Chapter 12

Anna went to her room and Pat went to the kitchen and made coffee. He felt terribly exhausted by what Anna had revealed to him. He never suspected that was what was bothering her. He felt very inadequate and he knew that he would never really understand how she felt deep inside about the experience. He was on his second cup of coffee when Pauline walked into the kitchen.

She walked to him and put her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, "Where were you all night?"

"I slept on the bus. I needed some time to think."

Pauline looked up at him, "What happened to your face?"

Pat rubbed his jaw, "I hit my head on the door of the bus. The wind blew the door and it smacked me pretty good."

Pauline pulled away and got herself a cup of coffee, "What are the plans for today?"

"I guess we'll just keep trying to find other people that have survived whatever it was that happened to the areas that we've been in so far. I just can't bring myself to accept that six billion people are no more. If we don't start finding other people soon we should start getting things together that we'll need to survive. I want to locate a gun shop that has a good store of pistols, rifles and ammo. We're going to need them for protection soon. I think that it's only a matter of days before the animals start stalking us. In the next couple of days we should start instructing everyone on the use of firearms."

Anna walked into the kitchen as Pat finished talking, "I didn't bring my gun with me. I never liked guns and I just can't bring myself to carry it."

Pat looked at her, "Anna, you'll have to start carrying your pistol at all times. The animals are starting to get hungry and you'll have to make the protection of yourself and the girls your top priority. I don't like guns either but I also don't like the idea of being dinner for a pack of dogs."

Anna sipped her coffee, "You're right. This is going to be a different world from the one that we've known in the past. As you said yesterday, if we do meet other people we have no idea what they will be like. I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to one of the girls because I didn't have the gun with me."

Anna put her cup down, "I heard some of the girls stirring. I'll make sure that they start getting ready to get on the buses. I'll be down soon to help with breakfast."

She turned and walked out of the kitchen. Pauline watched with her mouth hanging open as Anna walked through the lobby.

"My God, what happened to her? She almost acted human."

Pat poured himself another cup of coffee, "Maybe she's beginning to realize that we all have to work together or we won't survive this."

Pauline looked at Pat with a half-grin on her face, "Is there anything that I should know?"

Pat shook his head, "Not that I know of."

Pat started to see what was available for them to cook for breakfast. He told Pauline that he was getting tired of sausage so he pulled enough steaks out of the refrigerator to feed them all and began to fix the steaks on the grill. Pauline began to fix pancakes and the eggs.

As the adults started preparing breakfast, several of the girls came into the kitchen and began to help with breakfast. Soon Pat was pushed out of the kitchen and told to leave the cooking to the women. He went to the buses and began to check the vital fluids on the buses to make sure that the buses were ready for the next leg of their journey.

When he was sure the buses were ready for the day he walked back into the motel. Most of the girls were eating and talking and giggling like teenaged girls do. When Pat walked in the dining area the girls suddenly became quiet and several of the girls started blushing.

Pat walked into the kitchen and got a plate and put the eggs and a steak on his plate. Soon Pauline walked in the kitchen smiling.

"What's the secret? I'm always suspicious when women put their heads together and whisper," he said.

Pauline started laughing and could hardly speak, "The girls were wondering if you were really the last man on earth and how you were going to rule your harem if you were."

Pat stared at her, "That's not funny. Quash that conversation if it comes up again."

Pauline continued laughing, "I'll let you talk to them about it."

Pat walked out of the kitchen and went to the lobby. He had seen a rack that had maps and the local attractions. He wasn't interested in the local attractions but he wanted to stock up on all of the local and national maps that he could. It might help in their search for others that had survived the black hole.

Pauline walked up to him still smiling, "What are your plans for today?"

"Las Vegas is about a hundred and twenty miles from here. I thought that we might try to see if there are any people left there. About a million and a half people live in and around Las Vegas so if anyone other than us is left alive we might be able to find them in Las Vegas. If we don't find anyone in Las Vegas we should try other major urban areas."