Days pass until the cure actually works. After twenty two attempts at making a successful antidote, Hanji, Armin, and Levi finally complete it. Erwin brought in a different zombie that was wondering around by itself outside the walls, and they tested the cure on it. It worked slower than all the others, but the end result made up for it.
It worked.
All the other times something would go wrong. Heart failure, brain failure, not everything would heal so they died of blood loss and many other bad results came from them. But now, they have something that will work.
The only problem now is how they are going to be able to cure all the zombies.
"We have to cure the whole world at the same time, or at least America and maybe part of Canada and Mexico at the borders," Armin said.
"I don't see how we will be able to cure anything, so far the only way we've been able to cure this one," Levi nods his head to the still confused cured zombie, "is by injecting him. I don't think we'll be able to inject all of them."
"We can try putting it in water and spraying it at them, you know, because they'll probably have their mouths open and everything," Connie suggested.
"Air," Eren suddenly says. With the cure working he was finally released out of his cage.
"Air?" Sasha asks, confused.
"It could work," Hanji ponders, "but we would need different equipment to make it airborne."
"Like what?" Jean asks.
"I think I actually saw some at the mall uptown," Hanji announces, completely ignoring Jean's question, "but the place is a mess now. We tried getting supplies from there a month ago but we barely got out alive."
[Name]'s mood downgrades at the word 'mall.' It was the last place she was Marco, it was the place where he died. She wondered if he was still there, walking around aimlessly like all the other zombies. She wondered if he's killed anyone, turned anyone, ate anyone. Or maybe he's already dead, bullet in head and rotting on the ground as all the other zombies pass him not bothering to give him a second glance.
But then there is the alternative. Maybe he's still alive-ish. And there's still a chance to cure him. But then he'd have to live with the guilt, the guilt after being cured.
Tyler, the first successful cured zombie is still going through it. He remembers everything. A side affect of the cure? They don't know. Maybe it's a good thing, they have their memories, even if it's bad. But then there's all that guilt. The guilt of everything that happened from the moment they change to the second they are cured.
The guilt of letting yourself get turned, getting your teammates turned. The guilt of letting the people around you believe you were gone forever. The guilt of killing others to the point of no return, no turning, no curing. The guilt of turning others, eating others.
The guilt of killing zombies without knowing they could be saved. Tyler said it was like he was trapped behind a wall of desire and hunger to eat human flesh. He said he couldn't control his movements or his motives. It was like being trapped in someone else mind and body. But he was still in there, watching everything his zombie self did.
Marco is probably like that right now. Crying on the inside because he can't control himself. [Name] can't imagine how he feels.
"We can do it," Mikasa blurts, "we can get whatever you need."
"I don't know," Hanji bits her lip.
"You need it right? To make the cure airborne?" Mikasa asks.
Hanji nods, "Yes, but it is in the basement in the middle of the mall. There would be all those zombies to get through and you can't kill them unless it's life or death because of the cure."
"Darts," [Name] suggests, "darts filled with the cure. It would be kind of pointless because whoever we were to cure would be turned back in a matter of seconds, but it would buy us some time to get closer to the basement."
"That could work," Hanji mumbles, "but it'd take awhile to get enough of the cure ready and put into the darts. You all will need a lot."
"We have time," Erwin says while walking into the lab with Eld right behind him, "but no enough. The MP's are planning on exterminating more zombies to expand their base."
"Where'd you hear that?" Jean asks, curious.
"People talk in the Underground," Eld answers. The Underground. [Name]'s heard of it before. When they were slaves at the MP base the word floated around a couple of times. Supposedly it's in the sewers, a mixture of good and bad. But mainly its a safe haven for those passing through, you can buy ammo and trade things.
[Name] didn't think it was real, but apparently it is.
"You didn't mention the cure, right?" Hanji questions. Erwin shakes his head.
"No. That information can't get into the wrong hands. If it were then the MPs would come to destroy it and us and others might try to take it for themselves."
"Do you know when they're planning to exterminate?" Hanji asks.
"Three days. We have three days to cure everyone, otherwise a lot of lives will be lost for nothing."
Two trucks full of the Scouts drive on the abandon roads. Just like LA, the roads are silent with blood and wrecked cars everywhere. Some are drove off the road into the river. Levi, [Name], Connie, Hanji, and Erwin are in one truck. Hanji and Erwin in the front and the others in the back open air. The others, Eld, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Eren, and Sasha are in the other truck.
[Name] sticks a few more darts into her pockets, just in case. Hanji stayed up all day and night taking blood from Eren and making it into the cure. Once all the darts were filled and Eren regained his blood back, they stocked up and set off.
"Almost there," Hanji informs from inside the truck. In the distance, everyone sees the mall. Lights are still on, so that means the generators are still going, surprisingly. Suddenly [Name] thinks of the concert they played there. They must've killed hundreds of people that could be saved.
And now they can't be.
[Name] shrugs it off as they pull into the parking lot of the mall. The trucks aren't that loud thanks to Gunther who was able to basically put a suppressor on them when he was still alive.
The trucks turn off and everyone gets out, holding their weapons full of darts. "We should go through the back entrance," Levi suggests, "it should be more clear."
"Probably. Let's go," Erwin orders, walking to the back of the mall. Everyone follows as silently as they can.
When they reach the back entrance, Eld, Erwin, and Levi are the first to go in. They do a quick check in the area making sure it's clear then motion the others to come in.
Jean stares at the center of the mall. "Damn there's a lot of them." Armin nods in agreement.
"Good thing we brought these," Hanji grins, pointing to the shields her and Connie brought with them. They had 'S.W.A.T' on them, but obviously wouldn't be needed by them for awhile. Armin, Sasha, and Connie all get one.
"Okay, so Armin, Sasha, and Connie will block and push the zombies out of our way, if any get too close shoot them with a dart. If you get bitten, stab yourself with one of the darts to prevent from turning, got it?" Erwin asks. Everyone nods.
Armin, Sasha, and Connie are the first ones to enter the herd of zombies. As soon as they step foot out of the safe area, all the zombies notice them. Arms reach out at them but are blocked by the shields. In seconds the shields are covered in blood.
Then the rest come out, dart gun in one hand and knifes in the other. Stabbing them will slow them down only a little if it's not in the head. A zombie comes at [Name], but before she can react Levi shoots it with a dart. [Name]'s eyes widen and she turns to Levi. Levi just gives her a small nod to keep going.
As the darted zombie begins to change, the zombies around it turn their attention to it, confused. They couldn't tell if the darted one was one of them or a human. Hanji observed carefully as they passed by the group.
"Guess the distracting thing works," Eren whispers as they quietly walk. Almost all of the zombies are focused on the darted one, so it clears a large space for them to walk in.
"There!" Sasha exclaims pointing at the basement door. They all glance around, noticing there aren't any nearby zombies that could easily attack them if they ran into the basement. [Name] throws the door open and ushers everyone in. Once everyone is already walking down the stairs, she goes to follow them but something catches her eye.
A tall, dark haired zombies stumbles her way. Half of it's face is gone, probably torn off, and there are tears and scratches up and down it's arm. As the zombie gets closer, so does it's face.
[Name]'s eyes widen. Marco.
Quickly [Name] shoots a dart into him then grabs him and pulls him into the basement. She closes the door quietly while holding Marco's shaking body. She puts on of his arms around her neck and walks down the stairs with him. The sound of his wounds healing is loud in [Name]'s ears.
"[Name]? What are you doing?" Connie asks after Hanji walks into one of the rooms to get whatever she needs. As soon as everyone sees Marco by her side, Jean runs over to them.
"I saw him right before I was going to come down," [Name] explains, "so I shot him then grabbed him."
"Oh my god," Sasha whispers. Jean is picking up Marco's limp body off of [Name]'s side.
"Who is he?" Erwin asks as Jean lays Marco on the floor.
"An old friend," Armin informs, not bothering to go any further. Marco's body stops moving, then, just like Tyler, his eyes slowly open and he jots up with a gasp. He blinks confusingly and stares at everyone like they're not real.
"What happened?" He groans.
Jean stares down at him with teary eyes before bringing him into a bear hug. Hanji comes out with a box of supplies and glances at Marco with question.
"I got everything, who is he?" She questions.
"Never mind that, let's get going," Eld answers.
Hanji nods, "Let's go. We don't have much time left."
YOU ARE READING
Surviving | Attack on Titan | Levi
Fanfiction| Reader x Levi | Attack on Titan AU | Modern | "A thanks would be appreciated, after all I'm the reason both of us are still living," said the cocky man. [Name] looked out the bloodstained window and watched the walking corpses, "Not living; survi...
