I was listening to Ready, Aim, Fire by Imagine Dragons and it came to me. I swear. Zombie-fic AU, modern, that contains episode 13 spoilers technically. So, beware. Don't read if you don't know or don't want. Jean/Marco fic here. You saw it coming and it's probably been done before already.
Warnings: Mild depictions of violence, character death, zombies, cannibalism, murder?
Pairings: Marco Bott/Jean Kirschstein, sort of implied Mikasa/Eren or Armin/Eren if you squint.
Disclaimer: I DONT OWN AOT OR THE LYRICS.
-memmy out
Footsteps echoed down the alleyways and moans surrounded them as they ran. Sweat poured down Jean's face as he put his foot down and pushed forward past the dead bodies littering the ground around them. They'd already lost so many…
It was only Armin, Mikasa, Eren, Annie, and Jean left in their group. The others had split off, vowing to meet back in the base. Why had they been assigned to the search parties? Why were they even daring to go out into the hoards of the dead to retrieve the trapped living who weren't there? Everyone was dead by now but Eren refused to believe otherwise and he'd somehow begged Pixis to let them go out as a search party.
Jean's heart was pounding in his chest and he felt the weight of his gun in his holster once more. He only had a few bullets left. The others weren't better off. Eren had nothing but Armin had split his ammo between them and Mikasa and Annie had lost a ton of rounds protecting them while Armin retrieved medicine from an abandoned pharmacy.
All Jean wanted to do was get back to the safety of the army base where he could settled down, have a good warm meal and relish in the company of his friends. Was that too much to ask for?
Why on earth were they cursed with this disease? This cannibalistic, madman disease that killed people by the hundreds in mere hours had torn down all defenses mankind had left. There were only a few groups still alive and yet people still thought that there were survivors outside the protection of walls?
They still sent scavengers out with barely any protection? What nonsense was this? More people were eaten alive than brought back when the search parties were sent out.
Jean just wished he and his close friends wouldn't fall prey to those chances.
"Jean! Hurry up, they're picking up our scent!" Eren called back and Jean only growled something unintelligible under his breath and nodded, running faster even with the slightly sprained ankle he was suffering from and the pain in the souls of his feet.
They couldn't keep running like this. How far from the base were they?
Annie fell behind slightly, running beside him as he tried to catch up. Armin was even faster than Jean…what kind of mess was that? Armin had the worst stamina in the world but somehow he was still running faster.
"I hope the others are okay…" Armin's voice whispered out as he ran ahead of them with the map in hand. Jean doubted they were but he prayed for Marco's sake. His best friend and closest friend was with the other group when they split. Jean had seen a group of the walkers following after them when they separated.
Eren patted his friend on the back. "They'll be fine. They're probably already back by now." Eren reassured him but Mikasa stayed silent. Mikasa and Annie both knew that their friends were fighting for their lives.
Jean snarled and pushed past his emotions. "How far are we anyway?" He asked, tone very annoyed as he tripped once from the growing pain in his ankle. By the end of the day he'd be completely unable to walk on it, he knew that. But right now he was living off of adrenaline and excitement.
"Close. We just have to go down these two alleyways and we should be in the clear from there. There's a courtyard on one side of the base that we'll get to." Armin explained as they all slowed slightly. There didn't seem to be any immediate danger but that didn't stop them from being cautious.
Jean walked up to the shorter blond boy, staring skeptically at the map before nodding. In moments they were shuffling along as quickly as possible, trying not to rouse any of the dead lying around them. Most of the bodies and corpses seemed to be permanently dead though torn to shreds for the most part.
It was eerily quiet as they made their way down the first alleyway and they hoped to god nothing would follow them in. This was the place they were supposed to meet up with the other group.
Armin was at the lead with Eren by his side, the two armed and ready but also trying to move as quickly as possible. Annie and Jean got the back while Mikasa was protected in the center. She had the most bullets and she was the best shot so they had to rely on her in an emergency.
They were pretty well off, making it towards the second alleyway when they spotted the partially destroyed building and debris that blocked there path. Armin was standing right in front of the mess of broad beams and splintered wood eyes wide in disappointment and shock.
With our backs to the wall
"We won't make it." He muttered dejectedly, looking towards everyone else apologetically. Jean shook his head. "We're not dead until the dead lady sings." He said, taking hold of the map and looking for an alternate route. They'd have to cut back through an alley to where the others would have entered but it seemed safe.
"We can go this way." Jean offered, tracing the path with his finger. "Isn't that a longer path?" Mikasa asked, and Eren butted in, staring at it. "I don't know Jean. We could just climb this." He said, knowing time was of the essence. The more time they spent out there, the high chances they'd die.
Armin shook his head. "Who knows what blew this apart. There might not be any way to climb safely. We have to take the longer way back." He said, pointing back down the alleyway. Jean nodded his head, knowing his idea was ideal. Eren frowned in discomfort but nodded anyway, looking towards the girls for advice.
Mikasa agreed and Annie said nothing. It seemed like they'd be getting back the long way then.
Jean and Armin led the way back through the passages towards a chain linked fence on one side and a building on the other. They were dangerously placed in the open between large buildings, meaning they could easily get trapped by any herd that came by.
They tried not to dwell on that fact as they crept along, staring in every direction and jumping at every noise.
They seemed to be doing fine until they turned onto the last alleyway, facing the one path towards the courtyard in front of the base. They would have been home free had there not been a lingering mass of slow moving bodies standing in their way.
At first the walkers didn't move but then, just as quickly as they registered that they were in danger, the zombies began to realize there was live food in ready reach.
Moaning and groaning built up as they turned slowly, eyes bulging out of their heads in excitement and interest. Jean tried to ignore the familiar faces that he'd seen around town before the disease spread like mad. People he always saw at the supermarket and old classmates he barely knew, they were all the same.
The darkness will fall
"Oh shit." Eren muttered, reeling back a few steps as the hoard of thirty or so zombies started to come to life suddenly. Arms outstretched and blood leaking from unhealing wounds. Black tar dripped from their mouths to the floor and the teens knew they wouldn't make it through the passage alive.
Armin leaned back, eyes widening and tears welling up in them. "We need to…we need to turn back." He said, turning and looking at the map. Jean instantly reached for the wrinkly paper and tore it from Armin's hands. "We can't turn back! There's no other way!" He yelled.
Eren aimed a few shots at the crowd of zombies coming closer, some speeding up to almost a run. "Guy's we've got no time for this. We've got to go back and climb the wall!" He said, already moving towards the alley where they'd come.
"Go!" Mikasa ordered Jean as she pushed him along, shooting at a few closer zombies. Jean only had one moment to recognize one of them to be Franz.
Oh god how could it be him. Franz had been with the others. He'd been with Marco. Marco had been in the group that had been attacked. Marco might not have made it.
All the scenarios went reeling through his head as Mikasa and Eren both drug Jean by his wrists towards the alleyway with the collapsed wall. Armin and Annie went first, Armin being the most important to pass on because he had knowledge of the disease. Annie got the higher ground and knocked out walker after walker while Eren and Jean took out the closer ones with some piping they found in the rubble.
Once Armin was safe and clear, Jean turned to Mikasa. "Get up there!" He yelled, knowing that it'd be better to let Armin, Annie, and Mikasa to get to safety if anything. The girls and the science major needed to be alive for this.
Mikasa protested for a minute but Eren pushed her along, saying something about 'not being so protective' and forcing her up the pile of rubble as the more zombies came piling into the alley.
The numbers were dwindling down but they knew the sounds of the shots would attract more of them.
Soon Eren was halfway up the pile of rubble when there was a break in the arrival of walkers and Jean had only one bullet left. He was glad too, because now he could climb to safety and they'd get back to base where Marco would assuredly be with the others safe and sound.
Franz had to be the only one. He must have sacrificed himself for them.
But then an almost familiar moaning echoed behind him and Jean turned from the rock wall's face and looked behind him at the one lone walker standing at the front of the alleyway.
His heart nearly stopped beating.
The bloodied face was barely recognizable, half of it was missing. But the freckled cheeks and tousled dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes were enough to send Jean into a roiling panic. He had stopped breathing the moment he saw the staggering mess…the remnants of his friend. They were the same features he dreamed of at night and it was the same face he'd dream of placing innocent kisses on just to show Marco how much he really loved him.
We never quite thought we could lose it all
"M-Marco?" He muttered, eyes wide as he could feel the bile rising up in his throat. Half his face was eaten and gone and most of his torso as well but somehow the body was walking along, one eye set on Jean as it let out a low grumbling noise.
Jean could feel his throat going dry and his eyes bleary from tears. He almost let go of the gun in his hands, the one bullet sitting ready in the chamber to be fired. All he had to do was pull the trigger and his friend would be out of his misery.
Eren and Armin were yelling at him to get moving, climb the wall but Jean couldn't move his legs. They were solid like stone, locked into place and forcing him to stand there as he watched the dead, mutilated body of his best friend…the first person he'd ever say he loved to, trip along towards him with no intentions but to eat him and tear him apart.
Jean didn't even know if his jaw would work from the damage to his face.
He hadn't realized he was talking until he heard his voice repeating one word over and over. All he could keep saying was no as his entire body shook. More of the dead were creeping along, far down the alleys and just catching sight of the live prey.
But Jean didn't care. He was drowning in his own shock and disbelief as Marco's dead boy approached him like a message from god, punishing him of all his sins.
Eren had jumped off the wall and landed beside him, shaking his shoulders and trying to get him to move as the space between the barely able to stand walker and Jean lessened. "We have to go!" Eren kept insisting, yelling in his ears and waving a hand in front of his face persistently.
Ready!
"Jean!" Armin called from above as Eren tried to wrestle the gun out of his hands and hold it up himself.
Aim!
It was like all life returned to Jean in that moment as he elbowed Eren off of him and kept the gun in his own hands. If someone were going to put down his best friend, love, then it was going to be Jean. Eren didn't know Marco well enough.
Fire!
"Get off me!" Jean yelled as he fought the other teen off of him. Eren and he had never been friends. Eren didn't know how much Marco meant to him.
Ready!
Jean pushed Eren out of the way, trying to get him away before he could even think of taking the pipe to Marco's head. There was no way in hell Marco would fall under Eren's hand. Marco didn't deserve to be killed by someone he didn't trust.
Aim!
At the same time the slow footsteps of Marco's dead body increased in pace and Jean watched as the one arm reached out towards him and a disgusting, gargling noise of anticipation escaped the dead things mouth.
Fire away!
On reflex, Jean brought the gun up and shot Marco directly in the forehead just as he went to reach for him and within seconds the resounding bang of the shot firing and the echo of Marco's body hitting the floor blasted through the air.
It repeated in Jean's ears, echoing over and over as the tears fell. His eyes blurred from the salty tears. He dropped his gun, letting it clatter to the floor as he fell to his knees next to the body of his closest friend. In moments Eren was standing next to him, picking up the gun and handing it off to Mikasa who had climbed down most of the wall to save Jean.
An Empire's fall in just one day
They had to get him moved, fast but Jean needed a moment to let it out so instead they all waited and watched as the respectable teen they knew sobbed over the loss of his closest friend.
Jean's body shook with his tears and he hunched over Marco's body as if to protect what was left of him. "Who…who let this happen?" He asked nobody as he cried, fingers lacing with that of Marco's remaining hand.
"I never got to tell you…" Jean muttered as he wept, all his emotional barriers just torn down with Marco's death. "All this time and all this danger and I still never got to tell you!" He cried, burying his face in Marco's bloodied chest with no care in the world if a walker came along and tore him apart.
You close your eyes and the glory fades
Jean knew he'd never forgive himself for letting it happen. He could just imagine what it had been like, pinned under the arms of the dead as they tore at his skin and bones. How could he let Marco suffer like that?
Minutes passed and more walkers got closer. Jean's crying had lessened but he was still heart broken.
"Come on, we've got to get moving." Eren said in a light, understanding tone as he reached for Jean's arm. Jean nodded his head, completely silent as the brown haired teen pulled him to his feet.
Jean's face was devoid of any tears but his eyes and cheeks were read from crying. His eyes looked colorless, like he'd died the moment he pulled the trigger. Eren tried not to get caught up in it, knowing he'd looked the same when he watched his mother torn apart.
Instead he pulled Jean up the side of the wall and they ran, getting across the courtyard just in time to be safe from any more walkers.
Ready, aim, fire!
Ready, aim, fire away!