Page 57 of My Undead Love Life

Oxi and Luck were checking the roof and the outside windows again, and I should have been studying the escape routes I had drawn across the back of an old mall directory.

Watching Spencer train was mesmerizing. The constant moaning outside never stopped, but the precise hiss of her blade gave the noise a rhythm I could endure. Every controlled movement of hers reminded me that we weren’t helpless.

She completed another sequence before suddenly pivoting. Her brown eyes found mine immediately. Her lips parted in surprise, and a faint flush spread across her cheeks. “How long have you been standing there?”

“A while,” I admitted. “I didn’t want to interrupt.” I pushed away from the wall and rubbed the back of my neck. It had started aching from the cold again, but the stiffness in my shoulders was more to do with being caught staring.

“You could’ve said something.”

“You looked focused.”

Her gaze narrowed slightly. “Were you studying my form?”

“Something like that.”

The blush in her cheeks deepened, making the freckles across her nose more noticeable. She shifted the sword in her hands and glanced away, suddenly sheepish despite how confidently she had trained with her katana.

It was cute.

“What’s the story with the katana?” I asked. “How did you get that good with it? I know you said your friend gave it to you, but you never told us much more than that.”

“Akiko, yeah. She’s the best.” Spencer rested the sheath against her shoulder as she walked closer. Her breathing was still heavy from the practice, and a light sheen of sweat glistened along her hairline despite the cold. “She showed up at the Oasis about a year after we did and brought two katanas with her.” A faint smile spread across her lips. “She also brought Keith.”

Pain crossed her expression whenever she mentioned him, and it did this time, too. Her smile fell.

My chest ached. I wanted to take that pain away from her, but I knew better than to pretend anyone could. Keith had given his life for hers. Any comfort we offered would have to exist beside that loss, not replace it.

“I think I mentioned that I didn’t have a reliable weapon yet,” she continued. “Everyone else had already picked something to be their primary thing. Guns, knives, bats, you know, whatever they could find and use without hurting themselves.”

“What were you using before the katana?”

“A kitchen knife.”

I stared at her, unsure if she was joking.

“It was a large kitchen knife.” She huffed.

“Against zombies?”

“I wasn’t exactly prepared for the zombie apocalypse.”

“That sounds incredibly dangerous.”

“So does fighting them with an axe.”

“My axe has reach.”

“My knife had sentimental value. It came from the kitchen block I grew up with.”

“Sentimental wouldn’t have kept you from being bitten.”

A quiet laugh escaped her. The sound was softer than I expected. “I know,” she said. “Akiko apparently thought the same thing. She saw me watching her train one morning and asked if I wanted to try it out.”

“And you picked it up like that?” I gestured toward the open area she’d been using.

Spencer laughed again and shook her head. “Definitely not. I was awful. The first time I tried to draw it, the blade got stuck in the sheath. I almost dropped it.”

“That makes me feel better.” I chuckled.