Keith's head swam as he sat slumped against a tree with his hands bound tightly behind his back. Through the leaves above him, he could just barely see the sky beginning to lighten, and silently prayed for Lance to wake up and discover him missing.

Haggar stood a few feet away along with the man who'd pulled him out of the water; the two argued back and forth in quiet whispers, just low enough that Keith couldn't quite make out what they were saying. He tried to focus his mind, but found this to be increasingly difficult as his eyelids drooped shut of their own accord.

"Keep him awake!"

Keith jolted as a hand struck him sharply across the face. His entire body ached, and Keith glared up at the one who'd slapped him as if to say; thanks for making it worse, asshole.

"If we let him fall asleep now he may not wake up. He'll be of no use to us as one of the dead." Haggar sneered down at him and Keith forced himself to sneer back.

The two continued their argument quietly, though now a few feet closer, and Keith struggled through the pain and nausea wracking his body to catch some of what they were saying.

"-has to be. The bite looks more than two days old! A wound that deep-"

"We can't be sure."

"He was alone, running through the woods. He never would have made it this long if he weren't-"

"Shh. He's listening."

Keith hastily did his best to make it seem like he was still completely delirious – which, wasn't exactly hard - but tensed reflexively as he heard footsteps approaching. Keith winced as his head was yanked up sharply and his eyes met Haggar's with reluctance.

"What is your name?"

Keith swallowed thickly. It wasn't like a name held much weight in a world where death ran the government, but he still felt rather uneasy revealing his real name to her, particularly as he was being held captive against his will.

Despite this, Keith sensed the danger in lying to her, and eventually opted for just his first name, "Keith."

Haggar nodded, slowly crouching until they were face to face, "I am going to ask you some questions, Keith, I will know if you lie." She pulled a wicked looking hunting knife from her belt, pressing it to his chest, and Keith nodded reluctantly.

"Where are you from?"

Simple enough. "Texas."

Haggar's eyes narrowed, "You wouldn't happen to be a Garrison brat, would you?"

Keith's blood ran cold, "Garrison?"

"Yes, the Garrison. The boarding school for young engineers, pilots, and future astronauts." Keith assumed by her sour expression that the Garrison wasn't high on her list of preferred destinations.

Keith shook his head slowly, hoping his acting was better than Lance liked to say it was, "Never heard of it."

Haggar's eyes narrowed, and she turned to her companion, who immediately gestured to Keith emphatically, "If he is from the Garrison, then this can't possibly be a coincidence-"

"Shush, Prorok." She turned back to Keith, "Why are you here now?"

"Looking for family."

"No." Haggar shook her head, digging the knife a little into his skin, "You're not."

"A friend of mine died in Texas," Keith said hurriedly, "I came here to get away from the memories."

It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either; Keith knew it would be a bad idea to mention the lab. Most people would assume he was just crazy, but on the off chance these two believed him, Keith wasn't going to be the one to lead them there.

Haggar scowled, "There is more to this story, or else you would have told it to me in the first place. Why here?"

"A friend of mine had family in the area." Keith again opted for a half truth.

He assumed this was the wrong thing to say as Haggar suddenly tensed, "Which friend?"

Keith swallowed, feeling the knife dig a little deeper into his skin, "His name was Lance."

Haggar's eyes narrowed, and Keith coughed as his chest throbbed, "Is this Lance the only one you knew with family here?"

"Yes."

Haggar grit her teeth, but before she could open her mouth, a bolt whistled through the trees, striking a trunk just beside Prorok's head.

Keith turned in time to see Shiro emerge through the trees, his crossbow aimed steadily at Prorok. Just behind him was Hunk, wielding his baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.

Lance emerged last, one gun trained on each of the strangers, his expression fierce. Pidge was nowhere to be seen, but Keith quickly figured they were in the area somewhere acting as long range back up.

This was usually Lance's job, though Keith guessed based on his expression that he had traded. He met Lance's desperate eyes for a quick moment, but before Keith had the chance to say anything, Haggar had pulled him to his feet and slid her knife up against his throat.

"Come closer and he dies." Haggar hissed.

No one from the group moved a muscle, but Keith watched Shiro's eyes travel up and down his body, obviously checking for any injuries, before turning back to Haggar furiously.

Keith flinched, feeling the blade dig slightly into his neck as his two captives whispered furiously back and forth.

"He is with a group."

"They can't all possibly be from-"

"Exactly what I told you before. They are not with the daughter of Alfor."

"Shut up!" Shiro advanced forward, his crossbow trained on Keith and Haggar, "Let him go, you're outnumbered!"

"You wouldn't sacrifice the life of your companion!" Haggar growled.

"What makes you so sure?" Everyone turned to Lance in surprise, as he stared Haggar down with steel in his eyes, "He's dying anyway."

Keith's body had begun to shake, his muscles aching with sleep deprivation and stress, and he could tell Haggar felt it as she held him before her as a shield, "You wouldn't have come to rescue him."

"Maybe we weren't rescuing him." Lance sneered in a way that made Keith's heart ache, despite the fact that he knew it was fake, "Maybe we were hunting you."

Haggar paused for a brief moment, before chuckling lowly, "No, you're bluffing. I saw the look you gave him when I pressed this knife to his throat. You would not sacrifice his life for your own."

Lance winced, his eyes darting desperately back to him, and Keith tried to nod in encouragement. It had been a nice try… Keith knew that just by the state he was in, there was no use for him to try to fight back; which meant it was all up to the others to rescue him, as humiliating as that was.

"Please." Shiro sighed, lowering his crossbow slightly, "Just give him back. We have food, weapons, medicine, anything you need. Just give him back and we can all walk away from this."

"We need nothing." Haggar hissed.

"Haggar-"

"Silence!" Haggar shouted, and Prorok shrank back, "What we need is him as bait."

"What makes you think they would even want him in this condition?"

"Alfor's daughter is not one to turn down the sick and injured." Haggar turned back to the rest of the group, "The rest of you may live, for now, but we will be taking him with us."

"Over my dead body." Lance stepped forward abruptly, and everyone jumped at the sound of his gun.

They all watched in stunned silence as Prorok hit the ground, his newly gaping eye socket pointed directly toward Haggar and Keith. Lance's eyes never wavered, "Give him back. I won't hesitate."

They all stood in staggered silence, staring down at the dead body splayed over the ground, before Haggar hissed and Keith grimaced, feeling warmth on his throat as the knife dug further into his neck, "You forget who has the knife here."

"You forget who you're dealing with." Pidge's voice came from behind them, and Keith grinned as he realized they'd snuck up behind them.

For a tense moment, Keith thought Haggar would fight it, but as Lance's arm arced back toward them she sighed and lowered the knife, "I know when I've been beaten."

Shiro and Hunk hurried forward to secure her, and Keith sank to the ground in relief, barely managing to stay conscious as wave after wave of relief and pain washed over him.

"Keith."

He struggled to raise his head, watching as the tension drained from Lance's eyes and he raced over to him, sinking to the ground and wrapping him up in his arms.

"Don't ever do that to me again."

Keith rolled his eyes and coughed weakly, "It's not like I tried to get kidnapped-" He was cut off as Lance squeezed the air out of his lungs, burying his face in Keith's neck.

Pidge came over to rescue him, but Lance wouldn't let go so they just ended up joining in on the hug, which was soon disrupted as Hunk literally lifted them all into the air.

"Guys, guys! I think you're hurting him." Shiro laid a hand on his shoulder once Hunk had set him down, and Keith shot him a thankful look.

Shiro's eyes immediately turned concerned, and he lifted his hand to Keith's forehead, "Holy shit, Keith…"

Keith coughed weakly in response, and Hunk quickly scooped him back up into his arms where he immediately curled into a ball and tried not to throw up.

"We need to get him back to the RV." Shiro ran a hand anxiously through his hair, and the others nodded solemnly, no one quite sure what else to do.

Hunk did his best not to jostle him as they set off back for camp, but the foliage was thick around them, and Keith felt every footfall like a baseball bat to the ribcage.

They kept Haggar with them, carefully guarded by Shiro and Pidge, since killing her seemed cruel, but no one was quite comfortable with simply letting her go.

Lance hurried to walk beside him and Hunk, offering a scrap of cloth to wipe the blood off his neck from where Haggar's knife had scratched him.

Keith accepted it gratefully, and stuck out his other arm in Lance's direction. He wasn't quite sure what he was reaching for, but Lance accepted it anyway, holding his hand as they walked. Pidge shot them a look out of the corner of their eye, but Keith did his best to ignore it.

After about a minute, Shiro glanced over to Keith with a raised eyebrow, "I hate to ask, but what exactly were you doing outside the RV last night?"

"I, uh…" Keith paused to cough loudly, though his attempt to draw pity seemed to fall short as Shiro unleashed his Disappointed Dad Expression, "I was trying to get some fresh air. I wasn't going to go more than three feet from the door, I swear."

Lance and Shiro exchanged a quick look and Lance smirked, squeezing Keith's hand lightly, "I told you he didn't run away."

Shiro nodded seeming relieved, "I suppose I should've believed you."

"I promised I wouldn't do anything impulsive anymore." Keith stared at Lance, observing the way his expression softened almost imperceptibly, "I meant it."

"I know." Lance smiled at Keith reassuringly, but his face quickly morphed in concern as Keith registered a sudden burning in his chest.

Hunk stopped short and gingerly lowered him to the ground as Keith began to cough violently. His insides churned like cake batter in an electric mixer, and Keith couldn't tell if the blood was coming from his lungs or his stomach.

"Keith!" Shiro kneeled beside him, "Are you all right?"

Keith slumped back, exhaustedly wiping a line of blood from his chin, and shook his head slowly. Shiro's expression fell, and he stood to confer with the others. Keith tried to focus on clearing the blood from his windpipe as the others argued around him.

"No, no, no, no, no-" Lance was chanting, his hands over his ears.

"Come on!" Pidge waved their hands around, gesturing to their back pack wildly, "It worked last time!"

"I don't know, Pidge, it seems pretty dangerous…" Hunk scratched his head, leaning on his baseball bat like a cane, "He's much worse than last time-"

"Plus, we don't know how long it will give him! It's not like we have any sort of game plan, or anywhere to go-"

"Oh!" Keith's head shot up, startling the rest of them as his revelation from the night before returned suddenly.

He watched as the others glanced at one another nervously, and Keith rambled on, ignoring the scratchiness of his voice, and the rawness of his throat, "Last night I was thinking about how the tesla coil was gone, and how Lotor recognized the word and I figured it out."

"Keith…" Lance bit his lip uncertainly. Keith spit a mouthful of blood on the ground in response and the others winced, but thankfully shut up.

"It's here," Keith continued on excitedly, "The lab. They're the only ones who could've-"

He trailed off as Lance glanced sharply behind him, his gun in the air faster than Keith could blink, "You."

Everyone turned to stare at Haggar unexpectedly, who simply raised an imperious eyebrow, "What?"

"You reacted to the word lab." Lance stood, and walked slowly over to her, his gun still aimed at her head, "You mentioned something about Keith being bait earlier... For whom?"

Haggar eyed Lance's gun dubiously, "What's it to you?"

"Look, bitch." Lance crouched down in front of her, his gun moving from her head to her abdomen, "That lab is our only hope to save Keith. If you know even a modicum of information, you will tell it to us now, or so help me I will fill you so full of bullets you'll bleed lead."

Haggar met his eyes without emotion, and Lance shot her in the shoulder.

"What-"

"Lance!?"

Haggar grit her teeth but didn't scream, and Lance leaned in closer, "Bleed. Lead."

Haggar met his eyes with a low cackle, "You're as messed up as I am… The lab, as you call it, is the only thing standing in the way of the new world order-"

"Yeah, yeah, crazy town." Everyone jumped as Lance cut her off impatiently, "Where is it?"

"I will lead you there." Haggar narrowed her eyes, "I don't trust you not to kill me if I tell you the information."

"No one is killing anyone." Shiro held his hands up, but then squinted, "Unless you try to hurt Keith again, because-"

"Okay, can everyone stop talking about killing for a minute here?" Hunk piped up, twisting his baseball bat nervously in his hands, "Why don't we just go to the lab, and no one has to die? Easy peasy."

"I don't trust her." Pidge folded their arms, "What if it's a trap?"

"We have to." Everyone turned to Lance in surprise as he rose to his feet, still glaring daggers at Haggar, "We don't have a choice. Look at him."

They all turned to Keith, who was barely able to hold himself up. He coughed again and Pidge kneeled down next to him, "What do you want to do?"

"I-" Keith glanced around at them all, each of them obviously tired, beaten down by constant stress and worry, and couldn't help but feel that this was all his fault. The last thing Keith wanted was to cause them any more trouble.

This whole ordeal had dragged on long enough, and the only calculable result it had produced was a long drawn out stream of torture for both him and those around him. When he really thought about it, Keith wouldn't mind a quiet death.

Dying slowly in the back of a cluttered RV wasn't the flashy going-out-with-a-bang sort of thing that everyone secretly admired - and never wanted - but something much more rare in a world where being eaten alive was a daily concern. Peace.

"I…" Keith began, glancing around the group, at Shiro and Pidge's concern, at Hunk's anxiety, at Lance's desperation, "I think-"

He stopped suddenly and doubled over in pain; it felt as if someone had stabbed a hot poker into his abdomen and was slowly swirling it around. As he curled up on the ground he registered shouts above him, but couldn't quite tell who they came from.

In the back of his mind he noticed a small prick in his shoulder and ice shot through his veins like someone had injected him with liquid nitrogen.

"Keith!" He struggled to find the source of Lance's voice, but he couldn't quite seem to control his own body.

His memory cut out there as he passed out cold. The next thing he knew he opened his eyes to the back of a strange car, Lance kneeling before him and Hunk at the wheel.

"Oh thank god." Lance rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palm, "I-I thought you weren't going to wake up-"

"Lance!" Hunk shouted from the front seat, "Focus on keeping him still!"

"Right." Lance braced his hands on Keith's chest as the car took a corner at about 50 mph.

Keith realized they were in the city as he glanced through the window and watched as Hunk nearly clipped a street sign, "Wh-"

"You passed out." Lance bit his lip, "We panicked when you wouldn't wake up and Pidge gave you another dose of their formula. It didn't work as well as last time so now Haggar is leading us to the lab."

Keith's eyes shot wide and he struggled to sit up but Lance pushed him back down, "Don't. She's in the other car with Shiro and Pidge. Shiro's still convinced it's a trap."

Hunk took another corner at an acute angle, and Lance swore. Keith grimaced as he was jostled around, and Lance shot him an apologetic look. "I swear she's taking us the most convoluted route possible."

"Wouldn't you?" Keith tried to laugh, but ended up hacking up half a lung as Lance watched on horrified.

Keith could feel every cell in his body slowly dying. His brain felt like it was on fire, and it was all he could do to keep from passing out again. He focused heavily on Lance's voice as his mind dulled in and out of focus like a broken camera lens.

"No, no, no. Hey Keith, buddy, stay with me." Lance slapped his face lightly, and Keith caught his hand, squeezing it softly.

Lance laughed shortly, resting his head lightly on Keith's chest, "Why the hell are you still comforting me?"

They stayed like that for a few minutes and Keith felt the urge to pull Lance up onto the seat beside him, if only he could force his limbs to cooperate.

"Shhh, just breathe." Lance lifted a hand to run his fingers through Keith's hair, "It's okay, just breathe."

Hunk was crying in the front seat. Keith could hear his quiet sobs clear as day; it was as if his senses were on overdrive, like they were trying to make up for the way the rest of his body was behaving.

Keith attempted in vain to concentrate on his own breathing for a moment, but felt the edge of his mind slip maddeningly into the abyss, and decided that it was time. He'd never get another chance.

"Lance," Keith muttered lowly, his head lolling as Hunk continued to drive like a maniac, "Lance."

"Here." Lance had tears dripping from his chin, and Keith was relieved to feel them as they stained his shirt, "I'm right here, everything is going to be okay."

The car lurched yet again, and Lance cursed, bracing his hands against Keith's chest to keep him from being jostled.

"Lance."

"Dude," Lance chuckled hoarsely, though it sounded to Keith more like a sob, "I'm right here, what?"

Keith raised a shaking hand to his face, marveling at the way his eyes shone even in the dim and dingy interior of their stolen car, and Lance raised a hand to cup his, holding it against his cheek.

"Lance," Keith took a deep breath and dove in head first, "from the moment I-"

"Nope." Lance shook his head softly, "Shut up mullet."

Keith let out an exasperated breath and tried again, "You idiot, I lo-"

"No." Lance let go of his hand and leaned down, touching their foreheads together softly, "Don't."

"I'm trying…" Keith trailed off, frowning, "We're having a moment!"

"We can have a moment when you're healed." Lance glared at him, and Keith had never wanted to kiss someone so much in his life.

"Oh my god!" Hunk honked the horn, looking about ready to tear his own hair out, "Are you two seriously arguing right now?!"

Lance laughed weakly, and Keith did his best to pout despite the liquid pain flowing through his veins.

"In all seriousness though," Lance whispered, keeping his forehead against Keith's and lifting both hands up to cup his face gently, "You will make it out of this, and then everything is going to go back to normal."

Keith's heart sank, but he said nothing more. He could feel his body shutting down, and he desperately wanted to soak up the most of the moment.

He cursed inwardly as, not a minute later, the car swerved again and suddenly pulled to a rough stop. Keith felt his heart halt along with it as he caught sight of the large building through the window.

It looked like an old half rusted warehouse; the tall chain link fence surrounding it was topped with barbed wire and reinforced with metal plating from the inside. It looked less like a laboratory and more like a slaughter house, but Keith wasn't exactly picky.

"Uh," Lance was staring out the window, "Does Pidge have bolt cutters? Shouldn't we be politely asking the people who are about to save Keith if we can please enter the premises?"

"I guess there's no time." Hunk glanced back at them, tapping at the steering wheel nervously, and Lance patted Keith's back as he curled up in a ball, clutching his head between his knees.

Pidge made short work of the fence, and as they pulled up to the front entrance, Lance hopped out and carefully lifted Keith into his arms as the others approached the doors cautiously, searching for any signs of an ambush. Nothing came out to greet them, hostile or otherwise, so Shiro began to pick the lock.

"This better be the right place." Lance glared at Haggar, who stood off to the side with Pidge's crossbow at her back.

Her shoulder was still bleeding from where Lance had shot her, though if she was in any pain it didn't register on her face. Keith was suddenly absurdly jealous of her level of tolerance.

Haggar simply sneered at him in response, and Lance turned as if to shield him from view as Keith deliriously trailed a finger along his collarbone.

They all jumped guiltily as the lock clicked, and Shiro cracked the door open slowly. Nothing attacked them, so they entered the building cautiously, keeping Haggar in front.

Keith couldn't tell if it was his own delusional mind making the hallway look dark and ominous, or if it actually just looked like a set from a horror movie. He supposed belatedly that it was rather fitting, considering they were in a horror movie.

"This is too easy…" Pidge whispered, and Keith couldn't help but agree.

Lance nearly dropped him as a voice rang out through the shadows in front of them.

"Who's there!?"

"Uh," Shiro stepped forward, holding his hands up in surrender, "We come in peace?"

A figure emerged suddenly from the darkness, reminding Keith vaguely of the first time they'd seen Lotor, and Shiro's reflexes reacted faster than his brain.

The two grappled for a moment before the stranger tossed Shiro to the ground like a ragdoll, planting a foot in the center of his chest. Pidge and Hunk raised their weapons, but before they had the chance to do anything, the person gasped and froze in her attack.

"Shiro?!" She stepped back, her white hair catching the dim light as Shiro coughed weakly from the floor, "Takashi Shirogane?"

"Present?"

"It's…" the woman stepped into view, "It's me, don't you remember?"

Shiro's eyes lit up, "Allura!"

"Wait…" Keith's brain clicked and he raised his head weakly, trying to catch sight of her, "You're… you're that girl that dumped him!"

Keith's mind flashed with images of Shiro blushing and stuttering, of them sitting on the floor of his room with a pint of ice cream at three in the morning as he worked through his feelings. She'd been his classmate at the Garrison, before she'd been pulled out of school to take care of her sick father, which Keith suddenly realized must have been a cover.

He burst into hysterical laughter, and Lance struggled to retain his hold around Keith as he curled into himself, only stopping when he began to cough up more blood.

"Oh my," Allura's eyes widened, "Is he-"

"Bitten." Lance replied shortly, his eyes not leaving Keith's face.

"Dying, actually, which we were hoping you could help us with." Shiro's tone was light, but his voice was strained, and he looked like he could physically feel Keith's pain.

"Wait," Allura glanced around at them all for the first time, quickly catching sight of Haggar, "What is she doing here!"

Allura shrank back, just as another figure emerged out of the darkness, "Allura, I told you not to go on without-"

He caught sight of Haggar too and gasped, his hand going to the pistol at his waist.

"It's alright!" Shiro held up his hands in a peaceful gesture, "We brought her as a prisoner, she tried to kill Keith. Please… we really need your help."

Allura glanced between Haggar and Keith, who continued to drool blood on Lance's shirt, and finally settled on Shiro, "You don't understand. She started all of this."

The others glanced at one another in confusion as she pointed a finger at Haggar accusingly, "My father was helping the military to create a new form of bio weapon, one that would turn living humans into the walking dead, and she and her anarchist group released it before we had the chance to create a cure!"

Haggar cackled ominously, "This world was rotten, we were just trying to bring forth its true colors."

Allura glared at her, "My father devoted his life to creating the cure, and he died trying to protect his work." She turned to Shiro accusingly, "and now you've led her directly into the only place capable of completing it."

They all stared at her in mute horror, before Lance spoke up shakily, "Wait, I thought you guys already have the cure?"

Allura winced, "We're… working on it. So far we've only been able to cure those who are infected before they turn, but…" She glanced at Keith sadly, "The faster the dose is administered, the more likely they are to survive, and even if it were right after the bite it's still a fifty-fifty chance-"

She cut off as Haggar dove forward suddenly, shoving Pidge backward into the wall. She'd had a knife hidden somewhere on her person, and Keith watched as she lunged for Allura as if in slow motion.

"No!" Coran and Shiro shouted simultaneously. Lance's arms tightened around Keith but there wasn't enough time for him to set him down and block the attack.

Pidge aimed their crossbow, but they all flinched as the sound of a gunshot filled the air. Haggar fell as everyone turned to stare at Hunk, who had pulled one of Lance's guns from his holster.

A terse silence fell as Haggar's body crumpled, and then everyone moved at once. Coran had a pistol pointed at Shiro, Pidge and Hunk turned their weapons on Coran, and Allura had jumped between them, wielding a compactable bow staff she'd managed to conjure up.

Lance had backed away toward the doors, still clutching Keith, and Keith was dying to grab his sword, which he suddenly realized, he had left back in the bedroom at the RV the night before.

"Stop! Everyone lower your weapons!" Shiro held his hands up placatingly, looking between both groups, "Killing each other won't solve anything. Please, Allura, we had no idea about any of this... We came here to ask for your help."

"Help? Oh I'm sure," Coran snorted, "You led our greatest enemy directly into our hideout! Her leader, Zarkon, killed Allura's father!"

Shiro winced, "I had no idea, we just thought that if we brought her here-"

"Where is her group?!" Allura demanded, "She was not alone. There were others trying to destroy the lab as well."

Shiro opened his mouth, hesitating, when Lance spoke up from the back of the room, startling everyone who had forgotten they were there, "Dead."

Allura's eyes narrowed, "What makes you so sure-"

"We saw one being eaten in the street, and then we were attacked by another named Lotor, who told us his father Zarkon had been killed. Earlier today I shot Prorok after he tried to kill Keith, and now…" They all glanced down at Haggar, "So unless there are any more of them wandering around, they're all dead."

Allura exchanged a quick glance with Coran, "That's all of them… But I have a hard time believing this is all over-"

"Well, believe it." Pidge stepped forward, "They kidnapped our friend. Lotor alone nearly killed half of us. We ended them. It's over."

Allura's fierce expression wavered and she turned to Shiro, "If you are lying to us-"

"Allura," Shiro pleaded with her with his eyes, "Please, you know me. We just need your help."

"I…" Allura glanced around at them all pityingly, and Keith continued to cough into Lance's chest.

"Allura, you can't be serious-"

"Coran, it's alright," Allura lowered her bow staff slowly, nodding cautiously at Shiro, "I know some of them from the Garrison. They probably were just trying to help. If they wanted to hurt us they wouldn't have brought their dying friend."

Keith coughed helpfully from the back, and they all watched as the suspicion in Coran's expression receded slightly, "Fine. But I still don't fully trust them."

"That's understandable," Shiro nodded in relief, but grimaced as Lance coughed pointedly, "I hate to ask after all that, but we really do need your help." He gestured behind him, "My brother, Keith. He's dying."

Allura glanced behind him and bit her lip uncertainly, "As I said before, the sooner it's administered, the better it works, how long has he-"

"Two and a half days." Pidge piped up, and Allura and Coran gaped at them.

"That's-that's impossible!" Coran frowned, "Even the slightest bit of zombie venom is lethal within-"

"It's a long story." Shiro sighed, "But we've injected him with our own formula. It worked for a while but now he's declining quickly, and…" Shiro broke off, his voice cracking as his composure crumbled.

Allura grimaced, "Without electricity-"

"What about the tesla coil," Pidge frowned at them, "You guys did take that, right?"

Coran raised an eyebrow at them, "Yes, we did. I've engineered it to hook up to the solar panels out back, but for the most part we haven't been able to figure out how to hook it up to the building's generators."

Pidge and Hunk shot each other a glance, and Pidge spoke up, "Leave that to us. We can go work on that while Allura helps Keith."

Allura still seemed hesitant, "I'm not a doctor, and we only have a bit of the cure left-"

"Please. Allura." Shiro stared at her imploringly, and Keith watched as the hesitation cleared from her face.

Allura nodded, "Fine. I will do what I can. Coran, show them to the generators, we need to get Keith to the operating room as quickly as possible."

As they hurried away, Keith began to seize up.

"Guys!" Lance screamed, and Keith felt as Shiro grabbed a hold of his arms.

The next thing he knew, Keith stared into a blindingly white light as they secured him down onto a hard table. He struggled involuntarily, his grasp on reality slipping as Allura bore down on him. He felt a prick in his arm, and there were hands on his chest as he felt his body seize frighteningly.

"Lance!" Keith cried out, momentarily forgetting himself as his mind and body were smothered by fear and agony, "Shiro!"

"Hold his legs down!"

Keith heard muffled voices in the background of his mind. Everything was a slow motion blur, and he thought he heard someone shouting his name. He took one more shaky breath.

His consciousness ebbed and flowed like waves in the ocean as Keith slowly lost the capacity to struggle back to shore.

He saw Hunk and Pidge standing on the sand in front of him, waving like they were still at the track in gym class. He saw Shiro, his prosthetic gone, his hair black. He saw Lance smiling brighter than the sun, beckoning him forward. As Keith watched him, he finally let go.

His last thought as the light in his eyes grew dim was of Lance's smile.

Lance P.O.V.

"He's…." Allura stuttered, stumbling back, though all Lance could focus on was Keith's unnervingly still form on the cold table, "I'm so sor-"

"No!" Lance punched the cabinet next to him, feeling savage pleasure as his knuckles burned, "He's not dead yet!"

Images flickered through his mind in rapid succession. He saw Keith sleeping on his desk in class, Keith sprinting ahead of him on the track. Keith's smugly triumphant expression as he was sentenced to detention for throwing an eraser at professor Iverson.

Time fast forwarded and he saw Keith's eyes widening in shock as he registered Lance and Hunk standing on the other end of his sword after months spent thinking they were dead. He saw Keith volunteering for supply runs, him and Keith standing back to back, clearing every zombie in their path.

He saw Keith standing in front of him red and panting, sporting a bite Lance didn't even see yet, Keith swimming in the waterfall, Keith holding that damn syringe, Keith curled up in the corner of the couch looking like death itself.

He saw Keith standing in the rain wearing Lance's jacket, his eyes shut as he felt the rain on his face, Keith spitting a blue skittle on the floor of the car, Keith curling into his side as they drove. He saw Keith staring at him in horror as Haggar's knife pressed into his neck, Keith trying to tell Lance he loved him.

And Lance hadn't even given him the chance. "When you're healed." He'd said. His eyes burned, and he pushed Allura out of the way as he leaned over Keith, struggling to come to terms.

"Lance." Shiro put a hand on his shoulder, and Lance turned to find silent tears streaming down his face, "Give it up."

"No," He choked down an ugly sob, "There has to be something we can do!"

Allura bit her lip, "We would need a defibrillator to even get his heart up and running, and after that we would have to administer the cure in such a large quantity that I'm almost certain his body wouldn't hold out-"

"Well then do it!" Lance was sobbing uncontrollably, "Just, do something!"

He stared at the two of them, confused as to why they weren't moving, why they weren't fixing him.

"Fuck." Lance turned back to Keith, he could barely see his face as his eyes swam with tears, but he grabbed his hand anyway, sobbing grossly as he leaned down to touch his forehead to Keith's.

He saw Keith's smile as if it were tattooed on the back of his eyelids. The first smile that Keith had ever shown him had been back at the Garrison. In gym class, of all places.

Their teacher had chosen to take advantage of the "nice" weather, and Lance was doing his best to ignore the sweltering heat by boasting to Hunk about his throwing skills, trying to talk loud enough for the group of girls nearby to hear him.

He'd heard a snort to his left, and found Keith standing off to the side, alone as usual.

"Oh," Lance turned to him, mirroring his folded arms, "So you think you can do better?"

"Oh, I know I can."

Lance grinned, giddy at the new challenge. He wasn't sure what caused the excited swoop in his chest, especially considering he always lost, but if anything this had been the highlight of his day. Even if he would never admit it in a million years.

"Fine. Let's go, Mullet-Head."

"Mullet Head?"

Lance had rolled his eyes and dragged him over to the field, barely noticing that Pidge and Hunk were the only two people following them.

As they both stretched, Keith had glanced over to him, and Lance stuck out his tongue petulantly. Keith's eyes widened, and he'd let out a quick surprised laugh. Lance was rendered speechless at the way that small smile had transformed his entire face.

Lance always thought Keith was attractive, in a totally non-subjective, totally-part-of-the-healthy-rivalry-thing sort of way, but this laugh, directed at him, made him positively glow. And just like that, Lance was a lost cause.

Keith had won the throw, and Lance was determined to blame it on the heat, but that night Lance found he couldn't sleep thinking about that smile, and all he remembered thinking clearly was, "Oh fuck."

Now, as he opened his eyes to Keith's vacant expression he felt something inside him shatter.

"I love you." Lance whispered, choking back a sob, "I love you, you stupid, selfish prick."

He felt a hand on his back, "Get off me Shiro."

"I…" Lance half turned at the sound of Allura's voice, "I know Keith must have meant a lot to you. I lost someone too when all of this first began."

She turned and gestured around the room, "My father, Alfor, owned this laboratory. He was the head scientist."

Lance felt tears dripping from his chin as he continued to cling onto Keith.

"I know it's difficult now, but the sooner you let him go, the easier it will be-"

She cut off as the lights above them flickered. The whole room held its breath as everything went still, and then… Lance's heart stopped as they flickered again, this time staying on. The machines around them all started beeping at once, and Allura gaped at them, hitting a few buttons on the nearest one.

"That's- that's impossible!" Allura glanced around them in amazement, "Coran and I have spent nearly six months trying to fix the generators!"

Shiro smiled weakly, "That's Pidge and Hunk for you-"

"Can you fix him or not?!" Lance bolted upright, grabbing at her arm, "Please, you have to try-"

Allura's eyes widened, and Lance watched her face morph back into game mode, "Grab the shock pads from the cabinet. Shiro put those rubber gloves on and get ready to hold him steady."

She raced over to a machine, hitting buttons at light speed and pulling out a pair of shock paddles, tugging them over to the table.

"We have less than three minutes before we start risking permanent brain damage." Allura rubbed the paddles together as Lance hurriedly stuck on the pads, for once thankful for his high school CPR course, "We'll have to be quick."

Lance swallowed down air, not even feeling the tears anymore as they fell down his face.

"Lance." He jumped as she turned to him, "I need you to grab the syringe and the bottle of green formula from the table over there. As soon as I say, I need you to shoot as much of it as you can directly into his arm. Can you do that?"

Lance nodded hastily, stumbling over to the table. He nearly dropped the bottle as he heard Allura shout, "Clear!"

He whipped around as Keith's body arced frighteningly under the electric shock, and hurried back with the cure.

His hands shook as he filled the needle, his heart jolting along with every shock Allura sent into Keith, and just as he flicked the syringe to force out any air bubbles, he heard Allura shout, "Now!"

He plunged the needle into Keith's arm, and for a moment Lance's heart fell as nothing happened. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds, but it felt as though time had frozen as they all waited for something. Anything.

Finally, just as he'd begun to lose hope, Lance's heart stopped completely as Keith's eyes fluttered open.

A/N

I debated just leaving it at that, just letting you all wonder if he woke up alive or as a zombie…

Buuuut then I realized that I'm a slut for tying up loose ends, so I'll post the epilogue sometime tomorrow.

I can't tell if I'm satisfied with this chapter or not… a lot happened, and I kind of tied up a few things quickly, so I hope you guys enjoyed it…

Constructive criticism is welcome!

-MDL