7 Mother and son

He was a scrawny little thing with long hair the color of silver. This was the scrawniness that was a result of starvation and poor feeding. He reminded her of those children in the zombie apocalypse who had no family to fend for them or strength to fend for themselves so their bodies became skin and bones because of starvation until when they eventually died of hunger.

There was a time when cannibalism was on the rise during the zombie apocalypse and children like that fell victim to greedy adults. Looking at Justin in front of her, her heart was almost breaking. The biggest feature on his face was his large grey eyes which were similar to hers.

He was a handsome boy probably because his father was a very handsome man. All he needed was some good feeding to fatten him up.

He was wearing some kind of improvised mecha that was attached to his back and arms; it was probably an aid to help him carry out the metallic trash.

Su Yan had never been a mother but before her entire family died at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, she was a big sister. Perhaps that's why there was a tug at her heart as she looked at this poor sweet boy.

Justin run to Adler and hid behind him while holding one of his legs.

Adler squatted down in front of the boy and ruffled his hair playfully. "Did you hear everything that we said?"

Justin nodded his head.

"Then you know that your mother wants to make amends and build a better relationship with you." Adler told him. "What do you think about it?"

Justin peeped at her once more briefly and when she met his gaze, he quickly looked away from her and shook his head. It seemed like he had been terrorized by Scarlet to a point of being so afraid of her.

"You are scared, right?" Adler asked him.

Justin nodded in agreement with Adler.

"Me too buddy," Adler told him, "But I will be watching over you the whole time. If it will make you feel better, the two of you can only walk around here or sit under that tall thorny tree. She is your mother; I think you should give her a chance."

Su Yan was amazed by the Adler's large heart. Here he was helping her to mend the relationship which Scarlet had ripped apart with both eyes wide open. Was he really so understanding or was he baiting her and then he would throw her to the wolves later.

"No," she thought to herself. "I cannot doubt the only person who is on my side for the moment."

If she refused Adler's help because of doubt, she would be left standing alone and Adler never did or said anything hurtful to Scarlet after all she did. According to her memories, even after they were forced to come to the blue star, he simply told Scarlet to get her head on straight and remember her priorities. Scarlet of course called him a fool for not minding his own business.

After being convinced by his uncle for ten minutes or so, Justin tentatively came closer to Scarlet and stared at her shyly.

She too was nervous, so she waved at him and said, "Hi," as if they were strangers being introduced by a mutual friend for the first time.

"I am going to give the two of you some privacy, I will be watching from above." Adriel pointed to the top most point of the mountain of garbage.

He flew up as mother and son slowly walked to the thorny tree. These trees were quite common on the Blue star, they were very tall and their fruits were covered in thorns which is why the trees were named thorny trees. The fruit was inedible; many people on the Blue star had attempted to eat them out of desperation created by hunger.

There were no seats beneath the tree, only a couple of large stones which the workers would sit on occasionally when they were taking a break.

"Uhm, do you want to sit?" she asked Justin.

He nodded and sat his little ass down on a small rock. She sat on the larger rock closest to his and the two of them nervously retained their silence.

After a while of this uncomfortable silence, she asked him, "Are you hungry?"

Justin touched his stomach and nodded, but then a sad look appeared on his face and he said, "No," in a small voice.

She that had been eager to give him a snack was confused, was she hungry or not?

"You agreed first, why are you changing your mind?"

"Uncle Adler says that we need to eat less in order for the nutrient shake to last." He answered.

The nutrient shake he was talking about was a thick porridge like drink which most of the citizens of the Sun star empire drunk. The nutrient shake also had different qualities and the more money one had, the better tasting and higher in value nutrient shake they could afford.

Food was available too but it was bland and only found in the capital. Even then it was available in small portions because the war with mutated beasts destroyed eighty percent of the edible plants. Even the little food that remained was only available to the rich.

The Su family was surviving on low quality nutrient shakes.

With the millions of snacks, drinks and supplies in her storage space, she would never have to worry about hunger. Moreover, she had more than enough seeds of all types and varieties to grow her own food.

Perhaps these seeds would resurrect this dead planet and bring it back to life. This would be her path to wealth in this world.

She looked at Justin, grabbed his arms and said, "Justin, with mummy here, you will never have to worry about food. I know that I have not been the best mother to you in the past but that's because mother was sick and when I banged my head, the sickness left my mind. Now, I am all better and I promise that I am going to take better care of you."

"Really?" Justin asked her with so much hope in his eyes. He was only a four year old child who saw his father once a year and his mother ignored him. Justin had always longed for his love and he was struggling to believe that his longing could be satisfied.

"Yes, mummy will prove it to you every day but you have to trust me a little bit. If you reject me, my heart will ache and maybe the sickness will return."

Justin shook his head like a scared little lamb.

"To keep the sickness far away, you have to allow mummy to love you so much. Will that be possible?" she was lying to him but she wanted to mend the rift between them as fast as she could.

Justin launched herself into her arms and she sighed in relief.

"Can mummy give you something to eat now?"

Even though he had just accepted her, she noticed that he was still a little hesitant to eat something she was giving.

Did Scarlet once attempt to poison her son?

She touched her pocket and brought a small packet of milk biscuits which she ripped open and started eating one by one.

Justin could smell the sweet scent of the biscuits and he swallowed greedily.

She passed him one and he asked, "What's this?" He had never seen food like this before.

"Something sweet it's called a biscuit, if you like it let's go home together and prepare more for the rest of the family."

Like most children, Justin could not resist the sweetness of the biscuit and he munched happily as he followed her back to the house.

"Are you really allowing her to be alone with him?" Carolyn asked Adler as they watched Justin follow Scarlet.

"You have A and I have an S level of mental strength. I am sure you have heard every word that they have discussed. She apologized to him and fed him. You may not like or trust her but she is Justin's mother. The boy needs his mother, if she has truly changed then it's a cause to be happy and relieved.

What did she give him to eat by the way, I have never seen anything like it?" he asked as an afterthought.

"How should I know?" Carolyn fired back but she was curious as well. "Is she really going to prepare whatever it is for the rest of us?"

"How should I know?" Adler repeated her question. "Let's just get back to work and don't worry about Justin, I have told Elroy to keep an eye on them."