"Put'em round your neck." Whispered Todd.
"Oi, piss off!"
"Go on, it'll be funny."
"In your dreams."
"I dare you!"
"Yeah, nah."
"I double dare you!"
What could I say to that? I took the pair of cats I had tied together with string and hung them around my neck like dirty football boots. Todd took one look at me and fell to his knees, floundering with silent laughter like a fish out of water.
"Look-look!" He gasped soundlessly. The kids in front of us shuffled to a halt to see what was going on and they burst out giggling too. This caused a chain reaction and soon the entire back row was wheezing like a pack of asthmatic hyenas.
"Right, what's going on back there?" Luca demanded. He and Jacques had doubled back from the front to see what was the hold up.
"Sammy's gotta...dead cat round...neck!"
"This is from my spring collection." I lisped, striking a pose. A roar went up before everyone hastily moved to quiet themselves. Luca started laughing so hard his face turned purple.
Only Jacques remained stoic. "Ew yuck. You're so weird!"
Yes, it was weird. I thought. I use to have a pet cat, a tabby kitten with a pink flea collar named Lilly. Loved her to bits. Now I was hanging her dead relatives around my neck and calling it a joke. Things have really changed, haven't they? These days you had to take your humor wherever you could get it.
Fists in our mouths to stifle any stray chuckles the eight of us continued down the streets, staying low and cautious but still in visibly high spirits. The city wasn't half as dangerous as the woods and we could afford to travel closer together. The day's hunting wasn't too bad either, we snared a rabbit, three pigeons, and my cat-scarf. Yuri glanced over at me and snorted. Yes, I was still wearing it.
All that was left to do was drop the goods off at the Warehouse. Our personal holy grail because it had a fridge that ran on salvaged batteries. We stockpiled the goods there; potatoes, raisins, meat and other edible bits and bobs, we got the cream of the crop since we went out during the day.
To most people this was a synonym for suicide, especially in the woods. Titans were deadly quiet despite their massive size and they were so difficult to spot amidst the trees we could literally turn the corner and walk into one. But we had an ace up our sleeves. Since a lone hunter was more likely to escape a giant's notice than a full party, we traveled ten meters apart from each other in a special scouting formation; the group would walk in a loose diamond, two at the front, two at the back, two on both flanks and the newbies in the middle. While one of us hunted the other watched out for titans. If we spotted one we'd give a whistle and the others would hide or change direction to avoid it. Sure, there were still a million things that could go wrong, and I'll be honest here, the Formation isn't a secret, it's just no one else wanted to try it. Us? We're not the sanest bunch of apples to fall out the tree. Misha likes studying titans, Todd would sell his soul for a loaf of bread and I'm pretty sure Jacques' killed a man. We're weirdos, we went against the grain, and most importantly, we were sick of being cooped up like cattle.
"Last lap to go!" Said Luca, speaking to the laden kids in the middle. They were in the safest place and in exchange they carried the heaviest packs. "Put some effort into it, after this we're home free."
An hour later we were sprawled outside the entrance of a subway, catching our breaths while the evening sun paint golden streaks across the face of an adjacent office block. I leaned back and stretched out my feet to catch a few stray beams. These moments of daylight were to die for.
Luca walked over and plonked himself down next to me.
"Know what'cha gonna do with the cat?"
"Well, I can't eat 'em cats are full of parasites, even more than dogs. Maybe I'll skin 'em and convince some dumb-fuck it's rabbit fur."
"They're tortoise shells."
"Like I said; some dumb-fuck." That earned me a chuckle.
"Should we go now or wait til dark?" Titans became lethargic at night.
"There'll be thieves at night. We've gotta weeks worth of food on us, we can't risk a fight."
Dumb, man-eating giants or clever little cut-throats? Luca silently debated between the two evils before coming to a conclusion:
"Let's keep going." He announced, rising to his feet. I took the back while he took the front and our group set off again, treading as softly as mice.
In the absence of our noise I could hear the wind whistling between the buildings. It sounded confused, as if asking where all the people went. The city was desolate nowadays, a massive concrete maze with only us as the players; no more rivers of traffic or scurrying pedestrians. No more neon signs or floral billboards. Only the military occupied a few choice buildings. Everything else was abandoned. It was so strange, in contrast the suburbs were filled with greenery and birdsong, evidence of nature launching its flowery coup, but the city was grey and full of echoes. It was the one place in the world that needed people to be complete. Walking through this relic always made me feel small. Once upon a time we ruled the world, now it was a grim reminder;
'-despite all of humanity's advancements we were still prey, mankind lives in fear of the titans.'
Two shrill bird-like whistles cut through the air.
Oh shit.
One whistle meant change direction, two meant just get down and hide. I already had my elbows on the ground when the second freeeet! sounded. I didn't need to look to know everyone else was scrambling to do the same; getting as flat as possible, as quietly as possible. Titans were too big to out-run and since their only weak spot was their neck you couldn't fight them from the ground. The only thing for it was to lie down and hope they couldn't see you. Not exactly fool-proof since they could still step on you, but it was better than nothing.
Face pressed into the dirt, I held my breath and listened. The wind had dropped with us, it was whispering now, Shhh...Shhh... Like a mother soothing a child. Dust blew into my eyes as I frantically scanned the area. I couldn't see the titan. Should I roll closer to a building? I tensed my arms in preparation, then froze when I felt footsteps.
I waited, taunt as a live wire, trying to pinpoint the giant as it drew closer. To my relief I realized it was walking through the street next to us, separated from us by a wall of buildings. Grinning into the dust, I watched it's head and shoulders drifted pass, like an iceberg on an ocean, the thing was almost silent despite its size. I estimated it to be a fifteen meter class, big but thankfully nothing abnormal. It behaved in the usual way as it walked a wonky line, pausing at random before disappearing behind an apartment. I mapped it's route in my head, estimating the distance. It couldn't cross onto our street for another five blocks. We could leave once it got far away enough. Five minutes should do it. I began to count under my breath:
'-Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty-' No need to panic, we could wait it out.
Suddenly I could feel footsteps coming from behind me. Faintly, then stronger, reverberating through the ground and up my flattened palms. A giant was heading right for us. Icy fingers of dread clawed my back. What was going on? Was I wrong? Had the titan found a way to get over? No it couldn't be the same monster.
Oh God.
There are two of them.
I think my heart stopped for a moment, or maybe I simply forgot about it but either way it was certainly back now, and it was thundering in my chest. Blood roaring in my ears I hugged the ground like it was my mother, and took slow, shallow breaths, trying to convince my body it didn't need the adrenaline flooding my veins. Getting the Shakes at any time would be fatal.
My loose brown coat and scarves broke up my outline enough to avoid close scrutiny and titans were too stupid to be suspicious of a patch on brown on grey concrete. But what they lacked in intelligence they made up for with an uncanny ability to track movement. I was out in the open, spread-eagle, one twitch and it would be on to me like a missile. Judging by the footsteps this monster was only medium sized, a ten meter class, it made things worse, the closer it was to the ground the more likely it was to spot me.
The Titan was almost on top of me now. Even if it didn't eat me it could still crush me underfoot. In my mind's eye I saw every single cockroach I've ever stepped on. I imagined my bones splintering like glass, impaling me again from the inside, my organs bursting like balloons filled with jelly. Would my blood go foamy too as it was squeezed out of me? Oh God! Oh God! I clenched my fists and braced myself as one car-sized foot landed three meters behind me. Time slowed, the other foot hovered like a massive bird of prey, before it came crashing down four meters to my right. I barely swallowed my scream.
That was close. That was too close.
The foot stayed where it was, tendons twitching, clouds of steam rising off the super-heated skin. I could feel the heat from here. Why did it stop? Fuck-fuck-fuck, did I flinch? It could be staring right at me and I wouldn't know. Could it hear my staccato breathing? My galloping heart? My terrified thoughts?
Go away! I pleaded silently.
Time seemed to drag on for an eternity and then slowly, oh so slowly, the giant foot lifted and the titan continued on its way. All the strength drained from my body as a wave of relief broke over me, I almost started crying, feeling light-headed.
The person in front of me moved.
I watched in horror as an arm stretched out, and then another. The owner was trying to crawl away, either mad with fear or pretending the titan couldn't see him.
Stop! I begged silently. He could kill us all. Stay down you son of a bitch! Maybe if he stopped now it wasn't too late! Maybe it hadn't seen him yet!
I glanced up madly and my stomach plummeted. The monster was looking right at him. Slowly with great deliberateness, the titan took a step towards the trembling figure and began to bend down, monstrous head tilted in mock curiosity. I was on my knees, no longer caring. The titan didn't see me, it was too focused on it's prey; the crawler was a statue of fear as one huge hand descended on him.
I could see it happening again: Trapped in a vice like grip-screaming- slowly brought up to a wet, gaping maw, beating your fists uselessly, the titan would bite you -sounds like a pig- in half because you're too big to swallow whole-blood, so much blood- you'd curse and beg all the way down and boil in your own blood because the titan's body was so hot and more titans would come because they heard you die and they would come and we would die one by one. Eaten or crushed underfoot we would die.
In that moment I made my decision. It was surprisingly easy. Because one of the choices meant not watching my friends get eaten.
"HEY!" I screamed, jumping to my feet. The titan turned. It was smiling: a huge, lip-less, smile that split it's face like a wound. It's blank rolling eyes locked onto me. Too late to regret my decision I turned and ran for my life.