“You know them?” Lily asked, approaching them.
Ace nodded. “Yeah, they had that house at the edge of town,” he explained, motioning vaguely. “Built it a few years back.”
“Guessing that’s not one we cleared?” Dante asked.
The redneck shook his head. “I didn’t think we needed to,” he admitted. “The morning this all started, I saw a big ole SUV pulling out of the driveway and hauling ass outta town.”
“Looks like whoever left, it wasn’t them,” Lily murmured.
“Well, obviously, Lil,” Ace said, rolling his eyes.
Ignoring him, she peered through the wood to get a good look at them. “Judging by the looks of them, the momma keeled over and took the rest of them with her,” she said.
“Met Fred there a few times,” Ace declared. “He always struck me as a bit of a wuss. No surprise he got eaten up by his wife.”
Lily crossed her arms. “Apparently his kids didn’t fare much better.”
“There any other houses you think are empty but we didn’t check?” Dante asked.
Ace shrugged. “Well hell, based on this, I think we need to check the rest of ‘em,” he suggested. “There’s one more beside their house, and two more on the other side of the gas station. I saw ‘em leave that morning, but now that I think about it, they could have left someone behind.”
Dante nodded in agreement.
“Well, that’s going to have to be after breakfast,” Lily cut in, still looking out the window. “We gotta figure out what to do about these five first.”
Ace cracked a smile and headed for the closet. He rummaged around for a few moments and then returned with a large medieval looking sword.
Dante and Lily blinked at him as he held it up in a victory pose.
“Okay King Arthur,” Lily drawled, “what in the hell are you planning on doing with that thing? No. Wait. Scratch that.” She held up a finger. “First question. Why in the hell do you have that?”
Ace grinned. “You remember a few years back when I was dating Betty-Sue?” he asked.
“Yeah?” she replied, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, she dragged me to one of those renaissance fairs down near Savannah,” he explained, “and let’s just say I got caught up in it. Saw this on the way out and just had to have it.”
Lily crossed her arms. “Somehow I doubt that a sword from a renaissance fair is going to be a viable weapon,” she said dryly.
He pointed it up and touched the tip of his finger to the pointy end, playfully recoiling as if it were incredibly sharp. “I know I’m not going to hack through them,” he admitted. “But this thing is solid enough that a direct shot to the face should do some damage.”
“It looks thin enough to get through the wooden openings,” Dante added. “Can’t hurt to try.”
Lily stared at him, eyebrows raised, disbelieving that the tall man would buy into her cousin’s ridiculousness. Dante just smiled and shrugged.
“Yeah, I know, I’m just as shocked as you are,” he admitted.
She shook her head and chuckled, turning towards the window and sliding it open. The noise intensified as she did so, the zombies’ moaning accompanying the loud banging. Their thrashing grew more excited when they realized they were so close to a fresh meal.
“Well, let’s see if this works,” Ace said, and put the tip of the sword on one of the wooden boards, lining up his shot with a face. One of the teenage zombies had pushed its way to the front of the pack, its face missing a good chunk of flesh from the cheek.
Ace readied himself, getting into position, and then thrusting forward. The sword slid perfectly through the opening, the tip of the blade piercing the zombie’s rheumy eye.
The creature convulsed for a moment before sliding off of the blade and down to the ground, only to be immediately replaced by one of its family members.
Ace pulled the gooey sword back inside, shooting his cousin a triumphant smile. “Ren fair for the win, what what?!” he declared.
She rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall. “Yeah, yeah,” she said flippantly.
He lined up another shot, this time on the ghoul that used to be Fred Robinson. “All right, time to put you out of your misery,” he cooed, and then thrust again.
The blade cracked through the bridge of the zombie’s nose, entering into its skull. As the heavier ghoul fell limp, it didn’t dislodge from the sword, and when Ace tried to pull on it, he couldn’t get it back out.
“Son of a bitch, let go Fred!” Ace bellowed.
The remaining zombies outside thrashed about, putting weight on Fred as they tried to get at the source of the noise. One of them pushed down, causing the sword to bend. It didn’t take much more pressure for the blade to snap in two, leaving the broadsword a short sword.
Ace pulled the busted hilt back inside and stared at it for a moment before tossing it over his shoulder back towards the closet.
“Well, got my money’s worth out of it at least,” he drawled. “Well… technically I got my money’s worth out of it after the ren fair because Betty-Sue was all into that medieval shit. That night we—”
“Stop talking,” Lily cut in, putting up a hand. “I just watched you impale two zombies, but if you finish your thought, I’m going to throw up.”
Ace chuckled and turned to Dante. “What do you say,” he said, “you wanna go finish them off outside so we can have some breakfast in peace?”
“Lead the way,” Dante replied, motioning for the door.
The redneck nodded. “We’ll head out the back and stop by the shed,” he said. “Got another idea of something I’ve always wanted to try.”
“Three of us should be able to take them out pretty easily,” Lily added.
Dante cocked his head. “Actually, I’d like you to stay here.”
“Don’t go getting all protective on me now,” she replied with a pout.
He raised his hands. “I would never dream of it,” he promised. “But they’re
