“You do hear that,” Marie said. “But it’s bullshit. Don’t know how that rumor got started.”

“The zombies probably started it,” Lawrence said. Jay and Marie laughed.

“Sugar in an engine’s no good. At most, it’ll just clog the filter,” Marie said, turning her palms.

“But as long as we’re bringing food, a box of quick rice is worth including,” Lawrence said, exhaling smoke. “Empty that down the radiator. Or a potato in the exhaust pipe.”

“No one’s mentioned my favorite,” Jay said. “Fill a condom with crushed walnut shells and fine sand, any abrasive will do. Drop it in the crankcase. Zombie drives the thing about thirty miles when the condom disintegrates, and that’s it. Engine’s completely destroyed.”

“I’ve never heard of zombies that could drive,” I said. “I thought zombies just ate brains and lurched around. The thing that’s scary about them is that they just keep coming.”

“Oh, these zombies can drive,” Marie said. “They can drive and they just keep coming. And only we can stop them. That’s why we’ve got to be prepared.”

“Practice and prepare,” I said, lighting another cigarette from the end of my first one. “Back home, those were our watchwords.”

“Practice and prepare for what?” asked Marie.

“Hard to say now,” I said. “Looking back, I might as well have just rolled out of bed and done the first thing that came to mind, for all the good my plans have done me. Hell, maybe all along it was the zombie apocalypse we were preparing for, and we just didn’t know.”

“Good a thing to prepare for as any,” Lawrence said.

“One thing you can count on anyway,” Marie said. They raised their cans. I raised mine, too.