Squad A For Assholes

AT THE PRESENT

YEAR 2105

X glowered as he watched Dick swinging his bat around crazily and cursing, not even aiming at anything specific. Amanda was slashing at zombies with a dagger, screaming profanities at them as more continued to appear out of nowhere. Suddenly, a crunching noise could be heard and a green truck screeched to a halt in front of X. A tuft of brown hair appeared at the side of the truck.

"Get your butts in here. Now!" Shawn growled.

X swing himself in and when the truck swerved around the zombies towards Dick, X stuck his hand out. Amanda caught it and pulled herself in. The truck skidded around Dick and X grabbed the bat and pulled him in and they were off. Shawn turned around in his seat and watched as Amanda shove Dick off of her lap.

"Ow! What was that for?" Dick grumbled.

"For being a prick," Amanda replied, crossing her arms looking intimidating.

Shawn grinned while X chortled. Tim smiled in the rear view mirror, Dick sighed and sat on the floor cross-legged.

"So, how's the other squads doing?" Dick asked as if nothing happened.

The truck fell into silence as everyone waited for Tim to say something. Tim drummed his fingers against the steering wheel and replied, "Zombie on your right."

Amanda grabbed Dick's bat and leaned out of the truck where a door was missing off its hinges. She lifted the bat and throw it out of the truck and sat back down.

"Hey! That was my bat you know! "Dick complained.

"Zombie eliminated," Amanda said stiffly.

The room went silent again for a few minutes until Tim sighed and parked near a vacant area with a tree at the side of the walkway. He ran his hand through his shaggy grey hair before turning around to look at his passengers. He looked at each of them in the eye. X met his eyes head on without flinching or twitching. Tim's eyes lingered on X's own for a while before looking away and leaned back against his seat, sighing again.

"They lost Squad D's connection. No one knows what happened, not until we get back to the Fortress. Seems as if Squad B returned earlier than usual, one of their team members are missing, otherwise, they seemed unharmed," Tim said as he pulled out a rag and wiped his face with it.

No one said anything for a while, waiting for Tim to continue.

"Of course someone would replace Squad B's missing person, but-"

"You're hiding something aren't you? " X growled," Spit it out."

Tim swallowed and replied slowly, "Silverwood Fortress went down."

Amanda leaned forward, resting a hand on Tim's shoulder and stiffly asked, "Since when?"

Tim swallowed and replied, "This morning. There were survivors. They had an infected among the crowd until it broke out yesterday night in one of the couples' bedroom. When the maid came in she was bitten at once. She didn't had a chance to scream before she turned into a brainless corpse. Approximately one thousand people escaped. The rest either turned, dead or escaped."

"Okay, but what about their resources? Food? Water?" Dick demanded.

"All gone for sure. The question is, whether Wind Fortress would be in danger," X said.

Amanda frowned, Shawn nibbled his bottom lip showing his sign of thinking about ideas or solutions, Dick twiddled his thumbs and hummed a song about a whore. Tim wrinkled his eyebrows in concentration. X stared at Tim intensely for a while and then looked out of the truck, watching birds twittering on a branch. The truck started up again and speed away into a forested area for half an hour. It was X who broke the silence this time.

"Did Mr Raven say anything?" X asked, leaning against his seat.

The atmosphere turned sour and before Tim could even reply, he suddenly jerked the wheel to his right. The truck turned right sharply, abruptly throwing its passengers to the left.

"Hold on to your seats folks!" Tim yelled, swerving to his left.

X, Shawn, Dick and Amanda lurched to the right and then left before righting straight again. A zombie had passed by them with a blur. Tim cursed under his breath and stomped on the gas. The truck shoot forward. Dick gripped the side of the truck, Amanda put on the seatbelt with pursed lips, Shawn gripped the sides of his seat and X leaned back scowling, acting like if nothing happened.

"Shit! A Hunter on our trail. It's following us. X! Do something about it before I decide to crash into a tree or runover the blasted zombie," Tim yelled as he glanced at the rear view mirror every five seconds.

X cursed under his breath and pulled out his AK-47.

"Amanda! Grab onto me for a second! Don't you dear let go," X growled with frustration.

He got a snort for a reply as he leaned out of the truck and aimed for the zombie which was running behind, hissing a lot and crouching while running. X sneered as he aimed his rifle at the zombie's head and pulled the trigger. A loud shot rang through the forest and the zombie staggered backwards, its' contents spilling out of its' head and onto the forest floor.

"That. Was disgusting," Shawn squeaked as he lowered into his seat, shivering from disgust.

X didn't say anything and leaned back against his seat. After what seemed like an hour of peaceful silence, Tim cursed under his breath again as he slowed the truck down. Amanda looked up with an irritated expression on her face.

"What now?" Amanda growled, her expression dark.

"Survivors. A family of three. Father, daughter and son. Perhaps," Tim replied.

"You're not going to pick them up are you?" Dick asked incredulously.

Tim didn't say anything and parked beside the family. X looked up and saw a girl of ten and a boy of fifteen on either side of a man with wavy brown hair, tanned skin tone and a goatee. Shawn leaned out of the truck and greeted them politely.

"Jack London. This is my son, Frederick and my daughter, Elise. Is it alright if we come along with you?" Jack pleaded as he held the two children close to him.

"Sure! Why not? Hop in," Tim replied, cutting off Shawn's reply who glared at Tim.

Jack thanked him and the three of them sat in the truck, leaving X to sit on the floor with Dick, who grinned at Frederick and Elise. There was an awkward moment as the truck drove in silence, driving over bumps and holes causing the truck to creak or rock side to side.

"Are you one of those survivors from Silverwood Fortress?" Amanda asked crisply.

Jack stared at Amanda for a while and replied softly and carefully, "Yes, we were few of the survivors. Some of us who got away weren't infected. We managed to get on a truck and got away but the thing ran out of gas so we walk".

Amanda nodded in understanding and collapsed into silence. It was Elise who broke the silence this time.

"Papa? Where are we going?" Elise asked, trembling as everyone laid their eyes on her.

"Somewhere safe Ellie. Don't worry. They're good people," her father replied softly, caressing her curly blonde hair.

"We wouldn't meet the Zircon Lady right Papa?" Elise asked, tagging at her father's t-shirt which was stained with dirt and speckles of blood.

X snapped his eyes towards Frank including Amanda and Dick. Shawn whipped his head around and stared at Jack in confusion.

"No sweetheart. We wouldn't see her ever again," Jack replied calmly but fear was evident in his hazel eyes.

"The what Lady?" Dick asked as he stared at Elise in confusion.

Jack pursed his lips, the fear in his eyes increased as his shoulders trembled. Everyone watched at Jack including Tim who glanced at him every now and then in the rear view mirror. Frederick tagged at his father's arm.

"That red-haired bitch! She tricked us! Fooled us all! Calls herself The Zircon Lady! Zircon Lady my ass! She was a zombie all along! It was her! She killed Marianne! My wife! Torn to shreds! Her carcass eaten by the other zombies! She deserve to go to Hell!" Jack burst out, weeping as he cursed under his breath for being weak and a fool.

"Papa?" Elise asked, tagging her father's t-shirt.

Jack hugged Elise and buried his face in Elise's hair, sniffling as he squeezed Elise.

"Elise saw it with her own eyes. She didn't say anything though because she's scared and confused. I knew it because she nearly got herself killed until someone saved us. A blonde, perhaps," Jack said softly, sniffling as he looked at X and Amanda.

Dick looked at Frederick with a soft smile who smiled back just as softly while Amanda patted Jack's shoulder and X nodded his head in understanding before looking out of the truck.

"Shawn, get rid of the two zombies ahead," Tim muttered gruffly, pressing the pedal to speed up the truck a little.

"Tim," Shawn replied calmly, "turn back. Now."

Tim screeched to an abrupt halt and everyone was thrown forward. Jack grabbed the two children while X and Amanda grabbed the side of the truck from falling out of it. Dick's head thudded into Tim's seat, causing him to yelp loudly.

"Ow! What is wrong with you people stopping at anytime as if you feel like it?" Dick squeaked.

Amanda smacked Dick's head, hissing harshly, "Shut up" under her breath. Everyone froze, stiffly looking at Shawn and Tim who looked horrified.

"Okay, reverse slowly," Shawn said softly, his green eyes staring straight ahead, ignoring X's and Amanda's questioning looks.

Tim gently eased the truck into reverse mood and stopped. Dick peeked over Tim's shoulder and suddenly turned pale.

"Holy shit," he muttered as he gripped Tim's shoulder tightly, "This is bad."

X looked over Shawn's shoulder and growled with annoyance. There were two zombies ahead and from the looks of it, both were Hearonz, since their eyes were completely black. They were difficult to attack since they are average in intelligence and strong in strength. They can even tear a human to shreds. Their hearing were excellent and seems as if they are immune to pain, even if they were shot eight times, they would still be standing and fighting compared to the Common ones and a Hunter. Creeperz were dangerous as well but only at night, they despise the daylight.

"What now?" Amanda whispered softly, as both zombies turned towards their direction, their figures were very dirty especially with their matted hair that were covered in leaves, dirt, twigs and blood.

"Even if we drive away, they would catch up immediately. Even though they're dumb, their sense of direction are excellent. Especially if they inhabit this part of the area, they might take shortcuts and catch us by surprise. So how about we run over them?" Dick whispered, shivering as the zombies crept forward slowly.

"That's even worse. They have nails that are long and has the ability to hook themselves around any object like a tree or a fence. And besides, we don't want one riding on one side of the truck right?" Shawn growled, his eyes scattering around frantically looking for a solution.

"So we die?" Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How about we sacrifice someone?" X suggested, eyeing the two zombies that were now gaining speed, "And hurry up, they will reach us in about a minute."

"Then how about going into the forest?" Amanda suggested.

"On foot or we're going with the truck?" Dick asked.

"Shh. . . . . they're right in front of the truck," Tim whispered.

The passengers froze and stared at the zombies who bared their yellow teeth, grinning like Jack-O-The-Lanterns. Everyone seemed to stop breathing and suddenly they lurched forward, running towards the opening side of the truck, both taking opposite directions. X pulled out his rifle and shoot the one that was running around the left side of the truck, Amanda pulled out two daggers from her boots and went to face the one that was rounding the right.

"Shit! Another one's coming! It's a Hunter! It's speeding up! Crap! Can't drive ahead or else we'll run over the zombie and lose control!" Tim shouted as he put the truck on drive and jerked the truck back and forward to throw off the two zombies from both sides of the truck.

Someone screamed as a grey hand with long nails hooked around the right side of the truck. Cries broke the air, worst of all was the snarl that came from both sides of the truck, but loudest of all was the one on the right.

"Dick! Lend me a hand would you!" Amanda screamed as she jerked left and right, trying her best to hack off the hand that was gripping the side of the truck tightly.

Dick panicked and grabbed a gun from Tim's seat and aimed it at the entrance. The zombie finally came into view. Elise and Frederick screamed in horror while Jack tried to protect the two of them and help X with the zombie using a knife which was proving to be difficult since X's rifle ran out of bullets and was now using a dagger just like Amanda. A grey and dirty face framed with shaggy and smelly hair was reaching its other hand for the children. Its black eyes looking blindly for the crying source. Dick pulled the trigger and the zombie shrieked as it clutched its now bloody ear which was blown off entirely. It used its nails to claw the air, swinging it around wildly. Dick pulled the trigger again. The zombie snarled angrily as it reached towards Dick's direction. The truck continued to move back and forward but both zombies on each side of the truck seemed to have found excellent footing. A loud snarl and a hiss broke out from outside, signaling that there were two other zombies outside.

"Hack at their feet!" Shawn screamed as he grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it to the left which seemed like a bad idea.

The zombie on the right seemed to have been successfully thrown out of the truck due to Amanda's quick movement in cutting off its feet and slicing its fingers from its hand. The bad news was, the zombie on the left was thrown into the truck. X had lost his footing and fell onto the seat. The zombie fell on its face but got up quickly with a groan as it swing its nails towards X, a loud shot rang out and the zombie swerved its head towards Dick's direction with a snarl and launched forward.

Out of nowhere, something flew into the truck coming from the right and smashed into the zombie throwing it out of the truck. Dick stood paralyzed for a moment, staring blankly at where the zombie was standing a few moments ago. X sat still for a few seconds and looked at the right side of the truck.

"Holy shit," Tim muttered as he hit the brakes, looking out of the truck with a gapping mouth.

Holy shit indeed, X thought as he looked into a pair of piercing blue eyes which were sharp and seemed as if it can look into one's soul. He felt dazed. Amanda stared at the stranger and suddenly snatched the gun from Dick's hand and aimed it at the stranger.

"Speak! Who are you?" she growled, her brown eyes narrowing slightly.

The man stood there with raised eyebrows and ran his hand through his shoulder length black hair. He seemed tall, taller than X and from the look of it, muscular. He appeared to be around his twenties. He sighed and bowed his head. His shoulders shaking.

"What's so funny? " Amanda growled, her fingers tightening around the trigger.

"I saved your lives and this is how you repay me?" the stranger said smoothly, with a hint amusement.

Amanda glowered as Tim got out of the truck, stepped forward towards the stranger and raised a hand to shake the stranger's hand.

"Uh. . . . . thank you for saving our lives. Is there anything that I can do to repay your. . . . . uh. . . . . kindness?" Tim asked warmly.

"Sure. Let me drive," the man replied.

Tim's face turned white and gaped at him.

"What?"

"Let me drive. I do not want anymore pesky zombies coming after you again since I wasted my blasted time to save your puny lives," the man growled.

Tim glanced at X for help who shrugged. Tim sighed and said seriously, "If you try any funny business, we'll get rid of you in a second. Is that understood?"

The stranger grinned and replied huskily, "Are you my boss or what? I just want to help that's all."

And just like that there were eight passengers and a driver in the truck. The back of the truck was crowded and smelled of blood and the stench of rotten flesh. Both sides of the truck were covered in sprinkles of blood. The stranger was humming under his breath about a warrior and was drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. It was X who broke the silence this time.

"So aren't you a human yourself? Why'd you say that you wasted your blasted time to save our puny lives?" X asked as he shifted uncomfortably from his standing position.

The stranger's blue eyes flickered towards the rear view mirror and meet X's black ones and then looked ahead again.

"Call me Zack. Full name's Zackery Haven. Thirty and moving to thirty one in two weeks. I'm a zombie, if you're wondering," he replied smoothly.

Jack stiffened, snapped his head upwards and glared at the back of Zack's head. Amanda froze as well as Shawn, Tim, Dick and X.

"That explains the eyes," Jack growled, "It's unusually bright. . . . . like sapphires."

Zack looked at Jack in the rear view mirror and stared straight ahead and replied quietly, "I suppose that you've met Helen Guant. The one with red hair?"

Jack growled as he replied angrily, "Yes. The Zircon Lady who-is-actually-a-psychopath that killed my wife."

Amanda whipped out a knife and shove it under Zack's throat, who didn't move a muscle but still continued to drive.

"Get out. Now," Amanda growled threateningly.

"Or what? You'll kill me? You should know by now that zombies can't die easily from a slice to the neck. We can go headless if we want but we'll just wander around blindly that's all," Zack said smoothly.

Tim threw a threatening look at Amanda who growled in frustration and shove the knife into her boots. Zack eased the truck gently to turn right. Shawn stared at him with interest, his green eyes staring at Zack's face intensely.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," Zack said chuckling.

The tip of Shawn's ear turned pink but he ignored Zack's comment and asked, "What type of zombie are you? I've never seen zombies with a different eye color other than black."

X turned to look at Zack who was staring at him in the rear view mirror. When his blue ones met X's black ones, he looked away and focused on the road.

"Take a guess," Zack replied.

Shawn blinked at him, cocking his head to one side and replied, "Hunter?"

Zack shook his head. Shawn frowned and stared at him hard. X noticed a red tint creeping up Zack's throat.

"I told you. Take a picture, it'll last longer," Zack muttered, chuckling as he turned the truck to his left.

Shawn glowered and turned back to face the front. X noticed the tips of Shawn's ears were pink causing him to snicker. It turned silent for an hour or two until they came across another zombie which was one of those idiotic and dumb ones but Tim still pulled out a gun and shot it in the face with a rifle, causing the zombie's head to explode. Amanda wrinkled her nose with disgust while Dick pretended to puke.

"Do I just honk the horn or does someone have to get out of the car to signal the guard?" Zack asked, turning right, his eyes looking at the mirror and eyeing the collapsed zombie.

"Shawn will send a signal to open the gates. No need to worry about that. So mind your own business," Tim growled, ruffling his hair in frustration, "And drive quickly. I don't want to shoot zombies for the rest of the day."

Zack smirked and stomped on the gas. The truck shoot forward and the drive became more rough. The children whimpered while Amanda grimaced. X and Shawn on the other hand took a nap, ignoring the rest of the passengers. Another hour passed by until the truck slowed down, Shawn woke up and grabbed a walkie talkie hanging above his head, punching a couple of buttons muttering under his breath.

"We're almost there," Tim said, stretching his arms.

"Hurry up then. I feel sweaty here," Dick grumbled, slouching with a look of boredom on his face.

"Shut up," X and Amanda growled.

The truck came to a stop, the gates, towering over them like giants, creaked open with a clang and Zack drove the truck in.

"Wait a minute! Zack is coming with us?!" Shawn shrieked, whipping his head around to stare at Tim with eyes that were as wide as saucers.

Tim shrugged and replied, "I guess. After all, he helped us a lot or else we would've been corpses. We can invite him to dinner, that would be enough, I guess."

"But!" Shawn shrieked, "He is a zombie! Are you trying to kill us all Timmy?! Not only is he a zombie but a freaking stranger who thinks humans are just puny ants! Sometimes most people don't deserve any kindness you dimwit!"

Amanda glowered while X frowned in displeasure. Zack pursed his lips as he parked in the middle of the courtyard. He turned to look at Shawn with a cold expression.

"First of all, I do not eat humans because going crazy is not my thing. Second, I cannot spread the virus unless I decide to bite that person or my blood or saliva comes into contact with that person. Third, I saved your puny lives so that does not make me a stranger and lastly-" Zack shoot a look of annoyance at Tim, "I don't eat human food so I don't see the point of eating dinner with you people unless you serve fresh animal blood in a bowl then I might reconsider joining you for dinner. I prefer cougars or a mountain lion by the way if you're interested."

Shawn opened and shut his mouth, a look of hesitance in his eyes as he bit his bottom lip. Amanda muttered under her breath as she exited out of the truck, with Frank and the two children following behind. Dick frowned as he stood up, dusting his pants and jumping out of the truck with a loud "See yah!"

Shawn put his hands on his hips and said harshly, "That is not a human, Timmy. That is a zombie. And similar to the type that attacked Silverwood Fortress. Are you trying to get us all killed?"

Tim stiffened and slowly turned around to look at Shawn with a hard look in his eyes.

"Shawn. I know what I'm doing and you forgot the fact that he saved our lives from the two zombies back there. Have you forgotten?"

Shawn bit his cheek, turned around and jumped out of the truck, stomping away in frustration. X looked at Shawn's tiny figure before turning to look at Tim and Zack with a raised eyebrow.

"Well then, Zackery. We haven't even introduce ourselves. We're Squad A, the best of the best and Squad A is another phrase which we use a lot, Assholes. Welcome to Emerald Fortress," X said humorously.