Unknown Town, 07:28 PM
A young boy slowly opens his eyes, immediately hit with a severe headache, slowly looks around his surroundings. He could barely remember what happened other than the headache he's still enduring. After he regained some strength, he gets up and gets a full view of the area. A dark, foggy, land of nothingness fills his eyes and his mind quickly went into panic, he had no idea where he was, he cannot remember anything prior to this, he was like a lost child.
?: Hello? Anyone?
The boy tried to shout the names of his comrades but to no avail. Instead of wasting his time shouting for names, he decides to take a walk, in hopes of finding answers. He's already dealing with problems back in his own universe, and he can't afford having more, especially in a different timeline. The boy looks to his left and sees ruined houses with some flames on the ground, he looks to his right and sees the wheatfields slowly being consumed by the fog. He thought, maybe this place here was also ravaged by the same enemies that destroyed his hometown, and nearly, his life. His trip suddenly comes to a halt when he sees another figure lurking straight ahead. As much as he's relieved that he's not alone, he tries to distance himself a bit, not wanting to scare the man or anything. Judging by his grey tunic, a steel helmet and some sort of equipment on his back, he thinks it's some sort of mercenary, it's not possible for it to be a soldier probably because to him, that's not how soldiers are dressed up in his universe. But with no time to waste, he takes a short breath and walks closely to the figure with some questions.
?: Excuse me? Are you from here? I got lost and wondered if-
The figure let out a brief but grotesque groan that startled the kid
?: Uhh, sir?
The figure slowly leans to his right. At first, his face is quite human-like, the eyes, nose, and mouth still intact, the flesh with its normal color. That is until he leaned further to reveal his other half. His other half having little to no flesh on its face, his jawbone and teeth exposed for its full view, and his left eye is of nothing but pure scarlet red. As if that reveal wasn't satisfying enough, his torso is now leaking of his innards
?: Wh-what the hell?
The figure let out an ear-piercing scream then started to walk at the kid in a quick pace. The kid, slowly backing away, tried to stop the figure
?: H-hey, back off! I'm telling you
However, as he's retreating, he accidentally tripped on a rock, causing him to fall and land on his back. The figure was now getting very quick, as if he's in sprinting speed
?: W-wait, WAIT!
The figure tried to pounce on the kid, but at the last second, another person clubbed the grotesque figure in the skull with a metal pipe. That person then went into the figure and whacked its head seven times, and even stomping it until there was nothing left but red mush. The person takes a moment to breathe and looks at the frightened kid
?: So much for bragging about killing all of the Titans
?: Jean?
Jean: Eren, about time we found you
Jean pulled Eren back on its feet. They both looked at the mangled corpse of the being
Eren: Thank you for that
Jean: Don't mention it, we're only doing this because we have zero clue on where the hell are we
Eren: Are you also alone?
Jean: No, I found two more with me
As they're discussing this conversation, two more guys showed up who happens to be Marco and Mina
Marco: Jean, the main road looks clear, we should get going
Mina: Eren!
Eren: Mina! I'm glad you and Marco are okay
Marco: Yeah, good thing Jean saved you in the nick of time
The four then questioned themselves on their whereabouts
Jean: So, what now?
Eren: I don't know, is it just us? What about the others like Armin or Connie?
Jean: We haven't saw them yet, just the four of us
Marco: Whatever it is, we need to get out of this place. For sure, those "things" will come back
Mina: Even worse is that we don't have our ODM gear
Jean notices the spade that the corpse was carrying, he grabbed it from the corpse and gave it to Eren
Jean: You'll need this, so I won't have to save your ass next time
Eren: Thanks
Jean: Just make sure you hit them in the head, you do not want to know why
Mina: Guys! Up ahead
Mina points at a group of the undead things straight ahead
Jean: Damn, there's more at the back
Marco: We gotta move, we can't take on all of them
Jean: You're right, c'mon
The group runs away from the undead pack, running into the town itself. More undead block their way but the group managed to fight back against a few of them
Eren: How many are these things running around?!
Jean: You tell me, at least we won't have deal with those stupid Titans without our ODM
As the group continues to run away from the danger, Mina finds a the only standing house of this town
Mina: Guys, I think we can hide there
Eren: Good call, let's go
The group makes it into the house, but an undead jumps on Eren and grabs him by his right leg. Mina quickly reacted and kicks the undead off of Eren. The entire group makes it inside and Jean shuts the door and brings a bookshelf down to make sure they don't get in
Eren: Are we- Are we out of here?
Marco: No, but we're safe, for now
Mina checks in on Eren to make sure he's okay or anything
Mina: Are you okay?
Eren: I'm okay, thank you
Marco looks at the window to find the undead lurking around the streets
Marco: There's too many, I don't think we can keep moving yet
Jean: We're gonna need to lay low for now
Marco: I'll keep watch, you guys can rest
Mina: I'll check for supplies
Whilst Mina looks around the house for some provisions, Jean lays down in the couch while Eren is still in question over what's happening
Eren: So, does anyone remember what happened before this? What about you Jean?
Jean: I don't know much, all I remember is that I woke up in the town's stables I think, even worse is that the horses there are dead and rotting all over the place
Marco: I woke up in one of the houses, half of it was destroyed so there's that
Jean: Me and Marco regrouped outside of town and that's where we found Mina, she was getting surrounded by the things but we were able to save her by distracting the rabid bastards long enough for her to get away
Marco: And again, we haven't seen the others, just the four of us
Mina came back with glasses full of water to offer for the boys
Mina: Unfortunately, no food but I found clean water
The boys took the water and drank it to hydrate
Eren: So, we're just gonna wait?
Marco: Yeah, it's too risky out there. You guys can rest up, I'll wake you up when it's safe to leave now
The group goes to sleep while Marco stays awake to watch over the perimeter
3 Hours Later
Everything seemed quiet both inside and outside with the only noises filling up the air are the wind and the owls lurking around the town. Meanwhile, Jean falls asleep on the couch with the metal pipe in his hands just in case, while Eren and Mina are on the same sofa but not too close as they're sleeping on a sitting position and on the other ends of the sofa. It wasn't until Marco wakes the trio up
Marco: Guys, wake up
The rest are quickly wide awake
Jean: What?
Marco: It looks quiet out there, I don't see anymore of those things
Mina: Should we move
Marco: We have to, this is our only advantage
Eren: Alright then, lead the way
The group opens the back door. Marco was the first one to walk outside to make sure everything is clear
Marco: Alright, looks clear to me, let's go
The group continues to venture deeper into town
Jean: So, what's the masterplan of yours?
Marco: Find the other edge of town, hopefully find some horses if we're lucky
Eren: We could've just ran out of town, like back where you saved me?
Mina: We had no choice and even if we did take that way, there were already dozens of them that were after us prior to this. So, we're cornered into this town either way
Jean: Just be glad that these idiots can't run and are not gigantic like back home
As they're having more discussions, Marco gets the group into a halt. They've made it into the town square, and the fog continues to thicken up the environment
Jean: Where are we now?
Marco: I think we're in the middle of town, looks very open
Mina: Nice statue as well
As they're exploring the place, a loud shriek fills up the air. The group readies up for a potential beatdown
Jean: Goddamn it
Mina: I'm no expert but that scream is no good
Emerging from the thick fog are the undead figures. There is even a variety amongst them, some are wearing full gear, others do not have any headgear, some are human-like, some have little to no flesh at all. Either way, they're still the same thing, the same thing that the young 104th cadets needs to kill
Jean: Again Eren, aim for the head
Eren: I get it, you don't have to remind me every five minutes
Marco: Let's do this
Mina: Alright
OST: Zombie Army Trilogy OST - Village of the Dead
The group makes their stand at the center of the town square by the statue, the undead figures began their attack. Marco clubs two undead by the temple with his wooden plank, Jean knocking back another one, causing the other undead at the back to stumble just like dominoes. An undead tries to bite Jean at the back but Mina interferes, striking it in the nape of the neck with an axe. Meanwhile, Eren struggling to fight the undead as he nearly got bitten twice, had the others didn't react in time to save him. An undead figure, whose jaw and left arm is missing, goes full swing but Eren dodges its attack and repeatedly hits him back with the spade, but this is where it gets interesting. As Eren is about to walk away, the figure that he thought was already dead was being brought back by some sort of demonic magic that causes it to rise back and attack again as if nothing happened, no wonder Jean kept insisting Eren to aim for the head
Eren: What? Oh, is that how you want it?
Eren charges at the figure, screaming in anger, then jumps and this time nails the figure in the head, which splits its head into two, like a fresh watermelon, now the thing is dead for real
Eren: Come back, come back so I can fucking hit you again
Eren said in a taunting manner
Jean: Eren, no time for bragging, help us over here
Mina: They just keep coming
Marco: Just keep at it
Despite the amount of undead they've killed, more and more just keep coming. The group is slowly being surrounded at every flank, every escape plan they could come up, now futile. There was simply too many of them
Eren: So, is this how we're going out?
Jean: For once, maybe you're right
Mina: I hope you're wrong
Marco: Maybe if you guys are a little-
Before Marco could finish his words, a bullet whizzed through Eren's temple, landing on one of the figures' head, causing it to explode into mush and the figure quickly dropped dead. What followed next is a hailstorm of more bullets that cut down the entire undead crowd like thick grass in a lawn, one by one, all of them fell, limbs missing, heads destroyed, all finished off when a stick grenade thrown into the last dozen of undead, exploding and their innards flying in the air
Marco: Wh-wh… What the fuck?
Jean: Are we dead?
Eren: They all… died?
As the smoke from the grenade blast slowly clears up, four more figures stand afar. One of them, assumed to be the leader, pops a round on the last living undead figure with his pistol
Jean: Uhh… Can someone tell me what the hell's going on?
Eren: Hey you! Who are you guys?
?: Not even a thank you?
Mina bumps into Eren's shoulder, causing the boy to briefly grunt in pain
Mina: *chuckles* Apologies for that, he's always that, cranky
Eren: What?
?: That's fine, at least you four are fine
Marco: So, can you guys tell us who you are? I mean, you and I share the same enemy here, right?
Marco said the last word with a nervous tone on his voice
?: Well, considering what's happening right now
The unknown human walks a couple steps forward, revealing his face to the cadets
?: Name's Karl Fairburne, and we're heading for Berlin