Stereo Blast Volume 1 [MxM]

Chapter 1.6

Ryan looked at him like he knew what he was thinking. Guess it was better to not ask Ryan for his opinion.

They left the room. The entire time Taylor had his hand on his pocket knife.

As Tike locked the door, Ryan hovered back with him.

“You know, I was thinking about getting a girl on my arm. I want it to be like—futuristic or something.”

Tike finished the last lock and turned toward Ryan. “I think I’ve got something in mind. We’re trying out this new ink. Glows in the dark if done right. Pretty sick.”

Taylor watched Ryan lift his s**t. His fingers slipped under the nude colored binder, the one that clung tight to his chest, and pulled it up so he could show Tike where he wanted the girl. Taylor looked away, his face growing hot at his own thoughts. Tike nor Ryan noticed his flushed face, too busy discussing where and how Ryan wanted the girl positioned.

“She could be leaning back with her legs spread a little. Something sexy like that.”

Taylor rolled his eyes. Of course, he wanted that tattooed on him.

“Ryan, I’m not going to wait for you,” Taylor said, crossing his arms. The bottle was held firmly in his hand.

Ryan looked away from Tike, but he didn’t look like he knew what he was doing. “Um—yeah. We’ll talk later, right?”

He touched Tike on the shoulder and walked back with Taylor.

Taylor could feel Tike’s eyes burning into his back. Yeah, he hated his guts that was for sure.

They left the shop and the second he was out of there he felt like he could breathe again. Tike set him on edge, more so than anyone else did, and when Ryan got close to Tike it burned a fire inside of him.

The sun fully risen now, but the grey clouds blocked most of its warm light. The rain was almost here and he couldn’t wait for it to come pouring down even if he was caught in its storm.

“Are you serious about that tatt?”

Ryan shrugged. “I thought it would look nice.”

He frowned, his hands in his pockets, as he looked over at Taylor. “Why? Do you not think so?”

Taylor gave a breathy laugh. “It’s a shitty idea.”

Ryan grinned. “Then I guess it’s good you’re not the one getting it.”

They fell back into silence as they took the old pathway back to Taylor’s house. Through dark and filthy alleyways, they trudged side by side without a word. It was getting worse, he couldn’t kid himself anymore. Something was wrong with everything, with how they couldn’t talk more than a few times and it was driving him crazy.

They turned one more corner and stared up as a pile of rotten wood fell down. It landed in front of them, scattering in a splay of chunks and splinters. Taylor raised his arm and covered his face, startled that the building had started to crumble in front of them. It wasn’t the case though when he looked up. Above them, standing on the top of a stairwell, a man clattered down from the roof. He was covered in dirt and grime like he’d crawled out a puddle of rust and mold. He didn’t say a thing as he gazed down at them. His eyes drifted off into the sky, past the two as they stared up at him. But his eyes snapped away from what he was looking at. He ran at full speed down the stairs, jumping two and three stairs at a time until he landed on the ground. The stairs moaned and creaked under his weight.

Taylor grabbed Ryan’s arm out of reflex. He kept his eyes on the man, lowering his arm and reaching for his pocket knife. His fingers rested over the top of the handle.

The man didn’t take notice. He kept coming toward them.

“Get back,” Taylor said. He drew out his knife and opened it with the flick of his hand. “Don’t get any f*****g closer.”

The man, with his dazed look and staggering steps, didn’t seem to hear him. Taylor called out again, repeating his words, but the man didn’t halt. He lingered for a moment, eyeing them like he’d forgotten what he was doing. Taylor raised the knife at chest level. Ryan grabbed his own knife in response, but Taylor was going to make sure he didn’t have to use it.

Taylor pushed Ryan behind him. “Stay behind me.”

Ryan fell back but didn’t go without a struggle. “I don’t need to be protected.”

“Just do as I say.”

Ryan gave an annoyed sound, but he didn’t make an attempt to fight Taylor on it.

The man stepped forward again. Taylor got a good look at him then. He wasn’t anyone he recognized. He was older than most of the kids that hung around here and was too young to be in association with his dad. The man was nobody. Like he’d turned up out of the blue.

“Get the f**k back. I’m not going to warn you again.” Taylor thought the guy would turn back by now. He wasn’t making a move to grab a weapon, not even putting up his fists. It was like he didn’t think Taylor could hurt him.

Taylor was about to gut the guy. Give him what he might think Taylor wasn’t capable of.

But he saw it then. The man’s eyes.

They were milky white and lifeless. They held no sign of being part human nor vampire. The man kept walking, swaying back and forth like he was on a bad trip. His mouth moved, lips covered in spit and foam. Taylor lost his grip on his knife for a split second. He held his breath when he looked into those eyes, so caught off guard that he had to think to breathe.

“Tay?” Ryan’s voice cut through the pounding of Taylor’s heart. It was full of fear. Raw fear that made Taylor afraid himself. Contagious.

Ryan grabbed Taylor’s arm this time. “We should get out of here.”

Taylor agreed, but he couldn’t move his legs. He was frozen, entranced both those milky eyes. The man stood still then. He looked at them and tilted his head.

Ryan yanked his arm hard. “Let’s get out of here, Tay.”

The second Taylor broke his gaze from the man, he felt a chill fill his body. The man let out a growl that resembled nothing human, a sound that was more of an animal. It was a savage sound and it was ice cold inside of Taylor. He snapped his gaze back on him, but by then it was too late. The man full on sprinted toward them. Taylor pushed Ryan back and sliced through the air with his knife. The man grabbed Taylor by the head, locking his hands over his face and dug his nails in until they drew blood. Taylor stabbed the man in the stomach and yanked up until the blade met his rib cage. He kneed into the man’s stomach and kicked his feet out from underneath him.

The man stumbled back, his eyes blank as ever and his hands clutched over his wound. Blood seeped through his stained shirt and over his hands. He fell onto his back, sprawled across the street. Taylor didn’t wait for the man to move. He took two steps back, knife bloody in the air, and then grabbed Ryan’s arm once more. He didn’t need to tell Ryan to run. They turned and bolted from the street, leaving the man bleeding on the ground.

“What the f**k was that?” Ryan yelled. They ran past the opposite block and kept heading towards the busier part of town.

“No f*****g idea!” Taylor’s hand shook around his knife. He held it with a firm grip, afraid he might lose focus and drop it, but he couldn’t put it away. He’d been shell-shocked and he wasn’t about to become defenseless against whatever that was back there.

“Did you see his eyes? He was f*****g dead!”

They were gasping by the time they stopped inside an empty building. It was carved out with only two walls and looked over the street. If the man came down the street, they would have a large view. Taylor braced himself against one of the last standing walls. He sucked in a sharp breath and shook his head.

“It was a bad trip,” he said, but he didn’t fully believe it.

Ryan scoffed. “There’s no way. He was a zombie. It was like no one was in there.”

Even though he’d seen what Ryan had, he couldn’t believe it. Those milky white eyes had no life behind them just as Ryan said. The man was a zombie, walking around these streets, and had attacked them for no reason. He didn’t even look like he’d known what he was doing when he did. And when Taylor had gutted him, sliced him open until he hit bone, there was an awful feeling settling through him. It had been self-defense. He’d done it before, done it even when the other person in the fight was weaker than him or had no weapon.

Why was he thinking about this so much? Why did he feel like s**t?

He wiped his bloody blade off on his pants but didn’t put it away. Though it was unlikely, the man was still out there.

Fuck. Why was he so nervous over one guy? Was it just the eyes that had shaken him up so much?

No. It was more than that. He could lie, but there was no way this was a bad trip. If it was a drug, it was far times greater than anything on the street now.

“s**t!” Taylor searched his pockets for the blue bottle. It had slipped from his mind when he’d seen the man and it only now occurred to him. He fished it out from his coat and sighed in relief. The bottle was perfectly intact.

He should have transported it in something better than just his jacket. It was the first time he actually felt like an i***t.

The blue liquid looked the same as before. It looked better out here, where the natural sunlight could hit it and show its true form. Taylor stared at it. A feeling of unease fell over him but for reasons he could not place.