Darkened Stars | Shklance apocalypse AU

Ch 7: Look carefully, you might miss it

"Zarkon, our men have spotted the group from the east making their way towards us." Sendak, a tall Irish man with a patch over his eye, approached Zarkon from behind as the bigger man stared out of the window at the rotting city below.

"Is it the group of our old recruits?" Zarkons voice was deep, and bone rattling with a thick Russian accent to go with it. Perfectly fitting his large body as he turned to face Sendak. A large scar stretched from his temple to his jawline, the skin visibly rough there.

"Yes, we've had multiple reports of each person in the group. All with great detail." Sendak kept his view on the city, seeing little figures moving through the abandoned streets. They hadn't killed the infected around the college, they served as a great defense to intruders. "They've been on the same path towards the college since our scouts found them in the east at the apartment complex. Do we want to do anything, or let them come to us?"

Zarkon went silent in thought, turning his gaze back out to the city as he crossed his arms over a broad chest. He nodded with a hum, glancing at Sendak from the corner of his eye.

"Contact Thace and have him sent out his best hunters to take care of the problem."

"Yes sir, I'll send out a hawk right away." And with that, Sendak left the room with a nod.

The rest of the team followed Lance's lead, all falling asleep on their horses save for Keith and Shiro. Coran was leaning against Hunk on the back of Terra, and Pidge against Allura on Callus. Matt was in that kind of state that you're not awake, but not asleep either, and he was awkwardly laying against Shiro with his mouth half open. Keith and Shiro took the reins of Terra and Callus, guiding them alongside Atlantis and Cocoa while the others slept so they didn't steer the wrong way.

Keith shifted slightly, trying to find a comfortable position on the saddle while also focusing on not disturbing Lance while he slept. It was an uncomfortable shuffle, but he made do and managed to find a good position. Lance had tightened his grip slightly, but remained still otherwise. Keith looked down at Lance's arms around him, the sleeves pulled back to his elbows so he could see the bite plain as day. It wasn't pretty, and was a haunting memory of what happened, and how much worse it could have been. But it was also a massive wave or relief because the worst never happened. He let gripped both Callus's and Atlantis's reins in one hand and brushed a thumb over the bubbled over scar, reeling the rough and uneven skin under the pad of his thumb. His fingers made their way farther down the tan arm and to the bracelets that sat proudly on Lance's wrist. They were worn down quite a lot since this started, and looked ratty in a way almost. But even with Lance's constant nagging of wanting to look clean and not like a heathen, he kept them. Lance had given Keith a dog tag necklace, and that was holding up pretty well considering it was metal. It had rusted a bit around the clasp, but it wasn't going anywhere either. Keith's light purple eyes softened as he linked his free hand with Lance's without disturbing him, lacing his pale fingers with Lance's tan ones.

"Keith?"

His head bolted up suddenly, and he looked over to the source of the voice. Shiro was looking at him with knitted eyebrows and worried eyes, head lowered slightly as he spoke. "You okay? You were kind of zoning out for a sec."

"Yeah I'm fine, sorry. Just.. A lot's going on now ya know? More than before.."

Shiro smiled warmly and nodded in understanding, looking forward through the darkened streets of the abandoned highway. "I know.. The cure is right here. I hope so at least."

"It's crazy.. Just a few months ago we thought we were going to lose him. We thought that there was no cure, no hope for one anymore even. And then there's this.. It messes with you."