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AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you check my website link below, I now have THREE full color pictures of Jordan. One is in the gif image so that you can see how I visualize his appearance in THIS story.
The second and third are from the sequel to "Slipstream" called "Oculus" in which he is a year older and a freshman in college. You'll also find a link to a blog post I wrote on Kolin and killsuits embedded about halfway down the page. This blog post (you must follow the link) includes a sexy full color drawing of Kolin modeling in his armor. :)
"Wraith" uses the main characters featured in the science-fiction novel, "Slipstream," but is its own story now complete on Nifty. Both of these tales are based on the events established in the short story, "The Insanity of Zero" (also on the Nifty Archive and available as a free download from my website). If you like Jordan, Kathy, and Kolin, please consider giving "Slipstream" a read.
If you are a reviewer for Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Fictionwise, or would just like to talk about my stories on your blog, please contact me for a complimentary "e"-copy of "Slipstream" in .pdf format.
Here is my author information:
Website: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/books.html
Email: kavrik@hotmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slipstream/164452693676933
Twitter: @MichaelOffutt
Chapter Twenty-One
"How long will they be asleep?" Kolin asked Wraith, blood dripping from his killsuit. Behind his shoulder, two of the female technicians that Dr. Pestilence had brought as trade for Jordan and Kathy now worked to clean up the receiving area.
Kolin had tried to be clean, but as is often the case when killing, he had left behind half a dozen severed limbs and three severed heads by the time he finished with the wights. He surmised that the Camazotz used these creatures for their ability to do work during daylight hours. Half human and half something else, many of them lacked the dexterity to respond to Kolin once he started slaying them. A few gave him trouble, but his killsuit protected him from bullets.
Of the nine women that had arrived, no one had spoken a word to Kolin or to Wraith. They simply did as instructed. Kolin watched with questioning eyes as one pushed around a mop bucket while the other busied herself with loading the dead on a metal cart pushed by a service robot. One such cart had already left for the incinerator room somewhere in the complex.
Are they afraid of me? He thought. Or are they relieved?
"A few minutes ago, I had the antidote administered to both of your friends," Wraith told him. "It will make their heart rate speed up. I have discovered that it is a gentle way to bring humans up from such a deep level of unconsciousness. In thirty minutes, they will both be fully conscious but may complain of intense dreams."
Kolin walked under the head of an industrial shower and pulled on a metal triangle that dangled from a chain on his left side. Cold water sprayed down on him from above; it washed the blood from his armor which left faint red stains around the drain in the floor. After a few minutes, Kolin stepped out and two females picked up some old terry cloth towels and wiped him down while he held his arms over his head.
"Give me the formula. I'll take it," Kolin said. "It's time I found out if I'm truly the one that you say I am, and I want to keep my end of the bargain."
"Change out of your armor. Your clothes are on the metal table where you left them," Wraith said. Then his eerie host slid off to bring back the syringe containing the mysterious liquid known only as Formula 111.
Kolin walked to the room containing his jeans, shirt, and shoes. Piece by piece, he removed his killsuit. With so many buckles and straps, taking it off always took some time. Ten minutes later, Wraith walked in on him just as Kolin thrust his smooth naked legs into his jeans. Kolin left his shirt off while Wraith brought forward the glass needle filled with a sparkling red fluid.
With veins crawling over his muscular arm and torso, Kolin hardly needed a tourniquet to find the one most appropriate to use as an injection site. From his perspective, they looked like huge worms underneath the skin.
When it came to men, Kolin liked the appearance of veins. He liked his men to be athletic and lean, which could sometimes be difficult to find. For the most part, he stuck with women as sexual partners, because he could me more indiscriminate, preferring those with a high pain tolerance, into a little anal sex, and with soft, pliable bodies. But despite this sexual ambidexterity, Kolin often got more excited about men that he found attractive. They needed to fit this ideal he'd created in his head. He liked young, skinny, and cut. However, intellectual banter could turn him on like no other, and the smarter they seemed, the more he could overlook any physical flaws that bugged him.
But just like his women, the few men he had ever shagged needed to be able to put up with a little kink, but nothing too daring. And he never had to talk any men into anal sex as this was the only option. Kolin just preferred it to traditional sex.
Kolin liked to be in charge, and he preferred rough sex in the role as a top. Thus far in all the years he'd lived, Kolin had never had a boyfriend. Truthfully, he'd never found anyone that excited him enough. Usually he ended it after the first night with a partner begging to continue the relationship and Kolin facing the awkward conversation of having to explain, "I'm just rather bored with this whole thing. Sorry chap, but keep your chin up."
Kolin had a sudden epiphany.
Why are all these thoughts going through my head? He wondered.
And then his eye caught the gleam from the side of the needle in Wraith's hands. Suddenly, everything clicked. I'm running through scenes in my life that matter most because that's what happens before you die. They say your whole life flashes before your eyes, right? For obvious reasons, he chose not to answer that question.
Kolin looked into Wraith's glowing peepers and said, "I'm ready."
Wraith wasted no time and injected him with the needle at the vein Kolin indicated. A burning sensation flooded Kolin's body, and he gasped for air while his eyes opened wide. For a moment, he saw stars.
"Am I dying?" he asked.
"Blood flow to your skin has increased. Hold steady," Wraith told him. Finally the syringe emptied, and Wraith withdrew the needle, pressing a cotton ball to the injection site.
Kolin took some surgical tape and secured it to his arm. Then he donned his shirt, legs a bit wobbly underneath him. Absently, he stuck his sneakers into his shoes.
"How long before we know if I'm the one?"
"A few minutes. If you are the one, you will feel a change in your loins as indicated within a day. If you aren't the one, you will die within the hour."
Kolin nodded. "I'm going to see my friends."
"Of course."
Kolin stopped in with Kathy first. The girl lay on her bed, rolling a bit in a troubled sleep, linen shirt stuck to her chest in a way that showed her pink, taut nipples. A woman sat on a chair, washing her feet with a cloth that she dipped into a bowl filled with ice cubes.
"What's that for?" Kolin asked.
The woman looked up at him and opened her mouth to speak, but didn't find her voice right away.
"I won't hurt you. You've nothing to fear from me at all," he said as softly as he could.
The woman nodded and moved a strand of black hair from in front of her face. Then she said, "The antidote raises the heart rate. Wraith said the cold compress will make her more comfortable. She's sweating a lot and by cooling her feet, the Master says she'll wake up sooner. The boy's is being prepared now."
Kolin walked to Jordan's door, behind which, he knew Jordan awaited unconscious and probably dreaming. But if he could die, he wanted to see him one more time. Just before he decided to enter, Wraith moved up accompanied by a woman carrying a metal bowl filled with ice. She opened the door for him and Kolin stepped inside. As an afterthought, he stopped the girl and took the bowl from her.
"I'll do this," he said.
She nodded and handed him the white cloth so that he could use it to dip into the bowl once he filled it form the sink. Then the door closed to give him privacy, even though Kolin was fairly sure that Wraith could see everything in the room through his candid cameras.
Kolin stared at Jordan asleep on the bed. His friend still wore his sneakers that were now damp with his sweat.
Jordan wore a small bandage near the bend of his elbow where they had injected him with the antidote. The teen lay with shirt partly unbuttoned and rolled onto his side. His blond bangs occasionally fluttered with his breath that ricocheted off the pillow. His shirt and jeans stuck to his skin, and he breathed rapidly as if caught in a fever.
Kolin kneeled next to him and touched Jordan's face gently with his fingers.
Between his legs, Kolin felt his dick grow hard, and it pressed painfully against his jeans.
Yeah he's my type, Kolin thought. Then he set down the bowl of ice at the foot of the bed.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered, sitting on the mattress. Carefully, he picked up Jordan's hand and kissed the teenager's fingers. Jordan's skin smelled like clean sweat, fresh semen, and sandalwood most likely from the soap he used in the shower that morning.
It drove Kolin wild. He caressed Jordan's fingers with his hot breath and licked him with a soft pink tongue. Still, Jordan didn't wake. However, the expression on Jordan's face changed. The teen smiled and buried his nose in the pillow.
Kolin's eyes followed the line of Jordan's body.
He got up, went to the end of the bed, and slipped Jordan's shoes off of his sweaty feet. At first, he did this intent on putting water in the bowl and then washing Jordan's skin like the girl did for Kathy in the other room. But, the boy had beautiful long toes with unblemished white skin and high athletic arches, and it made Kolin salivate. He couldn't help but take a whiff. Then he licked Jordan between the toes and savored the flavor of the teen's sweaty but clean skin.
Jordan giggled in his sleep and rolled onto his back. "That tickles," he whispered to no one in particular. But Kolin saw a tent forming in Jordan's jeans. Kolin grinned at the sight of Jordan's obvious erection. Even further, Jordan sucked on his lower lip, eyes moving rapidly in R.E.M. sleep. Kolin played along Jordan's toes with his tongue, licking the boy's feet which he had placed carefully on the top of the bedspread. With his other hand, he dropped Jordan's sneaks on the floor.
As gently and lovingly as he could, Kolin blew on the skin of Jordan's feet to cool them and evaporate the moisture. It seemed to work as good as any cloth might do. But just in case, he picked up an ice cube and gently ran it along Jordan's toes and the soles of both feet until the whole thing melted into his fingers. Then he picked up another and repeated this, occasionally blowing, and occasionally licking at the boy's perfect skin.
Fully aroused, Jordan gasped and mumbled something. At first, Kolin barely heard it so he listened as intently as he could in the hope that Jordan would repeat it. A second later, Jordan whispered, "Kolin, fuck me, please."
It took Kolin by surprise, and he stopped, realizing that he'd gotten carried away.
"Not like this," he said to himself.
He stepped back from the bed for a few seconds, partially ashamed that he'd allowed his lust to take a hold of him. "It has to be consensual, and he needs to be wide awake," Kolin told himself. "If he doesn't love me, then I'll live with that."
But Jordan continued to mumble Kolin's name and ran his hand over a now gleaming torso of smooth hairless skin.
He's having a wet dream, Kolin thought, but is he thinking of me? Or is he thinking of someone else? It has to be me if he's saying my name, right?
He remembered that Wraith had told him he could wake Eve from her sleep with a kiss. He wondered if it would work here.
Kolin knelt next to Jordan's bed and carefully lowered his face to Jordan's lips. Then he kissed the boy, sliding his tongue into Jordan's mouth. Surprisingly, the boy responded and put his hand on the back of Kolin's neck. He felt Jordan's fingers comb lovingly through his hair. The teen's jaw opened wider and for a second, their tongues entwined in the hottest kiss of Kolin's life. He had been told fairy tales of this kind of thing as a child, only it had taken place with a girl referred to as Sleeping Beauty, and after the prince had killed a dragon.
As Kolin's thoughts wandered, savoring the flavor of his best friend's mouth, he felt Jordan move. Kolin hastily broke the embrace as the boy's breathing slowed along with his heart rate. A moment later, Jordan's profuse sweating stopped, his nostrils flared, and his eyelids fluttered.
Then, Jordan opened his eyes and stared up at Kolin's face.
"Hey," Jordan said, smiling. He blinked and looked around the room.
"Rabbits, old boy," Kolin whispered as happy as he had ever been in his life. Seeing Jordan's beautiful eyes once more filled him with that much joy.
"How long have I been out?" Jordan asked, looking down at himself. "Jesus, I'm fucking soaked. Don't they have a/c in here?" Then he saw the tent that had formed in his own jeans. Jordan's face flushed in embarrassment, and he put his hands over his crotch.
"It's okay," Kolin said to reassure him. "That just means you're healthy. All boys wake up with morning wood. Please don't be embarrassed... I--I'll never say a thing. Did you dream of anyone in particular?"
Jordan laid his head back in the pillow and swallowed nervously. "Uh, y-yeah. A-a girl from school. I-I slept with her once," he lied. "N-nothing serious but she gave great head, ya know?"
Kolin's heart sank. "A-a girl?"
"D-definitely," Jordan said, nodding.
"W-what was her name?" Kolin asked.
Jordan blushing started to say, "K-Kara, I think."
"You think?"
Jordan pinched his eyes shut. "I know. J-Jesus why all the questions? I just got up. Can you get me a glass of water?"
"Sure," Kolin said with a nod.
He snatched a glass from one of Jordan's three leftover meal trays and filled it with water from the sink. It looked clean enough, and he tasted it first to make sure before he gave it to the boy to drink. As an afterthought, he dropped a couple of ice cubes into it to really cool it down.
Jordan took it and drained the contents in just a few seconds. "So are we both prisoners now?" Jordan asked.
He shook his head. "No. We can go."
"D-did you...did you meet Eve yet?" Jordan asked looking away. His voice had dropped a little and now Kolin fully understood why Jordan chose to hide his sexuality from him.
Maybe he thinks I'm attracted to girls, Kolin thought. But if I'm wrong, and he really is straight, I don't know if I want to admit that I want to shag him. That could make things awkward. I'd rather have him as a best mate.
Kolin finally decided on what to say about Eve. "I haven't met her, and I'm not going to. I have an obligation to get you home. So, I'm going to do that first. It's my duty to accompany you."
Jordan's eyes fell to the floor. It wasn't the reaction Kolin had wanted.
"It's your duty," Jordan whispered, and it sounded almost depressed.
Kolin wanted to slam his head into a wall. Why do I keep saying the wrong thing around him? He thought. Kolin wanted to scream and hit rewind so he could say something else. But in real life, there was no 'rewind' button.
Jordan sighed. "Why did Wraith lock me up? I worried something happened to you."
"I had surgery. I don't think Wraith fully trusted you at first. But I managed to explain it to him. I got things sorted though. You've nothing to worry about."
Jordan blinked and then put his sneakers on.
Kolin couldn't help but notice a few dried cum stains here and there either on the bedspread or on Jordan's jeans, mostly because he looked for them. He didn't mind at all. What Wraith found "disgusting" about Jordan in Kolin's opinion, made him even more attractive. Here was a fit teenage boy that wanked off a few times a day when there was nothing else to do.
"Is Wraith going to let us use his spaceship to get out of here?"
"Let's go talk to him about it," Kolin said. "It's time I got you to Kilvarough City. Meteora is waiting."
"That and it'll be cool to see what non-scary chicks look like on Avalon," Jordan remarked, shoving his hands into his jeans as he stood. A few times, Kolin caught Jordan staring at him, but the boy always broke eye contact at just the right time. "You know..." Jordan said, slugging him playfully, "b-because I like girls."
"Of course you do," Kolin said. He tousled his hair and grabbed him about the neck with the crook of his arm to pull him into a loving embrace. Jordan giggled. And then Kolin truly hugged Jordan. He hugged him so tight and long that Jordan squirmed a little.
"Are you okay?" Jordan asked him finally relaxing into Kolin.
"Yeah. I'm just glad you're safe," Kolin whispered.
"Why wouldn't I be? I've had nothing to do for a few days? It's not like I was in any danger or any of the monsters could get at me inside this room."
Kolin blinked and just held Jordan for a few more seconds. "It's nothing. I just want to hold you for a little while."
Jordan sighed and buried his nose in the Brit's shirt. Kolin felt Jordan's lips on his shirt. Did he just kiss me? He wondered.
Then, they walked out together to get Kathy and to speak with Wraith about using his spaceship to get to Kilvarough City.
THE END
Read "Slipstream." It's awesome. And check out my web page and my drawings.