Days of Love and Blood

true that a Katana can cut through anything? Even other swords?”
    “No pe. Sorry. Rumor.”
    “But they’re insanely sharp, right?”
    “Very sharp. They’re made from extremely hard metal which actually makes them brittle. They can break. They can snap right in half. You have to take care of them. You have to use them correctly.”
    “Really? Okay, isn’t it at least true that they never need to be sharpened?”
    “Jesus, Johnson,” Cooper growled. “Give it a rest.”
    “No,” I laughed. “Another rumor. Sorry to disappoint you. I don’t sharpen mine because I don’t know how. But I have to clean the blades after each use and polish them with oil before putting them back in their sheathes. If I don’t, the metal will rust. They’re actually really delicate. Not exactly the mythical, indestructible swords from the movies, are they?”
    “ I’m curious,” began Brigham, “why you had all them guns you passed us. Where’d they come from?”
    “ I just picked them up here and there,” I said with a shrug. “Just in case, I suppose. I grabbed them from houses when I went looking for food. I just took anything I might need.”
    “But you don’t know how to use ‘ em?” asked Brigham.
    “Just point and shoot, right?” I said with a brief half-smile.
    “I’m sure someone here can show you how,” Solomon said. “Hell, anyone here can give you basic lessons.”
    “ Thanks. Maybe in a few days.” I didn’t really want lessons in gunmanship but I also didn’t want to explain why I preferred to use a sword. Aside from the obvious benefit of silence, it might have led to an admittance of the disturbing satisfaction I felt when gutting a homicidal. “For now I’m just anxious to get home,” I continued in an effort to change the subject. “I’m glad to be here. I think we’ll be safer at the house than we were on the road. Besides, those homicidals are dying. Pretty soon this will all be over. The uninfected will be the only ones left.”
    “I think you’re right,” said Tasha. “At least, I hope so. I came across a few while I was on the road who were barely alive. They were dying, right there on the road. Nothing but disease was killing ‘em.” She was young, only about twenty or so. But she was strong and abnormally tall, pushing six feet. With long blond hair pulled into a ponytail and a square jaw, she reminded me of a Scandinavian princess.
    After dinner, and a long hug from Ivy, Ronan and I set out to find home.

A New Beginning
    “I wish I met you five years ago.”
    “Why?” I asked. The white dandelion milk oozed from the miniscule crevices created as I wrapped the stalk around my finger. He didn’t answer so I lifted my head from his chest and propped myself up on the blanket to look at him. “Why? Tell me.” He laughed slightly when I opened my eyes wide and batted my eyelashes at him.
    “Because. I’m happy.”
    “I’m happy, too.” I wasn’t satisfied with his answer so I waited for him to continue, giving him a subtle, flirtatious nod to go on while flipping my hair behind my neck.
    “Because I feel like my life never really started until I met you; it didn’t begin until the day I saw you. Because I never knew how lonely I was until I met you. Because of the way I feel when I’m around you. Because I could never imagine another day without you. Because I wish every memory I had before meeting you somehow had you in it. Because those memories I do have before I met you don’t even seem real anymore. Because I never want to make another memory without you. Because…”
    I blushed and waited for him to continue but he didn’t. Instead he sighed. I slowly slid my hand over his and intertwined our fingers. He sat up and I noticed a few beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring.

    The sun was on its course to sunset as we pulled into the long driveway of my childhood home with only an hour or two of light remaining. From the short distance there were no visible signs of life. No lights were on inside the home and the row of flowers and fresh mulch lining the driveway, an annual addition by my mother, were noticeably missing.
    The first thing I needed to do was clear the house. Depending on the situation, we might need to sleep in the camper for one more evening. I prepared myself for homicidals and dead bodies.
    When Ivy mentioned the uncertainty of my parents’ whereabouts, my doubt progressed into