~warning: descriptions of blood!~
Chapter twenty-four: One's Worst Nightmare!
Everyone looked up alarmingly, when hearing a surprised yelp come over the monitors. Coran brought up a screen, which showed a sound monitor that rose and fell as some indistinct grunting came through.
"It's coming from Shiro's room!" Coran gasped. Keith eyes immediately popped wide and he was gone in a flash, tearing down the dark hallway; hardly having time to light as he tore through it. Footsteps echoed his, but he hadn't a care,.. nor even noticed for that matter; as he caught sight of Shiro's door ahead of him. He stood at the door anxiously as it finally slid open; and his heart leaped at what he saw.
"Shiro!.." he gasped, hopping down around him to support his back to help him up as he stirred. "Are you ok?" He set him up and leaned his back against the bed built into the wall behind them, having him lay his head back against it. Keith's gaze brightened to see that mark on his face.. oozing crimson and looking down, he found another source of liquid life. "Shiro.. you're bleeding everywhere.. what happened here?" After a brief bit of silence, Shiro lifted his left hand heavily to point. Just beyond the small puddle of blood lay the scorched remains of the creature's body and mangle face; it's bloodstained jaws hanging open to sum up his unspoken explanation.
"What.. is that thing?" Lance wondered, a hint of disgust evident in his tone.
"I don't know.. but it looks like Shiro took care of it.." Allura answered decisively. "Now let us clean this up and get him out of here." Keith pulled Shiro up, and he nearly fell again with the lightness that creeped up on him. Keith held strong, but by now he too was beginning to feel the distant onset of tiredness from supporting his friend's weight; which he could not on his own and Lance approached help. Keith had taken off his jacket upon entry and tossed it up onto the bed away from all the blood. And didn't think twice to touch skin to skin on his arms to Shiro's, to grant his friend the aid of stability; before taking it over his shoulder.
"Coran.. summon Pidge and the others.." Allura commanded, following Keith and Lance toward the infirmary. "We need a containment unit for the creature.. and our scientists to figure out what it is… ..And send the Altean cleaner drone to clean this mess up."
"Yes Princess." The older Altean replied, beginning the necessary processes.
XXXX
Pidge, Matt, and Hunk gasped for breath, as they stumbled for the room. Pidge stopped short, with her hands to the door posts on either side of her, to keep from falling to the floor.
"Shiro?" Keith looked up at them to his right, and waved as best he could by merely raising the fingers of his exposed hand for them to see. The reason for this,.. they found near immediately.. Keith sat in front of Shiro in the center of the lowered level, amongst the cryopods. Shiro's forearms were braced to Keith's, blood still noticeably flowing from the wound it bore; and his forehead was pressed to Keith's shoulder as though he'd fallen asleep this way. The three teens drew closer finally, a daze across their faces; as they tried to decipher the situation.
"What happened?" Pidge finally managed to say, in a deep, concerned voice.
"We're not exactly sure yet.." Keith leaned forward to smoothly lay Shiro back against the chair, which he only received a little protest from the Black Paladin, who calmed near immediately once again. "We heard something come from his room on the monitors then found him like this." Blood noticeably stained Keith's black shirt,.. his exposed forearms turned red by the wounded paladin lying in front of him.
"All we know is that it has something to do with this thing." Allura answered, holding up the containment unit with the misshapen creature in it.
"Ah! What is that!?" Pidge cried, stepping back into her brother and friend in frightened disgust.
"We don't know.. that is why we need you three to help us determine that." Allura went on purposefully.
"I've seen these creatures before…" Matt realized, studying it more closely. He took the containment unit into his hand and squinted to view its features… muddied a bit by the burns on its head in the ragged form of a hand. "Shiro must've used that energy hand on it.." He observed, looking up at them again. "It's face is totally trashed."
"Well from the look of Shiro's face and arm.. there's a good reason for that." Lance guessed, looking to Shiro with crossed arms.
"So what can you tell us about this creature, and where does it come from?" Allura wondered turning to Matt once again.
"This creature has a galra name that is untranslatable to earth english." Matt explained. "But it is dangerous, we're just lucky Shiro managed to get his hand on it when he did."
"Just how dangerous are we talking?" Lance wondered suspiciously.
"Well, this thing has no venom.. but it does have a horrifying ability…" Matt pointed through the glass to the pearly white spikes sticking out of the hole in its head, which turned out to be its mouth when they looked closer. "Basically this thing is an alien lamprey." Lance's brows raised in surprise.
"You mean those bloodsucking eels?" He asked.. finding it strange that he knew the answer for once.
"Exactly." Matt confirmed.
"So what does that mean?" Allura asked, leaning down to peer into the container.
"Oh right sorry,.." The boy shook himself out of his dazed stare. "Lampreys are a long, skinny fish that live in all types of water back on earth. Lakes,.. streams,.. oceans,.. and they have flat faces with teeth that can essentially suck your blood. Which is what this creature did to Shiro." He took Shiro's arm in a twisted length of white cloth, holding it up in both hands to put pressure on the wound for about a minute or two. Releasing the pressure, the teeth marks, in a unique pattern, immediately oozed blood; creating a stream down his forearm once again. "The creature's jaws are placed more like that of a sharp-toothed rabbit.." Matt went on. "But the teeth are sharper than a sharks. And can suck blood like a vampire or the lamprey."
"What's a vampire?" Allura asked lostly, her face completely blank; along with Coran's.
"I'll explain later." Lance answered, leaning to her briefly.
"Shiro did us all a favor though.." Matt continued. "If that thing got loose and ambushed any.. one of us we could've been done for. These things suck fast.. and can kill a man in minutes. Shiro must still have been just sharp enough to realize this."
"So.. what did it do to him now?" Coran asked looking at the distant looking Shiro.
"The loss of blood that the creature took from him must have weakened him further." Pidge supposed. "He must've started to feel lightheaded when the creature was sucking his blood, that he had to rip it off him in order to stop it; and collapsed from the lightness afterward."
"And in that time, he was able to melt its head down with his hand to kill it, so it couldn't just finish him off." Lance concluded, following the Green Paladin's train of thought.
"Now he really does need a break." Matt agreed, as they all turned their gaze on him again.
"But now the next question is how did it get in here?" Allura wondered decisively.
"These things live all over the universe and often land hop by hitching a ride on a ship or a person. So who knows where he could have picked it up from."
"But if it hitched a ride on Shiro.. why wouldn't it have taken him out by now?" Keith wondered intuitively.
"Well they usually attach themselves to a host or source of warmth to escape the cold.. and ride it out until they reach a warm, dark place to feed. One that's quiet and secluded." Matt explained, holding pressure on Shiro's arm once more; beginning to wrap the cloth around it firmly to press some more.
"Which is why it attacked him in his room…" Keith figured, recalling how he'd left Shiro. "The lights were turned out."
"And Shiro's body heat covered by the blankets awoke it to feed, which is why it attacked him now." Matt finished.
"It all makes sense." Lance remarked, placing his hands to his hips.
"I'm not gonna risk anything more happening to him when we're not around." Keith decided, as they all stared at Shiro; then he looked up to continue. "From now on he rests on the bridge with us.. where someone can keep an eye on him… No more surprises."
XXXX
Shiro staggered a bit and almost fell as his body was eased back into the Altean version of what looked to be a well padded hammock or cot. Either way.. it appeared quite comfortable.. and, to Shiro,.. it very well seemed that way. The team had set him up on this cot at the back of the castle bridge; just so that he was to the right side of the doors, if you were to be facing them from anywhere else in the room. His silence was to be expected,.. and his reluctance to stay awake, even more so. But at least now, Keith held the piece of mind that he was resting close by; and desperately prayed that nothing else would happen to him now.
"Ok.. that was fun." Lance sighed finally as they all turned their attention away from Shiro; leaving him to rest behind them, as they gathered round the teludav at the center of the room. "What now?" The bluntness of his tone revealed the sarcasm of his words.. even as he scanned the group for an answer to his question.
"We still have time before we get to the prison/base." Keith replied. "At least a day and a half or so. We'll have to pass the time another way."
"Got anything in mind?" Lance wondered, when Keith looked his way.
"No… do you?" Keith wondered blankly, his eyes still on him. Lance's face shifted to that of pleasure, and Keith immediately began to wonder if he should've said anything.
XXXX
"Lance, what are we doing here?" Keith wondered disinterestedly, as Lance came over to briefly adjust his helmet.
"Relax, Keith, you'll love this.. I know it." Lance replied, finishing his adjustments and held his own helmet on his hip by the grip of his arm. "This'll be just what you need to distract you from all the crazy upstairs." The Blue Paladin waywardly wiggled his finger about head level; hinting at his meaning.
"That's what I'm afraid of." The Red Paladin responded bluntly, as Lance put on his own helmet and took a second longer to settle it in place. "I highly doubt any of this is gonna help me forget any of that." Keith finished in his trademark certainty that seemed only slightly dubious; yet stoic and hard to read.
"Ah, you'll see in a minute." Lance decided, shrugging him off, as he finished messing with his own helmet briefly; for a second time. "Ok Coran, go for it!" He said finally, looking up to the booth hung above the training deck. They could vaguely see him look to the panel at his fingertips and watched him pressing things. Suddenly their helmets phased him out into a land of strange colors and shapes, which Keith had never seen before.
"What is this?" Keith asked, jumping in surprise of what he was seeing.
"It's game simulator that Pidge helped us build." Lance responded, almost dryly as he held his blaster in hand across his body, implying Keith to draw his own. "It can help us unwind, you know.. Let loose, relax, find peace. Something like that junk."
"And you think this is gonna help me do that?" Keith questioned.
"Oh come on, give it try. I mean what've you got to lose?" The implication Lance was making, lost Keith's train of thinking, given by his blank stare. "Just go with it, ok?" Lance followed up bluntly. Feeling no further pull of complete resistance, his subtle shrug clued the Blue Paladin in to continue. "Ok.. level one.. This is going to be easy!"
Hey what is up you guys!? Soooo sorry to have been neglecting ALL of my stories lately but.. Life happens.. And well.. Holidays, am I right? The other reason is I have also been trying to finish a manuscript for a book to be published(which I got done as of three days ago XD). And therefore, now that it's finished, I will be beginning the process to publication, and thus.. Have more time to write fanfiction. Another book is already in the re-editing process, but I will be taking this whole year to work on it in preparation for publishing that as well. But, as I said, I'll hopefully have more time. Enjoy this next chapter and I'll see you guys next time.. Thx!