Chapter Sixteen

At the End of the World

They sat on the cold tile floor for hours in a small miserable pile. The thrum of adrenaline had long since faded, leaving Keith with nothing but sick fear roiling in his stomach. Lance still sat in front of him, not looking him in the eye, picking at the hem of his shirt. Pidge had fallen into a restless sleep against Keith's side. Hunk was a steadfast form, shifting anxiously every so often but not fidgeting much. Keith rubbed his thumb over his knuckles and tried not to scream.

Finally, God knows how many hours later, the door to the infirmary creaked open. The group scrambled upright as Allura and Matt emerged from the room. They both looked exhausted, and Allura had a few new blood stains on her clothes. Pidge moved first, latching her arms around her brothers middle, not reacting to the dried blood all over him.

"Matt, what happened out there?" She asked, voice muffled into his shirt. He hugged her back tightly, burying his fingers into her hair like he expected to never see her again.

"It's a long story." he sighed. Keith cut in before he could begin said story.

"Is Shiro ok?"

"He's stable." Allura answered for him, fixing a tired look on Keith. "It was dicey for a while, but he should be ok as long as we can keep the wound from getting infected."

Keith slumped back against the wall again, barely keeping himself upright with all the sickly relief that swamped him.

"What happened?" Pidge pestered again, still not letting go of her brother.

"There were a lot of Z's when we got to town." Matt began, and everyone latched onto his words, giving him all of their attention. "Shiro seemed uneasy about it and said if they got any more riled up we would leave. We were looking through an old community center when a bomb went off in another room."

"A bomb?!" Hunk squeaked.

"That doesn't make sense!" Lance exclaimed, brow furrowing. "Unless-"

"Galra." interjected Allura with a hard look. Matt nodded, looking like he could pass out at that exact moment.

"The sound lured a fuck ton of Z's to where we were. We ran into another room and tried to hold the door shut, but there were too many of them. There was another door leading outside and Shiro told me to go for it while he held the door shut. He said he would be right behind me. We both made it out, but somewhere along the way Shiro got bitten."

Lance went pale, Hunk put a hand over his mouth, Pidge hugged her brother just a little harder. Keith didn't react. The whole conversation was washing right over his head. As long as Shiro was ok, none of it really mattered.

"I couldn't just let him turn." Matt's voice was getting more and more choked the more he talked. "So I…"

"You cut the arm off." Pidge finished, looking simultaneously impressed and sickened.

"I didn't know if it would stop the infection, but I had to try."

"Can we see him?" Keith's question was directed to Allura, and his stomach sank when she shook her head.

"We don't know for sure if the amputation really stopped the infection. Everyone who contracts the fungus turns within six hours; we'll keep him in quarantine until then. You may see him after."

The last part of her sentence, if he survives, was left unspoken.

"What we need to discuss is the Galra presence so far into our territory." Allura continued. "They've never dared push so far south before, even during our more formal conflicts. Something has changed, and I believe I know what it is."

"It was me." Keith said without hesitation. "They're mad I killed Lotor and they're looking for revenge."

"I'm afraid that's the most likely conclusion."

Keith's expression darkened. "If they want me, they can have me."

"Woah, woah, what does that mean?" asked Lance, tone verging on offended. "You're not gonna-"

"No, Lance, I'm not going to turn myself in." Keith could feel something changing. All of the fears that had been holding him back- fear of Lotor, fear of getting Shiro hurt- were crumbling, giving way to rage. "It's just like the arena. They want a fight, I'll give them one."

"What? No!" That was Pidge's voice, and she finally let go of her brother only to grab onto Keith instead. "Keith, that's stupid! Stupid and reckless!"

"Yeah, that's me." Keith said with a dark chuckle.

"They're right." said Allura, crossing her arms firmly. "This is a ridiculous idea. Put it out of your mind."

"Or what?" Keith snarled. "You're going to make me?"

It was childish, yes. Did he care? No.

Allura's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Keith, as your leader, I forbid you from doing anything impulsive."

Keith laughed again, louder, but there was no joy in it. It was dark, daring.

"You're not my leader." he held up an arm, baring a wrist. "See? You haven't branded me yet."

Allura's face slackened. She clearly didn't know how to deal with him. None of them did, really. The only one who knew how to console an angry Keith was-

"Fine, then, as your-"

"If you say friend I am going to punch you."

Allura's teeth clacked when she snapped her mouth shut. Keith pushed Pidge off of him and started down the hallway.

"Keith!" Lance yelled after him. "Think about what you're doing!"

Keith only snarled in response. Hunk held Lance back when he made to follow.

"Just leave him be." he counseled, though his voice trembled.

"What if he does something stupid?" asked Pidge, nervously adjusting her glasses.

"He probably just needs time to cool down." Allura said distantly, mind already on the next problem. "I'll need to speak with Coran and inform the rest of the camp, begin reinforcing our defenses in the case of a full blown attack."

Lance and Pidge exchanged a nervous look, but allowed Allura to begin directing their actions elsewhere. They could only hope Keith would keep his head.

Keith was not keeping his head. But he didn't immediately storm off, either. First he went back to the little house he shared with the others to collect his weapons.

Anger leaking from him with every movement, he harshly shoved his pistol into his waistband and several extra clips of bullets into his pockets. He clipped his water bottle to his belt almost as an afterthought before picking up his bat. His knife was always with him.

Then he made for the gate. Anyone he passed by took one look at his stormy expression and stayed far away from him, allowing him to make it there unaccosted.

"Open the gate, Nyma." That one growl alone was enough to make Nyma's eyes widen and hastened to do as she was told.

Once he was out in the desert, he thought he would be home free. Until Rolo caught up with him.

"Hey, Keith!" he called, jogging to catch up while Keith bristled. "Where you going, buddy?"

"Get out of my way." Keith snarled, as Rolo had ducked in front of him, still wearing his infuriatingly laid back grin.

"Allura put you on another scouting mission? No problem, I'll come with you-"

"Rolo. Move."

Rolo paused and looked at him carefully. He finally seemed to notice the temper boiling just under Keith's skin, and with scared eyes he obeyed.

Nothing else got in his way and he was on the outskirts of Albuquerque within the hour. He easily found the street Matt and Shiro had been on, marked by the still smoldering ruins of the building the Galra had blown. Seeing the wreckage only made him angrier. This wasn't red hot rage barely contained; this was cold and calculated fury. He knew what he was going to do, what he had to do, and nothing in the universe could stop him from doing it.

"Hey!" he yelled, voice bouncing off the empty storefronts. "I know you're there, you cowardly motherfuckers! I'm the one who killed Lotor! You wanted me, come and get me!"

The wind howled. No living men emerged to confront him, no voices shouted back. The only sound was the footsteps and moans of Z's who'd been attracted to the sound of his voice. He could see them coming, but he wasn't afraid.

Keith dropped his bat and pulled his gun. The explosion of the bullet in the chamber would only call more Z's, but at this point he didn't care. He'd kill a million Z's right now.

His aim had never been better. Every shot hit it's mark, every second or third downing a shambling corpse. 15 bodies were strewn on the pavement before his feet by the time he ran out of bullets. Then he picked his bat back up and went to work.

He was a whirlwind. His muscles burned and his eyes stung at the flecks of sweat and black blood that flew into them, but he didn't stop. He downed Z's left and right, not caring when fungi-grown hands grasped at his jacket or when gnashing teeth came just a little too close to him. He worked through every walker and biter that came at him, and once the street was clear, he began hunting through the buildings, taking on any clickers that hadn't found themselves stuck to walls or the floor.

He didn't bother trying to sneak around them. He made a lot of noise, shouting and knocking his bat on things until they came at him shrieking. By the time he was done with them, the sound had called even more Z's to the street, and he took the fury to them.

Still, no matter how many he killed, no Galra ever appeared. Either they'd moved on, or they were just watching him, hoping he'd collapse or get eaten by Z's. Well, they weren't in any of these buildings at least.

"Come on!" he screamed once he'd burned through the last Z on that street. He banged his bat against the road in frustration. "Come on!"

Once again, only the howling of the wind answered him. He just stood there for a long moment, panting, feeling his legs trembling and his throat burning. He downed half of his water bottle in one go, not caring when some dripped out of the corners of his lips.

"Fuck." he whispered shakily to himself, finally starting to come down from the adrenaline high. The sun was setting at his back as he faced the purple mountains, glaring at where the peaks scraped the sky. Even if the Galra were still here, they wouldn't be coming out of hiding.

The pain started to set in. The ache of his limbs from all the strenuous activity, the sting of the scrapes and nicks he'd accumulated. Most of them weren't bad, reminiscent of the scrapes you get falling off of a bike, but one in particular felt worse. There was a distinct burn on his hand, and when he looked, he noticed his glove had been ripped and scowled.

Great, just fucking-

He froze in the middle of ripping the glove off, staring without comprehension. It wasn't a full set, but there was no mistaking the three or four teeth marks pressed into his pale hand.

He'd been bitten.

For a moment the wind was the only sound. Then Keith began to laugh.

Probably not the best reaction, but he just couldn't help it. This was just so ridiculous, this whole situation, first Shiro and then him on the same day, it was just nonsense.

Well, Galra or no Galra, he certainly couldn't go back to camp now. He could turn at any moment, be a danger to everyone else. He briefly contemplated cutting the hand off, but immediately realized he didn't have the balls to do it himself. He didn't have any more bullets, any other method of offing himself wouldn't stop the fungus from taking over anyway.

Guess it's the waiting game.

He found his way to an old video rental store and holed up behind the counter, water bottle and bat at his side. He stared up at the cracked, water stained ceiling, not feeling much. He should be afraid. He should be thinking about death, bargaining, praying even. But he wasn't. He just felt numb.

Wonder where I'll go. Heaven? Hell? Maybe I'll get reincarnated as a tortoise. A zombie tortoise. Can any of that even happen if my body is still here? Maybe I'll get trapped inside while my corpse just shuffles around, unable to do anything. Man, that would suck.

The sun set. He didn't move. He kept thinking, and thinking, and thinking. He thought about Shiro, how he would react when Keith never came back. He thought about Hunk and Lance and Pidge, if they would care. He thought about his parents. Shiro's and his birth parents. Did his mom ever regret leaving him? Did his dad? What happened to them? Were they still alive? Were they shambling around somewhere covered in orange fungus?

Slowly, lulled by his thoughts, Keith fell asleep.

Morning dawned over Arus and the others were finally allowed to see Shiro. No one had slept that night and no one had seen any sign of Keith. Lance expected to find him back at the infirmary, waiting to see Shiro, but he wasn't.

Matt's field amputation seemed to have worked. Shiro hadn't turned and he seemed fairly lucid when the others came in to greet him.

"Hey, guys." he said with a weak smile, barely lifting his head from the pillow. The nub of his arm was all wrapped in gauze that was still slightly stained, but it was much better than what it had looked like when Keith and Matt had brought him in. Shay stood by, watching for any signs of distress while the four of them crowded his bedside. At the moment, none of them really knew what to say.

"Hey, Shiro." Lance decided on with a nervous cough. "You feeling alright?"

"No." Shiro said solemnly. "I'm all left."

There was an excruciatingly long pause. All of them stared at Shiro, and Shiro stared back, until eventually Lance started laughing.

It was only a giggle at first, but got steadily louder until he was clutching at his sides with tears streaming down his cheeks. Probably a slightly hysterical reaction from stress, but the others followed suit, and soon they all had stitches and aching cheeks.

"Jesus Christ." Pidge wheezed, taking off her glasses to wipe at her eyes. "Jesus Christ, Shiro."

"I know, I know, it was bad." Shiro chuckled.

"Man, that's not fair." Hunk protested. "We thought you were a goner and here you are making puns!"

Shiro gave him a wide grin, but his eyes lost a little bit of sparkle when he looked around the room. "Where's Keith?"

"We looked for him." Hunk said, forcefully smoothing over his expression. "He's hiding somewhere. He was pretty angry yesterday."

"What?" Shiro's brow furrowed in concern.

"I told them about what happened." Matt chimed in. "He got really pissed about the Galra and stormed off. No one's seen him since then."

Shiro's demeanor went from semi-relaxed to full panic in about three seconds flat.

"You guys just let him go?!" He sat bolt upright. There was a little grimace of pain, but his worry over his brother seemed to be overpowering it. "What if he did something stupid? What if he went after them?"

His worry was infectious, and the group murmured anxiously to each other as Shay rushed forward to try and calm her patient. Shiro shoved her away.

"Guys, we have to find him!"

"Oh no." Matt scolded, pushing Shiro back down on the cot. "You're not going anywhere. We'll track down Keith, he's probably just hacking at a tree somewhere."

Shiro didn't look placated in the least. He continued his argument with Matt, just as Lance looked to the side and saw Rolo passing by in the hallway. He called out to him on a sudden impulse.

"Hey, Rolo!"

Rolo paused and stuck his head through the doorframe with his trademark crooked smile.

"Whatcha need, Sharpshooter?"

"Have you seen Keith?"

Rolo shook his head ruefully. "Not since he left yesterday."

"What do you mean 'left'?" Pidge asked, pushing closer to the door. The conversation attracted Shiro and Matt's attention, their own falling by the wayside as they listened.

"He left the camp yesterday afternoon, headed for the city. He looked pretty pissed."

"And you let him go?" exclaimed a new voice, just before Allura emerged from the other direction and stepped into view. "Rolo, you know the rules! No one goes out alone."

"Sorry, Allura." he rubbed at the back of his neck bashfully. "But to be honest he looked like he would've ripped out my throat with his teeth if I tried to stop him."

Shiro went pale (well, paler).

"And he hasn't come back?" he croaked.

Rolo shook his head again. "I asked Nyma to keep an eye out for him but she hasn't seen anything."

"We must find him immediately." Allura declared grimly, turning to the others. "Matt, you stay here with Shiro. The rest of you, follow me."

The others were about to follow her without hesitation when Shiro's voice stopped them.

"Wait!" He sat up again, despite Shay's protests. "I want to come with you."

"Shiro, no." Matt immediately responded. "You're way too hurt."

"I'm his brother." Shiro's expression was pinched and pained. "I can't just leave him. Besides, if he's not in his right mind he might be dangerous to you guys."

Shay placed both arms on his shoulders. "Absolutely not." her voice was still quiet, but undeniably firm. Not to be argued with. "You are staying right here in this bed. The others are more than capable of dealing with Keith."

Shiro slumped, his stub of an arm twitching as though he was trying to move a hand he no longer had.

"Don't worry." Hunk soothed. "He'll be fine. We'll just go track him down really quick, like a lost cat."

He didn't looked mollified by the joke. "Just… just bring him back."

"You got it." Lance responded. He didn't feel the confidence his voice projected, but Shiro relaxed just the tiniest bit, so he counted it as a win.

"Alright everyone." Allura called from the doorway, calling their attention once more. "Let's get our things."

Keith did not want to wake up. Waking up meant dealing with the cold, and the hunger, the soreness of his limbs, the glare of sunlight. But the voices wouldn't let him stay asleep. They were loud and insistent, calling his name and saying other things that were probably swear words based on tones. He groaned, trying to turn away from them, but they held him fast and eventually he gave up, forcing his gritty eyes to open.

Four familiar faces bent over him, ones that even his sleepy brain could distinguish were not supposed to be here.

"Keith!"

"Jesus Christ, what did you do-"

"Holy shit, is that-"

"Oh my god, it is!"

Keith pushed at the nearest body he could. The thin shoulder said Pidge.

"Go." he slurred, still groggy. "You guys need to go. Get away."

Pidge clung stubbornly to his arm, the same one with the bitten hand. When he blinked his eyes clearer he could see her expression; one of intense concentration, the same one she wore when she was trying to figure out a problem.

"Keith, when did you get this?"

"What?" He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, still not completely awake.

"When. Did. You. Get. Bitten?"

"Um." He sat up, looked out the back window. The sun was up. "Yesterday I think."

"Not possible." Allura snapped, standing from where they had all been kneeling around Keith. "Everyone turns within six hours. It's scientifically proven."

"Are you sure it was yesterday?" pressed Pidge, gaze intense on his face.

"Yeah, I'm sure, the sun went down."

"Pidge." That was Hunk speaking, looking at Keith with anxious eyes. "Now isn't the time, we have to get him back to Arus-"

"No!" Keith immediately exclaimed, yanking his hand away from Pidge. "You can't take me back, I'm too dangerous."

Lance grabbed onto his other shoulder. "Ok, dude, just take a deep breath. Everything's going to be fine."

Pidge stood up, moving to face Allura.

"Allura, it-"

"It can't be-"

"But maybe-"

"The chances are astronomical-"

"It's worth the risk!"

Keith watched their verbal tennis match with growing trepidation. Lance squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, and he turned to him with a desperate expression.

"Lance, please, you guys have to leave. Before I turn."

"I'm not so sure you're gonna turn, my dude."

Keith's eyes widened, but before he could demand an explanation Allura was yelling.

"Fine!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Fine, we'll take him back and run the tests. But if he turns you're the one who has to put him down."

Pidge wasted no time, scrambling right back over to him and attempting to haul him to his feet.

"Come on Keith, we're going back."

"No." Keith tugged back against her, nearly toppling her over. "Pidge, no, it's too dangerous-"

"Keith." she said in an exasperated tone. "Do you trust me?"

That gave him a pause. Did he? Well, sure, but did he trust her that much?

Reluctantly, he nodded.

"Then trust me. Let us take you home."

He jolted at her word choice, but let her and Lance pull him up. He was horrendously sore from his killing spree the day before.

He let them take him home.

Allura kept him on a very tight leash, making a beeline for the infirmary the moment they arrived back at camp. Keith's spirit soared when he saw Shiro there, awake and alive and not a zombie. Shiro's face lit up in turn when he saw Keith, and held out his arm to him when he rushed over. Allura let him go, moving over to Shay to explain the situation.

"Shiro." Keith gasped, eyes unexpectedly growing damp. "You're ok."

"Where did you go?" Shiro asked, clutching his shoulder. "You scared me to death."

For a moment everything else faded away. He couldn't hear the others behind him or Allura and Shay talking. He let himself bathe in the sheer joy of seeing Shiro alive. Then he grabbed Keith's wrist, and the spell was broken.

"Keith." Shiro's voice cracked. "What… what is this…"

He was looking at the bite.

"It's not what you think, Shiro." Pidge interrupted, shoving her way closer to the two of them. "He said he got this last night."

"That doesn't make sense." Shiro said, brow furrowed. He studied the mark more closely. "Mine started getting worse after just a few minutes. This-"

"Doesn't look like anything, exactly." Pidge said excitedly, pushing up her glasses.

"You think-"

"Maybe. Maybe. We have to run some tests."

Keith wasn't listening to them. He didn't care about himself. Shiro was ok, relatively, and that's all that mattered.

"Keith." Allura again. "Come with me to the lab."

The next time Keith saw Shiro, his hand was bandaged and he was several blood samples lighter. Pidge, Matt, Allura, and Coran were still huddled in the lab, muttering to each other and flitting all over the place. He'd gotten bored of just sitting after a while and asked to go back down to Shiro. Allura had just waved a hand at him, so he took that as a yes and went.

Shiro looked physically relieved when he saw Keith again. Shay fussed at him for a moment, trying to get him to go to sleep, but relented when she saw he wouldn't and left to give them some privacy.

"Seriously, Keith." Shiro said after a moment of silence. "What did you do?"

Keith settled himself cross-legged on the cot. There was a certain content to his soul now. He wasn't worried about the bite anymore or the Galra or anything else. He could keel over and die right then and he wouldn't have minded, so long as Shiro was ok.

"My plan was to weed the Galra out." he said, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles. "But they must've moved on, or maybe they were ignoring me. I ended up fighting a bunch of Z's instead."

"How many?"

Keith shrugged. "Lost count. I was pretty pissed."

"And you got bit?"

"Yeah. I didn't have the guts to cut my hand off," Shiro winced, "and I was out of bullets, otherwise I would've bitten one."

"I'm glad you didn't." Shiro said, choking a little on the words. Keith took his hand and squeezed. "Keith, if I'd woken up and you weren't here…" He paused to take a deep breath, and Keith waited patiently. "I wanted Matt to leave me you know. The only reason I let him do this was because I had to try to come back to you."

"Well, congrats." Keith said with a dry chuckle. "You made it."

"Keith." His eyes were desperate.

"I know, Shiro. I'm sorry. I let my anger get the best of me."

Several loud whoops from the second floor interrupted their conversation. A moment later the lab gang was crashing through the infirmary door, unrestrained excitement written across all of their features.

"Keith, look!" Pidge shrieked, shoving a drawing at him. "Look!"

It looked like a drawing of a microscope slide, but he couldn't for the life of him decipher what it meant. Thankfully Pidge was more than willing to explain it to him.

"That's a sample from someone with the fungus. You can see it's effects in the bloodstream, here and here." she jabbed her finger at the drawing. "Now this-" she tossed another paper onto his lap, "Is your blood sample. There's still an abnormality, but it's different, and there isn't a hint of the fungus! Now, your anomaly is a similar structure to the fungus, so-"

"So we think," Matt said, continuing his sisters sentence, "You must have another type of fungus growing on your brain somewhere, which is counteracting this fungus, except yours seems mostly harmless, so-"

"You're immune."