The Horror Squad 2

by TJ Weeks

  “Have you been out of here since we left? Have you eaten? You look sick Steven.” Kris queried.

  “No, I haven’t left my room. I had one of the MRE’s I had stashed in my bag yesterday.” He stated.

  “Oh my gosh. Let me go get Karen to look at your arm and I will bring you some food.” Kris told him.

  Steven nodded as Kris patted him on the back. She ran down the hall and across the field. She hollered for Karen before she even had the door open.

  Karen popped her head around a shelf with her clip board in hand.

  “I need you to come help me with Steven!” Kris told her.

  Karen looked at her confused.

  “He cut off his fucking arm!” She exclaimed. Karen put her clip board onto the shelf and grabbed the jacket she had chosen out of the mass that they had gathered and followed Kris out.

  “I have to run by and get him some food, he hasn’t eaten anything but and MRE since we left.” She explained.

  Karen followed Kris into the chow hall and helped carry back some food and something to drink.

  Kris burst through Steven’s door without knocking.

  “Here, eat, now!” Kris ordered him. She sat the food onto a small table next to his cot where he sat and backed up so Karen was able to see his arm.

  “Steven, does it hurt? Is it throbbing?” Karen asked, running her hand over the end that was exposed.

  Steven shook his head yes since his mouth was full. “We need to get this cleaned up and bandaged. Kris run back out and get bandages, medical tape, gauze pads, peroxide and there is an arm sling on the third shelf, three shelves from the top.” Karen instructed. “I am going to take his tourniquet off and check out the damage.”

  Steven let her start to remove the pillow case from his arm. She unwrapped it and let the remainder of his arm fall.

  “That doesn’t look like a clean break of the bone. But, I guess it is what I have to work with.” Karen stated.

  Kris ran back in with her lips turning blue and shivering with all of the things that Karen had asked for. Karen got to work cleaning the wound and began pouring the peroxide across his now nub of an arm. She placed the gauze on the end and began to bandage it up.

  Are you okay Steven?” Karen asked him. Steven just shook his head no as he took another bite of his food. Gizmo and Tina came through the open door. “What’s up old man?” Gizmo belted out. “Steven cut off his arm.” Kris told them.

  “What in the hell would make you do that shit?” Gizmo asked. “It hurt, I had to do something for some relief.” Steven stated. “I figured you would have stayed with TJ.”

  “He sent us all back with everything.” He told Steven. With his arm bandaged and food in his stomach. Steven laid down on his cot and covered with the small blanket he had. Kris grabbed a thicker blanket she had brought in and laid it across him.

  “You need to get out of this room Steven.” Kris suggested. Steven just shook his head and turned his back to everyone. The group looked at each other, Karen gathered the medical stuff that had been brought and Kris picked up the mess of things she had dropped to the floor when she came in and they all left out of his room and closed the door.

  “Man, is he okay?” Tina asked. “I don’t think so, he has not left the room or ate anything but an MRE since we left and apparently cut off his arm while we were gone. He asked for TJ right off the bat.” Kris explained. “He said he has been having nightmares and looks bad.”

  “His arm isn’t all that great either.” Karen stated. “Looks infected. I will stay behind and keep an eye on him.”

  “We are leaving out at first light in the morning. Tina and Gizmo, if y’all don’t mind will y’all stay behind with Steven as well and that way y’all can spend some time with the kids as well?” She questioned.

  They both nodded in agreement as Lisa walked through the school doors. “Hey Lisa, I know it is not your little red corvette, but want to go with me back to the mall tomorrow?” Kris asked.

  “Of course , but if we are leaving in the morning, I am headed off to bed now.” She informed everyone.

  Kris waved to the group and followed suit with Lisa on the going to bed part. She went to her room and quietly crept through the door. A small light glowed in the corner. Bobbi sat in a chair in the corner reading a book and jumped when she looked up and Kris was standing there.

  “You been stuck with my boy huh?” Kris smiled at her sleeping son. “He is such a fun kid Kris. I kind of ran him out today. We went everywhere and did everything including helping make lunch. The child can eat like no other.” She laughed. “He has been great.”

  “Thank you for watching over him while Shianne works the tower.” She stated. “Not a problem, I am headed to bed or to finish this book I can’t put down whichever one strikes me more when I get to my room.” Bobbi stated.

  Kris hugged her and thanked her again. She pulled her cot next to Daltin’s and laid next to her son. She laid there thinking about Steven and wondering if he was going to make it through. She decided that she was going to go check on him before leaving out and let him know that TJ would be back as soon as possible and she would have him come see him first. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  The next morning Kris was woke with a kiss on her cheek. She opened her eyes to big brown eyes staring back at her.

  “Hi Momma.” Daltin whispered.

  “Hi son, I heard you have had a lot of fun since we have been gone.” She told him. “Yep, I went everywhere. We went and visited Shianne, and I helped in the kitchen and we found flowers; look I saved them for you.” He ran to the table to get the small cup. “Where is Dad?” He questioned.

  Kris sat up on her cot and explained that she would be going back to get him and bring him home. Daltin looked sad when she told him that she had to leave again.

  “You want to hang out with Bobbi again, I bet she would be glad to have you?” Kris tried to make it sound okay.

  Daltin looked at his mom. “Yeah, I can do that until you come back. Will you wake me up if I am asleep when you get back?” He asked.

  Kris smiled and nodded at her son at the anticipation he showed for their return. Kris sent Daltin next door to knock on Tina and Gizmo’s door to see Hudson and to tell them she would be there in a minute. She dressed and headed next door.

  “Hey, can y’all take him to see Bobbi later, he had a lot of fun with her. I will stop by and talk to her before I leave out.” Kris asked Tina, who was still half asleep.

  Tina nodded and Kris told the two boys to be quiet while Tina and Gizmo slept some and closed the door.

  She made her way a few doors down and lightly knocked on Steven’s door. She heard some rustling and the door opened to an even more sad looking man.

  “I wanted to come by and let you know I was leaving out and will be back with TJ as soon as I can.” She assured him.

  Steven nodded and began to shut the door. “Steven, hang in there buddy. I will get back soon.” She assured.

  Steven nodded again and shut the door in her face. Kris dropped her head wondering if he was going to be okay.

  She moved on and stopped at the chow hall on the way.

  “Hey Bobbi!” She hollered through the empty cafeteria.

  Bobbi came around a corner holding a dishrag. “Hey, ready to leave out?” She asked. Kris looked at her confused. “Lisa is waiting on you and already been by to grab some food for y’all.” Bobbi laughed.

  “Got ya! I was wondering if it would be okay if Tina dropped Daltin off with you later. He had a lot of fun with you.” She asked.

  “Of course, whenever she is ready.” Bobbi responded excitedly.

  “Thanks, we will see y’all as soon as we can.” Kris told her heading out of the doors. Kris made her way out to the Deuce and saw Lisa loading up a batch of food, then hopping in the driver’s seat. Kris walked around to the other side and climbed up.

  “Figured you had driven enough in the last few days.” Lisa roared the engine to
start. “I have; I will sit and ride!” She shot back to her.

  She backed the Deuce up and drove to the tower. Shianne was already on the ground. “Have you slept at all?” Kris asked her daughter. “Yep, it was just after you went to bed and I was back out here before you got up.” She stated.

  “Those youngsters can do that shit.” Lisa belted out. “Damn kids!”

  “Be careful mom, see you when y’all get back. She kissed her mom on the cheek and gave her a hug through the window and ran to open the gate. The Deuce rolled through and Shianne closed it behind them quickly and climbed up to watch them drive off.

  Lisa drove with a bit of ease through the snow before realizing that the Deuce had no problem making it through the snow that had fallen over night and stepped on the gas.

  “Easy killer.” Kris joked.

  “This thing seems to have no problem getting through the snow. I think we can make it there in no time.” Lisa went a little faster.

  She dodged the few cars and maneuvered the road like she was in her corvette again. They made it to the mall in record time and pulled into the bay doors that the guys had opened when they heard the truck rumble up.

  They closed the door and TJ ran to the passenger side and helped his wife out of the truck.

  “Hey babe, how was the trip?” He asked her before kissing her on the forehead.

  “It was good, I didn’t have to drive.” She responded quickly. B o had opened Lisa’s door and lifted her down out of the truck and placed her on the ground and handed her a beer out of his jacket pocket.

  “Any guy that carries a beer in his pocket is my kind of guy.” Lisa laughed as she popped the top and took a swig.

  Bo and Lisa headed to a warmer climate inside the mall, where Howard waited with the rest of the few beers that they had left.

  “Listen, something is wrong with Steven. We really need to get back now.” Kris told TJ. “Besides being an old ass.” TJ laughed guiding Kris inside. “I’m serious. He cut of his arm and he doesn’t look good. He asked for you as soon as I got back. He said he has been having nightmares and looks so depressed. I almost brought him with me to make sure that he was okay but knew that he couldn’t do much with one arm.” She explained.

  “What the fuck do you mean he cut off his arm?” He questioned seriously. “I mean he took something and cut his whole damn arm off! He actually cut it off, like there is no arm there. He has been in his room since we left and had only eaten an MRE. I made him eat and had Karen go look at his arm. She stayed behind to keep an eye on him.” Kris gave him all of the information on his old military buddy.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “I GUESSlet’s get all this shit loaded and

  get out of here as soon as we can. I need to get home.” TJ demanded. The group began gathering the piles that they had left from before and loading the massive amounts into the back of the truck. Howard stayed in the truck and arranged everything like a puzzle to be able to fit. The rest set it just inside the back and allowed him to take it where it belonged. The four showed back up out of breath and tired looking.

  “I’m not driving.” Kris let it be known. “Me either, I have a perfect spot in the back I made to sleep off this bit of a hangover from that damn Budweiser.” Howard stated climbing up in the back.

  “I guess Howard found his spot. Kris and Lisa, y’all go ahead and ride up front and stay warm and Bo and I will take up the back.” TJ instructed.

  “No! I want to ride with you!” Kris whined. “I’ll drive.” Bo offered.

  “I’ll ride up front with Bo if that is okay.” Lisa stated. TJ looked at his wife as she tilted her head and gave him a look with please written across her face.

  “Fine, get the hell up there.” TJ stated. Kris smiled and climbed up. Howard led her through the plethora of piles and to the back part of the bed where he had set out a mass amount of blankets and pillows for makeshift little living room.

  “Planning on living here or what?” Kris asked. “No, but dammit I am going to be warm on this trip back and sleep comfortably.” Howard staked his claim on a pile of pillows piled on a bean bag.

  “I am going to bring up the door. Everyone ready?” TJ asked.

  “Let’s rock and roll buddy!” Bo hollered back to him. TJ started to pull that door up when a hand reached under the door and grabbed TJ’s boot. He pulled his foot back and peered at the hand reaching for him. Another appeared under the door and then another and then a few more; all of them brought snow with them and their hands opened and closed and growling echoed under the door and through the bay area. TJ slammed the door down on the wanting hands.

  “WE’VE GOT A FUCKING HOARD!” TJ shouted to the truck full. Bo, Lisa, Howard and Kris bounded out of the truck and stood next to TJ. They all peered down at the hands that had made their way under the door. Some were still attached to the bodies outside and some had detached and squirmed around the floor like a lizard’s tail that had been chopped from its body.

  “What the hell, where did they all come from? They weren’t there when we pulled in!” Kris stated.

  “We need to find a window and see how many there are, we can’t open this door. It sounds like a few hundred banging on this metal.” TJ said.

  “Upstairs, the windows look into the parking lot on the one wall in Sears.” Lisa directed. The group made their way to Sears and up the broken escalators.

  “This way!” Lisa made her way to the back wall. The windows came into view, they covered from floor to ceiling and showed the parking lot and the front part of the mall. The five stood at the windows in a trance of the hoard that had taken over the parking lot of the mall. Rotters banged on the doors and the walls and waded through snow like snails. They had a hard time moving through the cold weather. Some laid in the parking lot and almost appeared to be shivering, but still reaching for whatever they might be able to grab and their jaws breaking as they chomped up and down. Fingers broke off and fell into the snow. There were wandering rotters everywhere that were slowly making their way across.

  “What the hell are we going to do? There is no way we can get through them.” Lisa exclaimed.

  “We have to get out. We can’t just give up and stay at the mall. We have people back home expecting us.” Kris stated.

  “Kris is right. The rotters move a lot slower in the cold and snow. There has to be a way to get rid of enough of them to be able to get the Deuce out and head home.” TJ began to come up with an idea.

  TJ turned and headed back downstairs and to the front doors of the mall entrance. Everyone else followed. A large group flooded the doors, they began banging harder when the five stood in front of them. The rotters began to multiply as the noise increase. TJ began to back away from the door, moving out of sight of the rotters.

  “How about we go back to the bay doors and lift it up like you had it and take them out from the ground up.” Bo suggested.

  “I’m not sure that will work, there sounded like an awful lot of them. We have to find a way to get rid of a lot of them at one time and draw the others somewhere besides the bay door so that we can get out and at least get on the road. They are moving slow, so once we get them away from there, we can make it out and at least a few blocks before they storm the bay door.” TJ explained.

  “The guns from the camping store, I l oaded a few of them and the ammo!” Howard

  remembered.

  TJ, Bo and Howard ran to the truck and rummaged through the well stacked supplies. “Got them!” Bo hollered.

  “I found the ammo.” TJ jumped off of the back of the truck. They all began loading guns and getting ready for a mass shooting of some rotters. None of them were sure how they were going to rid the lot of a large amount of rotters, but knew that the noise would draw the others in. They had to find somewhere that they were able to shoot out of without breaking any windows or doors so that they were not bombarded.

  “The roof is too high, we can’t do anything from there, we are going to have to
find something lower to the ground.” TJ stated.

  “The bathrooms.” Kris said under her breath. “The bathrooms always have windows that open!” Kris belted out.

  TJ pointed at her for being on the money and headed to the nearest doorway with a sign hung over it showing a little man and woman. The group walked down the hallway and into the women’s bathroom. Bo stood on the last sink that was under the rectangle window that was high on the top of the wall. It was high enough that the six foot five Bo had a hard time reaching the clasp that held it closed.

  “I can get it open, but there is no way that I can do anything but shoot upward!” Bo struggled to reach higher.

  “We have a ten foot ladder on the truck.” Howard ran out the door with Lisa and Kris following.

  The banging still echoed off of the roll up door, making the three cover their ears. Howard grabbed the ladder and handed it down to Kris and Lisa. The women took off with the ladder and hit the door with the end. They set the bottom down and TJ extended it to its full length up against the wall.

  Bo climbed the ladder and pushed open the window. It propped itself open and TJ handed a rifle up to Bo. Bo took aim and began to aim and shoot. TJ scanned the top of the wall and saw another window above a stall down the wall from Bo. TJ crawled up onto the toilet and hiked a leg up onto the stall wall, he handed his gun to Kris and pulled himself up to sit on the stall wall. He unlatched the window and pushed. The window fell off the hinges and to the ground. He pulled his head and upper torso out of the window and put his hand down reaching for his gun. He maneuvered it out of the window and began to help Bo take out the rotters that reached up for them.

  The more they shot, the more arrived. Bo and TJ kept shooting and reloading as more and more rotters came for them. Soon they had lot covered with the dead undead. The rotters became attracted to the noise and headed towards them; some began tripping over the other rotters and falling into the snow. Some dragged their feet and would get stuck not able to go anywhere. It made it easy for the two shooters to rid them of their heads.