Dead End(Erwin x Levi)

Chapter 8: Loss

"Shit." He whispered.

His eyes were wide with shock and his mouth hung open, unable to comprehend anything more than the fact that he was infected.

"Is something wrong?" Levi's voice came from behind him and he turned his head to look over his shoulder.

He didn't explain anything, just turned around and held his limp arm out for Levi's inspection. He got a confused and cautious look before Levi took his hand and rolled up his sleeve. Levi's expression changed from cautious to terrified.

"When did...fuck..." Levi said. His voice was small but it spoke volumes in the situation. He realized that Erwin had gotten bitten when they were fleeing from the soldiers. He was too late.

Levi ran his fingers over Erwin's wound. It hadn't bled which was probably why it wasn't noticeable. The area surrounding it was inflamed and irritated, hot to the touch. The bite was starting to scab over and Erwin's veins were popping out of his skin, discoloured and highly noticeable.

Levi bit his bottom lip and dropped Erwin's hand, turning around to stare at the door. If he caught a glimpse of Erwin's face he was sure that he was going to cry. But he needed to be strong. He turned back to face Erwin and stepped closer, wrapping his arms around Erwin's chest. He felt Erwin's arm wrap around him and despite the fact that Erwin would become a corpse and would probably eat him, he felt safe in Erwin's arms.

"I'm not killing you if that's what you're thinking." He said.

"So you'd rather leave me to become a corpse?" Erwin asked. He had a point. Levi would have to kill him either way.

"That's not what I fucking meant and you know it." He snapped. His voice was venomous as he pointed a finger at Erwin. "I'm not gonna fucking bury you today so we need to come up with a plan that's going to save your sorry ass." Erwin wasn't fazed by Levi's wording, he knew that Levi could get vicious when these kinds of things would happen.

Levi started to pace around the room, thinking of possible ways. The only option was to remove Erwin's arm. There was no other way. Erwin was thinking the same thing.

"We have to take it off." He said. Levi's gaze was cast downward as he took in the words. The only way...

He was cursing Erwin for being so careless and so reckless that he would let something like this happen and Erwin let him vent. He was cursing himself too.

Levi was enraged. This was not supposed to be how things went. Him and Erwin were going to get through this and see the end of the apocalypse and that's how it had been planned. The fact that Erwin had been bitten made him mad to no end but the thing that enraged him the most was the fact that he'd be alone. The fact that Erwin would be loosing an arm and would probably die because of blood loss. The fact that he'd wake up one day to find Erwin as a corpse in his bed, no longer holding the pink glow in his skin but rather the green and yellowish one that only a corpse could possess. The fact that they didn't have any medicine to help aid Erwin's recovery. The fact that, no matter what, he'd be alone. It angered him but the anger was mostly just something to hide the fear that was gnawing away at his insides and his mind.

"We can use the axe." Erwin said.

"It's not gonna work. The thing's dull as hell." Levi murmured.

"There's nothing else we can use. You go get it and I'll start making a tourniquet." Levi knew absolutely nothing about medicine but he did know that Erwin's was making a tourniquet to stop the blood flowing to his arm, trying to get the least amount of blood to flow when it would be cut.

Levi felt nauseous as he opened the door and stepped out into the cold night, his teeth chattering as he rounded the cabin and grabbed the axe that was leaning against the wall. When his hand curled around the handle he felt like he was going to throw up and he'd braced himself against the wall to keep himself grounded. He swore silently to himself before he rounded the cabin and entered again. Erwin was standing in the middle of the room, his torso exposed. He had wrapped a piece of cloth around his arm and had threaded a stick through it, twisting to make it as tight as possible.

"I got another piece of cloth so we can tie my arm to something. So I won't move." Erwin explained. Just talking about it made Levi want to faint.

They attached the cloth to a chair and piled a bunch of stuff onto its surface so it would be heavy and hard to move.

"What can I do with the arm after its gone?" Levi asked.

"Throw it. Don't keep it nearby or else corpses will be crawling around everywhere." Erwin said.

He hated to make Levi do this but there was no other way. He knew that Levi was probably panicking over everything and he was too, he was about to lose an arm after all.

They looked around and found some fishing line and a needle that Levi could use to stitch the wound. Levi was dreading every second of it, his mind going in loops, telling him not to do it but also telling him that he'd lose Erwin if he didn't.

"Are you ready?" Erwin asked as he laid down on the ground, his arm over a towel to catch the blood.

"Are you?" Levi asked back. Erwin shrugged while he tied his hand to the chair using the cloth.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He mumbled.

Levi slowly shuffled across the floor to grab the axe, his feet dragging on the wood. His heart was pounding out of his chest and he felt sick to his stomach. He walked back over to Erwin and put both of his hands on the axe, his knuckles white. He was chewing his bottom lip and he was sure it was going to bleed. He gripped the axe and started to slowly lift it over his head until he could feel the metal touching his back. Erwin was looking away, his eyes closed and waiting. He had a look of odd peacefulness on his face, like he was expecting this to happen to him.

"Do it." Erwin whispered.

Levi closed his eyes and tried to breath evenly, steady his pounding heart. He was sure that Erwin could probably hear it pumping in his chest. He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at Erwin's arm, readying himself. He inhaled and brought the axe down.

The first thing he heard was Erwin's pained screams.