Josh then turned towards the electronics store and drove part way onto the field next to it. There was a grinding sound and Dave could see the bus backing up towards the van that Josh had parked earlier. Dave thought that maybe he should be helping out by doing some sort of signalling, but there was little point if Dave didn't know what Josh was trying to do. And so Dave watched Josh drive the bus back and forth until there was a sudden silence as the bus engine stopped.
The bus was backed up against the van that was near the butchers. The bus stretched across the road and extended past the front of the electronics store. Dave walked up and was impressed by how tightly the bus had been parked. Oddly Dave could hear Josh walking on the other side of the bus towards the van. So Dave walked over the van. He heard one van door open and then the other.
"It's not a great gate but if we build up some ramps in front of these van doors we could probably still get a trolly with a load through here. A bit awkward but I think it will be doable."
Dave nodded. "That's genius. I would never have thought of something this simple."
Josh closed the far door of the van, got out, and closed the remaining door. "And it's easy to close up."
"I like it. This is a lot better than I imagined."
"We make a good team."
"That sounds really corny but I've got to agree with it."
"I think most of what we've done here will be good enough to hold off some evil minded visitors, but there's still the gap between the back of the supermarket and the house next to it. I reckon that the gap there is big enough for someone to walk through. We're going to probably have to put a temporary fence there. Just have to find some planks and nails."
Dave turned and looked to the arts and crafts store. "Do you think that they'd have something?"
"Maybe they have something to make frames for the canvas panels. That could be all that we need. At least for something that's temporary. It's worth checking out."
* * *
Dave and Josh walked out of the arts and craft store. They had made a surprisingly good haul. Some decent planks. Tools like a box-cutter, a saw and a hammer. Some small bags of nails and even some ropes. Nothing that would make a great defence but enough to be a useful, temporary block.
"Let's go and fill in the gap behind the supermarket," said Josh.
"Shouldn't we just block it with a van?" asked Dave.
"That might be a good idea. I want to have a look first. My worry is that if we do park a van over the gap that it might be used to climb up onto the roof."
Dave looked at the SUVs that he had parked earlier. The only way to approach them from the outside was on the far side. That is the gaps were blocked by the tallest parts of the SUV. But if you were to approach the SUV from this side you could easily enough climb onto the bonnet and then have even less trouble stepping over the windscreen to get onto the SUV's roof. Dave was surprised to notice that the geometry of the vehicle that you used had an influence on the effectiveness of the defence.
"And I completely forgot about the glass windows that are on that side of the supermarket."
"I guess we'll have to board off the windows on that side. It's not great but it should only be temporary anyway. I've gotten to like the idea of using big heavy vehicles as walls. I can't see them being easily broken through."
"We'll probably have to block off the street going west as well."
"We should probably block them all off. Just to get a series of defensive lines."
"Before our plans get too complex, let's just have a look. Maybe we can come up with a simpler solution."
Dave and Josh walked past the doors to the supermarket and placed their recent findings on the ground. Josh grabbed onto the side of the bus and clambered up. Dave took a moment to assess that Josh was easily fitter then himself - a fault that Dave would have to improve. Working for long time in an office had made Dave a bit on the weaker side - physically and mentally.
"Fuck," hissed Josh.
Dave almost said something before he noticed Josh was signalling for quiet. Josh crouched down.
"We got company," whispered Josh.
"How many?" whispered Dave.
"I only see the one."
"A walker?"
"Yep. He doesn't seem to have noticed me."
Dave looked thoughtful. "Make sure he's alone."
Josh hissed a profanity to himself. Still, Josh slowly raised himself part way up and looked down at the visitor. Josh then looked away and looked down the various different road directions. Josh then disappeared from Dave's sight. Dave assumed that Josh had climbed down from the wall and was climbing the other walls to inspect the roads in their respective directions.
Dave looked down at the pile of items that they had gotten form the arts and crafts store just before. He picked up the box-cutter and put it into one of his pockets and picked up a few of the coils of rope. The ropes didn't fit into his pockets but Dave could hang them well enough off his pant's belt for them to stay in place while he climbed the bus in front of him.
On top of the bus, Dave crouched and looked west. He couldn't see the walker that Josh had mentioned. Maybe the walker had been further up the street and was now too close to the defensive wall to be seen. Dave could see Josh on top of the other defensive walls where Josh was having a good look around.
Dave quietly walked to the edge of the bus and carefully lowered himself down. He walked to the western
