Useless Bastard

by Hooke, A. J. A.

  He walked past the apartment's garbage bins and into the driveway, where Dave picked up his bike and began pushing it towards the street. Once Dave got to the street he had a good look around. He didn't understand the explanation, which oddly bothered him, but the walkers didn't like being outside during the day. Why that was the case and where did they spend the day, were questions that disturbed Dave. He looked nervously at the buildings around him. Was one of those buildings filled with walkers just standing shoulder to shoulder? And how did they get inside, as they seemed to struggle with getting through gates and doors?

  Dave sighed. There were too many questions that he couldn't do anything about answering. And having them floating about his head only caused him stress. Maybe it was reckless, but he need to just ignore this questions for now and focus on his plan for the day. He put his leg over the bike, sat down on its seat, pushed forward and started to slowly pedal. He headed back to the main highway and turned towards the west. He had no idea of his destination but he still felt an urge to keep moving away from the city's dead heart.

  As he began to pedal at a comfortable pace, Dave tried to think about where he'd like to stop next. The place needed to be safe. Especially at night. Dave hadn't really thought about it too hard, but he had so far felt safest when he was not on the ground floor. However as he headed further out from the city centre the buildings got less tall and were now mostly single storied.

  He needed resources in order to survive. Food and water were the most important. Fresh clothes would be nice. Tools and more camping gear would be a solid bonus. For this he knew that there were plenty of shops around for him to scavenge from. He hadn't seen many other living humans and didn't feel any competition for food resources at the moment.

  And what about defence? So far Dave had been lucky and hadn't needed to fight a walker. The idea of hand to hand combat didn't appeal to Dave as he was just a useless office sponge. He didn't have any training in any of the martial arts. Heck, he didn't even do things like go to a gym to strengthen his body.

  Being close up with the dead was too dangerous, so the only defence option would be ranged attacks, which meant guns. Dave frowned. Australia was effectively a gun free zone. You could get a gun, but it was heavily restricted and discouraged from every angle. Dave couldn't even remember having ever seen a gun shop. Australia lacked guns and the culture to accept them. Although Dave tossed the idea of guns around as a way of dealing with the walkers, he could do nothing but admit that he knew nothing about them. He had little to no idea how to use one and little idea on their actual effectiveness. Also, Dave was convinced that even if he had a gun, he probably do more harm to himself than good.

  Dave kept thinking as he continued pedalling to the west. Slowly and steadily making his way out of the city.

  * * *

  It was approaching mid-morning when Dave spotted the shopping centre. It was a standard, big shopping mall - three stories tall and with a few dozen shops each floor - providing services from the basics to the more niche. After turning off the highway there were roads that created a ring all the way about the complex. Most of the area about the complex was open air, customer parking, while to one side of the shopping centre was a large vehicle area where trucks could come to unload products for the mall to sell. There was nothing unique about the design - it was a basic concrete and glass box surrounded by a flat tarmac area - all surrounded by a tall wire-mesh fence.

  What made Dave freeze on his bike and stare was that he could just see someone walking about the transport parking space near to the side of the shopping centre. The person didn't have the grey skin of the dead and was showing clear signs of thoughtful behaviour. The person was one of the few who were left living.

  Dave pedalled along the off ramp and avoided heading towards the customer parking areas. Instead he rode towards the area where trucks would offload their cargo and stopped in the open and usable distance from the person that he had spotted. Dave wanted a way to keep his distance so that he could escape if he needed to flee. Just because the person wasn't one of the dead didn't make them less dangerous.

  Dave could hear some noise that sounded like someone struggling to open a latch. There were sounds of grunting. Some thumping. Dave could even make out some metallic clattering. It must have been to no avail because they seem to have given up as Dave could hear footsteps coming his way.

  The young man spotted Dave and stopped. The young man slowly pushed his overly long and messy hair from his eyes, belying a lack of confidence that surprised Dave. Would this person run off screaming? Would they be hostile? There were too many outcomes to imagine.

  "Hello," said Dave.

  "Huh. Hi."

  "I'm Dave. I was just riding by when I thought I might check out this place."

  "Why?" asked the young man.

  "Well, my clothes are starting to stink. And I'm getting a rash from several day's worth of skid marks."

  The young man grinned at Dave's crass joke. "There's a few clothing stores inside. You should find something there."

  Dave noticed the young man's caution. "If you point me towards something I'll grab what I need and move on."

  The young man looked surprised. "Move on?"

  "I've just come from the main city area," said Dave as he pointed east. "There's nothing there. At least nothing human."

  The young man looked where Dave pointed and an expression of gloom washed across his face. "Oh. Yeah."

  "I don't feel like it's safe to stay in or near the city. So I'm pushing to go west."

  "Safe?"

  "Have you looked outside when it's night?"

  A pale look crossed the young man's face. "Yeah."

  Dave frowned. Here was another person and people were in short supply. But some reason Dave didn't feel any desire to stay in the company of this young man. There hadn't been any cold calculations. Dave just thought that someone as passive as this young man could be more of a danger than a help. A tick passed over Dave's face as he realised how he was thinking.

  "So," said Dave. "How about that clothing store? I'll grab some clean underpants and I'll be on my way."

  The man man looked like he was thinking. The distant sort of thinking where it was like he was receiving a dim telepathic communication.

  "Uh," said the young man. "I'll have to ask the boss."

  A cold freeze passed through Dave. "There are others?"

  "Yeah. I'll take you there now."

  "Thanks," said Dave getting off his bike. "Lead the way."

  The young man looked at Dave's bike and then looked up towards the top of the shopping mall. "Sid! Sid!" he called out.

  Dave looked up and saw a face lean over. "What is it?" said a blurry face that appeared to be Sid's.

  The young man pointed at Dave. "We got a visitor. He needs to see the boss."

  "The boss's busy," came an unhelpful response.

  "We can wait," said the young man.

  "He can wait," corrected Sid pointing at Dave, then he pointed at the young man. "You need to keep looking around."

  The young man looked displeased as Sid disappeared.

  "So. How can I get up there?" asked Dave.

  "He's probably having a nap," grumbled the young man.

  "I'm sorry."

  The young man looked confused. "What?"

  "I seem to have gotten you into trouble. Sorry about that."

  The young man grinned like a puppy. "Eric. My name's Eric."

  "Sure, Eric. Thanks. Now if I could bother you for some directions."

  Eric pointed into the shopping mall. "Just follow the stairs in the middle all the way up. At the top you'll see a stairwell for 'staff only'. That will take you to the roof. You should be able to find someone else to talk to."

  "Is it safe in there?" asked Dave.

  Eric peered into the slight gloom of the shopping mall. "The lights may be out, but the bad stuff only comes at night. It'll be safe in there, for now."

  "I've
mostly seen them at night, but when this first happened it was during the day."

  Eric looked really nervous and started looking around as if danger was about to leap out at him.

  "Don't worry," assured Dave without reason. "That was only on the day of the outbreak. I guess the newly infected can handle daylight, while the fully infected need to hide." Dave made a mental note that he needed to write this new idea down.

  "Uh. Yeah," said the young man obviously relieved.

  "I'll be going up. I'll see you latter."

  Dave put out his hand. Eric stared at the hand for a moment before shyly shaking Dave's hand.

  "Thanks again," said Dave.

  "Good luck," said Eric waving as Dave began to push his bike into the shopping mall.

  Eric couldn't see the frown on Dave's face. Why did Dave need good luck? What was Dave going to encounter? Dave hoped that his worries were over nothing. This was Dave's first contact with a larger group of people and he was already feeling like there were miscommunications everywhere. Sometimes Dave hated talking to people and unwinding the messy conversations in his head, but other people were also so very necessary to being able to survive in this time.

  * * *

  On stepping out onto the roof of the shopping mall, Dave looked around. The top of the roof was flat with numerous vents of different sorts placed in seemingly random positions. Scattered here and there were about a dozen people - more were probably hidden about the rooftop. They must of been through a tough few days as they came across as dazed if not shocked to the point of being completely dysfunctional.

  After lifting his bike up the stairs to the roof, Dave then parked his bike to the side of the exit that he had just come out of. Dave took off his backpack and placed it next to his bike. Dave had stretch to enjoy his combined weight being back to normal.

  Nearby there was a young woman wrapt in some filthy blankets. Her hair was a mess and her skin was filthy. How had she reached this state in only a few days? Dave knelt down in order to get his head near the same height as the woman's.

  "Hi, I'm Dave."

  The woman just stared blankly at Dave.

  "Are you okay?" asked Dave.

  Again the woman didn't respond to Dave. Giving up, Dave stood and walked further along the roof of the shopping mall. Other people stared at Dave as if he was some sort of freak. What must they have gone through to get to this sort of state so quickly? Dave asked himself. Dave walked towards a small group of dirty looking people. Had they been living outdoors the entire time? But Dave dismissed this line of thinking, as it wasn't like he had made any special efforts to keep himself clean.

  "Hi. I'm Dave. I'm looking for your boss."

  Most of the people in the small group just stared back at Dave and said nothing. A lone, little girl pointed to one side.

  Dave looked directly at the little girl. "Thank you."

  The little girl looked confused and smiled.

  Dave walked in the direction that the little girl had pointed. There appeared to be the top of an elevator shaft against which someone had hung a tarpaulin. Under the tarpaulin was a messy collection of blankets. As Dave approached, a young man approached Dave quickly from the side. Dave tried to orientate himself and noted that it was from the direction that Dave had talked to Eric.

  "Hold up," said the young man.

  "Are you Sid?" guessed Dave.

  "Ah. Yeah." said Sid looking uncomfortable.

  "I'm Dave," said Dave as he held out his hand towards Sid.

  Sid blinked before reaching out and shaking Dave's hand.

  "I'm not a threat," said Dave. "I'm just passing by. All I want are some fresh clothes from downstairs."

  "I'll be deciding if you're a threat," said a voice awkwardly from beneath the tarpaulin.

  Dave looked towards this new voice. Another young man, probably only slightly older than Sid, crawled out from beneath the tarpaulin before standing up. Dave noticed that there was a woman still under the tarpaulin - she stayed wrapped in a blanket and looked to be sleeping. At first Dave thought that this might hint at some sort of relationship between the two, on a second look Dave noticed that the woman appeared really ill. Dave was prepared to change his opinion of any man that showed this sort of compassion.

  "Okay. Well, I'm Dave," said Dave holding out his hand.

  The young man stared at Dave's hand.

  "There's nothing wrong," said Dave. "I'm not carrying the plague."

  The young man looked out in the direction of the highway and looked nervous. Maybe making a reference to disease wasn't a good idea.

  The young man finally shrugged and reached out to Dave's hand and shook it. "I'm Justin."

  "I gather you are running this place?" ask Dave.

  "Yep," said Justin with a fragile pride that confused Dave.

  "This is a bit of a challenging time," said Dave testing Justin. "It's important that people step up and do their bit."

  "I guess so," said Justin in a disinteresting manner.

  Dave had a low opinion of this group. Maybe he was the one who was mistaken. Maybe he had some wacky idea of people working busily together to overcome any disasters that come their way. This plain apathy was a little unsettling to Dave. It seemed that this group had accepted Justin as their leader but there was more here that Dave couldn't parse.

  "I don't want to get in your way," said Dave. "I've been wearing the same clothes for days now. I wouldn't mind something clean. I'll grab a few things from downstairs and be on my way."

  "Where are you going?" asked Sid.

  "The city is hell. Especially at night. There was once a lot of people in the city, now there's a lot of dead walking the street."

  Although Dave had the term 'walkers', he knew that it was his own term and that no one else would really know it. Still, what other term could he use to describe what he had seen. For now Dave would stick to using 'others' or maybe even the 'dead'. Until some communications network was build up again, trying to push terminology might not go anywhere.

  "We don't get many of those things roaming around here," said Sid. "Especially not during the day."

  "That's what I noticed," said Dave. "Which is why I'm travelling during the day."

  "So where are you going?" repeated Justin.

  "I don't have a goal," said Dave "but I want to keep going west. The fewer people around, the happier I'll be. The city must have crowds of hundreds if not thousands of the dead. If I get somewhere rural I might only end up seeing individual dead. I've not yet had to fight one of those dead but if I do get into trouble then I'd prefer to be facing just one instead of hundreds."

  "That sounds a bit vague," said Justin. "You don't have a particular place that you trying to get to?"

  "When all this happened I spent most of the first day trying to get out of the central area of the city. I did find a running TV at one point. There was a news show on, but they didn't really know what was going on either. They just sounded lost and gave out no useful emergency advice. I was hoping that the News would report on an evacuation point. Then the power went out completely and I've not been able to turn on a TV since."

  "We've not had any luck trying to find out some news either," suggested Sid.

  Dave was starting to noticed a tonal difference. Sid was a bit rough but it seemed like it was because he didn't know what was going on. Justin on the other hand seemed really vague and confused.

  "So yeah," continued Dave. "I just guessing that there might be an evacuation zone to the west. It just seems the safest place."

  "You're not working with much there," said Sid. "You seem to be basing your actions on a lot of guesswork."

  "That's true," said Dave. "But one has to start with something. If I waited until I knew everything I'd be still back in the middle of the city."

  "I don't know," said Justin expressing a lack of commitment.

  Dave suspected that Justin was worried that Dave's arrival would cause a change to the hierarchy that Just
in was somewhat at the top of. Dave was a little less impressed with this apathetic group of people - it wasn't something that he would enjoy taking over, so Justin had no reason to fear Dave's arrival.

  "I don't intend to stay long," said Dave. "I'll grab some clean clothes and be on my way. If I do find a place where people have evacuated to then I'll tell them about you all so you can be rescued."

  "So you'll tell others about us," said Justin sharply.

  Sid looked back and forth between Dave and Justin. "Being rescued is a good thing, right?"

  "That's if this guy isn't a spy," said Justin.

  "That isn't an accusation that I can deny," said Dave. "Almost anything I say will be taken as evidence against me."

  Justin didn't say anything and Sid just looked confused.

  "So how about this?" suggested Dave. "How about I stay here for a few days? I help out and work on building up some trust. I'm in no hurry and I'm rather tired so having a few days rest would help."

  "We don't have many supplies," countered Justin.

  "You people have chosen a great place. It's right on top of a shopping mall. There's lots of supplies just below us. I can help gather them up."

  Justin squinted at Dave. His distrust plainly evident.

  "These are difficult times," sighed Dave. "A certain amount of caution is important, but passing into the realm of rampant paranoia will only be harmful. Give me a few days and we'll see what your opinion is then."

  Justin frowned. "Okay. Let's see how useful you can be."

  "Good," said Dave. "What do you guys want done?"

  * * *

  Dave stood in front of the huge supermarket that took up a large portion of the bottom floor of the shopping complex. The mission that he had been given was to get some supplies. Dave hadn't noticed much of anything that could be called food up on the shopping complex's roof so it seemed like a fair enough request.

  In front of the supermarket was a long line of shopping trollies of which Dave grabbed one. He pushed the trolly into the supermarket and looked about. He had been told that this was where the people upstairs got their supplies but Dave didn't see any real signs of looting. There were some areas on the shelves that weren't fully stacked, but that could have been from just ordinary store usage.