The goddess pulled the tiny truck into the nearest fast food joint and eased up to the drive-through speaker casually. The fluorescent menu board glowed against the night sky, listing burgers and fries and sundaes in cheerful, backlit colors.

Momo glanced at it for exactly one second. Maybe less.

"I’ll have a McKing deluxe with extra cheese, extra onions, no bacon, large fries, and a strawberry shake. Also a double quarter pounder with cheese, extra pickles, extra onions, large fries, a chocolate shake, and a six-piece chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce. Also a Diet Coke."

The speaker crackled. "Anything else?"

"A black coffee. Two sugars."

"Will that be all?"

Momo turned to Cecilia, one perfect eyebrow raised in inquiry. Cecilia opened her mouth to answer—

"Also a double patty burger with extra pickles," Momo added, already turning back to the speaker. "Large fries. And a mango smoothie if you have it."

Cecilia closed her mouth. Right. Mind-reading goddess. Of course.

She felt the baby stir somewhere deep in her belly, a tiny flutter of approval, as if the little egg was already preparing itself for the incoming pickle onslaught. Traitor, she thought.

"Anything else?" the speaker asked, sounding slightly strained.

"That’s all," Momo said sweetly.

They collected their bags of food, far too many bags for a vehicle of this size, while the worker gaped in astonishment when they pulled up. Cecilia didn’t know whether it was because of the truck or the goddess driving it. Perhaps both.

Momo pulled the truck back around toward the cemetery. The drive was short, the night air cool through the open windows, the smell of fries filling the tiny cabin.

When they arrived, Bunny was already done. The grave was filled, the dirt patted down, the shovels cleaned and stored. He looked a bit wrung out. But his shoulders looked just a bit lighter.

Without a word, without even waiting for the truck to stop, he hauled himself and the tools into the truck bed with a grunt and slapped the side panel twice.

Momo went.

She reached for the radio dial and cranked it up. The opening notes blasted through the tiny cabin from the Hijet’s modest speakers.

Momo took the first line, her voice heavenly and upbeat,

"I~ know a place, where the grass is really greener—"

And from the truck bed, muffled through the glass and wind, Bunny’s deeper voice answered, "Warm, wet, and wild, there must be somethin’ in the water—"

Momo grinned, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, "Sippin’ gin and juice, layin’ underneath the palm trees—"

"Undone—"

Bunny, now fully committed, voice cracking slightly, "The boys, break their necks tryna creep a little sneak peek—"

"At us~"

"You could travel the wo~orld~!" Momo sang angelically—

"But nothing comes close to the golden coast~!" Bunny provided the next line like a war song.

"Once you party with us, you’ll be falling in love~" they sang, "OH Oo~Oo~OoH~!"

Together, the two gods, belted out in perfect harmony, "CA-LI-FOR-NIA GIRLS, WE’RE UN-FORGET-TABLE, DAI-SY DUKES, BIKINIS ON TOP~~"

Cecilia pressed her lips together, desperately trying to hide her smile. She failed completely. The corners of her mouth kept twitching upward no matter how hard she fought them.

"SUN-KISSED SKIN, SO HOT, WE’LL MELT YOUR POPSICLE!"

"OO~OH OH O~o~O~oH!"

She turned toward the window, pretending to look at the dark trees sliding past, but her reflection betrayed her. Cheeks flushed, eyes crinkled, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

"Baby, pass your dad his meals," Momo said in the middle of her singing.

Cecilia nodded without realizing, just automatically turned and slid open the small glass window that connected the cabin to the truck bed.

Cold air rushed in, along with the sound of Bunny’s voice cracking slightly on the high notes.

She passed his bags through, the double quarter pounder, the chocolate shake, the nuggets, all balanced precariously in her hands.

He took them with a thumbs up, already unwrapping the burger.

Then Cecilia settled back into her seat, unwrapped her own burger, double patty, extra pickles, exactly right, and took a bite so satisfying that she nearly moaned.

Beside her, Momo was trying to navigate the steering wheel with one hand while her other hand hovered near the bag of fries. Cecilia, without thinking, reached over, grabbed a few fries, and held them up to Momo’s mouth.

The goddess accepted them gracefully, her eyes never leaving the dark road ahead.

They drove slowly, but this was not a choice. The Daihatsu Hijet was not a vehicle that drove fast. It puttered along at exactly the speed limit, its tiny engine working very hard and its tiny wheels turning very diligently.

Cars occasionally passed them. Bicycles, too. Possibly a motivated jogger.

Cecilia didn’t mind. She pulled out her phone and started snapping pictures. The bags of fast food, the cherry blossom air freshener, Momo’s silhouette against the dashboard lights, the blurry shape of Bunny in the truck bed through the back window, his cheeks stuffed with burger.

Evidence. Proof. No one was ever going to believe this, but at least she would have photographs in this world.

They turned onto a quiet rural road that wound between dark fields and darker trees. There, the only light came from their own headlights and the distant glow of the main road ahead.

The radio was still playing and the night was still warm. Cecilia was still holding a half-eaten burger in one hand and a smoothie in the other...

When Bunny screamed.

"MOMO! MOMO! MOMO! FLOOR IT! FLOOR IT! ZOMBIE AAAAAAAA—"

Huh?!

Cecilia whipped around. Momo’s head snapped toward the rearview mirror. On the side of the road, shambling out from the treeline, dragging themselves toward the truck with jerky, unnatural movements, were figures.

Black figures. Human-shaped, but wrong. Their limbs bent at angles that didn’t make sense, some were missing arms. One was missing the lower half of its body entirely and still crawling, still dragging itself forward with rotting fingers.

"WAAAAAAAA!" Cecilia screamed, her burger forgotten, her smoothie nearly launched out the window. "THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL IT? ZOMBIE???!"

"YOU DON’T KNOW ZOMBIE?!" Bunny asked in disbelief.

Momo floored it.

Vrooom—

The Hijet made a valiant effort with its tiny engine whining. Its tiny wheels spun. It accelerated with all the urgency of a startled hamster and achieved a speed that might, in the right light, be described as "brisk."

"GODDESS PLEASE QUICK!"

The growling started and it was coming from everywhere. From the sides of the road, the darkness behind them, the treeline that now seemed to be vomiting more shapes.

"MOMO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Calm down!" Momo shouted, her hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel. "CALM DOWN PLEASE—YOU TWO!"

But Cecilia was already reaching for another mana potion just in case, while in the truck bed, Bunny, still screaming, was now trying to load a shovel like a spear.

"I’LL HOLD THEM OFF!" he bellowed, nuggets forgotten. "JUST KEEP DRIVING—WHY IS THIS TRUCK SO SLOW—"

"IT’S A DAIHATSU HIJET, BUNNY!" Momo screamed back. "IT’S DOING ITS BEST!"