Chapter 61: Home
Shay Kramer mechanically chewed the wood ear mushroom, her voice numb but tinged with a grim resolve. "Sis, can we go back and beg Mr. Howard? With him, at least we’ll have enough to eat and a warm place to stay."
Yolanda Kramer’s head shot up, her face a mask of shock and disgust. "No! He’s so old, and his belly is nothing but fat. Just looking at him makes me sick!"
"But I can’t live like this anymore!" Shay Kramer’s voice suddenly rose, her eyes filled with despair.
"I don’t have a superpower, and you have one but you’re too scared to kill zombies! We just hide in this room all day, burning through our supplies! If this keeps up, we’re going to starve to death!"
The more Shay spoke, the more agitated she became, and tears started to fall.
Back in school, she had been the campus belle of her department, adored by everyone. Her parents doted on her, her sister protected her, and she was the center of attention wherever she went.
But now, the mere sight of a rat the size of a small dog was enough to scare her out of her wits.
The last time she and her sister went out, a rat charged at them, and the two of them scrambled back home in terror.
What made her even more jealous was that she had seen Luna Dawson on the street. Why did Luna get to have so many people protecting her?
Why did she still have her mother, brother, and uncle by her side, with a home to return to?
Why, when everyone else was struggling for food and warmth, could she afford to keep such a fat dog and live like a queen?
Why could she just take their supplies whenever she felt like it?!
Why did everything go so smoothly for Luna Dawson, while she and her sister had to struggle to survive in the apocalypse, unable to even have a decent New Year’s Eve dinner?
Shay Kramer’s heart was consumed by jealousy and resentment, and her expression twisted.
Yolanda Kramer gritted her teeth, secretly making a resolution. She had to learn to face this apocalyptic world.
"Shay, don’t worry. I’ll definitely protect you!"
The crying was over, the fighting was done. It was time for her to learn to support their family.
Hearing this, Shay looked up at her sister, her eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions...
「The next morning was the first day of the Lunar New Year.」
The sky was clear and the air was crisp. The sunlight was exceptionally bright, making for a perfect, cloudless day.
Sunlight streamed through the windows. A few people were in the courtyard practicing their superpowers, their hearty laughter occasionally drifting in.
Luna Dawson had technically gotten up, but only to move from lying in bed to lying on the sofa.
She was now hugging Little Tiger, lounging on the living room sofa watching anime, and generally killing time.
’It’s the New Year,’ she thought. ’Even in the apocalypse, you have to take a holiday!’
Kevin Keane, having just finished his training in the courtyard, walked in, and his gaze was immediately drawn to the figure on the sofa.
Luna was nestled comfortably in the sofa, her fair little feet propped playfully on a cushion. She held a small bowl of bright red strawberries, picking one up with her fingertips and nibbling on it in small bites.
A little juice trickled from the corner of her mouth, making her fair, rosy-cheeked face look even more delicate.
Little Tiger was curled up obediently on her stomach, its fluffy body rising and falling gently with her breaths. It let out a steady purr, clearly sound asleep.
The sweet, fruity scent of strawberries filled the air, mingling with the aroma of cooking food wafting from the kitchen.
The busy figures of the elders could be glimpsed in the kitchen doorway, and the soft clinking of bowls and chopsticks reached his ears, painting an exceptionally warm and cozy scene.
Kevin Keane stood in the doorway, quietly observing it all. The tension in his shoulders unknowingly eased, and a sense of grounding and peace he had never felt before washed over him.
He had grown up in an orphanage.
From the outside, the place always seemed to be wrapped in a shell of peace and harmony. With sunlight spilling over the mottled courtyard walls and the sounds of children playing within, most outsiders would have assumed it was a tranquil little world.
But only the children who actually lived there knew that the fighting within those walls never stopped.
They fought over a thicker blanket, a mouthful of thicker porridge, or the bowl of hot soup with an extra piece of bone. They even schemed and fought amongst themselves just to earn an extra word of praise from the caretakers.
Among these children, Kevin Keane was a known troublemaker.
He was fierce and unyielding, refusing to suffer the slightest disadvantage. Even when facing older, bigger kids, he never backed down.
One time, the biggest bully in the orphanage set his sights on the few pitiful pieces of meat in Kevin’s bowl and reached out to grab them without a word.
Without a second thought, Kevin gripped the rim of his bowl and smashed it against the other boy, splashing scalding porridge all over him.
Before the bully could react, Kevin had already pounced, his fists raining down like hail. He knocked out two of the other boy’s teeth, growling through clenched jaws, "You dare try and take my stuff!"
It was an earth-shattering fight. Kevin didn’t get off easy either; his face was bruised and his arms were covered in bloody scratches.
The bully ran crying to the caretakers to tattle, but Kevin just stood there stubbornly, refusing to say a single word of apology.
Conflicts between children were endless, and because of his ruthless, unyielding spirit, even the older kids in the orphanage couldn’t beat him. He became known as the king of fighters.
Several families had initially shown interest in adopting him, drawn by his handsome features and tall frame. But as soon as they heard about his track record, they all backed out.
They wanted a docile, obedient child who could curry favor, not a little wolf cub covered in spikes like Kevin Keane.
Kevin couldn’t have cared less.
He had seen the other kids around him pull out their best clothes and force their most obedient smiles whenever visitors came to the orphanage.
They would swarm the visitors, speaking fawningly, hoping to be chosen and finally have a mother and father of their own.
But he never did that. He would always stand far off in a corner, his small face filled with hostility, watching everyone who came to pick out a child with an equal, scrutinizing gaze.
He would listen and watch as those adults followed the caretakers, freely critiquing the children from head to toe.
’I feel like a dog strung up for slaughter,’ he’d think, ’or a pig already carved up on a butcher’s block at the market...’
He was anxious, anxious to grow up quickly. Only as an adult could he be his own master.
In his free time, he would squat in a corner of the courtyard and draw houses on the ground with a rock.
The drawings were simple—just a square, empty house. No doors, no windows, no furniture inside. And no people.
He didn’t know what a house was supposed to look like inside.
He didn’t know what it felt like to have a family, or what it was like to be cared for.
That empty house was just like his heart.
Vast and lonely, but hiding in its depths a sliver of yearning for warmth that even he hadn’t noticed.
Luna sensed someone was watching her. She sat up and looked over, and their eyes met.
"Coach Keane!"
Luna saw his gaze fixed on her mouth and assumed he wanted a strawberry too.
She generously waved Kevin Keane over, picking out the reddest strawberry and holding it up high.
Luna had always been generous with her own people.
Kevin froze for a second, then walked over. He leaned down by the sofa and bit into the strawberry, his lips unintentionally brushing against her cool fingertips.
The next moment, the strawberry’s sweet juice exploded in his mouth. Its rich, fruity aroma and perfect sweetness washed away all the fatigue from his superpower training.
Kevin’s eyes curved into a smile without him realizing it, a look of pure delight in them. He had never eaten such a delicious strawberry before.