บท 85: Father and Daughter
Shane sat opposite his daughter and felt that she looked in quite a pitiful state after he had not seen her for some time. "My daughter.. are you okay? Did you suffer? Do you want to get yourself cleaned up a little before we talk?"
His gaze turned towards Brick who was standing behind Tanya who was seated. "Thank you for bringing her back, you may leave now."
His attitude made it seem like he was grateful for what he had done but since his task was done, it was better if Brick knew his place and left of his own free will.
He did not want anyone by his daughters side that was not under his complete control and he had a faint feeling that Brick had already drifted away from his grasp a little.
The presentation of Brick standing behind Tanya was more than enough to heighten such a suspicion.
Just as Brick was about to step outside, Tanya raised her hand and spoke firmly. "Father. I have allowed him to stay. He has provided excellent help and is needed if we can maintain our lives."
Shane knit his brows and retorted. "The boy cannot even follow orders. How can he be of help when he ignores my orders? I heard about what he had done already so you do not need to defend him."
Tanya looked at her father calmly for a moment before speaking up again. "You misunderstood father."
Seeing that her father had quietened down a little, she continued to explain. "You understand that the surroundings are in complete chaos yes? Then you must understand that our past ways of thinking does not always gain good results at a time like this."
Her meaning was that the world had already begun to change so if they did not know how to adapt to the times and got stuck in their old ways of thinking then they would have a very difficult time in the future.
Shane frowned and then asked. "And how does this have anything to do with the present situation? You should know of your father's worries and difficulties."
He tried to make his daughter understand that he was the adult and he had his own difficulties so she should just trust in him.
He believed himself to be in the right especially with the difficulties he had to face before and after the zombie outbreak happened.
Nobody else could help him with the family business and his own daughter was the same.
His daughter would marry into some other family so he could not exactly raise her to take over the business when he got old.
If he could get help from a wealthy and powerful family to make his business problems disappear then he was more than willing to discuss for them to become his son in law.
Even if the son in law had nothing to do with the business, he could still pass on the company to his grandchildren once he had started to no longer covet it all and was too aged to handle it anymore.
If he got to decide who his son in law was then he would have more control over who would better benefit the family business and what family the children born into could do to help out in the future.
His thoughts did not change too much after the zombie outbreak took place.
He was just a businessman who gained his business and wealth due to his own family dying and taking advantage of his niece when she was vulnerable.
Shane may have possessed some loyal followers who did a lot for money but that loyalty would soon disappear over time.
He needed his daughter in order to help better secure connections with those who would have more of a chance of leading the new world.
His thoughts and plans were not completely wrong but they were not right either.
Most would think forming strong relationships with the army or current leaders would be their best available option if they wanted to survive and throve in the new environment.
That would usually be the case for some time in most apocalyptic novels but when powers and other factors took place, such positions were usually used as cannon fodder for the main character due to their poor ruling and power struggles.
Brick understood such a way of thinking and had seen many different scenarios play out in novels.
If he could do so then he felt that it was much better to just find some secluded or dead zone that nobody enters then set up a base there where other troublesome groups could not interfere and cause problems.
Seeing Shane so focussed on such a path, Brick resisted the urge to mock the man for his foolishness that would result in him becoming a subordinate of some corrupt group or being drained of all his worth before being thrown away when his usefulness was gone.
Tanya looked into her father's eyes and said plainly. "Someone like that will be more trouble than whatever you can possibly gain from his family. Whatever their family possessed may not last. Anything can happen at a time like this so why gamble on such a thing?"
Shane sighed and responded. "And is there an alternative? Take a look around us, this place has taken so long to get cleared out enough to be safe yet more problems keep rising up. How am I supposed to keep this from falling apart?
What can you do to help? What can that kid even do? If we cannot place our hopes on others in the future then whatever we have available right now will begin to crumble bit by bit. You brought in more mouths to feed and more bodies to take up space.
How can I possibly trust your judgement when you have made such a silly mistake? What is the benefit in saving those useless people? Did you even have a plan before making such a decision to defy me?"
Brick kept still and thought to himself. 'He is her father.. he is her father.. he is her father.. cannot beat him up.. aaah… and now here comes Tanya with the fast response!'
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