Darkened Stars | Shklance apocalypse AU

Ch 1: When it started

Summer

The day the world corrupted was when summer break first started. Shiro just graduated and we were all out at the bar celebrating with a few drinks. An odd number of sirens echoed through the streets, but none of us really noticed. I tipped back my blue baseball hat so the bill was on the back of my head. And with the buzz of the drinks, the temperature of the room felt like it was raising. I unzipped my jacket, leaning back in my bar stool. Today had been relatively nice, granted it was cloudy and kind of gross outside, but the team was still bustling. Summer break was finally here, and we were spending the first week of it with each other before we went our separate ways for a while to see family. Keith would be going with Shiro to Japan for a little while to travel, just because they can. Keiths treat to Shiro for graduating. Hunk would be going to visit his family in Hawaii. Pidge and Matt staying here with their mom and dad. Along with Allura and Coran who'll stay, having no family to visit. And I'll be headed to Cuba for a family reunion. Our group's from all over, but I guess that's a lot of peoples situations if they're attending VU. It's one of the best colleges in the world, and I'm proud to say I'm an exchange student. Allura was an exchange student too, but after a tragedy and the loss of her father shortly after she graduated a year ago, she moved back here with her uncle Coran, where they opened the bar we sit in now.

More sirens blared as ambulances sped down the streets, and I'd only just now noticed the great number of them. Only now they were being joined by S.W.A.T trucks, the police, and firefighters. I set my drink down on the granite counter top, my suddenly serious face making the others calm their laughing to look over at me as I nodded to Coran. "Hey Coran, can you turn on the news?"

"Sure thing my boy! Matt where'd you put the remote lad?"

Matt waved off the other and set down the cup he was polishing to change the station on the TV above the bar. Sure enough there it was. The whole pub got quiet as all of the TV's changed to the channel, this appearing to be an alert. A man spoke on the screen different from our own normal one, a finger pressed to his ear to keep the ear bud in.

"-everal dead and more quickly adding on. Those that were injured have been taken into quarantine, but the hospital soon over flowed and is now in code black. Some from quarantine have escaped and the numbers of the infected have risen from tens to hundreds, and are now quickly approaching thousands. It is mandatory you stay indoors on complete lock down. If you have attained any injury from an infected being, it is important to get to the nearest hospital. Evacuation may be put into effect so please prepare to take onl-"

Shrieks were heard through the gun shots, and a few of what were called "the infected" pounced on the reporter, and they either got to the camera man as well, or he just dropped everything an ran. The scene cut off as the infected ripped into the reporter and was instead left with a fuzzy screen saying "We will return shortly". I felt my blood run cold, the buzz from earlier far forgotten as I turned to face the others in my group who looked as sickly as I felt. The others in the pub were screaming and rushing the doors, trying frantically to leave. I felt by chest tighten as I began to panic as well, but Shiro being practiced in this field as he'd gone into college shortly after being in the army, grabbed hold of my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eyes. His voice wavering as well despite the authoritative route he's trying to take. "Lance, breathe. We can't have you freaking out right now. Everybody calm down."

He stepped back from me and looked over everyone in our group, And when I saw Hunk start panicking as well I made my way over to him, being knocked into by a few strangers rushing to the exit. I sat by him and Keith as Matt pulled Pidge into a hug, the older boy running his hands through the girls hair as an attempt to calm her. Shiro placed his hands on the table, and just as he was about to speak up about what we could do, screeching was heard and people started backing away from the exit as an infected rushed someone, knocking them to the ground. Shortly after an explosion followed as a car ran into the bank across the street, infected piling the vehicle in an attempt to get who was inside. Coran kicked in the glass under the bar counter, tossing Shiro a revolver and keeping a shot gun to himself. And before we could protest, the New Zealand man was leading us through the back into an alley. The shrill screams of the infected so, so much louder out here.

Shiro seemed to be confused as to how to use the revolver handed to him, and while he was busy looking down at the weapon an infected woman pounced on Allura as we ran, and Coran was too busy loading bullets into his shot gun to help. I pried the gun from Shiro's hands and with an ease i didn't know I had, fired and hit the infected in the back of the head, listing to it click strangely and convulse as it died. Coran helped Allura up and kept running, looking back to make sure we were all following. Shiro ran next to me, carrying Pidge who had fallen dude to her previous buzz and hurt her knee. He looked at me in confusion, following the others through the alley way. "How the hell did you do that? I've never seen you use a gun."

"Dunno, it just kind of clicked. And you were taking too lon- KEITH! LEFT!"

Keith reacted instantly, using the infected's momentum against it as it pounced to force it to the ground where Coran fired. Hunk covered his mouth as we kept running, tears running own his face. Everyone was reacting differently. Pidge and Matt looked broken and confused. Shiro seemed to be connecting this to his time in the army, so he seemed to be kicking into auto pilot. Allura and Coran looked like they weren't even paying attention to their surroundings, just acting when something needed to be acted on. Hunk was terrified, sobbing as he ran, and trying not too look at the bodies we ran by. Keith seemed dazed and angry. But angry in a way like he was cursing the heavens for this happening. And I was surprisingly numb. I felt like I was in a video game, constantly worrying about the last life I had. The mad dash for survival was right here, and if I lost now, I wasn't too worried. Because I would just start at the beginning of the level and try again.

Hunk shouted over the various noises, saying the question everyone else was thinking. "Where do we go? And what do we do when we get there?" We ran past some gates and I closed them behind us. Rule number one, never leave doors open. Once we were out of the maze of the alley, we found ourselves on a back road that was significantly less crowded, it was just us as we finally got a chance to stop running and walk. Matt rose his voice first, taking Pidge from Shiro to help her stand. "Our mom and dad have a house not far from here. It's a farm so we should be far away from the insanity. And have time to get plan sorted out." We had all simultaneously agreed and began walking, but every door we approached, or alley entrance we passed, I grew fearful as I pointed my gun down the turns to fire at any impending threat. I'm running on four bullets left, maybe a body we pass has some ammo so I can restock.

The only thing that snapped me out of my video game state was seeing a pile of infected scramble around the writhing body of a young man in an alley, ignoring his screams and our group as we passed while they fed. Keith grabbed my wrist and forced me to keep walking and to divert my eyes from the scene. Seeing that mans eyes roll back into his head and limbs go limp, I finally realized this wasn't a video game or a fucked up movie.

We're all on our first and last life. And the apocalypse was much, much scarier than the movies make them seem.