The Protagonist System

The next day, everyone noticed how much happier Tammy was, which just made the people that saw me hate me more. Not surprisingly, Marius avoided us as much as possible, even though we didn't do anything blatant in front of anyone. I only kissed her cheek in public once and that still earned me a few hissed comments about being a scoundrel.

On the plus side, Tammy and Marius hadn't been married and were only living together. On the negative side, a lot of the townspeople really hated that I was the one that broke them up. It was actually funny that they ignored years of occasional conflicts between the two of them and attributed it all to me, as if I had been the source of all their problems and not just the most recent ones.

When Sandra and I finished our visit after only a week, instead of the month we had planned for, Tammy shocked everyone by announcing that she was going on vacation and it just so happened that she chose Colorado as her destination.

That decision did not go over well. At all.

Tammy was adamant that her choices were her own and that no one had any right to tell her what she could and couldn't do. When the town council demanded that she stay, because they couldn't handle things without her help for a month, she told them to go screw themselves. Well, she said it more colorfully and much more loudly, just like she had when she and Marius had broken up.

Her threat that she might not ever come back, had them backtrack and offer her a ton of concessions and favors to try and keep her within the settlement. Apparently, Tammy was one of the main backbones of the town and had been instrumental in bringing it to prominence and stability. She also worked hard to keep it there and they did not want to lose her.

So, she rode on the back of Sandra's horse, just to make the point that Tammy wasn't leaving with me. It didn't matter, though. The looks of revulsion and hatred on a lot of their faces towards me as we rode out through the main doors, let the three of us know that Sandra's plan had worked much better than any of us could have expected.

I had become a focusing object for everyone's ire and they liked having something tangible to foist it on. It honestly didn't bother me and that seemed to throw off how both Tammy and Sandra were going to act around me. They had expected me to react badly to all the angry glares and were going to reassure me that I could ignore it, except I already was.

Even the disappointed looks from both Jenkins and Janine didn't bother me. There wasn't anything I could do after he had warned me about the situation and it happened without me even doing anything, so I only felt a little guilty that Marius had jumped to the wrong conclusions about Tammy's interest in me and mine in her.

Tammy and I really had only talked about normal things and nothing sexual ever came up, not even jokingly. We didn't even flirt and that alone had earned me tons of relationship points with Sandra. Heck, she was usually right there on the couch beside me reading a book while I talked to Tammy, so she fully trusted me and knew any accusations people made against me, like cheating on her, were blatant lies.

I didn't change my plans of checking the results of the latest batch of my weed-killer as we travelled back to our hotel in Colorado. We stopped at various spots and I dismounted to use several chemical testing devices I had pilfered from the labs at the old abandoned college. I verbally shared my findings with Tammy as I took readings and samples to test back at the hotel.

“There's only a 30% spread of the chemicals after the initial treatment?” Tammy asked me after our last designated stop before we entered the town where the hotel was.

“So far.” I said and put the samples into a saddlebag and climbed up onto Hermes. “It's incrementally smaller the closer to Jackson, so I'll come back here next week and take another reading. If it's the same, I won't have to repeat it. If the bleed off into the surrounding area changes, I'll have to keep coming back each week to track it.”

“Do you expect it to?” Tammy asked.

“Kind of.” I said and we kicked the horses into a trot. “I've factored in rainfall and snow into my calculations and made the fluid water resistant. It's one of the key factors it uses to kill the plants by denying it water and starving it.”

Tammy had a slightly worried look on her face. “But, won't the infected notice?”

“Not at all.” I said. “You've seen for yourself that some of the older and larger vines dry out over time if they don't have a large enough source of water. I applied that to my experiments and tried to reproduce the effect.”

Tammy thought about that and nodded. “If it works like that, then applying it to a central nest would take weeks to months for it to eventually die.”

I shook my head. “This batch won't work on a huge gathering like that, only on the edges. The large mass of fungus would retain way too much water internally for it to work down more than a few feet and then it would stop.”

“Then why are you making it?” Tammy asked.

“It's a deterrent to be sprayed where we don't want the vines and fungus to grow to, like on roads, around buildings and houses, the outskirts of towns, around animal paddocks, and around crop fields.” I said and Tammy's eyes widened. “If it works like I calculated, it will create a physical barrier that the infection can't cross.”

Tammy went quiet after that reveal and she stayed that way until we reached the hotel. She let out a laugh as we rode the horses right into the hotel and she had a look of approval on her face when she saw the reworked ballroom on the ground floor that Sandra and I had converted into a proper stable.

“You did a good job setting this up properly.” Tammy said and used Sandra's arm as a brace and slid off of Aphrodite's saddle. “If you didn't live so far away, I could have arranged for a stable hand to visit here once a week to take care of it for you.”

Sandra slid off of the saddle and landed on the hay covered floor. “I doubt anyone is as crazy as us to travel so far to work on a job and only stay for a week instead of sticking around until it's safe to leave.”

I had to chuckle at that and slid off of Hermes. “Hey, we did plan to stay for a month.”

Tammy had a sad look on her face. “Eli, I'm sorry about...”

“Don't you dare apologize.” I interrupted her, my voice firm. “It's not your fault that you're a good friend and it's not my fault that I like talking to you.”

Sandra held her horse's reins and took mine from me. “He's right, you know. We went there to visit our friends and not have what happened happen.” She said and led the horses to their stables. “Eli? Take her on up to see where she'll be staying for the next month.”

“Yes, ma'am! Right away, ma'am!” I said and saluted her, making her giggle.

Tammy gave me an odd look, as if she was trying to figure out the joke. I had to chuckle at that and offered her my elbow as I planned to reveal the uniform in the bedroom later. She took my offering without hesitation and I led her over to the elevator. Her eyes widened when the power worked and the elevator dinged. I brought her inside and hit the button for the penthouse.

“You have to be kidding me.” Tammy whispered as the elevator rose.

“The local power runs on a natural gas generator, so I spent about a month going to every building and house I could reach safely and I turned off every other access point.” I said, a bit smugly. “By the readings at the power plant, with only a single building still on the grid, we should have enough power for a few decades.”

Tammy stayed quiet until the elevator dinged. She let out a slow breath at seeing the fully cleaned and restored hallway that was revealed. I brought her down the hallway and took out the electronic key and swiped it on the door's receptacle. It beeped and clicked open and I motioned for her to enter on her own. She gave me another odd look and I smiled warmly.

“Go ahead. Sandra needed a minute alone when she first saw it after I fixed it up.” I prompted her.

Tammy took in a deep breath and walked into the presidential suite and gasped. She looked around at the ridiculous opulence that was also classy and gave the entire place an air of royalty that was practically unheard of these days.

“H-how... how...” Tammy whispered and turned around in a slow circle as she looked at everything.

The elevator dinged and a smiling Sandra came out and saw me standing in the hallway.

“Is she awed or what?” Sandra asked me as she strode over to me.

I nodded and motioned inside the room.

Sandra muffled her laugh at the stunned look on Tammy's face and entered the room. “You really need to see the bathroom, Tammy!”

Tammy didn't react as Sandra took her hand and dragged her across the gigantic presidential suite to the huge bathroom. I stepped inside and closed the door, only to hear someone talking about being caught in a dream. I didn't have to wonder who that was, because Sandra's reaction had been to laugh out loud at the humongous tub and the utter waste of water it would be to fill the thing.

I went to the kitchenette to cook a meal for us and heard the water turn on. I laughed under my breath at either Tammy or Sandra suggesting actually taking a bath and decided I wouldn't bother them for a while. The thought of joining them was a tempting one, except I wanted them to have some alone time to relax.

What happened to Tammy back in town with Marius had hit her pretty hard and too suddenly for her to deal with it quickly. It had also brought up memories of her old traumas about the world collapsing and the things she had to do while a part of the resistance. She hated what she did and hated herself because she couldn't have done things differently if she had been given a choice.

It was one of her main hang-ups, actually. Not having a choice about something, really drove her to react extremely and usually lethally when she didn't have any other options. Yeah, the early years of the resistance and their extremism had really screwed her up. Unfortunately, she dealt with it in the only way she could, by bottling it all up and letting it stew.

Both Sandra and I would work with her while she stayed with us and would help her as much as we could to face some of her fears. Of course, a whole lot of playing around and making love would be a key factor in that, which should let Tammy relax. Worrying about the safety of an entire town, all the time, was a huge weight on her shoulders that she didn't really know she had until after she left with us.

I served up supper on the large dining table and went over to the bathroom. I knocked on the door and heard the splashing stop. “I'm sorry to interrupt; but, the evening meal has been served in the dining area and will be kept warm until you decide to stop acting like little girls and playing in the bubblebath.”

Two similar giggles came through the door and the splashing continued. I chuckled and went to the table and ate my own food, the warming charms on the plates keeping their food at a good temperature.

I went into the second bedroom that I had converted into a library and grabbed a book I hadn't read in a while and went back out to relax on the couch. I cast cleaning charms on myself and my clothes, just so I didn't make the couch smell like horse, and reclined and started to read.

Half an hour later, two visions of loveliness came out of the bathroom. They only wore small towels that barely covered them from breasts to butts, their faces almost glowing with happiness. I watched out of the corner of my eye as they chatted away and ate the still warm food. It made me smile that Tammy had relaxed so much already.

Now that I had the opportunity, I set my book aside and went into the bathroom. I didn't take a bath, though. A quick shower was all I needed and I dried myself off. I wrapped the towel around my waist and left the bathroom, not seeing either of the two women, and went to the bedroom.

I caught my breath when I saw Sandra standing there wearing only a nurse hat and high heels, while Tammy wore a stethoscope, fake glasses, and stilettos. My towel unravelled as my erection popped up and pushed it away.

“There's the reaction I love to see.” Sandra said, almost purring.

“I can see why.” Tammy said and strutted over to me.

Goddamn, that's a sexy walk. I thought and my eyes were locked on her hips as they swayed.

“I think I love that look, too.” Tammy said and stopped in front of me.

I lifted my eyes from her dripping wetness and her sexy smile had so many hidden promises in it that I was kind of lost as I thought about all of the things I would give her to keep that smile on her face.

“No, I changed my mind. That's the look I love.” Tammy whispered in a husky voice and gave me a tender kiss. She stepped back and nodded at my kind of glazed look, took my hand, and led me over to the bed. Our bed. She hadn't even tried to pretend that she was going to sleep anywhere else.

Sandra had a huge smile on her face as we approached her, probably because she recognized my look and had seen it enough to know what it meant. “Welcome to the family, Tammy.”

Tammy's sexy smile grew to match hers and the three of us climbed onto the bed. None of us were going to be sleeping much tonight and we were all looking forward to Tammy enjoying her 'vacation'.

*

The month passed by before we knew it and our return trip to Jackson was delayed by a sudden snowstorm. It wouldn't have deterred us normally, except the snow was exceptionally deep in the drifts and had thoroughly covered over most of the trails and paths we would have taken. We couldn't chance the horses stepping on covered roots or vines that were only dormant and not dead, so we had to wait.

The good news was that my last batch of weed-killer had done exactly what I predicted and I made up several large batches of it for Tammy to use back in town. She had also accepted a ring from me and one from Sandra, making the older woman blush cutely, because she would be marrying the both of us eventually and not just me. Being our wife was more important to her than being solely my wife, apparently.

The snowstorm lasted only a few days and then it took a few more days for the drifts to wear down enough that we could more safely navigate the mapped out route. We couldn't really leave visible markers, because bandits and patrols could then easily follow them back to both Jackson and to our hotel.

It still slowed our progress down as we had to carefully probe some areas to not set off anything, stretching our five days of travelling into almost a week and a half. Hermes and Aphrodite were not happy that they couldn't let loose and reluctantly accepted that they were too valued by us to risk them with so much danger around.

We eventually made it back to Jackson and only Jenkins greeted us. He also didn't look happy, which was a huge warning sign for us, because he always had a smile on his face. Tammy let out a barely heard whistle and only a single whistle, which Jenkins nodded in response to.

Fuck, the town's been invaded. I thought and exchanged looks with Sandra, whom looked scared. I took a piece of paper out of my pocket and handed it to her and both she and Tammy stared at what it said.

While they read it, I slid off of Hermes and patted his shoulder and pointed to his mate. He nodded and snatched the reins from Sandra's relaxed grip with his teeth and then he trotted off completely silently, taking the two women and his mate with him.

I walked over to Jenkins and his eyes gave away how scared he was. I handed him a piece of paper that asked him if they had Janine captive. He nodded, confirming why he was scared, and I nodded back. None of whoever they were would be leaving the town alive.