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.
