Read The Horror Squad 2 Online
Authors: TJ Weeks
The Horror Squad 2 (7 page)
I put it in park and opened my door as I
agreed with him. Bo, Donald, Howard and
Gizmo all lined up with me ready for whatever
came up. We quietly walked up to the windows
of the front of the store while keeping eyes all
around. We all put our faces up to the windows
and looked in for a few seconds.
“There is still something.” I whispered as my
breath fogged up the window.
Bo jerked his head back quickly and backed
up. “Nope, let’s go!”
“What!” Gizmo stated backing away.
“Look behind the counter!” Bo told us.
At least six rotters wandered around behind
the counter and peered at us through the
windows. The small hinged bar that was able to
be lifted to let them out had been put down so
they couldn’t get out from behind it.
the shelves anyway.” I said backing away.
Bo made his way to the underground tank
and peered down into it. “Someone has already
got this gas. We could check the cars.” He
stated.
Gizmo placed the small hose from his back
pocket into one of the gas tanks while Howard
grabbed a gas can from the truck. He brought it
to him and the two teamed up to suck out the
bit of gas in both cars.
Bo watched the front of the store and Donald
and I stood at the corners of the front of the
store and did the same.
the back.
“Hey guys! Hustle your ass, let’s get the fuck
out of here!” Donald shouted taking off at a full
sprint.
We looked at each other and followed him.
Donald took the Dukes of Hazard approach to
getting in and left us all wondering what the
hell his deal was. We all opened our doors and
got in and I started the Tahoe. I put it in reverse
and turned to move out of the parking lot when
a horde of at least sixty of the rotten mother
fuckers seemed to have jumped in front of us.
“Bitch, you could have let m
e know there
was a few dozen of the assholes coming, we
could have gotten out of here a little faster!” I
reamed him for no warning.
I backed up again and made my way around
the moving herd of them. A few of them
reached out and scraped their wanting hands
across the Tahoe.
out to me.
I looked at him in disbelief of the stupid
statement, he laughed at the joke he had made
and his smile diminished quickly when I hit a
rotter and it rolled up onto the hood. If I would
have been going faster than what I was, it
probably would have come through. I hit the
brakes and sat up straight in the seat.
said almost at the same time.
The carful laughed while the rotter rolled off.
I backed up again and made my way around
him trying to get to his feet and moved on down
the road.
“Let’s hit one more and we will stop by
Lowe’s and see if the girls are still there, if not
we will get back to the store to meet them.” I
told my group.
The next store was an actual grocery store. I
pulled up right out front and Bo and Howard
jumped out and put their faces up to the glass
and cupped their hands to see in.
“Looks okay!” Bo stated. “Some stuff on the
shelves, a few things we could probably take
back with us.
I shut off the Tahoe and walked around the
front of it. Bo and Howard made their way to
the doors that were supposed to open when you
walked close to them.
“Crowbar maybe?” Bo requested.
Gizmo grabbed a crowbar from the back and
made his way to the door with Donald. I stood
back and watched for anything approaching
while Bo worked to pry open the door.
“Hell yeah!” Bo shouted as the doors came
off their tracks and he made a big enough
opening to get in.
doors.
“Howard and Donald, stay here and guard
the doors. Bo and Gizmo take that side and I’ll
take over here.” I pointed out.
I went up and down the register aisles and
pocketed some gum and candy bars and all of
the batteries that were left on their hangers
when a loud boom came from one of the aisles.
loudly.
“Wasn’t me.” Bo stated.
“Gizmo, where you at fucker?” I hollered
out.
I side stepped in front of the six aisles of the
small store and found him at the end with a
rotter pushed up against a shelf.
He slid his knife into the top of the small
apron clad man and back out. He dropped to the
floor and landed on a crate of cans Gizmo had
collected.
“The little fucker almost had me, I didn’t
even hear him, I turned and he was standing
right in my face wearing his cute little apron.”
“Let’s go, I think we have collected plenty, I
don’t think we can fit much more in the back
anyway with the gas cans.” I told Gizmo.
runt of a rotter off of the crate.
“Did he at least ask if you needed help
finding anything before he tried to eat you?” Bo
joked.
back to the front door.
“A few coming through the parking lot, but
headed to the side, we are good.” Howard said
as he still stood guard to let us exit.
I made the turn off for Lowe’s and drove
through the parking lot. There was no sign of
the girls. Assuming they had already been there
and probably had headed to the mall. The sun
was past mid sky now and we needed to head
back to the first small gas station that was our
meeting point, and hit all of the cars up for gas
on our way back.
Every car that we came to that had been left,
I would stop. We would all get out, three of us
would take guard and two would syphon any
gas into our gas cans and put it back.
of sucking out the gas and on to the next one.
It had been at least an hour and we arrived at
the ‘mom and pop’ gas station. The girls sat in
the parking lot. I pulled up next to them and
peered across the passenger side at Kris who
still sat in the driver’s seat. She smiled and held
up a t-shirt with a popular metal band smeared
across it. I smiled back and shook my head.
“Is that what you got, really?” I asked.
“No, I got other stuff. I’ll show you when we
get back. I have a couple of bags.” She hollered
over the arguments between Gizmo and Tina
about what she got.
“Hey man, it’s not like she bought the shit
and it’s not like it’s all for her, everyone back
home needs new clothes!” I told Gizmo.
Karen suggested.
“Why?” I queried.
“There’s cars all around he
re and there is still
a lot of stuff that we could have got, but didn’t
have the room in the truck for. We could easily
convoy vehicles back.” She suggested further.
“It’s not like we haven’t done this shit
before.” Howard stated.
“Okay, we’ll have to find a place to stay for
the night.” I stated.
“Follow us back to the mall, we can sleep in
one of the stores and just pull down their caged
door.” Karen stated.
PULLING UP to the front doors of the
mall, we came to a stop. Everyone started piling
out.
“I’ve got a better idea.” I stated.
Everyone stopped from going in and turned
around to hear what I had to say.
“We can open the bay doors up from the
back and drive the vehicles inside. Then no one
can drive by to steal our shit while we’re
looking for stuff and we can drive one of the
vehicles out to find others and bring them back,
also won’t have to carry shit so far.” I
suggested.
doors.” Lisa stated.
“I’ll
help.” Howard and Donald informed.
Gizmo followed them inside.
Bo jumped in the passenger side of the
Tahoe with me and Karen jumped in the truck
with Kris. We pulled around back to the bay
doors which led us to the side of Sears. We
waited patiently for the rest of the crew to get
the doors open and when they finally opened
them up, we drove inside. We pulled in far
enough to get the vehicles through so the doors
could be closed and then we let them hop inside
so they didn’t have to walk. We swerved
around some of the displays and into the main
portion of the mall. I hit my brakes and got out.
while looking out his window.
“No, but we just found our first car.” I
replied while looking at a brand new cherry red
Corvette that was trimmed out in black
displayed for a chance to win.
“Oh shit! Sweet ride!” He stated.
us to see why we stopped as well.
“I know what I’m driving back!” Lisa teased.
I walked over and opened the door to see the
keys dangling from its ignition and gas was on
full. I reached in and pulled the keys out and
threw them to Lisa. “Better get started by
backing it off this display and getting it in line
with the rest of us.”
to me!” She replied.
We got back in our vehicles and started
driving forward once again. I could see a Game
Exchange ahead, so I angled the Tahoe and
backed it next to the door. Kris backed the truck
up at the opposite angle to block off the door
completely and then we all got out.
“Why the fuck are we at a Game Exchange?
What could we possibly need from here?”
Gizmo questioned.
“Absolutely nothing, which is why we’re
staying here tonight. If any unwanted visitors
came by, they wouldn’t come here either,
which probably makes this the safest spot in the
whole mall.” I answered.
We grabbed two thirty packs of beer and
some of our belongings before we walked in
and pulled down the loud squealing caged door,
but didn’t take any chances and cleared the
store and its storage room in the back. Once we
were sure it was safe we all found comfortable
spots around the store and laid out our
belongings.
“You know we could have grabbed some of
the bed displays and set them up.” Tina fired
away.
“Why the fuck would we setup beds all night
when we can actually get a full nights rest for
once?” I shot back.
“Hey brother, for what it’s worth…I’m glad
to be part of your team and even happier that I
found y’all.” Bo stated.
I turned and looked at him while trying to get
mine and Kris’s area as comfortable as
possible. “Yeah man, I’m glad you found us as
well. I thought for sure my past was completely
wiped out after all that has gone down in this
last year.”
asked.
“No one. Everyone needs to get a good sleep
and besides, if someone or something trying to
open that door, I’m sure it’ll wake all of us up.”
I replied.
I got comfortable with my head laid upon my
arms. “Y’all go ahead and eat if you want, but
I’m going to bed.”
STEVEN STAYEDin his room most of
the day. His arm was still throbbing and had
started to gain more discoloration. He paced his
room trying to figure out what he should do, he
pulled the pillow case from his pillow and
wrapped it around his biceps, then grabbed his
knife’s case to pull the sheet through the belt
loop portion and began to spin it vigorously
until he couldn’t feel anything but pressure and
then tucked the knife case for his make shift
tourniquet. He fell back into his bed and waited
for his arm to go completely numb.
About three hours later, he grabbed the knife
and made a small incision about three inches
under his tourniquet. There was no blood, but
the small portion of meat made him nauseous.
He had been in the military about half of his life
and hunted his entire life, so he didn’t
understand why this was bothering him so
much.
He sat there nervously shaking his leg up and
down like a drummer getting down on some
serious beats with the foot petal for about
fifteen minutes. “Fuck it!”
He grabbed the knife once again and pressed
down hard before making his slice. Even
though he couldn’t feel the pain, he could feel
the blade scraping around his bone. The bone
was too thick to cut through so he walked over
to the door and looked out to make sure it was
clear. There was no one in sight so he put his
arm in the door and used the force of his hip to
break it off. It took six bounds at the door
before it finally snapped, but he still had to
brace his foot at the bottom of the door and tear
backwards for the final removal.
Tears began to fall from his old withered
eyes. He opened the door quickly and looked
around once again and grabbed his arm. The
whole arm had turned a greyish blue like those
of the rotters. He dropped it next to his bedside
before flopping back into his bed. Lying there
on his back and tears rolling down both sides of
his cheeks, he finally drifted back off to sleep.
S
teven heard laughter, cries, chatter, and
screams of happiness. He opened his eyes to a
plethora of small children in front of him. They
swung back and forth on monkey bars, some
were sliding down slides, and three little girls
were gathered on the swings dragging their
shiny shoe covered feet while they talked.
Steven furrowed his brow in confusion as to
why he was at a playground with children that
he didn’t know. He looked around for all of
their parents and did not see an adult anywhere.
“Am I supposed to be watching these kids?” He
questioned himself. The children paid him no
attention as they went about their fun.
Steven took a step from the soft grass he
stood on to feel the small pebbles roll beneath
his boots. The crunch of the rocks echoed
through his ears with each step he took. He
made it to the other side of the playground to a
picnic table and sat down. He watched the
children playing and running back and forth
with no worries of any kind. Steven began to
smile, remembering being little and not having
a care in the world except how fast he could
make it down the slide or how high he could get
on the swings before jumping off.
He peered around to look for any other adult
that may have shown up to be able to tell him
where he was or why he was there. He could
not see anyone but children. As he scanned the
grounds, he was able to see a bouquet of
balloons flapping on the other side of the green
and yellow play scape filled with kids running
across the swaying bridge.
Steven rose from the red wooden picnic table
and walked on the edge of the small rocks
towards the blowing balloons. The tablecloth
was a bright green and balloons were tied to
each corner of the table. A huge green iced cake
sat in the middle of the table that read Happy
Birthday. Presents sat on the ground and ninja
turtle plates and cups sat inside a small bag at
the edge of the wooden bench seat. Two plastic
grocery bags sat next to the presents filled with
two bottles of punch.
loud.
He peered back up at all of the children as
they ran from one side to the other of the small
bridge and shot down the slides that were
attached. The three little girls had moved from
the swings to a sand box nearby. Two little
boys were racing to see who was able to get
higher faster on the swings. A little girl sat off
to the side of the groups playing with a Barbie
in the rocks. Steven noticed that none had even
noticed him walking around.
He sat at the edge of the colorfully decorated
table and wondered which child’s birthday it
was; and again why there were no adults to
watch all of these kids.
He then peered down at his clothing and
realized that he was dressed in a pair of shorts
and a blue and red striped t-shirt. His tennis
shoes were black and red and he had on white
socks that stopped just above his shoes.
had a name on it of whose birthday it was.
‘To: Steven’ the tag on a small present read.
“My birthday?” He questioned.
Steven was confused. He looked over at the
cake and read the full cake. Happy Birthday
Steven! Steven shook his head and tried to
grasp the reality of the situation.
Steven got up from the table and walked to
the metal slide that no one wanted to go down
because it was always so hot, he leaned over the
very end of the slide and a mirrored image shot
back at him, he quickly pulled away; he leaned
over again and looked at the image staring back
at him. It was him as a child. It was his
birthday. He reached up and felt his face and
could feel his moustache with his hand but that
is not what he saw in the reflection.
Steven looked around and noticed a little girl
in a yellow dress sitting on the edge of the
jungle gym swinging her legs back and forth. It
was Sarah, his crush from grade school. A little
boy ran past him.
loud.
He turned and began watching all of the kids.
“Come down the slide Steven!” A boy yelled
from the top of the play scape.
Steven stepped towards the small ladder that
led up to the small platform where he stood and
he climbed up. Once he reached the platform,
he tried to stand and hit his head on the top of
the awning that covered it. He ducked quickly
and put his long legs into the green slide next to
the yellow one the little boy sat in.
Steven pulled himself down the slide by
holding onto the top of it and pulled himself
into the tunnel as he had when he was a child.
He remembered it being bigger, but he
eventually came out of the other end with the
little boy standing there.
Steven smiled at him before he ran off to
race someone else down.
“Hi Steven.” A sweet voice squeaked.
Steven turned to see a little girl in a blue
dress.
“Margie?” He quietly questioned.
Margie had been the little girl next door that
left him love notes on his doorstep. His parents
used to think that it was the cutest thing and
encouraged Steven to play with her.
She giggled as she strolled over to where the
other girls sat in the sand box. She said
something to them and they all looked at him
and began to giggle.
Steven remembered when he was younger
and all of the little girls used to crowd around
him on the playground to try and talk to him,
but he only had a crush on one, Sarah Granger.
She was part of the small group giggling, but
peeked her head around and smiled at him and
then whispered in another girl’s ear.
Steven stood there and wondered why he felt
uncomfortable since he wasn’t really a child,
but now an adult. He did miss being a child and
decided that if this was going to be his chance
to be a child again, he was going to take it for
what it was worth.
He ran to the swings and sat down and began
to move his legs back and forth. He had to bend
them sideways so they didn’t drag the ground,
but got higher than the little boy next to him
and then jumped as far as he could. He heard
his knee pop and fell down to his butt on the
gravel. He stood and wiped himself off and
looked over to the group of girls to make sure
they were watching. He was not the show off in
school and had always been shy, so liked that
he was able to show off some since they saw
him as the child he used to be. He waved at
Sarah and began to climb the nearby ladder to
the cross the monkey bars. He hung on with all
of his might and lifted his legs and began to
take the monkey bars two at a time. Though the
group may have seen him as a child. He
remembered his military days of doing this
exact thing. He made it to the other side and
jumped down. The little girls giggled and the
little boys watched him in admiration.
that?” Some of the boys asked.
Steven only shrugged, afraid that if he spoke
that his voice may not be that of a child’s voice,
but of the adult voice that he had.
Steven made his way to the hot metal slide
and climbed up. Everyone waited and watched
him knowing how hot the slide was. Steven
stood at the top and took four large steps down
it so that he did not have to endure the heat,
then jumped off of the end. The kids all clapped
and then dispersed.
All of them ran and began to gather around
the table filled with presents and balloons and
more importantly at that age, the cake.
looking his way.
Steven looked one more time into the slide
and still saw himself as a little boy. He slowly
walked towards the table.
“We are all waiting on you birthday boy.”
Sarah hollered in the sweet voice he
remembered.
Steven arrived at the table with ten candles
already lit on the cake. He watched all of the
kids and listened to the Happy Birthday tune
being sang and quickly blew out all of the
candles. The group clapped and encouraged
him to cut the cake. He grabbed a knife that sat
to the side of the cake and cut the first piece, he
tore open the paper plates from the bag by the
side of the table and handed the first piece to
Sarah. She looked at him with admiration and
took the first piece as everyone made an
‘awww’ sound that they did not get it.
Little hands outstretched in front of him as
he cut the rest of the pieces and placed them on
plates and handed them out. He was finally able
to put a piece on a plate for him and then
decided against it and sat it to the side. He
looked up at all of his happy cake eating
friends; all of their mouths hung open, their
jaws were clapping open and then shut and
open again; their faces were smeared with
green icing. Some began to growl and their
faces had become distorted in different ways.
Some of their eyes were sunk so far into their
head that you couldn’t see the color; some only
had one eye and some had one eye hanging out
of their heads. Their hands were reaching out to
him like they were asking for more cake and
they all were making their way around the table
towards him. Some of them stumbled and hit
their heads on the table and some fell and began
crawling to him. Sarah was now staring at him
with a blank look and her dress was torn and
dirty down the front with stains that made the
dress a deep brown color. Fast Freddy was
headed towards him with his teeth chomping at
him and fresh blood mixed with the icing
smeared around his mouth.
Steven backed away from the group and tried
to decipher on what was happening and what to
do. He ran up the ladder to the platform where
he had stood earlier and watched them reaching
for him. The platform was small and low
enough that they were able to put their small
hands onto the platform and touch his shoes.
Steven would pick up his shoes and put it back
down every time he felt one of them touch it.
He stepped on a little boy’s finger and it came
off onto the platform. Steven quickly kicked it
off and stood inside the edge of the slide. He
squatted down thinking that if he went down
the slide and just ran that he would be able to
get away from them all. He looked into the
tunnel and then at the children that were trying
to attack him. He sat on his butt and stretched
his legs into the tunnel. He looked around the
outside of the slide and decided that he thought
he had a good idea until he felt something grab
his leg and pull. A growl echoed through the
slide and up into his ears. He peered down at
the noise and pulled his leg away from the tight
hold and watched Sarah slide back down the
slide and try and climb back up without the grip
on him. The small blue of her eyes that he
could still see told him that she was still in
there.
the slide.
She growled louder and deeper at him and
reached her hands up to him. Her jaw sat to the
side of her face as her mouth opened up at him
and then closed again after the loudness that she
belted out. Steven had no other choice, he had
to get past her.
He slid down hard and fast and raised his
shoe and kicked the twisted faced little girl in
her head. She fell backwards as Steven came
out of the other end and he began to run over
the pebbles. He made his way to the grass and
slipped on the softness. The group came after
him. There legs were small but they seemed to
make headway very quick. They seemed to run
as fast as he did. He made it to the edge of the
park and stopped for a moment to catch a bit of
breath. The clad of children that followed ended
up right on his heels as he tried to take off
again. A little boy fell down and grabbed one of
his legs and made Steven fall face first onto the
sidewalk. As he raised his head up, blood
covered the ground in front of him where he
had hit his nose.