His companion chuckled and nodded. “I appreciate that, man,” he replied. “And you’re right, we gotta get in that TV watching while we still have power.”
“Fucking fuck,” Ace stammered, smacking his thigh. “I didn’t even think about the power. I was talking about the beer running out.”
Dante shrugged. “Unless there’s a direct attack, the power plant should be okay for a few more days,” he said. “Maybe even a week on its own. Of course, we might actually have power for a while, thanks to the QXR guys. They probably got people addressing that as we speak.”
“Here’s hoping,” Ace said. “I think one of my neighbors has a generator or two, and the gas station got refueled a few weeks back. It would get us through in a pinch, but it would be loud as hell.” They reached the target house, and he held his pitchfork high. “But, one problem at a time.”
“This the house?” Dante asked.
The redneck nodded. “Yep.”
Dante took a deep breath. “So, how do you want to do this?”
“I looked in through the front window and saw it wandering around the living room,” Ace replied. “Checked the other windows and didn’t see anything, so this is probably it.”
Dante studied the front door, noting that it was elevated at the top of four brick steps. He cracked a smile. “You like physical comedy?” he asked.
“Physical comedy?” Ace blinked at him. “Oh, you mean like when people fall down and shit? Hell yeah, I do!”
His companion motioned for him to stay put. “I got an idea,” he said.
They reached the front door, and Dante reached for the knob, but then stopped. He bent over and pulled up the welcome mat, finding a key beneath.
“Gotta love small towns,” he murmured, and slid it into the lock as quietly as he could. He turned the bolt softly, and then wrapped his hand around the knob, glancing at Ace.
The redneck stood several feet away from the stairs, pitchfork at the ready. Dante nodded and then threw open the door.
“Knock, knock!” he yelled.
A zombie moaned and tore for him, arms outstretched. He jumped out of the way at the last section, and it ran straight ahead, not comprehending the stairs, immediately falling down onto its face.
Before it could scramble to its feet, Ace drove the pitchfork into its back, pinning it to the ground. It writhed and flailed and tried to squirm away, but Dante was quick with the sledgehammer, bringing it down hard to crush its skull.
As soon as the corpse fell limp, both men dissolved into laughter.
“That is one dumb son of a bitch,” Ace declared through his gasps. “Of course he wasn’t that bright when he was alive, either.”
Dante waved for him to follow. “Let’s clear the house just to be safe,” he suggested.
The duo headed inside, moving swiftly through the rooms, knocking on any closed doors and listening for sound. A moment later they rejoined each other in the front hall, finding nothing else.
Ace led them into the kitchen, opening up the fridge and finding a case of beer. “Good news, we’re set up to tailgate tomorrow,” he said, pulling out the case with a flourish.
“Well, let’s get this meet and greet with Maddox out of the way so we can start prepping,” Dante said, and they sauntered outside, heading back to collect Lily.
CHAPTER THREE
Ace, Dante, and Lily piled into the truck, the latter in the middle. The rest of the group stood on the porch, watching them.
“Get what you can done today,” Dante called through the open passenger window. “If there’s any trouble, you get in the house and stay there. We’ll handle it when we get back. Everybody good on that?”
There were nods all around, and Ace fired up the truck, waving. He did a burnout as he pulled out of the yard, fishtailing a bit on the road as he headed for the highway, making the turn south.
“So how far is this place again?” Dante asked.
Ace tilted his head back and forth. “Should take half an hour to get there,” he replied. “Hardeeville is only about fifteen miles or so, but Maddox has himself a little hideaway down by the river. Got to do a bit of off-roading to get to his place.”
“If he’s that far off the grid, there’s a good chance he’s still alive,” Dante said.
Lily scoffed. “He’s a cockroach in human form,” she drawled, “that’s how he’s still alive.”
“Guessing things didn’t end amicably?” Dante asked, avoiding her gaze.
There was a long pause, and Ace finally chuckled.
“You can tell him Lil,” he assured her. “I don’t think he’s gonna run away.”
Dante raised his eyebrow. “That bad, huh?”
“Yeah,” she replied with a sigh, “I caught him in bed with my cousin.”
Dante wrinkled his nose. “Yikes.”
“Oh, that’s not all,” she replied with a dark laugh. “I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and proceeded to chase his naked ass down the street, yelling that I would cut it off and feed it to him if I ever saw him again.”
Dante blinked at her, and then a smile broke out on his face. “So what you’re saying is, I should do the talking when we get there?” he asked.
“Unless he’s uncooperative,” she amended, crossing her arms, “at which point, I can jump in.”
“Good to know we have a negotiator with us,” Dante declared, and the trio erupted into laughter.
The road was nearly empty towards Hardeeville, save for a single overturned car a few miles outside of town.
“How big is this town, anyway?” Dante asked.
Ace shrugged. “Just a few thousand, and it’s spread out pretty good,” he replied. “Still, we’re not going to chance it. I know the back roads good enough to get us there without going near the center
