The Horror Squad (Book 3) (14 page)

five in the morning and jumped back
when I opened my eyes to see Loki
right in my face. He shifted his eyes
up and back down as if he was trying
to lead me out of the room and take
him outside. I brushed my hand across
the top of his head a few times and
then rolled over to see that Kris had
already gone. Loki started pawing at
the edge of the bed, so I sat up and
rubbed my eyes. I grabbed a pair of
shorts that I had lying next to the
bedside and slipped them on. We
walked out of the bedroom door
together and into the living room. I
latched the leash onto his collar and
went outside. Rain was steadily
falling and lightning was still lighting
the sky. The clouds were as dark as
the night. I gave Loki’s leash a few
light tugs to lead him back up onto the
porch. I looked out one more time and
could see my neighbor standing out
on her porch. She appeared to be
pacing. Even though I felt for it to be
weird, I walked back into the house.

After taking the leash off of Loki, I
poured him some food into his bowl
and then walked over to the
refrigerator pulled out three eggs, four
strips of bacon and the butter. I
cracked the eggs into a small pan and
placed the bacon on our flat burner
before walking over and grabbing two
slices of bread and placed them into
the toaster. I reached into the drawer
and grabbed a fork, a butter knife and
a spatula. I scrambled the eggs, gave
my bacon a slight crisp and buttered
my toast before taking a seat at my
table.

Loki had his head still buried into
his bowl when I got to take my first
bite. I chomped through about half of
my breakfast when Loki shot his head
from his bowl and started pacing
around the front door. It sounded like
something was shuffling around on
the porch.

He stayed in front of the door, but
started walking circles. I kept eating
my breakfast until it was gone. I
dropped my dishes in the sink and
walked over and led Loki back to my
bedroom.

“Lay down.” I told him before
walking into my bathroom and
jumping in the shower.

I soaped up my sponge and
scrubbed down my body. Loki
seemed like he had calmed down a
little bit or at least I couldn’t hear him
over the running water beating down
on my neck and back.

After washing all of me and
catching an extra ten minutes of
relaxation, I turned the water off and
stepped out. I wrapped a towel around
my waist and reached into the cabinet
to grab a Q-tip. I could see a boy
sitting on the edge of my bed in the
reflection of the mirror. He kept
repeating, “Jibber Jabber” and rocking
back and forth with my loaded
twelve-gauge that I kept on a rack on
my wall. I slowly turned around once
I heard the sound of Loki clawing at
the door trying to get in. I could see a
bite mark that was dripping of blood
from his right forearm. Once I was
fully turned around, I noticed that it
was my neighbor’s son. He was a
special needs child that I had only met
once before.

I could recall him repeating,
“Jibber Jabber” when his mom was
talking to me the one time they came
over and he wanted to go back home.

I extended my arms straight out
with my palms showing. “Let me go
get your mom and we’ll talk about
this.”

“How about we go into the kitchen
and talk about it over some ice
cream?” I suggested further.

“No jibber jabber, no jibber
jabber!” He screamed out before
setting his chin down on the barrel of
the shotgun and pulling the trigger.

His head exploded from the slugs
that I had loaded in it and my room
quickly found a new paint job. I heard
Loki yelp from the other side of the
door after being startled of the
gunshot.

My eye’s widened as I
watched the
rest of his body fall back onto my bed.
I quickly grabbed my phone from my
night stand and started trying to wipe
the blood from its screen onto my
towel which had blood splatter on it
as well. I unlocked my phone’s
password and started calling 9-1-1,
but there was no answer.

I walked out of the room to catch a
better view and to calm Loki down. I
couldn’t believe I didn’t hear my door
open or the short struggle of Loki
biting him. I also couldn’t believe that
the kid was fast enough with the door
to lock Loki out.

I started trying to call my wife on
her cell phone as Loki paced around
me, checking to make sure I wasn’t
injured. There wasn’t an answer from
her either. I tossed my phone onto my
dining room table and turned on the
sink to run water over my face to
clear as much blood off of me as
possible. I dropped my towel and
walked around the corner and into the
laundry room to grab some pants and
a tank top so I didn’t have to go back
into my room. I walked back into the
living room and sat on my recliner to
seat my boots over my feet.

“Sit!” I called out to Loki so I
could run next door and aware his
mother of the situation. I opened my
door and his mother pinned her face
against my glass door with the palms
of her hands slapping the glass as
well. Loki started growling and
barking trying to get around me. Part
of her jawline was ripped open and
she was bleeding from her mouth.

She didn’t respond, only chomped
her teeth at me and clawed at the glass
door.

I slammed my front door back
closed and ran back to my phone.
Loki was constantly barking and
jumping at the door.

I looked back at my phone and
noticed that I had a voicemail that I
didn’t notice before from all of the
panic of things.

“TJ, I know you’re sleeping and I
know that you have your ringer off,
but I wanted to leave this message to
say that I love you with everything
that I am and you’ve been the best
thing in my life. This may come as a
shock, but the apocalypse is among
us. People are eating other people. Me
and Daltin are stuck in the car and
surrounded by zombies. Don’t come
looking for us, don’t do anything
irrational and please always
remember that I love you.” Kris
stated.

“Mom, I’m scared.” Daltin said in
the background with some faint
moans.

“Dad…I love you, please come
save us.” He stated before being cut
short.

“Don’t trust anyone and I love
you.” She stated before a shattering
echo blared into the phone and the
sound of Daltin screaming before it
ended.

I listened to the message at least a
dozen times while still hearing the
woman clawing at my glass door and
trying to slow my tears that was
steadily rolling down my cheeks.

I stood up and threw my phone
onto the couch and made a bee-line
into my room. I picked the shotgun up
from the floor and caught a steady
pace back to the front door. I opened
the door and shot the woman through
the glass door. I then turned back
around and grabbed my backpack and
started piling up all the ammo that I
had, along with all of my guns and
knives. I made it to the door before
turning around and grabbing my
phone back from the couch and
tucking it into the side pocket, along
with one of the wall chargers that was
next to my recliner. I didn’t even
bother grabbing a leash, I just swung
the door open and Loki followed me
out. I opened the door to my truck and
Loki climbed over to the passenger
side while I loaded my guns and
ammo.