Free Domino Falls by Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due

stump was bandaged and slung, and he seemed to have decided not to notice as long as no one else did.
    The kids teased, laughed, cried, and chased one another the way they might have in happier times. Kendra had always heard people talk about how resilient children were, but she’d never witnessed the miracle.
    They would probably make out better than anyone, she thought. She hoped so.
    Ursalina darted around the room to tie shoelaces, wipe noses, and even change diapers, which was where Kendra drew the line. Ursalina unearthed something in a two-year-old boy’s Pampers that looked like a scientific experiment. The smell alone was worthy of study, but Ursalina didn’t complain. She tugged, taped, and snipped like a pro.
    â€œDo you have kids?” Kendra asked Ursalina before she could stop herself.
    It wasn’t a question you could blurt out lightly. Kids weren’t a phase people outgrew, or old belongings left in storage lockers. If she did have kids, where were they?
    Ursalina hung her head so low that her chin touched herbreastbone. Her body language said Back the hell off. Or she was closing up like a turtle. “Not me,” Ursalina said, finally looking up at her. She picked up the two-year-old like a bag of flour and set him running off on scurrying legs. “Granny Daisy,” she called. “Taking a break.”
    â€œAll right, dear,” Daisy said. “We’ll survive.”
    Ursalina motioned Kendra outside. She leaned up against the redbrick wall and shook a cigarette out of a wrinkled pack. She halfheartedly offered one to Kendra, smiled when she refused. The soldier lit her cigarette, inhaled deeply, exhaled, and finally spoke. “My partner, Mickey. She had a daughter, Sharlene.”
    â€œWait, never mind,” Kendra said. “I’m sorry to . . .”
    Ursalina shrugged. “I don’t mind remembering. Hate works for me.”
    â€œLove can work pretty well too.”
    Ursalina gave Kendra a sour look. Don’t push it, chica.
    â€œWe were together four years, through my deployment,” Ursalina went on. “She was in Chehalis, Washington, so it was my turn to move.” Ursalina’s face went stormy. She sighed long and hard before she went on. “Sharlene. Man, that little angel was a real beauty, inside and out. The coolest human I’ve ever met. So damn smart. Funny. A good little heart. That kid was our whole world.”
    Ursalina shook her head, working through her memories. “We were trying to get gas so we could make it to the Vancouver base, so we stopped at this station. There was still gas then, the first few days. It looked safe.”
    Her eyes burned with her betrayal at how badly she’d been fooled. “Sharlene is standing right next to Mickey at the tank. I’m on guard, but . . . he was just on the other side of the pump. Right where we couldn’t see him. Not even hiding, one of the slow ones. Like he fell asleep on his feet and we woke him up.Two steps, he grabs Sharlene’s arm, and . . . she’s bit.” She shook her head, still trying to wrap her mind around it.
    â€œOne minute it’s like a family trip. You know, ‘Are we there yet?’ Then . . . she’s infected. We were sure her shirt stopped the bite. We rolled it up, looked for the mark. We thought we were okay, all of us crying and thanking God, all that. But we’d missed it. Sharlene was sleepy as soon as we got back in the car.
    â€œSuddenly we were the people they’d been talking about on TV. We had a sleeper. We’d seen it a million times, people trying to keep ’em awake. Coffee. NoDoz. Cold showers. While I drove, Mickey did everything she could to wake that kid up. Shook her. Yelled at her. Slapped her. Back then, we still thought there was a cure around the corner, so I’m thinking if I floor it to the Barracks, a medic can patch her up. Maybe I