A/N: A HUGE SHOUTOUT TO @soggybella679g She is responsible for these next few chapters and is honestly the best human on this earth. Go rape her follow button, kay?

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Armin's P.O.V

I'm alone. Completely, utterly, bone-crushingly alone. And I'm scared.

Jean ran off somewhere and was swallowed by the panicking crowd. Eren and Mikasa where no where to be found either. By the time I had put enough distance between myself and the onslaught of zombies, all of the trucks had left the survivors to fend for themselves. I was surrounded by dead- unfamiliar faces and ones I knew far too well. Limp bodies were starting to twitch, and the victims of the attack started to groan softly.

I ran through the trees which were steadily getting thicker as I retreated further into the forest. I had no idea where the safe house was, I just knew it was to the North of our temporary camp. The camp that was now in shreds.

It was getting dark and harder to see. I wasn't in danger of zombies at the moment, they would be busy finding the poor souls that had been left behind. Speaking of being left behind, I winced as a faint scream cut through the air.

Panting heavily, I wiped my stinging eyes hurriedly, tears blurring my eyesight. But that turned out to be a mistake as I tripped over a tree root and sprawled onto the ground with a squeak. Pain flared up my ankle and I groaned miserably, clutching it weakly.

"Broken... Maybe fractured..." I murmured to myself. "Dammit Armin, you idiot!"

Feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to get me anywhere, I decided. So, using the tree trunk as a support, I stood up slowly, hissing in pain. When I was steady on my feet, I tried to take a step fowards, but as soon as I put my injured foot down I stumbled and another agonising wave of pain washed over me. I fell again with a cry. I sat in the darkness, sobbing quietly. I began to shiver, the cold setting in, which only made me cry harder.

I missed Eren and Mikasa, heck I even missed Levi! But most of all, I missed Jean. He wouldn't be sat in the mud crying if he was in my position. He would navigate himself to safety with ease, then probably get into a fight with Eren about taking to long.

Useless... That's what you are. A burden.

I shook my head, trying to get the dark thoughts out of my head and got back to work. After another pointless attempt to stand, which ended in more pain and an embarrasingly shrill cry, I decided to just crawl.
Crawling along rough paths riddled with tree roots and small rabbit holes with a broken ankle was slow work and I was making far too much noise.

My hand slipped down a crevice in the ground and I slipped over again, a loud sob escaping me as I bashed my ankle. A bright light flickered on, blinding me. I couldn't tell if they were friend or foe, but I could only pray that they would help me. I was helpless lying face down in the dirt, if they meant harm then I was as good as dead.

"Who the hell are you?"

A female. I winced at the harshness of her tone. My eyes were slowly adjusting to the light, I could just about see a shadow of a person. She looked pretty small. As I craned my neck to get a better look, she pressed her foot against the back of my head and pushed me back into the dirt.

"Oi! Reiner, Bert! Fresh meat!" She yelled out. Two more flashlights flickered on and I heard heavy footsteps approaching. A large hand grasped the back of my jumper and hoisted me to my feet. I gasped in pain and whimpered as they examimed me closely. I could see them clearly now, but that didn't make me feel any better. A tall, skinny boy with dark hair and a nervous expression loomed above me, even with my feet dangling off the floor. The girl was a pretty blonde and a little shorter than me. She was also terrifying and looked like she would gladly beat me to a pulp. The boy that was holding me up had a scary anount of muscle and close cropped blond hair. He shook me gently and I squeaked slightly.

"Come on Annie, he's only a kid. Gotta be at least twelve." He said, peering at my face which was scrunched up in fear.

"I-I'm sixteen!" I protested, glaring up at him. His eyes widened and he stared at me, dumbfounded, as if trying to figure out how on earth I could be that old.

"Really? Oh, sorry man, I thought you were-"

"Reiner, don't we have more...ah, pressing matters to be dealing with?" Annie cut in. "Like, whether or not he is with a group, and if he is, if they are a threat to us?"

The tall boy which I'm guessing was 'Bert' nodded and turned to me. I winced slightly, feeling extremely vulnerable. Reiner was still holding me up, Annie's withering gaze made me feel very self-conscious for some reason and now I was about to be interrogated. Wonderful.

"Do you have a group, or have you been alone?" Bert asked, his expression hardening. I gulped, but thankfully I knew what to do in this situation. Telling these three about my group might put them in danger, I'd say that I had been alone.

"I don't have a group, I've been trying to find shelter ever since my village was attacked." I lied. That was a believable story, right? Reiner and Bert looked convinced, but Annie still looked suspiscious.

"I call bull. There's no way someone like you would survive on your own," Annie gestured towards my ankle. "And even if you had only been on your own for a day or so, there aren't any villages nearby, so you would've needed a vehicle to get this far. And I don't see one, do you?"

She's smarter than she looks. That's a shame. It would've been really nice if they bought that.

"That's annoying..." I murmered. Annie seemed to hear what I said, and the corner of her mouth twitched. "How do I know you wont hurt my group if I do tell you about them?"

"Be honest with us, we'll be honest with you." Reiner deadpanned. "Start with your name."

I thought about this. I'm quite a good judge of character, and these people didn't seem like bad guys, just cautious. I couldn't blame them. But just because I understood their motives, didn't mean that I was going to read them my entire diary. A name was enough.

"Armin Arlert."

"Well Armin, I'm Reiner, this here is Annie and beanpole over there is Bertholdt." Reiner waved his hand at each person. I nodded and he set me down gently. I hissed as I put weight on my ankle and almost toppled backwards, but Reiner caught me and propped me up.

"It's nothing personal, but we have to take you hostage." Bertholdt told me. "We wont harm you or anything, but we're low on supplies. If we can make a trade with your group, lets say... You for some food and guns, it's a win-win really."

That made sense. Didn't mean I liked it.

"But can't you just send me back to my group now and we'll send over some supplies?"

Annie scoffed. "And how do we know that you aren't just going to mess with us? For all we know, you could come kill us instead. Wouldn't be the first time."

Bertholdt and Reiner's expressions became grave at that statement. Annie took a deep breath, probably to calm herself down.

"It's the safest way, for us and your group. Just co-operate. Please."

A/N: Bella you actual angel, I worship you in all ways.

Bo Burnham is very inspiring I must admit. I've had 'Words, words, words' on repeat as I wrote this.