AOT Strutter

Fire!!

Jerking awake, Eren coughed. Smoke poured in from under his door. He sat up. Instincts kicked. The first thing he did was grab all of his cash and cell phone. He put his feet into the shoes that sat ready beside his bed. Covering his mouth with a tee shirt, he went to try the door. The handle didn't feel hot, neither did the door itself. He cracked it open.

Smoke filled the back room. It was thick, dark and disorienting. Eren slid down the wall. He kept his back to it. Staying as low as possible, he made his way around the wall. A one point he thought he heard voices. He glanced around. He couldn't see a thing. The smoke was making his eyes tear up. Yet he also didn't feel any heat. This was strange.

He worked his way around to the door. Fumbling, while coughing and having a hard time seeing, it took him a minute to twist the locks. The moment the door opened, the alarm rang out. The sound cutting through the still night. Eren tumbled outside. He drew in deep gulps of fresh air. Moving away, he glanced back at the building.

He could see the smoke billowing out of the back door he had escaped from. As he scanned the windows, he still didn't see any flames. He dialed a number. Not knowing for sure just what Levi had been upto tonight, Eren didn't call the emergency number. A sleepy voice answered. As soon as it heard the sound of the alarm, the voice was awake.

"What happened? Are you safe?" Erwin cried.

"I got out. There is a lot of smoke, but I'm not seeing any fire." Eren explained.

"You in the back?" Eren could hear the man moving about.

"Yes." For some reason, Eren nodded.

"Good. Stay there. Authorities are on the way. Say nothing about Levi!" the phone call dropped.

Eren looked at it. Why? Did Erwin think Levi set the place on fire? Had Levi tried to kill him? He did tell Eren not to leave his room tonight. If he set a fire it would have surly burned the back room, right? Eren's head was a mess of disconjointed thoughts. He heard sirens coming his way.

Jogging around the building, he watched it. As he neared the front he saw the flames. It was almost as bright as dawn out here. Eren backed farther away from the fire. He watched the fire engines scream into the lot. The fire fighters got to work, no one paying Eren any attention. That was until the police pulled in behind the trucks.

An officer came up to him. "Why are you here?" he demanded immediately.

"I live here." Eren explained.

"This is a business." The officer made Eren put his hands out. He confiscated the money the teen had, after he put cuffs on him.

"Low haul for burning the place down!" The officer insisted.

"I was asleep!" Eren yelled.

Just then another car pulled in. Erwin got out.

"Officer, Eren is my employee. He didn't do this." He insisted.

"How would you know?" the man demanded.

Erwin strolled confidently up to them. He held out a tablet to the officer. Eren watched over their shoulders. The image was dark, but the red emergency lights gave enough illumination to the screen. It showed Eren walking into his room, a point Erwin commented on. Then hours passed.

Movement was detected outside. The image went from the back room to the front of the building. Several masked men were seen. Each wore dark clothing. They doused the windows and front of the club with something flammable. Three of the guys walked away. A fourth was in a truck near the road. The fifth lit a match, lit his cigarette, then tossed the match onto the trail of liquid they had poured. The flames ate away at the front of the building, but the people didn't leave right away.