April 17th, 2018

ZCP Research Center, Tokyo

It was late at night, and eerily quiet in the lab. The smell of chemicals was overwhelming, and people in white coats surrounded one of the tables. A heart monitor was beeping unevenly, as the scientists worked on the person.

Ymir was laying flat on her back on the cold steel table. She was heavily drugged and numbed, but still conscious.

Her wrists and ankles were strapped to the table, and she was completely undressed, her stomach was dissected open, her intestines hanging out, as the scientists sliced open her organs. She had a huge scar in the shape of a Z on her shoulder, and other scars.

This was her 2nd experiment. And the 698th experiment out of all of them. Despite all the cruel dissecting and drugging, no cure was found yet, nearly 7 months later.

There was also needles stabbed into her arms, along with some type of tube shoved down her throat. There was blood all over the table, and the scientists' white gloves.

As some more blood poured out, the heat monitor began to beat frantically, and suddenly flat lined. "Shock her", a scientists ordered nonchalantly. The other attempted using shocks to get her heart beating again.

Her body convulsed and her back arched from the shocks, and her heart began beating again, though it was very unsteady.

"No difference in this one either...", one scientist murmured. "We could try removing a limb or two, and studying those...", another muttered.

"Blood pressure's 190, if we remove a limb now, she's done for", a female scientist stated. She pushed back the glasses over the bridge of her nose, having dark red hair.

"Hanji, we are looking for a cure, for all of humanity. A few sacrifices are needed", Dr. Tanaka said firmly.

Hanji frowned. "With all due respect sir, you hired me to keep some of these people alive. You've lost over 600 people in this experiments. That's over 90% of the people you've experimented on. If you keep going like this, everyone here will be dead before we find a cure", Hanji said, glaring.

Dr. Tanaka frowned. "Stitch up #698, we'll dissect her limbs in two weeks from now", he ordered then.

In the cell area, it was beginning to resemble a dog kennel. Much like the animal testing labs. There was two numbers on each cell, for the two people in each one, along with information about them.

They only got food once a day, and water twice a day. Many of them have lost an excessive amount of weight too.

Mikasa was trying to sleep in her cot. Her hair was very long now, and she was much thinner. Eren's hair actually began to get long as well.

Eren and Armin were also trying to sleep, along with Sebastian, Connie, Jean and the rest. Historia couldn't sleep, worried sick for Ymir.

She was sitting down on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Mikasa was in a somewhat deep sleep, as deep as it could be with her stomach growling and her mouth bone dry, when she stirred, hearing a strange sound.

She groaned, it sounded like..cushion being ripped. By a miracle, her injury remained healed, despite these conditions. Though exercising and building up her energy was difficult with lack of food and water.

She sat up, her blanket falling off, and looked around for the source of the loud noise. Then, to her horror, she found it.

Sasha was sitting on her own cot. The sheets were removed, and the mattress was pushed off halfway. There was a small hole in the box spring, yellow cushion type insulation was exposed, and appeared to be ripped out as well.

There were small pieces of it scattered about...and Sasha was gripping a piece in her hands...eating it. Her hands were bruised and bleeding from trying to open up the box spring without any sharp objects, a few of her nails were ripped.

"SASHA!", Mikasa snapped out of her shock, and hurried over. "Sasha, spit it out! It's only going to make you sicker!", Mikasa went to grab it, but Sasha, who was deranged from starvation at this point, actually lunged at Mikasa, slamming her against the metal bars that were between their cell and Eren and Armin's.

Mikasa cried out in pain, but managed to get Sasha in a headlock, the commotion waking some people up.

"Mikasa..?!", Eren got up, along with Armin. "Sasha, you're going to poison yourself! You have to spit it out!", Mikasa yelled, as Sasha struggled against her grip.

"Oh god...", Armin's face fell in horror, as they realized what was going on. Sasha's struggling got weaker as she started to feel sick.

Tears appeared in her eyes as she snapped out of it, and dropping the chunk of insulation. Mikasa exhaled, letting her go.

"How much did you eat...?", she asked worriedly. "A lot...oh god..!", Sasha felt her stomach heave, and she fell to her knees, throwing up.

It was mostly water, but with small chewed up pieces of insulation. Mikasa sank down herself, rubbing Sasha's back. "I'm so hungry...I can't..take this..", Sasha sobbed, shaking badly. Everyone was hungry, and it was a daily occurrence for someone to throw up due to lack of food, or even pass out randomly.

Sebastian was especially getting sick. Mikasa noticed too..and it killed her to be separated from him through cells.

As Sasha eventually passed out, Mikasa leaned against the bars. "Mikasa...are you all right?", Eren asked her worriedly, though he knew none of them were.

"No..I...Eren, we need to get out of here. If the experiments don't kill us, this will..living like this. Food and water is being given to us less and less each week...", Mikasa replied.

"I know...we gotta figure something out, and fast", Eren agreed, as he gently held her hand through the bars.

"All we know is that there are vehicles in the garage on this property, and that the exit door has a code on it to break...", Armin added.

"I heard one of them say outside that area is a fence with barbed wires...then we have to consider the snipers they still have...", Mikasa said.

"The first step is getting out of these cells...", Eren growled. "We've tried everything...they never even open them. They just slide food and water in through the bars..", Armin pointed out weakly.

Mikasa glanced over at the destroyed cot of Sasha's. "Maybe they'll see this mess and figure they should clean it...but that's too much of a long shot", she said.

"Any ideas at all then?", asked Eren. Mikasa looked around her surroundings. "I have one idea...it's a bit crazy, and its extremely dangerous and risky...", she said then.

"We'll try anything at this point", Eren told her. "Every day around lunch time, a single scientist comes in just to do a check on us all, makes sure we're all still alive and not trying to escape, he always carries keys with him", Mikasa started.

"It's at this time, that all the other scientists are eating lunch, and not paying much attention to the cameras...if one of us could do something to make this scientist think something is wrong enough for him to open one of our cells...", she went on.

Eren's eyes widened. "That person could knock him out! And escape, and let us all out!", Eren realized. "Yeah...but it would be risky. We'd be escaping without knowing the code or anything...", Armin pointed out worriedly.

"What's worst is, only a select few could escape in enough time...it would just be our group", said Mikasa grimly.

"So then us three, Sebastian, Sasha, Jean, Connie, Historia and Ymir...", Eren counted. "That's nine people...once we're out, we can try to get help for the others", Armin stated.

"But which one of us will be the one to get him to open their cell?", asked Eren. Mikasa bit her lip.

"Leave that to me", she said.

April 18th, 2018

7:04 AM

ZCP Research Center

When morning arrived, just like Mikasa predicted, the scientists didn't bother to clean Sasha's bed. The others have been told about the plan, and now it was just a matter of waiting until Noon.

The doors opened, and the scientists were wheeling in a stretcher. "YMIR!", Historia cried, gripping the bars, seeing Ymir's unconscious form on it.

They put Ymir back in the cell...this wouldn't be a good time to escape. There were five of them, and Historia was too small and weak to take even one of them on.

"Ymir! Ymir can you hear me?!", cried Historia, gently taking Ymir's limp, cold hand.

Ymir remained unconscious, her body all scarred and stitched up. Historia swallowed hard, holding onto Ymir, trembling.

Mikasa looked across the room. "Connie, is my brother all right?", she asked him. "He's sleeping, but yeah he seems okay", Connie replied softly.

"What time does he come in about?", asked Jean. "Around 12:05 usually..", Armin answered, there was a clock on the wall.

Sebastian stirred, rubbing his eyes as he sat up. "Sis..? What time is it?", he asked. "It's early, buddy...you can sleep in a bit more...but don't worry, we're getting out of here. Today", Mikasa assured him.

"Today..!? What?!", Sebastian woke more, as he gripped the bars, looking at her across the room. "We got...a plan. It's a risky one, but when we get out, I need you to do exactly as I say, understand? Your life depends on it...", Mikasa told him seriously.

Sebastian swallowed hard, nodding. "I understand sis", he said. "We won't have a long time to get out and find that code...lunch ends after only half an hour", Sasha stated.

"Bastards...stuffing their faces while they keep us starving in here...", Eren growled under his breath then.

"It proves whatever these experiments are for..they're not to save humanity", Connie said.

"They're not...", Historia's voice said then..it came out cracked. Everyone looked over at her and Ymir's cell, which was next to Connie and Sebastian's.

"Historia?", Mikasa asked. "What's wrong?", added Sasha fearfully, noticing her sudden grim tone. Historia was trembling badly, tears streaming down her face, Ymir's limp head in her lap, the rest of her body was still...deathly still.

Eren's heart dropped as everyone realized it. "No...Ymir...", Jean froze up, as Historia released a shaky sob, stroking Ymir's hair.

"She...she just...passed on...as we were talking...in her sleep...", she cried. Mikasa's eyes softened, an expression of deep sympathy as Eren glared.

"Damn it...!", he growled. "We have to get out of here...today!", Historia said then, shakily, as she cradled Ymir's body.

"At least...she died with you, and not on that table...at least she had some dignity...", Connie stated, grimly.

12:04 PM

They were all quiet as they waited for the door to open, the scientist with the cell keys would be entering any second now. Eren stood close to the cell door with Armin...he wondered what Mikasa had planned to get him to open her and Sasha's cell so quickly.

Sasha was the only one who knew her plan, and was instructed to do as she was told. Mikasa was leaning against the wall of the cell near the front of it, listening closely for the door to open.

Sasha was near the cell door, looking tense but ready. Sebastian and Connie watched anxiously, while Historia remained quiet in her cell.

Then, as they all held their breath, they heard the familiar sound of the door being unlocked, and the knob turning with a click.

They could hear the door creaking open, and the sound of a single pair of footsteps entering, even the sound of keys jingling in his hand.

Sebastian, who had a view of him, gave his sister a subtle thumbs up, letting her know he was alone. Mikasa nodded.

She took a deep breath, and then, quite impressively and convincingly, went limp, dropping to the floor, and her body began to convulse and shaking, faking a seizure...but it was extremely realistic, it even caused Sebastian to jump back, and Eren's stomach to churn.

At the exact same time, Sasha hurried up to the bars, just as good at acting.

"HEY! We need help in here!", she yelled out at the scientist. He blinked, at first looking mildly annoyed. "What?", he asked approaching.

"She's having a seizure!", Sasha answered frantically, as the scientist froze then, as he saw Mikasa convulsing on the floor, she was even making choking sounds to extra sell it.

"Oh shit!", the scientist panicked, knowing they couldn't afford to lose one of their 'experiments' so he quickly unlocked the cell door. Eren's heart jumped, it was actually working.

"Get behind her, she could swallow her own tongue!", Sasha told him, as she stealthily got right in front of the opened cell door.

As the scientist got behind Mikasa, and went to lift her head up, in a flash of a second, Mikasa grabbed him, and put him in a strong headlock, slamming his head against the concrete wall, knocking him unconscious.

His body fell to the floor, as Mikasa exhaled. The group starred in shock, all impressed. "Badass..", Eren muttered, as Mikasa grabbed the keys from his coat. "Okay, let's move", Sasha said quickly.

Mikasa quickly unlocked Sebastian and Connie's cell first. "Sis!", Sebastian hugged her tightly as Mikasa held onto him.

"Okay, stay with me Sebastian, don't let go of my hand", she told him quickly, as Sasha unlocked Eren and Armin's cell.

Eren hurried to Mikasa's side with Armin, taking her free hand. "Everyone stay close together", Armin advised, as Sasha let Jean out, and Mikasa opened Historia's cell.

At first, Historia hesitated to leave. "Historia...you can't stay here..", Mikasa told her gently. "Ymir wouldn't want that", Eren added.

Historia swallowed hard. She gently lay Ymir's limp head down, and nodded tearfully. She got up, and followed them.

"Okay, everyone stay close and stay quiet", Eren whispered, as the eight of them left that cell room. They entered the experiment room, where they had all been branded.

"The exit door is right there...okay, Armin, Eren, Sebastian and I will try to find the code in here. Sasha, you, Jean and Historia and Connie go and find things for us to pack...", Mikasa said then.

"Pack?", Connie blinked. "Weapons, food, water, anything...and see if you can find jackets to keep our brands covered", Eren explained.

"If we can't find anything, we'll have to loot stores in Tokyo", Armin added. "Right, okay", Sasha nodded, as she, Jean, Connie and Historia went to check other close by rooms.

"We got about 25 minutes left to find this code", Mikasa stated, as they began checking all the cabinets in the room.

"It has to be here somewhere!", Sebastian said, as he opened drawers that contained medical tools and such.

The smell in this room was awful...from the sick experiments. Eren actually noticed Mikasa grimace slightly, a hand on her stomach.

"You okay?", Eren asked her softly as they searched. Mikasa shook her head. "It's just the smell...", she assured him. The smell was of rotting flesh, urine, blood and death.

The two had spent six months between bars...it had been hard on them both, since they had grown so close to each other.

Mikasa was still wearing her red scarf. Eren blinked then, he gently ran his hands through her long hair then, making her blush.

She looked at him. "Your hair's really long..you should cut it short, to keep it from getting grabbed...once we escape, the entire government will be after us", Eren advised her.

Mikasa blinked softly, she nodded, noticing a pair of scissors on the counter. She grabbed them, and cut her hair quite short.

It was still feminine appearing, but it only just touched her shoulders. Eren turned a bit red. "Well?", asked Mikasa.

"That's perfect..it honestly suits you, Mikasa", he admitted then. Mikasa averted her eyes, her heart beat picking up.

"Okay, let's hurry", she said as they continued searching. During their conversation, they didn't notice Hanji, the female scientist had slightly opened the door, and saw them.

She was dead silent, and then slipped a piece of paper on the counter, before exiting. "There's nothing here!", Armin said fearfully.

"Wait...what about that?", Sebastian pointed. Eren hurried over, and picked up the piece of paper. "Holy shit...! This is it!", he exclaimed.

"Careful, it could be a trap", Armin pointed out, as Mikasa hurried over to the door, and began punching the code in as Eren read it off.

"4...7...9...2...2...1...6...3...0", he read as Mikasa finished. Then, the red light on the lock turned bright green, and the knob turned, the door opening.

They held their breath, as Mikasa peered outside the door. Her eyes widened, as she opened the door more.

Inside, was the hospital garage. There was a black motorcycle, and a red pickup truck. "I think we just found our escape rides", Armin said.

"Guys", Sasha said quietly but urgently as she, Connie, Historia and Jean returned. "We got some water bottles, and found these brown jackets, along with these...", she showed them four pistols, and a set of bow and arrows.

"I'm skilled with bow and arrows, I took classes...and Jean actually knows how to use a gun", Sasha revealed. "I can use a gun too", Eren said then.

Armin blinked. "Really Eren? I never knew that", he admitted. "Oh, yeah, my dad taught me...okay, who here knows how to drive a stick?", Eren asked. They all froze up, looking pale. They were all in high school after all.

"Actually...I do", Historia raised her hand then. "Ymir...taught me", she revealed grimly. "Then you can drive the truck", Connie said.

"I'll take the motorcycle with Mikasa, while the rest of you can pile in the back", Eren said. "Can you drive a motorcycle?", asked Mikasa, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I got the basic idea...", Eren admitted, as he took a gun from Sasha. Jean took one, and so did Mikasa. Connie took the last one.

"Okay, we make a break for the mountain, as far away from the city as possible, agreed?", asked Mikasa. They all nodded.

Historia got into the front seat of the pickup truck, as Sebastian got in the passenger seat. "Sebastian, do what Historia says, okay?", Mikasa told him quickly.

"I will sis...hey Eren, keep my sister safe, okay?", Sebastian said firmly. "I will, I promise", Eren told him, as Sasha opened the garage door.

Outside, was the chainlink fence with barbed wires that Sasuke and Akio failed to get over. "Will the truck break through that?", asked Historia nervously.

"If you gun it, it should", Jean assured her.

Sasha, Connie, Armin and Jean got in the back of the pickup truck, while Eren got on the motorcycle. Mikasa got on, wrapping her arms around his waist.

She made sure her scarf was wrapped tightly, as both vehicles started up. The loud noise of the motorcycle filled the garage.

It was broad daylight, but it was also a cloudy day, a rain storm starting. Lightening flashed in the dark sky.

Just then, the Exit door reopened, as Dr. Tanaka hurried out, looking furious. "STOP THEM!", he ordered.

"Hold on tight!", Eren growled, as Mikasa tightened her grip. Eren pressed the gas, and Historia gunned it, the truck's tires skidded at first, but then drove forward at full speed.

Within seconds, the truck slammed through the fence, breaking it down, as it sped off across the long field.

Eren drove alongside it at equal speed, going a bit ahead. All of them took a breath...they haven't had fresh air in so long...months. Mikasa felt the cool crisp air against her face and hair, as her scarf breezed in the wind.

But they weren't out of the woods yet, as some gunshots hit sides of the truck. "Shit!", Connie ducked, nearly getting hit.

"It's their sniper...!", Sasha realized. "And he's not the only one!", Jean yelled, seeing three motorcycles chasing them, being driving by MP, with guns.

One of them drove up ahead of the truck to get close to Eren and Mikasa. Eren glared, narrowly dodging the first gunshot.

Mikasa aimed, and shot at the MP officer, hitting the seat. Behind them, Sasha aimed her arrow at the sniper, as Connie and Jean shot at the other two motorcycles, as they shot back.

"Sebastian, what's happening back there?!", Historia asked, driving faster. "Just focus on driving!", Sebastian assured her, as he watched behind them.

Sasha pulled back her arrow, and just as she was about to shoot, the sniper shot, and the bullet hit her arm. Sasha screamed out painfully, clutching her arm, the bullet his right under her Z mark.

"SASHA!", Connie yelled fearfully. "I'm fine...! Keep shooting!", Sasha cried, gritting her teeth painfully.

"But you're injur-"

BANG

Midway through his sentence, Jean was shot in the head, causing Sasha and Connie to both jump, both of them frozen in horror.

"J-Jean...!", Armin stuttered, horrified. Jean's body was limp in the truck, his brains blown out, blood all over.

Historia's heart sunk, seeing the blood on the back window of the truck. "Oh god...", she gripped the steering wheel, and drove faster.

Sasha glared tearfully then, despite her injured arm, she pulled back the bow again, as Connie shot one of the MP officers. It hit him somewhere fatal, because he fell off his motorcycle.

Up ahead, Mikasa shot a third time at the MP, and this time got him in the chest, as he fell off the motorcycle.

"Not a bad shot at all!", Eren told her, the two not knowing what happened to Jean behind them. The third and final MP officer drove up to them, aiming at Eren and Mikasa.

As he shot, Eren steered to the left so the bullet missed, and Mikasa shot the MP officer in the arm, causing him to fall off the motorcycle.

Sasha released her arrow, and it flew far, hitting the sniper in the throat. His shots stopped, as he fell out of the hospital window.

Sasha panted, collapsing back in the truck, her arm hurting badly, as Connie attempted to apply pressure to it. Historia drove faster, as Eren sped up ahead, Mikasa holding onto his waist. They continued to drive across the field, until they were out of sight, deep in the forest, outside of the city.