Everything happened so fast. I barely had enough time to see what happened. One minute we were all trying to figure out what to do and what was going on. The next explosions are going off and now I'm under a good chunk of a building with a pounding headache from all the loud noises. I rolled my eyes as I shoved the tons of debris off of me like it was the blankets in the morning. Any other day I would be pissed at them for dropping a building on me, but right now the only thing I actually cared about was making sure the rest of my team was okay.
I looked around and could see that after shoving the rubble off of me it seems like I'm still above most of the rubble. I can still see the sky and looking around I can see where the explosions went off with certain buildings. I could see people scattered around. Some were perfectly fine, most were injured, or dead. I took a deep calming breath feeling a little relieved I didn't recognize any of the faces of the deceased. Though some of their faces are hidden I can't be quite sure that one of them isn't part of my team.
I didn't have the heart to actually check. I can't focus on the dead right now. I have to stay focused on the living. How many people are under the rubble, that is where I need to put my focus. I could be one of the only ones who can actually help them.
"Mikasa?" I let out a relieved breath hearing the familiar voice.
"Armin, you're okay," I said, turning around and rushing over to him. He didn't have a scratch on him.
"When the loud noises started going off I went intangible. I panicked." He sounded guilty about his actions almost as if he thought by not doing so would have helped in some way.
"Honestly, that's a good thing. I think that was the best decision you could have made whether it was intentional or purely out of panic. Now you can help with search and rescue, rather than needing rescuing."
He nodded and let out a small breath, "You're right."
"We should start up here and see how many others we can find up on the surface before looking down below."
"Below? As in below this mess of rubble. If they are down there wouldn't it mean they are... ya know... dead."
"Not necessarily," I said, trying to be hopeful. "Some of their powers could have protected them, or there could even be safe pockets down there too." He nodded and it seems I helped alleviate some concerns of his. Even though I wasn't too sure of what I was saying I'm glad that I could give him some hope and clear his mind for the moment. "Alright, let's look around up here first, and then we can worry about that. We need to see who else is up here so we can have all the help we can get."
Walking around was a pain in itself. I almost tripped several times now and every step was like walking on eggshells. The rubble shifted underneath our feet. I stepped in one section right as it started collapsing in and it was like a mix between quicksand and a ball pit from hell.
I don't even think I'm the one that caused it to fall. I think I just happened to stand on it at the wrong time because I was standing there for a whole minute before it collapsed in. I think that confirms my theory about the air pockets down there, but I guess not all of them are super safe since the rubble is still collapsing in on them. I just hope no one was in there, especially not our team members.
"Oh my god, Mikasa are you okay?" Armin called out staring down from the edge of the hole.
"I'm fine, you might wanna back up a little in case more of the floor decides to go." I watched him back up and I waited another minute so he had more time to get away in case it did collapse more.
I had to move my legs and try and get them unstuck from all the rubble. I was holding myself up with my hands hoping that I wouldn't sink deeper in this rubble pit. Once I got my leg free, sure enough, some of the rubble started sliding around near the edge. It was a good call having Armin move. The last thing I need is him getting stuck down here too. I started crawling out of the hole moving the rubble that was still falling and trying to slowly climb my way back up to not cause anymore to fall. When I reached the edge Armin had run back over and offered me a hand to help me out. I took his hand and he pulled me up and back to my feet.
I turned back around and looked at the giant hole that was behind me. I'm just glad I was the one who fell in it and not someone else. A normal person would have been crushed to death.
It made my mind drift back to the people who are probably stuck under the rubble. Maybe Armin was right, maybe anyone under there is probably dead. No, I can't think like that. I have to have hope. If only I could find a way to communicate with anyone down there and find a way to tell them that help is coming. Maybe if I can find Thomas he can try and connect us into the others, though that might be a bit of a stretch since I think he needs to be super close or even have to touch them to link our minds. Still, anything is worth a try. Hopefully, I run into him up here so I can ask him if that's how his power works.
The more we looked the more I started to give up hope I became. I kept seeing tons of people, but they weren't anyone we recognized. Then again I have to remember that everyone probably got separated with the blast. We haven't made it very far either since the ground is very uneven and keeps shifting a little. Even though we've been walking for a while we've only made it just up the street. Even if they are up here they are probably walking around too looking for people.
I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. I looked over at Armin and he gave me a confident smile. "We should find someone soon." I think he was starting to notice how worried I was looking.
"Yeah, let's just keep moving," I smiled as a thank you for him trying to make me feel better.
"Mikasa, Armin," I heard a voice behind me and turned around. "Oh thank goodness you two are alright," Hanji said, running up and throwing her arms around both of us.
"I'm glad you're okay too," I said feeling so relieved to finally find another person I recognized.
"Well, I wasn't when I first came to," she said before looking at Zahra. "The blast must have knocked me unconscious and it also took a pretty decent size chunk out of my side. When I came to Zahra was standing over me trying to stop the bleeding. After using my powers I feel a lot better, and I even have a cool new scar," she said, lifting her shirt and showing a part of her side filled with scar tissue.
"A scar? I thought you could just heal yourself?' Armin asked.
"Well yeah I can, but the bigger the wound is the less likely I will be able to repair wounds fully without some scar tissue being involved." I saw another person standing behind her and realized it was Zahra. Good to know both of these guys are okay and that they stuck together after that.
"We were looking around to see if we could find anyone else up here. Then we were going to try and check to see if there were any living people under the rubble."
"There is a 99% probability that there is at least one living person under the rubble," Zahra said, her eyes never leaving the ground.
Oh wow, 99%. That's a lot higher than I thought that would be. It definitely makes me feel better about this whole thing.
"You said at least one living person," Armin said and I could tell where he was going with this and I almost stopped him before he could ask the full question. I didn't want to hear the answer. "Does that mean the probability goes down with every additional person down there?"
"Yes. Two people, it drops to 98%. Three people drops it to 96%. Four people drops it to 93%. Five people drops it to 90%." She paused for a moment realizing she was rambling. "From there it keeps going lower. The only reason it's up so high to start is there is a sewer system under us. People could have easily been pushed into parts of the sewer that haven't collapsed. However, the possibility that everyone who fell down there lived is so low that it might as well be a flat zero. I also want to remind you that my power is taking into account, everyone. Not just people I know, people from just our teams, but everyone civilians and all."
"So what you're saying is hundreds of people could have dropped in there and by the time we get up to like 30 living people we are already at like 30% chance of survival," I asked, feeling the hope I had before vanish again.
"Well, 15% actually." She corrected me and I felt my heart sink even further than before. "That also just means survival even after the mission, not just people who are currently alive and may die from their injuries."
"So you're saying that if we get to them in time more of those people could survive?" Hanji asked.
"Yes and no," she paused for a moment, "there are certain things we can do to try and boost the percentage, however, most of those things are stuff that we alone can't accomplish, as well as things we would have had to prepare for beforehand."
"You said most meaning some of the things we can do?" Hanji asked desperately.
"Theoretically yes," she mumbled, "but it mostly depends on the people we can find up here and how helpful their powers are. "If we find someone with a telepathy power, or a power to let us communicate with the others down there then yes that would greatly increase our odds. As well as having more people whose powers could help us move the rubble faster like Eren or Levi, then that could also raise the odds. However, that requires them to be on the surface with us. There are a few things that we could probably do that are just dependent on us, but those are in specific circumstances," she said before looking up at us.
We were all staring back at her unsure exactly what she was trying to say. Were we able to help or not? I think she realized our confusion because she cleared her throat and took a deep breath before starting again.
"What I'm saying is, as of right now we should just go about how we were planning on going about things and I will let you know if there is a better path we could take while we are going."
"Alright," I nodded. That was a lot easier to understand. "I was planning on trying to look for more people up here. One of the people I was trying to look for specifically was Thomas. His power could make it possible for us to communicate with others under the rubble which is something you said would increase our odds of getting more people out alive."
"Alright, that sounds like a plan," Zahra nodded.
"I actually saw Thomas just before the blast. He wasn't standing too far from me. If we head back this way we might be able to find him," Hanji said, pointing behind us a little way to the left.
"Alright it's worth a shot," I shrugged following her lead.
We carefully made our way back around the hole that I had fallen in and I decided that even though she was the one taking the lead that I should be up front. " On second thought, everyone follow behind me. Hanji direct me to where we have to go. If the floor gives way I think I would be the only one able to survive it," I said pointing back over to the hole, "it happened to me over there and I don't want that happening to you guys."
"Good idea," Hanji said, giving me a nervous laugh.
Hanji kept stopping every few minutes whenever she saw a body and told us to stay put. She had to make sure there was no pulse before we moved on. She wanted to make sure if there was anyone she could save that she would. She had yet to find a person with a pulse. Any time she checked a body she would grow flowers around it so people would know that the body has already been checked. If there was rubble on it she would call me over to remove the rubble. "It will make it easier for people to find their loved ones," she said quietly when I asked her why she was doing this.
This time when she walked over to the body she froze before checking the pulse. "Is everything okay?" I asked. She looked deadly still and her face had gone pale. She looked up at me and went back to checking the pulse. I watched her shake her head telling us that there was no pulse before she hung her head low and called me over despite there being no rubble on this body.
When I got closer I realized why. "I don't think Thomas will be able to help us," she said, her voice cracking a little as she tried to talk.
I kneeled down next to his body. He looked perfectly normal except for the blood coming from his mouth. "What happened to him?"
"The impact of the blast broke his ribs and they punctured his lungs. He choked to death on his own blood." Hanji explained taking a deep breath trying not to break down.
As much as I wanted to tell her it was okay to break down and even join her in doing so I couldn't. I knew we had to keep moving. There was nothing we could do for him. I just tried to think of what I would tell Nanaba, what I would tell Rico. God first Gunther now Thomas. Their team has already taken a big hit this one will hurt. Then again they might not be the only ones taking a hit today. As much as I would like to hope we haven't, we've probably lost people too.
I felt sick to my stomach as I tapped Hanji on the shoulder. "We have to keep moving," I forced myself to say. She choked back her tears as I watched her put even more flowers on this body than the others. "I'm ready," she said, taking a deep breath and standing up.
We walked back over to Zahra and Armin and had to break the news to them. It hurt seeing Armin trying not to cry or say anything at all. Zahra, who normally shows no emotions, closed her eyes tightly and clenched her teeth as she brought her hands up to rub her face. She took several deep breaths before she even opened her eyes again. They were red probably from how tightly she closed them. I watched as her hands fell back down towards her sides and she clenched and unclenched her hands. "We need to go," she finally said, forcing her eyes away from his body as she waited for me to keep walking.
I did just that. We needed to find more people to help. We need to find more people alive. I never want to see another person I know like that. I don't want to lose any more people, but I know it's not up to me. A part of me knows he's not the only familiar face we will have to say goodbye to today.