Chapter 21

Pat pulled in front of the motel, "I don't know how we're going to handle this. I'm sure that everyone noticed that we were gone."

Pauline squeezed his hand, "I really don't care. I needed this time with you."

Sarah and Anna walked from around the side of the motel. They were talking seriously about something and they hadn't seen the Escalade pull into the parking spot. Pat and Pauline got out of the SUV and walked toward the pair. Anna and Sarah were so busy talking that they didn't see Pat and Pauline until they were half way to the them.

Pauline smiled and asked, "Did any of the girls make any comments about us being gone all night?"

Sarah grinned, "We told them that you went to the Air Force Base to see if you could find any secure underground installations that had any survivors. The girls seemed to buy it or else they were so busy with their own fears and concerns that they didn't have time to be concerned with you two."

Pat rolled his eyes upward, "I completely forgot about the Air Force base. That would be the place to check for others that survived. I'm sure that there are secure facilities there and there might even be underground bunkers. At the very least we'll be able to use the military communications to try and raise somebody. It's worth a shot at least. Why don't one of you tell the girls that we need to check the base out more thoroughly and we'll leave one adult with the girls and the other three will see what we can find at the base."

Anna spoke up, "I'll let the girls know that you're going to be gone a while longer; that way they won't think that we're abandoning them."

Anna left to speak to the girls. Sarah waited until she saw Anna enter the motel and then turned to Pat and Pauline with a serious look on her face.

"Anna and I have been talking most of the night. She's really down and, frankly, I'm a bit afraid that she might be thinking about suicide. I might be totally wrong but there were been a lot of tears shed last night."

"What's wrong," Pat and Pauline asked almost in unison.

Sarah sighed, "She's been thinking a lot in the past couple of days and she's come to the conclusion that her life has been wasted. I don't know if you know what happened to her but it wasn't pretty."

"She told me," Pat said, "Go on. What else did she say?"

"She's just having a lot of self-doubt and she's beating herself up because of it. I get the impression that she feels that there's no sense going on with her life. I think that she feels there's nothing to live for anymore."

They were all quiet for a minute digesting what Sarah had told them. Pat looked at Pauline and she seemed lost in thought.

Pauline broke the silence, "Sarah could I speak to Pat for a minute alone?"

"Sure," Sarah said and then she turned and walked into the motel.

Pauline turned to him, "I think that this is something that you have to handle. I think that Anna is regretting the fact that she's never allowed a man in her life and now she thinks that there's never going to be a man for her because you're the only man left in the world. I think that you should take Anna with you to check out the Air Base and talk to her."

Pat got a serious look on his face, "Are you really saying that I should just talk to her?"

"Talk to her. If you find that more is needed you'll have to decide on how you're going to handle it. I told you that it would come to this."

Pat got red in the face with his anger, "Damn it, Pauline. I can't do that. I..."

Pauline cut him off, "Think of the consequences. What is going to happen if she does do something drastic or even walks off and disappears? The girls would never get over it. She's not been a very warm person until recently but she is an authority figure to the girls and they rely on her and look to her for advice. I know how you feel and I know she's been a thorn in your ass since we started this trip. Right now, she is a parental figure to the girls. We can't allow her to hinder our survival if she does anything stupid. Her actions could case the death of others or, at the very least, severe contention. I don't see any other solution."

Pat walked away from her without answering her and started walking away from the motel. As he walked he got madder. When he was far enough away from the motel that he couldn't see or hear the others he sat on the grass to think. He knew that most men would be happy to be the only man in the world with three adult women and twenty teen-aged girls at his disposal but he loved Pauline. Pat had never cheated on Bess and the thought of cheating on Pauline hurt him. He began to think of ways around the obvious but nothing he thought of really made any sense once he thought it through. After about an hour he walked back to where the women were talking in front of the motel.

"Well, who's going with me?" he asked the women.

"I'm exhausted," Pauline said, "If you don't mind I'd like to rest a while. I don't know how much rest the girls are going to let me get though."