Becky pulled away from Joe and brushed at her eyes before she spoke. "Well, Hon, I guess we should get moving if we're going to." Joe nodded his head in agreement, and said. "We need to go into the next city or town and get a map, Becky."
"I was wondering about that," she answered, "Wouldn’t the park office have maps?"
"I didn't think about that, but yeah they should. We can check on the way out, and if they do it'll save us having to travel the main road into the next city, we'll still need a state map eventually though."
"Right," she replied, "but at least it would get us heading in the right direction, and that feeling I had, that we should be careful, makes me feel like we shouldn't take anymore main roads, Joe."
"If that's the way you feel, then we'll stay off them, even if we don't find a map. We can get ourselves pointed in the right direction anyway, and eventually we'll have to come to some sort of a small town, or village, and then we'll get a map, okay?" he asked.
"Just so long as you don't think I'm being stupid, or foolish," she said, "I just don't want to not listen when it feels like I should, it really feels as though God put those thoughts into my heart, and it would feel like I was ignoring him if I didn't listen."
"You don't have to explain it to me, Hon, I know. I feel it too, and I have no intention of not listening," Joe stated calmly. "In fact I intend to listen to whatever either of us feels. I think it’s probably the only way to make sure we stay together..." He paused briefly, and then changed the subject. "We do need to pick up ammunition though, you need it for that machine pistol of yours, and I think I'll pick up some for that machine gun I took from that guy. It seems a lot better to have that in my hands than the Remington..." he shrugged his shoulders, "You think?"
"Yeah, I do, if I hadn't had the machine pistol, I think we would've been in deep trouble. That Remington is nice, but... it just can't match that machine gun, no way, and I really think we'll need it before we get... Well, wherever it is we have to get," she finished lamely.
With that they both got up and began to break camp. Together they loaded the Suburban. Joe drowned the small fire and they edged the truck through the trees and out of the camp site, to the accompaniment of the bird-talk and the chatter of the squirrels.
When they reached the small park office, just before the main road, they stopped the truck and went into the rustic log building to search for a map. They had only hoped for a simple map of the region surrounding the state park, but were instead rewarded with a complete state map.
Joe found the next large city, North Platte, and was surprised by how far they had traveled during the night. When they were back in the truck, Joe checked the gas tanks. One was full, but the other was barely above a quarter. He switched to the full tank, and said, "We'll have to get gas soon, does the map show any small towns?" Becky studied the map before her as Joe drove slowly out of the park to the main road.
She traced out a route on the map with one finger as she spoke. "Take the next right, Joe. That should bring us to route 30. That runs alongside of 80 for a long way," she paused briefly as she continued to trace the route. "Maxwell sits just the other side of North Platte. We should be able to get gas and ammunition there, I think. That'll also get us around North Platte too; do you think 30 will be okay?"
"Well, it’s not a small route, but it is smaller, and hopefully less traveled than 80," he said, "and that's a help, I guess."
Route 30 was not clogged with stalled traffic they found, when they reached it a few minutes later. But just before they had turned off 80, it had started to clog up with stalled traffic in both lanes, coming and going to North Platte, and they had been half afraid that they would find 30 in the same condition. They were relieved when they found it mainly clear.
Less than an hour of driving took them around North Platte, and into Maxwell, it was not as large as North Platte, but, Joe reasoned, it should fill their needs.
They had both decided that it would be unwise to split up for any purpose at all, and so when Joe eased the Suburban into a paved area in front of a sporting goods store, they locked the truck, and taking their weapons with them, headed in the direction of the store together. Joe had reasoned locking the truck up simply enough, if someone did try to get into it, they would have to break the glass, and hopefully they would hear that from inside the store. He would have liked to park closer, and not risk leaving the truck in the lot, or being so far away from it, but all of the spaces in the front of the store were full.
As they left the truck and began to walk across the asphalt, Becky suddenly stopped short. When she did,
