“It’s been a while, brother,” Maddox said, spreading his arms.
Ace shrugged. “Yeah, it’s been a minute.”
“Now, why you been treating me like a stranger, huh?” the dealer asked.
Lily stepped out from behind Dante, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
Maddox’s smile dropped from his face immediately. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Really?” she asked. “That’s all you have to say?”
“You better check your attitude, skank!” the woman next to Maddox stepped forward, pointing a finger as her disheveled hair poofed around her head.
Lily tongued her cheek. “Excuse the fuck outta me, Miss Trailer Park Queen,” she snapped.
“Bitch, what you just call me?!” the woman shrieked, and took another step forward.
Maddox grabbed her around the waist, and Lily moved towards her too, but Ace caught her wrist to stop her.
“Ladies, as much as my redneck heart would love to see a full-on catfight,” Ace drawled, “we have a situation on our hands.”
The dealer pulled his pouting woman against him, brushing her bangs off of her forehead. “He’s right baby,” he cooed. “Why don’t you go smoke a bowl and calm down?”
She glared at Lily before snaking her arms around Maddox’s neck, practically devouring his mouth in a show of possessiveness before flouncing off into the trailer, slamming the door behind her.
“Still slumming it, I see,” Lily said dryly.
Ace pinched her shoulder, shaking his head. She rolled her eyes, but kept her mouth shut.
One of the pie-eyed guys, presumably Henry, stared wide-eyed at Dante’s face, and Tate smacked him in the back of the head.
“Boy, it ain’t polite to be starin’!” he hissed. “Man’s been through some shit, just let him be with it.” He looked apologetically at Dante, who responded with a nod.
“I’m…” Henry stammered, shaking his head and looking at the ground. “I’m sorry, sir.”
Dante smiled softly. “It’s all right.”
“Who’s your new friend here, Ace?” Maddox asked.
“Oh, him?” the redneck motioned to his large friend. “This is Dante. He’s a big ole badass who found his way to my doorstep.”
Maddox stepped up, cocking his head. “Big ole badass, huh?” he asked. “So what makes you so big and bad?”
“I’m humble,” Dante replied with a smirk, “so you’ll just have to stick around and watch me in action.”
The dealer chuckled. “Okay, come on now, I’m gonna need more than that,” he drawled. “Like what would you do if I grabbed your—” He snatched a fistful of Dante’s shirt, and the bigger man smacked his arm away, catching him around the throat with his free hand.
Maddox blinked up at him in shock and then grinned.
Tate rubbed his forehead, shaking his head.
“Yep,” Maddox choked out, “pretty good.”
“I think my dumbass brother gets the point,” Tate suggested, scratching the back of his head.
Dante smirked and let go.
Maddox sucked in a lungful and coughed before giving him a thumbs up. “I like him,” he said hoarsely, and then cleared his throat. “Okay. So, you wanna tell me what you’re doing down here? I’m guessing with your zombie comment it’s not because you need drugs.”
“We’ve just been referring to them as zombies since it’s as good an explanation as any,” Ace explained.
Tate cocked his head. “What makes you say that?” he asked.
“Have you not been paying attention to what’s going on out there?” Lily demanded, motioning over her shoulder.
Henry shook his head slowly. “Not since the news went dead a couple days ago, man,” he drawled. “We’ve been locked up tight here ever since.”
“So you don’t know about the bites?” she asked, furrowing her brow.
Maddox shrugged. “I mean, we know those things try to bite,” he replied. “But what about ‘em?”
“The people who get bitten are infected,” Dante explained. “When they die, they come back.”
“Hence, zombie,” Ace added.
Maddox wrinkled his nose. “Good thing we didn’t let ole Chucky bite us, then,” he said.
“Who’s Chucky?” Dante asked.
Maddox and his brother shared a look, and Tate nodded.
“Come on,” the dealer said, motioning for them to follow, “there’s something you need to see.”
He led the group down a trail through the woods. They walked a couple hundred yards until they reached a shack that was no bigger than ten by ten yards squared. There were a couple of windows that were closed, and the door had been boarded up.
“Our uncle used to live here back in the eighties,” Tate explained. “Went abandoned for quite a while after his death. Then we started using it before upgrading our digs.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Impressive,” she mocked. “So why did you bring us down here?”
Maddox opened his mouth, giving her the side-eye, but Tate spoke up, pointing.
“Look in the window,” he said.
The three stepped up to the window, peering into the dim ransacked space.
“Looks about how I would expect Maddox to live,” Lily muttered.
He pursed his lips, ignoring her, and knocked on the glass. A second later, a zombie emerged from the shadows, shambling towards the window. It didn’t have any visible bite marks and looked clean save for the decaying skin.
“Is there anything wrong with him?” Dante asked.
Maddox raised an eyebrow. “You mean, besides being dead as fuck?”
“I mean with his legs,” Dante replied, pointing. “Could he run before?”
The dealer nodded emphatically. “Oh hell yeah,” he replied. “A couple days ago he said he wasn’t feeling well and asked if he could crash out in the cabin. We came down a few hours later to check on him and he ran like a fucking Olympic sprinter, smacking into the windows.”
“We got bored and started having fun with him,” Tate added, “baiting him to keep running around the cabin like a crazy person.”
Dante cocked his head. “When did he slow down?” he asked.
“Started getting gimpy yesterday, and frankly just took all the fun out of it,” Maddox said with a sigh.
Dante and Ace shared a pointed look.
“Hey now, don’t go getting all judgy on us now,” Tate drawled, pointing a finger at the visiting redneck. “Especially with all the shit you’ve pulled over the years.”
Ace shook his head. “Nah, it’s not that,” he said, waving a hand. “We think they’re slowing down.”
The stoners looked at each other, confused.
“Okay, you guys are going to have to start from the beginning,” Maddox piped up. “Because it feels like we’re coming in halfway through.”
Henry slowly raised his hand, looking nervous. Nobody knew quite how to react until Dante finally pointed at him.
“Um… yes?” he asked.
The stoner chewed his lip for a moment, with his hand still in the air. “Why don’t we go smoke a bowl?” he asked. “And let them fill us in.”
“Well hot damn, there it is,” Maddox declared, clapping his hands together. “His one good idea this week. Come on, let’s go have us a chat in comfort.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The four rednecks sat there, dumbfounded, staring at the trio after the long tale they’d just been told. Maddox reached over and grabbed the bong from Henry, taking a long hoot and holding it in for half a minute before exhaling a massive cloud of smoke towards the ceiling.
“Jesus fucking christ,” he groaned, “no military, mercenaries have taken over, and there are flesh-eating zombies rampaging everywhere.”
Tate buried his head in his hands. “So we’re really on our own?” he asked.
Dante nodded. “Yep,” he replied. “Military just up and abandoned us.”
“So what are you wanting us to do about it?”
Maddox asked, throwing up his hands.
Ace jerked his thumb in the direction of his companion. “Dante here had the bright idea of starting to grow our own food.”
Maddox burst out laughing, his bloodshot eyes filled with mirth. “Ole McMaddox had a farm, E-I-E-I-O!” he sang, and Henry guffawed, joined in by Maddox’s girlfriend, who’s name had turned out to be Teagan.
Tate, however, sat in contemplative silence, rubbing his chin.
When Maddox realized his brother wasn’t laughing, he calmed down, pushing against his shoulder. “Come on, you aren’t taking that seriously, are you?” he asked.
His brother shrugged. “If those mercenaries are killing people in broad daylight, and the military is gone…” Tate trailed off and then shook his head. “We have to assume this situation is far worse than we can imagine.”
Maddox chewed his lip, glancing over at Teagan and Henry, who were still singing Ole McMaddox and laughing. “You two knock it off,” he snapped.
Henry clamped his mouth shut, and Teagan pouted.
“You’re really gonna talk to me that way?” she whined.
“Yes,” he replied. “And if you ever want to smoke any of my shit again, you’re gonna be quiet.”
She crossed her arms and flopped back against the couch, screwing her face into a comically dramatic scowl.
Maddox contemplated for a moment and then leaned forward. “Man, I’m not even sure where to begin,” he groaned. “Henry, what do you think?”
“What the hell are you asking that teenage burnout for?” Lily blurted, motioning to the red-eyed redneck.
Tate pursed his lips. “Because he’s our plant specialist,” he said.
Henry sighed, rubbing his eyes before blinking rapidly. “How much food we talking?”
“Assuming we add more to the group,” Dante paused, thinking for a moment, “revolving food supply for twenty people.”
Henry pulled a phone out of his back pocket and started hammering away at the calculator. He twisted his lips as he ran some numbers and then shook his head.
“Well, for starters,” he said, “we’re going to need a much larger setup than we have here.”
Maddox cocked his head. “How big are we talking?”
“School gymnasium size,” Henry replied.
Ace threw up his hands. “Where the hell are we supposed to find that?” he asked.
“How about we just take over a school gymnasium?” Tate suggested.
Dante shook his head. “Even if we could take one over,” he replied, “it would be a huge target if QXR gets this far out.”
“That’s the beauty of it,” Tate declared with a smile. “This school is abandoned. Has been since the nineties.”
Maddox nodded, snapping his fingers and pointing at his brother. “And it’s isolated,” he added, “a couple miles outside the city. They built it out in the country since a lot of the smaller towns fed into it. Then, in the late nineties, the town decided to build one closer to downtown.”
“We still have extra solar panels, right?” Henry asked.
Maddox jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Yeah, I got a few I haven’t broken out yet,” he confirmed. “Hardware store guy couldn’t pay his bill, so he gave me solar panels instead. Best deal I’ve made in a while.”
“You tell us what we need, and we’ll get it for you,” Dante said.
Maddox shook his head. “Shit man, what we really need is Francis,” he said.
“You ain’t kidding,” Tate agreed. “He’d be loving this right now.”
“Who in the hell is Francis?” Ace asked.
“Our cousin from Florida,” Tate explained. “He moved up here a few months back, been helping out with things around here.”
Maddox clasped his hands together. “We really should go get him,” he said slowly.
“That’s gonna be a hell of a job,” Tate reminded him, letting out a deep whoosh of breath.
“It’s okay,” his brother declared, motioning to Dante. “We have a big badass over here, ain’t that right?”
Dante raised his eyebrow, chuckling. “We can certainly add Francis to the list,” he agreed. “But we really need to get the food going.”
“Francis needs to come first,” Maddox insisted. “Because as luck would have it, he’s on the clock, so to speak.”
Ace furrowed his brow. “Where is he that he’s on a clock?”
“County jail up in Ridgeland,” Tate replied.
Lily gaped at him. “You want us to break into a jail for one of your lackeys?”
“He’s much more than a lackey, sweetheart,” Maddox said, and she grimaced at the endearment. Teagan scoffed with disapproval, but simmered down at her boyfriend’s icy stare.
“And knowing those boys up at the jail,” Tate continued, “they probably bailed out at the first sign of trouble. Which means he hasn’t had food or water in a few days.”
Ace shook his head. “Man, that is one hell of a risk,” he said. “Do you really think he’s worth it?”
Maddox bristled, but Tate leaned forward to defuse the situation.
“Before he moved up here, he would get work every Halloween as a celebrity impersonator,” he said.
Ace raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?” he asked. “Who was he impersonating?”
“Andre the Giant,” Tate declared.
Ace let out a low whistle and then slapped his knees. “Okay, I’ll get the truck,” he said. “We got a jail to break into.”
“Before we do that,” Dante said, holding up a hand, “we’re going to need a plan. I imagine breaking into a jail, even a county one, isn’t going to be all that easy.”
Maddox jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “We got a welding torch in the cabin,” he said. “We’ll just have to deal with ole Chucky to get it.”
“That’s not a problem,” Dante said.
“Torch should get us inside without issues,” Maddox continued. “Same with the cell. Last time I was there, they were still using the old school locks with the oversized keys.”
Dante nodded slowly. “Sounds like a secure facility, there,” he said.
“It’s a county jail in a small town,” Tate drawled. “Ninety-nine percent of the people in there got popped for DUI or drugs.”
Dante cocked his head. “And what did Francis do to get in that one percent?”
Maddox chuckled. “He body-slammed two people at a bar,” he replied. “At the same time.”
“Liking this guy already,” Ace said with a grin.
Henry tore a sheet of notebook paper from the pad he’d been writing on and handed it over to Maddox.
“What the hell is this?” the dealer asked, brow furrowing.
“It’s a shopping list,” Henry explained. “There’s a great little farming supply store in Ridgeland that should have everything on that list.”
Maddox crossed his arms. “The fuck I look like, your mom?” he snapped. “Get off your lazy ass and get ready to go to the store.”
“Question,” Lily piped up, holding up her palm. “Does anybody else besides Henry know how to grow food?”
Nobody moved or said anything.
She raised her eyebrows. “Didn’t think so,” she said firmly. “That makes Henry the most important member of this group. So he’s not going anywhere.”
“I’m important too,” Teagan piped up. “So I shouldn’t have to go out there.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Sucking lil’ smokies ain’t important,” she muttered under her breath.
“What did you say?” the other woman snarled.
“She was just reminding me to ask if you guys had more weapons,” Dante said quickly.
Ace nodded, stifling a smile. “Yeah, our supply is limited,” he added, “to say the least.”
“Tate and I got handguns,” Maddox replied. “That’s about it.”
“Some drug kingpin you are,” Lily scoffed.
He glared at her. “The fuck I look like, the head of the Rivas Cartel?�
�� he snapped. “I’m a small town weed-slinger, I don’t have any need for heavy artillery.”
Before she could argue, Dante patted her leg and got to his feet.
“Well, if you know any place to get heavy artillery,” he said, “if QXR comes a knocking, we could use it.”
Maddox and Tate shared a look, and the latter shrugged.
“We might know of a place,” he said. “But first things first. It’s time for a jailbreak.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The drive to Ridgeland was mostly quiet, with only the occasional zombie sighting on the side of the road. A side street sometimes came into view within sight of the interstate, which was devoid of life.
No cars, no zombies, no nothing.
“It’s like the world just stopped on a dime,” Dante mused. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen an interstate that empty.”
Lily shook her head. “No real reason for people to be on the road, even on a good day outside of going between Savannah and Charleston,” she explained. “Outside of transport trucks, that is.”
“Port of Savannah, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s a trip going over that bridge into town,” she replied with a nod. “Gotta be tall enough for those ships to squeeze under. Really gets you up there.”
Ace barked a laugh. “Hell, it took me til I was twenty-two before I owned a car with a good enough engine to make it up that incline,” he added.
“Well, if these zombies keep slowing down, we might have to pay Savannah a visit,” Dante suggested. “Could be some useful stuff in those shipping containers.”
The three of them thought about it for a few moments as they reached the town line. Ridgeland, much like Hardeeville, was a small town of a few thousand people. The jail was just a few blocks north of the farming supply store, which meant they had to venture into the heart of town.
Maddox slowed his truck to a stop ahead of them, reaching his arm out the window to motion for them to pull up beside. “What do y’all wanna hit first?” he asked as Dante unrolled his window.
“I think it’s going to be smarter to hit the farm supply store first,” he replied. “That said, how close in the jail to the store?”
“Less than a mile,” Maddox replied.
Dead America: Lowcountry | Book 4 | Lowcountry [Part 4] Page 3
