"So, wanna talk? Or are we just gonna enjoy this awkward silence?" Sam said, shoving a large bite of a cheese and ham-filled sandwich into his mouth, breaking the silence indistinctly.
"Talk about what?" Tanya's cold gaze shifted from the sandwich in Sam's hand to his face, her tone dripping with undisguised sarcasm. "Talk about how you 'rescued' me and then immediately went downstairs to expertly raid my fridge and start stuffing your face?"
Sam, completely unfazed by her hostility, instead offered her another sandwich. "I think you're just cranky because you haven't eaten in a while. Here, get some energy." Saying that, he also fetched a glass of tap water from the kitchen sink and placed it on the table in front of the girl—no choice, he had already chugged all the juice left in the fridge himself.
The girl's eyes lingered on the clear water and the relatively fresh sandwich before her for a few seconds. Ultimately, hunger won out over her stubbornness. She snatched the sandwich and took a vicious bite. Sam noticed her eye sockets were slightly sunken and her lips were chapped; she clearly hadn't eaten or drunk much in the past couple of days.
"We can talk properly after you've eaten." Sam himself casually picked up an apple and started munching on it with loud crunches. He could skip vegetables, but he still paid attention to basic vitamin intake.
Tanya washed down a large chunk of sandwich with water, then finally looked up, watching Sam warily. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Hmm…" Sam feigned deep thought. "Shouldn't you be the one asking me questions? After all, I'm a patient, good uncle who can slowly answer all your queries, and then consider how to get you safely to some shelter outside." He shrugged, but seeing Tanya's 'I have no questions, just get the hell out' expression, he could only sigh helplessly. He was still quite patient with kids—of course, that was on the premise that he was in a reasonably good mood today.
"Alright, since you have nothing to ask, it's my turn." Sam casually tossed the apple core aside, his tone becoming casual. "First, tell me what the current situation is. Or rather, how have you been staying at home these past few days? You know, if you had stayed at school, you might have been evacuated by the military. Of course, if your classroom was at the front, you might also have become zombie breakfast."
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you how you knew I was trapped here?" the girl finally retorted, her voice filled with confusion and suspicion.
"Sorry, your question time is over." Sam spread his hands with a rogue-ish grin. "You chose not to ask, you can't blame me." He leaned forward slightly and said:
"Now, it's my turn to ask the questions."
"What other reason could there be? Of course the school sent me home," Tanya retorted irritably, rolling her eyes at Sam as if to say, "is that even a question?"
"Oh? The school was that kind?" Sam's tone was filled with ill-intentioned teasing. "Was it because you got all A+ on your exams, and the teacher gave you a holiday as a reward? Or was it because you kicked some teacher in wide-leg pants in the ass and were sent home to reflect on your actions?"
Tanya avoided Sam's gaze, muttering reluctantly, "Because of… a boy."
"Whoo~" Sam let out an exaggerated whistle, a smug "I get it" grin spreading across his face. "Love problems? Let me guess, you got into a fight with another girl over some pretty boy and your parents were called?"
"Why do you talk so much!" Tanya glared at him angrily, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Who would like that idiot? He sits behind me, always secretly throwing stupid paper notes onto my desk. Today in class he even… even pulled my braid! So I… turned around and slapped him."
"Sounds like a classic elementary school boy move to get a girl's attention," Sam commented gravely. "Those pubescent brats with overflowing hormones who don't know how to express themselves are indeed annoying. And then? You got sent home for one slap?"
"Of course not!" Tanya's tone grew even more impatient. "I just… simply didn't want to stay at school anymore. I could imagine the next few days, those boring girls would definitely be gossiping about it everywhere, and god knows what disgusting rumors would spread. I was so sick of it, I just told the teacher I wasn't feeling well and went home myself."
"Alright then." Sam's lip twitched. He leaned back in his chair and remarked with the air of an experienced man, "School really is a terrible place, just a bunch of ignorant kids and a bunch of adults in mid-life crisis crammed together to torture each other." He paused, as if remembering something, his sharp eyes once again fixing on Tanya, his tone becoming casual, almost cruelly so:
"So what about your mother? The one… I think I kicked out the door and then put a couple of bullets in. You don't mind, do you? Though I don't think that thing could strictly be called your mother anymore. At the very least, she definitely won't be buying you any Christmas presents this year."
"Zombie?" Tanya didn't seem to react to the word. She just lowered her head and said softly, "You mean Michelle… she… when I got home, she was really angry at first, wanted to yell at me. But later… it was just whatever. I originally thought today would just pass in silence like usual, then wait for John to come home from work, have a quiet family dinner, and get asked a bunch of annoying questions about school… and that would be it."
"Hmm…" Sam's focus, however, was elsewhere. "You usually… just call your parents by their first names? Michelle? John? Little girl, that's a bit impolite, you know."
"And you? What did you used to call your parents? 'Daddy' and 'Mommy'?" Tanya's tone was full of sarcasm, clearly unhappy with Sam's lecture.
"Jeez, your dad called you baby right before he died. And from what I saw, your family atmosphere seemed pretty good." Sam didn't want to answer this question because he used to call his parents 'old bastards' when he was a kid, which was obviously much worse than Tanya's situation.
"…" Tanya was silent for a moment, then continued, "Michelle… she was in the kitchen getting dinner ready. Then, suddenly, someone fell outside the door. She went out to help him. I saw the whole thing from my window upstairs. The man just lunged at her. Michelle, my mother, was tackled to the ground just like that. I went down to try and help her, but that maniac… that zombie, it didn't even go for my mother, it turned around and tried to bite me instead. So she… my mother, she just grabbed my bike chain and locked herself to that monster. And then I saw my mother turn into one of those monsters too… I just ran back to my room and hid. I was thinking if no one came today, I'd just escape through the window."
"Is that so? Your mother was a good person." Sam said, then tried to offer some comfort. "I guess you were a happy… never mind, you're pretty unlucky." Sam had wanted to say she had loving parents, but then he remembered she was an orphan now.
[By the way, why hasn't a mission to escort her to a safe zone popped up?] Sam was a bit confused.
"So, are you taking me out of here now? If so, thank you very much," Tanya replied, suppressing her emotions.
"No, it doesn't matter," Sam smiled. "You're a bit of a hassle, but I'm strong. Strong enough that taking on a hassle like you is no big deal."
"Huh?" Tanya seemed not to comprehend the crazy words Sam was saying.
"My point is," Sam said, standing up and clapping his hands together, "before we think about all that troublesome stuff, we should relax a bit first. For example… how about we go shopping?"