Dave left Josh and walked to the northern edge of the supermarket roof. He leaned onto the half-height wall. Dave was somewhat surprised by what he saw. When they had tied Charlie up during the day he had a classic walker appearance: grey skin with palm sized yellow patches. Right now Dave could see that the yellow patches were in the process of fading and would soon disappear.
Dave looked to the horizon where the sun was mostly below the horizon. There was really only one conclusion: the walkers and dashers were the same. They just changed appearance and speed depending on the time. Did that mean that the day form of walkers was somehow weaker than the night form? Is that why they hid during the day because the day form was weaker? And what was this weakness? Was it something that they could exploit?
Josh joined Dave and looked down at Charlie. "Is it me or is his skin rash fading?"
"Skin rash?" said Dave startled.
"What else could it be?"
"I never thought of it as a disease. I had just thought there were two groups. One for the night and one for the day. I didn't even think that they might be the same, so I'm actually having to adjust my classification a bit."
"To be honest I didn't know that it was a disease either. It's just what leapt into my head."
"Well, keep saying anything that leaps into your head. Even if it sounds crazy. These are crazy times and any idea that describes it will also be crazy while at the same time oddly useful."
"Don't the night versions also get faster and stronger?"
Dave frowned. "Are you worried about the ropes breaking?"
"Of course. But those were some tough ropes. If they break then I have no idea what would be a workable way to restrain these guys."
"Charlie looks like he's going to teach us a lot."
Dave pointed to Charlie who was starting up at them. "He also seems a lot more alert as well. Look at that stare."
"We better move away. I don't like the idea of testing out if the ropes holding him will break or not."
"Dinner should be ready soon. Or at least it won't be in the same realm as disgusting as cold soup."
Together they walked over to the barbecue and tapped at the soup cans. They were warm but not hot.
"Not ideal," said Josh.
"We should just eat them anyway, it's going to be night soon."
Dave picked up a spoon from the foldable table and picked up the nearest soup can. He then walked over to the foldable chair where he had been reading earlier and sat down. Josh repeated Dave's actions in his own way.
"Once we finish eating this," said Josh, "the billy should be boiled. I've got it over the hottest part for now."
Dave nodded and focused on eating. Josh looked momentarily at Dave and ate at his own soup in silence. Josh didn't want to disturb Dave if Dave was thinking out some issue. Josh was okay with waiting. As they finished their soup they got up and placed the empty cans and dirty spoons on the foldable table, leaving them to be cleaned up tomorrow.
"The sun is going down fast," said Josh using a stick to lift the billy to a cooler part of the hotplate.
Dave picked up some tough looking camping mugs. "We should probably have stopped reading and made dinner sooner. That way we could clean up better."
"A tea and then bed doesn't sound bad though," said Josh flipping up the billy handle which he grabbed.
"Don't you have to swing that around your head to make the tea leaves settle?"
Josh lifted the lid off the billy. "Tea bags."
Dave held up the two mugs while Josh poured the tea into them. With both mugs filled, Josh put the billy back on the hotplate and vaguely placed the lid back on it. Josh took a mug of tea from Dave and together they walked back to their chairs. They looked up as the stars started appearing in the night sky.
"Should we talk?" whispered Josh worried about Charlie eavesdropping.
"We really expanded our walls today so I doubt that anything will get close enough to hear us," said Dave in a hushed voice.
"So why are you whispering?" asked Josh.
"It doesn't hurt to be overly cautious," whispered Dave while grinning.
A silence came over the pair as they sat back and stared up the sky as the night fully took over. Seeing stars in a crystal clear night sky was an unusual sight to a pair of men who had always lived in the city. Periodically a faint sip could be heard until all of their tea was gone. Maybe a hour had passed when there was a loud crunching noise.
Josh made to stand up, but he was held back by Dave who had a finger over his mouth in the hope of hushing Josh. Josh stared at Dave for a moment and jerked his head in the direction where Charlie was tied up. Dave strained his ears. It sounded like someone was walking on the bonnet of the SUV that he had parked near the cafe.
This meant that their new walls weren't as effective at defence as they had thought. What's worse was knowing that there was something that could climb onto the bonnet of a SUV. This was what caused Dave to not go and take a look. If what was down there spotted him and that thing could climb then that was not something that they would want to deal with.
For a moment Dave panicked and couldn't think what to do. Then he quietly stood up, put his empty mug on the chair and slowly snuck into the hut. He wanted to make as little noise as possible and hoped that Josh would copy him without needing whispered instructions. Dave had got into the hut and was slowly lowering himself
