Useless Bastard

by Hooke, A. J. A.

  But the purpose was strong enough to override his desire to head south. And to satisfy his growing purpose Dave needed to secure for himself a base where he could safely stay the night. There were a number of shops in this area so he had some decent supplies available. What he still lacked was a secure place to sleep at night.

  Dave looked to the roof of the supermarket. Living on rooftops was getting old, but so far it hadn't failed him yet. Dave needed to look for a way up onto the roof.

  The effect of the blow to his motivation on finding no weapons had gone. With clarity came a calm confidence. Nodding to himself Dave set about to make his plan a reality.

  * * *

  The supermarket was the building that took up the most area when compared to the other stores near the intersection, and appeared to have a mostly flat roof though it was hard to tell when looking at it from the ground. In order to climb onto the roof Dave had walked about the building to search for some sort of external means of access. He didn't find any obvious way up onto the roof like the previous place he had stayed.

  The supermarket was a very open store with the side facing the westward road being floor to ceiling glass windows, and the walls facing the road that went south containing several large doors. Thanks to this visibility Dave was able to build up some confidence that the supermarket was clear of dangers.

  Dave went to the side with the supermarket doors, stepped through and into the store. Then he began to close and lock all the doors leading into the store. It was bit of a risk. If there was something in the supermarket with him then he had little chance of a quick escape, but if something were to turn up from outside then the solid looking front doors would provide a decent means of preventing anything following Dave into the supermarket.

  Dave walked around the supermarket. He was surprised to see that the fresh food section was completely clear. Someone, maybe trying to prevent the stench of rotting food, or maybe they wanted the food to feed a large community, had completely cleared the supermarket of fruits and vegetables.

  There was a closed twin-door to a staff area at the back of the supermarket. Dave listened at the door for a moment before slowly opening one of the doors. Dave stood at the doorway scanning the area beyond. It was a storage area, a bit like a warehouse, with palettes of goods scattered here and there amongst aisles of shelves stacked in goods.

  As long as Dave wasn't too picky about what he ate then there was more than enough to eat for a long time.

  Dave walked into the storage area and spotted a ladder leading up. He climbed the ladder and unlocked a hatch at the top. He swung the hatch open and looked out over the roof top. It was completely empty. Unlike the other rooftop that he had recently stayed on, this rooftop had no hint of ever been used by someone else.

  The hatchway was a bit tight and Dave realised that he wouldn't get through while wearing his backpack. He undid the front clips and took the strap off his right shoulder. Locking his right arm on the ladder, Dave fiddled with getting the backpack off his left shoulder and up and through the roof top. It took a lot of shoving and profanity but Dave eventually got the backpack up through the hatchway and onto the roof. It wasn't that the hatchway was so small, but that Dave's backpack was so oversized and bulky.

  Dave climbed up onto the roof and looked back the way he had come. He then looked at his backpack next to the hatch and let out a mild "Fuck!" to express his annoyance. If he was going to be living up here for a while then he'll need to find a better way of getting oversized items onto the roof.

  He left the hatch open and began walking around the rooftop. The roof was flat with a hip high wall built right around the edge. Dave looked about from the roof's edge and saw nothing moving. It was incredible to think that only the day before this intersection had been the sign of a massive battle.

  To the rear of the supermarket roof and away from the intersection, there was a small hut-like building. Near the door was a dusty window. Dave approached and looked through the window trying to see through the gloom within. The hut was empty and Dave couldn't figure out what it was used for. He had thought that it would have been a tool shed but it was completely empty - also it must have been awkward coming up to the roof to get tools when keeping them in the storage area would have just been more convenient.

  Dave opened the door and looked in. There was a stale, dusty smell which implied that the hut hadn't been used in a long time. Dave left the door open and walked around inside for a bit. He looked up at the roof of the hut and saw a simple tin roof - it wasn't great but it would provide shelter from the rain.

  Dave looked back at the doorway and noticed that it had a few centimetre high lip extending all the way along the bottom. He looked back out on the roof and noticed little drain-ways that lead off the roof. Dave nodded to himself, that implied that this little hut would be reasonable dry even during heavy rainfall.

  One thing that was obvious was that the hut needed some serious cleaning. He hadn't noticed signs of insects like spiderwebs, but something had to be done about the dust and griminess.

  Dave left the hut, leaving its door open, and returned to the hatch. He climbed down the ladder and looked about the storage room. There was a closed roller-door towards the back and near that were some large metal cupboards. Dave walked over and opened up the cupboards. Inside were all manner of tools and most importantly there was some cleaning equipment.

  Leaving a mop and bucket, Dave instead picked up a broom, a brush and a dust-scoop. He closed the tool cupboard and walked back to the ladder. It was a little awkward, but he climbed up and down with one item at a time until he had placed all the cleaning equipment onto the roof. He then climbed out onto the roof as well.

  He picked up the broom and walked into the hut. Starting at the top, he began scrubbing dirt off the roof, then the walls and finally the floor. Every now and then he'd stop and step out of the hut to wait for the dust to settle before recommencing the cleanup. Eventually he had pushed all the dust into a decent pile. He then leaned the broom against the hut's wall and retrieved the brush and dust-pan. Using these he scooped up the pile of dust and carried it to the edge of the roof where he carefully dropped it down to the ground below.

  Dave returned to the hut and left the brush and dust-pan near the hut's door. He walked into the hut and rubbed a finger on the hut wall. Even after using a broom, the wall still had an oily feel to it. To make the hut habitable he would have to wash the walls.

  This made Dave thoughtful. Water, especially drinkable water, was probably a rare commodity. Using some bottled water from the supermarket might be convenient, but it would only bring the time where he ran out of water to a sooner timeframe. He'd have to find a source of water that wasn't drinkable but still clean enough for washing.

  Not having any immediate ideas, Dave began walking around the rooftop and looking about randomly for something that looked like water. At the rear of the supermarket Dave looked off the south, down the road that he guessed had been used as a retreat path the day before by those who were shooting their firearms.

  He then straightened up when he saw a bridge about a two hundred metres away. He looked either side of the bridge and noticed a meandering line of trees leading away from the bridge. If it was a rail-line then they wouldn't have had the trees so close to the rails. Dave couldn't see water, but he felt that it would be worthwhile grabbing something that could store water and go exploring to the south.

  * * *

  Dave stood on a bridge and looked over the side-railing at the river below him. With its brownish tint it wasn't water that he'd want to drink right away, but it was slow moving enough that most solids would settle from it. The water would only require a bit of boiling to make it drinkable. As a medium for cleaning the insides of a dusty hut it was more than clean enough as it was.

  Near Dave was a tilt-trolley and two twenty-litre, plastic jerry cans that were used for storing water. The jerry cans had been taken off the trolley, and tossed carelessly
to one side. Some hooked stretch cables remained draped from the trolley. Dave was carrying a plastic bucket that had a small pouring indent on its edge. The objective was to use the bucket to fill the jerry cans with water.

  Dave spent a minute looking about. The area about the river was mostly grass fields with trees scattered along the waters' edge. He had a decently good view in several directions and could tell that he was completely alone. Reassured, he picked up an empty jerry can and walked down to the edge of the river.

  The side of the river was rocky which meant that Dave didn't have to contend with getting stuck in mud. Dave placed the jerry can down on a flat patch of pebbles and unscrewed the jerry can's lid. He placed the lid next to the jerry can. The jerry can was only a few steps away from the river, which would reduce the effort of carrying water as much as possible.

  Dave had thought about just dipping the jerry can into the river. But he was worried that the jerry can would fill too quickly, become too heavy and that he'd lose his grip on the jerry can. His current approach might be a bit fiddly, but it was the approach that Dave felt that he was less likely to completely make a mess of.

  Taking the empty bucket Dave dipped it into the river. He only got the bucket about half filled but that was enough. Too full and it might have been exhausting lugging it back and forth. Half filled was less of a strain and he could better control how he poured the water into the jerry can. It took a number of trips back and forth but soon he had the first jerry can filled with water.

  He put the bucket down and picked up the jerry can's lid, which he screwed back onto the jerry can. Dave then discovered that twenty litres of water was heavy as balls and it was with a bit of a struggle that he half carried, half dragged the jerry can up to the trolley that he had left of the bridge.

  Dave put the filled jerry can onto the trolly and used a hooked stretch cable to secure the jerry can to the trolley. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Dave had a look around to assure himself that there was nothing to be concerned about. After his short rest, Dave grabbed the second, empty jerry can and walked back down to the river's edge.

  He repeated the process of using the bucket to fill the second jerry can. It was then the same exhausting process of mostly dragging the filled jerry can up to where he had left his trolley, placing the second jerry can above the first one and securing it in place. Dave hung the empty bucket over one of the handles of the trolley.

  Another look around and Dave grabbed the handles of the trolley and started pushing. Thankfully the road surface was reasonable smooth so pushing the trolley wasn't that hard, although it did require some careful balancing in order to move with as little strain as possible. That still didn't prevent Dave feeling wrecked by the time he got back to the supermarket where his current camp site was located.

  Dave stopped pushing the trolley and rested his aching muscles. Even with the help of a trolley it had still required a lot of muscle power to move all forty litres that he had collected. One thing Dave knew was that he was not going to carry one of these jerry cans up to the roof. He knew that even if he had the help of a rope that it would be too much.

  Dave walked over to one of the supermarket doors and opened one of them. He returned to the trolley and instead of pushing, pulled the trolley towards the open door. In front of the door was a small set of steps that would have been impossible to push a trolley up. Even with the soft wheels on the trolley, Dave found pulling the trolley up the stairs to be a huge strain.

  He got the trolley up the stairs and into the supermarket. He parked the trolley to one side and closed the supermarket door. He got behind the trolley and began pushing it to the back of the supermarket and into the storage area at the back. Dave left the trolley near the ladder that led up to the roof.

  Dave went to the tool cupboard and dug around for a coil of rope, some floor cleaner and a mop. He closed the tool cupboard and returned to the ladder. He left the rope hanging on his trolley and climbed up to the roof with the floor cleaner and mop, which he pushed through the hatch and onto the roof.

  He returned to the floor of the storage room and placed the bucket on the floor. He untied one of the jerry cans filled with water, and lowered it from the trolley. He unscrewed the lid off the jerry can and placed the lid to one side. Huffing and puffing with strain, Dave poured water from the jerry can into the bucket until the bucket was half filled. He closed the jerry can by screwing the lid back on.

  Dave uncoiled the rope and tied one end to the bucket handle. He took the other end of the rope and while holding it one hand climbed up the ladder and onto the roof. Standing above the hatch way, Dave began pulling on the rope until it went taut. Then at a slower and more cautious rate, Dave used the rope to lift the bucket and water up through the hatch.

  Once Dave was able to secure the bucket by holding the handle, he carried the bucket over to the hut and placed it inside. Dave returned to the hatch to pick up the bottle of floor cleaner and the broom. He went back to the bucket and poured a glob of floor cleaner into the bucket. Putting the bottle of floor cleaner near the door way, Dave then used the mop to stir the bucket contents.

  Dave then using the solution in the bucket and the mop to clean the hut's insides from the roof down. He wasn't looking for hospital levels of sterile but he still wanted a level of cleanliness that he wouldn't feel too uncomfortable sleeping in. After squeezing out the mop into the bucket for the tenth time, Dave could see that the bucket contents was dark with muck.

  Dave leaned the mop against the inside of the hut wall and carried the bucket over to the roof's edge. He then poured the bucket contents out over the edge to splash down on the ground below. Since the water was really murky, it was a sign that he still needed to do more to clean the hut. So he repeated the process.

  The rope was still attached to the bucket handle so he lowered it through the hatch to the floor of the storage room. He climbed down and half filled the bucket with water from a jerry can. He returned to the rooftop and pulled the bucket of water up. He added floor cleaner to the bucket's contents and gave the inside of the hut another mopping.

  This time, when Dave dumped the bucket's contents over the edge of the roof, the water was in better condition but still murky. So he repeated the process of cleaning the hut's insides again. This time the hut wasn't so dirty which meant that the bucket's contents weren't too bad. However Dave wanted to really make the hut liveable so he repeated the cleaning process yet again. It was possibly overkill, but Dave intended to be here for a while so he might as well get the place as good as possible while he was in the groove of cleaning it.

  When Dave dumped this last bucket over the edge of the roof the water was basically clear. Any further efforts of cleaning out the hut would not get the place any cleaner. Dave put the bucket down near the entrance to the hut and looked in through the hut door at the hut's interior. The insides were throughly soaked and Dave estimated that it might take a full day to dry out.

  Dave stepped back from the hut door and had a big stretch. He had really worked his muscles today. He looked up at the sky. Most of the day had gone. There was still some time in the day so Dave thought that it would be best not to waste what was left. Dave walked to the roof's edge and looked about the streets.

  While the streets were still empty, Dave thought that this would be the best time to do some exploring. The place wasn't as big as the shopping centre that he had come from, but there were still a number of buildings about that might contain interesting resources if explored a little bit.

  Dave walked over to the side of the roof that was above the doors of the supermarket. To Dave's left there was one wall of the improvised defensive position built in the intersection of the road. To Dave's right was the open road that led south and to the bridge where he had been earlier to get water. Dave didn't like how the road south was open. It meant that the glass doors leading into the supermarket were his only real defensive barrier to his new home.

  Coming up with
a way of blocking off the street in front of the supermarket could come latter. While there was still time in the day, Dave wanted to do some quick scouting.

  * * *

  Dave stood on the road intersection defensive wall that was on the east side and looked down at the bike he had left there.

  "Bugger," he said to no one in particular.

  Dave hopped down from the wall and went to the bike. He then moved the bike from where he had left it to the defensive wall. He lifted the bike above his shoulders and pushed the bike up on top of one of the buses that made up the defence at this point. Dave then clambered up the front of the bus and retrieved the bike.

  He lowered the bike into the inside of the defensive position, and clambered down after it. He then moved the bike over the to southern wall and repeated the process of lifting the bike over the wall. Dave opened a door to the supermarket and pushed the bike inside. Then he walked out and closed the door behind him.

  Back to exploring.

  Dave was curious about the clothing store as he was certain that he also saw what looked like camping goods as a part of the store's stock. Dave climbed up and over the two defensive walls that were between him and the clothing store. He would need to improve the process of getting around the defensive walls. Stairs? or maybe ladders? It had to be simple for him to use but remain an obstacle for the dead.

  Dave looked inside the clothing store. This store was a bit more gloomy and consequentially harder to see into. However Dave couldn't see anything to really worry him. The contents in the front of the store was exactly what you would think a clothing store would have. But, in an out of character fashion, there were sleeping bags, fishing rods and other small camping accessories hanging from the walls at the back of the store. Not what one would expect from a fashionable clothing store.

  Dave walked in and went to the back of the store where there really was a camping section. It wasn't a particularly large section but it seemed to cover more than the basics. Dave walked about doing a basic stock-take of the goods that were on display. There were tents, sleeping bags and other necessities. Whereas as fancy items like GPS systems were completely missing - not that Dave knew anything about such things. At least not yet.