2019 Voltron Whumptober Collection

2 Explosion

Word Count: 1,940

There was ticking.

Loud ticking.

Ticking he couldn't get away fast enough from, it was invading his ears, consuming his thoughts, making him want to scream because he had to run.

There wasn't enough time.

His already throbbing ankle wrenched backward again as he hit the end of the chain, metal clinking, cuff tightening even more over his ankle at the action and Keith stumbled, knees hitting the ground in a jarring thump, a gasp leaving his lips as he landed face-first on the floor again. He helplessly clenched his fists as his injured shoulder jerked at the action, and he just barely held in his scream, feeling more warm blood soak into his skin.

But, he couldn't lay here, he had to get up.

Get up.

His shoulder hurt.

Get up.

His twisted ankle throbbed in time with his thrumming heartbeat.

He had to try again, he- he had to-

Get up.

But he couldn't move, not anymore, there wasn't enough time to break free and get out before the bomb went off.

The bomb he was chained to, like a dog on a leash.

The bomb that was going to wipe out the entire ship and everything surrounding it in the blink of an eye if he didn't move.

Five minutes.

That was all he had.

Five minutes to get out and run before the inevitable occurred.

Keith had already tried defusing the thing, for what few seconds he could spare after a sentry finally locked the cuff around his leg with an ear-shattering click. The Galra general that had stuck him in his shoulder in the first place before hauling him to the empty hangar, setting the bomb in place with a smile that sent shivers running down his spine as he and the rest of his crew left on the last of the escape pods.

He really did try to take it down, the moment the beeping started, the timer counting down his last bit of time to live, but it the thing was impenetrable, just a single smooth piece of metal wrapped around it, the bomb itself nothing but a sphere roughly the size of a basketball, screwed to the floor and impossible to move. No matter how hard he tried jabbing his bayard at it, hoping the blade would catch onto something, something he couldn't see, some- some miracle seam that would end this whole gut-churning moment, but there weren't any seams to pry open because there were no seams to pry.

The only option he had left was to somehow try to break free.

But the metal cuff was secured tightly around his ankle, the other end of the short fragment of leash he had was secured steadfast to the floor and, he knew his impossible chance of escape wasn't happening either.

He could only try to break free (he couldn't) from the bonds as the timer continued to count down, drilling every second into his head as his heart slowly but surely lodged itself in his throat.

Only pray that the others got away in time.

God, he hoped everyone got away in time.

His helmet crackled to life then, jolting him back to the present, the static clearing just enough for a voice to cut through the silence over the beeping, and he just about sobbed at the sound of his brother's- dammit, Shiro's voice- echoing on the other end. "Keith? Keith, come on, we need to leave now, it's a trap someone planted a bomb somewhere on board, we have to get out of here before it goes off."