THE HORROR SQUAD: An Apocalyptic Tale: The Horror Squad, #1

By TJ Weeks and Kris Weeks

With the world now plagued by rotters, it's up to my team and I to take care of the living and take out the dead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TJ Weeks
• Release date: Apr 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9789781530616

Book preview

STEVEN SMITH

AFTER WORKING seven days a week since he had gotten back home from Iraq nine years ago, Steven had grown tired. He was forty-two years old, and time was taking a toll on his back. He had finally found some vacation time and had started packing.

How long will you be gone? His wife asked.

It’s only a week, honey. He replied as he still focused on packing up his clothes.

Do you have enough cash? She questioned.

I have a couple of hundred in my wallet and my check hits the bank in two days. He turned and told her to settle her nerves and worries.

She let out a small amount of relief in a short sigh, then smiled a semi crooked smile. He smiled back at her and kissed her forehead then zipped up his luggage bag and walked it out to his truck.

CHAPTER TWO

I AWOKE with the light barely seeping into the room. Daybreak had finally hit without any problems throughout the night. I looked over to see my wife, Kris, staring back at me. We had been married for four years before this nightmare had started. Even with the chaos all around us, I could always look into her eyes and calm my storm. I smiled at her and tucked her hair over her ear. Before getting up, I placed a kiss on her lips and told her I loved her.

It’s daybreak, it’s time to push on. I announced.

Stretch out your grumpies. Kris called out.

I got a head start with pulling down the barricade from the front door. I cracked it a bit to let in some fresh air and to spy out to ensure that we weren’t going to be walking into an ambush of zombies.

What’s it look like? Steven asked with the sleepy still in his eyes.

Looks clear. I replied.

Grab my Gamo and let’s do a little hunting while everyone gets awake. I continued.

Steven grabbed my Gamo pellet gun that was hooked onto my bag and met me back at the front door.

Start getting ready, Steven and I will be back shortly. I announced.

We walked outside and stepped over the tripwires. We walked a ways into the woods without making much noise to scare the wildlife or attract anything else that may take what we needed. I cocked the barrel down and placed a pellet in the chamber as I looked up, I could see some squirrels running across the treetops. One by one, I put them in my crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. Steven was collecting them as they fell. After only a short hour of walking through the woods we had fourteen squirrels and three rabbits. We brought them back to the house and let Kris and Tina skin them out. They skinned them and placed them in some Ziplocs they had found in a kitchen cabinet and used the water from their camelbacks to fill the bags to not spoil the meat.

Kris was the fastest at it; she’d run the knife right under their tails, slit down the back legs, grab them by their heads and pull until the skin met the next set of legs, then make another slit cutting the heads off.

Tina would try to cut down the spine and pull from the sides. It led to having to use the knife to separate the meat from the skin, which had it to where Kris could skin almost three to Tina’s one.

It was now about nine o’clock; they loaded up the meat into the backpacks and got all of their gear back on while Steven collected his trip wires and bells.

Okay, I want the same lineup that we came here in. I announced.

We all got in line and walked out the door of the house. *CRUNCH* the leaves sounded around us. I could see one of those bastards with a crooked leg, one eye eaten out and in a BDU Army uniform coming from around a tree on a hill.

I put my pointer finger over my lips to let the group know to stay quiet and then slowly started walking towards it with my knife pulled out ready to bludgeon the knife through its skull. All I could think, as I made my approach, was to not look at the name tag. I didn’t want to know if I knew them or if I had served with them. I was there and ready to make my maneuver when I was taken by surprise. There was a whole Army herd of these things coming at me from over the hill and I don’t mean a huge group, I mean literally rotters in uniform.

This badass lunged at me, knocking me off my feet and knocking the knife from my hand. I rammed my pointer and middle fingers into his ate out eye and started jamming them into his brain.

You mother fucker! I called out.

Steven ran over, grabbing my knife and stabbed it in the back of the head and pulled me out from under it by my other hand. I stood up and stomped its head and wiped my hand on my pant leg.

We were all about to make a run for it, but I could see something worth fighting for, Humvees. I quickly went back to my M-4 and started emptying rounds into their heads. My group that was already set to run, turned around and got in line with me and started firing as well. We were outnumbered thirty to six, but we had the knowledge that the only problem we could run into was if we let the rotters get too close. They all fell one by one. We stayed in line as we pushed through to the Humvees giving each that had a twitch left in them an extra round to the brain. We opened each door killing any Rotter that had been left inside.

I opened the leading vehicles door with my knife already going forward.

WAIT! A soldier called out.

I stopped myself from taking out another tragic victim of this plague as I heard the voice.

What’s your name soldier? I questioned.

Corporal Denson. He answered.

What’s your actual name, if you haven’t noticed, you aren’t serving anymore? I demanded further.

Donald...Donald Denson, sir. He reestablished.

Anyone else alive from your unit? I questioned more.

Yes, in the third vehicle. My Staff Sargent Manuel is still alive. We were talking through coms until the power went out. He answered.

I helped Donald out of the vehicle and walked over to the third vehicle. I knocked with the butt of my rifle. Instead of opening the door, he just dropped the window of the Humvee like it was some social fucking meet and greet on the side of the road.

Are you fucking kidding me? Get out. I told him.

Where’s your military barring? He questioned.

It went out when the world went out. Now get out of the God DAMN vehicle. I stated further.

He opened the door and stepped out with his hands held up in the air.

This isn’t a hostage situation, put your hands down... Look, we don’t know you and you don’t know us, so all I can tell you is we’re taking all the supplies that we can carry. If you and him want to come with us, that’s fine, but as soon as you give me a reason not to trust you... I started saying.

I get it, we’ll be dead. Howard stated.

How did you know I was military? I questioned more.

No civilian would get their men...and women in line like that. You used a basic military maneuver to assault through. He stated.

Well, we’re not military anymore. I’m TJ. I responded.

I’m Howard Manuel. He introduced himself.

Well, Howard. Let’s get what we can and we’ll take you two back to where we call home. I suggested.

How about I save us all the trouble and we just take the deuce and a half?

We had already loaded all our weapons, gas, MRE’s and water on it. We had planned to get the fuck out of Dodge until the zombies realized that we were still alive inside the Humvees. Howard suggested.

If it’ll start, that sounds like the best plan. I answered.

Denson, go fire up that deuce and let’s get out of here. He commanded.

Without hesitation he ran over and fired it right up. I looked at the five Humvees that were in front of the deuce.

Kris, grab that Humvee and Tina you grab the Humvee in front of that one. I want Steven with Kris and Gizmo with Tina. Let’s move out. I did some commanding of my own.

Justin jumped in the back of the deuce and pulled the flaps open so he could have a clear view of anything that was behind us. Howard and myself climbed up in the deuce and pulled off.

We didn’t get far when we could see a black man running on the side of the heavily wooded road with a uniform on as well.

Let’s stop and check on him. I stated.

That’s Sargent Simmons. You don’t want him. He’s the one that put us in that position...As soon as the zombies started coming in, he got scared and started shooting our men in the legs to give him time to run. He stated in anger.

Donald pushed on the gas harder. The man started waving his hands in the air. Donald turned the steering wheel quickly and ran the man over before maneuvering back onto the road. The man was of decent size, but barely even made a bump. I had thought about saying something, but thought that I would want revenge to if some son of a bitch did that to me.

We drove on through the streets of abandoned cars and through a few small herds, but nothing substantial that could not just be avoided. We all kept our eyes peeled for the anything that we might be able to stop for to take home, but nothing was really good enough to stop for to take the chance of drawing the attention of being eaten.

GIZMO AND TINA JACOBS

GIZMO AND TINA walked into the Brookshire’s grocery store with their two kids, Hudson and Cloie, picking up food for a barbeque they were hosting later that day. They loaded the basket with four racks of ribs, Adkins season, mustard, brown sugar and Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning. They snatched two aluminum pans from the shelf, grabbed a couple of things for sides and went to the check out.

$174.84 is your total. The clerk said.

God Damn, you’re proud of your shit. Gizmo almost shouted as he pulled out his debit card and slid it across the card reader.

Tina started collecting the bags and dispensing them out to the kids while giving Gizmo a shitty look for speaking out to the cashier.

Gizmo took the receipt from the cashier and walked out to the Redbox to grab some movies for the kids so they would stay out of the adult’s ass. He started checking out all the selections with Hudson