Approaching the first door, Dave again opened the door slowly onto what was a bedroom. Seeing nothing, Dave opened the door further and stepped into the bedroom. Although there was a bed, there was no other furniture. There was no sign of anyone having slept in this room. There was a wardrobe built into a wall and Dave slid its door open. Emptiness. Dave closed the wardrobe, left the bedroom and closed the door to the room behind him. Now there was only one closed door to deal with. Dave looked the door that lead out onto the balcony as if to double check his escape route.
Slowly Dave opened the final door and peered into the shadowy room. Although he hadn't seen any shapes resembling a human, Dave was still cautious as he opened the door fully and looked around. This was a bedroom and it was clearly in use by a woman of youthful tastes. Dave walked to the wardrobe and opened it. Women's clothes hung from the hanger - smaller clothing items were neatly folded and placed on shelves. Feminine shoes could be seen at the bottom of the cupboard.
As Dave looked about the room, he assured himself that there were no threats here, and yet he felt a certain discomfort being in this room. This was obviously the room of a young woman and yet that young woman wasn't here. And after all that Dave had seen he had his doubts that the woman would ever return here. It was with a darkness of heart that Dave left the room and closed the door behind him.
Dave walked out onto the balcony and looked about. Feeling like he wouldn't get a better place than this, Dave climbed down the ladder, picked up his bags and climbed back up the ladder, He cast the bags onto the balcony before getting himself onto the balcony. Regathering his bags he took them indoors and plopped them onto the coffee table in front of the couch.
Dave felt a strange surge of relief and went back out onto the balcony. He started to stretch and froze. On the road, a few buildings down, were a few human shapes. Their clothes torn and yet free of any signs of blood. Their bodies were mostly a slate grey skin colour with odd, hand-sized yellow patches. How had Dave not noticed them before? His lack of awareness caused Dave to feel a chill to slither down his spine.
He stepped back and slowly closed the door to the balcony. Feeling exposed Dave pulled the curtains across the door and windows leading to the balcony. He slipped a finger between the curtains and made a little gap that he could look through. There were now more dead on the street. Had they become aware of Dave? They weren't looking his way and mostly just seemed to be standing still.
With the curtains pulled shut, the lounge room was dark. There was a little lamp on a small table next to the couch. Dave turned its meek light on and looked back at the curtains. He doubted that this weak light would be noticeable through the curtains.
Dave sat on the couch and sighed. What other reaction could one have after such a day.
Dissatisfied, Dave reached into the shopping bags and pulled out the notepads and pens. He opened one of the notepads and began to think. He drew a vertical line dividing the page in half. On one side he wrote "Threat" and on the other he wrote "Solution". Under "Threat" he wrote "shitters", "dead people" and "infected???". Under "Solution" he wrote "SURVIVE" and drew a thick box around the word.
He tapped his pen on the word "shitters". He hadn't known Josh for long but couldn't help but miss the guy. However Josh's term "shitters" was a bit harsh and Dave used his pen to cross out the word. Below he wrote "walkers". Dead people shouldn't walk, so the ability to stand up and walk was their most notable characteristic. It had the feel of being a good label.
Dave sat back in the couch and looked at what he had written. It didn't really add up to much. Dave had seen so much this day and yet couldn't figure anything out from it. Even writing "Threat" and "Solution" now felt like some sort of cruel joke. Dave had written a few words down but he was left with the belief that he had achieved nothing. Maybe there was a way of making sense of everything that he had seen, but Dave couldn't think of it.
But the "Solution" column bothered him the most. What did it mean to have a solution? If he couldn't understand the problem how could he come up with a solution? Dave felt himself frustrated by a lack of terminology. It was a lack that denied him the chance to even organise his thoughts.
Dave looked at his bags of supplies and remembered what a pain they had been to carry. He wrote down "back pack" in the "Solution" column and wrote above it "camping store". The first thing that he needed to do tomorrow was to look for a camping store where he could find a number of things that might help. Dave tapped his pen on the phrase "camping store" and realised that he wasn't likely to generate a list from the top of his head right at this moment. He was never one to go camping so his knowledge was woeful. He could only hope to go to a camping store and look about and hope that he would recognise what was useful and what wasn't. Dave was aware of a nagging frustration
