I could hear them talking, but I pretended I slept. Wichita slept peacefully beside me, with Little Rock on her other side. I could feel my heart racing as Wichita slept on my chest. She is… rather heavy, but it was not that comfortable. I strained to hear in the balcony as Tallahassee and Las Vegas talked.

"Look, I… uh…" I could hear Tallahassee trying to talk.

"Apology accepted." Vegas said, "You don't have to force yourself."

"Oh." Tallahassee sighed in relief, "That takes a load off. I ain't too good with words…"

"I know. You're just like my ex-husband." She chuckled, "He can never say the right words. So I had to learn how to read what he was trying to say from the way he was acting."

"Was he… was he a bad husband to you?"

"If you mean that if he physically hurt me, no." Vegas answered, "But… he was like any other musician. He loved performing, he loved being on the road. Sure, he loved my son and took him, but I guess he loves the perks of being a celebrity way too much to stay for him."

"What did your mother say… when you left your son and went… you know…" He was referring to her stripping.

"My mother… she understood me. She knew I was living a hard life. She said it was the same with her. She had to be a card dealer to earn money to raise me. And when I grew up, she did everything she could to get a decent desk job at the casino she was working. "

"What happened to her?"

There was silence in the air for a minute, and then I heard someone sniff. "I killed her." Vegas was saying, her voice constricted. I realized she was crying. "She became a zombie. I headed home when the people in the streets have turned into zombies. I ran into her, but she was already infected. She was aiming to bite my neck, and I had no choice but to… to… shoot her."

There was silence again, and the only sound for a minute was Vegas' crying. Soon enough, I heard Tallahassee moving.

"This… was my son." He said, and I remembered he had a picture of his son in his wallet made of duct tape. "The zombies killed him, too. I… I couldn't protect him. They ate him…"

"I… I'm sorry." I heard Vegas whisper.

"Nothing to be sorry about." Tallahassee said roughly, "It's not our fault that these zombies roamed the streets. It's that damn virus. But, we gotta at least try and survive, you know? My son…" I heard him chuckle, "My son would be mighty pissed if he finds his daddy dead from zombie bites."

"I… don't even know if my son is alive." Vegas said, "But I have to find out. I have to know if he's dead or if he turned into a zombie."

"Yeah, I know. That's why we're going with you."

"Thank you… Tallahassee."