The next morning comes far, far too early. Waking with the sunrise has never felt so awful. Stirring from his spot on the ground, Eren finds himself bumping into the other teens still sleeping around him.

  Thankfully the night was warm, it would have been embarrassing to have gotten this far only to die of hypothermia.

  “Morning,” Jess whispers from the other end of the room.

  “Good call, leaving out the ‘good.’” Eren strains his vision against the incoming sunlight.

  “It can be good once we get out of here. Should we wake up the others?” Jess moves to push Cris but Eren shakes his head.

  “No, we should rest longer if we can...” the sound of gunfire already picks up in the distance, and the engine noise of guard vehicles gets louder. The fact that so many guards repositioned out here wasn’t surprising, but assuming no reinforcements, they would have had to rest as well after being up for well beyond 30 hours. Even if there were extra guards outside, the will have all been awake several hours longer than any of them. “It would take days to clear every building in this place. We should wait them out as long as possible. Wait for the guards to get tired, run low on ammo, etcetera,” Eren concludes

  “Hmm, makes sense.” Jess pulls her hand away from Cris and instead lets her head fall against the wall, looking upward to a spot somewhere above. “Should we try and go back to bed?”

  “You can, I can’t.” Eren sits upright and begins to stretch. “Once I'm awake I’m awake.”

  “Same here...” Jess brings her arms up to stretch as well, letting out a grunt with the motion. “I... have been meaning to ask you something.” Jess lets her arms fall, but doesn’t bother to look Eren’s way as she speaks.

  “Ask me later, let's try and keep the death flags to a minimum, yeah?”

  Jess snorts. “Death flags?”

  “You know, in the moments leading up to the big plan the characters air out all of their feelings so it's more tragic when they die? Let’s avoid that, it's just a bad omen.”

  “If you say so.” Jess lets herself laugh, though it's clear a pain in her ribs stops her from laughing too much. “So how do we pass the time if we can’t talk about our feelings?”

  “We could talk about something super insignificant. Nothing that reveals our backstories though, that's also a big death flag.”

  “Oh, okay, so no feelings, no backstories... I take it no plans for the future either?”

  “Correct. Can’t give whoever is watching us an excuse to kill us off for emotional impact.”

  “Right right... so, how's the weather?”

  “Oh you know, pretty warm.”

  “Isn’t it? I was just thinking that. I guess we spent so much time in that prison we passed right through the end of winter and all the way to the beginning of spring.”

  “Huh, I guess you’re right.” Eren nods along to her words. “Maybe it can rain? Would be nice to wash all the blood off.”

  “I was just thinking that. Too bad we are in a desert.”

  “Deserts could get rain.” Eren notes.

  “yeah but we aren’t that lucky, are we?”

  “No, no we are not.”

  The conversation dies, their words replaced with the sounds of a faint breeze that rolls its way through the open windows.

  “When I was a girl...”

  “Jessica no! The death flags! Stop!”

  Jess snickers to herself and lets her head fall slightly, shifting her focus from some unknown spot above to an unknown spot below.

  “Alright, alright. Fine.” she snickers.

  “It all started when I was born.” Tony pipes in.

  “Tony no!” Jess and Eren cry out in unison, which causes a round of laughter to spread through the waking group of them.

  “Everyone please, we can’t have death flags. All of our sappy heartfelt shit can happen once we get out of here.” Eren quells the laughter with as stern a tone as he can muster under the virus that is near-delirium.

  Once everyone is awake, Eren goes over the plan again for Cris and Jess, as well as refining the details.

  Hayden is the stealthiest, and fastest, so he will be responsible for getting the car rolling. Tony helps him with understanding the mechanics of operating the vehicle until Hayden is confident he can do it on his own when the time comes.

  It will be a tight window. They need to make sure that it makes enough noise to draw the guard's vehicle into position. If they have the car go too early then the drop team will miss their shot at taking out the turret operator. If they are too late, Hayden will become a vaguely Hayden shaped piece of swiss cheese, which is a piece of imagery Cris so graciously conjures up.

  Chloe and Tony are on the drop team. They are the most competent fighters, which would be needed for being so exposed.

  Squirrel and Eren are in charge of taking out the passenger and driver seat guards respectively. Eren knows how to drive so it will be best if he manages that part of things.

  Cris is, ultimately, useless. With his leg not functioning he is dead weight, but they don’t have the time to grab him and haul him into the car, or take a pitstop to pick him up from some other location. This complicates things greatly, and results in an adjustment that is very risky.

  Cris will hide among the bodies in the decoy car. He will lay down in the backseat as it rolls towards enemy fire, so that once the guards are taken care of, the others can load him into the guards SUV easily. Cris initially mentions wanting to lie in wait nearby, but given that the only thing in the area is the parking structure, it makes that impossible. Cris is functionally immobile by himself and if a guard vehicle comes from some unpredictable direction he won’t be able to reposition himself fast enough to hide. Cris suggests playing dead, but that gets shot down as Chloe mentions that she has seen some of the guards make their rounds to shoot corpses in the head, just to be safe about it.

  The hardest part of the whole plan is the act of actually getting to the mall. Luckily Squirrel managed to make it to the rest of the group from the mall previous and can backtrack, but now that it’s daylight it will be easier for guards to see them.

  The group also considers waiting until nightfall to put the plan in motion, but given how long they have all gone without food or water by this point, waiting any more time will bring about a new slew of risks. Eren initially wants to at least wait till sunset, but that will put them against the sun during the attack which will be an even larger disadvantage on top of the massive risks being taken.

  Setting out at noon, the group follows Squirrel, each person taking a turn supporting Cris the best they can to ensure no one person got too tired from hauling him across the city.

  More than once the group has to pause and wait with an agonizing stillness as a guard’s SUV passes through a roadway. Several times the group has to find alternate routes as patrols of walking guards block the way forward.

  Eren winces, and forces his mind to shut out the screams that crash against the walls of the city. Gunfire erupts from buildings, from alleyways, from everywhere it seems. The guards have already started clearing buildings that are obviously occupied, and gunning down anyone unlucky enough to be caught out in the open.

  Time moves at an excruciating crawl, made ever slower by each careful step, each pause, each reroute. By the time the “mall” comes into view it is getting dangerously close to sunset.

  Calling it a mall is a stretch. It looks more like the shell of a mall. It has no windows, and only a handful of doors. The entire collection of cobbled together boxes is made from crude concrete, with rebar half exposed all throughout.

  “I'll get his legs with Jess. Chloe and Tony get his arms,” Eren whispers.

  In one smooth motion, Cris is lifted from the ground and being carried by four people.

  “Go go go!” Hayden whispers from the front, having ensured the path to the side entrance is clear from the view of any guards in the area.

  They sprint as fast as they dare to the side entrance. The door is open, allowing everyone to file in quickly. Hayden is last to enter, he grabs hold of the door and closes it softly behind everyone.

  Catching their breaths from the run, the group fans out, making sure the mall itself is clear before progressing.

  Confident that the coast is clear, they regroup and follow Squirrel towards the abandoned vehicle.

  To say the vehicle had been shot at is putting it lightly. The entire top half is functionally gone. Bullet holes punched through the support pillars on the back, collapsing the trunk entirely, meanwhile the seats are missing every single headrest and most of the back rests from where the machine gun bullets passed through.

  “Damn, how are we getting Cris in there?” Eren presses his lips into a tight line while trying to pry open the trunk. It doesn’t budge.

  “We can slide him in from the front?” Hayden asks, climbing into the back seat and then stopping after the first step.

  “What’s up?” Squirrel bounces over and looks inside, her expression turning into a quick frown.

  Three bodies remain inside the car. Peter, Leslie, and someone they didn’t recognize.

  Tony lets out a long breath at the sight of their bodies. Eren didn’t know him particularly well, and while they had chosen to go with Colin, he didn’t want this for them, or for anyone.

  “Come on, we are short on time.” Eren grimaces, helping guide Cris into the trunk space.

  “Fuck meeee.” Cris winces, setting him down in a pool of dried blood.

  “Come on, you got this,” Eren reassures him.

  Next, Tony, Chloe and Eren set the corpses upright so as to make them appear alive. It is far less convincing than Eren hoped given the lack of head rests, but still, it’s better than nothing.

  After the bodies are set, Tony goes over the details of the vehicle's functions once more with Hayden, showing him how to turn it on, press the gas and put it in drive. Tony aligns the steering wheel to ensure that when it goes, it’s pointed in the right direction, but other than that, the rest sits on Hayden's shoulders.

  Eren offers Hayden a nod, and Tony gives him a pat on the shoulder along with a half hug as they separate the group.

  “Think he will manage?” Jess asks once they are out of earshot.

  “He will have to. He might not look like much but he’s lucky, and lucky is a good trait.” Tony smiles.

  His smile is convincing, which was nice because the words he says most certainly aren’t.

  “Chloe, Tony, good luck.” Eren salutes as the two jog their way up the second level of the parking structure beyond the front door, overlooking the spot that gives the clearest view of the entrance.

  Squirrel and Eren share a look as they split off to lower themselves to the shadows of the parking structure, flanking either side of the entrance. It’s risky, given how little cover there is from the road. The only way to obscure themselves is hugging the shadows as tightly as possible and staying incredibly still. With luck, the sound and movement of the car in the mall will keep the guards' attention long enough to not notice the teenagers in the shadows.

  Settling into the ground, Eren rests his chin on the asphalt, looking straight ahead to the spot the SUV will likely be stopping. The collection of rocks dig into his skin and burn the palms of his hands. The spot was in the shade but only recently, up until a few minutes ago this part of the ground was cooking in the desert sun, and now Eren is taking the brunt of that.

  Grunting, he settles himself in tighter, he can’t afford to budge or move until the time is perfect.

  Counting, Eren makes it to one hundred and eighty seconds. A single second after, the sound of the engine starts within the mall.

  He could feel the anxiety starting, but he quells it quickly, breathing, using the burn of the asphalt to distract him.

  The engine revs, getting louder and louder as Hayden applies more gas to it.

  Eren narrows his eyes and opens his ears, listening for any other sounds.

  Over and over the engine revs, until eventually he can pick up the noise of another engine in the distance.

  Hayden will be watching through the entrance, looking up at Tony and Chloe who will give him a signal when the guards get closer. Hayden said he could do it, and Eren is trusting him right now.

  The engine noise of a guard SUV gets closer and closer. He can hear it turn a corner on the opposite side of the parking structure. Chloe or Tony must have given the signal then, because the decoy’s engine gets louder as well.

  Eren listens as it echoes through the mall, approaching the entrance at an alarming speed.

  He doesn’t see the Guard SUV yet, and the decoy is already moving too quickly.

  Eren clenches his jaw as the sound of the Guard SUV rumbles inside the parking structure. Its brakes squeal to a halt, and then... the sound of thunder.

  The guard SUV opens fire early, it isn’t yet visible to either Eren, Squirrel, Chloe or Tony, and the decoy is already passing the spot they needed the guards to be.

  “FUCK!” Eren shouts as bullets rip through the decoy, ricocheting off the metal and sending them cracking and whizzing through the air.

  Squirrel sits paralyzed, and Tony and Chloe have no possible way to drop onto the guards any more.

  Squeezing his eyes shut, Eren screams, picks himself up off the ground and hauls himself over the parking structure wall onto the ground inside.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  His ears ring from the sound of heavy machine gun fire. The entire structure lights up in stuttering yellow frames as the muzzle flash illuminates the carnage being unleashed onto the decoy.

  Eren slams his feet into the ground and wills his legs to move under him. He almost trips as he moves so fast. Coming at the SUV from the flank, the turret has little time to make the full 90 degree rotation, but still it tries.

  The muzzle flash blinds Eren in the dark, bullets punch craters into the wall, the ground, the support pillars, next to Eren as he shifts to an arcing motion to avoid getting turned into pink mist.

  Several rounds crack inches from his feet, sending fragments of concrete tearing through the skin of his legs until the turret can no longer aim any further down.

  Eren grabs hold of the driver side door and tears it open in time to see the driver leveling his pistol directly at Eren’s head.

  Eren slams the door closed and, a fraction of a second later, a shot goes off inside, ricocheting around and breaking a window on the passenger side.

  Eren re-opens the door and pulls the man's arm out a fraction of the way, before kicking the door closed a second time, breaking the guard's arm in the frame.

  Another open, and Eren grabs the man by his broken arm and pulls him onto the ground.

  CRASH

  The sound of twisting metal rattles Eren's skull as the decoy collides head-on with the front of the guard SUV, sending it rolling backwards just far enough to put Eren back in range of the turret.

  Shouting, Eren grabs the guard on the ground and rolls him over just as the gun reopens fire.

  The guard grunts and gurgles as the bullets tear him apart, several passing through him to crack into the ground around Eren.

  Eren tucks himself close to the makeshift barrier, holding his arms high to his head as more and more fragments of concrete tear into him.

  The turret then shifts away from Eren, and into the ceiling, showering even more concrete and dust onto him before finally stopping altogether.

  Looking up over the corpse of the guard, Eren watches as Chloe drives her knife down into the throat of the turret operator. Blood sprays out in a wide arc, saturating Squirrel who struggles on the ground with a guard currently on top of her.

  Tony tackles the guard to the ground, getting to his back and locking his legs up. In two swift motions Tony has the guards neck, and then yanks back until it makes a popping noise and he stops moving.

  The sound of the decoy’s tires screeching against the weight of the guard SUV fills the structure, pushing it further and further away.

  “Stop the decoy!” Eren calls out as he pulls the dead guard's gun off him and charges head first back towards the SUV.

  The door to one of the back seats opens, and a single boot makes contact with the ground. Eren aims down the sights of the gun and pulls the trigger over and over and over again.

  His aim is horrible, the gun's recoil shocks him, the noise deafens him and the bullet hits the door and misses the man behind it.

  Still running forward, Eren watches as the guard emerges, walking backwards to keep pace with the door as the decoy drives the guard SUV further and further back.

  Eren throws himself at the guard SUV, making it so the guard has to move around the door itself to see him. Just as he does so, the decoy stops as someone shifts it into park.

  The engine revs but the decoy goes nowhere. The guard SUV stops and the guard behind the door emerges in full view of Eren.

  Eren pulls the trigger, but the gun doesn’t fire. A piece of brass sits un-ejected from the firearm, jamming it up and preventing the next round from going off.

  Eren throws the gun at the guard just as the guard pulls his own trigger.

  The shot goes wide but only by a hair. Eren can feel the pressure of the bullet crack next to his cheek.

  Turning around, Eren grabs a jagged piece of metal half torn from the decoys front bumper. Four feet long and mostly rigid, Eren yanks it the rest of the way off the ruined vehicle and launches himself at the guard before he has time to recover.

  Eren wields the piece of metal in a backwards grip, keeping the length of it close to the center of his own mass in case the guard thought to try and grab it. He lowers himself down and drives his shoulder into the guards stomach, slamming the makeshift blade home directly after.

  The piece of jagged metal crashes into the guard's stomach, with Eren following the momentum to peel off to the guard's right hand side. He can feel the makeshift blade rip into the black uniform, he can feel the hot blood sputter out, but mostly he can feel the guard plant his feet into the ground to prevent himself from falling over.

  Eren screams, his voice going raw in his throat as he uses himself as a pivot point, and spins his entire body around with every ounce of strength he can find in his legs.

  The piece of metal tears through the guard's stomach as Eren spins. Hot blood saturates his back, his legs, his arms. The weapon clatters to the ground as Eren pulls the last of it through the guard.

  Panting, wheezing, Eren hears first the sound of several wet slaps, then the crumble of a body as the guards' insides spill onto the ground before the rest of him collapses.

  Eren’s breath rasps in his raw throat. He lets the piece of metal clatter to the ground. His visions blurs. His hands tremble and shake.

  “Eren!” Jess shouts at him, stepping over the body of another guard. “Eren lets go!” Jess jumps into the back seat of the guard's SUV. Tony and Chloe have already pulled Cris from the trunk and are loading him into the guards vehicle as well.

  Eren shakes his head clear and staggers to the driver seat, buckling himself in and shifting it into reverse.

  “That everyone?” Eren shouts, ears still ringing.

  “That's everyone!” Jess cries out.

  Eren’s guts twist, and a tingle runs its way up his spine.

  “Alright, lets get the fuck—” Eren looks in the rear view mirror and stops, letting the car idle.

  “What’s the problem! Move!” Cris shouts, slapping at the back seat.

  “Colin,” Chloe says flatly.

  The others shift to look around, and watch as Michael, Jacob, Jerimiah and Colin approach the SUV from behind. Michael and Jacob both have their guns raised, aimed at Eren in the driver's seat.

  “Fuck fuck fuck!” Cris punches the back seat.

  Colin approaches the driver side window with Michael at his flank, while Jacob secures the passenger side and Jerimiah opens the trunk.

  Eren rolls down the window and stares Colin in the eyes. That familiar tingle working its way through him.

  “Room for a few more?” Colin asks politely.

  “Your plan was to just fucking wait for us to do all the work?” Eren grinds the words out.

  “The plan was to swoop in and mop up after you all died. I’m just as shocked as you are about this little plan working out.”

  Squirrel squeals as Jacob presses the barrel of the gun into her chest from the broken window.

  “Now what say you play nice, let us in, and we will let you escape too as opposed to just killing you.”

  Jerimiah is already letting himself in, forcibly moving Cris as he takes up a spot in the trunk.

  “Fine...” Eren looks straight ahead, trying his best to ignore the creeping pressure this boy causes.

  “Scooch scooch.” Colin coo’s as he opens the back seat doors and forces his way inside.

  An engine revs, tires screech, and rounding the corner is a blur of black that sends Eren's stomach into his throat.

  “Shit!” Eren punches the SUV in reverse before Jacob can get in all the way, leaving him staggering in the parking structure.

  Jacob raises his rifle to Eren, shouting something inaudible over the engine, and is promptly turned into a sack of flying meat as another guard SUV bares down on them, opening fire on the stranded teen.

  “Chloe!” Eren shouts, ripping the emergency break and turning the steering wheel to whip the car around.

  It goes further than he would like, nearly 270 degrees before he slams it into drive and puts all of his weight onto the accelerator.

  Chloe climbs into the turret position and grunts against the weight of it as she struggles to spin it around to face the new set of guards.

  Machine Gun fire rips through the windshield and everyone puts their heads down as glass shatters and sprays over them.

  Eren pulls down hard on the wheel and sends the SUV to the right, behind where a pillar should be to intercept some of the machine gun fire.

  Chloe finally is able to return fire, providing them enough cover as they roar down the road approaching max speed.

  They don’t have time to put on any uniforms to complete the disguise, so the plan now is to simply be faster.

  Eren lifts his head up to watch the road, taking care to avoid the streets they know has other guards and blocked roads

  He is far from the best driver, but with mostly straight roads it’s easy.

  Buildings blur past them, the sun bares down with its angry rays and his ears feel ready to explode from the amount of gunfire he just had to go through.

  Smaller, smaller, smaller, the towers turn to businesses, the businesses turn to houses and the houses give way to open desert roads.

  “Hah, ahahah!” Cris begins to laugh, looking backwards out of the trunk. “No one is following us! Anyone out in the desert?!”

  “No, no one!” Eren shouts back, the reality finally catching up to him.

  His whole body shakes, his heart ready to beat out of his chest.

  The city grows distant, as Eren refuses to let off the throttle. They have three quarters of a tank of gas, the oil temp is perfect, the battery charged and the road wide open ahead of them.

  “Holy fuck we did it.” Jess sobs, her words sputter out of her mouth and fall into her hands.

  “I can’t believe it... I really can’t believe it.” Hayden whispers to himself, having gotten into the guard's vehicle so quietly that Eren didn’t even notice he was there until just now.

  Eren can’t believe it either. What they will do from here he doesn’t know, but they can make it work. Shit they have just been through all of this together, they can manage anything life throws at them now.

  Chloe even cracks what Eren thinks is the start of a smile, though it could also be a trick of the lighting. It’s a beautiful sunset at their backs, a sky of purples and oranges. Nothing could be more beautiful.

  “You said we are 200 miles south of where Rats Den is supposed to be, right? What would be the closest roads?” Eren asks.

  “200 miles west approximately.”

  “Alright, I’ll keep an eye out.” Eren smiles

  ***

  The road stretches on for miles. As it grows dark, Eren fights to allow his eyes to adjust naturally. Turning on headlights might draw attention, and while they have been traveling for well over an hour at 90 miles per hour, it’s still not worth the risk.

  “So, Eren...” Jess smiles, watching him through the rear view mirror. “Think we are far enough away to not worry about death flags?”

  “I would say so.” Eren returns her smile.

  “After this... I was hoping you would be alright with me sticking with you? I know that is probably stupid to ask, but I wanted to make sure.”

  “Oooo she likesss youuuuu.” Cris teases.

  “Shut up.” Eren shakes his head. “yeah, of course. I was hoping we could all stick together actually,” he admits softly.

  “That would be so much fun! I feel like we have been friends forever actually, aside from Colin though.” Squirrel sticks out her tongue.

  Colin ignores her, and keeps his eyes out the window.

  “Fun? Not sure about fun, but at the very least I know we can get through just about anything now,” Jess sniffles, wiping away a few stray tears.

  “We can make it all work, we got this.” Eren reassures them

  “We can make it work faster if you keep up the speed,” Colin comments.

  “I’m not going faster than 90, not without headlights.”

  “You aren’t going 90.”

  “I’ve been going 90 since the city, haven’t let off.”

  “Well, you are slowing down.” Colin looks to Eren in the rearview mirror.

  Eren turns his attention down, watching as his speed slowly decreases by ten miles per hour at a steady rate.

  “Wait... wait, why are we slowing down?” Squirrel leans over, looking at the speed. “Eren, why are we slowing down?! Go faster!”

  “I... I am going faster, my foot is all the way down!”

  “Shit, did something happen to the car?” Cris cranes his neck over the back seats.

  “No, no, everything looks fine.” Eren scans the dashboards. No engine light, no warning, no nothing, but they are still slowing down.

  “Don’t fuck with us dude, come one we need to go this isn’t funny,” Michael's voice cracks.

  “I'm not fucking with you, the SUV isn’t fucking going!”

  A wave of pins and needles assaults Eren's senses, and then a high pitched wail deafens him.

  “Shit!” Eren grits his teeth and finds himself bringing his hands to his head on reflex alone. The noise is indescribable. Pain vibrates his entire body, he can feel his ears begin to bleed even as he cups his palms over them.

  The sensation of being watched floods over Eren so thoroughly he feels bile rise in his stomach.

  In the near total darkness of the desert road, something moves, and then light bathes them all in blinding white as the SUV is forced to stop, the engine idling despite his foot still pressing the pedal to the floor.

  Eren can’t see, can’t hear anything other than the screams of the people in the car with him.

  Squirrel fumbles at the door, opens it and steps outside.

  “Hands in the air, drop your weapons.” A voice crackles over an intercom, cutting off the screech.

  “What the fuck is happening, Eren what is happening!” Jess cries, keeping her head tucked to the ground.

  “I don’t know!”

  “I can’t, I can't, I can't, I can't!” Squirrel shouts, looking around wildly, though white light saturated every detail of the surrounding.

  “Exit the vehicle with your hands on your heads.” the voice continues from somewhere distant.

  Eren can’t make words, his body is in too much shock, too much agony to function. He slams his hand over and over and over on the steering wheel as his eyes adjust to the light around him.

  Well over 50 armored vehicles block their path forward and fill in the path behind them. Soldiers in heavy combat armor point rifles at them from behind cars. A silent helicopter shines a spotlight down from above.

  The noise vibrates his bones once more, sending everyone screaming and shuddering a second time.

  As soon as it stops, the voice repeats the commands.

  “Drop your weapons. Exit the vehicle with your hands on your heads.”

  tap tap tap

  “I can’t do it!” Squirrel cries.

  “No!” Jess reaches a hand at the window as Squirrel sprints towards the lights.

  CRACK

  A scream follows the sound of a rifle firing a single shot. Squirrel’s leg explodes underneath her, her body tumbling under the weight sending her to the ground. Her eyes are wide, arm outstretched towards the light, before that too is removed at the elbow.

  Her body slides against the asphalt from the force, blood spraying inside the vehicle. She waves her stump in the air, fragments of bone jutting out like sticks in a red mound of mud.

  “Help me!” She begs, before her head is turned into pink mist.

  A piece of her tooth clatters into Eren’s lap, leaving him petrified as the orders are repeated a third time.

  Colin sighs, and opens the door, stepping out of the SUV with his hands on his head. He gets to his knees, and remains there, staring out into the light.

  “This can’t be happening, this can’t be fucking happening,” Jess sobs into her hands.

  “It is...” Jerimiah pops the trunk and steps out next, following Colin’s direction.

  “I don’t want to die...” Hayden whispers, his legs shake. He’s pissed himself. Eren can’t blame him.

  Eren grabs the steering wheel with all of his strength.

  There has to be a way out, a plan, something they can do.

  A hand rests against his back, Cris’s.

  “Come on...” Cris frowns. Hobbling out of the trunk as well, He collapses to the ground entirely as he is unable to support himself on just one good leg.

  This can’t be it, this can’t be the end. There has to be something.

  “We can–” Eren starts, but his words are cut off as a gunshot deafens him.

  Blood mists his neck, Jess screams, Chloe wipes brains from her eyes as Michael's body goes limp, the muzzle of his rifle still in what remains of his mouth.

  Everything hurts, everything aches, Eren can’t breathe.

  Chloe exits next, joining the others outside with her hands behind her head.

  “I don’t want this, I don’t want this!” Jess sobs, rocking back and forth with her head in her hands.

  “Come on. Let's go.” Eren’s voice sounds like a stranger, even to him. It’s cold, and distant, so impossibly far away. “Jess, come on. Don’t die here.”

  Hayden crawls from the seat and lays himself on the ground, his body too weak to support him anymore.

  Tony calls his name softly, and then follows close behind, bringing himself next to the fragile looking boy.

  “Jess, come one we need to go.” Eren brings a hand to her shoulder, and she looks up at him with the most tired eyes he has ever seen.

  “I can’t...”

  “You can.”

  “No! No, I can't do this!”

  “Come on...” Eren opens the door and steps out into the blinding light, putting his hands behind his head, and kneeling on the ground.

  He realizes now, why everything had felt so off, why it had all felt so incredibly wrong. The details fall into place as the ground digs into his knees and pure white light burns a hole through his retina.

  Chloe was right. This was all one big experiment. The air vents being just the right size, the maze, the lack of security on any other door. The lack of staff, everything. The city being fake, all one big quickly built facade. This was a test, they were always meant to escape... they were never going to make it, there was never a chance for real freedom...

  The recording delay on the cameras, how easy it was to steal a key and unlock a door... the nonsense papers. They were doing exactly as they were supposed to from the very beginning. They were always going to end up right here, right in this very spot. They probably had proximity sensors, drones watching from above, underground vehicle bays. The SUV likely had remote control in it. All of the cars probably did.

  Eren wants to cry, he wants to sob, he wants to rip and tear at these people, he wants to crawl into a hole and die.

  Jess emerges from the car, and kneels next to Eren, her eyes red, puffy, and utterly empty.

  Eren doesn’t know what comes next, but he knows whatever it is... they won’t be able to escape it.