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Hello?" says a deep though feminine voice.

"Mrs. Taylor?"

"Luth?" Billie says, her voice returning to the normal higher tone. "Sorry about the trickery just then. I wanted to make sure you weren't dangerous."

"I don't think the infected would call first," you say.

"Of course not, but you could be, like, a guy pretending to be a deputy sheriff who's parked nearby and wants to 'check on the security of my house' just to get inside and rob me. Anyway, how are you? And I hate calling them 'infected' or 'zombies.'"