25 ROCK BANDits

When did things get so out of control? After finding out that Eren had been kidnapped, Hange and I started scoping out possible locations of other gamers. We climbed the roofs of the houses and tried to find any place that people might be lying low in.

Armin, with his smarts and good eyesight, was the first to speak up. To the Southeast of Shiganshina is an amusement park of sorts. Not those huge places with rollercoasters that touch the sky and people everywhere, but something more local.

He pointed out the flashing lights of a sign in the distance and that's where we went. It was an hour's walk of somber silence as we thought about the people we lost. My friends were dead and I could only hope that Eren was still alive.

"He'll be fine. He's a strong son of a bitch." Erwin says, bumping his shoulder against mine.

I nod offhandedly and continue to take in the approaching sign. The sign was tall and covered in flashing neon yellow with the words BAND FESTIVAL on it. So it wasn't an amusement park after all...

But that isn't the out of control mess I was talking about earlier. No, this is just the setting for the hell that was about to unfold. Most of the small shops and tents were covered in a thin layer of dust, but one shop wasn't.

The large building was in the middle of this "festival", made up of dirt-brown bricks and foggy windows. Instead of having a porch, this building had a large stage that still had equipment on set.

Drum set, a few colorful electric guitars, microphones, and what I'd assume is box speakers. The place was completely empty of anyone, including zombies, but the equipment on-stage was dust free.

Someone had to have used that stuff recently enough that it hasn't had time to collect dust yet. Armin said as much to us when we spread out in pairs to check each tent.

Again Crazypants was my partner, but at least I'd have someone to throw to the zombies if I needed to get away. I'm kidding, I'm kidding... Unless.

"Quit with the inner monologue, Captain." Hange mutters.

I roll my eyes, but get back to searching through the dark white-and-yellow striped tent. Nothing smelled of the zombies' tell tale rot and it was organized, if not a little dusty.

The clean freak in me was begging to dust everything off, but we really needed to meet back with the others near the stage. Something felt.. Off. Everything else was abandoned, but somehow the instruments managed to stay clean.

This is where shit started to hit the fan. The one place we didn't check was the building connected to the stage and guess what happened.. The people we were searching for were just chilling inside, unaware of us.

Well, they were unaware until the rest of our group went to wait at the stage. People started filing out of the building looking like knock-off members of KISS. Who are those clowns?

Hange and I watched from the distance as our friends scrambled to get away from the chatting goths. I thought they might not have noticed them, but that thought was silenced when one of them turned and grinned.

His face was covered in white and black face paint, like a clown, and he was wearing tight black clothes. He had on a black wig, or maybe that was his real hair, and walked on the stage with these chunky black monstrosities.

I'm not the most fashion-coordinated, but even I could see that they were fashion failures. The rest of our group had frozen in place and were taking in the strangers as well. The guy who had smiled walked up the stage and to a mic.

He tapped on it until it made a loud keening noise, "Welcome strangers, to our Band Festival! We are the ROCK BANDITS!"

The other gothic clowns scream and clap, but my friends remain quiet. Erwin takes a step forward and clears his throat, ever the Commander.

"That sounds fun, but we're actually looking for someone. A boy about this tall with brown hair and blue-green eyes. Have seen him, by any chance?"

"No, doesn't sound familiar, sorry. But if you stay for the show we might be able to help."

Erwin shakes his head, "Sorry, we really need to go find him. Good luck with your show."

While we were distracted by the leader, his friends circled around and had surrounded the others. Their smiles were less than friendly as they placed metal chairs next to all of them.

"Oh, I'm sorry. That wasn't me asking. I was telling you. Sit and stay for awhile!"

As if to emphasize his point, each of my friends were forcibly pushed into a chair. I jerk forward as if to go to them, but Hange's grip halts me. I follow her gaze to a giant ass mounted machine gun off-stage.

Like the idiot he is, Jean pulls out a gun and points it at the man holding Mikasa down in her chair.

"Tsk. Boy, I wouldn't do that if I were you. You're outnumbered and we have the gun power." the leader says, pointing to the mounted gun.

Erwin sends a look to Jean and raises his hands in the universal signature of peace.

"They just want to play for us. Be respectful and sit down!" Erwin orders.

Erwin's eyes are taking in all of the people dressed in black and then their few remaining group. We wouldn't be able to take them, even with their gun out of the equation, and Erwin knew that. Best to just play along.

There were fourteen people that we could see and only six of us. They didn't know that Hange and I were here so maybe we could—

"Don't. If that gun goes off we'll be shredded. Tents won't provide any cover." Hange whispers quietly, her eyes taking in every detail of the unfolding scene.

I watched as Armin and Erwin shared a loving look that pulled at my aching heart. Everyone sat down and the leader relaxed, ushering a few other people onto the stage. They get into position near their instruments and turn to my friends.

"We are ROCK BANDITS and we'll be singing a few of 2019's greatest hits!" the leader yells into the microphone.

His voice echoes and travels outward. Are they trying to catch the attention of every zombie in Shiganshina?! We are an hour away and that voice could really travel, so they must be crazy. A band festival sounded more like ringing the dinner bell on an all you can eat zombie buffet.

My gaze stayed focused on the guy behind the mounted gun, aiming at my friends. The familiar words from "Girls Like You" started echoing around us. Believe it or not, they were actually pretty good at turning greatest hits into rock covers.

I'm surprised I even recognized the song seeing as I was never a fan of pop, though Maroon 5 isn't the worst band. The guitarists went into a solo battle during that chick's crappy rap part and I can't say it bothered me.

As the song continued, I could hear the groans of a small herd of zombies approaching. Hange and I hid farther in the tent when we heard the drumming of the gun shooting at the zombies. So that's what the gun's for...

It's good to know that they aren't crazy enough to make noise like this without some form of a plan. But... That gun won't do anything against the masses in Shiganshina... Not even a dent.

The instruments and singing don't falter during the gunfire and they flawlessly switch to a different song at the end of the first. This song I do know and it sends a ping through my heart— "Someone You Loved".

It reminds me of everything Eren and I have been through, more so what we've lost. I refused to just trust him and I ruined everything. A hand on my shoulder pulled me from my dark thoughts.

"He really loves you. When we get him back, tell him how you feel." her voice is quiet, considerate.

The song becomes background noise to the groaning in the distance, like a thousand bees congregating. Fuck! I peek my head out to see a horde that looks endless, heading straight for us. THIS is where shit got out of control.

The gun started going off again, but it wasn't aimed at the horde. Bullets started ripping through the emo-my spacers, even the band on stage. Once the smoke from the gun cleared, it was just a small pile of corpses and four grinning idiots.

Holding the still smoking gun was a familiar ginger with a giant grin on her face. Behind her, Gunther, Eld, and Oluo are also grinning and waving their arms like morons.

Erwin stares at them with a pale face like he's just seen a ghost. Well, I guess he kinda did since they thought they died. The droning of the horde gets close enough that I can smell the rot flooding our tent.

"Reunions gonna have to wait! Let's get the hell outta here!" I yell, dragging a stunned Hange to the others.

I nod to my friends and follow them as we all run farther East. We stop once we reach a forest full of big ass trees and Petra whistles loudly between two fingers. What is she—

Two shadows stumble from behind the tree line and limp towards us. As they get closer, I see that a brunette boy is half-dragging a limping blonde by her waist. There is a bloody piece of fabric wrapped around her ankle.

Petra looks them over and nods, then turns to survey the rest of us.

"Where's Eren?"

All of us stay quiet and keep our eyes on the grass at our feet. I feel her small hands shake my shoulders lightly, making me look up. There are tears in her beautiful amber eyes.

I pull her into a tight hug and close my eyes to hold in the tears that threaten to fall.

"I-I thought you were dead..." I whisper.

She giggles quietly and pulls away as the others approach and hug each of us. Gunther and Eld stand a lot closer than usual, but it's probably because they almost died. They have always been really close friends.

"We did too, Levi. They," she says while pointing at the two strangers. "are the reason we survived. Their friend.." Petra stopped speaking and stared off.

"Where's Eren?"

"Yeah, where is the kid?!" Gunther adds excitedly.

Gunther was always excited when Eren was around. Again everyone keeps quiet and doesn't answer, until Armin steps forward. There are already tears falling down his cheeks when he speaks.

"H-he was... W-we think h-he was taken."

"Taken..." Petra repeats with a look of confusion.

Hange pushes up her gogg... I mean glasses up on the bridge of her nose before approaching Petra, "We have reason to believe that he was kidnapped, but... We don't know who took him."

"Could it have—"

"We don't know." I interrupt.

"Now, who are the new people, Petra?" I ask, stepping closer to them.

The boy, which I can now see has auburn hair, steps protectively in front of the girl. Her freckled cheeks are tear-stained and she looks about ready to collapse. Blood has slowly seeped from whatever wound is hidden beneath the cloth and is making a small puddle around her foot.

I kneel down and reach for her leg, but stop when she whimpers.

"This looks bad. We need to stop the bleeding, so just bear with me. Armin, get the gauze and antibiotic cream from my duffel. Erwin, I need water and a towel or something." I order.

"Floch, it's okay..." the blonde murmurs as she eases herself to the ground.

"He'll kill you." he grinds out.

I raise an eyebrow, but slowly remove the cloth and throw it to the ground with a wet plop. My eyes widen at the large, bloody bite mark on her ankle. It had already started to fester, turning black around the edges and had a sheen of yellow over it.

"I can clean and wrap it but... You know that you'll turn, right?" I mutter, keeping my focus on the wound.

Thin black veins slither up her leg from the wound and disappear up her thigh. I look at her face and see sweat pouring down her forehead and the white seeping into her brown eyes, turning them a milky tan color.

"I want to live as long as I can, so please just wrap it. I'll end myself before I turn."

I nod and take the water and rag that Erwin handed me, dumping it on the wound. Once the blood washes away, I light dab the wound with the rag and grab the gauze Armin sets next to me. Using the rag to wipe the ointment on the wound, I quickly wrap it and pat her knee.

She sends me a wobbly smile and stand with the help of her friend. I take her outstretched hand and give it a shake.

"I'm Hitch. Thank you..."

"Levi."

"Well, thank you Levi." Hitch says before limping over to Petra.

Petra smiles at her and pulls her into a side hug, something she's only done for Eren or Armin. Who are those two and where did Petra and the others meet them?

"Wait! You killed fourteen people!" Hange yells excitedly.

"That's nothing to be happy about, Shitty Glasses..."

She sends me that "are you fucking stupid" look then continues, "Boss man said that for every kill you get, you have one less day you have to survive. It's been about a week, so counting those kills, that's two more weeks taken off."

I see where she's going with this. Wait, Eren and I killed two people, didn't we?!

"Eren and I killed two people."

"I came across these two brutes when I landed and killed them too, so that's three weeks and four days. Three more days and we're free!" Hange yells, pumping a fist in the air.

The others' expressions change to excitement as well and I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...

"Has everyone forgotten that my best friend, Eren, is still missing!" Armin yells, beating me to the punch.

Erwin tried to put an arm around his short, angry lover, but Armin pushes it away.

"I'm not leaving without him and—"

"And you won't have to." I interrupt, a plan forming in my head. "He is part of our group, so when we leave he gets to leave. Historia's father will have to retrieve him and then we'll all be free."

The others nod in understanding and begin mumbling amongst themselves while my friends pull me into the forest.

"I'm glad you guys—"

Petra slams me into a tree, making me freeze and stare at her with wide eyes. I'm not a very emotional person, but Petra doesn't have a violent bone in her body. Not only did she just kill fourteen people, but now she's slamming people against trees!

"What—"

"What the FUCK did you do, Levi?! Eren was your partner and we both know that he wouldn't just leave you without reason."

I try to look at the ground, but she forces my chin up so I have to face her. The guilt and pain in my gaze must have been all she needed to piece it together, because she backed away. Her golden eyes burn with rage as she takes me in.

"What happened, Levi?" she asks quietly.

The soft calmness of her voice is so much scarier than if she would've yelled at me. I can hear the pain in her voice and see the tears welled up in her eyes and it hurts... It hurts so much worse than Armin's reaction.

But he killed my sister and that... That was unforgivable. The only person who I cared about died in a forest and I didn't know until years later. My father said that she ran away from home. And I believed it.

I was so, so angry that my big sister would leave me with that demon. For years I despised her, until my father finally told me about the games. When Eren told us about them for the first time, it wasn't the first I'd heard of them.

"He... Petra, he killed my sister.." I say so quietly that I'm not even sure she heard me.

A soft gasp catches my ears and then I'm pulled into a hug by the normally bubbly ginger. The smell of honey and pine surround us as she just holds me. This is the first time I've ever mentioned my family to any of them.

"And I'm so sorry, but Levi.. Do you really think Eren would do that? Who told you that?"

"Eren's dad.." I grumble, now realizing how stupid that sounded.

She pulls away and smacks me upside the head, making me scowl.

"Idiot."

I can't even correct her, because she's right. Why did I believe the words of that demon so easily? I was just so startled to hear my sister's name after so many years and I think it caught me off guard.

Either way it doesn't matter. That is no excuse to treat Eren the way I did. I almost let him die for fucks sake! Mikasa is right. When I see him I'll get on my hands and knees and beg if I have to. Not to get married, though maybe someday.

Okay, okay, stop fangirling! I've got a damsir in distress to save!

"Damsir? Really Levi!?"

"Well," I say, looking at an amused Eld. "last I checked, he wasn't a girl, so yes! Damsir is very appropriate."

My friends grin the whole walk back to the others, who are sending us weird looks. If only they knew... Shaking my head, I set my face in a mask of calculated determination and make eye contact with all of my friends.

"Let's go get our damsir in distress!"

They'll never let me live that down...