by Weeks, Kris
The Horror Squad 2.5
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
The Horror Squad. Copyright © 2017 by TJ Weeks. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, email [email protected]
Weeks, Kris
The Horror Squad/TJ Weeks. - 1st ed.
Title ID: 7114931
ISBN-13: 978-1545548400
First Edition: April 2017
Acknowledgments
I’d like to take the time to thank Karen Dziegiel for all of her hard work going through each of my books. My wife for all her editing and support. Chelley Jordan and Bobbi Payton for so awesomely helping with running my pages. I’d like to thank all of my military buddies for staying by my side with their support.
Most of all, I’d like to thank all of my fans for pushing my work out there. If it wasn’t for you none of my books would have been put on the best sellers list on Amazon and I wouldn’t be up for as many awards as I get put in for.
www.facebook.com/authorkrisweeks
Chapter 1
THE GROUP was out of breath from fighting off the horde. Thomas moved to check on Bryan; he had been bitten on the side of his head. Blood gushed through the slits in his fingers of the hand he had held against the injury.
He was already starting to turn as he raised his head to him and glared. His dark skin was beginning to fade and turn a dark grey, his other hand reached out as if he was asking for help, but Thomas knew that it was the zombie that had taken over and wanted to take a bite and bring him over to his side of the apocalypse that he had been forced to be in. Apparently his mind still a bit intact before turning, he shook his head and began waving Thomas away from him. Thomas backed up, Bryan fell to the ground with a thud and blood puddled around him.
“BRYAN!” Atora screamed running toward him.
Thomas grabbed her around the waist and flung her back before she made it past him.
“He’s done for. Leave him be.” Thomas instructed her.
Atora stopped next to Thomas and watched as Bryan’s body began to twitch. Theywatched the foam bubble from his mouth mix with his own blood on the pavement and down the sides of his face. Atora turned her face into Thomas’ shoulder to not watch the horrid transformation. Thomas turned her quickly and hurried with Atora’s head still buried into him back to the gate.
Eric held Karlin by the arm as she struggled to make her way over to her mother.
Willy and Alex cleaned Ashley up as much as they could and jumped into the car. They drove through the gate that Atora, Thomas, and Andrew had rushed to open earlier. Eric pulled Karlin through after letting her watch the car go through. The gate was shut in a hurry and all rushed to help take care of Ashley. Willy and Alex pulled her out and laid her on the ground in the shade. Her face was almost torn off from being dragged on the asphalt, and they couldn’t tell if the injuries were bite marks or road rash. All they could do is clean her up more and wait to see what happened.
Eric finally let go of Karlin and she ran to her mother.
“Momma! Please wake up!” Karlin cried.
Atora heard the gate shut and lifted her head to see Karlin crying over her mother. She ran over, knelt down next to Ashley and felt for a pulse on her blood stained neck but was barely able to feel anything. She tried to secretly glance at the others that stood over her lifeless body without Karlin seeing her, letting them know that she was almost gone. Karlin laid her head on her mom’s chest and sobbed.
“She isn’t breathing, do something!” Karlin screamed, keeping her ear glued to her mom’s chest.
Eric grabbed Karlin’s shoulders and pulled her back.
“Sometimes things like this happen. You have to learn what you can and cannot do; and your mother took on something she could not do.” Eric explained in his own way.
“You sorry son of a bitch! You stood out there killing a few of these mother fuckers while the rest of us battled it out to save our own. We are a group that is supposed to take care of each other. I have watched you laugh and only kill those that are coming at you. You have not helped us. You have helped them kill off the only family some of us have left.” Alex backed Eric against the car.
Eric brought the bat, still in hand, back over his head. “Back the fuck off of me! If y’all can’t handle this shit, get the hell off my land!”
Alex backed away and stared at Eric as he walked away from the group. Atora held Ashley’s head in her arms as she felt her body go limp. She rubbed her hand across the top of her head and laid her gently down on the ground.
“Not my mom!” Karlin cried, burying her face into her hands.
Willy and Thomas ran to Karlin for comfort and began walking her back to the house.
“Get this dead body off my property!” Eric told Andrew as he walked past him.
Andrew stared at the unremorseful man’s back and wondered what he wanted him to do with the mother of one of the children they had taken on to be a part of the group.
Andrew grabbed a nearby shovel that had been dropped inside the gate and began to dig in the grassy area next to the gate. He figured it would be the only proper way. Andrew questioned his loyalty to Eric as he dug, and could not believe that he had nothing to say except to get Ashley off his property. He didn’t want to be a part of Eric’s group anymore, but had nowhere else to go. He was a hostage here, and Eric knew that none of them would leave unless they wanted to be out with the masses of hordes.
Andrew made a beautiful cross from a few pieces of the leftover wood that had not been used, painted it a bright pink for Ashley and stuck it in the ground where he had buried her.
“That is nice Andrew, thank you for doing that.” Alex startled him as he put the remaining touches on the cross.
Andrew stood quickly spinning around.
“Thanks, figured it would give Karlin somewhere to come to. Why is Eric like that? Why did he offer all of us to stay, if he was just going to treat us like such shit? You know military wasn’t even this bad.” Andrew scanned over his work of the make shift grave of their lost friend.
“I don’t know, but I have about had it with the man. I am not sure where his thoughts are at. It is almost a little scary to think that he has any say in what we do. But, what other choice do we have but to leave?” Alex stated. “I can’t believe that Bryan is gone.”
The two strolled back to the house and entered to a yelling match going on between Atora and Eric.
“No, she needs to grieve for her mother, leave her the hell alone!” Atora screamed.
Andrew and Alex walked in as Eric moved toward Karlin and ripped the little girl from Atora’s grasp. “She NEEDS to learn to deal with death!” Eric stated.
“Look, Andrew built a place for Ashley and buried her there with a nice headstone and all. You could give her a minute.” Alex tried to mediate.
Karlin stumbled to Eric. “Can I please go see my mom?” She stared at him with her big red teared eyes.
Eric glared at the little girl. “You may go for five minutes and then back to the tower, do you understand?” Looking up at Atora as he smiled.
Atora bit her tongue and walked to Karlin, guiding her out of the front door without saying a word.
Rue came out of the kitchen after it had quieted down. “Dinner is ready.” She told everyone.
Everyone began to somberly make their plates and settle wherever they were able to find a spot. Rue and the remaining children made their way out of sight into the back bedroom. Karlin and Atora returned and made a plate, even though she had told Atora she did not want to eat. Karlin and A
tora sat across the room from Eric. Karlin began to feel uneasy as Eric stared at her while she ate with a bit of a smirk on his face.
“You have disobeyed me Karlin. That is not good. I said I wanted you in the tower.” Eric finally blurted out.
“Yes sir.” Karlin rose with her drink in one hand and plate in the other and walked slowly out of the front door.
She had eaten her food before she made it to the tower and carefully climbed the ladder with her drink. She sat down and wished that she could see her mother.
Eric began to assign shifts for the tower and made his way back to the bedroom to see Rue and the kids. Each child made their way one by one to throw their plates away and directly back to the room. The group could hear Rowena whine a bit as she was not getting fed right that second. They all wondered how Rue and Eric knew each other and why all was so secretive between them.
The remaining of the group huddled together in sleeping bags on the floor and took naps to rest for their shifts that they were to take on throughout the night. As the sun went down, Thomas rose to take on his shift and relieve Karlin to get some rest, he knew she needed it from the day she had. She needed her time to grieve and realize her family was now them.
Thomas gathered his back pack, rifle and some water to take with him and headed out across the dirt filled land. He could see the tower, but was not able to see Karlin’s head or any sign of her in the tower. Thomas scanned the land and over to Ashley’s grave. Thomas quickened his step and made it to the ladder quickly climbing up.
“KARLIN!” He whisper yelled.
With no response, he hurried up the ladder and into the tower. Karlin was curled onto the floor in the corner asleep. Thomas smiled and held his hand to his chest with relief. He watched Karlin for a moment debating on if he should let her sleep off some of her grief or wake her up. He thought it would be a good idea to let her sleep and seated himself quietly in the chair. He propped his gun against the wall and scanned the area for anything wandering around. With nothing moving in sight, he sat back in the chair and a squeak bounced off the walls. Karlin started to stir, her eyes opened wide and looked around when she saw Thomas.
“Oh no, I fell asleep. I’m sorry.” She said with worry.
“It’s fine hon, you are fine.” Thomas told her.
Karlin relaxed for a moment, she pushed her thin brown hair out of her face and balled herself back up in the corner.
“I don’t want to go face everyone.” She admitted.
“I understand. You can stay up here if you would like.” Thomas offered.
The two sat in quiet for a while. Thomas watched the roads and waited for anything to move.
“KARLIN!” Eric’s stern voice called from below.
Thomas peered out of the small doorway down at him. He stood cross armed at the bottom of the ladder.
“KARLIN!” He hollered out again.
Karlin took a full breath and blew it out and stood to make her way down the ladder. Before she reached the bottom step, Eric grabbed her off and set her hard on the ground on her feet.
“We don’t need two watchers. You need to get your ass to the house, now!” He scolded.
Karlin looked up at Thomas and waved. She ducked her head and started walking. “You should have sent her on when you got here.” Eric hollered at Thomas.
“She was sleeping, more than likely cried herself to sleep. She did just lose her mother you know?” Thomas questioned.
Thomas glared at Eric. Eric smiled at Thomas and turned away to follow Karlin.
Thomas wanted to jump down and punch Eric, but did not need to be kicked out into the cruel world of the apocalypse by himself.
CHAPTER 2
THOMAS SAT ranting quietly to himself over the man that made himself the leader of the group that had become a family; well all of them except for Rue and Eric. He thought for a moment and wondered why Rue had not become close to any of them. He wondered why they were both so stand offish from being nice. But they were all stuck, they couldn’t leave the land without being stuck out in the craziness.
A noise below him took him from his thoughts of the craziness of Eric. Thomas stood and grabbed his rifle. He peered through the scope scanning around the outside of the fence. He quickly panned back to the gate hearing another sound from that way. A young girl came into his scope. He watched her for a moment as she pushed on the gate quietly trying to enter. She watched over her shoulder and turned her attention back to trying to open the gate.
“Can I help you ma’am?” Thomas asked in a low tone.
The woman’s head shot up at the voice with the last bit of sun reflecting off of her glasses. She looked behind her again and then back to Thomas.
“I have been stuck out here for days with nothing, all by myself except for the crazies wanting to eat me. I saw the gate and figured there must be some kind of safety behind it.” She rattled off.
“Name?” Thomas questioned.
“Adrianna, please please can I come in?” She begged.
Thomas stared for another moment and turned to step down to the first rung of the ladder.
“Hurry, I hear them!” Adriana bellowed from behind the gate.
Thomas quickened his descend. He made his way to the gate and removed the stabilizing poles and unchained the gate. Adrianna hurried through as soon as the gate was barely ajar and turned to help push it closed. Thomas refastened the gate and replaced the poles.
“Thomas.” He stuck out his hand.
Adrianna shook his hand as her back pack dropped from her shoulder and hung at her elbow.
“How old are you?” He asked the newbie.
“Twenty.”
Thomas widened his eyes at her response, surprised that a girl her age had made it. She was short with dark hair piled on top of her head and glasses that looked as though they had been drug across the asphalt a few times. She had pale white skin which made Thomas wonder how she was not burned by the few sunny days they had before now.
“I’m going to have to clear you being here with Eric. You can wait in there.” Thomas pointed to the barn.
Adrianna nodded and began her walk to the barn while she reached for the bag at the bend of her arm and unzipped it. She pulled the last bit of water she had been saving from the bag and downed it as she entered the barn. She put the bottle back in her bag and sat down up against the dusty wall. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath and let it out. She felt relief being somewhere that she did not have to watch all around her to make sure she wouldn’t be eaten.
“A girl has shown up, her name is Adrianna.” Thomas told Eric who sat in a chair eating his dinner.
Eric shot his head up to Thomas. “And you let her in?” He asked before taking another bite.
“She is in the barn, I told her to wait there.”
Eric stood and grabbed a pistol that sat next to him and swung open the door. Thomas looked at the others in confusion and followed Eric.
Eric’s strides were quick and long. Thomas watched the tattooed lanky man make his way angrily to the barn.
“I don’t think she is a very big threat Eric. She is just barely twenty years old.”
“I need to know who in the hell anyone is before they come in!” Eric turned his head.
Thomas shrugged taking a quicker pace to catch up.
“I couldn’t just leave her outside the gate until you got here, she would have been killed. She is just a kid.” Thomas was almost jogging to keep within Eric’s ear shot.
“Who in the hell are you?” Eric hollered as he entered the barn.
Adriana sprung up from the floor with her big brown eyes popping out at him.
“Adrianna sir.” She replied.
“Why are you here?” He asked with his mean tone.
“To be safe from the zombies. I’ve been out there for days on my own. I just needed off the streets and somewhere safe.” She explained.
“We don’t just let anyone in here. Are you willing to follow all
of the rules?” He asked her.
Adrianna nodded and stuck her hand out to the man that was fairly good looking to her. Eric turned passing by Thomas.
“Set her up with Atora.” Eric instructed.
Thomas and Adrianna looked at each other. Thomas shrugged as Adrianna moved her head to the side to look around Thomas.
“That is one awesome looking son of a bitch.” Adrianna smiled.
“You got the son of a bitch right.” Thomas replied. “Look, it is not the best place, but it is something. Eric is the man of the land apparently and gives the orders. There are a few others I will take you to meet and show you where you can sleep and I gotta get back to keeping watch.”
Adrianna nodded and followed Thomas down the small dirt path to the house.
They made their way inside. Everyone stood in the living area getting ready to head to bed.
“Guys, this is Adrianna, Eric approved she stay and said to set her up in the room with Atora. I have to get back to the tower.”
“Everyone needs to get ready for a trip out tomorrow. We need to pick up a few goods we can use. We will be heading north to see what we can find.” Eric said in a low voice entering the room.
Adrianna had not even been able to catch everyone’s name before being guided to the room where she would sleep. She laid down in the same room with Atora and Karlin and fell fast to sleep without any worries of zombies.
***
“Up and at ‘em!” Eric screamed walking up and down the hallway banging on the doors.
The whole house made an appearance quickly after dressing into the living room.
“Nate, Thomas, Willy, Alex, new girl and Karlin; load up. We head out in one hour.” Eric instructed.
The handpicked ones filed out of the house and to the van, Adrianna followed unsure of what was going on except they were going on a trip.
“What are we doing?” She asked Thomas.
“You need to have a weapon.” Thomas handed her a knife from his waistband.
Adrianna took the knife and followed the group into the van.