Eric looked about the roof uncomfortably.
"Which," said Dave, "is why it's so important that we lock down the lower parts of this shopping centre."
"Will that be really safe?"
"I'm not going to lie to you. I have no idea. I'm hoping that once the doors downstairs are shut that the doors would be strong enough to block anything that tries to get in. That's raises an issue. We'll have to think of some way of getting outside the shopping centre without using the doors."
"Why can't we use the doors?" asked Eric.
"If the doors are powered then we'll need power to raise and lower them. I'm hoping that there's a generator and that it will work long enough to seal this place up. But if there is a generator I have no idea how much fuel it has. At any rate the generator won't work forever. Once we close this place up then it stays closed."
"Maybe we could use a side door?"
"Good idea," said Dave looking at the sky. "It's still some time before it's dark. Let's go to the roof edge and have a little look around. Maybe we can come up with some ideas."
Eric grinned as they both stood up and walked towards the nearest roof edge. As they walked Dave noticed small groups of people that he hadn't been introduced to yet. All of them displayed a new lethargy that disturbed Dave - their energy from earlier had vanished. Somewhere in the back of Dave's mind was the irrational notion that somehow mankind could survive this latest crisis, but only if they were more energised than this.
"Hey Sid," called Eric to a man leaning up against the stomach-high wall that edged the roof.
Sid turned. "Oh, hi Eric. Dave. What's up?"
"Dave just wanted to have a recon," answered Eric.
Eric looked at Dave. "What are you expecting to see?"
"I don't expect to see anything," said Dave. "At least that's my hope."
Sid grunted.
"It's hard to plan," said Dave, "when you don't have an overview of the landscape."
"That sounds deep," said Sid.
"I'm just saying that I don't have a damn idea what to do, so I'm trying to get a better idea of the layout of this place. I've looked from the roadways but not from up here."
Sid chuckled as all three looked over the slight wall. Below was a scattered collection of roads and parking spots.
"Damn," said Dave. "They are already out."
"I've counted about ten so far. They've only just started to turn up here in the last half hour or so."
Dave looked confused. "How would they know to gather here? I can't see any beyond the outer fence line."
"Fucked if I know," said Sid without venom.
"I hope that they don't come into the shopping centre. It will make clearing it out a lot more dangerous."
Sid turned to Dave. "You're still going with this crazy plan of yours."
Dave stared at some of the abandoned trucks that were scattered about the parking spots. "We're not safe here."
"Don't say that too loud," whispered Sid. "Others might hear you."
"I get it. I've seen the people here. I don't want to add to their concerns."
"Sorry. They aren't bad people," said Sid looking back across the roof at little groups of people who were starting to gather on dirty piles of blankets. "They are just ... ."
"Broken," suggested Dave.
Sid sighed. "That's a shitty way to put it, but I'm not going to disagree. They went through hell. This place was crowded when it happened. There was probably at least a thousand people inside this place when it when to shit. What a fucking mess!"
"I'm not trying to blame anyone. It just that there's not a lot of people left alive. Everyone needs to work hard."
"Yeah. It's good to dream. But we have to work with what we got."
"Maybe if we work hard tomorrow and really lock this place down that we might see some spark of hope?"
Sid looked at Dave. "I bloody hope so. I'm just not expecting much."
"Still, can I count on you helping out?" asked Dave. "You don't seem thrilled by the plan, but I think that once we get the outer doors closed and sealed then you'll find that this place will be much safer."
Sid smiled. "Sure. Why the fuck not? I ain't going anywhere in a hurry."
"I'll help too," said Eric.
"Of course," said Dave happy to hear Eric's enthusiasm. "It's getting dark. Maybe we should be getting ready to sleep."
"Good idea. Those dopey buggers will be waking up soon."
Dave gave another look over the side of the roof. The number of staggering creatures had doubled as they had talked.
All three walked off to the places that they had for their respective sleeping places. As if having made up its mind after a long contemplation, the night swiftly approached.
As Dave settled onto his sleeping bag he noticed that Eric had stopped talking. That wasn't all. A chill came across Dave as he noticed that no one was talking, not even in hushed tones. Dave took off his boots and slid into his sleeping bag.
No body said good night. Fear had silenced everyone.
* * *
Dave woke early and got out of his sleeping bag. Eric had been laying awake on his own bedding, so that when Dave moved Eric also rose up from the blankets that he had been sleeping in.
The sun had yet to rise but there was still plenty of light in the early morning twilight.
With a silent agreement, Dave and Eric walked to the wall that made up the roof's edge, avoiding piles of blanket covered sleepers. Displaying a caution that was probably unneeded, the pair approached the edge of the roof and looked out into the car parks and roads beyond. Dave was impressed by how the mere coming of daylight was enough to empty the streets of the dead. But if the dead were not outside the shopping centre, then where were they during
