The Horror Squad (Book 3) (6 page)

CHAPTER SIX
I COULD hear some movement

going on as my eyes flickered trying
to catch my vision to see the fluttering
of legs walking around. “What
fucking time is it?”

Kris started laughing. “I told you,
he’s not a morning person.” She
turned towards me. “It’s morning
time, babe.”

I rolled over and sat up while
pulling my knees up to my chest. “I
don’t suppose there’s any coffee?”
Looking around the room I could see
no one had a cup in their hands, so I
more or less answered my own
question and just got up.

After getting my shoes on, I pretty
much just ignored everyone and
walked straight outside to smoke a
cigarette.

Steven started walking out. “What
are you having me do today?”

“Can I fucking wake up before
going over any plans?” I responded
before taking a drag from my
cigarette.

He turned and grabbed the door
knob as if he was going to go back in
and then turned back towards me.
“Why did you even bring me? It’s not
like I can do much. If you feel like
you owe me something…you don’t.”

I took another drag from my
cigarette. “You’re right, I don’t owe
you a thing. However, if you just
wanted to lay around and die, why
didn’t you just kill yourself instead of
hacking your fucking arm off?”

He looked at me with a loss of
words and then stormed inside.
Bo and Gizmo walked out before
the door could close back.

 

“I think you pissed him off.”
Gizmo stated.

“Maybe some people just can’t
handle the truth.” I offered before
flicking my cigarette.

“Can I get one of those from you?”
Bo questioned.

I didn’t respond, just tossed him
my pack and went back inside.
“Everyone meet outside in five
minutes.” I announced before walking
over and pulling my hoodie from my
backpack. I threw my hoodie over my
head and pulled it down to try and
block some of the bite from the
coldness. I then walked back outside
as Bo held out my cigarettes, I took
them and pulled out another. I sparked
my lighter a few times, with only a
brief spark. I held it up and shook it a
few times and sparked it again to
finally get a flame and lit my
cigarette.

I was on my final drag when
everyone else came pouring out of the
door. Most of them were springy, a
little too springy for it to be first thing
in the morning. The rest of us were
just there in body, not so much of our
spirit.

“So what’s the plan?” Tina asked.

I walked in front of the whole
group so I was seen, not just heard.
“Tiffany and Robin are going into the
snake exhibit to collect the snakes to
get ready for eating. Tina, Kris,
Steven and Daltin are going to stay
here and finish the catfish and
everyone else is going with me.”

Steven let out a deep exhale and
walked back into the restaurant.
Robin and Tiffany got on two of the
gators and pulled off. Gizmo, Bo and
I got on gators and they let me lead
the way. We drove straight to the
warthog exhibit.

Bo jumped out quickly and threw
an arrow into his bow and shot it at
one of them. It banked off of one of
the wires of the fence and kind of
rotated around before dropping back
out.

“Good shot!” I stated sarcastically.
He walked over in shame to grab it
from the ground. “Fuck off!”

Gizmo and I sat there and laughed
until our stomachs ached. It almost
felt like my chest was about to
protrude right out of my skin.

Gizmo hopped down from his gator
and walked over to the fence and
loaded his bow and cranked it back
and let it go. The arrow successfully
hit right behind the warthog’s ear. It
jumped around a few seconds and
then dropped. “That’s how it’s done.”

I started laughing. “Hey you
remember when we used to go
hunting at your deer lease and you
said that if we caught any hogs in the
trap I built, you’d jump in there and
wrestle one down?”

Gizmo looked over at me. “Yeah.”

I pointed over to the exhibit.
“Seems how these guys are caged; I’ll
save the last one for you to jump in
there with.”

“Fuck that, the hog trap was only
four foot by six foot so I could pin
them into a corner.” He pointed at the
exhibit. “They have all kinds of room
to run around in there.”

Bo let an arrow fly and hit it in the
throat. It gargled its own blood while
trying to squeal.

I walked over and loaded my bow
and shot one through its eye and into
its head. “Guess I need to get into the
game here.”

We finished taking out the six
warthogs that were running around
the exhibit and hooked up to the fence
and pulled it down as well. After
untying the fence from my gator, I
drove it inside and started loading
them in the back.

“Bo, load three in your gator and
I’ll load three in mine. Gizmo, drive
around and find us something else to
hunt.” I stated.

Gizmo smirked on his way to his
gator. “I want to take out a rhino!”
“We couldn’t load a rhino,

 

dumbass.” I responded.

 

“What about a giraffe?” He
questioned.

Before I could answer, Steven and
Daltin came flying in on a gator.
Steven jumped out. “We’ve got to
grab what we have and get out of
here!”

“Why, what’s up?” I questioned.

“There’s a rotter horde
at the front
and falling down the stairs. So far
they’re staying at the front, but it
won’t be long before they make their
way here.” He responded.

“Gizmo, you and Bo go hook up
the trailers and meet us at the
restaurant. Be as quiet as you can
about it. Daltin, jump in Bo’s gator
and follow me back.” I directed.

Daltin did as he was told and
floored it. Steven turned in behind
him and I followed from the back.

We pulled up to the restaurant and
got out. As soon as I ran in, I could
see the snakes had already been
skinned and were waiting to be
packed down with ice. All the catfish
were already filleted out and already
in ice.

“Where is Tiffany and Robin?” I
asked.

“They ran back to their shop to
grab a few things. I told them to hurry
back or you would leave them.” Kris
answered with her hands full of our
equipment stuffing it into our bags.

I heard the first deuce pull up. It
was Bo with the small trailer. Tiffany
and Robin jumped out of the back of
the.

“Didn’t think we were running off,
did you?” Tiffany stated in humor.

I started filling my hands with as
much meat as I could and started
throwing it in the back of the deuce.
“I didn’t figure y’all went too far. I
actually figured y’all were out looking
for us.”

About a quarter of the way into
loading the meat down, I could see a
rotter making its way around coming
towards us. I grabbed the crossbow
and loaded it. I shot it in its shoulder
from a bad aim. So I loaded it again
and shot it in the head.

I grabbed all the arrows for it and
jumped into the gator. “Bo, come with
me. The rest of you get everything
done. Drive out the side gate, close it
and wait for us there. Only wait for as
long as you can. Do not let yourself
get surrounded.”

Bo and I shot out of there as fast as
we could go. “Are you any good at a
crossbow?”

“I’ve never shot one!” He

 

answered.

I hugged the winding curves.
“Today was my first time as
well…Here, take the wheel. We want
them to follow us the opposite
direction of the restaurant.”

He moved over into the driver’s
seat and I jumped into the back. I
planted my feet into the tailgate and
my back against the seats that were
rolling over from the front. My legs
were too long to stretch completely
out, so my knees were sticking up
about chest high. I loaded the
crossbow and waited for the next
corner.

There was at least two-hundred
rotters, but they were all spread out.
“God damnit! They’re too spread
out.” I screamed out.

 

Bo stopped the gator and observed
the mighty group of rotters.

I started calling out as loud as I
could. “WE’RE HERE! COME GET
US MOTHER FUCKERS! WE’RE
HERE!”

Bo started chanting with me. The
spread group started pulling tighter as
they made their way toward us with
their arms stretched out in full.

“GO!” I sc
reamed out to Bo when
the closest one was only a few feet
from us. I shot the rotter between the
eyes and loaded another arrow.

We pulled forward about twenty
feet and stopped again to keep them
interested in our flesh and not our
groups. They didn’t move that fast
from the cold, so it was buying us
more time than we usually had. I
could see a sign for the wild cats
ahead.

“Okay, brother.” I took a deep
exhale. “Bear with me. You may
think I’m crazy, but I have an idea.”

He looked over his shoulder at me.
“This isn’t the time to be pulling
crazy stunts!”

“Gas it and back up to the tiger
exhibit.” I stated.

He stomped down on the gas and
slammed on the brakes as we pull in
front of the exhibit and backed right
up to it. I slung a rope around the bars
and tied it off and reached down and
tied it to the gator. The horde had
already reached us.

“GAS IT!” I screamed out while
kicking them away from the gator.

He slammed his foot on the pedal
once again and ripped the bars from
the enclosure. The tigers came
running out pouncing with great
impact onto the horde, with surprise
they bypassed us altogether. The
whole horde started getting involved
with ripping at the tigers.

“Bro, this isn’t going to work.” Bo
stated.

“Yeah it will, they just need some
more help. Quick, back me up to the
next exhibit.” I responded.

We started ripping the bars off one
by one until the rotters was having
their ass handed to them by the beasts.
The last one we tore down was the
grizzly bear exhibit. We ripped the
fence down and closed one of the
employee gates on the other side to
block the animals and rotters from
coming any further.

I stood up and started looking
around. I could see the top of the
deuce making its way out of the zoo.
“We did it buddy! They’re out. Let’s
go meet them.”

I jumped back in the front with Bo
and made our way to the gate.

Once back to the gate, we climbed
over and could see everyone waiting
outside of their vehicles., all with
worried looks.

“There they are!” I could hear
Steven call out.

They all walked around to the back
of the vehicles and waited for us to
join them.

“What’s the plan?” Kris asked.

“I want Kris driving the front deuce
with Daltin. I want Tina driving the
other deuce with Tiffany. I want
everyone else in the back helping skin
those warthogs.” I answered.

“What about the truck?” Gizmo
asked.

“I’m going to drive it,
Bo with me.
However, y’all need to go straight
back to the base. We’ll join up with
you later tonight or in the morning.” I
responded.

“Where the fuck are you going.”
Kris asked.

I grabbed my backpack from the
deuce and threw it in the back of the
truck. “We’re going shopping.”

Before anyone could argue, I
jumped in the truck and started
driving around the pack and pulled
out.

“Your wife is going to be pissed
when we get back.” Bo suggested.

“Probably, but that’s the beauty of
the apocalypse…no cell phones to tell
me about it until she sees me again.” I
started laughing.

He started laughing too. “That is
true. So where are we going?”

“There’s a Wal
-Mart about fifteen
miles down the road. Figure we’ll
grab all the barbeque pits we can fit in
the back and do some shopping for
some spices to cook with. Possibly
some marinades.” I answered.

He sat up straight in his seat.
“Sounds good to me.”

I smiled. “I hope so or all that meat
will end up being a stew of some
sort.”

After about fifteen to twenty
minutes of driving I could see the
Wal-Mart sign ahead. I could see Bo
moving around in his seat getting
antsy. I pulled into the parking lot and
could see the pits still sitting out front
as displays. I whipped in and backed
right up to them. We jumped out and
started loading the bigger one’s first
and then moving to some of the
smaller camping barbeque pits. Once
we were loaded down I pulled up to
the front and drove with my bumper
only inches from the doors. We
walked in through the exit doors, once
inside I turned and slid the bolt up
into the frame to lock it up tight. We
each grabbed a cart and started rolling
them to the food section. Instead of
trying to figure out what spices we
wanted, I just raked them all into the
basket. A few aisles down were the
marinades. I grabbed all that I could
as Bo started grabbing all the
mustards, ketchups and mayonnaise
containers that he could. I started
piling barbeque sauces in his cart as
well.

“So are we good?” Bo asked
seeming eager to get out of the store.

I started pushing my cart toward
the back. “No, still need a few more
things.”

I snatched up all the starter logs,
charcoal and lighter fluid that I saw
and then headed back to the lawn and
garden section.

I started loading injectors, propane
tanks, spatulas, wire brushes, tongs
and all other cooking things I could
find.

Bo saw a shelf of temperature
gauges and just grabbed them all and
added to his basket.

I pulled my lighter out of my
pocket and tossed it onto the floor,
walked over to the register and
grabbed three new ones.

We pushed the carts to the front
and looked around before opening the
door back up. The door opened and
we started filling all the empty spaces
with our items. Once we ran out of
room, we started throwing everything
in the back seat. The truck was
completely loaded down.