Joey gave a nod of his head. “Speaking of, if you’re here alone, who’s your designated driver?”

            Roksana took another sip of her wine. “Don’t need one. I didn’t drive here.”

            “You hired a driver, too?”

            “Nope. I walked.”

            Joey almost choked on his beer. “You what?”

            She laughed softly. “I live over in that apartment complex behind this place. Didn’t take me ten minutes to get here.”

            Joey stared at her in surprise. He didn’t know whether to be amazed by her bravery or astonished by her gall. It was Ethan who voiced what he was thinking.

            “You weren’t afraid of coming across a zombie?”

            “Shit, no.” After another sip, she set her wine glass down and leaned forward. “Tell me. Other than what we’ve seen on TV and on the internet, have either of you actually eyeballed one of those things? I mean for real? In person?”

            Joey checked with his friend who shook his head and joined him. “Nope. Have you?”

            “No,” she confessed. “I mean, whenever I’ve seen one on the news and all, they look like regular people. They’re not rotting, walking corpses like we’ve been fed from movies and television shows. They’re not all bloody and wearing ragged clothing. So how would we know if we actually came across one?”

            Joey pointed to his face. “Their eyes are all white, like their eyeballs rolled up in their heads.”

            She nodded. “Okay. I’ll give you that. What else?”

            He had to shrug. “I dunno. Eth, any ideas?”

            His friend also shrugged. “You got me there.”

            “And another thing,” Roksana brought up. “What brought this all on? How did people start turning into zombies in the first place? What happened eight months ago when all these restrictions went into place? Or did something happen earlier than that, and it got out of control to the point where we the public had to be informed?”

            Ethan slapped Joey on the arm. “She makes a lot of sense.”

            Joey agreed. “A lot of people I’ve talked to think this all started with a virus or something. At least, that’s what the news says. And when those things escaped or started multiplying…”

            “Multiplying how?” Roksana pressed. “By biting people? Is whatever they got that turned them into those things like rabies? And all it takes to be infected is to be bitten? And once bitten, how long does it take for a person to become one of them?”

            Joey laughed nervously. “You’ve thought a lot about this, haven’t you?”

            “Haven’t you?” she challenged and drained her glass. “Miss?” She raised her hand for attention, then lifted her empty wine glass to indicate a refill. “Okay, boys. I’m tired of talking about zombies. What else can we discuss? And, by the way, Mr. Jackson, how are you on the dance floor? I didn’t come here to discuss zombies. I came here to party, so let’s party!”