Dead America: Lowcountry | Book 3 | Lowcountry [Part 3]

by Slaton, Derek

  She jutted out her chin, eyes narrowing, but he held up a hand before she could argue.

  “And I’m having you do this because I know you’ll get them safely back to Bailey without scarring them for life with an inappropriate story from your wild youth.” He gave Ace the side-eye, and the redneck raised an eyebrow as he stuffed his fourth piece of ice cream cake into his mouth.

  “What?” he asked through a mouthful, a stream of chocolate melting out of the corner of his mouth.

  Lily laughed and shook her head. “Okay, I’ll buy that,” she finally said, and then pointed a finger at Dante. “But this is the last pass you’re getting on that, mister.”

  He smiled and got to his feet, the rest following suit. Ace snatched up a handful of napkins and cleaned his face, smacking his lips and patting his belly as they headed back out into the newsroom.

  “Sorry, I have to do one more thing before we go,” Katie said, and rushed back into the control room. A few moments later, she emerged, coughing under her breath at the stench.

  “What was that all about?” Ace asked as he checked his rifle.

  Katie pointed to the TV monitor to their left that showed the live feed. Along the bottom, the scrolling message read, I’ve been saved. People with A-type blood and bites are infectious. Take caution and good luck.

  “Good call,” Dante said with a nod.

  Katie shrugged. “I have them, every now and then,” she quipped. “Come on, let’s get going.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Ace stopped the truck a block from Bailey’s house, which now had a couple of zombies clustered by the front door.

  “Shit man,” he breathed, “they must have heard us rumble by and ran up there.”

  Dante lifted the crowbar and wiggled it. “Let’s clear them out, then,” he said, and opened the door to clamber up into the back.

  Katie furrowed her brow, but moved over a little, enjoying not being so squished in the seats.

  “Don’t worry, this works like a charm,” Lily assured her as Ace hit the gas.

  He rolled up to the house and reversed into the driveway. Just like the TV station lot, the ghouls rushed over and Dante put them down with well-placed strikes to the head. As soon as they crumpled to the ground, he hopped down and walked over to the passenger’s side.

  “Why don’t you stay in the truck?” he asked as Katie opened the door. He held out the crowbar, and Lily reached across to take it. “Might go a little easier in coaxing them out.”

  They nodded, and he shut the door, heading up to the house. He approached slowly and then knocked as gently as he could on the front door.

  “Hello?” he called. “Is anybody home?”

  “I don’t know who you are, but I got a gun and I swear to christ I’ll blow your dick off!” a shrill voice shrieked from inside.

  Dante blinked, shaking his head at how specific the threat had been. He put his hands up just in case she was watching him from a window or through the peephole.

  “Ma’am,” he said gently, “your daughter Bailey sent us to get you and her sisters.”

  “Bullshit!” the woman barked. “You’re just trying to get in here!”

  Dante shook his head. “I have proof, I just need to reach into my pocket,” he called. “I’m going to move slowly.” True to his word, he reached down as slowly as he could and pulled out the name tag, holding it up to the peephole. “Ma’am, Bailey is safe, and she wants you to be safe too, which is why she sent us.”

  There was a moment of silence, and then the deadbolt clicked. A woman in her forties with deep bags under her eyes opened it, a shotgun gripped in her hands.

  “Where did you get my angel’s name tag?” she demanded.

  Dante held it out. “She gave it to me before we came out to get you,” he explained. “Said you would recognize it.”

  She took it, the shotgun falling to the floor as she ran her fingers over the raised lettering. “I didn’t think I’d see my baby again,” she said, voice thick. “You’re not lying to me, are you?” She looked at him with wide, watery eyes. “She really is safe?”

  “Yes, and we’re going to take you to her,” Dante replied firmly.

  The woman swallowed hard and then turned back into the house. “Hazel, Violet!” she yelled. “We’re going!”

  A moment later, two young girls no older than ten appeared, each holding a small backpack.

  Lily jumped down from the truck, heading over slowly.

  “Ma’am, this is Lily,” Dante said gently. “She’s going to be taking you to Bailey.”

  Lily smiled and gave a little wave. “Do you have a car?”

  The woman nodded, pointing to the minivan in the driveway. “It’s a little bit of a rough ride, but it’ll get us there,” she said hoarsely.

  “If you like, I can drive so you can attend to the girls,” Lily offered.

  The woman nodded and stepped inside to grab her keys off of the wall, handing them over to her new companion.

  “Scarface!” Ace yelled from the driver’s side window, and Dante turned to see two zombies tearing towards them from the house next door.

  He didn’t hesitate, full reflex kicking in, and jumped forward so he was in their direct path as he drew his knife. The ghouls were eight yards apart, with one running faster than the other. He stood his ground, waiting on the first one to arrive. Just before it did, a shot rang out, clipping it in the head to drop it. A few seconds later, another went off, hitting the other ghoul between the eyes and sending it to the grass right beside the other one.

  Dante turned and appraised Lily, who playfully blew on the end of her handgun barrel.

  “See, this is what you’re missing by not bringing me along,” she teased with a smirk.

  He laughed. “Duly noted,” he promised. “Now, you should get a move on before more of these things show up.” He took a deep breath. “And Lily?”

  She cocked her head. “Yes, Dante?” she asked playfully.

  “Be careful,” he said. “You still got a lot more to show me.”

  She winked at him. “You know, somebody with a dirty mind might take that statement in a way you didn’t mean,” she purred, and then trilled a laugh as he blushed.

  Once the girls pulled out of the driveway in the van, Dante got into the truck and closed the door.

  “I see you flirtin’ with my cousin,” Ace quipped with a smirk.

  Dante didn’t respond to that, simply shrugging his shoulders. “Come on, let’s get moving,” he urged.

  Ace followed the van back out to the highway and then made the turn towards the base. Dante watched Lily drive over the bridge until she vanished on the horizon.

  “Okay, so where is this base at?” Ace asked, inclining his head to Katie, who sat between them.

  She motioned as she spoke. “It’s about four miles up the highway, then a left on the twenty-one,” she explained. “Straight shot from there.”

  “Let’s get this over with, then,” he drawled, but couldn’t speed up to accentuate his point due to the cars and zombies on the road. It wasn’t anything too major. The debris and bodies spread out fairly well, but he didn’t want to smack anything while going too fast and end up stuck.

  About half a mile up from the bridge, Dante spotted a grocery store on the left side of the road. There were a dozen or so zombies in the parking lot milling about, with several more banging on one of the small shop windows.

  “Looks like a stop on the way out of town,” he said.

  Katie chewed her bottom lip. “There’s a lot of those things there,” she said.

  “Aw, don’t worry hon,” Ace said, “we can handle it.”

  Dante nodded in agreement. “And we don’t really have a choice,” he added, “unless starving seems like a viable option to you.”

  Katie nodded, though her gaze seemed far away as she contemplated just how difficult of a situation they were in.

  Dante scanned the neighborhoods as they continued up the highway, insp
ecting shopping areas as they went. Zombies were everywhere. There were no massive hordes, but packs easily as large as twenty or twenty-five running around.

  Signs of struggles were rampant—car wrecks, homes with busted windows and wide open front doors, and bloodstains all over the sidewalks missing the bodies that usually would come with them.

  “How could this happen?” Katie moaned, pressing her hands to her temples.

  Dante shook his head. “Don’t know,” he admitted, “but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.”

  “How can you say that?” she gasped, gaping at him.

  He sighed. “Because even if we knew what was causing this, we aren’t in a position to do anything about it,” he explained. “The only thing I care about is how we survive this.”

  She swallowed hard, and then lowered her hands, nodding in silent agreement.

  Ace pulled up at the highway twenty-one intersection. They looked around, and the immediate area was eerily deserted. The only signs that something had happened recently was a pileup to their right, with about twenty corpses scattered across the road.

  “Looks like your Marine buddies paid a visit to these assholes,” Ace said.

  “Or QXR,” Dante murmured.

  The other two paused with concern as the realization settled over him that he could be right. But there was no point in dwelling on the implications of that.

  “Hang a left,” Katie said, letting out a deep breath. “The base is a couple miles up on the right.”

  Ace hit the gas, and they started the final stretch to the base. The side of the road was littered with zombie corpses.

  As they crested a hill, the base loomed in the distance, and Katie smacked the dashboard.

  “Stop!” she barked.

  Ace slammed on the brakes, startled by her outburst. “What the hell?!” he demanded.

  “There’s a side road just up ahead on the right,” she said, motioning. “Turn down it.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  She sighed. “Because there’s a delivery entrance near the back of the base that’s right beside the General’s office,” she explained, the words tumbling out of her mouth quickly.

  “You’re concerned about the QXR, aren’t you?” Dante asked gently.

  She nodded. “Based on what you’ve told me,” she replied, “I think we all should be.”

  “Ace, hang a right,” Dante said, and the redneck did as he was asked, turning down the small access road running alongside the base. On the left, they peered through the chain-link fence, but didn’t see any movement of any kind.

  “I’m not a military expert or anything,” Ace drawled, “but shouldn’t there be some people or something?”

  Katie clasped her hands in her lap tightly. “Yeah, there should,” she murmured. “Lots of them, actually.”

  Dante didn’t say anything, simply pulled out his handgun and checked the ammo, making sure there was a round chambered.

  Katie furrowed her brow in concern, looking at the gun and then glancing at him, but he avoided her gaze and she didn’t press the issue.

  As they continued along the fence, Ace stopped just outside of the side gate. There was an opening large enough for a transfer truck to drive through, with the only thing blocking the road being a large metal crossbar stretching across.

  They sat there, idling for several moments, waiting on someone to come out to greet them, but nobody did.

  “This isn’t right,” Katie said, her knuckles white.

  Ace shook his head. “Where are the guards?” he asked. “Shouldn’t there be guards?”

  “If we did this on a random Tuesday afternoon, we’d have four people with machine guns staring us down,” she said. “With everything that’s going on, how is nobody here?”

  “How far up is the General’s office?” Dante asked.

  She pried her hands apart and pointed to a building about fifty yards up on the right. It was a two-story building, small and standing alone from everything else.

  “That small one on the right,” she said. “His office is on the second floor overlooking the base.”

  Dante nodded. “Ace, pull this thing to the side of the road,” he instructed. “That fence isn’t going to provide much cover, but it won’t be standing out like a sore thumb, either.”

  “We’re going on foot?” the redneck asked.

  Dante took a deep breath. “I don’t like the way this looks,” he admitted, “and we need to keep a low profile.”

  Ace nodded and backed the truck up, parking it on the road. The three of them got out of the vehicle and stood together on the shoulder, listening and hearing nothing.

  “Just… silence,” Katie whispered.

  Ace shrugged. “Look at the bright side,” he drawled, “at least we aren’t hearing those moans and thundering footsteps headed our way.”

  “Thank god for small miracles,” she muttered.

  “Come on,” Dante said, “stay close and quiet.” He led them to the entrance, and they slipped under the metal bar. There was a building just to their left, and they jogged over to it.

  Dante pressed himself against the wall, inching up towards the corner so he could look out over the base. As he peeked around, he pursed his lips at the sight of the vast, empty space. The center portion was nothing but asphalt, with a string of buildings and hangars on the far side, more buildings running down the line from where they were hiding.

  He pulled back and turned to Katie. “Is this the only portion of the base?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No, there’s a huge airstrip about half a mile long on the other side of those buildings,” she replied.

  “There more buildings out that way?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Some hangars and barracks.”

  Ace slipped by Dante and peered out, and then popped back, shrugging. “If there is anybody here, that’s probably where they’re at,” he suggested. “Maybe we should head that way?”

  “I wouldn’t,” Katie replied.

  “Why not?” Ace asked.

  She crossed her arms. “Because that’s where QXR was stationed.”

  “Fuck me sideways, man,” Ace growled. “Are you telling me that if somebody is here, that it’s the assholes killing everybody?”

  Dante held up a hand. “Let’s not give up hope, yet,” he said. “Come on, let’s pay the General a visit.” He led the way across the open area quickly to the small outbuilding. They stood by the door, and he listened closely for a sound inside, hearing nothing. He held a finger to his lips and spoke quietly. “Follow me in, stay close to the door in case there’s company,” he whispered. “If things get bad, make a run for the truck.”

  The other two nodded as he took a deep breath, steading himself before turning the knob. He inched the door open slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of danger if it were to come at him.

  As he pushed it wider, there was no movement inside whatsoever. By the time it was halfway open, he simply flung it the rest of the way, bathing the interior of the room in sunlight.

  The trio stood in the doorway, looking over an office area that looked frozen in time. There were a dozen or so desks spread out in the room that looked like they hadn’t been disturbed at all. Computers were still functioning, stuck on whatever report that was being worked on. Papers remained stacked, and some cups of now-cold coffee sat on coasters.

  They filed inside, and Katie shut the door behind them as they fanned out around the room.

  “Everybody else is getting turned into zombies, and these people just got straight raptured,” Ace drawled as they moved. “What the fuck is going on?”

  Dante leaned over a nearby desk, inspecting the computer monitor. The report on the screen had directions to Edisto Beach.

  “Where is Edisto Beach?” he asked.

  Ace scratched the back of his head. “Edisto?” he asked. “Never heard of it.”

  “It’s about an hour’s drive north of here,” Katie replied, app
roaching the desk. “Tiny community, pretty isolated from everything else.”

  The redneck raised an eyebrow. “How in the hell do you know that?” he asked.

  “They did a big art show a couple months back that my station covered,” she explained. “Well, big for the town, that is.”

  Ace shook his head. “Must have been a slow news day,” he quipped.

  “You’re not kidding,” Katie replied. “Drove an hour just to see twelve booths with collections of lighthouse paintings.”

  Dante continued reading the notes on the computer. Begin troop deployments immediately, he read, and then noticed the time stamp of 3:42 AM.

  “If it’s as small as you say,” he piped up, “then why would the military be ordered to deploy there at three forty-two in the morning?”

  Ace joined Katie, and the two looked over the report, just as confused as he was.

  “Maybe they knew of an outbreak and were ordered to beat it down?” Ace suggested.

  Katie shook her head as she read the memo header, noting that it was from the office of General Adams, head of the Joint Chiefs. “If that’s the case, then why is it coming directly from General Adams up in D.C.?” she asked. “Unless he was personally vacationing there at the time, I doubt that he knew of anything going on there.”

  “Then what the hell is it?” Ace wondered.

  Dante stood up straight. “Maybe there’s something in the General’s office that can fill us in,” he suggested.

  The trio got moving, finding the stairs to work their way up to the second floor. Just like the ground floor, it looked like everyone inside had simply vanished. The offices were empty and abandoned, and there were no signs of struggle, however most of the doors were wide open.

  “Where’s the office?” Dante asked.

  Katie pointed. “Last one on the left.”

  They moved down the hall, and he stopped for a beat in front of the General’s office, where the door was closed. He inclined his head to Ace, who readied his knife just in case.

  Dante pushed the large wooden door open, and the three of them froze at the sight. Katie gagged and turned away from the sight of General Whitley, sitting back in his chair, the window behind him cracked from a bullet exiting his brain.