Ace rolled his eyes after catching them all. “Great, now I can kill one of them three times before I get tackled,” he drawled.
Dante patted him on the shoulder as he passed by. “You aren’t going to have to worry about that,” he said, and leaned over to grab the dead officer from the center of the hall, dragging him along.
“No, that’s not concerning at all,” Ace muttered, confused as he followed.
Dante led them down the hallway to where the cells were, stopping at the door leading towards them. He got a good grip on the corpse and lifted it up, pressing it against the door before letting out a yell.
The zombies by the cell mostly broke away, rushing for Dante. They hit the corpse hard, but he was able to hold them in place.
Ace gaped at the scene, and his companion grunted, inclining his head towards him.
“Start stabbing!” Dante barked.
The redneck shook himself back into the moment and started attacking. He aimed and thrust one of the spears into an eye socket, dropping the ghoul to the ground. Before he could ready another strike, another zombie was there.
He stabbed again, but missed badly, taking the ear off of one of the creatures. Another managed to smack the weapon away, forcing him to grab another one.
This time his aim was on target, dropping another, but the spike lodged itself in its skull.
“Shit, I’m down to one!” Ace cried.
Dante struggled to hold the zombies back, taking a deep breath. “Well make it count!” he instructed through his teeth.
Ace struck a couple more times, taking out two but losing the weapon on the next strike. There were still five zombies trying to force their way past Dante.
“Shit!” the redneck exclaimed, and hesitated, trying to think of what to do next. Finally he pulled out his gun, looking to his companion for guidance.
Dante gave him a nod, ducking his head.
Ace cocked the hammer back and aimed, pulling the trigger only when he was confident of a kill shot. He repeated this multiple times until the threat had been neutralized.
His partner finally dropped the officer corpse, stretching his shoulders to relieve some of the fatigue. As he did, Ace walked into the room and stepped over to the last remaining ghouls still trying to get into the jail cell. He executed them both at point blank range, finally getting rid of the threat altogether.
The duo stood outside of the jail cell, seeing both Brandt and his officer stretched out by the back, sitting on the mattress for a bit of cushion.
“Well, well,” the Sheriff drawled, “I was wondering when one of you boys would wise up and come get us.”
Ace sneered. “Sorry to disappoint you there, chief,” he said, “but we’re just here for some supplies.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” Brandt said with a smirk.
The redneck shrugged. “Doubt it all you want, bubba.”
The Sheriff shook his head and stood up, walking over to the bars close to the men. “Nah, if you were here for supplies, you would have just taken them and ran,” he said, and then paused for a moment, thinking. “Oh, you’re not here for supplies… you’re here for supplies.” He barked a laugh. “Had a little trouble getting into the room, did you?”
“I’m guessing you know how to get us into that room?” Dante asked, crossing his arms.
Brandt nodded. “Oh, that’s for sure, but it’s gonna cost you,” he replied.
“Why does that not surprise me?” Dante asked, rolling his eyes.
The Sheriff crossed his arms, leaning casually on the bars. “Well, for starters, you’re going to get me and my friend Officer Henson here out of this hellhole,” he said.
“You know how to pick a lock?” Ace asked with a shrug. “Because we don’t have keys.”
Brandt pointed to the cell across the way from them. “If there’s something in the toilet, you can blame your idiot friend Maddox,” he drawled. “He’s the one who tossed it in there.”
Ace and Dante looked at each other, and without saying a word, they both extended their fists and launched into an immediate game of rock, paper, scissors. Ace threw rock, and Dante threw paper.
“Damn!” the redneck cried. “Best two out of three?” he asked hopefully.
Dante raised his hands. “I think I’m good, man,” he replied.
Ace hung his head before heading into the cell and looking down into the toilet. He let out a deep sigh of relief when he saw only water—or at least what he hoped was water, and reached in. He felt around in the pipe and plucked the keys, shaking them dry before tossing them over to his companion.
Dante caught them, wrinkling his nose when he felt they were still wet. “Thanks for that,” he said.
“My pleasure,” Ace replied with a grin.
Dante turned to Brandt, who stood on the other side of the bars, putting on a stoic face.
“Here’s the deal,” Dante said, pointing at him. “I’m going to let you out of here, you’re going to get us into the supply room, and we’re both going to wake what we need and then go our separate ways.”
The Sheriff shook his head. “Sorry, but I’m going to need more than that.”
“Afraid we don’t have much else to give at this point,” Dante replied.
“Oh, you do,” Brandt said with a sneer. “You’re going to tell me where Maddox is.”
Ace stalked towards the cell, fists clenched. “Fuck you, man!” he snarled.
Dante held up his palm to calm down his friend. “Sorry Sheriff, but we have enough people trying to kill us, without adding you to the mix,” he said.
“You boys out there making friends, I see,” Brandt said tightly.
“Something like that,” Dante replied. “So that’s off the table, however, I’m willing to honor the deal I offered you.”
The Sheriff contemplated for a moment, and then glanced back at Henson, who looked gaunt and a little worse for wear. He gave his superior a weak thumbs up.
“Okay,” Brandt said with a sigh, “you have a deal.”
