Chapter 9

I followed the large black feline up the stairs and into the Great Room. I didn't know what to expect at all. The way the Puma had appeared made me think it had to be associated with the Wizard some how; but why was it here?

The cat looked around and listened as if wanting to be certain of our privacy. Finally it sat on its haunches, focused its attention on me, and began to speak. "Mr. Telford, I have come to you on the Wizard's business. I trust my friend Moon Blossom mentioned that I would be visiting you?"

"Wow! You can talk!" I stammered after a momentary period of stunned silence. I realized almost as soon as the words had left my mouth that it probably sounded pretty stupid to be surprised that a cat that could materialize out of thin air might be able to talk as well.

"This is true Sir. I'm hoping that at some point you will also prove to be able to speak coherently as well," the cat said with what sounded very much like a chuckle.

"Sorry about that," I said laughing along with my unusual guest, happy he hadn't taken offense at my possibly rude outburst. "Yes, the woman the Wizard sent to visit me did mention that I'd be having a visit from another of the Wizard's associates," I replied.

"My name is Ezra and I must say that when you do actually speak, you are quite careful in your choice of words. I suppose that the term associate is accurate; however I willingly serve the Wizard and certainly do not shun the title of servant. I have seen nothing to lead me to believe that the Wizard is anything less than honorable, so pledging service to him is not demeaning in the slightest sense.

I actually came here for a number of reasons, the first of which is to help you schedule your meeting with the Wizard. The Wizard will be meeting with quite a few people in the near future. Most of the meetings will have about fifty or so individuals in attendance in addition to the Wizard."

"Where are the meetings being held and how will I get there?" I asked.

"I imagine the meetings will be held somewhere in one of the Wizard's palaces or perhaps on one of his estates. It really doesn't matter that much since the Wizard will be transporting you there the same way he sent me here."

"How long will it take to get there?"

"Well Sir, the actual trip will be instantaneous for all practical intents and purposes. I suppose if you had some way of accurately parsing the time down to small enough increments it might be measurable, but to the best of my knowledge only the wizard possesses such magic," Ezra replied.

"The woman who visited me earlier, your friend Moon Blossom, she mentioned that the Wizard wanted to meet with me and others that he had 'so gifted'. The whole way she said that along with the reason she gave for the meeting just brought home the fact that I know so very little about what's happened to me and the rest of the world. Would you be willing to tell me a bit more?"

"I can certainly give you a bit better of a picture than you have now Mr. Telford; but I must ask you to be patient for certain answers which would be best heard directly from the Wizard himself. I also need to have your word that until you do meet with the Wizard, you will keep our conversation private for the most part. Having said that, are there any areas in particular which you would like to know more about? Rest assured that all of the answers will be coming in due time and if I can answer you now - I will."

"Believe it or not Ezra - I can keep a secret. As long as I'm not being asked to do anything terrible, I promise to keep our conversation between the two of us until after the Wizard's meeting. As far as what areas I'd like to know more about - that's a hard one. I've so many questions I don't know where to begin."

Ezra waited patiently while I thought it through for a moment.

"Is it safe to assume that the Wizard will fill us in on details about the plague?"

"I believe that to be most likely."

"Will he be able to do anything about it?"

"He has already started to do so; but I'm afraid that the specific details of his actions and plans would be better coming from him," Ezra said with his yellow gold eyes riveted on mine.

"I guess beggars can't be choosers," I said softly.

"What do you mean Mr. Telford?"

"Well, it's like this Ezra, before the visits from Moon Blossom and yourself I had no information at all. At least now I will be getting some - even if I have to wait for the rest and that's a good bit better than things were before."

"Ah! Yes, that's true. I have as much time as you need today Mr. Telford. Would it be easier if I just tell you things you may need to know that I'm certain the Wizard would not mind me discussing with you at this time?"

I let out a sigh of relief and said "Yes Ezra it would. Thanks for offering to do so. It makes it easier than you and I playing cat and mouse about it."

"Oh I don't know Mr. Telford. I like a good game of cat and mouse every now and then," the large black puma added with another chuckle or two.

For the next hour I listened to Ezra; occasionally asking a question or two when it seemed appropriate to do so. I suppose someone looking upon the scene in the room would have been quite astounded by the situation, but once our discussion was underway and the uniqueness of speaking with a large predatory feline had ceased to overwhelm my thoughts, it began to seem more 'normal' to me than I would have thought. In a way it reminded me of listening to a scholarly lecture or a well thought out intelligence briefing.

One thing that became clear throughout the conversation: Ezra was here largely to give information and any sought after guidance; but he wasn't here to dictate what actions I should take. A lot of the information should prove very useful in assuring our immediate survival. For instance, he told me that the Wizard was going to take care of big issues like the nuclear power plants and chemical processing plants. I hadn't even thought about what would happen with those yet. The Wizard's servants were also going to do their best to keep the power online as well as cell phone services up and running.

"Ezra, do you have any ideas about what we should be doing with the dogs? I think they could become a real problem to us. We've already seen a couple of packs running wild."

"I know that dogs and cats were domesticated and kept as pets for so long that people have attached many feelings of loyalty and friendship to them. The Wizard is doing what he can in many areas, but he isn't ready to attempt to handle everything on his own; I suspect that this is the reason for the meetings. For now I think that you should try to take a two pronged approach: Kill any dogs or cats that are running wild and posing threats and try to feed and care for some that haven't reached that point. For years dogs were mans faithful servants and were often trained to guard and protect; most likely it is hunger that is driving them to this wild pack mentality."

"So you're suggesting that we befriend some of these dogs and train them to provide protection. I suppose we could try that, but I've never really had to train a dog before. I wouldn't know where to start."

"Might I make a suggestion or two about 'where to start'?" Ezra asked politely.

"Please do! I can't seem to plan more than a few days in advance and there are just so many skills we are going to need that I don't really have."

"Precisely what I'm thinking Mr. Telford. One person can not possibly have all of the necessary knowledge and practical skills to handle all of the various problems that the plague is causing; but then again why should it be just one person? It might be more beneficial if you concentrated on searching out more survivors. Some of them are bound to have skills that would be useful to you and their chances of survival will be greater if they join a more established group," Ezra suggested.

"But I can't just appoint myself as their leader?" I exclaimed.

"Oh? Why not? Someone has to be the leader Mr. Telford. The Wizard himself has chosen you for that role. While I suppose that ultimately you could refuse to fill it, don't you think it would make sense to at least wait until you hear what the Wizard has to say? Besides that, there truly are people out there who need your help to survive. Sometimes people need someone else to take charge Mike. Right now they need you!"

It really set me back for a few minutes. I carefully reviewed what Ezra had shared with me before responding. Finally I began to talk again.

"So you're saying that I should make it a priority to gather people together and form a community to improve everyone's chances for survival," I summarized. "I can see the sense to that idea, but we've already had a run in with a lunatic and it makes me just a bit leery to take in just anyone." I told Ezra about the situation with Asshole and what we'd done about it.

"No one said it would be easy; but didn't the women he was hurting need your help?" Ezra asked.

"Yes they did and there's no way I would have let them suffer another minute at the hands of that bastard," I admitted aloud. "Alright Ezra, point made! You're very bright Ezra. I don't suppose I could talk you into staying around for a while? I have a feeling your advice would come in quite handy from time to time."

"I would be delighted to accept your offer Mr. Telford."

"Mike. The name is Mike."

"Alright. Thank you Mike. For now would it be of any use if I were to patrol outside for a bit?"

"It can't hurt anything. Are you hungry or thirsty? Is there anything I can offer you before you start?" I asked the big cat.

"I'm sure I can scrounge up something Mike; but thanks for the offer. Call me if you need me - I don't plan on going too far."

I shut off the alarm system and opened the door so Ezra could slip outside. The sky was just starting to hint at morning and the air was quite brisk. In just a minute or so the big cat was out of sight among the trees.

I got the coffee going and while that was brewing made some rye toast. I was just looking for a little something to nibble on while I thought about what I should be doing for the five days between now and the Wizard's meeting. I knew the ladies would be making breakfast later and I just ate enough to hold me over till then.

Thinking on what Ezra had said, I should probably be visiting some of the larger towns and cities looking for survivors. According to Ezra I would continue to find that most people would accept and even welcome my leadership; come to think of it that's what 'Moon Blossom' had told me. I wondered who'd named her that and if she wasn't native Indian.

If I gathered many more people, the 'Cabin' wouldn't hold everyone. We needed to move someplace where there'd be room enough for everyone; someplace that we could defend from dogs and the occasional lunatic. It would be nice if it were fenced in.

Ezra had said the power would remain online. Most of the internet was based on servers that were on all of the time; maybe it would still be up. I hadn't even thought to check with everything else that was happening. I was sure that by now there had to be a few unresponsive sites, but most everything I tried seemed to be working. I came up with a few ideas of places that might work.

There were several military facilities with large fenced in areas, the largest being Fort Bragg; but the meeting with the Wizard was only five days from now. Trying to worry about as ambitious an undertaking as dealing with whatever we might find at Fort Bragg in that short amount of time would probably prove to be a little much. Hell, it would probably take more time than that just to make an adequate survey of the place.

I thought about using the old minimum security prison in Fayetteville. It was surrounded by fencing that was more than adequate to keep dogs out, but it was still a prison. That'd probably make it a bit dreary to live there and I thought that it would probably be a pretty hard sell with the others. Even if they did go along with it, it would probably not make them very happy and I wanted them to be happy.

Then I hit on what I thought might be the best idea I was likely to come up with short term: The Omni Charlotte Hotel in downtown Charlotte. It was almost an ideal setup in a way. I'd be at the center of the states largest population center. The hotel had lots of room for everyone and more than adequate food preparation facilities; the pool and health club wouldn't hurt either. It might take a bit of work to secure the first floor to prevent dogs from getting in; but other than that and maybe disposing of any corpses that we found it would already be a pretty good setup. With a bit of work it might even be a suitable long term location; but that type of planning and effort could wait until after the meeting with the Wizard.

By now it was almost seven and I was anxious to get the day started. After starting another pot of coffee I headed up to the master bedroom where I took a very fast shower and got dressed quickly. Although I'd very much enjoyed the time we'd spent at the Cabin I now realized that there had been a constant tension I'd been feeling ever since the plague had hit. Now, with the information Ezra had given me and his sensible advice, I felt a renewed sense of purpose and the tension I'd been feeling was largely gone. We weren't alone and we were going to survive and help as many others to do so as possible.

I emptied the pot of coffee into a large carafe and started another. I sat the carafe on a tray and added half a dozen coffee mugs, a carton of creamer, a sugar bowl, a handful of artificial sweetener packets, and some spoons. I carried the tray down to my beautiful mates knowing that it wouldn't be enough for all of them and hoping the rest would forgive me when they learned that another pot of coffee was already brewing. I moved everything off of the tray and sat the lot of it on the ping pong table and began to pour the coffee from the carafe into the mugs. Once the carafe was empty I hauled ass back to the kitchen, refilled the carafe, started another pot brewing, and loaded the tray with more mugs. By the time I made it back down the stairs the aroma of freshly brewed coffee was starting to work its way through the room rousing some of the women.

I sat out more mugs and poured more coffee before returning to the kitchen for my third trip. More coffee, more mugs, and two boxes of cookies made up the cargo I carried back down to the basement. This time I sat down and watched as the beautiful women who'd become a part of my life stirred to wakefulness and made their way over to me. I kissed each one good morning and offered them coffee and a cookie if they wanted one.

They all seemed pleasantly surprised that I'd gone to the trouble to greet them with a cup of hot coffee; but it was something I'd always liked to do for Sarah, and later for Dawn, Patty, Becky, and Maureen. Granted, getting coffee made for this many women is a bit more work; but the effort was well rewarded and I thoroughly enjoyed copping feels of each of my beauties' breasts and booties! I almost let Mr. Dicky take control of the situation; but somehow I got things back under control. Once all of my women were up and about, I asked several of them to see about breakfast.

When I got back to the kitchen I found Gil already up with a mug of coffee in hand. He seemed just a bit disturbed by something. "What's up Gil?" I inquired.

"You've got a pretty sophisticated alarm and surveillance system here Mike. I thought I had it setup right and that you'd flicked on the motion sensors last night before we turned in for the evening. I took a peek at it before I came here for my coffee and it looked like it was turned off."

"If that's all you're worried about I can put your mind at ease. I turned the system off earlier."

"Really? I didn't think that you'd have done that. You seem pretty focused on security and after having dealt with Asshole, I think you're right to be," Gil said looking at me with some confusion.

"Well that hasn't changed Gil. It's just that someone else is handling that for us right now. A friend of mine named Ezra is patrolling the perimeter as we speak. I'd be pretty damned amazed to find that anything could get past his watchful eye."

"Where's he been hiding all this time?" Gil asked.

"I don't know Gil. He just showed up this morning. We talked for an hour or so and then he wanted to go outside and patrol the grounds," I answered realizing that it still sounded mighty fishy to Gil. "Here, let me show you something."

I led Gil to the front door and grabbed my jacket off of the hook I usually hung it on. Seeing we were going out, Gil grabbed his off of another nearby hook. When I opened the door and walked out, Gil followed me and began to take a careful look at our surroundings. It took him a minute to see Ezra's paw prints.

"Mike, we'd better get back inside right now and get some weapons! Those foot prints belong to a large cat, a really large cat! Possibly even a mountain lion! Your friend Ezra could be in serious trouble!" Gil exclaimed.

"Hold up there Gil. Ezra will be just fine; in fact, just to be certain, I'll call him in now." Cupping my hands to my mouth I called "Ezra! Ezra, you'd better get back in here! There's a mountain lion somewhere nearby!"

From some distance in the trees a voice answered "Okay Mr. Telford! I'm on my way."

I turned my head to the side a bit so I could keep a watch on Gil's expression when Ezra emerged from the trees. Now I knew how Pops had felt when he said "Damn, I wish I had a camera!" Gil's eyes got really big and I thought he was going to bolt back into the house at any second.

"Gil, I'd like you to meet Ezra," I said gesturing in the big cat's direction. "Ezra, meet my good friend Gil."

"Pleased to meet you Gil! Any friend of Mr. Telford is a friend of mine," Ezra said in his cultured baritone voice.

"What? You can talk!" Gil blurted out.

Ezra just looked at me as if in disgust and said "Not again!"

I just cracked up laughing.

It took a while to get Gil settled down. When he finally did get a handle on things he turned to me with a grin and said "When you least expect it Bud!" letting me know I was probably next in line to be on the receiving end of a joke or prank of some kind.

The commotion caused by the Puma was considerable at first. I let it go on for about twenty minutes before delicately reminding my mates that Ezra would be around for a while and I would like some breakfast.

Stephanie appeared to be quite astonished that I would concern myself with food when there was a talking lion on the premises. "How can you be hungry at a time like this?"

"Did you forget about last night Stephanie?" I asked reminding her of the rather intense orgy she'd been a part of the night before.

"No Stud! I didn't forget! Sure hope I can walk normal again someday. Okay, point taken. You were hungry already and after last night, that's quite understandable."

"Well Ladies, don't get me wrong here, I mean I'm glad you're all getting to know Ezra, but it's good to see you getting your priorities back in focus," I informed them.

"I agree," Gil added, "Ezra is certainly a welcome addition, but can we get back to the matter at hand; did someone mention food?"

"Why you two horn dogs!" Rhonda exclaimed. "All you want from us is feeding and fucking!"

"I am wounded to the core that you would accuse us so!" I replied pretending to be deeply offended and hurt. "While I must admit that maybe once or twice I have looked on the female form with some small semblance of lust, or perhaps have eaten an overly large portion of food a time or two, these occurrences are quite rare I assure you."

"That's right!" Gil jumped in again. "We really only did buy men's magazines to read the articles! You believe us of course don't you?"

Maureen joined in with "Come on girls. We must feed these two lecherous men before they get confused and eat us instead of the food."

"Oh no! Please don't stop Mike from eating us Maureen! He did such a wonderful job on my pussy last night!" Dawn exclaimed.

Several platefuls later, I was ready to outline my plans for the day. "As much as I'd love to continue living here - we probably shouldn't. There may be many other survivors out there who need our assistance to survive, or whose skills might help us do a better job of that ourselves. In any case we will be running short on food and other necessities again if we aren't already."

"But where will we go?" Gwen wondered.

"I've given that a considerable amount of thought. While we are out looking for others who may join our little community we will need to have plenty of space for everyone to stay; someplace that's defensible from wild dogs and with lots of amenities nearby."

"And you have some place in mind?" Rhonda asked.

"Yes. I know this might sound a little far fetched; but I'd like for us to go to Charlotte and move into the Omni hotel."

"Is there any chance that we might be able to swing by the university?"

"I think we could do that Shawna. That would allow most of you to collect some of your things and maybe see if any of your friends have survived. There is also one other stop I'd like to make there."

"What?" Paula wondered.

"I'd like us to stop at a shooting range so I can teach all of you how to fire a weapon."

Between the news that we'd be swinging by the university and the announcement that I'd be teaching them about using a gun, quite a few conversations sprung up. After a few minutes of this, Gil got everyone's attention.

"I know that a lot of you may have some reservations about handling a gun," Gil said. "I really don't want to bring up bad memories, but I have to know that you understand why Mike wants you to know how to use a gun. There still may be another bastard like Asshole out there somewhere. Tracy having her gun offered you some level of protection from that. I'd hate to think of what Mike and I might have found when we arrived if Tracy hadn't had her gun. On top of that there are the packs of hungry dogs running loose. So the need for each of you to be able to handle and use a gun has become just that; a true need, not some philosophical debate."

I saw a lot of different emotions playing over the faces of the women during Gil's short speech. When he lapsed into silence the room stayed quiet for a while until Diana, one of Asshole's victims, broke the silence.

"I used to have a problem with guns; but now I think I'd like to have one with me when we aren't at home. If another prick like Asshole comes along I don't think I'd even hesitate to put a bullet in the fucker!"

I knew I'd be coming back here someday and Charlotte wasn't even that far away. So I didn't try to take all that much with me. I was hoping that my example would make it easier when the women had to make decisions about what to take and what to leave. I filled two suitcases with clothing and toiletries. I took a small box and filled it with a few photo albums. One contained pictures of my parents, Sarah, Rob and Sally, Pops, and other friends who were no longer among the living but still held a place in my heart. Another had pictures of my European vacation with Dawn and Patty. The last one held pictures from the last trip we'd taken while Pops was still with us. After losing Sarah, I'd learned that you can't run from the bad memories; but they sure were a lot easier to take when you had some reminders of the good times to drown out the bad.