Elios led the group inside the empty house, happily chatting with Olivia and Liam while ignoring Ren and Jun. However, when Elios noticed the little girl in Liam's arms, He stopped and looked at her curiously.
"Hey Liam, could you tell me why you have a little girl in your arms?"
Liam looked down at the sleeping girl before quietly walking away and setting her down on the sofa. Liam then walked back to continue the conversation.
When Liam told Ren and the others to go ahead, they decided to tour the upstairs to pick rooms.
Turning back towards Elios, Liam Solemnly looking at him, explaining the situation to him.
"Ren and Jun found her in a car crash, she lost both her parents today..."
Liam shot a sad glance towards the little girl, who was sleeping soundly.
"Such a small girl couldn't possibly survive on her own, so we decided to take her in."
Elios looked at the emotional Liam and sighed inwardly. He knew they didn't have the resources to take her in, and he had to play the bad guy here. Elios did feel bad for the girl, but Olivia and Liam came first in Elios's heart.
"I understand Liam, but we don't have the resources to take care of her. We barely have enough to take care of ourselves."
Liam looked at Elios in shock, he checked to see if the girl was sleeping before pulling Elios further away.
"You can't be suggesting we leave her? She barely looks ten years old..."
As Elios and Liam discussed the girl's fate, Ren came down the stairs to get Liam. However, as he drew closer to him, he accidentally listened in to their conversation.
"- Leave her with government sanctioned camps, I'm sure the government will set those up soon."
Ren's gaze grew cold as he listened to Elios justify leaving the girl. When he couldn't bear to listen anymore, he heard a faint sniffle.
"Hic..."
Ren turned towards the source of the sound, determining that it came from the living room. After figuring out who made the sound, Ren felt anger boiling inside him when he saw that the little girl was awake, listening to their conversation while silently crying.
Ren stormed towards Elios and grabbed his collar, pulling him out of the house with him.
"HEY! THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!"
Ren ignored Elios, keeping his grip on his shirt, dragging him a good distance away. Throwing Elios onto the lawn, Ren coldly looked at him.
"I knew you were an asshole, but I didn't expect you to be so heartless. Did it ever occur to you that the girl was awake? That she was listening to your plan to abandon her?"
Ren watched as Elios slowly get up from the ground, glaring at Ren when he was back on his feet. As the two faced off, Elios threw a hard punch towards Ren's face.
*Thwack" The fist struck Ren straight on the cheek, but Ren didn't move an inch, as he continued to stare down Elios.
Feeling a deep sense of resentment, Elios kept punching Ren over and over again, trying desperately to get a reaction from him. Elios's fist burned with pain as he punched Ren, but Ren didn't even blink amidst the barrage of attacks.
"Monster..."
Tired after a few minutes of punching, Elios felt fear as Ren kept silently looking at him, not a scratch or bruise in sight.
"Monster? That feels cheap coming from you, who was willing to abandon a child in this situation."
Elios felt anger well up in him as he grabbed Ren's shirt, looking straight into Ren's eyes.
"YOU THINK I WANT TO DO THAT? I HAVE NO CHOICE!"
Taking a deep breath, Elios tried to calm down. Seeing the calm expression on Ren's face made Elios felt like he lost. After a deep exhale, Elios let go of Ren, calmly reciprocating his stare.
"I have to make these decisions to protect Olivia and Liam, we won't survive this disaster if we tried to be the heroes. I was only thinking realistically, we don't have the resources to take her in."
Ren snorted at Elios's explanation, clearly not impressed by his logic.
"Don't even try, you know full well you just didn't want to deal with taking care of her."
Ren fixed his shirt calmly, before pointing at the house they were occupying.
"The fridge is still full, the perishables haven't rotted yet and the power still works. What resources are you referring to?"
Ren faced Elios, waiting for his answer.
"That's only for now, the abundant resources around us are limited. What will happen a few months from now? A few years? Those things won't last."
As both sides looked at each other, Ren decided to break the staring contest.
"Then what's the point of surviving? Are you assuming the humans won't make a comeback? I can't listen to this shit anymore, I'll take care of the girl, you can take your precious resources and go fuck yourself."
Ren tried to walk away from the conversation, but Elios quickly grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back.
"What do you get from pretending to be the hero? I know you're faking it, is this how you plan to get Olivia's attention?"
*Thwack* Ren smacked Elios's hand away, shot him a disgusted look and walked back, ignoring Elios completely. Seeing Ren's back as he leaves, Elios felt resentment in his heart.
"We'll see how far your hero act lasts, there will come a day where I tear that mask away..."