Dead America: Lowcountry | Book 4 | Lowcountry [Part 4]

by Slaton, Derek

  “You’re good!” he bellowed.

  Dante and Lily stood up, racing over to the edge of the truck and setting up their potato cannon barrel on the truck gate. They looked out and saw about fifteen or so zombies racing towards them, about twenty yards away.

  “Wait until they’re close,” Lily instructed.

  He nodded, following her lead since he wasn’t sure exactly what the cannons were going to do. She stared down the ghouls, spread out a couple yards apart from each other, but still fairly tightly packed.

  “Hit ‘em!” she cried, and both sparked up their lighters, pressing a flame to the firing chamber. A moment later, there was a significant BOOM as both cannons fired.

  The result was a blunderbuss, sending shrapnel flying through the air at high velocity. The nuts and bolts smacked into zombie skulls, dropping half of them in a single shot. Their heads exploded in a spectacular display of red goo.

  Even with the success, eight or so were still racing towards the truck.

  “Reload!” Dante yelled.

  Lily took a knee as he grabbed his crowbar, awaiting the coming enemies. The first corpse hit the side of the truck and he gave it a forceful strike to the top of the head, slumping it over. Before he could strike again, seven more slapped into the vehicle, causing it to rock a bit.

  Arms flailed, reaching over the end gate at them. He swung down again, but the constant movement of the truck wobbling made it difficult for him to aim properly, and his blow landed on a shoulder. He grunted and pulled back, striking again, this time hitting a head.

  “Reloaded!” Lily yelled, and he turned to help aim the makeshift cannon as she lit it.

  The force of the blast at point blank range eviscerated the zombie heads, sending skull and brain fragments flying several yards behind them. The shot was so good that only one ghoul remained, and Dante quickly smacked it down.

  “Nice shooting,” he declared as he stood back up.

  Lily brushed off her shoulder playfully. “What can I say?” she asked, batting her eyelashes. “You don’t grow up in a rural town and not know how to shoot one of these.”

  A moment later there was another boom from the front of the jail. They looked over, and saw that Tate had taken down most of his pack, leaving only a couple that he took out from the back of the truck with a baseball bat.

  Lily smacked the roof. “Back it up, they’re good!” she called out. She and Dante knelt down as Ace swung the vehicle around, bringing them back up to the entrance.

  Maddox jumped out of his truck, carrying a small hand-held welding torch. “Cover me, I’ll get the door,” he said.

  The group formed a semi-circle around him, looking out across the road, hoping that their potato cannons hadn’t attracted any more company.

  Maddox fired up the torch, going straight to work on the locking mechanism. It didn’t take long for the flame to burn bright, and the metal began to melt away. A few moments later, the door fell open.

  “We’re in,” he said, hooking the torch to his belt as the other readied their weapons, preparing to go inside.

  Dante entered first, gun aimed high. He quickly swept the small lobby area, finding not much of anything. There was an overturned chair, and some magazines strewn about.

  “Not sure if a fight took place here, or they’re just really messy,” Ace said, looking around.

  Dante tongued his cheek. “Let’s assume the former,” he said.

  Maddox pushed the door closed behind him, and grabbed the overturned chair, dragging it over to wedge it under the handle. “This ain’t gonna do much if a bunch of those things show up,” he said, “but at least with it closed, they might just walk by it.”

  Dante nodded. “So where’s Francis going to be at?” he asked.

  “Probably the main holding cells in the back,” Maddox replied, and led them over to a door that led to a long hallway that cut through the entire building straight to the back. As soon as he got through, there was an office on the left that he stopped at.

  He tried the doorknob, but it was locked, so he used his gun to smash open the glass, reaching in to unlock it.

  They entered the room, and it was a small guard post. There were several monitors in there that showed various parts of the jail, and what they could see wasn’t very encouraging.

  Several packs of zombies roamed about. Ten, maybe fifteen total across the main hallways. They found a monitor showing the main holding cells, and there were half a dozen ghouls in there, all congregating around one cell.

  “That’s gotta be Francis,” Tate hissed.

  Maddox looked around the room, finding a microphone. He went over to it and checked the buttons, finally flipping a switch. “Yo Francis,” he said into the mic, and his voice echoed throughout the hallways on every speaker. “It’s your cousin Maddox. If you’re in that cell, give us a sign.”

  They watched the monitor, and one of the zombies’ heads disappeared between the bars. A moment later, the body convulsed and fell backwards, missing its head.

  “Oh yeah, that’s him all right,” Tate declared.

  Dante took a deep breath. “Now we just gotta figure out how to get to him,” he said.

  “My potato cannon should be good for another shot,” Tate said.

  Lily nodded. “We have one shot left too,” she added. “Mine is starting to crack after that second but, and I’d rather not blow my hand off if I can help it.”

  “I’ll go grab ‘em,” Tate offered.

  “I’ll come with,” she said. “Going alone isn’t exactly advised these days.”

  As they turned to leave, a walkie talkie on the far end of the table clicked on.

  “All right there Maddox,” a firm aged male voice came through, “why don’t you pick up the radio so we can have ourselves a chat before you go and do something stupid?”

  Maddox froze, eyes wide and unsure.

  “Maddox, you dumb son of a bitch,” the man growled, “you just announced you were here over the loudspeaker, so I know you’re in the office and can hear me. Now pick up the damn radio.”

  He sighed and picked it up, clicking the button and raising it to his lips. “Judging by your friendly tone,” he drawled, “I’m going to guess this is Sheriff Brandt.”

  “Congrats on solving one mystery there,” the Sheriff replied. “Now maybe you can solve one for me. I seem to recall that the last time we met I said in no uncertain terms, if you ever came into my county I was going to put you in solitary confinement and lose the key. Now you want to explain to me just what in the hell you’re doing here?”

  Maddox sighed. “Not sure if you noticed or not Sheriff, but the world has kinda gone to shit,” he said forcefully. “So my friends and I came up here to get Francis out before he starves to death. Because judging by the monitor, nobody has been in to see him for a while.”

  “Now you sure this is Maddox?” the Sheriff drawled. “Because that sounds way more selfless than I would have thought you could muster up. Now if you were smart, you’d go ahead and walk right back out that front door and never look back, because if you try to break him out, I’m going to beat you down and lock you up with him. Once Francis is done serving his time, he’ll be released.”

  Maddox growled, but before he could respond, Dante let out a whistle and waved him over. He pointed to a pack of zombies eight strong that congregated around an office door on the other side of the building.

  The redneck grinned. “I know full well you think I’m a moron,” he said into the walkie talkie. “And chances are, you can find some people who would agree with you.” Lily gave an enthusiastic thumbs up from across the room and he flipped her off. “However, I’m smart enough to pick my friends right, and they’ve figured out that you’re trapped like a rat in the east wing office.”

  There was a long pause, and he smirked at the silence.

  “Judging by your silence, I’m going to guess I’m right,” Maddox continued. “So if that’s all, we’ll be on our way.” />
  He set down the radio, and they began to leave the room. Before they reached the door, the walkie talkie crackled to life.

  “Hope you weren’t planning on cutting him out of the cell with one of those little propane cutters,” the Sheriff said, a note of teasing in his voice.

  Maddox froze, glancing at Dante and then rushing back to the table to pick up the radio. “And what if I am?” he demanded.

  “Then you’re exactly the dumbass I thought you were,” came the pert reply. “We installed steel doors earlier this year.”

  Maddox threw down the radio and clenched his fists. “Fuck, fuck, motherfucking fuck,” he snarled.

  “Calm down,” Dante said, holding up a hand. “What is it?”

  Maddox motioned to the torch attached to his belt. “This thing doesn’t get hot enough to cut through steel.”

  “Shit,” Dante replied.

  “Judging by your silence, I’m guessing I was right,” the Sheriff echoed Maddox’s earlier words with a mocking tone. “How about we work out a deal?”

  The group looked around at each other.

  “Let’s hear him out,” Tate suggested, and there were nods all around.

  Maddox raised the walkie talkie to his lips. “Okay, we’re listening,” he said.

  “Go over to the control pad by the monitors,” the Sheriff instructed. “Punch in twenty-three then the pound sign.”

  Dante did so, and it changed one of the screens to an office. Sheriff Brandt stood in there with two other officers.

  “Yeah, we see you and your friends,” Maddox said into the radio.

  “Good,” came the reply. “This is what I propose. You and your friends get us out of here, and I’ll give you the key.”

  The redneck rolled his eyes. “So we’re just supposed to take your word that you have the keys on you?”

  Brandt set down the radio and walked closer to the camera, pulling out a set of keys from his belt. He held up the ring, showing off a large key that looked like it was for a jail cell.

  “Shit,” Maddox said, shaking his head. “What do you guys think?”

  Dante shrugged. “It’s risky, but I don’t see another way,” he admitted.

  “Tate?” Maddox asked.

  His brother nodded. “I agree with our new friend here,” he said.

  Maddox took a deep breath and raised the radio to his mouth once again. “Okay, Sheriff, you got a deal,” he said. “But when we get you out, you and your boys just walk on out of here and leave us be. If you think it’s bad in here, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The whole world has gone to shit and getting out is the best thing for you.”

  There was a long pause, and then Brandt finally said, “Deal. Now come get us.”

  Maddox tossed the walkie talkie down on the desk in disgust. “Can’t believe I have to help that motherfucker,” he snarled.

  “Guessing we can’t trust him to keep his word,” Dante said.

  “Oh fuck no, he’s a lying sack of shit,” the redneck replied. “Vindictive, too. One of his underlings made the mistake of treating me with some respect, joking around with me one day. He not only berated that officer in front of everyone, but demoted him to the overnight shift.”

  Tate crossed his arms. ‘You think he’s going to screw us?”

  “I think it’s hella possible,” Maddox confirmed.

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Dante piped up. “In the meantime, we have to worry about those zombies.”

  Lily smacked Tate on the arm. “Come on, let’s get those potato guns,” she said.

  The two rushed outside, and Ace smacked Maddox on the arm.

  “There any other place in here that could have some useful stuff?” he asked.

  The dealer thought for a moment before responding. “Couldn’t hurt to look in the chow hall,” he replied. “Weapons are going to be minimal, but there should be some rolling carts.”

  Dante nodded. “We can use that,” he said, and then glanced at the monitor. “You two grab what you can and get back. Doesn’t look like any of those things are near the cafeteria. Just stay quiet.”

  “What are you going to do?” Ace asked.

  “Figure out how we’re doing this,” Dante replied.

  The redneck nodded, and the duo rushed out of the room.

  Dante moved back to the monitors, focusing on the office with the zombies around it. He thought hard, running through a variety of plans in his head… none of which sounded particularly good.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The five of them stood in the small office at the front, going over the plan. There was a single pushcart in front of them that normally held lunch trays, and two potato guns laying on it.

  “Okay, we know how many they have, but they don’t know about us,” Dante said. “I think it’s in our best interest to keep it that way.”

  Maddox nodded. “Agreed,” he said.

  “He’s going to be expecting you,” Dante continued, pointing at him. “I think Ace and Tate should go with you. At least have the numbers even, which will hopefully deter them from doing something stupid.”

  Tate raised his hand. “And if they do decide to do something stupid?” he asked.

  “If you can safely take them down, do it,” Dante replied, “but don’t risk it. Lily and I will have your backs.”

  Maddox shot Lily a suspicious glare, and she rolled her eyes.

  “Don’t worry dumbass, if anybody is going to kill you, it’s going to be me,” she drawled. “And it ain’t gonna be today.”

  He nodded, somehow comforted, and went back to focusing on the mission at hand.

  Tate picked up one of the potato launchers as the three men shoved handguns in the back of their pants. They left the other cannon in the office, but brought a cart along with them.

  “We’ll keep watch at the monitors,” Dante said. “Good luck.”

  The three men set out down the hallway, weaving through the maze-like halls towards the office near the back. They stayed silent, not wanting to attract attention to themselves, even the wheels squeaking along the floor, feeling too loud.

  When they reached the corner that led to the office, Tate peeked around it, seeing eight zombies by the door. The hallway was fairly wide, about ten feet across. He ducked back behind cover, leaning in to speak quietly.

  “Okay, I’m going to blast them with this thing, then get back behind cover,” he whispered. “Whatever doesn’t drop is going to be hauling ass after me. Maddox, I want you to use this cart to knock ‘em on their ass. Ace, we aren’t going to fuck around with ‘em either, pick your shot and pop it in the head. Hopefully letting these asshole cops know we have guns will keep ‘em calm.”

  The other two nodded in agreement as Tate picked up the potato cannon. He checked to make sure the nuts and bolts were packed in tightly and then took a deep breath. He stepped back several yards away from the corner, and used the compressed lubricant to fill the firing chamber, hoping the sound was muffled enough not to alert the ghouls.

  Ready to strike, he walked back to the corner, peeking around to make sure they were still occupied with the door. He stepped around, walking halfway down the hall as noiselessly and slowly as he could, stopping about ten yards away before lighting it up.

  The boom was deafening, the sound bouncing off of the walls, but the impact was excellent. The metal shrapnel ripped through the horde, shredding several of them. Four of them dropped to the ground with significant head wounds.

  Those corpses fell into the others, knocking over two more. The final two let out loud moans and sprinted towards him.

  Tate immediately backtracked, tearing around the corner, and Maddox appeared with the cart, holding it tightly as the zombies got close. He rushed up and rammed into one creature, sending it tumbling down to the concrete. The other was several steps behind, but Ace aimed and fired, hitting it in the head.

  As the one on the floor tried to get back up, Tate circled around Maddox and shot it in th
e face. The other two knocked down ghouls by the door found their footing and rushed the trio. Both Ace and Tate had time to line up their shots, firing a couple of times each to drop them.

  In the aftermath, the three men stood stock still, listening hard to wait for more zombies to appear. Much to their surprise, nothing else emerged in any direction.

  “Come on, let’s get these assholes out,” Tate muttered.

  Maddox approached the door, kicking a couple of the downed ghouls to make sure they were dead for good, and there was no movement. He smacked the door a few times with his open palm.

  “All right Brandt, you’re good to go,” he bellowed. “Time to honor your half of the deal!”

  A moment passed, and then the deadbolt clicked. The door opened, and the Sheriff stood there, looking smug. His two officers sat on a desk in the back of the room.

  “Well well, you actually did it,” he drawled.

  Maddox nodded sharply. “Yeah we did it,” he replied, “now give me the key and get the hell outta here.”

  “They’re on the desk over there,” Brandt jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Let me go grab ‘em.”

  Maddox followed him inside, and as soon as he crossed the threshold, there was the sharp click of a shotgun cocking.

  “Fuck my life,” he muttered, glancing over at the corner. There was another officer standing right under the camera, wielding a shotgun.

  The Sheriff casually walked over to the desk, picking up the keys and clipping them to his belt. “You didn’t actually think I would be stupid enough to tip my hand, now did you?” he drawled, hooking a thumb into the top of his pants.

  “Apparently we did,” Maddox growled.

  Brandt waved a hand. “Okay boys, you have until the count of three to get in here, or ole Maddox here is going to be missing a head,” he drawled. “One…”

  “Calm your tits, Sheriff,” Tate said, and he walked in with Ace, both men’s hands high in the air.

  “Oh, it’s you two, why does this not surprise me?” Brandt shook his head. “Well, I stand corrected, it does surprise me a bit that you three have managed to survive whatever this is as long as you have. Y’all saw the world ending, and you just had to pay me another visit, is that it?” He sneered. “Or did you just miss this place?”