“That’s why we gotta watch,” Dante replied, “and see what we see.”
They stared at it, watching as it finally got its legs under it and shambled in their direction. It seemed to be a half-hearted speedwalk, and they studied its legs, seeing no bones sticking out or anything looking out of place.
“You see anything?” Dante asked.
Ace shook his head. “Just a fucked-up bitch who needs her head caved in.”
His companion nodded in agreement and stepped closer to the zombie. He used the top of the sledgehammer to smash her in the chest, sending her tumbling back to the grass. He raised the hammer high and brought it down on her skull with a wet squelch.
“What the hell was that all about?” Lily screeched through the slats in the window.
Ace jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Ask your man there,” he drawled.
Dante knelt down, looking over the dead ghoul to see if there was any special damage that could have caused it to be slow.
“What’s going on?” Lily called. “What do you see?”
He stood up, shaking his head, and simply said, “Hope.”
CHAPTER TWO
The group clustered around in the living room, mowing down on pancakes and scrambled eggs. Abigail emerged from the kitchen with a steaming hot pan.
“Who needs more eggs?” she asked.
Ace and Bailey both held out their empty plates, and she dished out heaps of eggs before turning and dumping the rest onto Lily’s plate.
She nodded and offered the older woman a smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, dear,” Abigail replied and headed back into the kitchen, getting rid of her pan and re-entering with a plate for herself.
“So, are you still dead set on going to see Maddox today?” Lily asked, scooping up a forkful of egg.
Her cousin nodded. “Yeah, Dante was right about the food situation,” he said through a mouthful of pancakes, spitting crumbs everywhere, much to Bailey’s disgust. “So unless you magically learned how to be a farmer last night, we’re going to need someone who knows how to grow.”
Lily shook her head, letting out an exasperated sigh.
“If you don’t want to go,” Dante piped up as he studied the sullen expression on her face, “Ace and I can handle it.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Thanks, but…” She sighed again. “If that slimy-ass fucker is still alive, I’m going to have to deal with him sooner or later. Might as well get it over with.”
“Do you want Phillip and me to tag along today?” Cam asked, holding up a hand.
Ace shook his head. “Nope, you boys got some chores to do in our absence,” he declared.
Phillip groaned. “Chores?” he asked. “Really?”
“You can call it whatever you want,” the redneck replied. “But shit needs to get done around here.”
Dante leaned forward, setting down his fork. “You two did a great job fortifying the house, but now we need you to do it to some of the neighbor’s houses as well,” he explained. “As much as I like you people, having six of us in the living room isn’t exactly a long term sleeping solution.”
The boys nodded begrudgingly.
“But what about zombies?” Phillip asked. “Didn’t you say those ones you killed this morning were your neighbors?”
Ace jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “We’ll handle that before we go,” he explained. “While Miss Abigail was cooking, I checked the remaining houses. Only one on the other side of the gas station had some in there. Once we get that cleared, this town is ours.”
“So which house do we start at?” Cam asked.
Ace and Dante shared a quick glance, and the redneck shrugged.
“The house across the street has a fence,” Dante suggested. “It’s a small chain link one, but it’s better than nothing. Get that boarded up and see if you can’t get something to block off the road and yards up to Ace’s. If we have any more visitors, it would be nice to have them waiting on the perimeter instead of knocking on our bedroom windows.”
The redneck nodded. “A-fucking-men to that,” he drawled.
They finished up their breakfast and set their plates down. Lily started shoveling her food into her mouth to catch up.
“Take your time,” Dante assured her with a smile, and she nodded in thanks.
“From best I can tell, there was just one of those things in the last house,” Ace piped up. “Scarface and I can handle it. You just be ready to go when we get back. Bit of a haul down to Hardeeville.”
She nodded and gave Dante’s arm a small squeeze before he passed her.
The duo grabbed their farm tool weapons from the porch and headed to the road, walking towards their target house. The morning had turned out fairly nice, a bit cool with the breeze, with the sun warming their faces.
“Fucking zombies, man,” Ace declared.
Dante raised his eyebrow. “Is that in general, or do you have something specific to curse them about?” he asked.
“Football, man,” the redneck whined. “Perfect weather for grilling in the backyard before the games started. Then sitting on my ass for twelve straight hours with the case of beer by my side, stuffing my face while watching grown men give each other concussions. It is a bonafide tragedy that I’m not going to be able to do that this season…” His eyes widened and his face went pale. “Or any season.” He scrubbed his hands down his face. “Fuck, it’s really gone, isn’t it?”
Dante nodded solemnly. “Afraid it is, buddy,” he replied. “Afraid it is.”
“You a big football fan?” Ace asked, taking a deep breath in his misery. “Seattle has a hell of a team.”
His companion shook his head. “I would watch a bit whenever Grace was over,” he replied. “She was a die hard fan, never missed a game. I was kind of indifferent.”
“So your sister’s a fan, huh?” the redneck asked, cocking a brow. “She ever drag you to a game so you could tailgate?”
Dante chuckled. “We talked about it a few times,” he admitted, “but Grace isn’t what you’d call a morning person.”
“Oh man, you are missing out!” Ace moaned. “Well, just like I’m being your wingman for Lil, I’m going to help you out here, too.” He ignored Dante’s snort and continued, “I still got a couple of games on the DVR, so tomorrow morning, I’m gonna get up early and we’re gonna do a proper tailgate. We’re gonna grill whatever we can find, drink a few beers before breakfast, and then sit down and watch us a football game. Gotta take advantage of that shit while we can.”
His companion chuckled and nodded. “I appreciate that, man,” he replied. “And you’re right, we gotta get in that TV watching while we still have power.”
“Fucking fuck,” Ace stammered, smacking his thigh. “I didn’t even think about the power. I was talking about the beer running out.”
Dante shrugged. “Unless there’s a direct attack, the power plant should be okay for a few more days,” he said. “Maybe even a week on its own. Of course, we might actually have power for a while, thanks to the QXR guys. They probably got people addressing that as we speak.”
“Here’s hoping,” Ace said. “I think one of my neighbors has a generator or two, and the gas station got refueled a few weeks back. It would get us through in a pinch, but it would be loud as hell.” They reached the target house, and he held his pitchfork high. “But, one problem at a time.”
“This the house?” Dante asked.
The redneck nodded. “Yep.”
Dante took a deep breath. “So, how do you want to do this?”
“I looked in through the front window and saw it wandering around the living room,” Ace replied. “Checked the other windows and didn’t see anything, so this is probably it.”
Dante studied the front door, noting that it was elevated at the top of four brick steps. He cracked a smile. “You like physical comedy?” he asked.
“Physical comedy?” Ace blinked at him. “Oh, you mean like when people fall
down and shit? Hell yeah, I do!”
His companion motioned for him to stay put. “I got an idea,” he said.
They reached the front door, and Dante reached for the knob, but then stopped. He bent over and pulled up the welcome mat, finding a key beneath.
“Gotta love small towns,” he murmured, and slid it into the lock as quietly as he could. He turned the bolt softly, and then wrapped his hand around the knob, glancing at Ace.
The redneck stood several feet away from the stairs, pitchfork at the ready. Dante nodded and then threw open the door.
“Knock, knock!” he yelled.
A zombie moaned and tore for him, arms outstretched. He jumped out of the way at the last section, and it ran straight ahead, not comprehending the stairs, immediately falling down onto its face.
Before it could scramble to its feet, Ace drove the pitchfork into its back, pinning it to the ground. It writhed and flailed and tried to squirm away, but Dante was quick with the sledgehammer, bringing it down hard to crush its skull.
As soon as the corpse fell limp, both men dissolved into laughter.
“That is one dumb son of a bitch,” Ace declared through his gasps. “Of course he wasn’t that bright when he was alive, either.”
Dante waved for him to follow. “Let’s clear the house just to be safe,” he suggested.
The duo headed inside, moving swiftly through the rooms, knocking on any closed doors and listening for sound. A moment later they rejoined each other in the front hall, finding nothing else.
Ace led them into the kitchen, opening up the fridge and finding a case of beer. “Good news, we’re set up to tailgate tomorrow,” he said, pulling out the case with a flourish.
“Well, let’s get this meet and greet with Maddox out of the way so we can start prepping,” Dante said, and they sauntered outside, heading back to collect Lily.
CHAPTER THREE
Ace, Dante, and Lily piled into the truck, the latter in the middle. The rest of the group stood on the porch, watching them.
“Get what you can done today,” Dante called through the open passenger window. “If there’s any trouble, you get in the house and stay there. We’ll handle it when we get back. Everybody good on that?”
There were nods all around, and Ace fired up the truck, waving. He did a burnout as he pulled out of the yard, fishtailing a bit on the road as he headed for the highway, making the turn south.
“So how far is this place again?” Dante asked.
Ace tilted his head back and forth. “Should take half an hour to get there,” he replied. “Hardeeville is only about fifteen miles or so, but Maddox has himself a little hideaway down by the river. Got to do a bit of off-roading to get to his place.”
“If he’s that far off the grid, there’s a good chance he’s still alive,” Dante said.
Lily scoffed. “He’s a cockroach in human form,” she drawled, “that’s how he’s still alive.”
“Guessing things didn’t end amicably?” Dante asked, avoiding her gaze.
There was a long pause, and Ace finally chuckled.
“You can tell him Lil,” he assured her. “I don’t think he’s gonna run away.”
Dante raised his eyebrow. “That bad, huh?”
“Yeah,” she replied with a sigh, “I caught him in bed with my cousin.”
Dante wrinkled his nose. “Yikes.”
“Oh, that’s not all,” she replied with a dark laugh. “I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and proceeded to chase his naked ass down the street, yelling that I would cut it off and feed it to him if I ever saw him again.”
Dante blinked at her, and then a smile broke out on his face. “So what you’re saying is, I should do the talking when we get there?” he asked.
“Unless he’s uncooperative,” she amended, crossing her arms, “at which point, I can jump in.”
“Good to know we have a negotiator with us,” Dante declared, and the trio erupted into laughter.
The road was nearly empty towards Hardeeville, save for a single overturned car a few miles outside of town.
“How big is this town, anyway?” Dante asked.
Ace shrugged. “Just a few thousand, and it’s spread out pretty good,” he replied. “Still, we’re not going to chance it. I know the back roads good enough to get us there without going near the center of town.”
He pulled off of the highway onto a country road, driving for a few miles before hitting the river. The view was beautiful, with tall grass complimenting the water and blowing in the breeze.
“A shame we didn’t bring our fishing poles,” Dante said. “Looks like a nice day for it.”
“Well, if we get Maddox on our side, I’m sure he has a private spot for you to get your fishing fix,” Ace replied. “If you think I’m a country boy, whooo, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
He drove along a small road running near the river for a few miles. Dante soaked in the beauty, which he knew was going to be in short supply that day, or really for the foreseeable future. Eventually, the truck slowed to a crawl in the middle of the road.
“It’s still a little further up,” Lily said.
Her cousin shook his head. “Nah, we’re close, Lil,” he insisted.
“I’m telling you, the turnoff is still a ways up,” she snapped.
Ace rolled his eyes. “And I’m telling you that ever since you threatened to feed his foot long to him, that he put in a new entrance,” he replied.
She scoffed again. “Foot long?” She clucked her tongue. “That thing barely qualified as a lil’ smokie.”
Dante chuckled under his breath.
“There it is!” Ace cried, and turned off of the road, rolling through a narrow ditch through a small opening in the trees. As soon as they cleared it, they found themselves on a dirt road that wove its way through the forest.
“Pretty impressive for a small town drug dealer,” Dante said. “If you didn’t know what you were looking for you’d drive right past it.”
Lily nodded. “My guess is, that was his brother’s doing,” she said. “Tate ain’t a lot of things, but he has their security on lockdown.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Ace agreed, pointing up ahead at an eight-foot tall fence with barbed wire coming across the road and weaving into the woods. There was a call box by the entrance.
Lily’s eyebrows raised as she appraised the setup. “Looks like they’ve really upgraded their operation,” she said.
“Either that or Maddox is extremely protective of his…” Dante paused and smirked. “Ahem. Goods.”
Lily laughed as Ace pulled up to the call box. He reached out and hit the button, and it ran a few times before a hoarse voice floated through the speaker.
“Sorry, but we’re not entertaining company at the moment,” somebody said in a slow, lazy drawl. “However, if you’re a customer, please note that we now only accept canned goods and nudie magazines. Tell me what you got, and I’ll tell you what you can get.”
Ace furrowed his brow. “Who in the hell is this?” he demanded
“This is Henry man,” the guy said brightly. “Now what can I get you?”
“You can get me Maddox,” the redneck said firmly. “That’s what you can get.”
There was a sigh through the speaker. “Aw man,” Henry whined, “he’s like, in the other room and stuff.”
“Then go get him,” Ace demanded.
“Well, I… uh…” Henry stammered.
“Now!” Ace yelled.
“All right, all right,” the stoner drawled with another sigh. “Just chill, man. Who should I say is calling?”
The redneck leaned his head against the headrest. “Tell him it’s Ace.”
Henry snorted. “You’re named after a playing card.”
Ace put a hand to his forehead, shaking his head. He was just about to yell again when the line clicked off. After half a minute, he grunted in frustration.
“That dumbass has about ten seconds before I drive on through t
his fence and whoop his ass,” he growled.
Dante chuckled. “Might need to give him a little more time than that,” he suggested. “He didn’t sound like he could find the couch he was lying on.”
“Maddox’s stuff isn’t for the faint of heart, that’s for damn sure,” Ace muttered.
Finally the call box clicked on, and an irritated voice came through. “Who in the hell is this?” Maddox snapped. “I just wanna know whose ass to whoop next time I see ‘em.”
“Boy, you’ve been trying since eighth grade to get the best of me,” Ace said playfully. “Didn’t happen then, ain’t gonna happen today.”
“Holy shit, is that Ace?” came the surprised reply.
The redneck rolled his eyes. “Who the fuck else would be coming to see your dumb ass in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?” he asked.
“Zombie what?” Maddox said with a laugh. “Shit man, I was gonna offer you something to smoke, but it sounds like you’ve been toking it up already.”
Ace shook his head. “I wish,” he replied. “So, you gonna let me in so I can tell you what’s going on?”
“Yeah, come on up, brother,” the dealer replied, and the call box buzzed as the gate slowly moved open.
Ace hit the gas when the door was clear and sped down the dirt road towards the house. They came around a bend into a clearing with a double-wide trailer sitting about fifty yards away from the river. To one side was a large greenhouse that was twice the size of the trailer.
Off to the side facing the water were three large solar panel arrays with cables leading to the buildings.
Dante blinked, reluctantly impressed. “The weed business must be booming for him to be able to afford all that,” he said.
“Living in the middle of nowhere it’s either pot or meth,” Ace explained, “and luckily there’s a lot of health conscious people in town.”
Lily nodded. “There’s also an art school up the road in Savannah,” she added, “which doesn’t hurt sales either.”
The trio got out of the truck, and she hung back a bit, walking behind them as Maddox stepped out of the trailer, flanked by two men and a woman.
Dead America: Lowcountry | Book 4 | Lowcountry [Part 4] Page 2