The Horror Squad: The Mini Series 2 (Stories 8-14) Page 9

  Jason tapped his leg telling him to come on. Booker jumped from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat as the grey skinned man shuffled in front of the open door. Booker barked at the man when Jason raised his hand and realized he had no weapon. The man leaned into the truck and grabbed Booker’s paw. Booker pulled away and the man grabbed his other paw. He quickly pulled it to his mouth and ravaged the animal’s leg like he was eating a piece of fried chicken. Booker winced in pain and raised his eyes to his owner. Jason hollered trying to gain the man’s attention. The man didn’t budge, he stood chewing and went in for another chomp. Jason turned away not able to watch and saw two more coming towards the noise that he was making. Jason dashed into the nearest door of the nearest store and bent down to hide himself.

  He watched the staggering men and women pass by the store window. Jason sat down and turned his back to the wall. He leaned his head back, pondered on the whole situation and questioned himself on what his next move was going to be. He opened his eyes as he realized he didn’t even know what store he was in.

  He scanned above him to see shirts hanging up over his head and

  throughout the store and saw shelves upon shelves of food and a small assortment of necessities. He was in some kind of small ‘mom and pop’ shop that had a little bit of everything in it. Jason stood and began to scan the layout and wondered if there was anyone in there.

  “Hello.” He called out quietly, but loud enough for someone to hear him in the small place.

  He took a few steps forward. “Hello.” He said again. A low tone echoed across to him. Jason retracted the steps he had just taken and listened. He looked around him to find something within his arm’s reach to use as a weapon. A shirt hung on a wire hanger nearby and he grabbed it. He threw the shirt to the ground and unraveled the wire. He bent it over a few times to make it a little more stable. He stepped forward and heard the low growl again, he turned toward where he thought the sound was coming from and took another step. With each growl he heard, he made his way closer to the sound.

  He rounded a corner of a wooden shelf and the growl became intensely piercing to his ears. Jason scanned in front of him waiting for a zombie to appear. He took another step raising the bent hanger into the air ready to take some serious and injuring jabs with it when an old woman’s hand flopped on his foot. He stepped backwards and peered down into the old woman’s face. Her eyes were sunk back into her head and her arms were wrinkled and thin. She had no legs and a blood trail showed where she had dragged herself up the aisle. She growled again and Jason pulled his head to the side, trying not to hear it. She grabbed for his boot again and then wrapped her frail hand around his ankle. Jason instinctively brought the hanger down and stabbed the old woman in the eye, liquid shot from the wound and covered his hand. He pulled the hanger out and pulled his foot free.

  Jason stepped over the woman he had just set himself free of; tons of non-perishable items lined the

  shelves. Basic clothing lined the walls along with a few tools that had been hung.

  “Well, I kind of ran into the perfect place.” He said out loud. Jason walked back to the window and scanned the area. A bar sat across the street, a few other stores lined the street, along with a small hunting and fishing store, an Army/Navy surplus store and a tobacco shop down the way. Jason decided that he would make his own little camp and only go out if needed things from the other stores. He had all he needed right where he was.

  He knew that ‘tidying up’ and making sure the store was secure was going to be his first priority. He dragged the old woman’s body back down the aisle looking for somewhere he could put her; his only option was to take her outside. He dragged her to the door he had backed into earlier and scanned the sidewalk. He pushed open the door, pulled her into the street, left her there, ran back inside and then locked the dead bolt on the glass door. He hated leaving the body outside like it didn’t matter; but the woman did try to eat him. He figured she kind of deserved it.

  Jason started gathering some food and drinks from the shelves and moving them to a front corner of the store. He found homemade blankets towards the back of the store that looked as though they had been crocheted. He figured probably by the old woman he had just killed. He gathered them all and set them up so that he would still be able to see outside the one window that was low enough for him to do so if he sat up from the floor. He found t-shirts and jeans that were in his size and folded them neatly by his new make shift camp. He decided to wander to the back of the store and see how secure everything was. He found a small bathroom down the hall. A door was visible from the bathroom. Jason walked to it, put his ear against it and then turned the knob. Opening it up, he came into a small closet that was dark with no windows to shine any light in. He held the door open for a few seconds listening for anything that might be in there. After no noises coming out of the dark, Jason stepped inside and felt for a light switch. He flipped the switch to the right of him on the wall, up and then down. Not even a flicker showed. He stepped in another step and felt for what was in there. He ran his hand across edges of shelving. He pushed his hand further back and grabbed what felt like a can. He pulled it off the shelf and stepped back in to the sun light filled hallway. It was a can of vegetables.

  “A storage closet?” He questioned. Jason closed the door and walked back into the store looking for a flash light to use. Finally finding one in the last aisle, he flicked it on and shined it down the hall. He went back, opened the door and shined the beam on the shelf he pulled the can from. Stacks of food filled cans came into his view as he panned the room. Jason shook his head in acceptance as he walked further in and around the shelf that sat in the middle of the room. He panned across and found some more tools up on the middle shelf in the room. He rounded the corner to see what else he may find but tripped over something and fell to a knee. An old man came into the stream of light, it appeared he had fallen and had been stabbed in the head by a spare piece of the shelving that had not been put together yet. It went through the front of his head and came out of the back. Jason dropped his head, wondering if he had already turned or this happened before. Jason knew that he needed to get the body out of there before it began to smell. He grabbed the man’s ankle and started to drag him out. The metal shelving piece sounded like nails on a chalkboard dragging across the floor. He made it to the front glass door where he had rid the store of the old woman to the outside. Jason watched a horde passing through and hid behind the small wall until he was sure they had all passed. He unlocked the door and dragged the man’s body with the piece of the shelving out to where the old woman laid and placed him next to her and ran back in.

  Jason’s next several days were quiet ones, except for the undead passing by outside. He was able to eat and drink and keep himself alive. He had gathered tools from the store just in case he had to make a fast get away out of the store and set up an escape set up. He watched day and night for others that were alive, but day and night, no one ever showed. He

  washed his clothes with a half of bottle of water and a small amount of laundry soap every night in the bathroom sink and hung them out to dry so that he always had clean clothes. He would eat one can of vegetables and one can of Vienna sausages every day since that seemed to be what was in great abundance. For a treat, he would open a can of fruit every few days. He drank the small cans of juices, but only half of a can at a time; with not knowing how long he would be stuck there, he knew he needed to conserve.

  Jason would lie awake at nights staring out of the window above him, thinking about the last words he heard from his son and wondering if his wretched ex-wife had made it

  somewhere safe. He wondered if there was a cure for the infected. So many things ran through his mind Jason wished his best friend were there with him. He missed Booker with

  evertyhing he had. .

  As he rose with the morning light one sunny morning. The undead still roamed the streets looking lost. He knew he was not far from Lake Tawo
kani, he so wished he was out on his boat with Booker. That is where he should be.

  He cleaned up his sleeping quarters as he had done every morning. He found his half of can of fruit from the morning before and ate the rest. He washed up a bit with the small amount of water he had left in one of the bottles and threw on his pair of clothes that he had drying on a line of bailing wire he had unrolled and hung across the back of the hallway. He walked back out and grabbed his small calendar to mark off the day that had just started. He sat in his fold out chair and propped his bare feet up on the window sill. He wrote on his calendar how many bottles of water he had left and how many cans of fruit he had left, later he would write down how many cans of other food he had left after he decided what he wanted for dinner. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some movement and looked up expecting to see a small horde coming up.

  Jason jumped up when he saw a group of men and a woman with weapons make their way cautiously into the bar across the street. He stood straight up and then hunkered down so they could not see him. The shock of seeing life overwhelmed him. Why were there other people here? He questioned. He watched them as they disappeared into the bar and closed the door. He slowly sat back down in his chair and reached for his socks and boots. He put them on without taking his eyes off of the bar in case they came back out. The choice was to go and check these guys out at the bar or stay and wait to see what they were going to do. Jason eventually wondered why he never thought to go check out that damn bar, he may have been able to find something to take his mind off of things for a bit.

  The group stayed at the bar for the remainder of the day. Night fell and he could see the undead multiply in the street throughout the night. They would all pass by him, never even knowing he was there. Jason dozed off for a bit and jumped up out of the chair when he realized he had fallen asleep and wondered if the group had left or not. He ran to the back , grabbed a bottle of water and ran back to the window to watch. He opened the bottle and poured some into his hand. He wiped it over his face and then realized he had not eaten dinner. He had been so consumed with the sight of actual humans that he had forgotten. He grabbed his can opener and a can of something off the shelf without taking his eyes from the door of the bar and opened it. He felt around for his spoon on the window sill and dipped it into the can and brought it to his mouth. He began to chew and almost spit out the sour taste of sauerkraut. He looked at the can and realized he what he had grabbed. He put the can on the floor and decided that he could do without. Jason had no idea what time it was and did not want to fall asleep again. He stood up and paced in front of the small window. He did take the chance of being seen, but was willing to take that chance, if there was someone he might be able to join up with.

  A few hours passed by and the sun started to show. It lit up the sky and a few of the zombies were still passing by, but nothing substantial to worry about.

  Suddenly three of the men came out of the bar and went to the store next to the bar. Jason watched them for a moment and knew this was his chance.

  He hadn’t been out o f the store since this began. He unlocked the door and made his way across with only one of the zombies taking notice of him.

  The bell rang as he entered the store. Jason stayed quiet as he scanned the store for the men.

  “Who the fuck are you?” The littlest guy questioned. Jason threw up his hands. “My name is Jason, Jason Nielsen. I saw you guys come in yesterday.”

  The small guy looked at Jason like he didn’t give a shit why he was there. Jason started to put down his hands as another of the men shouldered his rifle, Jason decided it was probably a good idea to keep his hands up.

  “I was just wondering if y’all had any extra room in your group, I have been here almost a year.” Jason stated.

  The man with the gun stepped up quickly. “You will have to talk to TJ.” Still pointing the rifle at him.

  “Great which one of you is TJ?” Jason questioned.

  JOSH JOHNSON

  “Let’s move!” Josh yelled to his guys. “Damn boss, we are working as fast as we can!” Someone yelled from underneath the deck they were

  building.

  Josh had been in the construction business since he was very young. He had always worked for someone else and learned the ins and outs of all kinds of different construction

  projects. Four years ago Josh decided to start his own construction

  company.

  He began taking on small jobs. Soon he was hired to do bigger ones and was forced to hire more help. After only a few months Josh had twenty eight employees and usually at least six to ten jobs at a time going on. He would make his way to each job to every day making sure that it was all going to his expectations. He would see what all was needed and had certain guys go get materials and deliver to job sites. Josh would stay on which ever job site needed the most help and work with them until their day would end. He explained to his workers when he hired them that a day did not end at five o’clock; it ended when he said it ended and that would be when they were unable to see to work anymore. There had even been days that a job was so close to being finished that Josh would bring out lighting for them to go ahead and finish and then reward his employees with a nice paid for dinner afterward for their extra hard work.

  Josh came home tired on most days and wished that he had someone there to help him out. His ex-wife had decided to go her own way a few months earlier with a man that was half Josh’s gigantic size and less than half of Josh’s income. Josh had never been extravagant with his money. He kept things simple and that is why he did as well as he had, however, his wife at the time believed that he was just being a controlling husband and left him with the kids and the house.

  Josh was about six foot four and a massive beast of a man. With his bald head that he kept shaved and massive arms from working the construction sites, most thought he was as mean as he looked. There was no doubt that he could be, but to his friends, he was the typical big guy teddy bear. He loved to laugh and be around people and took pride that he took care of all of his children and had his own business. He often helped people out that needed it and was the guy that was there if friends needed help.

  “Alright guys, quittin time. Beer in the back of the truck.” He hollered to his workers.

  The six workers on the job began to gather tools and make their way to the work truck and back to the small shop. They hopped out of Josh’s truck once stopped and threw their tools into their own vehicles and went back to Josh’s truck to grab a beer from the ice chest.

  “Thanks boss.” Some wo uld spout walking by him to make it home to their families.

  Some stood around the truck and enjoyed the ice cold brew after a hard day’s work and hung out with Josh.

  “Thanks for all your hard work guys. I know it has been kind of crazy, but if we do well on this deck, this guy has tons of stuff he wants rebuilt and built and has the money to get it done. More money for all of us.” Josh informed them.

  The guys all nodded and agreed to be there as they always had been. The darkness fell over the beer drinking crowd and the small group that stayed dispersed one by one from Josh’s yard. Josh made his way in to his three kids doing homework while his mom was in the kitchen cooking a dinner that smelled great since he had not eaten all day. Josh kissed the kids on the head, walked up to his mom to steal some food and kissed her on the cheek as he did so.

  “Thanks for watching the kids mom.” Josh showed his gratitude. “W hat the hell else am I gonna do. The broad left you high and dry and I don’t do anything anymore, they keep me young at heart.” She told him.

  Josh smiled at her and made a big growl like a bear as he turned and ran towards the kids; they all threw their books to where they were sitting and ran down the hallway. They knew what that growl meant, Dad was coming to get them and wrestle them all to the ground. Josh tried to play with the kids often. They had all had a hard time with their mom leaving and acted out. He tried his hardest to underst
and what they were going through, but could only imagine what it was like to have a mother not want you. It was hard for Josh to continue on working as he had and still make the time needed for his own children. If it were not for his mother stepping in, he would not have all that he did and would not be able to afford anything for the kids.

  After putting the kids to bed and arguing with his mother about taking his money for watching the kids, he finally made it to his own bed and laid down. Moaning as his ass hit the bed and lifting his leg to remove his boots he could not believe the pain his body felt as he sat down to try and relax.

  “You would think I wouldn’t be making so many old person noises at thirty two years old.” He said to himself in the mirror that hung on the open closet door in front of him.

  He threw his boots to the side and stripped out of his work clothes. He made his way to the shower and back to his bed as quickly as he could and was asleep as soon as his head hit the goose feather pillow he had bought himself after his ex-wife had left out of spite; she had always wanted goose feather pillows and Josh refused to spend the money when there were perfectly good pillows on their bed. He slept hard and good in the

  oversized bed that was certainly unnecessary since it was only him now.

  His alarm went off at five forty five, Josh fumbled with his phone to make the annoying beep stop as he stumbled out through the hall and to the kitchen to push the button on the coffee pot but coffee was already made.

  “Morning son!” His mom

  practically belted out. “Loud mom, why so loud so damn early. What are you doing here

  already?” He wiped the sleep from his eyes.