[He tries to take a step back when she grabs his wrist, but she gets her grip on him anyway. The mood change doesn't help much... He looks at the ground too.]

Yes. They're called zombies, and they're pretty bad. They were humans once, but they died. Now they're back from the dead, but they're monsters. Not human anymore. Or... something like that, I guess it depends. There are a bunch of different kinds of zombies so it's weird to say. And they're not supposed to be real! But this town is stupid like that.

And anyway, if a zombie bites you, you eventually turn into one of them. [He nods at... uh... the zombiegoopiles. As if that demonstrates his point. Sort of. Kind of.] I don't know how long it takes. But I guess I'm gonna know soon, huh?

[He gives a dramatized sigh~... but then he looks to her again. Though he's serious, he does give her a small smile.]

Meru? I think you're cool. But I don't really want to be one of those stupid things. They're brainless and not at all graceful and I hate them. [He wrinkles his nose.] So, hey, can you kill me? I already told you, I don't feel any pain, so that's okay. And death isn't permanent here! I'll come back just fine tomorrow!

[This child... Seriously.]