The Horror Squad (Book 3) (13 page)

ROBIN
TEASER FOR:
Loki and I: PLAGUED

“I’ve heard about the zombie
apocalypse my whole life. Mostly
from movies, which started out in
black and white and slowly moved to
color, but it was all wrong. Not
everyone who dies comes back. It
wasn’t far from wrong in the
beginning. They don’t run at you like
some fucking idiot all cracked out,
they walk. They don’t just eat your
brains, they eat all flesh.

Watching movies when I was
younger, it was like a perfect zombie
walking around with a little bit of a
mess around its mouth, but it’s not
like that at all. They shit and piss all
over themselves, but who could blame
them, it’s not like they can just stop
and think about it.

Fuck it, let me just take you back to
the beginning.”

 

LOKI SAT at the foot of my

recliner nudging my leg with his nose
for me to carry him outside to go to
the bathroom. My wife, Kris and I
were watching the latest release,
Krampus that we had just bought on
DVD while our son Daltin was in bed
sleeping. I felt around next to my
chair to find the remote. I grabbed it
and paused the movie.
“Where are you going?” Kris

asked.

I walked over and grabbed the
leash that we kept next to the door
that hung by a tack. “I’m going to
take shithead out real quick.”

She flung a piece of popcorn in her
mouth. “Just wondering, I’ve got to
get to bed soon.”

“I know…I still can’t believe you
didn’t just take the truck to the airport
and fly to Colorado. That’s a long
fucking drive.” I responded.

“I didn’t want to leave you with the
Envoy to drive. It’s a piece of shit and
I never know if it’s even going to
start.” She replied.

I latched the leash to Loki’s collar
and opened the door. “It’s only two
days, I’m sure I would have been
fine.” I looked outside. “Fuck, it’s
raining.”

I stepped onto the porch and looked
at the lightning lighting up the sky.
Loki slowly stepped out behind me.
“Come on boy, let’s get this over
with.”

He looked up at me and dipped his
head down.

“I know you hate storms, but
you’re not peeing in the house. Let’s
make this quick and I’ll give you a
treat.” I spoke to him.

He perked up after hearing, “treat”
and made his way off the porch.
Normally we do a couple of walks
around the house, but he quickly
started relieving himself on a bush
right off the porch and stepped back
up the stairs to the porch.

I started laughing at his quick
efforts. “Good boy.”

I unlatched him from his leash and
let him shake off before opening the
door and then he ran inside.

Kris was still shoveling popcorn in
her mouth. “That didn’t take long.”

I hung the leash back up on the
wall next to the door and started
heading to the kitchen for his treats.
“Yeah, he wasn’t all about the storm.”

“He never is.” Kris stated.

I grabbed his bacon strip treats and
pulled two out. Loki followed to the
edge of the carpet in the living room
and sat pretty waiting, because he
knew he wasn’t allowed to come into
the kitchen.

I started breaking the treats up into
smaller bites so he didn’t choke while
trying to inhale them as he did every
time. I walked back to my chair and
pressed play on the remote before
placing one piece in one of my hands
and making a fist. I fisted my other
hand as well and held them down to
make him pick the hand it was in. He
pawed at the hand with the treat in it.
I opened the hand and let him have
the treat and patted his head. “Good
boy.”

“He gets it every time.” Kris stated.

I grabbed the rest of the treats and
held them out for him once he
finished the one. “Yeah, I think I’ve
trained him pretty good.”

“He should be very trained…He’s
pretty much been up your ass since he
was four weeks old.” She suggested.

I started laughing at a part in the
movie when seeing a gingerbread man
stabbed into a refrigerator. “Yeah, but
he’s not a pup anymore. He’s working
on three years old now and definitely
not small anymore. I think he’s
pushing about one-hundred and sixty
pounds.”

“I’ve never seen a Rottweiler that
was small.” She cracked sarcasm.

“There’s a runt in every litter.” I
replied while insinuating that she was
a runt.

All I got was a go to hell look that
she shot at me.

“Well, I’m headed to bed. I’ve got
to be up at four in the morning so I
can leave out by five.” She implied.

“I guess I’ll join you.” I told her.
“Go to bed.” I called out to Loki as he
darted to our room and laid down at
the foot of the bed.

I followed after grabbing a bottle of
water to sit on my night stand that I
could sip throughout the night. I
pulled my crappy android cell phone
from my pocket and plugged it in to
the charger and sat it next to my
water. I threw my pillow on the wall
for a back brace and laid back and lit
up a cigarette.

“You need anything?” Kris asked.
“I’m fine, honey. You need to get
some sleep.” I replied.

 

“Are you going to sleep?” She
questioned.

I took a deep drag from my
cigarette. “Yeah, I still have to take
my never ending pile of medications,
but I’m going to finish my cigarette
first.”

She pulled herself closer to me. “I
know babe, I wish the VA would stop
guinea pigging you out on shit.”

“You and me both. Half the shit
makes me feel like I’m in the twilight
zone.” I replied as I took another drag.

I flicked my cigarette on my
ashtray and started pulling my
plethora of bottles onto the bed from
my nightstand and start shaking out
the amount of pills I was supposed to
take from each bottle and placing the
bottles back on my stand.

“I’m sorry.” Kris stated.

I grabbed my bottle of water, put
my cigarette out and took my handful
of pills, put them in my mouth then
chased them with a swig of water.
“Not your fault.”

Kris sat up a bit. “You’re still
having nightmares.”

I looked over at h
er. “I know, but it
is what it is. If I’m hitting or kicking
you at night, I’ll go sleep on the
couch.”

“No, you actually kick and punch
to your side of the bed.” She
answered.

I leaned down and kissed her
forehead. “Well, that’s good.
Goodnight babe.”

“Goodnight…I love you.” She
responded.

“I love you too.” I told her before
scooching down and getting
comfortable.