The outside was about a meter lower than the inside floor area. This was so that the trucks could back up into the docking area and the truck beds would have been at the same height as the dock floor. One could then put down some steel ramps and a fork-lift could easily drive onto the rear of the trucks to collect the pallets of goods.
"Hey look," said Sid pointing to a panel on the supports between the rear doors. "Another of those push buttons. This one also has no look on it."
"We're lucky with that," said Dave, "but unlucky with the trucks. It looks like three of the docks have trucks in them. We can't close the doors with the trucks there."
Sid grinned. "Then we move them."
Sid went to the cabin of the nearest truck and opened the door. He got in and gave a laugh. "The keys are still here."
Without hesitation, Sid turned the key and started the truck's engine. Smoke belched from the truck's exhausts. There were some loud grinding noises as Sid put the truck in gear. Then the truck lurched forward. There were some metal ramps resting on the rear of the truck which fell away with a loud noise. Sid didn't go too far and parked just far enough to clear the doorway. Sid turned the truck engine off.
"Shit," said Dave as he watched Sid drop out of the truck's cabin. "That was damn loud."
"If we do this quick then we should be okay," said Sid.
"I don't know what you're basing that on, but we don't have a choice."
Sid ran back into the docking area, but through a different dock. He climbed into the cabin of the next truck. "The keys are also here."
"We are too lucky," said Dave to no one. But Eric had heard Dave and gave Dave a nervous look.
Sid fired up the truck's engine and drove it fully out of the dock. He stopped the engine and got out. He ran to the final truck. Dave was positive that their luck had run out. Sid opened the truck cabin and got in. "Bingo! We have a set of keys."
Dave sighed with relief, as Sid started the third truck and drove it out of the dock. Another loud clang happened when a ramp fell off the back of the truck. Sid stopped the truck as it was moved enough and turned off the engine. This time Sid didn't get out of the truck.
"What's up?" muttered Dave.
"Look," whispered Eric pointing past the truck that Sid was in.
Dave nearly panicked when he saw the red-eyed shambling form. Much of its clothing had been ripped from its body and its skin was easy to see. It was the familiar grey skin with hand sized patches of yellow that looked squishy with pus. Dave was still unsure if the yellow skin patches was a sign of someone who was recently converted to the dead or if there was another cause at work.
The shambling form looked towards the docking area for a moment. No doubt it had heard the noise that Sid had made. But it seemed confused. After a few snorts and some rough turns of its head, it turned and walked away. Sid gently opened the door of the truck and slid out. Quietly, he came over to Dave and Eric, and climbed up onto the dock to join them.
"That made my balls pull up inside me," whispered Sid.
"How it didn't spot us is beyond me," whispered Dave.
"Yeah. We need to close these doors now."
Dave nodded. "Let's try and find the generator."
"No," said Sid gesturing at Dave and Eric. "You two go. I'll stay here."
"What?"
"We need these doors closed now. It will take a lot of time to get from the generator and back to here. Who knows what will come in while we're gone."
Dave patted Sid on the shoulder. "Be safe."
"That's the dream."
Dave turned to Eric. "Do you know where the generator is?"
"I think so."
"Let's make this happen. I'm getting really worried."
All three nodded. Sid moved so that was easier for him to see outside. Meanwhile Dave and Eric tried to leave as quietly as they could.
* * *
"It's just in here," said Eric - his words echoing in the tiny hallway.
"You think it's the generator?" asked Dave.
"I'm not sure. But it's the closest thing that I've seen that could be one."
"That's good enough for me."
Eric opened the door in front of them and together they walked into the room beyond. In the middle of the room was a large, metallic box. There was nothing about its boxy shape that marked it out as a generator, however it was clearly marked with lightening blots and text saying "high voltage". Around the room were numerous power lines and consoles with important looking switches.
Dave looked at the caravan sized box. "There's a chance that it could be power transformer, but I'd expect more coils of wire."
Eric walked around to the side of the box. "What about these?"
Dave looked a half dozen gas barrels and a hand pump. "Damn. This is a really manual setup. I'm guessing that they didn't expect to use this very much. The air in this room must be terrible."
"There are a lot of bars up there," said Eric pointing to the top of the wall. The entire top part of the wall was open to the outside. There were no windows, just some iron bars like you would see in a cliche prison. The metallic box itself had what appeared to be numerous vents connecting it and the wall outside. At least there was little chance of a dangerous build up of
