The Protagonist System

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.

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