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wasn’t the first group Ian and Grant had met that thought the world would quickly return to business as usual, but they still seemed more normal than the others.
    “We should go inside,” Cathleen said. “The creeps are starting to come around.”
    Ian examined the fences. “It’s only a couple of zombies.”
    “Don’t say the Z word!” Elyse shrieked. “Nikki hates it.”
    “Seems like she hates a lot of things.” Grant shifted his backpack, which had begun to chafe his shoulders.
    “Come on.” Cathleen waved for them to follow her. “You can relax in the gym.”
     
    The gymnasium was hardly relaxing with its cold air and hardwood floors, but with few windows and only a couple of exits, it felt much safer than most places in which Grant and Ian had been. Nikki sat in a corner, removing her shoes, stretching, and then reading a book. Cathleen and Elyse disappeared into a side room and came out a short time later dragging a blue gym mat. Unfolded, it was large enough for five people to lie on.
    “Your sleeping bags won’t be very comfortable on just the floor. This should help!” Cathleen smiled and then jogged over to Nikki.
    “We can stay?” Ian asked. They didn’t seem eager for company, especially Nikki.
    “For a night,” Elyse answered. “I don’t think Nikki wants you here longer than that.”
    • • •
    You should have left then.
    “How were we to know?”
    Ian tries to remember any small detail that might have tipped him off to the things to come, but he still can’t see anything suspicious in their actions.
    Things too good to be true in the apocalypse usually are.
    “Well you, my conscience, were asleep on the job.”
    Fair enough.
    “Besides, they gave us food!”
    • • •
    “From the vending machines,” Elyse said as she dropped an assortment of small plastic packages onto the mat. “Take whatever you want.”
    Cathleen dropped another armful on top of the rest. “Yeah,” she said, “there’s no way we need all of this. We have to watch our figures.”
    Grant and Ian considered the pile of junk food. They’d learned their lesson long before about eating crap. Grant chose a single Snickers bar and tucked it into a pocket of his backpack.
    “Wow, that’s really nice of you,” Ian said, but he made no selections from the heap. Instead, he opened the top of his backpack and showed the girls its content. “And I’m not trying to be ungrateful, but we have everything we need. You should keep it.”
    Cathleen and Elyse rolled their eyes at one another.
    “Whatever,” Cathleen said.
    “So, where are you three sleeping?” Grant asked. His question sounded sleazy, like he wanted to catch them in their underwear.
    • • •
    “He might not have liked cheerleaders, but girls were girls to Grant. He definitely would have wanted to see them in any form of undress that they’d allow.
    What about you?
    “You know I’m pickier.”
    • • •
    Elyse began to answer, but Nikki, who had come over stopped her. Her eyes were calling Grant “dirty” and “disgusting”.
    “That,” Nikki said, “is none of your business!”
    At dusk, the girls disappeared to another area of the school and Grant and Ian unpacked their sleeping bags. The blue mats added a surprising amount of warmth that night, allowing them to sleep more soundly than they had in weeks. When Ian awoke the next morning, he couldn’t immediately tell that anything was wrong. It was only when he went to his backpack for breakfast that he found it to be empty. Grant’s had been mostly emptied as well, except for a can of pinto beans. Even the Snickers bar was gone. He shook his friend awake and held his bag upside down near his face.
    “They took nearly everything.”
    Grant sat up. “We’ve been fucking robbed by cheerleaders?” His voice echoed in the large gym. He slid out of his sleeping bag, stuffed it in his backpack and ran for the doors. “Keep up, Ian!”
    “No wonder they gave us all the food.