Chapter 7 (1/2)

Chapter 7: Wild Gra.s.s

“Wait for your parents?” Tao was puzzled.

“Yeah, my parents weren’t home when I went back, so I left them several notes in the house telling them to look for me at school. If I leave now, I’m afraid they’ll never find me.”

“How long are you going to wait?” Gla.s.ses continued on questioning.

“At least until sunset.” Chang replied.

“Then we’ll wait here with you,” Pangzi said. “We aren’t in a hurry anyways.”

Pangzi’s mother pulled him aside immediately after Pangzi said so. Chang knew that Pangzi’s mother would complain. She was that kind of woman who would haggle over everything, but was usually not a.s.sertive—she usually agreed with the majority. However, she wholeheartedly cared about her son, otherwise she wouldn’t have shown up in school right after the red fog emerged.

She didn’t want to her son and herself to be left behind with the majority of people, so she drew him aside and tried to rush Pangzi to leave with her.

Chang glanced at them, then turned his head away.

“I don’t mind if you guys to go first; I’m just going to wait for my parents here, so if they come, we’ll go and look for you.” Chang seemed to be carefree, but everyone knew that without radio communications in this world, separation meant that they might never meet again.

After listening to Chang, Pangzi and Glasess both showed unwillingness on their faces. Then, they got pulled over by their parents. One of their parents cracked a brief smile, “We shall go first then, good luck.”

Without delay, they then left with their children. Their figures quickly became blurred in the fog as they walked away. However, Tao didn’t leave with them.

“I’ll stay with you.” Tao sat on a desk around Chang, “I don’t get to see my parents anyways, so there’s no room in that little group for me to fit in. I’d rather stay with you.”

“Huh?” Chang was surprised that Tao decided to stay with him.

Tao was the most unsociable one in the dorm; he spent eighty percent of his time studying, so he rarely communicated with others. In addition, he liked to show off his mastery of different subjects, so no one really liked to talk to him. Therefore, Chang didn’t expect Tao to choose to stay with him.

“Tao, are you coming with us?” Pangzi’s voice came from the fog.

“I’m staying with Chang; if his parents don’t show up before sunset, we’ll leave together.” Tao waved to the four dim shadows. The shadowy figures soon disappeared completely after someone responded to Tao.

“Actually, you don’t need to stay with me, I don’t mind waiting alone.”

“I know you’re just saying that because we don’t know each other that well.”

“Even we knew each other well, it still wouldn’t be worthwhile to stay.”

“I just don’t want to stay with those two families,” said Tao as he reached to Chang with his hands open. “You got any cigarettes?”

“No, I told you I don’t smoke.” Chang shrugged, “Do you even know how to smoke?”

“I just want to try; the atmosphere here is too depressing. I’ve never smoked before because I didn’t want to spend money on cigarettes, but now the world is f**ked up, so who cares about money?”

“That’s true.” Chang smiled and took out several candies from his backpack, “I don’t have cigarette, but do you want any candy?”

“Haha, candies are high-calorie foods and one of the scarcest resources during an apocalypse. Are you sure you want to waste it on me?” Tao unwrapped the candy paper and popped it into his mouth, then slurred, “Do you want to know why I don’t want to go with those two families?”