The Horror Squad (Book 3) (3 page)

CHAPTER TWO
I COULD hear footsteps in the

hallway when I opened my door.
Steven was hovered over me with his
mouth opening and closing. It
appeared that his body was frozen in
time in some misshapen form. It
startled me and I quickly punched him
in the jaw.

His body shot upward and he
grabbed his jaw. “What the fuck?”

“I change my mind about the baby
bumpers, I’m going to start strapping
your ass to that bed.” I stated.

Bo sat up and stretched. “What’s
going on?”

“Zomboy wanted to eat my ass, but
I’m not into that type of thing, so he
got the knuckles.” I threw out
sarcasm.

Steven was still rubbing his jaw.
“Fuck you.”

“Get dressed and me
et me out at
the storage.” I ordered before walking
out.

I stopped by Gizmo’s room. “Hey
brother, come with me to the storage
shed.”

Tina stood up. “Are y’all really
going back out?”

“Yep, but you can stop your
bitching because you’re coming too.”
I stopped her from nagging further.

I walked out and stopped by my
room as well. “Kris, you and Daltin
come out to the storage shed.

Daltin stood up with excitement.
“You want me to go?”

 

“Yeah, shithead, grab your shoes
and come on.” I told him.

He quickly grabbed his shoes and
followed me out with Kris not far
behind him. We walked out to the
storage building to see Karen standing
out front with her spread sheets.

“Already back to work?” I asked.
“Yeah, I don’t want my sheets
getting off.” She replied.

“I hear ya.
Well, I need all the ice
chests we’ve got, along with all the
bow and arrows that we have.” I
stated.

She ran her finger down her list.
“We have thirty-two bows and onehundred and sixtyeight arrows.”

“Well, let’s make that
ten bows and
all of the arrows. Also, if we have any
crossbows, I’ll need one of those as
well.” I changed my order.

“A little archery practice?” She
asked with confusion.

“Nope, we’re doing some hunting.”
I answered. “I’m also going to need a
couple of cans of gas, a generator and
the deuce.”

She placed her hands on her hips.
“Where are we going?”

“Not this time, I’ve already got my
team picked. Just plan on eating good
when we get back.” I stated with a bit
of laughter.

The rest of the gang joined us as
Karen started handing out the
weapons.

“So who all is going?..and I’m not
sure it’s a great idea that Steven goes
anywhere.” Karen questioned.

“It’s going to be myself, Daltin,
Gizmo, Kris, Tina, Steven and Bo. As
far as Steven, he’s going.” I made
clear.

“Where are we going?” Gizmo
asked.

“We are going to the deuce.” I
stated as I handed him a bow and one
of the gas cans.

The rest of us gathered the rest of
the items and walked out. Kris
jumped in front with me, as well as
Daltin who sat in the middle.
Everyone else piled up in the back. I
pulled up to the front and Donald
opened up the gate and closed it
behind us.

“So, you still not going to tell me
where we’re going?” Kris questioned.

I kept my eyes on the road. “We’re
making a little pit stop before we go
to our destination.”

I got to the main road and hung my
right. I followed it to Edgewood and
pulled up onto the tracks. I started
driving down the tracks until I got to
the abandoned rail cart and stopped.

Everyone started piling out of the
deuce.

 

“Why the fuck are we here?”
Gizmo asked.

I started walking towards the train
and down the side. “We’re getting our
shit back.”

I pulled the door open that we once
slept in and jumped in. Everyone
walked up to the door and I started
throwing down our backpacks. There
was dried blood and skin grafts all
along the side of the train door. I
threw my pack over my shoulders,
grabbed the last pack and jumped
back down.

“We really just came all this way
for some back packs?” Tina
questioned.

“We came for the food and supplies
that we left behind.” I threw the other
pack to Gizmo. “And we came for
this.”

“What’s so important about that
pack?” Tina asked.

 

Gizmo almost had a tear fall.
“Because it was Justin’s.”

 

Tina shut up with a look of

 

amazement across her face.

 

“Now load back up so we can go.”
I ordered.

 

We got back to the deuce and
loaded back up.

“We’ve got some rotter’s coming
up from our six.” Kris called out after
glancing in her side view mirror.

I applied more gas and started
running them over. I got back to the
road crossing and started turning
around. I could see Justin’s body
stand up in the middle of the tracks;
he was a rotter. I stopped, got out and
walked to the back of the deuce.

“Give me a bow and an arrow.” I
stated.

Bo handed them down. I placed the
arrow onto my draw string and closed
my eyes for a moment trying to find
any happy place possible, but nothing
came up. I slowly opened my eyes to
see that he was about twenty-five feet
from where I stood and I let the arrow
fly. I was aiming right between his
eyes, but it hit over his right eye and a
slight angle to the left. He dropped
instantly. I could hear Tina and
Gizmo saying things in the
background, but I was so dazed in the
moment that I couldn’t make out what
they were saying. I dreaded having to
go retrieve the arrow from him, but
knew we could not afford to leave it. I
walked over and pulled it out slowly
“Rest in peace brother.” Walking
away from a man that had become my
family over the years was hard, but
what I did had to be done; I was not
going to leave him walking around as
a rotter in this world. Justin deserved
to be with his family that had been
taken just as he had been. I walked
back and just handed the bow back to
Bo and walked back to the cab.

I finished making my turn and got
back out onto the main road.

 

“You okay?” Kris asked.

 

I brushed my hand across my brow.
“I’m okay. Next stop, Tyler.”

I drove until I hit my next highway
and took my right, taking out any
rotters that got in the way. A sign
started coming up, “Caldwell Zoo, 2
miles”.

I followed the signs until we pulled
up into the zoo parking lot, then
stopped and got out to scan the area of
where we might be able to go to get
this shit done.

“Why are we at the zoo?” Steven
asked.

“Yeah, we could have stayed
behind if you just wanted to take a
day trip.” Tina followed.

“Oh shit…we’re about to do some
hunting.” Gizmo suggested.

 

I looked over to all of them. “Yes,
we’re going to do some hunting.”
“What the fuck are you going to
hunt?” Tina asked.

“Whatever we find.” I answered as
I started pulling stuff out of the back
of the deuce.

Everyone started grabbing the stuff
I was setting out.

 

“Why do we need the generator?”
Bo asked.

“So we can hook up one of the ice
machines and pack the meat in these
ice chests.” I replied.

Gizmo picked up one of the bows.
“That’s pretty damn smart. Actually,
this whole idea is pretty damn smart.
Who would have ever thought about
hunting in a zoo?”

I ignored the compliment and filled
my arms with what I could. “Let’s
pick this shit up and get moving. I
want two people up front in case of
any rotters and everyone else with
their hands full.”

Kris and Tina took the front as the
rest of us followed with the items.
Steven was just doing the best that he
could to keep up and keeping an eye
out for anything that would be coming
up from behind.

We started moving with a purpose
down the long steep stairs and
through the entrance of the zoo that
had a tattered banner barely hanging
from above with a male lion’s face
plastered on the side and red lettering
with yellow trim that read “Welcome
to the Caldwell Zoo”.

We moved passed the flamingos
and up a steep flat hill next to the
cheetahs and rhinos before reaching
the restaurant in the center of the zoo
that was overlaid with shade made
with branches and bark hanging down
to block out the sun’s rays for the
picnic tables. The restaurant had an
overview of the giraffes that were
slowly pacing around with mouthfuls
of hay.

We walked into the restaurant and
setup the generator in an old
maintenance closet to muffle the
sound and ran a cord out to the ice
machine. We stacked all the ice chests
along the wall and placed the gas cans
near the maintenance closet.

“Now what?” Bo asked while
clearing his arms of what was left to
unload.

“Now we rest for a bit and l
et the
ice machine do its job, then we hunt
down some vehicles. They should
have some Gator carts or golf carts
around here somewhere.” I answered.

“Why do we need carts?” Bo
questioned further.

“You don’t want to hump a
thousand-pound buffalo over your
shoulder back with you, do you?”

He looked over at me with kind of
a blank face. “Okay, so we need a cart
with a lot of power.”

I started laughing. “We need
something with a lot of balls to it.”

We finished setting up shop and
started walking as soon as we heard
the first ice drop from the machine.

We didn’t see anything out in the
open. Not far from the alligator pond
was a gate that was made to look like
a safari adventure, with a sign that
read “employees only” posted on each
of them. I pulled up on the latch and
swung the gates open. There was a
big shop a few hundred steps ahead. I
could see some movement out in front
of the building.

I swung my arm back to tell my
guys to line up and move over from
the center of the path. Once we got in
line I crouched down and slowly
pulled up my rifle to see things more
clearly through my scope. There was
a tall bald headed man pulling items
from a golf cart. I could tell he was
talking to someone, but couldn’t see
who it was. I panned my crosshairs
over to the right to see the door was
open and a small hand had a grip on
the side of the door. By the size of the
hand, I would suggest female or
young kid, but couldn’t tell for sure.

I kept my eye plastered into my
scope. “Wait here.”

 

I stayed squatted down and started
taking slow steps closer.

The man walked into the shop, so I
started taking a faster pace until I was
behind the very golf cart the man was
just unloading.

The door knob started turning. “I’ll
be right back. I need to check on the
animals.”

The man walked out and sat on the
golf cart. I secured myself to the back.
He started backing out and went
forward towards the gate. He slowed
up when he saw Bo standing out in
the middle of the path.

I stood up and put my barrel to the
back of his head. “Pull on down and
think about your actions before you
do them.”

He gripped the steering wheel hard
and I could hear him take a large gulp
before easing his foot on the gas.
Everyone formed a half circle around
the cart as he came to a stop.

“Click the brake all the way down
and get out slowly.” I ordered him.

He pushed the brake to the floor
and stepped out. I was amazed to see
his standing height.

“How fucking tall are you dude?”
I
questioned out of shock before
pushing my foot into the back of his
knee to bring him down on his knees.

“I
-II’m six foot four inches, sir.”
He replied while pushing up his black
framed glasses.

I looked over at Bo. “Damn,
brother…He’s got you beat.”

Bo cracked a smile and moved in
and started patting him down. “He’s
clean.”

I let my foot off the back of his
knee. “What’s your name?”

 

He slowly turned his head towards
me. “Robin Appelo.”

 

“You don’t sound like you’re from
around here.” I stated.

“I’m Dutch. I came down to do my
internship here at the zoo.” He
replied.

“Okay, Dutchy…I’ve got two
questions. How many people do you
have here and what kind of weapons
do you have?” I questioned.

“There’s only one more person and
we don’t have any weapons except a
tranquilizing gun for the animals.” He
answered.

“If you’re lying
, you do know that
I’m going to kill you…right?” I stated
after bumping him in the back with
my barrel.

He turned to look at me once again.
“I have no doubt, sir. I’m telling you
the truth though. Tiffany is the only
person here. She’s a nurse that has
been helping me.” He replied.

I put a hand under his arm and
lifted. “Well, let’s go meet Tiffany.”
CHAPTER THREE
ROBIN STOOD carefully and

cautiously before getting back on the
cart and driving back up to the
building. “So do I just holler out and
get her to come outside?”