Chapter 428: The Gentle Side
Dawn broke as the sun started lighting up the land. Laz got up and stretched, feeling his body having relaxed for the first time in a long time. For the most part, Laz didn’t sleep much, maybe one to two hours a night. This gave his mind time to shut down and reset and allowed him to wake up feeling rested. As Laz got stronger, he felt less of a need for sleep as his mind had become far stronger and more stable ever since he had begun his journey. That aside, sleep was still helpful in some ways so at least once a week, Laz tried to get a good six hours of rest. As for the other nights, after the one or two hours, Laz would spend time working his body over using either his black flame or his infinity technique.
The black flame made his body stronger while the infinity technique helped his energy, allowing him to improve both areas of his self. While normally a single night would maybe only help a fraction of a tiny bit, once added together, they made a big difference. Laz had some stones left from the compound, but he didn’t know when he could get more. As such, he was going to use them sparingly for now.
’If only I could find a natural... treasure? Is that the word? Like the cave pond or that water and flower from way back when. The energy in the air is at a greater level than before so shouldn’t that mean there would be more things that appear?’ Laz asked himself as he went and brushed his teeth.
Walking out of the bathroom, Laz saw that Jill was awake and eyeing him, but she had kept very still and her eyes didn’t even look opened. If he didn’t have such acute senses, he wouldn’t have even noticed.
"Good. Since you’re awake, let’s go," Laz said, holding out a hand to Jill.
"Go?" She asked, taking his hand.
"Shopping, remember?" Laz replied.
The look on Jill’s face was one of object terror and reluctance.
’What’s wrong with shopping?’ Laz thought to himself, but didn’t ask.
"Can I stay here?"
"How will I know what to get you if you stay here?"
"I’ll tell you..." Jill started to say, before lowering her head. She knew that what she was asking was impossible. He had already offered to buy her clothes and whatever else she needed, yet now she was asking him to go do it alone. She could feel that it was unreasonable from the moment she said it.
"Here." Laz set a hoodie down next to her, one of his big, zip up ones with a big hood. Looking at it, Jill felt like she wanted to cry.
’How does he always know...?’ She asked herself before putting it on, zipping it up and covering up her face with the hood.
In truth, Laz didn’t know, but he had a feeling. Some things didn’t need to be said for them to be expressed and while the past Laz was as dense as a brick wall, the current Laz paid far more attention to both the big and the little things. It was a part of the change that had taken hold of him ever since killing the Bug Nest Man and the understanding that came with it.
Walking outside, the skies were still grey and cloudy while a mist that soaked to the bones hung in the air. Some might consider it depressing, but for Laz, this was the perfect kind of day.
Laz looked down at Jill who was in turn staring at her feet.
"From now on, you will need to tell me what you need. And don’t hold back. It’s better to get everything now than to not have it later and wish you did," Laz told her.
"I’m not...."
"You wanted to follow me, right?" Laz asked sternly.
"Mmm." Was Jill’s muted response.
"Why?"
"Uh... well..."
"Tell me!" Laz said, even more sternly. She was afraid to speak out, but Laz knew there was something inside her, something that was stronger than this. It was a part of her but right now there was no sign of it. Laz felt the first step would be her will. If she wasn’t able to have more backbone, there was no point in thinking about anything else. While there is something to be said about that thing not having anything to do with her, Laz thought that she should have at least a bit of courage considering she asked to follow him in the first place.
"I want to be like you...." She finally said, holding back the tears. While his voice wasn’t loud, to Jill it felt like he was yelling.
"Like me?"
"I want... to be able... to be strong like you. I want to kill like you...." Jill said, trying her best to express herself before she caused Laz to yell at her again.
While they had mentioned this before, Laz wanted to hear it straight from her mouth. Since it was up to her conviction to give her strength.
"I see," was all Laz said in response before getting in the driver’s seat.
As Jill climbed in the back, she asked,
"Will you?" Obviously she was asking if he would teach her to kill.
"How can I when you don’t even have it in you to sit by me? When you can’t even go out in public without hiding your face? And you think you can learn how to kill just like that?" Laz responded, his voice neutral. He wasn’t telling her no, but he also didn’t want to just tell her yes straight up either.
Hearing this and seeing where she was sitting, Jill moved to the front passenger seat and buckled herself in. While she was as close to the door as she could be, it was still an improvement.
’Last night she tried to do things with me but now she seems afraid of me? I don’t get it,’ Laz thought to himself before turning over the engine and putting it into reverse to get out of the parking lot.
Laz’s current phone that he had gotten from the Hearn agent had GPS on it, but since Laz normally kept the phone powered down, he relied on a map to find where the shopping centers were in this backwater of a town. Luckily, the map was pretty modern and the things that were on it were mostly still there, although their names seemed to have changed over time.
"Hmm... ok... so the map is almost twelve years old... but still...." The shopping mall was closed when Laz pulled up. At first he just thought he was too early, but driving by one of the doors indicated that the building was set to be demolished soon and he knew that waiting here would prove useless.
"Well... fuckkk," Laz said as he felt a poke on his arm.
Looking over, Jill pointed to something else a little ways down the road.
"I mean. Yeah. I guess this should be ok," Laz said as he agreed. They were heading to a big box store the likes of which Laz hadn’t stepped in since New York. Still, it seemed the only place in town to have everything they needed.
Walking around, Laz directed everything with Jill just giving her input. They looked at underwear and bras, they looked at clothing, woman’s necessities and personal hygiene supplies. They then went and got her a prepaid phone, but not a very expensive one. After all, Laz had a tendency to lose his so he never thought that spending a lot on it made much sense.
After that, Laz specifically took her to the bedding section and with her picking the color, grabbed one of the softest, fluffiest blankets he could find along with a character pillow of a cartoon character. While Jill was fifteen and not a young kid, she was still at an age when these things were enjoyed. Besides, it wasn’t hard to tell what she wanted by the faces she made. Even when she told him no over and over again, Laz didn’t hesitate.
While the phone was nice and all, it was the character pillow and the fluffy blanket that she ended up hanging on to for the rest of the shopping trip until they checked out and left. Even then, she scanned the items herself and wouldn’t let them go.
By the time they were done, Jill’s gloom had vanished quiet a bit, but so had Laz’s funds. Of course most of the money on him he had ’borrow’ from other people stupid enough to cause trouble so he didn’t feel bad about it.
"Get in and change in to the work out outfit. From now on, things are only going to get worse. Make sure to leave all your stuff in the back seat. You can play with it later." Laz instructed, opening up the back of the van.
Jill snapped out of her mood and got in, got changed, and came back out. While they had purchased several different things, when he told her to get clothes for working out, she had only seen skin tight spandex in this area and rejected it. Instead, she picked out some sweats that ensured she was covered from head to toe. Laz saw this and didn’t mind for now despite how uncomfortable that stuff would be soon.
When she was done, she got out of the Van and closed the door before looking around. As she did so, the old rust bucket’s engine turned over and Laz began to drive, leaving her behind.
She was so shocked and scared that she didn’t make a noise but stood frozen in place.
The passenger side window came down before Laz got too far away and his voice could be heard from the driver’s seat.
"Time for your morning run. Now follow me and don’t fall behind, got it?" Laz called out.
Jill’s face twitched a few times as she figured out what he meant and start jogging after the van and the stuff in the back seat.
