Skyla's POV
Now that I have safety gear along with some bottled water and the small amount of food I can fit into Tech's fridge, we start our multi-state journey to Nevada. I programmed Tech's GPS to follow The Cowboy trail bike path, but he has to adjust the route when we discover the directions have us about to get on the highway. He finds a safer way, and we go about 40 miles till we stop in city Joliet.
I just graduated, and I thought I'm done learning anything new. It looks like this I'm wrong, and I'll be learning a lot on this road trip.
"Tech, we need to find out where the homeless shelter is. I could use something to eat,"
We pull into the parking lot of the second museum I see on the street. Tech parks behind the dumpster and changes into his robot mode again.
Tech's POV
We walk around the town for ten minutes. When I look over at Skyla, she looks exhausted from the fact that she's been overexerting herself by putting so much pressure on her injured left ankle. She collapses and catches her then find us a place where she can rest. I carry her over to the alley near us and lean her up against the wall before I sit down next to her.
"Thanks, Tech, I'm fine I just lost it for a second," Skyla says.
I open the refrigerator compartment and hand her a bottle of water. She drinks half before giving it back to me.
"I checked my GPS, and we are a few blocks away from a Walmart."
"That's good we do need to get some more supplies," Skyla says.
"Maybe we should rest here for a bit," I suggest, "You did just collapse from exhaustion."
Skyla puts her head on my shoulder. A few seconds later, her eyes closed and she was fast asleep. I remembered that Chuck gave her a neck pillow, so I take it out of her backpack. I carefully place it around her neck then let her continue to nap.
Fifteen minutes later, I move my shoulder to try to wake her up. Skyla groans as open her eyes and yawns. I help her stand, and we go over to the dumpster. I change into my moped form, and we drive to Walmart. I pull next to the bike rack.
"Tech, you stay here," Skyla says as she locks me the bike rack.
Skyla's POV
I limp into the store.
"Hi, welcome to Walmart, how may I help you?" The greeter says.
"Hello ma'am, yes. Where is the camping gear?"
"It would be in the outdoor sports section," The greeter answers.
"Thank you,"
I follow the signs and reach the right aisle. I scan the shelves for a few minutes. I see a display with some chairs set up. I know customers aren't allowed to sit on it, but my ankle is starting to hurt again. A dizzy spell hits me, and I stumble into one of the chairs. I begin to fall towards the floor. I hear running footfalls. I look up and see a worker looking down at me.
"Are you okay young lady?" The worker asks.
"Yes, I'm fine,"
I start to walk again, but my ankle gives out. The worker catches me for the second time and lets me sit down in one of the chairs.
"I hope you won't get in trouble for letting me sit on the display,"
"I'll be fine, but are you sure that you don't need me to call an ambulance?" The worker asks.
"No thank you, I'll be okay,"
The next thing I see is another employee walking up to us. He hands me a bottle of water and a granola bar. I thank him, and they go back to work. After I finish eating, I go back outside. I unlock Tech and get on. We leave and try to find a homeless shelter. Ten minutes later, it starts to rain. As soon as the rain hits my skin, I begin to shiver. Tech's GPS locates a shelter. He finds a safe place to transform back into his robot mode. Then we head inside, one of the workers run up to me. I see her do a double take when a lightbulb goes off in her mind like she remembers that she must have seen me before either in the newspaper article or saw the news story about me winning the Robotics competitions.
Okay, I can't believe it took her this long to recognize me. I mean I came inside with the robot I built in a high school robotics club. It's a good thing that this woman has a good heart. I guess her IQ isn't high.
A few seconds later another worker comes up and gives me a towel "Alana, what are you doing this poor girl is soaking wet." The worker says, "I'm Dusty, come with me, we'll you dried off and get into some dry clothes."
I wrap it around me. Dusty leads to the room where I pick out some dry clothes. After I change, we head to the kitchen, and I get some dinner. Tech and I go to the room we'd be staying in for the night. I walk over to the bed and sit down.
"We should plan out of trip a little more,"
"Good idea," Tech says.
"We should at least try to get to the Iowa state line by tomorrow night,"
"Sounds good, but where will we stop so you can eat?" Tech asks.
I have Tech call up his GPS so I can look at it. I zoom in on the map and find a place along the route for our first pitstop of the day.
"Tiskilwa seems good is about 87 miles away," I say, "we'd only have to stray a little bit off route,"
"Okay, where would are we stopping for the night?" Tech asks.
"It looks like Moline is the closest we'll get to the Iowa state line before it gets too dangerous for us to be traveling,"
"Okay, we should get an early start then," Tech suggests.
I lay down on the bed, and the sound of the rain hitting to roof instead of dripping on my face helps to lull me off to sleep.
I hope I don't get recognized when we get to Iowa.
