The Beast and the Harlot ch. 14

Zacky's eyes widened when he saw the space on the kitchen floor where Brian previously was completely unoccupied.

"Zacky, I thought you said you left him in here." Matt said, scanning the room once more before turning to look at him. Zacky kept his eyes glued to the spot where he left Brian.

"I-I did." He slowly made his way over to that spot and crouched down on his knees. "He was right here." He ran a hand alongside the wooden floor, as if that would make Brian magically reappear.

"What's that?" Matt's eyebrows furrowed together as he walked toward where Zacky was.

"What?" Zacky stood up and followed Matt over to the counter. Zacky followed his gaze to a little patch of red on the otherwise black countertop. Matt dragged his finger against it and put it close to his face to examine it.

"Oh God." Zacky breathed. "Is that..."

"Brian's blood." Matt finished for him.  Zacky swallowed hard. Matt wiped his finger on his jeans and turned back to Zacky. "He couldn't have just gotten up and walked away."

"Then where is he?" Matt stayed silent, baffled. Zacky turned away from Matt and put both hands on his head, grabbing two fistfuls of his tangled mess of hair. He gritted his teeth tightly to keep from crying.

"Zack, are you alright?" Zacky turned back to Matt.

"Matt, I-I can't do this anymore." He choked out. "This...This is all too much." Matt sighed.

"Zacky, we need to leave. We've been through a lot tonight, we need to get some sleep. Let's just go back to my place and--"

"No!" Zacky yelled. "No. We can't just leave. I need to know where Brian is. I need to know if he's okay. Matt stared him down.

“Zacky you need to listen to me.” Matt put a hand gently on Zacky’s shoulder. “It’s late. Really late. A lot has happened. You’re not thinking straight. You need sleep. I need sleep. We can figure this all out in the morning.” Zacky nodded lightly, a look a defeat in his eyes. Matt felt terrible just looking at him. He was incredibly pale and he was shaking slightly. His black eye and gash on his cheek were still swollen and his split lip didn’t look much better. Just the sight of him caused Matt to pull him into a hug. Matt felt Zacky wince at his touch by force of habit. After he realized Matt wasn’t going to hurt him, he relaxed and finally let the tears fall down his face and onto Matt’s shirt. Matt held him tight and tried with every fiber of his being to keep from crying himself. He didn’t pull away until Zacky did himself.

“Let’s go home, Zack.” Zacky nodded. They left the dark house and headed back to Matt’s.

--

Zacky felt uneasy the whole ride home. His stomach kept lurching and his vision kept slipping in and out of focus. He looked out the car window, trying to focus on the streetlights going by to keep his mind off of how sick he felt and what had just happened. He managed to forget about it from the time Matt parked his car in the garage and he led him upstairs. Matt led him into his bedroom and sat him down on his bed.

“Are you okay?” He asked quietly. Zacky opened his mouth to answer, and that’s when his queasiness finally got a hold of him. He pushed Matt out of the way as he sprinted to the bathroom down the hall. He barely reached the toilet before he violently puked into it. Moments later, he felt a hand on his back, moving up and down and in circles until he could’t puke anymore. Zacky pushed away from the bowl and started to cry. He heard the toilet flush and Matt pulled him in close until he finished sobbing. Zacky was still too dizzy to walk; Matt had to pick him up and carry him back into the bedroom if he didn’t want to spend the night on the bathroom floor. Zacky’s eyes were burning, especially the one that was swollen shut, and he still felt sick when Matt sat him down on the bed. He disappeared for a few moments, and when he came back, he had a bag of ice and a bottle of water. He set the bottle of water down on the dresser, and pressed the ice against Zacky’s black eye. Zacky winced at the sudden chill but eventually brought his hand up to it to hold it there himself. Matt laid down on the bed next to Zacky and wrapped his arms around him protectively.

“We’re going to be okay, Zacky.” He whispered as Zacky drifted off.

--

Matt woke up the next morning with a weight on his chest. He blinked a few times, trying to get used to the light that now filled the room, before focusing on Zacky, who had basically fallen asleep on top of him. He looked so much better than he had the night before; he didn’t look good, but he looked better. The bag of ice had slipped from his face and was sitting in a puddle on Matt’s floor. His black eye wasn’t as swollen, and his split lip was already starting to heal. He still looked pale, however, and he still smelled of vomit from the night before. Matt didn’t want to wake him up, he knew he probably hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep lately, but he really had to pee.

“Zacky?” He whispered, shaking him slightly. Zacky just groaned and tightened his grip on Matt. Matt smirked and shook him again, harder this time. “Zacky, get the fuck off me.”

“Shhh.” Matt sighed.

“Fine. You leave me no other choice.” Matt quickly stood up from the bed, bringing all the blankets with him, causing Zacky to fall onto the floor with a thud.

“Ow! You piece of shit.” Zacky mumbled, gathering up the blankets on the floor and getting back into bed. Matt chuckled and started to head out the door when Zacky’s voice stopped him.

“Wait! Don’t leave me!” He sounded genuinely afraid. Matt turned around slowly.
“I’m just going to the bathroom, Zack.” His face relaxed some. He pulled the blankets up to his chin and nodded. While Matt was in the bathroom, Zacky’s phone began to vibrate violently on the dresser next to the bed. Zacky glanced at it, debating on whether to pick it up or not. He looked at the caller I.D.; it wasn’t a number he recognized, but he answered anyway.

“Hello?”

“Is this Zachary Baker?” A soft, female voice answered him.

“Yes.”

“This is Jaqueline Dolce from St. Elizabeth hospital.” Zacky swallowed hard. “We have a Mr. Brian Haner here with us and he gave us your number. He’s been asking for you all morning.” Zacky stammered over his words long enough for Jaqueline to ask if he was alright. He hung up the phone without speaking to her again. He stared down at the phone in his hand, trying to wrap his head around what just happened.

“Did someone call?” Zacky looked up to Matt, standing in the doorway, and nodded. “Well who was it?”

“It was the hospital.”

“What did they want?” Zacky went as pale as he was the night before.

“They want to to go over there." Matt's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. Zacky's voice had gotten so quiet it was almost inaudible. "Brian’s alive.”