The Horror Squad 1.5

by Kris Weeks

  “Apparently Podunk towns do.” Nate laughed from the back. Throw me one of them.”

  Nate began to fill his sack with drinks and bags of chips. Willy took one and began to do the same. Alex took all of the cigarettes, cigars, lighters and anything from behind the counter he could reach without having to actually go behind it with the one Nate had just killed.

  Andrew, Willy, and Eric had gathered everything from the shelves that they could including medicines, batteries, diapers, and much more that would be useful.

  “Hey two gas cans!” Nate hollered. “How in the hell are we going to get the gas with the power gone?”

  “Ever heard of sucking.” Andrew stated.

  “Yep, but not gas.” Nate laughed. “No time to joke gentlemen.” Eric demanded quietness. A clatter sounded from the corner of the store and a woman walked out into the open from behind a shelf. A bone protruded from her leg area and half of the skin hung from her face. A high pitched growl echoed throughout the store and Willy ran to her. He slammed the hatchet that he had brought into the top of her skull and pulled it out as she dropped to the floor.

  “Anymore anywhere?” He

  questioned annoyed with the

  interruption.

  They went back to clearing the shelves and each of them held a large paper sack in one arm and a weapon in the other.

  “This is what we have come to, is having to make sure that we have a hand free to hang onto a weapon. This sucks.” Alex told everyone.

  They all stood by the door and watched for any of the undead that may have made it to the parking lot.

  “Looks all clear.” Andrew pushed the door open. They piled into the van quickly loading what they had into the back of it.

  “Get the hose from back there.” Eric requested.

  Willy pulled the green hose and handed it to Eric. “There is the ground well for the gas, someone has to syphon it out and put it in the cans. If we don’t have all three cans full by the time we start to head back, we will hit up the

  abandoned cars on the way back.” Eric explained.

  Andrew looked in the rear view mirror and watched them look at each other.

  “I’ll do it you damn wimps.” Andrew volunteered. “Wow, sissy boy is gonna get out and do this?” Alex laughed. “Just messing with you man. We will keep watch.”

  They all piled out again and stood in front of Andrew with weapons ready.

  Andrew filled one gas can and the other with a few drops. He made his way to the back of the van and popped open the two back doors.

  “Uhh…we need to go!” Willy stated with a bit too much calmness. The group turned to watch a horde fall over each other as they made their way towards them.

  “Go go go, hurry the hell up and get in!” Nate hollered. The van doors all closed

  simultaneously and the mass of them began to surround the van. They began to bang on the windows and the van started rocking back and forth with the weight of more zombies joining as they heard the commotion.

  “Andrew, start the van and begin to back up slowly. We may have to run over a few, but it is fine.” Eric told his driver.

  Andrew was not a wimp by any means, but this apocalypse had brought him to a whole other level of thought process. He had watched his family be eaten, he had hidden for days in a closet before finally coming out to a quietness and then attacked by a horde that he fought off with the only weapon he had, a letter opener, which worked wonders until it bent and broke in half.

  He had killed at least twenty of the dickheads before being able to make it outside his home and then another man showed up to help. They

  conquered the mass of them that Andrew had been fighting for hours. Eric had saved his life. He was trying to gain a perspective on the whole situation, of owing his life to Eric and that it wasn’t the flesh eating stupid asses faults that they were this way, as he had almost become one of them.

  “Thanks, I got it.” Andrew got a bit rude. Andrew backed up and then put the van in drive. He hit the gas hard still glaring at Eric and hit the first one he saw out of his peripherals, it rolled up onto the hood and hit the windshield and rolled on top of the roof and off of the back. The back seat crew followed the zombie from the hood to the back and watched it slam onto the asphalt.

  “OOOHHHH! Bet he feels that shit in the morning.” Nate laughed. Eric turned from Andrew’s stare and gave Nate a look of disgust. Andrew turned on the wipers and cleared a spot for him to see out of through the spatter of blood. Andrew swerved to hit the ones that were in the road intentionally. He had taken out seven more.

  “You have made your point

  Andrew.” Eric advised him. Andrew smiled and slowed the van and drove normal. Eric rolled his eyes and shook his head as the back of the van filled with singing of ‘ninety nine zombies on the road’.

  ***

  Meanwhile, back at camp, the women were left to protect their land and continue cleaning up and fixing up what they could with what they had.

  Atora had placed the steel pipes back up against the gate as the men had pulled out. Rue continued taking care of the children that had survived and Atora and Ashley had taken some time to clean up the house and had removed all of the debris from the inside and taken it out. They piled it into a barrel they had found and burned it to rid the land of the mess. They boarded up windows and fixed floors. They started making each room livable one by one until the house was in a condition to be able to move the kids in and have them safe and had it all completed by that afternoon.

  Ashley went to gather everyone. “The house is ready, let’s move out of this old barn and into the house.”

  “I really think we need to wait for Eric to get back before we move.” Rue advised.

  “It is going to be so much better inside the house for us and them.” Ashley stated. “Let’s start moving the stuff. The kitchen is bigger, we have made a fire pit outside and there is a spring at the back of the land for water, we can give the kids an actual bath.”

  “I am going to wait for Eric to get back before taking everything over there.” Rue expressed.

  “I am taking Karlin and Tyler now and we are taking some food and we are sleeping in the house tonight. It will be warmer and safer than here. You are more than welcome to come with us.” Ashley began to gather things.

  Ashley hollered for Karlin and Tyler to come on. “What is the deal with this Eric guy, it isn’t like he is God.”

  “I’ve noticed Eric is very protective over the instruction he gives and does not want it disobeyed. I am telling you to wait; he is not one to screw with. He will not make threats, he makes promises and will follow through with them. Please Ashley. Stay until they return.” Rue begged.

  Ashley smiled at Rue and took the children, food and bedding and headed out of the cold barn.

  Rue turned to see her three children standing waiting for her to do the same.

  “Why can’t we go to the house mom?” Linda asked.

  “It isn’t safe yet honey.” Rue told her children.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “THAT IS convenient, a

  hardware store. Look at that stack of boards.” Andrew slowed the van to a crawl and pulled in.

  The sun was beginning to go down as they had pulled into the parking lot of the store in the next town over. He backed the van up to the fenced in area that was about five feet from the front door. The five scanned the area and it was completely free of any of the dead.

  “Hell, let’s get this shit loaded.” Alex jumped out. Everyone became wildly excited at their finds. “I bet there are dead inside,” Eric calmly stated before exiting.

  The others stopped and processed that information and walked into the door to find materials to tie

  everything down with as well as anything else they could load up.

  “Alright guys, we are going to be some ninjas here.” Nate joked. “Willy and Alex go in first, make sure and scan it out before taking any further steps than just inside, Andrew
, stay back with me and we will bring up the rear. Everyone ready?” He

  questioned.

  “Who in the hell made you leader of this group?” Eric questioned before Nate could open the door.

  “Just trying to get in and out before we get a mass of the hungry mother fuckers over here like we did earlier.” Nate shot back and opened the door.

  Willy and Alex barreled inside with their weapons raised, Nate and Andrew slid in behind them. They all stood scanning the store. Nate was a bit taller than the rest and stood straight up to peer over the shelving that covered the floor.

  Willy pointed to the back of the store and turned to make sure the others were paying attention to him and followed the direction he was pointing. Eric had quietly slipped in the store not liking that the group was working together without his

  instruction.

  The four men tiptoed down the aisle in front of them to make their way to the dead man making his way to them. The man was fast, he had already made his way around the one aisle Willy had pointed to and now stood behind them. Nate turned just as he lunged and fell on top of him. Mouth open, ready to bite. Nate’s arm came up landing against the man’s chest. He held him there for a moment when a machete rammed through the zombie’s head that chomped his teeth at Nate’s face. The head of the man rolled to the side and the body fell dead weight on top of Nate. Andrew kicked the body off of Nate.

  “Well, alright then. Thanks bro.” Nate stuck his hand out to grab

  Andrew’s offered hand to help him up.

  The two stood and made their way to the ruckus at the other side of the store. Willy and Alex were taking on four more of them. Andrew handed Nate one of the machetes with the tag still attached to the handle and sliced his into the top of the head of the one that had taken notice of them. Nate turned headed for one that was

  moving to the back of Alex and swung his machete into its neck and watched his head roll down an aisle and get stuck under a shelf. By that time, Alex and Willy had taken out the other two and all four stood bent kneed and ready to take on more. They all looked in different directions and then back at each other.

  “I think we are good!” Alex stood up straight. Eric walked down the aisle and kicked the head of the man that Nate had cut off that was stuck under the shelf.

  “Good job guys.” He stated. “Where the hell were you?” Willy asked. “I was searching the rest of the store to make sure there weren’t any more here.” He explained.

  All of the guys looked at each other and rolled their eyes turning to begin their search for needed materials. They all set out different things that could be used back at camp into the middle of the aisles and moved their party out to the fenced off area of larger items.

  “It is getting too dark to be out he re in the open like this. We are going to get back in the store and get a little sleep. We will take all of this on in the morning.” Eric demanded.

  All of them laid out sleeping bags to lie on, small bits of conversations were had but eventually died off as they all fell asleep.

  The sun began to shine through the window and Alex and Willy stretched and got up ready to load. The two made their way back out to the fenced off area.

  Willy pulled out a roll of eight foot chain link fencing while Alex pulled out the poles for the fencing as well as some corrugated sheet metal. Andrew made his way out, still rubbing his face to wake up and started grabbing stacked sheets of plywood and putting them out in the open to drag inside.

  “Good morning sunshine!” Alex joked. Nate waved and grabbed some two by fours and planks of birchwood that were in great supply.

  “We would be set if we had a way to haul everything home.” Nate stated. Willy pointed to a flatbed truck sitting in the back of the lot that belonged to the store.

  The group ran to the truck and pulled open the door. The keys were hanging from the ignition along with a man seat belted into the passenger seat.

  “Oh hell, really?” Nate belted out. “Easy fix, he’s trapped.” Willy crawled up into the truck and stabbed the man in the head with the new knife he had found inside through the open window.

  Blood splattered throughout the truck and all over Willy. He wiped his face to be able to see, he clicked the door open and unbuckled the seatbelt, he reached in and grabbed the man by the head of his hair and pulled him out to let him fall to the ground. He hit with a thud, Willy moved and Nate crawled up into the bloodied seat.

  “Let’s pull it up there and load up and get the hell out of here.” Nate told Willy.

  Willy turned the keys and stuck the gear shift into first. “I used to drive these big trucks. I delivered for Lowe’s.” Willy admitted.

  “Well, looks like you’re our guy to take this thing home.” Nate shouted over the rumbling engine.

  They jumped out of the truck once backed up to the covered area where they had pulled all of the material into the rows. Andrew and Alex, began stacking everything up onto the back of the truck.

  “We are gonna need some tie downs, straps or something.” Willy stated.

  “Already grabbed some.” Alex hollered and threw them to Willy. “I did quite a bit of construction back in the day, I know how this works.”

  “Well, aren’t y’all some useful guys.” Nate joked. “I was just a computer guy, kinda useless now huh?” He laughed.

  “What did you do Andrew? Willy asked as he puzzled wood together to make it fit.

  “I am a Veteran. I was in the military for a while, they sent me home a couple of months into

  deployment after getting hurt. I tried to go back, but they didn’t want me. I did some odd jobs here and there, but nothing in particular.” He explained.

  “I wonder what Eric did? Alex questioned the men.

  “He was just an asshole.” Nate said with a straight face. The men laughed as they all held a tie strap and began putting them together to be hooked to the sides of the truck.

  Everything strapped down to their new truck, they headed back into the store. Eric had gathered everything and already loading it into the back of the van.

  “Thanks for the help guy!” Alex stated with a laugh. “We found a bigger truck to load a lot of the wood on.”

  “Well good, now that we have another truck that leaves some room in the van. Let’s make another sweep of the store and see what we can find.” Eric directed.

  Everyone split up and went down different aisles gathering new

  weapons and anything that could be used.

  “Hey back here!” Nate hollered from the back. All of them ran to his voice and found him in a small storage closet at the back of the store. There was no roof on the little area and only tin and two by fours made the walls. Nate had pulled what he had found to the door and was trying to pull it through the door. Willy and Alex grabbed a side and began to help.

  “What the hell is in this?” Willy asked.

  “Gas; has to be like a hundred gallons in this thing.” He stated. The large red gas can was filled to the brim with gas. “Pretty sure that is only a twenty gallon gas can.” Andrew laughed at Nate’s exaggeration.

  “It feels like a hundred.” Nate groaned out while using his strength to pull it across the floor.

  “That is a bad ass find right there.” Willy said with more of a Hispanic twang than he usually had.

  Two pulled the can out to the van and the loaded it up into the back. They gathered what they had found before getting the gas and hauled it out. Eric was already sitting in the driver’s seat of the van and had started it as they closed the door.

  “We need to start heading back.” Eric put the van in drive. Andrew and Alex jumped in the van. Nate and Willy jogged back to the truck and hopped in.

  “Let’s roll out, pedal to the metal!” Nate shouted.

  Willy smiled at his happiness he still had through all of this. Eric, however did not look a bit amused through his cracked open window as he watched Nate hang half out of the truck with his machete in the air.

/>   Willy pulled to the front of the parking lot and waved Eric around to lead them home. The sun was starting to go down as Eric drove on as carefully as he could as to not spill gas in the back of the van or lose any materials. Willy stayed behind Eric at his speed.

  Numerous zombies appeared over a hill that they came to the top of. “We can’t run through that, it will damage the van and spill out the gas.” Andrew stated.

  “We are going to have to do our best to get around them.” Eric stated. Eric slowed to a roll and made contact with the first zombie which fell off to the side of the van.

  Assuming a small bump was the leg, Eric rolled on slowly. Each one that got in the way had a different

  grossness and eeriness about them. Each of them had bloody slobber smeared across their faces showing that they had eaten recently. Some of them staggered and stumbled as they rolled past the van and back under the truck. Some walked like normal live beings, except for their nastiness and the smell that inundated through the van’s vents as they hit them was unbearable.

  “We can’t go much further,

  everything tied down is shifting and gonna come loose. I am stopping until they pass.” Willy stated as he watched his load in the back.

  The truck rolled to a stop and Willy and Nate watched some of them walk by and paying no attention that they were even in the truck. Eric rolled the van as far as he could until there were too many to push through.

  A tall man came toward the flatbed truck, when he began to walk by the door of the truck, his head hit the side mirror, and the bar imbedded in the side of his head and turned him so that he was looking straight at Nate. The scrawny man reached out for Nate. Even with the window already rolled up, the smell from the man filled the cab. Nate gagged and pushed back his bit of blonde hair that covered the top of his head, readying himself to throw up.

  “Don’t you do that shit in here!” Willy hollered. Nate covered his mouth and swallowed. “I can’t take that smell man, we gotta get rid of this asshole.”

  Nate took in a deep breath through his mouth and sat up straight. He rolled down the window just enough to stick his hand out, he slid his machete through the crack and began swinging it wildly at the man. He hit him twice with the backswing of the blade; the tallest zombie ever seen became angry and began to slam his hands onto the window in front of Nate. His neck was tearing from his shoulders as he stretched to try and get to Nate.