going to legitimize my cheating wife's illegitimate baby with my ex-best friend that she's been fucking non-stop ever since I died."
Lori looked shocked at the hatred in my voice.
"How the fuck do you think I felt when I showed up here and saw how close you were? That you didn't even grieve for me before you spread your legs for that smug bastard? That you gave up on me with just the word of one single person that thought I was dead? That you were raising my son with the man you're cheating with?" I spat at her and hid my satisfaction as she winced after each question.
I didn't try to get up off of the bed, because I knew she would scream if I tried to approach her. That was not something I wanted to explain to everyone else, since she looked terrible with tears in her eyes after wiping at them. I would be automatically declared the guilty one, innocent or not.
"That..." I said and pointed at her belly. "...is not my fucking problem. It's yours and his. You can take your filthy ass right back to Shane and you can tell him about how you wanted to throw him away for a stupid chance to try and get back with me."
Lori opened and closed her mouth several times and no sounds came out.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" I asked and shouted. "Get the fuck out of here!"
Lori jumped and burst out crying, just like I knew she would, and she pulled up the sliding door hard and ran down the steps, her face partially covered with her hands.
I sighed and walked over to the opening and leaned out just enough to see a lot of people staring at me and at Lori fleeing back to her own moving van. "It's okay, folks! She wanted me to take her back and I said no. I have a new wife and she has Shane. Why would I downgrade like that? Amy's the best!"
"Damn right she is." Andrea said from not far away and I leaned out a bit more to see her leaning against the side of my moving van.
"Please tell me you heard most of that?" I asked her.
Andrea rapped her knuckles on the metal and it rang like a gong. "I heard every word."
"Thanks, Andi." I said and she looked pleased, because it was the first time I had used Amy's nickname for her. "Can you let Amy know what happened? Hell, tell everyone that didn't hear me shouting just now. I won't be the bad guy here because I won't renew my broken wedding vows and Lori's baby will be born out of wedlock."
Andrea pushed off the side of the moving van. "If Amy doesn't know already, she will in a few minutes." She said and walked towards the path that led to the lake, then she stopped and turned around to give me an appraising look. "By the way, you made the right choice."
I had to smile at that. "Andi, there was never a chance that there would be a choice."
That earned me a beaming smile and Andrea walked away as she hummed something musical. I waved to those still looking at me, then I stepped back inside and closed the door. I hopped onto the bed and opened up the Harry Potter book again. I was sure I could finish the chapter before Amy rushed over to have her way with me again.