After making sure that everyone was on the bus Pat started for the truck stop that was several miles from the motel that they had stayed in. The bus still had some fuel but he didn't want to take a chance on running out. He remembered that the truck stop was clean and it had a decent restaurant and truck and bus maintenance equipment.
Pauline leaned forward to talk to Pat, "If the power at the truck stop is off how are we going to pump the gas?"
Pat chuckled, "Well, first off this bus uses diesel not gas and if the power is off I'll just have to find a hand pump and fill the tank with muscle power. I'm more interested though in finding a couple of good buses that we can take the seats out of later. If we're going to search for others in the large cities we're going to have to have room to spread out. I figure that we can use one of the buses to carry anything we might need for survival and the other bus might come in handy by allowing us to stretch out a little."
Pat continued toward the truck stop. About two miles before they came to the truck stop the stores and commercial building along the road had their lights on.
Pat turned and looked at Pauline, "There's power in this area but I don't know for how long. This area must be on a different grid. We'll fill up first in case the power is about to go off. Have the girls check out the store to see if there's anything that we can use. Tell them to keep an eye out for tools; we're going to need them. Tell them not to stock up on cookies and candy."
As Pat pulled into the truck stop he half shouted, "Yes!"
Pat looked at Pauline, "Look over there. There's two tour buses. They look like brand new Van Hools. They're made in Belgium and they're top of the line. We'll take both of them. I'll give you and Sarah a crash course on driving a bus. It's not as hard as you think. They both have automatic transmissions if I'm correct about the year and model."
Pat pulled to a pump and got out to begin pumping the fuel. Pauline began instructing the girls on what to look for in the truck stop store; the girls ran for the store. Pat watched as they grabbed anything and everything. The girls were ecstatic; they could take whatever they wanted and didn't have to pay for it. Each girl made several trips back to the bus before Pat had topped off the tanks.
Pauline was about to stop the girls from taking too much stuff that wouldn't be of use to them but Pat stopped her, "Let them go. Look at their faces. It'll take their minds off of our situation."
After the fuel tank was full Pat replaced the nozzle and then went to check the other two tour buses. Both of the buses had been filled with fuel and were ready to go. Pat called Pauline and Sarah over to one of the buses and went over the basics of starting and running a bus. Sarah was the first one to try driving the bus. It took her about a half an hour to get over her fear of the huge machine but then she began to drive the bus slowly but correctly.
Pauline didn't have as much of a problem with the driving of the bus and by the end of the afternoon both women seemed to be a little more comfortable with the idea of driving a huge tour bus. Pauline boasted that anything a man could do a woman could do.
Pat suggested that they stop at one of the many motels on the outskirts of town for the night. In the morning they could start out and Pat would have the two women follow him at a fairly slow speed until they got used to driving the buses.
Pat called Sarah, Pauline and Anna over to where he was standing, "Anna, why don't you go with Sarah or Pauline and let one of the other girls go with the other bus to keep them company."
A look of rage came to Anna's face, "I don't know what your plans are but I'll be damned if I'm going to let you alone with those girls. I'm responsible for those girls."
Pat was shocked and it took him a minute before he could answer, "Lady I don't know what got you in such a bind but knock it off. We don't need you upsetting the girls. They're on edge right now and they're about to crash and burn at the slightest hint of a problem. What's wrong with you woman? You have serious mental problems."
Pat turned and walked to the bus. The girls were already on the bus so he closed the door and put the bus in gear and drove to the entrance to the truck stop and waited for the other two buses to fall in behind him. He saw the women arguing with Anna and then Sarah and Pauline each got on the bus that they were going to drive. Anna got on the bus with Pauline; the buses slowly started to roll.
Pat drove slow and kept an eye on the two buses following him. Sarah and Pauline weren't having too much trouble keeping up with Pat but he didn't want to drive too fast until they became more comfortable driving the huge buses.
As they pulled to the outskirts of a small city Pat began to have trouble maneuvering the bus through the cars that had crashed when the drivers had vanished. He saw several motels and pulled into the one that looked the nicest. It would be about another two hours before the sun went down.
Sarah and Pauline pulled the bus that they were driving next to Pat's. Pat got off of the bus and walked to the other buses.
"Well, how did you like driving a bus?" he asked the women as they got off of the bus.
"No problem," Pauline said with a grin, "I told you that anything a man could do a woman could do."
Anna pushed her way past Pauline and went to the bus that Pat had been driving. She began to get the girls off of the bus and into the motel. The power was still on in the motel and Anna took the girls to the second floor and assigned the girls to their rooms. She made sure that her room was situated so that she could see if anyone attempted to sneak into the girl's rooms.
Pat, Sarah and Pauline went to the restaurant and began to fix supper for the girls. Pat found steaks that had been thawed so he fixed steaks for everyone. It was about nine o'clock before everyone had eaten and everything was cleaned up. The girls had explored the motel and had congregated in the lobby and were talking in little groups. Soon one of the girls started crying and then several of the girls had tears running down their cheeks. Pauline went to the girls and began to talk to them and calm them down.
After about an hour Pauline walked over to Pat, "I'd better stay with the girls tonight. It's beginning to dawn on them that we might really be the only humans left on earth."
Pat nodded and watched as Pauline walked toward the girls and began to try to comfort them. Anna stood off to the side and let Pauline minister to the girls. The girls had never warmed to Anna because of her domineering ways.
Pat didn't want to give Anna the opportunity to have another confrontation with him so he walked to the bus he was driving and sat in the driver's seat. He began to think of where they should go next to try to locate other people. He tried to think of people that he could call in case some people in other locations had survived the black hole. He put his arms on the steering wheel and laid his head on his arms. The tensions of the day that he had been keeping bottled up inside of him began to ease and he soon fell asleep.