Truly we have found my darkest days
and we are forced to live with my mistakes
but with every passing moment this darkness is overtaking me
With empty hands I'm reaching out- is there any hope left for me?

Heavy Hearts by Close Your Eyes

Armin's eyes slid open, quickly taking in his surroundings. He mentally shook off his fatigue and listened closely, searching for sounds of zombies. Something had woken him up, and he had learned by now to trust his instincts.

Carefully Armin rolled onto his feet and silently pulled out his knife. His head swiveled, but he didn't find anything out of place on the roof he had taken refuge on for the night. A barking laugh suddenly cut through the silence, making Armin flinch.

Voices were now floating up to Armin from the street. To him, it sounded like a fairly large group- ten to fifteen people. He snuck to the edge of the roof and peered down, making sure to stay out of sight.

Bandits. Armin could tell immediately by their gaudy appearances. Jewelry and all sorts of coins adorned their bodies. The bandits' skin seemed to glint with all the metal they were decorated with. Bracelets, necklaces, earrings- of course the jewels were worth nothing now, but the vanity of humans remained.

Armin took a headcount, eleven bandits total. Eight males, three females, one shotgun, one handgun, four knives, and various blunt objects. Careless- they were boldly and loudly tramping down the cracked street, not worried about stumbling across danger. That meant they were either extremely stupid, or extremely cocky and skilled.

Armin assumed the leader of the bandits must be the redhead woman with the shotgun and metal bat. She had the most diamonds on her fingers and ears, and even had a homemade tiara of sorts on her head.

The voices started to become clearer, and Armin could start to make out conversation.

"Could you believe that caravan? They only had a single lookout."

"Idiots. Askin' for a massacre."

"Well, they got it." Confident laughter came from the group.

"Let's stop here and take inventory." The leader said over her companions. "What's the haul today?"

Armin watched closely as the bandits sorted out the stolen goods. He wasn't going anywhere with them resting right under him, so he deiced to get as much information on them as he could. He was an informant, after all. He acted like a mail runner from safetown to safetown and would trade his knowledge of the outside world to the 'quarantined' areas. At least that's what he was doing when Eren and Mikasa were with him.

Ignoring the empty pang in his chest at the thought of his friends, Armin focused back on the bandits as he swiped at his damp face. The bandits were lining up weapons and cans of food. One of them even had a yellow pad of paper and was keeping a tally. Armin had to admit, they knew what they were doing.

"I hear that Gordan's gang ain't havin as easy as us."

"Who, that bald prick from the south?"

"That's the one. They got some sort of army down there."

"Army of Townies? Please, those spineless babies can't hold a knife."

"It's different from the damn Royal Guard posers who 'protect' cities. These guys are a huge caravan."

"Come on, we just took out a caravan of twenty-seven people no sweat."

"I hear they got a hundred, all of 'em fighters."

"Bullshit! That's impossible. That's too many people to feed."

"I swear, I heard from Gordan's men-"

"What's that?" The bandit leader cut in, "You friendly with Gordan's men?"

"N-not particularly, mam."

"I hope not. We're the ones who are keeping you alive, right? You don't need to speak with them unless I tell you to, understood?"

After that all the bandits seemed to loose interest in speaking. Armin didn't blame them- he had seen bandit leaders killing off their own men without batting an eye. They had given Armin enough to mull over anyway. It seemed like the bandits had just finished a raid on a caravan containing twenty-seven people, and swiped a lot of quality loot. Twenty-seven was a large caravan, but it sounded as if they weren't very smart about their traveling.

Armin had heard of the so-called 'Royal Guard'- the army of townies they had mentioned. As Armin understood it, they were a group that protected the governing system in a few cities. The whole project sounded nice in theory, trying to restore something resembling a functioning government system, but in truth they were just using the powerlessness of the civilians to keep themselves safe.

As for whatever this larger army of a caravan was, it certainly sounded unique. Armin was positive the numbers were exaggerated, but to even collect a large group of able-bodied fighters would be a rare phenomenon. Most groups capped at twenty people, unless an extremely stupid group got together, like the twenty-seven the bandits had apparently easily taken out. It was just so hard to keep track of that many people, and to even think of feeding them- it was more risk than most people were willing to deal with. It was difficult enough to protect the hundreds in barricaded cities.

Armin rubbed at his temples, feeling a headache coming on. The gash he had on his face must have hurt him more than he originally thought. It felt like a lifetime ago, but only yesterday he had been washing himself in a stream, friends only a minute away. Only five years ago he had been sleeping in his bed, worrying about grades. He should be in college right now, his whole future laid out for him. Yet here his was, struggling for every day, and he didn't even have Eren and Mikasa to struggle beside him anymore.

He pushed away his dark thoughts once again and tried to get comfortable while sitting on the edge of the roof. He wouldn't be able to leave until the bandits left, so why not make the most of it?

OOOO

Armin jerked awake, breath heavy and heart pounding. His memory was spotty, but he knew with a certainty that he had just escaped a nightmare. He took a few shuddering breaths to calm himself down and leaned over the side of the roof to make sure the bandits hadn't been alerted to his presence. Luckily they seemed to have left some time ago, but still Armin felt like smacking himself. How could he fall asleep like that? The bandits could have found him and slit his throat without a sweat. Stupid. He was stupid.

He continued lecturing himself as he swiftly packed his few meager possessions and jogged down the stairs and out of the building. He just wanted to move. He wanted to get away. From what, he didn't know, he just needed to keep moving.

He figured he would try to find the remains of the caravan the bandits had raided, to see if they missed any supplies. Soon enough Armin came across the first body. Finding dead bodies wasn't something unusual, not anymore. He barely even blinked. Armin took out his hankercheif and tied it around his nose and mouth, trying to block some of the smell. After saying a quick apology Armin started going through the bodies' pockets and savaging for new clothing.

Twenty-seven bodies later Armin managed to pick up another long knife, a can of tuna, a worn canvas jacket and a pair of nice thick socks. The bandits had been too through for him to find much of anything else, but he was thankful for what they did manage to forget.

Not wasting time around the pile of dead, Armin took off into the forest again, wanting to put distance between himself and the massacred. He didn't really have a destination in mind, but as he walked he decided that he couldn't give up, Mikasa had to be alive somewhere. Even if Eren had been bitten, she wouldn't die so easily. He had to search for her, as long as it took. He'd find her, he swore it.

Just as he resolved to head to the nearest city he could find, a voice cut through the silence, "Stop where you are!"

Next Chapter: The Hunter

Thanks for the reviews, faves, and follows! I hope everyone continues to like this story. Also, if you haven't read the manga and finished the anime I will be referencing to things that happen, so spoilers will start to show up. Things like deaths, plot points, and titan shifters. Just a warning!

Charizardflyer: coincidence? I think not. Hahaha thanks!

Moshier1: Who doesn't like zombies? And I feel like snk is asking for this AU. It's just perfection together. Thanks for the review!