Danny cleared his throat and looked up to rid his mind of those distracting thoughts and avoid the uncomfortable compassionate gaze Lara was directing at him before continuing in a more composed state.

“Having said that, the further away from the cities, the safer it is. The more people that were initially living in a place, the more zombies you can find there now. So, I guess you can imagine how much more dangerous those places are than here.” Danny stated after quickly recovering his level-headedness.

“And did you meet any other survivors ever since the earthquake?” Lara asked hopeful.

She knew that her dad and uncle had left a long time ago and that the direction they headed was different from the one Danny came from. Even then, she hoped that against all odds Danny had spotted them along the way in good health and could tell her where to go to find them.

“I did encounter a few people here and there during the first week in Lakeview. But things aren’t good out there to be honest.” Danny shook his head before continuing.

“The places I passed ever since leaving town had a lot of undead spread around and no localized resistance or survival groups as far as I could tell.” He added.

Danny opted to not go into much detail about his story with Carl’s group, since it was a complicated matter and he felt that it was not relevant to the present situation. He merely glossed over it as if they were just a survivor group that he had encountered by chance and nothing more.

“I see…” After hearing the disappointing but expected answer, Lara bit her lips and looked down despondently.

Even if it was a long, long, long shot for Danny to have encountered her family during his travels, Lara was desperate for hope. She was now grasping at any straws and when she failed to find what she was wished for, she felt crushed all over again.

It probably wasn’t healthy or wise to keep holding on to hope like that in those circumstances, but what else could Lara do? They were all she had. She couldn’t simply pretend that they were dead and move on with her life.

What would her even do in that case? Where would she go from here? Lara couldn’t even begin to imagine her next steps. Should she remain here? In this house full of memories? Should she leave and let time heal her wounds? What if they came back after she left? What then?

“Is everything all right?” Seeing Lara’s reaction to his answer, Danny asked with a raised eyebrow and concern in his voice.

After hearing the question, Lara was startled.

Danny’s voice interrupted Lara’s inner turmoil that threatened to take her down into a pessimism fueled spiral of depression. For a second, she was so lost in her own mind and worries that she had completely forgotten she was not alone.

“Ye-Yes! Everything is fine!” Lara looked up and answered with the most forced smile Danny had ever seen.

She wouldn’t be able to convince even the most oblivious of spectators that she was in fact fine, but Danny hesitated to ask more. Given their conversation and her reactions so far, Lara was clearly worried about someone else, which made sense given the circumstances.

Everyone had people they cared about. Without a way of knowing if they had survived the transition to this new reality and were safe and sound, worrying was the normal response. So long as Danny kept going forward and encountering other survivors, that was something he would be seeing a lot more of. In times of strife, anguish and desperation were far too common.

However, Lara also seemed to be on the lookout for whomever she was worried about in the nearby areas, which was worth noting.

Danny didn’t know why she chose to sit here and wait instead to try to find that person or persons herself, but it also wasn’t any of his business.

In the end he chose not to ask anything. They weren’t close enough to one another to talk about such things, and speaking about it might do more harm than good. So, it was best to not touch the open wound.

Lara appeared to be warming up to him, so Danny didn’t want to rock the boat too much and risk the good thing they had going.

“Okay then. Anyway, I was wondering if we could do some trading if you have nothing else to ask. I have been searching for some things and I was hoping to find them here.” Danny nodded at her as if convinced by her poor attempt at concealing her distress, and changed the subject to steer the conversation to his desired direction.

Also, he hoped to distract Lara from her troubles to both numb her pain and so that he could effectively barter with her. After all, how would they conduct any kind of transaction if she was all mopey and unfocused?

“Oh, trading?” Lara’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the suggestion. She hadn’t considered the possibility of trading with the stranger that popped out of nowhere.

“What are you looking for and what do you want to trade it for?” She asked.

At first, she had been too concerned whether Danny was friend or foe to even think about it, and after they started talking, she was again too worried about her family to consider it. Therefore, Danny’s suggestion came to her as an unexpected but welcome surprise.

“Food, gear, tools, weapons. There are quite a few things I am looking for…” Danny said and then started describing his needs to Lara. They spent a few minutes going over it and also talking about Danny’s experiences on the outside.

His tales about his travels and fights were like a refreshing perspective to Lara. It was like she was watching a movie or reading a book. Even if his stories weren’t cheerful and bright, they were still exciting nonetheless and did wonders to improve her mood.

Before she knew, Lara had already closed the gap between them. She was sitting in a chair in the living room beside him, while eagerly talking with Danny as if their initial tense meeting had never happened.

Danny had been careless with his entrance to the house, but Lara was on another level of carelessness entirely. The girl had pretty much no reservations. For all her talk of being cautious and all that, she sure as hell had dropped the act and reverted to her natural persona.

Danny was all too happy with this course of events. There was no reason for them to not get along after all. They were just two people that were doing the best they could to live on in this apocalyptic world.

They had no opposing interests and held no ill will towards one another so why shouldn’t they be friends or at least be on good terms? If they could help each other, then great, if not, then oh well, best of luck to you.

“The food is not an issue. We have more than enough here so I can definitely trade some of that away.” Lara said.

“I do not have any ranged weapons like you described that I am willing to part with, but I think I can help you with your bag issue.” Lara said with a pensive expression while placing her right index finger on her chin.

“There is one hiking backpack lying somewhere around the house if I am not mistaken. I remember my dad buying it when he was going through some sort of nature phase, saying he would go around doing trails and hiking, but he never really used it in the end.” She said and shrugged, smiling as she did so, remembering the times she had made fun of her dad because of it.

She had teased him for weeks after he bought the thing, asking if he would go hiking that weekend, knowing fully well that he would never make the trip. His habits were to ingrained in his bones to change his routine like that.

After a quick trip down memory lane, Lara focused on the matter at hand once more.

“What do you want to trade it for?” Lara smiled childishly, excited for the first time in weeks. To be doing something completely different than her routine of taking care of the place and keeping a lookout was truly something to be happy about.

She was like a kid that was starved for entertainment. Lara was clearly more interested in the haggling itself than whatever items she could get from Danny. Just the break in the monotony already made this a joyous occasion.

“Well, I do have quite a few things that might interest you…” Danny said as he picked up his bag that he had left on the floor. Danny had dropped it by his side previously when he joined Lara in one of the comfy chairs of the living room.

After placing the backpack on his lap, he started rummaging its insides as Lara looked on with rapt attention. She was like an impressionable child admiring every item that Danny took from his bag and placed on the coffee table as if it was a priceless treasure.

“… batteries, alcohol, gauze, switchblade, antibiotics…” Danny enunciated his words one by one as he placed a sample of the respective items on the table, in clear sight for Lara to examine.

Danny kept building up his momentum, showing successively more and more valuable items (in his opinion) until he reached the peak of his presentation.

After showing his hand, presenting Lara with almost the entirety of the things he was willing to part with (crystals excluded obviously), and seeing her interest had reached an all-time high and that he had her undivided attention, Danny felt the time was ripe for bringing up his ultimate card.

“… and… chocolate.” Danny said dragging his voice.

After Danny’s words had barely left his lips and registered on Lara’s ears, her eyes became glued to the last announced item. Everything else paled in comparison.

Yes. Chocolate!

The ultimate weapon against women all around the world and anyone with a sweet-tooth, really. The absence of working convenience stores, delivery services and functional supermarkets made this delicacy a truly rare and desired commodity!

One could almost say those bars to be worth their weight in gold! At least, Danny was placing most of his confidence in completing a deal with Lara on the metaphorical shoulders of those sweets.

Given her widened eyes and clear interest, Danny would say that he hit the nail right on the head. Lara had been completely mesmerized.