Chapter Text
The air felt heavy, suffocating, every corner drowning in panic. The sound of heavy footsteps swirled with the preys’ whimpers and pleas, screams tearing through the halls. The sound of gunfire was deafening, disrupting the illusion of peace within the shelter.
"The Predators found us!" Somebody shouted before their voice dissolved into a distant scream.
"Everyone! Run as far as you can!"
I couldn't fully comprehend what was happening as my father dragged me into a separate room, just a short distance away from the chaos outside.
My mother, Carla, Armin, and Mikasa were already there. My attention drifted to my father as he knelt in one knee and held my shoulders in a vice grip. Is he panicking too? His breathing was uneven, heavy, as if we were running out of time.
"Dad‐?"
"Eren, listen to me." He started, his voice shaking.
He pulled something from his coat, a necklace, a key gleaming as its pendant. With trembling fingertips, he wrapped it around my neck and tucked it beneath my collar. The metal was cold, biting against my skin. What is this for? Why now?
"Dad, what's happening?"
"Keep this with you."
Grisha ignored the question entirely. A loud thud echoed down the hallway, terrifyingly close to where we were. I shifted to see what it was, and for a moment, I saw my mother packing a lot of things into a backpack and Mikasa helping beside her. A loud voice boomed from the outside, scary and commanding.
"Search every room. The more the merrier."
My parents locked eyes, a silent conversation passing between them.
A language I couldn't understand no matter how hard I tried. My father glanced at the corridor before returning his focus to me.
"You don't have to understand it now." He whispered, his voice trembling. "The key… don’t let anyone decide what you will use it for except yourself."
My throat tightened. "What about you?"
"I'll find you again." He smiled weakly.
It was obviously a lie. But I clung onto it anyway, believing desperately that after whatever all of this is, all of us will meet again.
Carla hurried toward the hatch hidden beneath the floor and pulled it open. I never knew that space even existed.
“Grisha,” she urged shakily. “Now.”
Armin stood near the entrance crying silently, both hands pressed over his mouth to muffle the sound of his sobs. My mother gently guided him toward the ladder first, gently whispering reassurances.
“Everything will be okay.”
Then, she turned to Mikasa.
“Please,” she whispered. “Take care of Eren.”
Mikasa nodded and received the backpack from her. She grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the hatch where Armin had already begun climbing down. Confused, I looked back at my parents, silently begging for an explanation. For comfort. For anything.
But before either of them could say another word, a gunshot suddenly rang out somewhere outside, jolting everyone inside the room.
“Hurry!” Carla cried.
“Let’s go, Eren,” Mikasa said firmly.
I wanted to resist. I wanted to stay. But fear consumed me whole, and I followed Mikasa down into the darkness below. The hatch slowly closed above us, the gap growing smaller and smaller until the darkness swallowed everything.
For a few seconds, none of us spoke. Not until Armin shakily lit up an oil lantern.
“Th-These last longer than overhead lights,” he whispered quietly, almost like he was trying to distract himself from reality with facts.
Mikasa left my side and placed the backpack slung over her shoulder down against the floor. She approached Armin and gently placed a hand on his back, a silent reminder that he's not alone. Her presence is calm, soothing even. But beneath it, I could sense a smell of fear. Everyone here is afraid. Terrified, we all are. A part of me knew what was happening outside, but I refused to acknowledge the horrors of it.
In a world where you are born a prey, your life will be filled with nothing more than hiding, searching, and surviving beside the few people you have left.
With whatever we had left, we survived inside the safe bunker for five years. Occasionally, we muster the courage to step outside and clean the mess the Predators left. Bloodstains by people we once had, objects scattered everywhere that we simply swept aside. Over time, we grew used to it. To the silence, the loneliness, the loss.
But I wasn’t truly alone. Not when I have Mikasa and Armin. My greatest friends, my family.
Armin spent most of his time reading the old books left in the safe room, their pages worn and fragile. He handles them with care, and he sometimes reads them to us whenever boredom hits. Armin is unbelievably smart. Sometimes, at night, he tells us stories he came up with himself, inspired by the things he learned about. For a little while, his words made the world feel bigger than the small space we currently lived in.
He also fixed a gadget that is able to access social media while remaining anonymous. He doesn't use it often, however, it does update us on what date it is or a few things happening outside.
Mikasa works out almost everyday, pushing herself beyond limits. Sometimes, she trains Armin, too, teaching him basic self-defense. Over the years, she started to train with simple weapons like a pocket knife, staff, and whatever she believes she can wield. She makes me feel safe in a world that is on the verge of destruction. One day, I want to stand on a level beside her. She's the best, to put it simply.
January 12, 2145
1:12 AM
Location ???, Rose
“Eren! Wake up, we have to go!”
Mikasa grabbed Eren by the shoulders and shook him hard enough to jolt him awake.
Across the room, Armin crouched in front of a glowing screen, frantically tapping through windows and settings with trembling hands. A digital map flickered violently in red, their location pulsing at the center. Their location had been exposed and tracked by the Predators. And no matter what Armin pressed, the tracker refused to disappear.
“Shit!” he whimpered, panic cracking his voice. “Bad mouth— I didn’t mean to swear— just turn off! Please, turn off!” As if begging the device would somehow make it listen.
Eren groaned, still half asleep. Before he could even process what was happening, Mikasa had already yanked him upright.
“Whoa—” He rubbed his eyes tiredly. “What’s going on?”
For God’s sake, he’d only fallen asleep three hours ago. What's with the rush?
Mikasa shoved a facemask over his nose and mouth before forcing a backpack into his chest. Only then did Eren realize she was already fully geared up— scarf wrapped around her neck, knives strapped against her sides, eyes sharp and alert. Armin wore a dark hoodie with a mask covering half his face, panic radiating off him. They only dressed like this when going outside.
“Armin,” Mikasa warned, grabbing his arm. “Leave the gadget behind.”
“I-I know, but if I can just disable our location then maybe they won’t—”
“How close are they?” She interrupted, asking the important question.
“Within a 3.8-mile radius.”
Eren’s exhaustion vanished instantly. “They found us?!”
Armin let out a horrified sound and finally abandoned the device altogether. Mikasa immediately shoved Eren toward the ladder leading up.
“Move.”
The trio hurried through the narrow underground halls, their footsteps echoing against rusted pipes and damp concrete walls. By the time they climbed outside, the freezing air hit them instantly. This place, Rose, is dying. Rotting would be the better word.
Towering buildings loomed over the streets, their windows shattered and dark. Rusted vehicles remained abandoned in the road, doors hanging open as if people once fled them in a hurry and never came back. Cracks filled the roads, and the sky was still dark. Most buildings were pitch black. Only a few distant towers still carried light—the districts. Small pockets of life hidden within the corpse of the city.
Above them, giant holographic billboards still glitched weakly against the night sky.
NOAH’S ARK AWAITS.
HUMANITY DESERVES A SECOND BEGINNING.
“I can’t see shit,” Eren muttered under his mask.
Mikasa ignored him, scanning every direction carefully. The streets smelled like rust, smoke, and decay. The wind whistled lowly, the cold seeping through her clothes.
“Let’s go,” she whispered.
“Where?” Armin asked shakily.
“Anywhere but here.”
She grabbed both of their wrists and broke into a run.
Eren nearly stumbled over debris immediately. The roads were filled with abandoned cars, collapsed streetlights, broken glass, and corpses left rotting along the sidewalks beneath torn blankets and ruined clothing. A sickening sight.
The trio weaved carefully through the wreckage, avoiding open roads whenever possible. Mikasa's grip on them was vice, desperate not to let go. Armin by the right, Eren by her left.
Then—
BANG.
A gunshot echoed somewhere behind them. Mikasa dragged them behind a truck, peeking at the edge. Faintly, in the distance, she could see a flathead truck with multiple people on it. They held large flashlights as they scanned through the streets.
Armin’s breathing hitched violently. “They’re already here—”
“Don’t stop moving,” Mikasa snapped.
More sounds erupted behind them:
heavy footsteps, radio static, and men murmuring to themselves. Why are they so determined to find prey?
Mikasa tightened her grip on their arms and ran faster, leading them out of there, trying to create a safe distance from the gangs after them. If they just stay hidden, they might give up. Surely, they're not that determined to keep searching?
The city blurred around them in flickering lights and shadows as the sound of gunfire continued somewhere behind, growing louder with every passing second. Eren panted heavily, his shoulder slowly aching from carrying such a heavy backpack. How can Mikasa run so fast with it?
The trio halted as they stumbled upon a crossroad.
The left path led into a dark, narrow road squeezed tightly between apartment buildings. Most of the lights there had long died out, leaving the street buried beneath heavy shadows. Tangled wires hung dangerously low overhead, some swaying in the wind while others sparked violently, briefly illuminating the alley in flashes of white and blue.
The right path led toward a dead end, blocked by a massive concrete wall layered with faded graffiti and warning symbols. Some messages were impossible to read beneath years of paint and decay, while others remained painfully clear.
THE PROJECT EXODUS WANTS YOU.
DON'T FALL FOR PROPAGANDA: DESTROY EXODUS!
The path ahead was much clearer in comparison, stretching through an open road where distant holographic advertisements still flickered against the dark sky. Their pale glow reflected off abandoned vehicles and shattered glass scattered across the street.
Mikasa immediately pulled them forward. Behind them, the voices of men shouting orders grew louder and louder, echoing through the ruined city alongside the sound of approaching footsteps.
Armin panted heavily, his legs forced to match Mikasa's relentless pace. Then again, they can't slow down. The gang is nearer than ever.
“Here!” Armin whisper-shouted as he used all of his strength to guide Mikasa and Eren into a dark alleyway.
Mikasa didn’t question Armin’s choice and immediately pushed forward. The darkness swallowed them whole. It was difficult to see anything beyond silhouettes and flickering sparks from broken wires overhead, but stopping wasn’t an option. Their footsteps echoed unevenly against the pavement as they forced themselves deeper into the ruined district.
Eventually, the narrow road opened into an abandoned urban neighborhood.
Dim streetlights flickered weakly above rows of crumbling houses and apartment buildings, their windows dark and lifeless. Laundry lines still hung between some homes, swaying slightly in the cold wind as if people had vanished in the middle of ordinary life. Or maybe they hadn’t. None of them were confident enough to assume the buildings were truly empty.
The trio kept moving through cramped alleyways and confusing side paths, turning corners almost blindly while trying to put as much distance between themselves and the Predators as possible.
Armin’s lungs burned. All three of them were exhausted — running on barely any sleep, weak food, and pure adrenaline. Their breaths came out ragged beneath their masks while their legs grew heavier with every step.
Mikasa, however, remained steady and sharp. As they reached deeper into the neighborhood, the sound of heavy gear, footsteps, and men barking orders finally faded. For now. Let's just hope they didn’t see the trio slipping into the alleyway.
Eren panted as exhaustion slowly creeped in. But Armin, the least athletic, was barely getting nibbles of air. Mikasa slowed down, transitioning into a brisk walk instead. For now, they have created some distance.
Beyond the narrow alleyways stood an oddly clean bookstore. Not untouched—nature had already begun reclaiming parts of it. Vines crawled across the cracked windows, and faded signs hung crookedly above the entrance. Random piles of broken and abandoned objects settled near, but the space around it was strangely clear. As if the decay swallowing the rest of the city had deliberately avoided this place.
“O-Over there…” Eren exhaled between heavy breaths.
Mikasa followed his gaze immediately.
A bookstore... Most of its windows were covered by dust and vines, making the inside impossible to see clearly.
Armin bent slightly, hands against his knees as he struggled to catch his breath. “That place…” he breathed shakily. “It looks…interesting ”
Of course, he would find it interesting.
The faint sound of heavy footsteps immediately alerted Mikasa's senses.
She didn’t hesitate any longer.
“Let's go.”
The trio rushed toward the bookstore, their footsteps pounding against the cracked pavement. They opened the door and closed it immediately once everyone was inside.
“There’s no lock,” Armin murmured, testing the old door handle repeatedly to no avail.
The bookstore door was old-fashioned — dark wood with narrow glass panels framed into it, the surface scratched and worn down by time. One of the windows had a crack running through the corner, but somehow the glass still held together.
“Cover it with objects?” Eren suggested quietly, glancing around the store.
Mikasa nodded.
The inside smelled like dust, paper, and old wood. Tall shelves crowded the small bookstore from wall to wall, packed with abandoned novels, newspapers, comics, and yellowed articles left untouched for years.
Without wasting another second, Mikasa grabbed one of the shorter bookshelves settled near the center of the room and dragged it toward the entrance. The wood screeched loudly against the floor, making all three of them freeze for a second before the city outside remained silent once more.
Carefully, she pushed the shelf in front of the door. It wasn’t much. But hopefully, it would slow something down.
Armin let out a sigh of relief. They're not exactly safe, but for now, they can take a breath. He walked in deeper into the store and sat down on a worn couch, his legs aching from exhaustion.
Eren groaned softly as he dropped the backpack onto one of the old wooden tables, rolling his shoulders in an attempt to ease the lingering tension in his muscles.
Mikasa sat down beside Armin and quietly looked between the two of them, scanning for injuries the same way she always did after they ran.
Her eyes eventually settled on Armin’s wrist. A red mark circled the skin where she had grabbed him earlier. Her expression softened slightly, and she pointed toward it. “I’m sorry about that.”
Armin quickly shook his head. “No, it’s nothing… besides, it was for the best.”
Silence settled briefly between them, broken only by the distant hum of flickering lights outside and the sound of their uneven breathing slowly calming down.
Then Armin lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
Eren's gaze flickered to him. “For what?”
“Us getting tracked,” Armin muttered quietly, staring at his hands. “I shouldn’t have joined a server for that long. I thought the connection was safe, but I didn’t notice we were getting hacked until it was too late.” His fingers curled tightly against his sleeves.
“If I had just checked properly, we wouldn’t have had to leave—”
“Armin.” Mikasa’s voice cut through his rambling immediately. “We’re alive.”
He fell silent.
“Our hiding spots were always going to change eventually,” she continued calmly. “That’s how surviving works.”
Eren joined them, sitting beside Mikasa and leaned back against the chair with a tired sigh. “Yeah. Besides, it’s not like we could stay there forever.”
Armin still looked guilty.
“But that place was safe…”
“No place is safe,” Mikasa replied quietly.
The words settled heavily over the room. She's right.
Eren rubbed the back of his neck before glancing around the bookstore again. “At least this place seems decent enough for tonight.”
Armin nodded quietly in agreement, though the worry never truly left his face.
But what now?
They barely had enough food left to last a few days, and the device they used to contact the Undermarket had been abandoned back at their old hiding spot. Even if they still had it, they barely had enough money to safely place orders anymore. And without a trusted frequency, contacting random sellers was practically suicide. One wrong connection and they could end up giving their location away again.
Eren leaned back against the chair, exhaustion weighing heavily against him. “Once the Predators stop searching the area, we’ll have to move again.”
“Somewhere with more Preys,” Armin added quietly. “It would be nice if we find some people who we could hide with. A large group.”
Mikasa frowned slightly. “Large groups also attract more Predators.”
Like what happened back then. Silence followed. Because that was the problem with surviving in this world as a Prey. Too isolated, and you’d starve. Too noticeable, and you’d get hunted.
Armin rubbed his tired eyes before glancing toward the dark windows of the bookstore.
“Let's figure out tomorrow's problems… tomorrow.” Eren joined in. “It's dawn, we barely had sleep, and we need it.”
He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, slumber consuming him once more. Mikasa contemplated for a moment before leaning against Eren, her head resting against his shoulder as she closed her eyes. Armin sighed and smiled faintly, finding peace in seeing his friends resting. Even just for a bit.
He wished he could sleep beside them. But his thoughts refused to settle long enough for rest to reach him. Armin quietly sighed and lifted his head, finally taking in his surroundings now that the panic had faded. He's in a bookstore. A bookstore! The thought almost felt unreal in a world where most people burned books for warmth.
Careful not to wake Eren and Mikasa, he slowly stood from his seat and wandered between the dusty shelves. The floor creaked softly beneath his footsteps while the scent of old paper lingered heavily in the air.
Most of the books were ruined beyond reading, their pages eaten through by bookworms or stained by moisture and age. Still, Armin managed to collect a few decent, legible ones beneath his arm as he continued scanning the shelves absentmindedly. The bookstore didn't have that much light inside so he didn't bother to check the shelves around the dim corners.
He went back to sit on the couch and skim through the only legible book he took interest in. The Bible. It is a popular, well-known book. He has heard about it but hasn't actually read it before.
As he skimmed through the pages, some paragraphs were highlighted with a blue highlighter, but a specific one was highlighted with yellow. Considering it is in the first chapter, Genesis, it surely isn't because the former owner ran out of blue highlighters, right?
Genesis 1:26 " “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”
What was so important with that passage that its highlighter color is different from the rest?
“Genesis, hm…” he whispered quietly to himself.
Isn’t that the planet Noah’s Ark is supposed to fly to? GXNXSIS-VI. The similarity made his stomach twist slightly.
Armin closed the book, deciding not to think too deeply about it for now. His attention shifted back toward the pile of old newspapers and articles scattered across the table. Curious once more, he carried the stack back to the couch and settled down carefully, flipping through the worn pages resting against his lap. The articles were dated decades, nearly a century ago—back when the world still believed Exodus would save them. His eyes scanned across the bold headlines.
WORLD WAR III OFFICIALLY CEASES AFTER EXODUS AGREEMENT
After nearly fifteen years of global conflict, resource shortages, and mass civilian casualties, world leaders officially declared an end to World War III following the international approval of Project Exodus in 2060. Nations that once fought over dwindling oil reserves, habitable land, and food supplies redirected their remaining resources toward the construction of Noah’s Ark and the advancement of interstellar travel. Historians now refer to the agreement as “The Great Redirection” — the moment humanity temporarily abandoned war in favor of survival beyond Earth.
THE PURPOSE OF PROJECT EXODUS
Humanity was never meant to die alongside a collapsing Earth. As written in Genesis 1:26 — “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small.” From the beginning, mankind was chosen to rule, conquer, and reshape the worlds placed before them. Earth was only the first kingdom entrusted to humanity, and now, through Project Exodus, humanity shall rise beyond it. GXNXSIS-VI is not merely a planet waiting in the stars; it is humanity’s promised land, a new Genesis prepared for those worthy enough to inherit it.
Well, it seemed the mystery solved itself. Armin quietly leaned back against the couch, his eyes lingering on the yellow-highlighted verse once more. How easy it must have been to manipulate people back then. Give humanity fear, give them hope. Then convince them both came from the same place. He couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of disdain toward the masses decades ago.
People destroyed the Earth with their own hands, abandoned millions to chase a possibility, and though this project united nations during war and waged peace, it created a worse catastrophe later on. And yet they still convinced themselves it was for divine purpose. And the worst part was that It worked.
As exhaustion fully hit him, he finally considered slumber. He placed the stacks of articles down the floor by his foot and leaned back against the worn couch, his arms wrapped around himself as he closed his eyes.
The Predators decided not to waste time searching for very few prey and left the area. For now, the three of them are safe. What happens next will be something they will worry about… later. For now, let them savor a peaceful slumber.