She pinched the big hand in hers and said, "You're too skinny. You should eat more. It feels better to touch when there's some meat."
Paige didn't know that just a casual comment would make Uziel blush from head to toe.
He almost couldn't walk properly.
Paige was being a flirt, right in public.
What she didn't say was, not only was he skinny, he was also a bit rough.
She felt too weak herself, she couldn't even get skincare products for the two brothers.
Soon, Paige didn't have time to feel sad. She happily wandered between the houses.
Chairs, tables, she took them all. Also pots and pans.
Even though she felt a little disgusted since they had been used by others, there was no choice. Her space couldn't be used right now.
She kept collecting.
Oh, there was even a mirror. The men in the house liked looking good, so she decided to keep it for them.
Paige was collecting big items, while Uziel was searching for smaller things.
Needles and thread, perfect, their clothes needed mending.
Matches, much more convenient than the flint they were using now.
It was a pity the porcelain and decorations were all broken.
Paige even took apart a few doors to bring back and install one for their cave.
Soon, Paige noticed more people around. But whenever someone saw that a house was already occupied, they would just move on to the next one.
Looks like she wasn't the only one who liked scavenging.
Seeing more and more people, Uziel found a big piece of cloth from somewhere and wrapped up all the small things he had gathered.
At the same time, he stopped Paige from putting more stuff into her space. If she had to, she should be careful about it.
"We should go back. If we don't, I'm afraid my brother and the others will start to worry," Uziel said as more and more people showed up.
With more people, there were fewer things left. Paige felt that she had collected enough in her space, so she followed Uziel and left.
Paige finally looked seriously at the surroundings.
The once-busy street was now a mess.
Broken walls and ruins could be seen everywhere. Piles of broken bricks and tiles looked like they were telling the cruel story of war.
Even though the marketplace was no longer lively, the small vendors still insisted on setting up their stalls.
Even if they only had a few things to sell, they still tried hard to keep life going.
Some shops that were still intact had also started to open again.
Paige wanted to get something to eat, but Uziel pulled her back.
"We don't have any money left," Uziel said helplessly.
The steamed buns they had in the morning had used up all the money he had.
Paige looked at Uziel and gave up the idea of eating without paying. The two of them started heading back to the village.
"Take out the steamed buns. I'm hungry," Paige said to Uziel.
Uziel took out a piece of oiled paper from inside his coat. Inside were two steamed buns.
The weather was too cold, and the buns were already cold.
Paige reached out, but then remembered she had just been digging through trash, so she pulled her hand back.
She just picked up the oiled paper and started eating directly. In just a few bites, the bun was gone.
She looked at the other bun and then looked at Uziel. In the end, she handed the bun to him.
"Eat it and fill your stomach for now. We have a pot and food now. Once we're up in the mountain, we'll cook something."
"You eat it. You've worked hard. I'll wait until we get to the mountain," Uziel pushed the bun back to Paige.
When Paige heard that, she didn't hold back. She quickly ate it in a few bites.
Following her would make sure they never go hungry again!
The two of them returned to the village from town, then found a small path up the mountain.
While passing through the village, they also saw many thinly dressed people searching through the ruins for anything useful.
Paige had seen this kind of thing a lot during the apocalypse and didn't stop.
The current situation was still much better than during the end times.
Whether it's the snow in the wild, the leaves and bark in the forest, or those cute little animals, they're all edible.
In the apocalypse, it's not certain whether you'd be eating them or they'd be eating you.
"Take the door panels out. We can't wait until we're in the cave to get things out.
Two door panels for beds, one as a door, and bring out two sets of quilts and cotton-padded clothes."
Once they were up the mountain, Uziel pulled Paige to a quiet spot and whispered to her.
"Didn't we collect a lot of beds? Why not sleep on those?" Paige asked in confusion.
"The beds are too big and hard to move. Right now we're only staying in the cave for a few days.
If nothing goes wrong, we'll go back to the village. Those beds can wait until our new home is built before we use them," Uziel replied.
If Paige hadn't complained that sleeping on straw was uncomfortable, he would've skipped even using bed boards.
But thinking about how the quilts were brand new, he felt it was a waste to put them straight on the ground. So better to lay them on wooden boards.
Paige brought out three door panels and two large bundles.
Uziel naturally picked up the three door panels. The weight was fine, but they were too large and awkward to carry.
"Put them down first." Paige told Uziel to lay the panels flat, then placed all the items on top.
Seeing there was still space, Paige added two more sets of cotton clothes.
Finally, she signaled for Uziel to lift the panel. The two of them, one in front and one behind, carried everything back to the cave.
"Are you okay?" Uziel asked with concern.
"I'm super strong now!" Paige showed off her muscles. Well, there was no actual muscle, not even any fat.
She needed to nourish herself, really eat well and build strength.
Inside the cave, the two people were pacing. Winn had thought Uziel and Paige were just stepping out for a bit and didn't expect them to be gone all night.
Now it was already midday, and they still hadn't returned.
He was starting to worry, debating whether to go out and look for them himself or take his brother-in-law with him.
After all, he didn't feel safe leaving his brother-in-law alone in the cave.
"Big Winn, let's go look for my sister.
Didn't you say she went with Uziel to dig for wild vegetables?
Why hasn't she come back yet?" Ely also looked anxiously toward the cave entrance.
He hadn't seen his sister since the morning. Big Winn said Uziel took her to dig for wild vegetables.
Now that he only had his sister left as a family member, he couldn't imagine what he would do if he lost her.
At first, he wanted to wait at the entrance, but it was too cold outside the cave. Their clothes were too thin to handle it.
That's the main reason they had waited all morning and still hadn't made up their minds.
Inside the cave, there was no wind, and a fire could keep them warm.
Before they could decide what to do, Paige and Uziel came in from outside the cave.
"Uziel, Sis, you're back." Ely saw his sister return safely and happily ran over to her.
"Wow, so much stuff! Where did it come from?" Ely quickly noticed what the two of them were carrying.
Winn and Ely hurried over to help unload the things from the wooden board.
"Put on two sets of padded clothes first, then go wash the pots. Let's start cooking. I'm starving," Paige said as she placed the wooden board on the ground and threw a bundle each to Winn and Ely.
Ely didn't catch the bundle, and it dropped to the ground with a loud thud.
"Ouch, Sis, be careful! What if it gets damaged?" Ely said as he carefully opened the cloth bundle.
"Brother, take Ely to wash the pot. I'll help Paige tidy up the cave," Uziel said to Winn, giving him a look.
Winn understood. He helped Ely put on a set of padded clothes, then took him outside to clean the various pots and pans that Paige had brought back.
"Wow, so warm! This must be made of new cotton.
Why does the color look just like the padded jackets the officers wear?
Sis and Uziel didn't sneak into a military camp to steal this stuff, did they?" Ely said, gently touching the clothes he was wearing.
The adult-sized padded clothes looked like a long coat on Ely, covering him from neck to knees.
"You can't say things like that. Your brother Uziel isn't that capable.
Even if it looks like it, it was probably something others didn't want and threw away, and then your sister and the others picked it up," Winn said quietly to Ely.
"Hahaha, Brother Winn, I was just joking.
But still, being a soldier is great. Such nice cotton coats, and they just throw them away like that.
Does that mean soldiers always get to wear new clothes?" Ely said with longing in his eyes.
Then he thought about those fierce, scary officers and hesitated a bit.
"Being a soldier is good, but the people are too bad.
Brother Winn, do you think I could become a soldier who just eats well, dresses warmly, and doesn't do bad things?" Ely looked at Winn, full of hope.
"You can, but you'll have to work hard and become an officer.
Only officers have the right to speak, and they can stop their men from doing bad things.
If you're just a regular soldier, you have to do whatever your superior tells you," Winn said with a smile.
Ely looked troubled. That sounded really hard!
The two of them kept chatting as they cleaned the things Paige had brought back.
Today, Paige had picked up a lot of big iron pots and stored them in her space.
Besides the iron ones, there were also several ceramic ones. She had just tossed two double-handled soup pots to Ely.
There was another big iron pot on the ground, and she took it with her when she went out.
When Uziel saw Winn taking Ely out, he quickly said to Paige,
"What do you want to eat? Just take out some of the food for now. Once we finish it, we can take more out again."