NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Zedd's eyes fluttered open; he had a terrible dream that he couldn't quite recall. He woke up in a pool of sweat. He looked outside and realized it was almost time for sunrise. He stood up and realized his throat was dry; he desperately wanted water. He got out of his cabin and walked towards the well. He looked around to make sure that bratty girl from earlier wasn't there, and he sighed in relief, put the bucket down, and drank water.
He uttered, "I need to store water now onwards in the cabin." He decided to just take a walk; it was almost time for sunrise, and in a few hours, the villagers would wake up and start their day. He began walking, but then he heard a speaking sound from an alleyway. He took a peek and saw the redhead girl from earlier with another girl who had black hair and black eyes. The black-haired girl was slightly shorter than the redhead. He listened to their talking.
The redhead said, "Aah, one more week here in the streets." The black-haired girl replied, "Sorry, it's because of my stupidity that loan shark scammed us." The redhead's expression softened and replied, "It's not your fault; everyone makes mistakes." The black-haired girl replied, "But I make too many. I am naive and blindly trust everyone, and because of that, we lost our house as well. Now we are on the streets."
Zedd, overhearing their conversation, thought that the redhead seemed to be the haughty one with a backbone, while the black-haired girl was too innocent and naive, I guess, who trusts everyone. Should I help them? They are homeless. Zedd was having a hard time deciding whether to help them or simply walk away. But he decided to help them in the end. He didn't understand why himself; he didn't understand how a murderer like him still had some shred of humanity left, but he threw all those thoughts aside.
He went back to his cabin and looked at his two pouches of money. One was for gold; it had 500 gold coins, which were useless in such a small village, as gold is only used in big towns and capitals, not in small villages. There were a few exchanges, but Zedd didn't want to attract attention, so he decided not to exchange his gold coins for silver ones. He opened his silver coins pouch; inside were 25 silver coins. He had spent 5 coins last night on dinner at the restaurant. He took 15 silver coins and walked back to the alleyway. He peeked and saw the two girls were fast asleep on a small mat they had spread on the floor and a thin cover protecting them from the cold. He walked over to them and placed the money down. Suddenly, the redhead girl caught his wrist. Zedd, stunned, thought, how did she...?
The redhead opened her eyes and punched Zedd in the face. Zedd stumbled back, and he knew what was about to come—she would scream. He placed his hand over her mouth and whispered, "Shh, be quiet; I am not here to hurt you or your friend." Zedd said, "I was simply helping you; that's all." He pointed at the silver coins he carefully placed near the black-haired girl. He then said to the red-haired girl, "I only wanted to help; that's all." Now he turned and said, "I am leaving." The redhead caught his hand and said, "Why are you helping me and my friend?" Zedd replied, "I don't know; I thought you would need it, that's all."
He then walked away and continued his morning walk. Zedd was used to waking up early; it was part of his morning training exercise at the military academy. Before he knew it, people were waking up, getting ready for work. Zedd wandered around the village looking for odd jobs, and he found multiple jobs. He finished them all quickly and got paid as well. Zedd's plan was to first perfect his synthetic tissue completely. He had perfected it by 10 more percent, and only 20 more percent remained. Once he perfected it to 100 percent, he would cut away his whole left side, excluding his face, neck, and obviously his Mr. Dick. Then, he would graft the synthetic tissue, and with rehabilitation, he would be able to survive without eating or drinking at all. He would be able to work as long as he wanted without getting tired, and if he ever lost one of his legs or arms, he could easily create a new one and attach it to his body.
Although it sounded quite easy, he knew it would take him a minimum of 3 or 4 months to rehabilitate himself. The reason he was earning as much money as he could by taking on simple jobs was so he could stock up on food for his rehabilitation, as he would need complete rest and couldn't do anything at that time. He snapped out of his thoughts when he bumped into someone.