The rest of the mercenaries burst into laughter at the expense of their insulted comrade.
He didn’t find it so funny. “You motherfucker,” he snarled, and lunged forward, landing a punch across Dante’s face before his commanding officer pulled him back.
“That’s enough,” his superior declared. He glanced at the front door, seeing the crowd of zombies smacking against it, attracted by the gunfire. He pointed to the offended mercenary and the one next to him. “You two, go make sure that door is secure,” he barked.
The duo begrudgingly walked towards the door, leaving just the officer and three of his lackeys standing by Dante. Ace knew he had to act fast, or else his friend wouldn’t make it out of this alive.
He looked down at his rifle, seeing a switch on the side to change it to full auto. He grinned and carefully moved the selector down to it, making sure not to make any noise.
“While I appreciate your attitude,” the commanding officer was saying, spreading his arms, “unfortunately my orders are to put down any and all resistance, so I’m afraid this will have to be goodbye.” He reached for his holster, but before he could even pull the gun out, Ace fired, letting out a primal yell as he sprayed bullets.
The mercenaries didn’t even know what hit them as the bullets shredded the three men flew backwards, made into swiss cheese. Ace turned towards the front door, firing at the two others, and they ducked, sending the bullets right into the glass.
The redneck realized his mistake too late, and the glass shattered everywhere, quickly opening it up for the zombies to rush through. The two mercenaries attempted to panic fire, but were quickly swarmed, their screams filling the room as the creatures ripped the flesh from their bones.
The officer whipped around and aimed his handgun at the front entrance as several ghouls bypassed the two fallen men and went straight for him. His shots were erratic, hitting torsos and little else. A couple of the creatures broke off pursuit, latching onto one of the men on the ground who was still moving.
The officer took careful aim and hit one in the head, but Dante shoved him from behind, sending the asshole face first onto the ground. Three zombies immediately leapt onto him, tearing into his body hungrily.
One of the ghouls lunged for Dante, and he used its momentum to shove it past him, getting behind it and driving it down an aisle as it thrashed about. As he passed a shelf of glass soda bottles, he grabbed one and slammed the base of it into the zombie’s temple. It took a few blows before the creature clumped down, lifeless.
He paused for a moment before Ace whistled at him from the back of the aisle.
“What are you watching for, Scarface?!” he barked. “Fucking move, man!”
Dante tore for him, and the two of them raced out the back of the store. They blew out the loading down and scrambled into the truck.
“My god, what happened?” Katie gushed as Ace turned the truck on, peeling out backwards.
Dante looked down and saw the blood coating the front of him. “Don’t worry, it’s not mine,” he replied.
Relief crossed her face, but her brow was still furrowed in concern.
Ace let out a crazed grunt as he sped along behind the store, before turning up the road. “Well, if those fuckers wasn’t going to close off this area before,” he declared, “they sure as shit are going to do it now.”
“You realize you just took down an entire squad of highly trained mercenaries?” Dante asked wryly.”
Ace laughed. “Amazing what you can do when you realize guns can fire from a distance,” he retorted.
Dante patted him on the back and then turned to watch behind them as they drove over the wrong side of the bridge to avoid the pileup and get out of Beaufort. He let out a deep sigh of relief that nobody was following them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ace pulled into his driveway, and the rest of the group poured out of the front door to greet them. Bailey held her sisters’ hands, a huge grin on her face, her mother standing behind them. Cam and Phillip turned from boarding up the last window, and Lily flew down the stairs to the truck.
“Well it’s about time you boys got back,” she said, crossing her arms and jutting out her hip. Her demeanor fell when she realized how defeated they looked. “What’s wrong?”
Dante shook his head. “Military is gone,” he said.
“Gone?” She gaped at him. “What? How?”
Katie jumped down next to Ace and ran a hand through her hair. “They were ordered to retreat,” she explained. “We’re on out own.”
“Fuck,” Lily declared. “Can’t believe the base was empty.”
Ace tilted his head back and forth. “Not exactly empty…”
“Yeah, some of those QXR mercenaries were there,” Dante admitted, absently rubbing at his bruised ribs. “Had a bit of an issue with them.”
She skirted the hood of the truck to get to him, batting his hand away to look at his side.
“Easy now,” he hissed as he pressed a little too hard.
She jerked her hand back. “Sorry,” she blurted, checking him over.
“It’s all right,” Dante assured her. “I’m all right.”
She nodded, stepping back with relief.
“Wow, look at all this food!” Bailey exclaimed as she peered into the back of the truck. “You guys found a lot more stuff than we did today!”
Dante inclined his head to Cam and Phillip. “Slim pickings at the gas station?”
“Pretty much just what was on the shelves,” Cam replied. “That back room was so empty they could have rented it out as an apartment.”
Dante leaned on the truck. “Well, we got enough here that should hold us over for a while.” He waved his hand. “Come on, let’s get it all inside.”
Everyone pitched in and unloaded the truck, stacking the goods in the spare room in the house. After they got everything situated, the group slowly filed into the living room.
“Now, I’m a firm believer in being up front with everyone,” Dante said as he stood facing the couch. “It doesn’t do anybody any good to be in the dark about our situation, regardless of how bad it is.”
“Hey, if it’s okay,” Cam said from the doorway, “I’m going to get the girls set up in the back bedroom with a movie.” He waved around a DVD. “They probably don’t need to hear this.”
Bailey nodded and smiled. “That’s a good idea,” she said.
“Hey buddy, bring that over here, will you?” Ace asked, his brow furrowing.
Cam headed over, holding out the disk. “Hope you don’t mind,” he said. “I saw a stack of DVDs and looked through it. Thought the kids might like to watch Snow White.”
“You might be right on that,” the redneck drawled, “but you really need to double check the full titles of the movies in this house.” He handed it back, and Cam pursed his lips, squinting and reading Snow White and the Seven Loads.
He blinked at it. “Oh… I… Um…” he stammered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, pretty safe bet that if it’s in this house, it isn’t going to be appropriate for kids,” Lily said, rolling her eyes.
Ace jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, one of the houses down the street had some kids,” he said. “After we talk, we’ll run down there and find something good for the tykes.”
“Girls, why don’t you go back into that back bedroom and play together for a few minutes?” Abigail suggested. “Don’t touch any of Mr. Ace’s things.”
The girls nodded and obediently left, heading down the hallway.
“Okay, to put it bluntly,” Dante said, clearing his throat once the girls were gone, “we’re in trouble. The military is gone, they evacuated to somewhere that isn’t here, and mercenaries have taken over. Both Hilton Head and Beaufort and under their control.”
Lily raised a finger. “Which eliminates Bluffton as well, since it’s right on the other side of the bridge from Hilton Head.”
“That puts us behind the eight ball, because
we need supplies,” Dante continued. “Not just food and water, but we need to start fortifying this town, not just the house. Sooner or later a pack of those things, or unfriendly people, are going to come through here. We have to be prepared for that.”
Ace clucked his tongue. “More than likely we’re gonna have to pull from homes instead of stores,” he suggested. “Lot of small towns nearby, but nothing like Bluffton or Beaufort. I mean, Savannah is an hour away, but it has to be a grade-A shitshow by this point.”
“We gotta stay small,” Dante agreed. “Which makes this next task even more difficult. We have to find a sustainable source of food and water. The supplies we got from the store will buy us a few weeks, and I’m assuming we’re going to find stuff in nearby houses, but it’s not going to sustain us very long.”
Lily raised an eyebrow. “So, what, you want us to be farmers now?” she asked.
“If that’s the case, then we’re all in trouble,” Ace declared. “Lily’s thumb is so brown that she kills plastic plants.”
“As if you’re any better,” she shot back.
Dante shook his head. “Well, if that’s the case, then we’d better ad library to the list of targets, because we need someone who knows how to grow things,” he said.
“Grow things…” Ace trailed off and then blinked as if he’d had a lightbulb moment. “Holy shit, I got it!”
Lily’s eyes widened. “No. Just… fuck... NO.” She waved her hands back and forth in front of her face.
Ace shot her an apologetic look, but nodded.
“Who is it?” Dante asked.
Lily buried her face in her hands. “My ex,” she mumbled through her fingers.
“Oh,” Dante replied lamely.
Ace kicked up his feet, crossing them at the ankles on the coffee table. “Maddox, owner of the biggest indoor pot farm in Hardeeville, South Carolina,” he announced.
“Probably the only indoor pot farm in Hardeeville,” Lily muttered, lowering her hands.
Dante sighed. “I’m sorry, but if he knows how to grow things,” he said gently, “we’re going to need him if we’re going to survive.”
“Yeah, I know,” she replied, grunting with frustration. “Just… he’s a fucking douchebag. Ten minutes ago, I would be cheering the thought of him being gnawed on by zombies, and now we gotta go beg for his help.”
Ace winked at her. “Don’t worry Lil,” he drawled, “you got a big strong man over there to protect you from him.”
“Protect me?” she snapped. “Hell, I could kick Maddox’s ass six ways from Sunday. Now, if someone can make me deaf so I don’t have to listen to his dumb ass, that would be helpful.”
Dante stifled a laugh. “How far away is Hardeeville?” he asked.
“About half an hour south of here,” Lily replied.
He checked his watch. “It’s getting a little late to be venturing out,” he said.
“And I think we’ve seen enough chaos and death for one day,” Katie added.
He nodded. “Ace, what do you say we go clear out one of your neighbor’s houses, and see what they got?” he asked.
“Momma, you wanna help me in the kitchen?” Bailey asked, getting to her feet. “We’ll get something cooked up for everyone.”
“Look for the blue cooler in there,” Katie piped up. “I know we were supposed to focus on dry goods, but I figured some steaks wouldn’t hurt.”
Ace pointed at her, staring at Dante. “I like this one,” he whispered loudly as he joined him. Lily trotted after them, pushing through to lead the way across the neighbor’s yard.
“So, you dated a drug dealer, huh?” Dante asked, unable to keep a straight face.
Ace snorted. “I told you man, string of losers,” he drawled.
Lily nodded, but then it dawned on her that he was referring to her boyfriends. “You told him what?” she demanded, shoving his shoulder. “Have you been talking about my dating life?” She looked to Dante, who put up his palms.
“He brought it up unprovoked,” he assured her.
Ace opened his mouth, but Lily smacked him, and he squealed before playfully running away. “Hope you like the violent type, Scarface!” he bellowed.
“I’m gonna kick your ass!” Lily shrieked, chasing him around in the grass.
Dante watched them, laughing, enjoying the much-needed lighthearted way to finish the day.
END
Up Next: With the realization that they are truly on their own setting in, Dante and the others venture out in hopes of making contact with other survivors in Lowcountry pt. 4
Pick up Part 4 here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R6J897H
The main Dead America Series can be found here. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RWMXVNJ
Follow for new releases! http://www.DeadAmericaBooks.com
Dead America: Lowcountry | Book 3 | Lowcountry [Part 3] Page 7
