Tall was an understatement and monster was a misconception. Titans were neither hunters nor tall; they were walking skyscrapers who killed more humans from causal walking than actual combat. For months Jacob tracked this titan, past cities still on fire, across rivers red with the remains of so many humans, to this. Its camp, not its home but it would do, where he would final finish what had cost him his arm and will cost the titan its life. They had called him crazy and said it wouldn't work, that he would most likely die from blood loss before he would complete his plan. Agreed that blood loss wasn't part of the first plan, but it wasn't a problem he couldn't solve and with some blood curdling screams and a hot metal it was solved. A price he would pay a thousand times if he could, all so that he could wash himself in the blood of that titan.
5 weeks earlier Jacob still a whole man had finally caught up with the titian, this titan was special to him. He had left titan hunting some years ago and was by comparison an old man not fit to hunt anymore. He had even started a family and sold his power armor so he could set up a farm for his family to call home. It had been a warm summer day when this titan walked past; a sight Jacob thought impossible considering how deep into protected lands he had made his home and despite all the protection that the wall provided, one still somehow made it past.
There were no songs of glory, no sounds of battle tech firing and no thud of heavy battle armor hitting the ground after an assault. No Jacob would not have the chance to drink with his squad after a clean, no loss kill. The only sound was the crushing sound of his home under the titan's foot, the silence of his family's death as they hadn't the time or warning to scream. Jacob could only watch from the field helpless to act. That was many nights ago, now he would set it right.
As the night came and the titan began to drift into whatever a titan does when it sleeps, Jacob began preparing. He had hoped to attack during the night and catch the titan off guard but he was tired and needed his own rest. He had stopped the blood loss but he was still short an arm, with no pain medication or antibiotics to speak of, he knew he didn't have much more time. Also what he wasn't expecting was for his titan to take rest with 3 more of his kind.
The light that came over the horizon was warm and almost welcoming. Jacob, if only for a second, almost forgot his troubles, his plans, and the pain that was beginning to form from what he was sure was an infection. Gripping where his arm once was he cursed and thought how this all better work. How if it didn't and he somehow lived, that he would find McKay and kick him in the teeth for giving him faulty tech.
The sounds of a waking titan could and had shaken entire cities but to Jacob it was more of an alarm clock. One he planned to put on permanent snooze. It may have taken most of the night and it may have cut into his rest but it was worth it. They may be old but boom, is boom, so boom it was going to be. He had meant to use all 4, M42c's on his titan but not with 3 guests and with no armor he would have to spread it out.
The first of the rockets screamed as it broke free from the launcher; it was one of those moments Jacob was thankful about how titans were deaf to the world until they were completely awake. The first titan fell as the rocket, being perfectly timed by a man who had done this a hundred times, entered its yawning mouth and exploded in the back of the titan's throat. Just like his family it had no opportunity to scream, the flying blood and bone filled the air and caused a massive thud as the titan's corpse hit the floor.
The second and third rockets repeated the same actions. As the bodies of the 3 dead titans filled the gully, were they had been sleeping, the pool blood grew and his titan finally opened its eyes. With a shout that could shake a mountain it stood to its feet. The shout had even thrown the last rocket of angle and sent it spinning of target. Jacob not being new to miss fires had figured this might happen, knowing this he wired the rockets to also explode on command. As the rocket spun by the titans raging face Jacob hit the manual detonator.
The explosion wasn't enough to kill him but it took out his one eye and the shockwave from the M42c crushed one side of his jaw. As the titan gripped his face it gave another shout, this time more of a scream, Jacob knowing it would run once it had the chance wasn't about to let it escape. Sprinting towards it he just prayed his new plan would work.
His titan wasn't just special because it killed his family, it was also special because it was a Deform, a titan that could learn and had thought. It had managed to get by the western wall and if it made its way back to the main pride, it would teach the others. Deforms skin also wore like armor and were strangely tough compered to norm' titans. The best way to kill one was from within using a bunker buster, a boom his wished he had. So while tracking it he had counted on the one thing all titans shared, its thirst for human flesh.
A week into tracking, the titan led them to what he was hoping for, a feeding pond. Climbing of his horse he watched as the titan began to feed on the pile of human flesh. This was why he turned in his armor. The titan attacks had gotten to be too much, so an order came down that would be the first and last order Jacob wouldn't follow.
They had been ordered to collect their dead and any citizens who were in jail or were known to be a 'risks'. Jacob knew this meant anyone who decided to live outside of the wall, people who wanted to make it on their own and wouldn't take orders from the higher ups. They would collect them dead or alive and made these ponds. Massive graves to distract the titans and try to keep them away from city walls.
While at the pond he thanked his horse and for the last time let it feed on the wild grass. Once it had its fill he rode it to the pond. The titan was still eating and turned when it felt the rounds of Jacobs's gun impact. Jacob knew the bullets would do nothing to hurt the titan but that wasn't the plan. He ran his horse into the pond but the titan was faster than he thought, grabbing him while still on his horse the titan threw them both into his mouth. Jacob had planned on planting a long range baby boy, a miniature nuke outlawed due to its unstable nature and tendency to go off prematurely, then once he was far out of range he would detonate. After he would come back with his rockets to make sure it was dead, now that he was in the mouth of the titan he had other issues. Just as he was about to be swallowed, he went to throw himself out of the side of the titans mouth but he wasn't fast enough. Just as the titan bit down and swallowed the horse carrying the baby boy, Jacobs arm was caught and bitten off. Screaming as he feel the many feet into the pond, the titan simply, having had its fill, began to leave.
He was lucky that he was able to use his pocket torch and a scrape piece of metal in the pound to burn the wound shut. Now with the long range detonator in the titan's body Jacob had to compromise. He managed to rig a short range detonator but he couldn't test it and would just hope it works.
As he made his final approach, the titan was still hold his half crushed face. Jacob, using a retro fitted shoulder mounted gun, opened fire on the titan. In a fit of pain the titan came crashing to his knees and lunged his hands forward to crush his attacker. With what little strength he had left Jacob dodged and jumped onto the titan's one hand.
The titan's words were labored and barely understandable due to his wounds, "Puny, human, you, die, now." Jacob's weren't much different, "Ya you're right, I am, luckily so are you, you over grown corpse. Wait no, that's an insult to the piles of corpse out there so just die." "You, think, me, die, from, little you?" "No now you die, from what's inside of you. Didn't your mother ever tell you to watch what you eat?"
As the titan brought down his other hand to crush Jacob, he closed his eyes, he pictured green fields. He could see his son playing in the tall grass as he chased their horses. His wife, sweet Isabella, sitting with her feet in the small pool he had dug. His hands full with the harvest. He could smell the air as it carried the scent of rose pedals. With a single press the little boy detonated.
There were no songs of glory, no sounds of battle tech firing and no thud of heavy battle armor hitting the ground. Jacob would not have the chance to drink with his squad or his family. The only sound was the brief wine of the air as it filled the vacuum where they had been, they hadn't the time or warning to scream. Now all that was left was emptiness, even the blood and bodies of the other titans had vanished in the light, all that was left was calm. He had already said all his goodbyes.