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her shower, Dallas threw on the black and red California State University East Bay sweats Roper had given her. They were snug against Dallas’s thicker frame, but that made them oddly more comforting. Bringing the sleeve to her face, she inhaled. It smelled like Roper.
    Looking for her jacket and clothes, Dallas didn’t see them, so she headed out to the great room, where she found Einstein lounging on the couch in clean clothes and with wet hair.
    “Roper’s in the spare bedroom shower.” Einstein chugged a Coke. He didn’t look like a kid who had just escaped the jaws of death.
    Dallas went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She pulled out all kinds of dinner fixings and laid them on the counter in neat little rows. It angered her that a mundane chore of cooking dinner could mean so much and take her focus off the dangers threatening them now, but they had to eat and they needed to eat well. If there was one thing she had learned at the fire station was the importance of fueling one’s body.
    Einstein cocked his head before jumping up and looking out the big picture window. He stayed there for a couple of minutes before Dallas said softly, “Relax, Einstein. It would take them at least ten hours to get here. We have a little time.”
    “Still, I think we ought to sleep upstairs with someone guarding, switching every four hours.”
    Dallas glanced up from her chopping. “Every four hours?”
    He nodded. “The biggest mistake people make in zombie movies is to think they are safe.”   “And we’re not.”
    He shook his head and returned to the couch. “We so are not.”
    Dallas was almost finished with her salad when Roper came out, drying her hair with a blue towel. It was not the first time Dallas realized how pretty she was. She had that fresh face I-don’t-need-to-wear-makeup look. She had these piercing blue eyes on either side of a nose that looked like it had been broken a time or two. Dallas imagined roping cattle might make one susceptible to an occasional broken bone or two.
    “What smells so good?” Roper asked, smiling at Dallas.
    “Pasta with a white wine sauce, sun-dried tomatoes and asparagus.”
    “Oh god, I didn’t realize I was so hungry. My mouth is actually watering. Look.” Roper opened her mouth for Dallas, who laughed and shoved her away. “You and your mouth can relax until it’s ready.”
    “When will that be?”
    “Well, dinner’ll be ready in about ten minutes. Why don’t we see what’s going on out there?” Dallas motioned for Einstein to sit on the sofa and waited for Roper to reach for the controls. When she did, she looked at Dallas and smiled. “The sweats are quite a departure for the Harley chick, but you look great.”
    Dallas felt her cheeks flush. “Thank you. You’re quite a bit leaner than I am.”
    “Lean, mean fighting machine, sista’.” Turning the television on, Roper finished drying her hair. The red ticker tape at the bottom of the screen reminded everyone to stay in their homes. The sound of the emergency warning system blared until Roper turned the volume down just enough so they could still hear that horrible sound, but it wasn’t deafening.
    Every channel was the same.
    “I guess we can eat first and wait for any news.”
    Dallas had already set the table, so when Einstein and Roper sat down all she had to do was serve the pasta and salad, and they ate their meal in relative silence. Every now and then, Roper would look up and say, “This is so good.”
    Finally, Dallas replied. “I cook a lot at the station...or I did.”
    When the emergency warning system suddenly stopped, all three rose and stood in front of the television. There was no newsroom, no famous anchor. Instead, there was the national press secretary standing alone at a podium in a room devoid of reporters.
    “Containing this epidemic is proving to be more difficult than initially expected. You must stay indoors. Do not go out. Do not allow anyone in. Consider