PARADOX ↦ ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

20

Lance turned, fixing his crutches and looking at Hunk. "Hunk!" He smiled and hobbled toward him.

Hunk smiled and walked to him, wrapping him in a tight hug. "I knew you were okay!" He said, Lance laughing in the tight embrace.

"Hunk, I'm already dead enough, don't kill me now." Lance said before the other boy let go. He adjusted his crutches before he stood straighter.

"Good to see you back up on your feet." Shiro smiled with a nod.

"Thanks...uh?" Lance responded, knowing he just met the guy a day prior.

"Shiro." The man responded, extending a hand to him and giving a curt nod.

Lance leaned on the crutch, extending his free arm while the other held his crutch. "Lance McClain." He introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, officially." Shiro said before he looked down at the crutches. "How's your leg?"

"I've been worse." Lance lied, but he wanted to sound tough in front of Shiro. He seemed like a strong leader and an official one at that. "The medic gave me crutches. Her name is Narti. She doesn't talk much but she's really nice."

"Were you with them?" Hunk asked. "But like is she friends with the other girl? Like the one who drove us here... because we just got kinda dropped off here."

"I don't know why. Narti just said that you guys would be here soon... I'm not sure about anything else." Lance explained, running a hand through his hair. His hair was a mess, in need of a haircut.

Shiro glances around the room, his eyes landing on an old couch. It must have been taken care of, due to the fact it would have been rotted away the past couple years. The ground was dirty, but it was hard to keep most things clean nowadays. There were a few faded places on the wall where pictures once hung, a bookshelf practically emptied of any books. A Staircase lead upstairs, along with a doorway behind Lance.

There was the sound of footsteps coming up the front before the door swung open. A large woman stood there, her strong muscles seen from under her shirt and her dark hair in a ponytail. It was poofy and frizzed out, not very long.

Her eyes were a piercing gold color, looking at them as she stepped inside, a smaller and skinnier girl behind her, Ezor. She looked at Lance and gave a small wink, making him smirk with a chuckle. Ezor walked in as two other figures walked in behind her. Keith first, Pidge talking to Ezor for a just a moment.

Keith looked up and saw Shiro standing near Lance, taking a step toward him as Shiro gave him a reassuring smile. "He okay?" Keith asked as he looked over at Lance, studying his injured leg. Lance was busy talking to Hunk for a moment, not paying much attention.

"Nothing that his ego can't fix." Shiro smiled, nudging Keith softly.

Keith smiled, but his eyes didn't move from Lance for a moment. He wondered how long he could last this injured, and how he hoped that the dark skinned boy would survive.

Lance looked away, looking toward Keith from a few feet away.  He gave a warm smile, his blue eyes not shifting for a moment.

Keith practically froze, his expression a little embarrassed for being caught staring.  He looked away before he felt his face heat up slightly, making Shiro smile. Lance shrugged before looking back at Hunk.

"Someone got a crush..." Shiro chuckled before Keith looked up at him.

"What the hell!" Keith muttered, crossing his arms. "I barely know him..."

"I said that to my roommate after he tried to call me out for liking a girl in my high school. Flash forward to graduating college and then soon she's my fiancé." Shiro smiled. "Just give it a chance."

Keith sighed softly, looking away and back toward the closed door as Pidge turned toward them.

Pidge had her arm bandaged and held together, obviously hurt badly, burnt. Hunk looked at her and his heart sunk. "Pidge... What happened?"

The girl shook her head, her face dirty and covered in a black material, like charcoal. "I'll be fine." She had little streaks on her cheeks, tear trails. Hunk knew she wasn't fine, whether or not she will be in the future, she was not fine right now.

Hunk knelt and gave her a tight hug, her burying her head into his shoulder. Ever since she lost her brother after the outbreak, Hunk had practically stood in his place. She had a shaky breath, hugging him return as she took a moment.

"She had to stick her hand into a small furnace opening..." Ezor confirmed, a saddened look on her face. "Zethrid and I wanted to help... but we used her injuries as an excuse to get her and the boy out."

The tougher woman, Zethrid, nodded. "It was the only way to get them out without suspicion."

"Otherwise you wouldn't be here together." A voice said as they closed the back door, the raven haired girl taking off her sunglasses and letting them hang from her shirt's neck. "They did what had to be done."

"How'd you get Keith out?" Lance asked, knowing it would have been trickier with him not injured.

Zethrid then took her knife out of it's sheath, the blade stained with red paint. Keith lifted up his pant leg and showed where paint created a 'cut.'

"Smart." Shiro said as the raven girl sat on the couch, crossing her arms. "But we never got to the why?"

Ezor smiled, gesturing to the staircase. "He wanted you here. He's busy right now... but he gave us a time to get you here, and here we are.  I'm Ezor, that's Zethrid..." She said before gesturing to the other girl. "That's Acxa. Narti is back at the medic tents, she has a job that's more monitored than ours of course."

Hunk stood slowly, Pidge next to him before Keith spoke. "So does 'he' have some master plan to get us out of here?"

"Actually." A voice said as a creaking was heard from the staircase. A man descended, his muscular frame hidden behind a jacket, his light purple shirt complemented his darker skin. His light hair was tied into a low ponytail, reaching his mid back. "It's a plan for us to get revenge. Along with freedom."

Keith looked at the man, his arms still crossed.  "Why do you even care? We just got here... and all of the sudden you're gonna get us out? And how are 10 people going to take down a whole camp?"

Lotor stood at the bottom of the stairs, almost taller than Shiro. His lips curled into a smile. "That's where Altea comes in."