A few minutes later, Benny asked, “Chong?”
“Uh-huh?”
“What about you and Lilah? You falling in love with her?”
Chong sighed. “I don’t know.”
“You think she likes you?”
“Not a chance.”
They thought about that. “She’s been alone most of her life,” said Benny. “She only knows about people ’cause she’s read a million books.”
“I know. We talk about books all the time.”
“There’s a lot of romantic stuff in books.”
“Uh-huh.”
Benny said, “Learning about that stuff in books isn’t the same as knowing it, you know that, right?”
“Not being actually stupid, yes.”
“Give her time.”
“Yeah.” Chong cut a look at him. “Nix, too.”
“Oh yeah.”
They stood side by side and watched the late afternoon shadows creep out from under the trees, hiding one by one the hundreds of living dead who stood like silent sentinels in the field beyond the fence.
3
Swords
(The Imura house, next day)
Benny Imura screamed like a ten-year-old girl.
He dodged, too, and the sword missed him by inches. Then he froze as the affect-echo of his shriek rolled back to him after bouncing off the line of trees. He looked around at the faces. Nix Riley, Morgie Mitchell, Lilah, Tom, Chong. All staring at him.
“Wow,” said
Chong, “that was manly.”
Benny flushed a brilliant crimson and brought his wooden sword up in a defensive posture.
“I didn’t hit you,” said Nix Riley, who stood five feet away, the tip of her wooden sword pointing to the grass between them. Her pretty, freckled face glowed with effort and intensity. The wooden bokken and the insanely fast and accurate way she handled it were totally at odds with her short stature and curly ponytail. “No need to cry.”
“I am not crying,” growled Benny. “That was my kiai.”
“Your kiai,” echoed Chong. A smile trembled on his lips. “That’s the spirit shout that’s supposed to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies. You’re going with a little-girl scream?”
“It wasn’t a scream,” insisted Benny. “It was a high-pitched yell.”
“Uh-huh,” said Chong.
“A hunting call.”