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

by Slaton, Derek

  “What the hell?” he asked.

  Ace shrugged. “Figure it someone comes looking for them, they won’t immediately know this is where they are,” he explained.

  “Good work,” Dante agreed, nodding. “Now let’s get to the truck.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  When they reached the truck, they threw the guns onto the floorboards and squeezed into the cab. Ace fired up the vehicle and pulled off of the curb, moving at a steady but not overly fast pace, so they wouldn’t attract too much attention to themselves.

  When they reached the turnoff, he stopped at the intersection, looking both ways. Thankfully there were no other vehicles around, and he pulled out, heading away from the base. The tension in the cab was palpable, the trio still on edge from the encounter.

  Dante looked over his shoulder, almost completely sideways in the seat to watch behind them for anyone following. As they drove, he didn’t see a single vehicle, only the occasional pack of roaming zombies, a few attempting to follow but falling behind.

  “Anything?” Ace asked.

  He shook his head, finally turning around to face the front. “Looks like we’re in the clear,” he said.

  “Man, I’m so sorry about fucking up back there,” the redneck moaned, rubbing his cheek with one hand.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Dante replied.

  Ace shook his head. “No, I’m serious man, I could have gotten us all killed,” he insisted. “Lucky for us, you were there to handle things. Where the hell did you learn all that stuff, anyway?”

  “Spend a few years doing MMA training,” his companion replied.

  “Like that pay-per-view cage fighting stuff?” Ace let out a low whistle. “Oh hell yeah. That shit is almost as good as wrastlin!”

  Katie rolled her eyes. “You know wrestling is fake, right?” she piped up.

  Ace slammed on the brakes, lurching them all forward.

  Katie braced herself on the dashboard, staring at him with wide eyes. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, it’s real,” she said quickly. “Just please, keep driving!”

  “No, it’s not that,” Ace said, putting up a finger, “although, when we get back, I’m going to show you that Hell in a Cell match when Mankind gets thrown off the top and ends up with a tooth shoved up his nose. Then we’ll see if you still think it’s fake.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you stop then?”

  Ace pointed to the grocery store that they’d passed on the way in. There were still a dozen zombies in the parking lot, though none of them had noticed the truck yet.

  “Are you crazy?” Katie blurted. “We gotta get out of here!”

  “Scarface, are you positive you haven’t seen anybody following us?” Ace asked.

  Dante shook his head. “Just some zombies, but we lost them a mile back,” he replied.

  Ace turned to Katie. “We need food, badly,” he said quietly.

  “Then we’ll go somewhere else!” she insisted.

  The redneck looked to Dante, a pleading expression on his face.

  His companion pursed his lips, contemplating for a moment. “Park around back,” he finally said.

  Ace cut the wheel hard and headed into the parking lot, smacking into several zombies as he headed to the back of the store. Katie chewed her lip, wringing her hands in front of her with white knuckles.

  “Ace is right, we need food,” Dante said gently. “Chances are, they’re going to have this whole area on lockdown once they find their men. Same with the Hilton Head area. We might not have another chance to get food for a while.”

  She swallowed hard, giving a begrudging nod.

  Ace smacked into a few more ghouls as he pulled up against the back of the store, parking between two large transfer trucks that were backed into loading docks. Dante quickly hopped out of the truck and used the rear tire to vault himself up into the bed.

  Katie shuffled across the seat, but Ace reached out and put a hand on her arm. “Give him a minute,” he said. He reached behind the seat and pulled out the crowbar, opening the back window to pass it through to Dante.

  Katie turned and watched as the large man readied himself for the zombies that were closing in. Just like before, he smacked them down quickly, clearing the way with a pile of corpses.

  “Come on, let’s get in and out quickly,” he said, and jumped down from the bed to the pavement. Ace and Katie got out, and Dante reached into the cab to grab an assault rifle and lead the charge to the back door.

  He pulled on it, surprised that it was unlocked. “Guess they got hit while unloading,” he muttered, and readied the crowbar.

  Ace kept his assault rifle at the ready, and the trio headed into the loading dock. There was blood everywhere, with multiple signs of struggles around overturned furniture and busted shelves. They were about three feet inside when Dante stopped them.

  He knelt down and smacked the crowbar several times on the concrete floor, sending a loud clang throughout the cavernous room. A few seconds later, four zombies rushed towards them.

  “Hit ‘em,” he declared.

  Ace flicked off the safety and squeezed off several rounds, clipping a few ghouls in the head. Two continued to race towards them, and Dante lunged forward, braining one with the crowbar as Ace took the other one out with a bullet.

  With the room seemingly clear, Dante banged the crowbar on the ground again, waiting for a response. Moans and crashes erupted from the retail area, and he moved forward to the swinging double doors that led to the store.

  A zombie wandered by, looking around frantically for the source of the sound. As soon as it cleared the opening, Dante held up a finger to signal to the other two to stay put. He gripped the crowbar tightly, gently opening the door and slipping out into the store.

  He moved slowly towards the ghoul, sneaking up behind it as it looked around for a target. Before it could swing around to see him, he smacked it in the side of the head, sending it to the ground. It twitched around, so he stabbed the tip into its skull, ending it.

  He moved up one of the aisles to the main portion of the store, a big aisle near the registers. He spotted five more zombies by the front doors, but nothing else. When he turned to go back to the doors, he saw Ace had moved in, standing at the far end of the aisle.

  Dante motioned for him to stay put, then used some hand signals to let him know there were five zombies ahead, and he was going to lead them his way. Ace raised his rifle into firing position.

  Dante smacked the crowbar on the ground, which immediately gained the attention of all five zombies. They screeched and raced towards him, and he whipped around and ran, staying to the right side of the moderately sized aisle to give Ace a lane to shoot.

  As he grew close, the redneck unloaded.

  By the time Dante reached his side and turned around, all but two of the ghouls were gone, and they were within ten yards. Ace lowered his gun and drew his knife, and he and Dante lunged forward in unison with well-timed melee strikes to the head, dropping them both.

  “See, guns work at a distance,” Dante teased as he sheathed his blade. “They’re not like knives.”

  Ace rolled his eyes. “You’re an asshole, you know that?” he asked playfully.

  “So I’ve been told,” Dante replied, smirking as he clapped him on the back. “Come on, let’s get shopping.”

  They headed back to the loading dock where Katie emerged with three shopping carts.

  “Found these in the back,” she said, separating them. “Should help us get loaded up.”

  “Focus on non-perishable goods,” Dante instructed as he took his cart. “Dry pasta, ramen, canned goods.”

  Ace chuckled as he took his. “So basically we’re shopping like a broke bitch on W.I.C.?”

  Katie gaped at him, shaking her head. “My, my,” she breathed, “aren’t we the offensive one?”

  “Oh honey, I’m like an offensive onion,” Ace declared, puffing out his chest. “There are many layers to peel back.”
/>   She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “Good to know we all have something to look forward to,” Dante said dryly. “Now come on, let’s stock up.”

  The trio broke apart, each taking an aisle to throw various goods into their carts, moving with haste. The quicker they got out, the better.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The shopping spree has been going on for ten minutes or so, with the back of the truck being loaded down with goods. Dante headed out of the back door with another cart load, rolling down the stairs and putting the cart next to the truck.

  Ace finished up with his and glanced down into Dante’s haul, raising his eyebrow. “What in the hell is that?” he demanded, pointing to all the flour and masa.

  “You’ve never baked stuff from scratch before?” Dante replied with a shrug.

  The redneck wrinkled his nose. “I mean, I’ve punched holes in the top of the plastic on my hungry man dinners,” he drawled, “but I’m guessing that don’t count?”

  Dante chuckled as he started hucking bags of flour into the bed of the truck. Ace grabbed a pack of masa and studied it curiously.

  “Makes great homemade tortillas,” Dante explained.

  Ace put up a hand. “So wait,” he said, “you know how to cook, too?”

  “Well, with my obvious setbacks, I have to make up for it in other areas,” his companion winked his one eye.

  Ace chuckled. “Shit man, Lily is gonna be all over you,” he said.

  “Man, you’ve known me less than twenty-four hours and you’re ready to hitch us together,” Dante said, grunting as he heaved another giant bag of flour into the truck. “Are pickings really that slim around these parts?”

  The redneck shuddered. “Yeah, you should see some of the losers she’s dated,” he said. “If some of them had washed up on that island instead of you, they would have fed her to those things just to save themselves. You didn’t even know her and you fought for her. That’s good enough in my book.”

  “Fair enough,” Dante admitted, and hefted the last bag in. He gave it a hearty smack. “Unless we’re strapping stuff to the hood, I think we’re full,” he declared.

  “Let’s get Katie and get the hell out of here,” Ace said.

  All of a sudden there was a roar of an engine out front of the store. Both men tensed before grabbing their assault rifles and rushing back inside. They tore through the loading dock, stopping at the swinging doors.

  “Head that way,” Dante instructed. “You do one pass, down and back. If you find her, great. If you don’t, then you get back to the truck.”

  Ace nodded. “What about you?” he asked.

  “I’m going to have to do the same,” he said, swallowing hard. “We have a lot more people relying on us than just her. They need that food.”

  Ace shook her head, but he knew that his companion was right. Neither of them wanted to have to leave someone behind, but there was more at stake here.

  The two of them broke apart and picked a direction. Ace was almost at a dead spring, pausing only briefly at the aisles to look up them. He grew more and more frustrated with every step.

  Come on girl, where the hell are you? He thought, panic rising.

  When he reached the end, he still didn’t see her. He hesitated at the row, spotting the fresh produce section at the top of the aisle.

  Fuck, you’re totally the type of girl who’s all healthy, he thought, and against his better judgement, ran up the aisle, hoping she was there.

  Sure enough, when he got to the end, he spotted her with her back to him, picking through the apples. At the far end of the store, the doors wedged open, and he darted for Katie. He put his hand over her mouth and dragged her down to the ground behind a center display section holding vegetables.

  She struggled and panicked, protesting against his palm.

  Ace held her tight and whispered in her ear, “It’s me, we’re in trouble. Stay quiet.”

  That was enough to get her to calm down, and she stopped struggling before patting him on the leg gently to remove his hand from her mouth.

  They peeked out from behind their cover, down the front of the store towards the door. A moment later, half a dozen armed men entered, one barking out orders they couldn’t quite make out.

  “They found us,” Katie hissed, eyes wide.

  Ace shook his head. “They’re not here for us,” he whispered, pointing to one of the men grabbing some shopping carts. “They’re here for food.”

  She nodded and turned back to him. “Well, let’s not give them a reason to look for us,” she whispered. She maneuvered to the other side of the display, and without warning, darted from cover, running to the far aisle.

  Ace gaped at how quick she was, but then froze at the sound of a mercenary yelling, “We got contact!”

  The redneck peeked out, seeing one of the men raise his assault rifle and move swiftly but carefully towards the aisle. He watched Katie get to the end of it, and take cover behind the end.

  Ace readied his rifle in case the mercenary continued his pursuit, watching him reach the end of the aisle and walk slowly down it, gun raised. He checked the others, who were going about their business, but on guard.

  “Report!” the man in command barked.

  The mercenary in the aisle called over his shoulder, “Got a live one.”

  “Well put ‘em down quick,” the commanding officer yelled, “we got a lot of work to do!”

  Ace watched the mercenary raise his weapon, taking aim at the end of the aisle. He wasn’t sure if Katie was still there or not, but given the kill order he couldn’t take chances, so he broke from cover.

  He quickly darted across, but caught the eye of someone that yelled “Hostile!”

  His target heard it and turned around just in time for Ace to shoot him in the face.

  “Contact, contact!” the commanding officer screamed. “Put ‘em down!”

  Ace practically flew down the aisle just as another mercenary reached the top of it. His attacker started shooting immediately, forcing Ace to slide on the floor just as he got to the end. As he did, Katie reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him behind the end cap.

  He didn’t speak, simply rolling over and aiming his gun, firing off several times towards the top of the aisle. He missed badly, but forced his enemy behind cover.

  “Move!” Ace cried, and scrambled to his feet, taking Katie with him. They got about four aisles down when a shot ripped up the back of the store, forcing him to shove her ahead and hit the deck.

  Amazingly, neither of them were hit, and he scrambled to his knees to fire up the aisle, forcing the enemy behind the other end cap. He adjusted his aim towards the first one, who had now made his way to the back aisle.

  Ace managed to get off a lucky shot that hit the mercenary in the arm, causing him to drop his weapon. The redneck fired a few more times up the aisle, keeping their other attacker at bay.

  “The doors to the back are just up ahead. Go!” he cried, giving her a shove before turning to keep up the suppressing fire. Eight bullets later, the gun clicked empty. “Fuck!”

  He tossed the rifle down in frustration and then ran as hard as he could for the back door. He made the turn just as a mercenary in the second aisle reached the back, firing a couple of shots at him and hitting the door frame.

  Ace dove through the swinging doors, hitting the ground hard before scrambling to his feet and pinning himself against the wall. He frantically pulled out his knife, sucking in deep breaths as he heard footsteps racing towards him. He took a few steps to the side to make sure that he wasn’t in the way of the doors.

  A moment later, a mercenary kicked his way in, and Ace swung his arm back, not getting a good look at the target, just a general idea of where he was. The blade came to an abrupt halt as it hit his enemy in the throat.

  The mercenary struggled to stay on his feet as he gurgled, dropping his weapon before falling to the floor.

  Ace was stunned for a second, a
nd then snapped out of it, pulling his knife and grabbing the gun. He tore for the back door, looking down at the truck just as Katie was throwing open the passenger door.

  “Is Dante there?!” Ace cried.

  Katie shook her head. “No.”

  He hesitated, chewing his lip for a moment. He knew he needed to get the food back to the people, but he couldn’t just leave Dante behind. He gripped his rifle tightly and headed back inside.

  “Where are you going?” Katie called after him, but he didn’t turn back or answer.

  Ace moved with purpose, reaching the double doors and peeking out. He didn’t see any mercenaries, so he slipped out quietly, getting across the back aisle and moving cautiously towards the front of the store.

  As he grew closer, he heard several boisterous men.

  “Man, check out the mug on this motherfucker,” one bellowed. “You ever seen someone so ugly?”

  “Not since you picked up that dude in Bangkok,” another drawled.

  “You know good goddamn well that was a woman,” the first one snapped.

  “Shit man, that’s even worse!” another cried, and a chorus of laughter erupted from the half-dozen men standing around Dante.

  “Now, you want to explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to shoot my men?” The commanding officer asked firmly, and Ace’s eyes widened at the sight of Dant on his knees.

  “I didn’t start anything,” Dante replied coolly. “Just finished it.”

  The officer shook his head, laughing. “Impressive,” he admitted. “Most men in your position would be begging for their lives, not making defiant statements like that.”

  “Do I look like the type of person who begs for anything?” Dante asked dryly.

  “With a face like that, you probably have to beg for pussy from a prostitute,” one of the mercenaries said with a sneer.

  Dante cocked his head. “Nah, a fiver usually does it,” he replied. “Oh, and your mom says hi by the way.”