Chapter 3: The Outsiders

Levi was placed at the very bottom of the dung heap. He answered to a commanding officer who didn't pay him half of any mind at all. He showered in the same nasty cubicle provided to every common soldier. He was fifteen years old and did not need to borrow a razor from anyone, and he was all of five feet two inches. He had not graduated to men's boots.

Levi was not a piece in the game. Not yet.

He discovered, to his dismay, that being in the Survey Corps meant doing a whole lot of nothing. He spent most of his time on the training field, stabbing Titan mannequins at the nape of the neck and doing teamwork exercises. He was getting better at working with others.

In November of 845, nearly a month after he'd been enlisted, Levi was called for duty.

Cartography. That was the mission.

"You will travel in teams of two, and we will be using a formation recently developed by Captain Erwin Smith." Commander Shadis gestured to the tall blond figure beside him. Here was the very man himself, whom Levi had been rid of for seven months. Well, he supposed, all good things must come to an end.

One hundred fifty soldiers stood before Shadis and Smith, chosen for this formation's guinea pigs.

Levi had been positioned near the front of the formation, second row in. They gave him his flare belt and two horses – one spare, and sent him off to his partner, who was not much older than Levi by the looks of him. Which was not reassuring.

Form up at the gate, they said.

Seldom had Levi ever felt fear in his short life. He felt it now gripping his heart, clawing at his throat, lying like a lump of lead in his stomach, weighing him down. Sweat laced his palms and the reins of his horse he held tight in his fist, knuckles white.

But his face. His face remained stony and frowning, as ever. If there was one thing that reassured him it was that his face remained calm, even if his body did not.

Rows of men and women and horses ahead of him. Nervous fidgeting and shifting hooves and apprehensive silence bearing down on him from every single side.

And then a shout rising up from the front row. "Open the gate!"

With a huge amount of grating and creaking, the wall parted slowly. It seemed to be looking down at the soldiers forlornly as if warning them, don't do this. Stay inside. I will protect you.

Humans and equestrians streamed through the opening, immediately fanning out into their respective positions. Levi urged his horse forward, moving with the crowd.

The first thing he noticed about the outside world; it was very empty. Nothing but flat grass and sky and clouds and a dark fuzz on the horizon that the map said was a forest.

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It was also, he thought grimly, probably the last thing he would ever see.

"Don't stand there!" someone growled from behind Levi; a young woman who might have been pretty if not for the huge scar marring her face, "Get moving!"

"We're that way." The tall, freckled boy motioned for Levi to follow. And although fear had been drawn with permanent marker all over his face, his voice was strong and cheerful. He was the type that talked too much when he was nervous, which was just fine with Levi, who had already clammed up.

"I'm Boris Fuller. Uh…you're that prodigy kid, right? The one who graduated early?"

"Yes." Levi focused on the mane of his horse as the formation began to take shape. Looking up, Levi could see two dark specks to his right that were the next pair, and two to the rear left. Slowly, they disappeared from sight, spreading further out.

"—And I have three little sisters," Boris was chattering, "I. . .I used to have an older brother. Mom didn't want me to be a Scout after he. . . well, he was a Scout too. But he didn't come back." Boris looked away for a moment. Then, "What about you? Got any family?"

"None." Levi replied shortly, which was mostly true. Thankfully, Boris didn't question after a sidelong look.

"You don't talk much, do ya?"

Which was all too close to something he'd heard before.

"No point. Too easy to fuck yourself up." He explained, "And besides, my foot fits too easily into my mouth without me talking." He glowered at the feminine shape of his footwear

"Wow. Two entire sentences, coming from you." Boris remarked, feigning astonishment.

"You should feel honored." Levi replied wryly.

"And a sense of humor, too? You're an accomplished young man, Levi."

The threat of death does strange things to people. In Levi's case, it made him his first friend.

It figured that they were talking about women when the first flare went up.

"See?" Boris flung out his hand at the rising column of red smoke to their right, "Even talking about them is bad luck!"

Levi said nothing but "I've got the flare," already loading his gun with one of the red cartridges. He raised his arm into the air and fired, then steered his mare to the left, away from the first signal.

Presumably, they circumvented the Titan, as none appeared. The same with the second and third warnings.

The fourth one broke through. About a minute after the flare went up, there came a figure from their left flank.

"It's a good six-meter." Levi noted, barely able to keep the apprehension from tightening his voice. Boris was uncharacteristically silent.

Levi and Boris were two of the lucky ones. Their adrenalin overpowered fear, and neither of them froze on the spot, as so many rookies were prone to do.

He had to give credit to the horse, though. She didn't rear or bolt but merely whinnied nervously and tossed her head, as did the spare.

Levi had seen pictures of Titans before in the classroom. He'd always thought they looked a little like humongous babies, and they might have been almost comical if not for the fact that they were human-devouring monsters.

He did not think this was comical in the slightest. The ground shook with the force of the thing's steps, and it moved with an unnatural speed comparable to that of a charging bull.

"Get ready." Levi murmured, drawing his swords. Boris did the same.

Levi forced himself to stay where he was and ignored the primordial urge to run as the Titan bore down on them. Boris swore quietly at the size of the thing.

Once the monster was close enough, having spied what it thought was going to be its next snack, the soldiers jumped, Levi swinging to the left and Boris to the right. The Titan seemed momentarily confused as to which of these small ants it should go for first, then decided to snatch at the bigger one – Boris.

Sticking mannequins in the neck was nothing like trying to stick a moving being in the neck. When Boris dodged, the Titan struck out at Levi's ODM cables instead, catching one in its massive fist.

A puny 130 pound soldier was nothing against a Titan's strength, and before he knew it the thing had his cloak in its grasp, so Levi did what came naturally. He screamed, and decided the mortification of such an act could wait until later.

This audible release of pent-up fear allowed him to regain his composure, and then he was slashing with his swords, cutting himself free and splattering his cloak with Titan blood. Almost immediately, the thing's hand began to regenerate.

Meanwhile, Boris had fought his way to its face and was busy picking at its eyes. His foot slipped dangerously close to its gnashing teeth, and Levi saw his chance, lodging his ODM cables in the Titan's shoulder and swinging around, slashing with all his strength at the weak spot.

Blood flew and the Titan froze, teetering for a long moment before crashing to the ground, causing a tiny earthquake. Within seconds, its body had disintegrated, leaving nothing but a skeleton in its place.

It was over so quickly, Levi realized. Somehow he had expected . . . more. (As if nearly being eaten wasn't enough already.)

"You killed a Titan." Boris acknowledged quietly. He stared at the bones, then looked at Levi. "Hey man, you killed a Titan!" he broke into a grin, "We're alive, too!"

Both of them were covered in blood and Levi's mare stepped back a pace when he tried to climb up, smelling Titan on him.

"Let's go," he said nonchalantly as the horse decided it was him after all and let him up, "We're not out of the water yet."

Although one hour passed in near silence, without event, Levi could not have been more correct. The next Titan that appeared later was nothing like the first, and the black smoke from the spotters went up after the fact.

Levi fumbled with his flare gun again as the thing approached, it was at least ten times as fast as the six-meter, and travelling on all fours. Black cartridge, black cartridge. Where was the black cartridge? There! He slammed the cartridge in and fired while Boris drew his swords.

"What the hell did we do to deserve an Abnormal?!"

"It won't go straight for us." Levi found that he was surprisingly calm now. All his fear and adrenalin had been spent on the first attack. Now all he had was cold clarity. "The Abnormals are supposed to always go for the center. We'll have to get in its way and make it notice us." He, too, drew his swords with a delicate scraping noise, dried blood staining the steel of both.

They steered their horses directly into the path of the Abnormal, and both lodged their ODM cables into its flesh. This did not seem to bother it in the slightest, and it continued on without slowing. Levi's spare horse was crushed under its left hand as the monster barreled forward towards the center of the formation at breakneck speed.

Levi landed near the Titan's ribs and Boris on its back.

"I'll get its Achilles heel." The older boy offered, "Once it's down, you go for the neck!"

Levi nodded his assent and climbed into position on the Abnormal's back as Boris swung down its leg. In a flash, the thing realized what was going on and made a conscious move to stop him. There was no time for Levi to react, and by the time the monster had made its move, Boris was flatter than any intact human could be. And in that moment, an image seared into Levi's mind. And it would never leave.

Boris's femur poked through his pants and two ribs through his side. His face was a bloody mess, but even from atop a Titan's back, Levi could make out one blue eye reflecting the clouds.

"Boris!"

I have three little sisters.

After making sure of its kill, the Abnormal continued running, apparently having forgotten that there was a second man on its back, or maybe already having dismissed him as a threat. Either way, it had made a mistake.

The textbooks said that Titans felt minimal pain.

By the time I'm done with you, you'll be screaming for mercy.

Levi had no idea how far the Abnormal had run by now or how close they were to the center. So far they had encountered no other soldiers. Either they were spaced too far apart or the Titans had already ravaged this far, which was unlikely since there were no other monsters in sight, either.

What Levi should have done was send another black smoke signal to warn other Scouts, but at this point he had all but forgotten his flare belt. He was focused on one thing and one thing only. And that was revenge.