Chapter 29

When Pat walked into the motel Sarah met him in the lobby, "I think the girls are ready to travel any time that you're ready."

"Let's meet with Anna and Pauline then," Pat said, "I'd like to get moving. I'm afraid that it's going to take a while to get to where we want to settle down. If everyone is ready we can leave tomorrow."

After the adults had discussed it, they decided to leave the next day. Pat got Pauline off to the side and told her what had transpired with Cassie. Pauline had a worried look on face.

"Do you think that you've calmed her down?"

Pat shrugged, "I think that her problems are deep-seated and I doubt that a simple discussion will solve what's bothering her. I think that we had better keep an eye on her for a long time and be there whenever she needs us. I think that you women should get involved in her life and try to draw out her feelings and be ready to discuss them."

The next morning they started out on their trip to the place that they were going to settle. Pat was worried that he didn't have all of the skills that would be necessary for their survival. He had discussed his fears with Pauline after they went to bed and she had dismissed his fears as groundless.

As they made their way east the accidents began to get more numerous. One of the girls questioned why they were seeing more accidents and Pat explained that the east coast was more densely populated than mid-America and as they got closer to the east coast the accidents would become more numerous.

By the end of the second week since they had left on the final leg of their journey they had only gotten to Kentucky because of all of the accidents that had blocked the roads.

Everyone was getting tired and Pat pulled into a large motel adjacent to a large National Park. Several of the girls cheered at the chance to sleep in a bed for a change. Pat found that the electricity was off but he found that the motel had a large standby generator but that it had run out of fuel.

Pat walked to the gas station across the road from the motel and began carrying fuel to the generator in a bucket from the gas station that used to hold water for windshield service. After several trips the fuel tank was full. He had trouble starting the generator and he remembered that diesels often were hard to start when you let then run out of fuel. After working on the engine for over an hour he got the generator started and the power came on in the motel. The girls cheered when they saw the power come on.

The girls began to pick out rooms and Pat made everyone stay grouped so that he could turn off power to areas of the motel that were not needed. They found enough non-perishable food in the motel kitchen to prepare a meal for everyone and the women had dinner fixed in a couple of hours.

After they ate Pat walked outside. He looked around at the majestic forest ahead of him. He wondered if the park had a camp ground and visitor center or if it was a park that was left natural. He heard someone walk up behind him. He turned just as Pauline reached him.

"Gosh, it's peaceful here," she commented.

Pat put his arm around her shoulder, "I was just thinking about taking a walk a little way into the woods. How about I get a rifle out of the bus and we check it out?"

Pauline nodded and he walked back to the bus and got a rifle for each of them. He checked to make sure that the safety was on and that each rifle was loaded. He walked back to Pauline and handed her a rifle.

They began to walk into the woods. They found a stream about a hundred yards into the woods and they sat down to enjoy the beauty. Pat lay back on the forest floor and closed his eyes.

"I can't see the motel anymore," Pauline asked with a worried voice, "Are you sure that you can find your way back?"

Pat kept his eyes closed and answered her, "I've been marking the way that we came. We won't have any problem finding our way back."

Pauline sniffed the air, "I smell smoke. I hope nothing is wrong with the generator."

Pat sat up and sampled the air, "That's wood smoke. There might be a forest or brush fire somewhere."

Pauline got a worried look on her face, "Do you think its safe here? The smoke smells strong. Maybe we should get back to the others."

Pat lay back again and closed his eyes, "We're okay. If there is a fire, it's not that close to us."

Pauline tensed, "Did you hear that?"

Pat kept his eyes closed and he was almost asleep. "I didn't hear anything."

Pauline shushed him, "Quiet! I think that I heard a voice. Do you think that one of the girls followed us?"

Pat kept his eyes closed, "I didn't hear a thing. It's probably the wind."

Pauline stood up and cupped her hands to her mouth, "Hello?"

After several seconds a voice answered with a hello. Pat almost jumped off of the ground and grabbed his rifle. He shoved the other rifle into Pauline's hands. They both stood and listened to discern where the voice came from. Pauline shouted again and was answered again.

Pat grabbed her arm, "Let's try to find out what's going on. Be careful! We don't know if whoever is there is dangerous or not."

They made their way as silently as possible toward the voice. Pauline began to shout again but Pat stopped her. The voice called out a hello several times giving Pat and Pauline a direction to find whoever had called out.