Escape From Shigansina


Annie followed closely behind Eren as he led her down the dark hallways of the school once more; sticking close to the wall as they made their way back to the cafeteria.

"There should be an emergency exit door way back in the kitchen." He muttered after she'd given him back his pistol. The two decidedly waited out the cries of dissonance those creatures were conjuring outside of the school, until a blanket of eerie silence fell over, then they were on the move.

The hallway was pitched black as they both cautiously walked through it, only a faint sliver of light from the old street lamps illuminated through the dusty windows of the classrooms. Eren uttered something under his breath as they approached the stairwell at the end of the hall. Annie pressed her back against the wall as he opened the heavy doors, "What was that?" she whispered.

"I said they could be lurking outside, to ambush us." he repeated in a hushed voice, it was too dark to make out his expression. Annie walked passed him down the stairway. He followed, pistol in hand.

"What other choices do we have?" She searched blindly for the staircase pole, her hand found the steel rod and she let it guide her down the steps. As they reached the basement, they were swallowed in complete blackness. That was until Annie found the knob to the cafeteria doors, slowly creaking it open. The two shielded their eyes at the bright incandescent lights of the cafeteria.

"Back here." Eren reminded her as he jogged across the wide café to the opened metal door of the kitchen, Annie gripped her rifle, trekking quickly behind the boy. They both hopped over the chromatic counter, into the food storage room. It was the same as she had seen it hours prior, empty food shelves and all. The absence of food still irked her to no end, but she tapped down the nagging feeling in her stomach. The hunger had dissipated once she'd seen the deformed faces of those creatures. Eren however, stared resolutely at one of the big empty shelves that towered over the rest.

"There's an emergency exit behind this one." He said, turning to her, "I barricaded it some time ago."

Annie stepped to the side to peer into the back of the big shelf, sure enough there was a hidden back door, she looked up and saw the red lettering signed 'Exit'. Slinging the straps of her rifle around one shoulder, Annie placed both her palms onto the side of the shelf.

"Help me." She snapped at the young man who stood idly watching her. He rushed over to her side, they both shoved at the big shelf. It wobbled slightly, scrapping on the tiled floors.

Eren grunted, throwing all his strength into the task, "Shit, forgot how heavy this was."

After pushing at the heavy shelf for a while, Eren became aggravated, and with one final shove on his part, the shelf toppled over with a loud crash. It fell onto one of the other smaller shelves that tipped over slamming into the wall. Annie winced at the loud collision. The creatures were sure too have heard all that noise. She glared over at Eren who simply shrugged in response.

"It's night time, even if they are a couplewaiting outside their movements are far slower now." He kicked at the heavy shelf some more, moving it away from the door with each hit, "Gives us an advantage." He grunted.

"You said they were deviants." Annie shook her head disapprovingly, "Anything is possible with those type, so quit making so much goddamn noise." She glowered, stepping in between him and the shelf he was still kicking. Eren gave a roll of his teal eyes, throwing his hands up, he moved away so Annie could push open the steel red door. Only to find that the door would not even so much as budge. She pushed even harder, scowling.

"Where does this door lead too anyway?"

"The back of the school, the parking lot." Eren peered over at her, hearing her growl in frustration, "Need some help there?"

Annie threw a nasty look over her shoulder. "That would be great." She bit out, stepping to the side so he could help her push the metal door, but he instead shooed her away with a wave of his hand. Standing upright in front of the door, then started bending his knees as if he was stretching at an Olympics.

"The hell are you doing?" Annie looked at him incredulously. Eren pretended not to hear her, cracking his knuckles with a loud pop, and rotating his shoulders. Annie cocked an eyebrow at his obnoxious behavior.

"What are you do—"

CLANG!

Annie jumped as he suddenly struck the door with a kick, the loud metallic sound bounced off the walls of the small room. Eren stumbled back, wincing slightly. He masked his pain with a grimace, "Oh man, that is one heavy door, I think one more should do it though."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Annie hissed, shoving him away from the door with all the force she could muster. He staggered back, catching himself before he could fall on his ass. Eren glared at her, and she mirrored the expression with much more malicious.

"I don't know what kind of person you are, Eren. But if you're going to stick with me, I'm going to need you to be cooperative." She emphasized the last part.

Eren gestured wildly to the door, "The hell you think I'm doing! I am opening the door, like you said." He spat viciously.

Annie rolled her eyes mockingly, "What you're doing is making a shit ton of noise, when they're cannibals roaming outside this damn school. We don't need to draw any more attention to ourselves." She pointed out.

"And besides, you barely even put a dent in it." Annie scoffed at him. However, just as soon as she spoke those words, the red metal door creaked open than. Just in-considerably enough to catch both survivors' attention. Annie stared dumbly at the door, then to Eren who smirked at her derisively.

"You were saying?"

"Shut up."


As if walking through the pitched darkness of the hallways weren't enough; walking through the school parking lot at night was like trying to roam an empty void. With no shed of light to illuminate their way, Annie trekked blindly across the lot, Eren followed behind, his pistol raised. Both on high alert of their surroundings. They passed an automobile, crushed seemingly. Perhaps by one of the creatures. Annie felt as if she was staring into an inky abyss. The asphalt appeared darker than it was. Any automobiles that were left stranded outside of the parking lot looked like big massive silhouettes to her.

Annie gulped inaudibly. No. She detested how dark it was. It never got this dark, even when she traveled through the forests of Maria. She was not afraid, though very anxious. Things could go bump in the night, without much notice, and that proved to be a bigger problem more than anything. Those creatures could be lurking behind every abandoned vehicle. Or stalking in every alley way, like a predator awaiting its meal.

Eren walked further away from her side now, she could make out his tall stature retreating in the dark. Her eyes barely making out that ragged maroon scarf. "Eren!" She called out in an urgent whisper, keeping track of his path, "Where are you going? Eren!"

No answer was heard from him, Eren continued the opposite direction, Annie huffed in aggravation. Reluctantly following where he'd gone. She caught up to him, about to berate him for wandering off, but as she refocused her view in front; Annie could gradually make out the faded lights of the street lamps. It seemed Eren steered them to the right direction after all.

She turned to him, he raised an eyebrow, arms folded with an aloof expression. "Well?" He said, greenish eyes appearing grayer in the absence of light, "Aren't you going to take the lead, Rebel Captain?"

With a roll of her eyes Annie pushed past him; equally ignoring his smug face she just knew he was making. They both continued onward to the dimly lit street. Finally reaching the concrete sidewalk, leaving the dark asphalt of the parking lot behind. Though they kept to the shadows, following off to the side the long line of street lamps that beamed bright orange circles onto the pavement.

Annie clutched her old rifle, loaded with the last of its bullets, Eren trailed behind her, also on guard as he gripped his weapon close. It was strangely quiet. She peered left then right, but there was no sign of any suspicious movement. Yet. They were barely out of the school district, another block or so and they would be heading into another row of identical houses. Annie could make out the square buildings from her vantage point.

If they could make it that far, that was. Eren brushed passed her shoulder, walking ahead again. Annie let him play leader as she brought up the rear, keeping a lookout for any creatures that might sneak up on them. They walked by another cluster of destroyed vehicles. Though it was disturbing to notice the large foot imprints on the shattered window shields; Annie was still thankful for the cover it provided.

They finally came to the intersection of the school district. Annie was left staring ahead, pondering whether they should make a dash across the wide street or continue down the sidewalk path that would eventually lead them back to the front of the school. Which they had promptly avoided leaving out of in the first place.

"We might have to take a little detour." Eren muttered, his eyes roamed over the clutter of destroyed vehicles blocking the road. She was right at his back, Annie walked forward, looking up at him questionably, "To the bridge?"

"Yeah, I mean, can't go back around the other way right—the way you came?"

"Do you know another way out? "

Eren pursed his mouth in hard thought, tonguing his cheek, "Well, I think, there's one way. You might not prefer it though. It's a pretty shitty route…"

"Spit it out." Annie demanded.

"Alright, jeez, take it easy." Eren scoffed, tossing his pistol to his other hand with ease. He used his free hand to point ahead of them,

"They're canals you see, that run down the next block behind those houses right down there. We can walk through them if they're not full of water, and possibly reach the lake outskirts." Eren dropped his hand with a sigh, "But like I said. It's a shitty route. Every waste in Shigansina was flushed into those canals."

Annie regarded him, stepping forward onto the street, sparing a look off to her far left, where the side of the front of the school should be. The other option. She focused her gaze back on Eren, "What about the bridge? If we can stay hidden, we might have luck reaching it."

Eren threw aside her suggestion with a wave of his hand. "What about across?"

"Reaching the bridge without spotting one of those fuckers is one thing, crossing it is another. I still don't know how you were able to walk near half a mile." Eren shook his head, threading a hand through his oily hair, "At night too. Honestly, I think it's better if we go the sewer route."

Annie stared blankly at him, still considering her two options. He clicked his tongue, "But if you'd rather we go your way," Eren lazily pointed his gun down the sidewalk, "Which is, by the way, the more dangerous suicidal option, be my guest. You're the captain." He ended with a little mock bow. Annie sneered at his childishness. But as she weighed in on the matter, he did appear to be right. Again. Crossing the bridge at night would be rather foolish, especially given that there were now angry deviants possibly stalking that section of town.

As well as the fact that there were no sources of light on the bridge. She knew. That's why she crossed by sunrise. Only the moonlight lit the pathway now. They couldn't simply travel across by that. One of them could end up walking right into the lake. Annie mentally cursed herself, perhaps it would have been better to wait by next morning.

Though escaping would prove to be a lot more difficult if she had. Eren crossed his arms, his pistol dangled carelessly from his fingers as he waited for her to give an answer. She glanced at him, then turned on her heel. Walking in the direction of the possible shitty route.

"Come on." Annie directed to the boy behind her, "I need you to lead the way. We've wasted enough time here." Eren strode pass her, his dirty face gleaming in approval at her suggestion. Annie trailed behind him as they both maneuvered through the maze of crushed vehicles that littered the intersection. Once safely across on the other side, Eren lead her down the next abandoned neighborhood. The houses were the same as the ones Annie had passed by when she arrived in this town. Shigansina did not seem to have much taste regarding architecture. They were all the same cottage style, cookie cutter houses, all built with the same copper brown brick, and slanted roofs.

The only differences Annie could tell them apart were their front lawns. Some had outgrown shrubs and weeds that almost enveloped the entire front of the house due to lack of daily maintenance. Some had small gnarled trees whose fruit had long since rotted into the soil. There were even those little plastic gnomes, and the pink flamingos that somehow stood completely untouched amid certain practically vacant lawns. As they approached one house, Annie caught sight of a small colorful toy slide. A child's slide. The vibrant pinks and blues contrasted obscenely with the dark muddy dirt it rested on.

Annie drew in a breath, she kept her gaze focused on Eren's back as she followed him passed the line of houses. Eventually, Eren came to a stop at the end of the road, just a block away from the next suburban area. He motioned with his hand to the house that they halted in front of, indicating this was where they should head next.

Annie brought her attention to it; didn't seem very different from the last dozen or so homes. But as Eren started creeping to the side of the house, hopping over the fence on to backyard, Annie saw what he was really referring too. Or rather smelt. It was awful. The foul stench of the very sewer wafted in the air, Annie wrinkled her nose, coughing twice.

The backyard was covered in wild tall grass, and pointy snapped twigs; but Eren didn't seem to care much as he walked over on his socked feet to peer above the deep trench where filthy puddles of water laid dormant.

"Doesn't seem too bad." Eren shrugged his shoulders, though with a disgusted expression. he nodded over to Annie who could very barely approach the trench from the horrible smell alone. She trudged over to him, pinching her nose as she peered down into the dark canal. He was right, however, there wasn't much water, it would be easy to walk through it and safely reach the other end. Unless one of those creatures knew how to work plumbing, there wasn't any danger of them drowning within the sewers. The only problem was; which way would they travel? Annie turned to Eren who looked to be speculating this as well.

"Considering the bridge to Sina is back down that way," he said quietly, staring in the direction in which they came, "I think we should go this way." He jabbed a thumb to the right, indicating the opposite direction. Annie fixed him with another one of her blank stares.

"You think." She sighed but wasn't about to argue any further on the subject. It didn't truly matter which way they went as long they escaped Shigansina in one piece. Eren peeked down the trench again, curling his lips into a grimace, "Welp, I guess I'll go first." Before he could climb down the slippery slope, Annie placed a hand on his shoulder, He stopped, looking down at her curiously.

"What? You want to go first?"

Annie shook her head, "No. Just... Wait here a moment." She told him, before jogging off onto the back porch of the house, sliding the patio door open and creeping in. Eren watched her curiously the whole while until she disappeared into the house. He shuffled some loose dirt with his clothed toes as he waited for her to come out again. Keeping a stern look out, though as ten minutes passed by, Eren grew anxious and frustrated. He stomped over to the porch, angrily sliding open the door only to be greeted by the petite blonde.

He peered down at her, raising an eyebrow at the items she had scavenged from within. "A flashlight and… Boots?" He inquired inspecting the dark footwear with a tilt his head, "You stole boots?"

"Not stole. Found." She pointed out, "And they're not for me," She forcibly pushed the dirty worker boots into his arms, "They're for you."

"Unless you want to catch all kinds of diseases from the sewer now," She said, walking briskly past him as she pocketed the small flashlight, "I don't know your size, just grabbed any spare I saw. I suggest you put them on."

Eren gaped at her, then to the used boots in his arms. He mumbled a small thank you, slipping them on without much trouble. They were quite big and clunky on him, the seam of the boots bunched up his dark jeans, which he had to stuff into them. He tested them out a bit, walking a little funny, but getting the hang of wearing actual foot wear again.

He strode over to Annie who had already begun climbing down the slope of the trench, giving her a hand. "I… Uh... Really appreciate that." He muttered, awkwardly avoiding her apprehensive stare.

"I don't see why you hadn't done that before." She grunted, skidding a little way down the slope.

Eren spared a glance to the home behind him, "I never liked scavenging the houses," He murmured, "The things you see sometimes... It's too much, even for me." Annie caught his empathetic teal gaze. Me too, she thought, but did not voice it.

"I didn't see any bodies." She told him in reassurance. Eren simply nodded, waiting for her to land safely onto the mushy ground of the canal, then climbed down haphazardly himself. Almost losing his grip twice due to the large boots.

With a splat he hopped down next to her. Eren gave her a sloppy little grin, which she returned, only halfheartedly. He trudged passed her, splashing through filthy puddles,

"Well," he exclaimed, barely containing the level of disgust he felt, "I hope you're ready to walk through a river of shit."


The canals stretched on for miles across Shigansina; cutting through the back yards of homes, and underground through wide sewer tunnels. The deeply rooted trenches were originally created for flash floods that would occur whenever it rained for a prolonged period. But ever since the establishment of the hotels, and the new sewage line that followed with it; The trenches had since been used as a waste depot. Often, before the collapse of civilization, the canals over flooded with murky fermented water, which caused the occupants of the homes to complain.

Shigansina had apparently long been ruined even before the virus struck. As Eren explained, its constant trouble with sicknesses that came with living next to waste. The lakes were no better. In fact, they were far worse. They were used as a garbage dump, trash and fecal matter being poured into the once pristine water through large steel spouts. Officials of Shigansina had masked it all by marketing the town as a beautiful vacationing spot.

Tourists ate it up. Shit and all. The extravagance of the hotels worked as a façade against the toxic waste that was gradually building beneath. It was probably no wonder that Shigansina made the worst of those creatures. As Eren informed her, more than half its population became the deviant ones. The most terrifying of them all. Annie had yet to question him about his survival in this dump of a town, she touched lightly on the subject, though Eren did not offer her much of a detailed answer.

"I mostly stayed locked up inside the school," He said, boots making loud squishing noises as they both waded through pools of brown foul-smelling liquid, "There was an entire food storage there I mean, lasted me a hell of a long time."

Annie groaned in remembrance of the empty food shelves she'd encountered before. Damn this boy and his stomach. She could eat the snacks she had scavenged; but keeping it down while walking through literal piss and shit would be a problem. Annie focused her attention on other important matters, like where they could be possibly heading.

"You're sure this path will lead us directly to the lake?" She asked for the umpteenth time, Eren sighed exasperatedly, the flashlight in his hand wavered slightly.

"For the thousandth time. Yes. It would lead us to a lake. Not sure which one we're going to end up on."

"Are we nearing there yet?" Annie peered ahead of them, it was so dark, even with the faint light that was provided, and the stench was so bad, she had heaved three times already on the verge of vomiting what little contents her stomach contained. She could not make out much of anything further in their path, no matter how hard she scrutinized.

"When we see a really big sewer tunnel, then you'll know we're there." Eren stated, clearly bothered with her questions.

"We'd still have to cross those tunnels to get there though, genius." Annie grumbled, hanging her head. Her ankles ache, and the sewage gunk was already seeping through the soles of her boots. It didn't matter to her that she was being a royal pain in the ass. She'd like to reach the damned lake sooner rather than later.

Eren swung around, about to toss an insult her way, but froze in his tracks. His eyes rounded fearfully at a spot above her head. His frightened gaze landed on her puzzled face, it chilled Annie to the bone.

'Don't move.' He mouthed to her, slowly raising his pistol, and the flash light to a point above her head. He moved it slightly, following whatever it was that stalked behind Annie. Her sixth sense finally picked up on its looming presence. Annie's breath hitched as she heard the sloshing approach her behind.

Fucking. Shit. She was always horrible at sensing other presences. Annie moved to release the straps of her rifle, but Eren shook his head. No. His eyes were stern. Annie bit her lip, slowly dropping her hands.

A rush of damp air suddenly hit the base of her neck, rending her immobile with shock, its very presence invaded her space, surrounding her. She looked at Eren, pleading with her eyes to shoot down the horrid thing. But he wouldn't, tracking its movement solely with the flashlight. Eren then moved the beam of light to her front, and the creature than leaped from behind Annie, landing with a splatter onto the very spot Eren had shone the light on.

Annie gaped, wide-eyed, at the sight of this new creature. It was small and wiry, no taller than Annie herself, with pale splotchy skin. Its eyes were a clouded pale blue, void of pupils. Its legs were thick, identical to a frog, and its arms were shriveled limbs that dangled pathetically at its side. The creature gnashed its pointed teeth into the muddy water, trying to snag at the beam of light. Eren gawked at it, testing the awareness of the little creature as he pointed the flashlight to a spot on the side of the trench wall. The creature snarled then attacked the wall, scratching away at the hard dirt with razor claw like nails.

Eren nodded over to Annie. 'Blind.' He mouthed to her. She turned from the creature scraping insanely into the walls. Eren unhurriedly placed down the flashlight before his feet, leaving it pointed at the wall, then backed away with slow concise steps. He motioned with his hand for Annie to follow. She kept her eyes trained on the gremlin hacking away at the wall as she moved to his side, making little noise as possible. They both cautiously walked around, Eren kept his pistol targeted at the creature the whole time. Even as they gradually made it more than a couple of feet.

Annie removed the straps of her rifle, but kept it drawn down in her hands. "Is it deaf too?" She whispered as they reached further away from the little monster, almost too low for Eren to pick up.

He shrugged, now half turned, half keeping focus on the creature far behind them, he whispered back, "Some are. I didn't want to kill it right away, would've probably drawn more of them out. The smaller titans are the quicker ones."

"There are more of those things?"

"You've never seen those type before?"

"Like that? No, never."

Eren looked in thought for a moment. "Possibly, yeah they are more of them, we'll just have to be extra careful."

Annie kept her focus on the monster as it appeared smaller and smaller in their back view, soon they came to curve in the canal; until all the creature became was a spec of illuminated white movement in the darkness. Even than she was still on high alert, left on edge after that little ugly gremlin came so close to her that she felt its breath right on her skin. Annie shuddered, the squelching noise of the sewage they trudged through irked her even more so.

"You okay?" Eren came to her side, worriedly glancing down.

"Fine." Annie responded with more force than intended. Eren left it at that, getting the message rather clear. They continued in silence, only the wet sloshing noise of their boots hitting the ground could be heard.

It was more difficult to navigate through the sewer canal without the flashlight; luckily the path was rather linear, only coming to a few short curves here and there. Still, the darkness only served to fuel Annie's impending anxiety. She subconsciously drew closer to Eren, her arms brushing at his.

He said nothing however, if he did notice. In fact, he kept close to her side the entire trek through the canal. Annie felt that he may be warming up to her. Even though she's only using him as a guide. In her gut, she felt she shouldn't be putting so much trust into this boy whom not hours earlier had a gun pointed at her head. She wondered if he would accompany her still once they escaped.

It would be too risky, Annie thought, to keep him and herself out of danger. To have to scavenge to feed two mouths instead of one. Though the added prospect of having another living survivor aid her in actually finding rations andprovide more fire power balanced out the odds. She could always use a lap dog. Perhaps she should ask him; it's not as if he would survive long anyway. They almost never do.

Just as soon as Annie opened her mouth to question him, Eren came to halt, "We're here." He said, Annie followed his line of vision to the hollow gaping tunnel of the sewer. The ridges of the iron were caked in grime, ooze and many other undefinable muddied textures.

"Disgusting." Was the only word that popped in Annie's head.

"You got that right." Eren trudged forward but failed to notice the pothole that brimmed with sewage sludge, he accidentally dunked in his entire right foot into it, soaking his boot with filthy water, the water stained the hem of already filthy jeans.

"Fuck! Are you serious?! C'mon!" Eren leaped back, belting out every swear word he knew as he shook his now ruin muddy boot. He knelt, peeling up the damp hem of his jeans with a huff.

"Maybe you should look where you're going." Annie said, walking straight passed him. Eren pouted childishly, glowering at her, "Well then, Ladies first."

Annie peered into the dark tunnel, stepping forward to inspect the passage, then briskly turning around, shaking her head. "I don't think we can do this." She muttered, coming around to Eren's side, who was still being prissy about his dirtied boot.

"Can't do what?"

"We can't possibly walk through there," Annie glanced into the dark foreboding tunnel, "It's too dark, we won't be able to navigate safely."

Eren rose from his squat beside her, his mouth quirking in a shadow of a grin, "Oh? What's the matter, scared of the dark?"

Annie gave him her best deadpan stare, adjusting her rifle, "If you want to walk into that abyss," She gestured behind her, "And possibly get torn apart by those little gremlins because you can't see where you're going. Be my guest."

Eren scoffed at her, sauntering pass Annie, he observed the inside of the tunnel himself. He pursed his lips and whistled, the sound echoed in the spacious darkness, "Well," He turned to her, "Maybe it is a bit too dark."

Annie rolled her eyes; leaning onto the grimy trench wall, "Told you. You just had to give away our only source of light."

"Excuse you? Your ass would've been dead if it weren't for me! You should be thanking me!" Eren shouted with a scowl, to which Annie responded with an extremely insulting hand gesture. A wet plop sound suddenly startled the two; Annie immediately loosened the straps of her rifle, peering into the spot across from her. Something had fell from above the canal, it stuck out in the muck it landed in, Eren watched warily as Annie trotted over, plucking the item from the gunk.

"What is it?" He asked, his voice resounded in the tunnels behind him.

She turned over the tube-like item in her hand, scraping away more of the foul-smelling goop, "It's—"

Her cerulean eyes widened in alarm, she turned to Eren, holding the item out to him, "It's the flashlight."

Eren walked over, snatching the item from her hand, inspecting it. It was the same flashlight he had distracted that titan with. Only the head of the flashlight where the bulb would be, had been crudely bitten off. Tiny razor-like teeth marks were left on the rubber handle grip. Eren inhaled a breath, sharing an unnerved look with Annie; then they both slowly brought their gazes up the grimy canal walls, right into the beady vacant eyes of the little creature they left behind.

And then another, and another, and another. Annie huddled near Eren, back to back, their weapons drawn out as they were surrounded from each side of the trench walls.

Eren tilted his head to the side, speaking low from the corner of his mouth, "The tunnel." he muttered, "We have to run."

"It's too dark." Annie drew in a shaky a breath as stared up into the milky clouded eyes of those gremlins. They chattered their razor teeth like an animal, the clinking grating in her ears.

"They know were here." Eren breathed taking several steps back into the tunnel, "We have to run. NOW!"

Annie ducked just as one creature leaped near her head, barely missing her face with its sharp claws. She sprinted into the gaping tunnel. Following the heavy sound of Eren's boots as she was instantaneously enveloped in the darkness. Her rifle thumping wildly at her side was sure to leave a bruise, but she continued blindly running through the dark path. Dozens of scuffling feet chased her from behind.

Eren cursed loudly from ahead of her, as they came to a forked end of the tunnel. There was barely enough moonlight that filtered in enough through the metal sewer grates above for Eren to make out anything in his path. He dashed without thought into the left end as the chattering sounds grew nearer, Annie hastily followed behind.

They ran further, and further into the void curved path; but the chattering continued to chase them as they fled, it echoed horribly in her ears. The wet sloshing of the sludge on their feet only served to slow them down but they clamored through, fear and flight propelling them to keep moving, to stay alive.


Annie sprinted through the dark, no longer able to make out Eren's silhouette. She had lost what little sight of him. She wondered if he'd abandoned her. She yelped as something latched onto her arm and tugged her sideways onto a ledge. Annie struggled against its grip, trying to strike the assailant with her elbow, kicking her feet forward. It tugged her until she was pressed forth onto another warm body. A partially gloved hand clamped around her mouth.

"Stop it." Eren seethed into her ear, "You're making too much noise." He released her abruptly, Annie took a moment to catch her breath, using the muddied brick wall for support. She pressed a hand to her chest, felt the cold metal of her dog tags. Relief washed over her but only momentarily.

She realized then, she could no longer hear the chattering of razor teeth behind her, nor the scuffling of a dozen feet. She wondered how long they both could have been running, her calves burned, and she was perspiring everywhere.

Annie brought a clammy hand to her forehead, damp with sweat and dirt. Eren appeared no better, even in the dark, she could out make Eren's filthy face and even filthier scarf. Browner than maroon, now.

"Are they…?" She panted, sparing a look behind him.

"Yeah, they're still in here," Eren exhaled a breath, "We have to be careful."

Annie switched her attention to him, "Than, why are we stopping?" She snapped, already calming down from the height of the chase. Exhaustion blanketed over her sore limbs. Annie slumped to the ground, no longer caring for the discarded waste that lay around them.

"That." Eren pointed forward to a spot near Annie, "That is why we're stopping."

Annie followed with her eyes to the direction he pointed too, she stood up making out the rusted metal bars of a ladder. She grabbed a hold of the metal bars and rested her foot on one step to test its strength; then she peered up and saw bits of the full moon, it's glow shone down on her face through a metal grate. Annie hopped down, turning from it as if she'd seen a goldmine.

"Yup," Eren said, striding over to her, "A way out. Looks like we don't have to walk the whole way after all."

Annie looked from Eren to the ladder, then back to Eren, "Wouldn't it be bolted down?" She asked.

"No. They're sewer grates, construction workers used them," Eren tapped the rusted step of the ladder, "The ladder speaks for itself."

"Where does it go?"

"Only one way to find out."