Chapter 3:The Fall Pt. 2
It had now been a couple of hours since Saran, Obi, and their father had returned to the group. Now in the afternoon, the heat from the blazing sun was beating down on them more than ever. Wiping the sweat from his face, Obi begins complaining about how hot it is while Saran picked purple daisies from a bush for Maya.
Their group was currently spread out, since some of the older hunters were out hunting on their own. Like most days, today was quiet, with not a single titan in sight. Since they resided in the safest place of the hunting borders, it made things safer but boring for Saran and Obi. The titans were mostly found outside the borders, so if any groups ran into them, it would be the elite who would be more than capable of taking care of them.
"I don't think we'll get to kill a titan today," Obi pouts, gulping down water from his sack.
"You never know" Saran says in a hopeful tone as she continues picking flowers and stuffing them in her pockets since she ran out of room in her pack. She wanted to take as many as she could, hoping that Maya would finally shut up about them.
Both Saran and Obi had seen two titans in the past year. They had only ever watched the older hunters take care of them, while they always stayed in the back watching from behind.
Finally done picking the flowers, Saran looks around to see if there's anything else she can do. Bored, she runs up to Obi, stealing the pack of food he had been saving.
"Hey, give that back!" he yells, jumping off his horse. He runs after her, letting the chasing game begin. Soon they both start to laugh as they playfully chase each other.
As Saran grows a little tired, Obi is able to snatch his pack, with her now chasing after him. He hurriedly runs up to a nearby tree, holds the pack with his mouth and begins to climb. Saran continues, following him up the tree. A bit curious, he stops to look down and sees that she's on his tail! Picking up speed, he climbs as high as he can, but as he reaches for the last branch, Saran grabs hold of his left foot.
"Gotcha!" she says, smirking.
It was weird, he didn't try breaking her hold from his leg, instead his whole body became still. Did he not hear me? She thought. Now looking at his face, she notices him looking out into the distance with wide eyes.
"Obi? What's wro-"
"Titan!" he screams, "There's a titan up ahead!"
Her eyes follow his small shaky finger, forcing her to see the tall figure heading their way from the cluster of rocks they had been hunting at earlier.
"Get down, now. Hurry!" Idris says, riding his way over along with the rest of the group.
Obi and Saran start making their way back down the tree as fast as they can. It felt so strange to Saran, before it seemed like it took her only a few seconds to reach the top. Now, it felt like she would never reach the bottom. The second their feet touch the ground, they run to their horses. With everyone gathered, Idris begins giving the plan of action. The titan would be approaching in a few minutes, and it was their job to kill it before it reached Wall Leza.
"Listen to me," he commanded in a calm but alert tone.
"Taj, Issa, and Salim will serve as a distraction, while the rest ambush from behind, understood?"
"Yes sir!"
The three-man team rides off toward the titan in a triangle formation as the others stay behind. This titan was the usual; tall, with its mouth wide open in a smile, eyes bulging out, thirsty for human flesh. It ran towards them with its hands stretched out.
"Right, move right!" Taj says, as the three of them in unison, move to the right, riding as fast as their horses can take them. They were the perfect distraction, as the titan turned, following right behind them changing direction.
Meanwhile, Idris gives an order to the rest of the group, "Saran, Obi, and I will take the right, the rest will take the left. Hunters, move!"
Everyone takes off after them. Saran rides; following behind her father, with Obi on her right riding with a determined look on his face. As nervous as she was before, she didn't feel it anymore as she road with her family by her side. She notices Idris make a signal with his left hand to pick up speed; they were going to close in for a shot.
"Hiya!" Saran shouts as she kicks her horse for more speed. Now only a couple feet away, Idris and Kamali's cousin Garai leading the group on the left, take their explosive arrows and shoot the ankles of the titan. Two big explosive sounds go off, and steam releases from the ankles as the titan falls to the ground. Taj's group disperses as they hear the explosives.
Saran and Obi continue following their father as they ride around to the head of the titan, still keeping out of its reach. They needed to be quick and swift before the ankles grew back.
The titan shifts its head to the left, as Saran notices Taj, who was not too far behind Garai's group, was still within the titan's range! Before she could warn him, the titan reaches for Taj, but Garai also takes notice and quickly takes out his arrow. Already in range of the titan's neck with her arrow, Saran and Taj release their weapons at the same time. The group watches as the titan's hand and neck explode, detaching the head from the body. As the steam rises, Saran brings her horse to a stop, starring wide-eyed in shock at the titan she just defeated on her own. All the hunters begin to cheer, while Saran tries to hold back her smile.
"Good job Saran," says an impressed Obi.
"Thanks, you can kill the next one."
"I doubt there will be another one today besides, we have to head back in a few hours."
Saran then looks to her father who is staring at the deteriorating titan. He opens his mouth and in a low voice says, "I wonder which group failed to kill this thing." He was right, since it was very rare for a titan to get this close inside the border. There must've been a group in the East that was most likely annihilated.
Kamali's voice suddenly rips through the cheers, "Look, over there!" as she points up ahead. "The hunters, they're coming back."
"Why so early?" Obi says, worried.
Saran looks, and sees the hunters' ways away, from both the north and west riding back at full speed. Suddenly, the sound of a horn begins ringing through the air; it was the emergency signal to withdraw. Saran gasps as she looks behind the fleeting hunters far off in the distance, she could barely make out the figures that followed behind them. Trying to make out how many she began counting under her uneven breath, "One, two, eight…thirteen…" Thirty, sixty, no, the numbers were endless.
"Everyone, pull back!" Idris urgently commanded as he turned his horse around, heading back to Wall Leza. Why is there so many all of a sudden? They usually never come this way! Is Adina alright?! She thought as she headed back, following behind her father and Obi. Too scared to look back again, she forced her eyes forward toward the entrance of the wall. Even though they were much farther ahead than the others, she could hear the screams of her comrades behind her. Squinting her eyes, she tries to tune them out.
As they reach the entrance, they notice a couple of the other groups standing outside the gate waving their arms. When they arrive, Saran jumps off her horse tagging behind the group. She sees her father approach them looking confused as he begins talking to the other group leaders. Everyone begins to crowd around them to hear what was happening. These were the leaders of the groups who stayed near Wall Leza like Saran's; they also consisted of many young teens. As Saran trails behind Obi, pushing their way through the worried hunters, she hears the nervous whispers.
"What's going on?"
"They say the gate is locked!"
"The titans are coming soon, they need to open the gate!"
Before reaching her father who stood a few feet away, the ground began to rumble beneath her feet. It was as if an earthquake had hit. Then all of a sudden it stopped, leaving the hunters in a frenzy of panic. Saran was scared; she could feel it… that it came from below. The ground starts to shake again, making some of the hunters fall to the ground as it worsens. BOOM! Saran screams as she feels the wind push her back into the air. She hits the ground; tumbling and feeling all sorts of things hit her from everywhere. Once she comes to a stop everything is quiet, all she can feel is a somewhat light breeze gracing her face. Trying to stay conscious, she slowly forces her eyes open, and as the dust begins to clear up, she sees it. A titan… much taller than any she'd ever seen…and it was standing in a huge sunken whole that was once Wall Leza.
