Fight or Die
Overlooking the destruction from the roofs of the halls of hell. They wondered had the world always been like this. Had it always been hell. The two of them made it to the Vanguards position what they found was not the Vanguard. The cold dead lay splattered and sawed throughout the burning floor. Regurgitated dead covered the streets covered in thick yellow slime. Explosions covered the ground from where the cannons had fired. More Titans flooded in through the whole. The Vanguard had all but been destroyed. What few survivors they encountered were badly wounded and beyond saving, or they were too terrified to move. Their report was clear. No survivors, no holding back against the enemy, for they deserved no quarter. They would have to fight or die.
"Are we done here?" Marcus had had enough of looking at dead bodies, searching for a trace of life or the fighting spirit. They had found a soldier who was fit and able, but he desired a quicker death, slashing his throat. They had marked all the areas for potential salvage. Still intact gear or blades. Now all they had to do was rendevous with the middle guard with their respective teams. Annie checks the map. Her eyes dot across all the marked locations.
"Yes. Were done." Annie took off into a sprint, Marcus jetted off behind her. Firing their cables they shot around the buildings. Like bullets carving their way through the air. They soared past Titans dangerously.
"This is a bad idea." Just as he said it a Titan emerged blocking their intended path. Marcus was just fast enough and he changed his course, running along its arms, he slashed in a zigzag pattern. Flipping off of its shoulder he bounced onto a neighboring building. Now set to attack, he prepared for his second plan of attack.
"Annie wolf pa…" He stopped she wasn't with him. Thats when he saw it. In the Titan's lumbering hand, Annie was caught. Completely trapped and immobile. Fear had become the two of them.
"You fucking monster!" Hatred and fear absorbed him entirely he flung himself as hard as he could at the Titan. Landing on its shoulder he slashed its cheeks open, before moving to its neck. He cleaved it. But it didn't die. Not deep enough! He thought but it was too late she was inches away from its mouth. In a last act of desperation he ran down its other shoulder. Slashing as hard as he could. Its arm fell to the ground. With Annie thankfully clutched inside. It turned to look at him. Its innocent eyes held a deeper meaning, of hunger. In sloth it reached over to him with the other hand. He swung his swords cutting off its fingers. He leapt from its back on to the ground.
"Marcus!" Annie cried she was still trapped. Marcus tried to pry the fingers, but the unsuspecting heat from the severed limb singed his hands. He raised his swords and hacked away at the fingers. Once they were removed they were faced with another problem. Annie's gear had been smashed. She couldn't leave the streets. The dawn of it fell upon Marcus. His face turned white.
"Go, leave me." Annie held his hands, ushering him to go.
"Not today!" Marcus holding her hands kicked down one of the doors, into the neighbouring building. Rushing up the stairs he searched for a way to the roof.
"Maybe when we get to the roof. We can." She cut him off, looking out the window they saw a small plaza, the Titans were being drawn towards them. Dozens of them. Leaning into the windows to get a better look.
"Go and one of us can survive." Annie sat him down out of the eyes of the Titans. Marcus unlatched his belt and gear, he took one set of blades and gripped them tight. Without the handle they cut deep into his hands.
"What are you doing?!" Annie picked up his gear trying to force him to put them back on. But she knew what his decision was.
"You go. I want you. I need you to survive this. I'll hold them off. Now go!" Marcus threw himself out the window onto the paving bellow. His knees buckled. His foot cracked from the landing. Howling in pain. He ran. The Titans took notice of this and followed him with rapid yet slow steps. His pace was faster. The pain from his foot wasn't helping biting down on his shirt he trudged through the splintering agony, always on the advance.
Annie watched it all as she strapped on his gear. Watching him run. Was the hardest thing she had ever seen but she couldn't look away. The Titans were gaining on him. She felt helpless. A thought crossed her mind. Taking the ring from her pocket. Her hand was shaking. As she slipped the ring onto her finger. Slowly she flicked out the spike. It was much too late. Marcus felt weightless as the Titans stomp sent him skyward. Slamming onto the pavement, his jaw broke, unhinging completely. He rotated his body. One last look at the sky. The gods felt he didn't deserve that. A Titan blocked out the sun. This wasn't a regular Titan is body covered in fur. It opened its mouth to speak.
"Let… me… loose." It asked like a lost plead
"I can't! I'd rather die a hero then remembered a monster!" Marcus screamed in futility.
"We… will… lose… her." It strained to speak. As blood gurgled from its mouth. Marcus choked on the same blood. It was both of theirs.
"We are not the same person!" Marcus was lifted off the ground. Another Titan ready to finish him off. Staring down its mouth.
"We… are… I'll… do…. this… for… you!" The Wolf howled as the other Titans mouth opened ready to swallow them both.
"Fuck! I'm doing this for you Annie!" The wolf yapped as it seized control. Electricity dancing all over his wounds. Looking up the sky, it had erupted with supernova intensity, bringing down its godly wrath. The wind in its wildest form roared at him. The lightning in its purest form, devoured him. Steam. Smoke. All bellowing around the gigantic form of the frenzied Wolf Titan.
The Titan's hand exploded as a much larger form, burst from inside of it. The Wolf Titan forced it to the ground its superior mouth eating the flesh of its neck. All the way to the nape.
"First… of…many!" It howled with delight as it continued eating the dissolving corpse of the dead Titan. Annie watched. A smile on her face. She was right. He was the one.
Standing to its full glorious height it climbed onto the buildings. It sniffed the air. Human's were nearby. The scent made Marcus become aware. He woke up inside of a mass heap of flesh and muscle. His face had melded with it. Opening his eyes. He saw through their eyes. His thoughts mixed with its thoughts. They had become one. He struggled to move. It was useless, the flesh that merged them had also binded him. All he could do is sit and watch. It leaped great bounds moving from building to building. They were hunting something, he knew what, the exact reason he didn't want to do this. The scent of humanity was on their nostril, the eager to taste was on their tongue, and the hunger filled their eyes.
"Please don't do this." He spoke in a hushed whisper, moving his mouth caused him to feel immeasurable pain.
This is what we want to do. He thought. Or did the other guy think that. Their thoughts had become one. Neither one doing what the other didn't. Neither one thinking what the other didn't. This was on both their minds. They wanted the same thing. They wanted to eat. They wanted to devour. Feeling resurged with energy. Their goals reformed.
"We should do it fast. No suffering." Marcus salivated, the pain didn't even matter. His hunger had taken over.
We agree. We wouldn't want that would we. Their thoughts had become reassuring they both get what they want. Without the pain involved.
We see food.
"Alright make the kill, make it fast." Marcus lurched forward, the suspense was killing them. Lurking in wait. Lurking in the shadows. They spotted another. It was going to steal their kill. It jumped, and they followed. In and intercept trajectory they grabbed the Titan, and their kill. Crashing into a building they dug their toes into its stone. Supporting its weight it looked at its catch. An aberrant. This one was faster than regulars. With careful strong hands. It began to squeeze. It struggled. After a few seconds. Its neck snapped. Going limp they dropped its corpse, to the pits below.
Now we feast.
"Eat the flesh and tear the…" Looking at who they had grabbed stopped him. Blonde hair trimmed short. Slightly tall he bared the insignia of the training corps. Thomas Wagner his friend.
All he could do was watch as Thomas squirmed.
"We can't do this, let him go!" Marcus screamed he struggled to get himself free of the Titan. Now was not the time to be playing. He couldn't kill Thomas.
We're doing this for our hunger. He heard its sickly laugh echo through his mind.
Thomas was placed slowly into the Titans mouth.
"No! Please stop!" Marcus shut his eyes. He felt the crunch and snap of the Titans jaw. Its neck pulsed as he felt his dying friend slither down its throat.
"Thomas I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to die." Tears streamed down his face sizzling against the steaming inner flesh of the Titan.
Its what we wanted. The Titan sounded apologetic but he knew that was false. It was savouring every last moment of Thomas' life. He knew this because deep down, he savoured it too.
"I didn't want my friends to die." Marcus knew that this was his fault. His thirst for human blood that was the reason Thomas now laid dead. The taste in his mouth turned sour, no longer sweet and delicious. The blood of the innocent, it had gone bad. Yet he still felt hungry. It was another taste he now craved. This meat was hot, it steamed in the mouth. Burning his lips. Fire blooded monsters was what he wanted.
We still hunger. Staring through its eyes. He saw that it had targeted more. They were moving fast but that was never a problem. Jumping down from the tower it rushed to the dreaded scene. Eren, the man who had inspired him the most. Near death bleeding out on the tiled roof. The others were fair game in the Titans eyes. Marcus lay there completely still. He was horrified, distraught. He just wished the nightmare would be over. A smaller Titan, its face looked like a babies. His claws tore it open. Rippings its skin like a blazing knife through butter. It tried getting back up. But a clawed heel pressed it down. Steam vented from the Wolf Titans mouth. It leaned in close. Its breath danced over the other Titan, like a hot candle whose flames gently flickered the skin. Its hands wrapped around the other Titan's skull. It began to squeeze. Crushing the life out of it. He stopped. That was going to kill it. They knew better. Lifting it off its feet. They spun it round and furiously ate away at its neck. Once the neck had been removed. He only held a decapitated head. Whimpers from below. A dark haired girl with loose black pigtails. Cowered in fear and confusion. She did not know what she had just witnessed. Marcus closed his eyes he couldn't watch Mina die. He couldn't hear her screams. As she was lifted high above the Wolf Titans mouth. As he opened his eyes he saw the girl who had always been kind to him and everyone else. He had to fight for her. He couldn't let the Titans win.
"Stop!" Marcus screamed. Mina Carolina was startled she heard a human's voice coming from the Titan.
"She… feeds… our… hunger." The Titan spoke, Mina closed her eyes preparing for the end
"She doesn't have too!" Marcus continued to scream the flesh connecting his mouth to the Titan ripped open causing steaming blood to spray onto his face.
"They… are… the… only… ones." The Titan was confused lowering Mina from its mouth to eye level.
"No the Titans! We will devour them to sate our hunger!" Marcus' screams held such vigor the Titan smiled.
"How... do... we... do... this?" It asked speaking to now invisible voice in its head.
"We do it together you give me control and we can do anything." Marcus smiled. Finally they had come together the Titan and him. He felt the Wolf's presence soften as if retreating back to its cage. He slumped. Looking around, moving his arms, moving his legs, twitching his ears. He had become the Titan. Lowering Mina back to the upper part of the roof. He turned and walked. Armin watched as another Titan approached. The bearded one had swallowed Eren. And here he stood ready to be eaten again. As if his sacrifice had meant nothing. Thats when it happened. The other Titan raised its hands in a distinct pose. This was hand-to-hand combat. With one right hook to the skull, the bearded Titan's head had been completely removed. Stepping over it glared at Armin.
"Stay… alive." It said. Armin collapsed, the shock had gotten to him. A Titan saving his life. He felt the world fade to black, Mina had hobbled her way towards him dragging him over the tiles. Then inky darkness.
