A/N: I highly recommend listening to "Sea of Love" by Cat Power while reading this series!
It's cold. It's wet. It's dark.
These thoughts ran through Shiro's head as he looked at Keith's sleeping form next to him. At the current moment, they were holed up in a room inside a building. A building that had the undead crawling both inside and outside it. He was glad for the moment of reprieve, but they were running low on rations.
Shiro looked to his other teammates, all of which were warriors. Part of his flight squadron from Defender 167, lovingly known as Voltron by all aboard. It was a big air rig that had smaller fighter planes inside. His team was his family now. Lance McClain, 19, the sharpshooter; good with a gun and good with aim, not so good with the ladies. Allura Altea, 20, the chemist; good with crafting chemicals and concoctions for the group, also good with doctoring. Katie "Pidge" Holt, 18, the tech; good with computers, not so good with coming out of her shell. Takashi Shirogane, 25, the captain; good with leading others, also very good looking, according to Keith. Coran Smythe, 38, the navigator; good with directions, not so good with shutting up. Hunk Garett, 19, the engineer; good with manning the engines and keeping them good, also a good cook. Matthew Holt, 24, the weapons expert; good with all things weapons, also good at calming down Pidge. Keith Kogane, 21, the stealth; good with getting to places without being caught, not so good with people.
All of these people. They were Shiro's family.
Shiro watched them all sleep, unable to sleep himself. They were trapped inside the building until they could find a way to safely escape. They needed to find provisions and a means of defense. Their guns had no ammo left to shoot the zombies outside.
Shiro looked down at Keith as his lover curled into him more. He needed to sleep or else he'd be too tired in the morning. With that thought in mind, Shiro closed his eyes and attempted sleep once more, body weary from the day's fight.
The sun peeked through the window, hitting Allura in the face at just the right angle to wake her up. She yawned and stretched awake before sitting up. She looked around to see her fellow comrades still sleeping peacefully. She smiled and decided to let them rest a little longer. She stood up and started to look around the room they had occupied the night prior. They didn't really have a chance to look around. It was late, and electricity wasn't a thing in most cities anymore. Not since the outbreak. She pilfered through cabinets and drawers as quietly as she could, searching, hoping to glean any sort of supplies. She gasped upon opening one cabinet. Water bottles! She picked up the pack and set it on a nearby table before continuing her search.
After rifling through everything she looked at what she'd manage to scavenge. A metal pipe, a pack of 24 water bottles, some soup cans, a lighter, a switchblade, and a flashlight. By the time she'd found it all, the others had started to wake up some too.
"It's not much, but it's better than what we have. We have soup to last us a few days and lots of water. We also have a flashlight now. I wish we had at least one more of those," Allura told her comrades once everyone had awoken.
"Does the flashlight even work?" Lance inquired as he took it and turned it on. Thankfully, the batteries in it hadn't corroded.
"How long have we been doing this...?" Pidge asked as she looked down at the floor sadly.
Everyone remained silent before Coran looked at his watch.
"The outbreak started in early June. It's now mid-November... so four and a half months..."
"That's... a long time to run away from something..." Keith looked at the floor, himself. As far as they knew, they were the only intelligent people who hadn't been zombified. But they were military. They would survive this.
"So... suppose we're the only ones left alive and we survive... somehow... how would we go about repopulating the Earth?" Lance questioned as everyone sighed.
"Isn't that obvious, Lance? Pidge and I would be the only ones capable of bearing children..."
"Woah, woah, woah! I don't like that thought! Pidge is just a-"
"Just a what, Matt? I'm 18. I'm old enough... the idea doesn't particularly appeal to me, but for the sake of humanity, I'd do it. Just as I'm sure Allura would. Just as I'm sure that even though Keith and Shiro are gay, they'd partake in repopulating the Earth. Let's pray that there are more people out there than us though."
Everyone fell silent once more before Shiro went over to the supplies and cut open the water bottles. "There's 24 bottles here and eight of us. We each get three bottles, that sound fair?"
Everyone nodded and started packing their rations of water into their respective backpacks.
"Let's see... it takes four cans to feed us all, one can per two people... how man cans of soup do we have?" Shiro looked over at the supplies.
"We have 11," Allura stated.
"So... 3 days almost if some of us are willing to get less to feed others," Shiro stated as he calculated. "Hunk and I will each carry two cans, the rest of you carry one so that way no one person is burdened with too many cans."
"Why do you two get two cans?" Lance asked with a quirked brow.
"Because we're the stronger of the group, physically, so we can handle it better. It may just be one can but over the course of scavenging, it'll become heavier," Shiro pointed out and Lance nodded in agreement.
"Makes sense."
"Keith, I want you to hold on to the switchblade, I'll hold on to the metal pipe and lead us out of here."
Keith frowned at Shiro. "We're not leaving until we have a solid plan that gets EVERYONE, including you, out of here safely and non-zombified."
Shiro sighed and looked at Keith intensely. "Keith, I know you're worried, but we don't really have any options. We have to go foraging for supplies in other buildings. We can't do that in here."
"But we need to distract the zombies. The Stalkers, Sprinters, and Walkers rely on sound, if we can direct them somewhere, they'll flock. The Vomiters and Spitters rely on sight, so if we threw something on fire somewhere, they'll follow it. Bloaters are easy. They don't react. Just don't touch them," Keith wrote down on a piece of napkin with a pen that still had some ink left.
"But... there's the other two kinds of zombies out there. The really scary ones," Hunk pointed out as he trembled at the thought of them. "I really don't wanna run into them. So how do we avoid them?"
"You're talking about the Witches and Tanks, right?" Keith asked as Hunk nodded rapidly. "Well, Witches are easy to find. They stay in dark areas, sensitive to light but easy to disturb. If disturbed, they go berserk. However, they also remain dormant and make a slight sobbing sound. So, if we stay quiet, we can hear them."
"Great. And those MASSIVE FUCKING MUTATED ZOMBIES!?" Lance screeched out.
Keith made a face and sighed out. "I don't know. They don't seem to have a weakness and bulldoze through even cars. They're strong. It's best to head for high ground when we see them. Get away. They're massive and fast, but we're faster. So, we'll have to avoid them."
"You're forgetting one type of zombie," Matt stated and drew a picture of it. "It's called a 'Licker'. They have elongated tongues that can wrap around a victim's neck and snatch them up. They're weak to sound. So, play something loud and they'll turn into writhing messes, but-"
"We'll attract a horde of three other types of zombies," Keith sighed out. "We really need to stock up on ammo. A metal pipe and a switchblade aren't going to help much."
"That's why when we get out of here, we're heading for the gun shop down the road. And just even further are the army barracks. We might find things in both of those places," Shiro pointed out as he took out the map they had and circled their destinations with Keith's pen.
"We'll also need some kind of vehicle to get around faster. No matter how fast Stalkers and Sprinters are, they aren't faster than a car," Allura stated.
"But Allura, won't the sound of the engine draw them to us?" Coran asked worryingly.
"Also, where are we gonna find a vehicle big enough for eight of us? We'd be lucky to find one that'll fit six," Pidge sighed.
"We'd need a van or SUV," Keith pondered.
"Well, we'll figure that out once we get some ammunition and find more rations," Shiro stated confidently. "Right now, we need to figure out how to even get to those locations. So, for now we-"
"Uh, guys! How's ithat/i for a vehicle?"
Everyone turned to where Lance was point out the window and down the street. Right in front of the army barracks was a bus.
"Could work. Hopefully, it's in working condition," Pidge nodded.
"Well, I am an engineer! I'm sure I can think of something if it's not!" Hunk grinned.
"Alright. First to the gun shop, then to the army barracks. Or main priority during this is finding ammunition and usable weapons. While in the gun shop, look for silencers. We'll need them. When in the barracks, look for weapons, ammo, food, anything really. The barracks will be used for anything useful. We can even use it as a resting point because we will have to fight... more than likely..."
"Shut the door! Lance shut the door!"
"I'm trying, Keith! Do you think it's easy to stop a horde!?"
With great effort, the door to the gun shop was closed and barricaded. Shiro looked at Matt and Hunk, commanding them to use wooden planks to barricade the windows. Once everything was said and done, a sigh of relief was had but only momentarily.
"Matt, come here!" Allura went up to Matt and looked at the bite wound on his arm. "Shit. Keith. Do you still have a machete?"
"Yeah-"
"Toss it here."
"What? You are NOT cutting off my arm!"
"Would you rather become one of THEM?"
Silence filled the room as Allura tied off Matt's arm above the bite. "We're not losing you." With that said, she looked up at Matt. "Close your eyes and bite your lip."
Matt looked away and bit his lip hard. Seconds later an arm fell to the floor and a pained Matt was doing his best to keep in his screams. Allura pulled out her sack and took out the medical kit. Thankfully, she hadn't had to use it yet, so it was fully stocked. She poured alcohol into a gauzed and placed it on the stub where Matt's arm had been. She then wrapped it up in a heavier dressing and tied it tight around the rest of Matt's arm.
"Until I can find a cauterizing tool or a sew, we'll need to keep changing your dressings every 6 hours until it heals..." Matt nodded and let out a breath.
Stomachs growled all around after the hell escapade they'd all just been on.
"I... hate to be ithat/i guy... but... Matt's arm is still fresh..."
Everyone looked at Keith, who was looking down in disgust at himself for even thinking of mentioning what he was about to suggest.
"We're on limited rations and we don't know when we'll run out. Why waste current rations when we have some, albeit disgusting, food right there...?"
"Woah, woah, woah! Keith! Are you suggesting cannibalism?" Lance quirked a brow. Keith remained silent.
"Even so. The arm is infected Keith, we can't-"
"If we cook it long enough, any infection will die."
Allura pondered that for a moment. "That... is true..." She looked to Matt apologetically. "Matt... it's your arm... you'll be eating it too if we go through with his..."
Matt sighed and gulped as he looked uncomfortable with the whole idea. "I... I don't like the idea, but I know Keith is right. Cooking it up will get rid of the infection and we can have sustenance for a day longer. Logically, it's the best course of action. Mentally..."
"Trust me, Matt. I'm not too keen on the idea, either, but I'm thinking about our survival here..." Keith looked at Matt who nodded back.
"I know you are. That's why... I say bon Appetit..."
Here you go guys! My Voltron Zombie AU fic.
As inspired by my friend, Kai!
The name for this fiction was inspired by a zombiestuck YouTube video that plays the song "Sea of Love" in it.
Look up "Sea of love zombiestuck" and look for the one by "Alexissam".
That's where my inspiration came from as well.
Your author,
Nova