Chase leaned back on an outcropping of rock where he and Sasha were posted upon. God, his feet hurt from all the damn walking. You'd think training would make you used to long rucks such as that but that was something he probably would never get used to.
He absent mindedly chewed on a piece of jerky from his ration as they waited for the sunlight to crest the horizon, It was quite a journey from Wall Rose horses or not, and that caused quite the appetite.
Sasha's mouth watered, as she stared intently at him, or rather what he was holding.
"Oh hell no, this is mine, you've had yours already!" he chided annoyed with her. She was like that though ever since training.
She whined then went back to her task of setting up, pouting at him all the while.
"Damn potato girl..." Chase mumbled shoving the last of the meat into his mouth savoring the taste, after all meat was a rareity, given only to the rich and soldiers who were seemingly knocking at deaths door.
Well they weren't wrong on that one...
After finishing his breakfast he tidied up their makeshift camp and stored the new torches they had been given, the light of which was caused by the crystals the regiment discovered in the caves under the Reiss Chapel. He then crawled up next to the native of Dauper and started erecting his telescope.
"Do you see anything?" Sasha's whisper broke the silence after a few minutes.
Chase pondered Sasha's question as he looked through the ocular device.
The pair of Scouts were sent ahead of the main force sometime in the middle of their long trek in the night. He figured since he and Sasha were both hunters of some type, they were the best choice for being able to traverse through the wilderness to perform reconnaissance Gathering. A sound decision all things considered, this was Commander Erwin after all.
Speaking of the wilderness he saw his hometown in the distance as they left wall Rose. He would have to make it a point to travel to the overgrown and decaying ruin...if he ever made it back that is. Still, he was thankful for the town's fairly close proximity to Rose's gate, he didn't know what he and his father would have done if they were located in one of these towns farther away from the safety of Wall Rose, he probably wouldn't be here thinking about it right now.
Snapping his thoughts back to the task at hand he shook his head in the negative. "Not yet, the place is a damn ghost town..."
Sasha scanned her sector with a spyglass of her own and frowned. "Maybe they aren't ready for us, maybe they are hiding, maybe..." Sasha went silent next to him.
Looking up from his view Chase looked to his companion, "Sasha, what's wrong?"
It must have been her keen hunter's eye but she saw something."Two o'clock, north side of the wall on top."
He scanned that side and saw a low fire and three individuals atop the wall, he was surprised he didn't notice it beforehand but they did seem to keep the fire very low. Probably cautious of being discovered, well fat chance of that now.
"Hello there..." He mumbled to himself and extended his spyglass to get a closer look.
"I-Is that..." Sasha asked stuttering, worried if what the answer would be.
Chase gritted his teeth, "yeah, fucking Reiner and Bertholdt, our beloved so called comrades."
"Who's the other guy?"
He shrugged a shoulder, "must be another hostile shifter, the beast titan possibly, that's what the intel would suggest at least."
The two watched as the three conversed among themselves. Sipping on whatever drink they had warmed on the fire.
Chase snorted, "nice and cozy up there aren't they?...pricks."
"I think we should head back to the foot of the mountain, inform the commander of what we..." A gasp escaped Sasha's lungs as she saw what was mere meters away from them. Quickly he latched onto Sasha and pulled them further into the shadows of the more concave rocks.
"Shhh." He whispered in her ear, trying in vain to compose himself.
Long seconds passed by and large footsteps could be heard around them. A quadruped Titan appeared where they once had been moments before.
Their breathing became labored and uneven, fear and adrenaline shooting through their bodies. With nothing else to be done, they held on to each other in a vice grip. Chase not noticing or even caring that Sasha's ODM was pressing into him uncomfortabley. They waited for it to turn and see them...discover their position and eventually kill them.
He couldn't be eaten, not again. He would sooner shoot himself...
He mentally took note of the weight on the inside of his jacket. It was his pistol and he'd use it, no question about it.
Only if you don't have another choice. He reminded himself but somewhere in the back of his subconscious something laughed at that.
He focused on it's features, it definitely was one of the oddest Titans he'd ever seen, and considering he was eaten by a Titan that moved almost like a frog that was saying something. It looked like it carried freight on its back, a load of barrels and crates with god knew what inside.
The Titan looked around, combing over the area before it went off in the direction of the three atop the wall. Seemingly coming up empty of its search.
The two, sat there frozen by fear, "that thing came from the direction of the advance, we gotta report back." Sasha said, still shaken.
"Y-Yeah, what the fuck was that?" Chase asked, it was then the two noticed the proximity of one another, and yet still how he held onto her.
The cool night soon became warm as Chase let up, "s-sorry."
Blushing the Hunter stood and occupied herself with looking over her ODM.
"We should head back, we gotta tell the commander what we saw." Chase stared looking his own gear a once over.
Nodding in agreement Sasha began taking the path they came from the forest, Chase looked back at the fire still atop the wall.
I hope they get whats coming to em...
They made it back to the Scout's main force and passed the clearing, maneuvering their way past the dozens of horses and scouts who were making ready to leave.
After a few minutes they found Commander Erwin, Captain Levi, and Hange, as well as Armin and a few others, gathered around a map.
"Just over this clearing should be Shiganshina. Once our runners come back we'll have a-"
"Uhh, sir?" Chase interrupted rendering a salute as did Sasha.
Erwin nodded, "at ease, anything to report?"
Both nodded, "yes sir, we have confirmed sighting of the Armored and Colossal Titans and possibly the Beast type as well."
Sasha chimed in, "we saw a new Titan that's on all fours!"
Levi's eyebrow rose in question, "great another big ugly."
Erwin put a hand to his chin in thought, "hmm, an abnormal perhaps?"
"Come to think of it sir..." the former MP paused in thought. "It may be another Titan shifter, it seemed to be pretty intelligent, likely scouting the area much like we were..."
"The thing that really caught our eye is the cargo that was on its back..." Sasha added, "the thing almost caught us."
A chill went down Chase's spine, "yeah it was damn close to discovering us."
"This is troubling, still we must press on." The commander turned to his subordinates, "from this point onward we assume the enemy is aware of our presence and we must proceed with extreme caution."
"Understood." Most of the leadership acknowledged.
"Once we occupy Shiganshina, we'll continue with the plan till warranted otherwise." Hange agreed.
The commander turned to Holt and Sasha once more, "what of sightings of pure Titans or abnormals, any at all?"
Sasha shook her head, "no sir, not from what we were able to see."
Affirming Erwin turned to the troops who were preparing themselves and the horses for the push into Shiganshina District.
"Prepare to move out, we ride full force into the district and then secure the area around the gates!" Erwin ordered.
"Yes sir!" Most shouted in unison, the scouts hastily mounted their steeds and prepared to leave.
"Mount up and move out." He said to the scouting pair.
"Sir." They replied and carried out the task.
Soon the survey corps rode full speed toward the destroyed gate of wall Maria.
So this is where it all began? Where his whole life was turned upside down in the matter of a few minutes, and it was all done by three kids.
Figures...
"Holt, hood up!" Jean yelled riding next to him.
Shit, "right, sorry..." Chase threw his hood effectively covering his face from any would be enemies, making himself indistinguishable like the others.
Still though thinking back to his previous thoughts, he had to remind himself that those kids were brainwashed. Although that didn't make them any less dangerous...Even if they had to face Reiner and Bertholdt again.
He was just glad he could get Annie to come to their side...even though they have yet to make use of her. He inwardly rolled his eyes, that was the thing about government and the damn bureaucracy that came with it. For some reason, she had to have a trial by the Premier, much as Eren had.
Wonder what she's doing right now?
Knowing her probably practiceing her fighting styles or burried nose deep in a book...
"Titans can be anywhere so keep your guard up!" Erwin's voice cut through the galloping of horses and strong wind.
"All troops switch to ODM gear!"
The cacophony of ODM gears turning and shooting off sounded all around.
Jean and a few others stood on their horses with trained ease then zipped off toward the wall.
Ok, ok, you can do this...
He stood, taking great care not to fall off the animal, it took him a few good tries before he was able to steady himself for use of his gear. He wasn't seasoned in this movement as some of his comrades were.
Finally, he zipped off in the direction of the wall looking back in time to see Marlo falling back into his saddle, landing right back on his groin. Chase snickered to himself as Marlo's face contorted in pain, with that he moved up the wall.
The once deserted town was now bustling with activity, scouts launched themselves over the wall and fanned out to secure their assigned sectors.
He landed across from Armin, Eren, and the others. They soon started running in the direction of the second gate after some encouragement by Captain Levi, but Armin stopped in his tracks.
"Huh?" Chase stopped to discern what the blonde Scout was looking at, not wanting to leave him behind.
That's when he recognized this area of the wall, the last time he saw it was through a telescope. They stared at the scorch marks and ashes where a campfire once burned.
Distressed, Armin rose his blade in the air signaling the Commander.
Erwin started towards them and began conversing with Armin. As they discussed the situation a bolt of lightning shot through this sky and far off they could see Eren had transformed and started the process of sealing the gate, trails of green smoke soon followed.
"That psycho did it... hell yeah Eren, I knew you could." Chase's murmurs were cut short as Armin addressed him.
"Holt this is where they were right?" Armin asked his eyes laced with worry.
The other blonde nodded, answering both him and Erwin. "Yeah, Sasha and I spotted them up here, hell about half an hour ago now?"
He nodded, "let's go check it out."
Chase cleared his throat, the smoke of the nearby flare discharge wafting their way. "Right." They jumped off the wall and down to where the remains of the enemy's camp were.
X-X-X
Annie gazed out her barred window, evidently, this is where she spent most of her time these days locked away in her prison cell, this or she had her face burried in a book, and when she could she practiced her martial arts.
Lately, she pondered her decisions, had she made the right choice joining these people...her people?
So far it seemed the brass was in no hurry making use of her as a military asset, she supposed she understood, she wouldn't exactly trust a new turncoat and give them almost free autonomy, knowing very well if she was so inclined she could just rejoin her former comrades at any time out on the battlefield. After all, she would do the same if she were in their shoes...and then there was the fact if she exposed herself to early they would no doubt kill her father.
Her train of thought was interrupted by the sounds of yelling coming from the corridor.
"You bastards, you can't do this to me, do you have the slightest clue who I am!" The peace of the almost benign cell block was shattered by the prisoner who was now being thrown in the cell across from her own.
"Quiet old man, don't make us do something you might regret." A MP guard responded slamming the cell door closed.
"Yeah, for what you did you're getting off lucky, during this time of war we find ourselves in you could of very well been executed." Another sounded clearly fed up with the man's snobby attitude.
The prisoner seethed, "bastards and to think I lined your regiment's coffers for years now. Almost half the luxuries the MPs experience is because of me!"
"You're preaching to the choir friend."
"Enjoy your stay, sir." The other guard bowed, the duo laughed as they walked away. Talking about what pub they would hit up once thier shift ended.
Annie eyed the man as the guards voices faded, the large man slumped onto the bed of his cell. Much like her own, it was an actual bed not a cot like the cells on the lower levels had, it seemed all cells on this floor were suited for a more luxurious prison sentence, he must have been someone of importance if he was jailed here.
Seeing as she was bored out of her mind and had nothing else to do she struck up a conversation with him.
"So what are you in for, fraud, money laundering, treason?" She asked referring to the comment the guard made about almost being executed for what he had done.
Exhausted the man shook his head, "If only my dear. Destruction of government property, trespassing on military facilities, and assault on a Military Police Officer..."
Annie's eyebrow rose interested, "what did you do?"
The man sighed, "I rammed my carriage through an MP checkpoint, hurt some soldiers in the process..."
"What would possess you to do a thing like that?"
The man hesitated before speaking, "my daughter," he began. "She ran away and joined the military, I tried going after her after...he failed, but they wouldn't let me in no matter how hard I tried or how much money I offered."
Annie was impressed, supposedly this man's daughter grew up in the lap of luxury and with a silver spoon in her mouth, and she just up and joined the military arm of Eldia?
Brave girl...
"Most people would be proud of their daughter's choice of choosing to join, why are you different?" She asked wondering what his reasons were.
"Not me, I don't know if you heard of me or if you even care, at this point I don't even anymore," he took a moment to compose himself before speaking again. "I'm Author Ford head of Ford Enterprises, we make much of the military's firearms, ODM gear and components, blades, guns and the like."
Ah, so this guy was one of the weapons manufacturing companies inside the walls.
She scoffed, "so the guy who makes weapons of war and gets rich off it isn't ok with his daughter joining and partaking in it?" She asked sarcastically.
The man scoffed, "I don't have to answer to the likes of you...still that has nothing to do with it, if she wasn't my only child, my only successor...I'd probably be alright with the idea...what a mess."
Annie rolled her eyes at the man's inherent selfishness before her brain finally realized something...That name, Ford.
She turned to him, wait this is Ford, Chase's Ford? The man who mistreated him for much of his childhood...the man she helped drive him into for the lack of a better place to reside in his preteen years...had to be.
She narrowed her eyes at the portly man, "so Ford...I believe I've heard quite a lot about you."
The man didn't look surprised, "well I am one of the best and well-known companies around." He declared a matter of factly, sounding proud of himself.
"Oh no, I've heard about you from a much different source, more... personal."
Ford's face was confused, "I'm sorry my dear but I'm afraid I have the slightest clue of what you're talking about."
"The name Chase Holt ring any bells?"
At the uttering of that name, Ford's expression grew wary, "you know him do you?"
"Yes, we're acquainted."
"That boy has been the bane of my existence ever since I took his refugee ass in, one of the worst mistakes I've ever made..."
Annie's expression grew dark, she wished she could reach through this barred door and strangle this prick...but before she could think about doing anything, something that he said caught her off guard.
"Still I have him to thank for saving my family...he's not my favorite person in the world but he does have my gratitude for that at least."
The female titan crossed her arms, "why do you hold so much resentment toward him then?"
Ford for the up tenth time let out a tired sigh, "it's not completely directed toward him persay it was much more because of his father..."
"Wait you knew Mr. Holt?" Annie asked, feeling foolish for not knowing his boyfriend's late father's name. She fiddled with the golden band the MPs surprisingly let her keep, she wondered if this was the one that had belonged to the man of this discussion.
He nodded, "Lee was one of my business partners and head foremen for my factories in Wall Maria. Not to mention held quite the stock in my family's company." Ford smiled in memory, "he churned out more weapons and gear than our past Foremans combined, made us a lot of money, hell we even hunted together."
"So...why treat his son the way you did?"
"That bastard...my father, the Catalyst of Ford Enterprises had plans for more sophisticated Weaponry I'm not at Liberty to discuss, but apparently it was declared illegal by the Crown, and men were dispatched to my general factory in Maria, Lee's factory."
Annie knew the interior Police sanctioned what new technology could be invented and produced and that they suppressed any technology that would endanger the king's power, but where was he going with this?"
"Foolishly my father wanted to continue with his ingenious invention, rivaled only to the ODM gear itself. Once Lee knew of this he reported our endeavors. Oh, it was to protect my family! He had said, bah!" Ford spat on the floor of his cell.
"They took my father away in shackles the next day, I never did see him again, I suspect he was killed or locked away somewhere for the rest of his days, but I'm more inclined to believe the latter." The Captain of industry chuckled, "and to top it all off I found out they actually developed the fucking things. It was used by a squad of Special Police, led by that murder Kenny Akermen of all people."
She remembered reading all about the uprising and how the Scouts fought the MPs and all...
"And not one coin was given to me in compensation..." He continued on.
"Unbelievable, so your whole Vendetta against this man was over all the money lost of your would-be invention, and the death of a man who just wanted to create a new weapon of death? Then you take it all out on an innocent boy who had nothing to do with anything?"
"I gave the brat a place to live, clothes on his back and food in his belly every night didn't I? Hell I even helped him get a place in the MPs for god's sake! I held up my promise to that backstabber, I said nothing about coddling him like one of my own, I made sure he earned his keep!"
"That may be true, but there's a difference between coddling and treating someone like lesser garbage." Annie's cold voice stated.
"Who are you to question me, and who exactly are you anyway?" Ford asked, his words foolhardy.
"I'm Annie Leonhart."
X-X-X
"You have to admit whatever they were drinking smelled good, gotta ask Annie about it once we get back." Chase said walking back with Armin.
Armin nodded in agreement, "For now, we gotta concentrate on finding Reiner and Bertholt, or at least try to..."
He nodded, "right, I'll check out the buildings just below us with that one group of soldiers."
Armin nodded, his confidence In his command growing. "Remember fire off an acoustic shell if you see anything."
Smirking Chase pulled the flare gun from it's holster and brandished it to the shorter blonde. "I'll try to do more than that my friend, heh! might even find Bertholt hiding under a bed, shove my blade up his ass!" Chase said snickering.
This caused the tension from Armin to slack a little, he chuckled. "Be careful Chase."
This gave him pause, he still had to get used to his friends calling him by his first name, it was a long time coming after all and they certainly weren't Cadets anymore. "The same goes for you." With that Chase freefell off the wall before utilizing is ODM.
Armin sighed and hoped that they would discover the hostile shifters soon. If not this whole operation could end as quickly as it began.
Chase's booted feet clattered on the unkempt road. He saw where Scouts were actively clearing the nearby houses. He looked around at the destruction around him.
To think this once was an active town with hundreds or thousands of people residing in it. It now was a shell of its former self. All around him were destroyed buildings and shop stalls. Clothing and various household items ranging from toys and clothing to money and silverware littered the empty streets and floors.
It was truly a ghost town they found themselves in.
God help us...
"You! Holt right?" A voice called to him from his side.
He turned to find Marlene a squad leader, and her said squad was currently clearing the houses.
"Give us a hand we could use another blade at our backs!"
Chase nodded unsheathed his blades and made ready to enter a house. He stacked up by the squad leader and one of her subordinates. With a nod Chase leaned back and kicked the door in with all his might. The door swung inwards crashing into the wall behind it.
In a rush, the two scouts stormed the first room they encountered, blades at the ready with Chase following close behind. They found the dusty old living room empty and Marlene gestured to search the rest of the residence. The two females split up downstairs and he decided to check upstairs vaguely wondering if his prediction of one of the bastards hiding under a bed was going to be right.
The steps groaned in protest, not used to being stepped on for going on five years now. He found that there were two bedrooms and a bathroom much like the layout of the home in Trost he and his squad saved that woman and her children from.
He hated to admit it but those seemed like simpler times, not to mention a life time ago.
He tore open closets and flipped over beds, checking every nook and cranny he could find. But ultimately he came up empty-handed.
There was nothing here but dust, dirt, and a...body. He found a long bloated corpse, decomposed and rotten, it was in what once was probably a relaxing bath. All of its skin was almost gone and the water still held a foul odor.
Chase covered his mouth and nose with his elbow with no other forms of protection from the horrid smells before him, considering his hands still held his ODM blades at the ready, this was the best protection he could get.
"God..." he stood there stunned, finding that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't look away. The body's sunken in almost skeletal eyes bored into him as if demanding to know why he disturbed its final resting place.
He finally noticed a disturbing detail, a cane was by the tub. This person whether man or woman which gender couldn't be recognized anymore was a cripple.
This person's family probably fled out of fear or wasn't home during the attack on the gate. They died in a cold tub, with their walking instrument just out of reach, whether it was starvation or suicide didn't know nor did he want to.
"Wanna take a soak?" The demon's voice came from behind him. It smiled maniacally, "water looks relaxing..."
Chase quickly turned tired of the sight before him and not wanting the demon to cloud his mind, especially at a time like this.
It almost sounded sad when he turned to leave, "what's wrong, not up for one of our little chats?"
"Not particularly no. So if you would excuse me." He sidestepped the being before him, not truly knowing or caring if it was truly a tangible entity or just existed in his own twisted mind.
"This is it, it's time I feel it...don't you?"
He had an inkling of what the Spectre was talking about, but again he ignored it continued down the stairs.
"We'll both be in hell before the day is out, if you think my torment is bad here, just you wait till we go to my house to play!" It called down to him as he walked away.
The being turned toward the pitiful sight in the tub as Chase disappeared from view. The face of Emily Fitzpatrick contoured in displeasure.
"Gross..."
X-X-X
Putting what he found in the back of his mind as far as it could go, Chase continued on with Marlene and her squad. They swept two more houses before the sound of an acoustic shell rang in the distance.
Everyone paused in shock and uncertainty. Was this it had someone found them, will they transform any second! Or had the Scout been quick enough to deal a killing blow? He could only hope.
"Come on that sounded from the top of the wall, let's check it out!" Marlene ordered as she propelled herself toward the gate. Soon Chase and the others of her squad followed in kind.
They landed back on top of the gate after their brief search. They found that Armin was standing and appeared to have figured something out.
"Did you find them Arlert?"
"What gives Armin, where are they Chase asked confused about the lack of any Titan Shifters nearby.
"The walls, we have to scour the walls!"
"But we already search around them."
"There's nowhere to hide on them!"
Armin interrupted their protests. "Check inside them!"
This caught everyone off guard.
"Check inside them?"
"You're saying they could actually be hiding inside them?" Chase chimed in the barrage of confused questions.
Armin nodded, "yes, search for a hidden cavity of some kind, it might be covered..."
The questions continued, "How do you know this exists?" Dirk asked somewhat skeptical.
Armin looked away unsure of himself, "it's a hunch..."
Chase's eyes shifted in worry, it's not that he didn't trust Armin, he did but what evidence was there? For sure all he knew was inside the walls were the Colossal Titans. Still though if this was just a hunch...
Dirk grabbed fist fulls of Armin's cloak, "damn it don't you have any idea what kind of situation we're in? We don't have the time to worry about your hunches!"
Frantically Armin spoke his explanation, "think about it, the enemy always gets the better of us by using Titan Powers in ways we couldn't even imagine! Though we have more information than we once did in thanks to Annie, it's still not enough! If we constrain ourselves to conventional tactical reasoning we'll never gain the upper hand!"
Suddenly Commander Erwin shot a red flare into the sky, halting the whole operation.
"There are times to be strict and times to be flexible. Uphold your vows follow the chain of command and do what it takes to achieve victory."
Suddenly gaining his confidence back Armin gestured with a wave of his hand.
"Form two groups again and check the wall's surface, start your search above the gate, go hurry!"
Not wanting to waste any more time Chase nodded, "right, come on let's move!"
After a moment of hesitation, the others followed suit. "Right!"
With that, they started searching on the wall's surface.
He zipped down hanging from his cables and started tapping the stone surface with his blades. He eyed every crack and stone, searching for any sign of a hidden compartment or something similar.
The search continued for minutes upon minutes, the search growing less urgent by the second. He was four soldiers away from Armin and he looked down on his friend.
He had a face of pure consecration and seemed deep in his thoughts.
Was he correct in assuming that they were hiding in this way? For all they knew they were wasting precious daylight on a wild goose chase.
He continued tapping searching for something anything until a shell sounded nearby.
"Huh!" Surprised Chase turned to see a scout down the line who fired the shell.
"Right here, this part of the wall is hollow!" Before the Scout could elaborate the section of the wall was removed and a blade suddenly ran the unsuspecting Scout through.
Chase's breath hitched, "what the hell!"
The scout went plummeting down to the street below, and none other than Reiner emerged from the hidden compartment.
R-Reiner... It was strange seeing him this way, how could a person you considered a big brother turnout to be this?
Suddenly without warning Captain Levi rushed in for the kill, stabbing the Shifter through the throat and soon another through the stomach.
Chase watched the display before him, he silently prayed to never get on the Captain's badside ever again.
Levi quickly released his foe, sending much like his own kill falling to the ground. He slammed into the deserted Street hard.
"What are these bastards made of, a blade through the neck and they still won't die!?" The Captain shouted in irritation.
"What he's still alive!?" Chase asked bewildered at just how much punishment a shifter could take. As if to answer his question a yellow flash blasted before his eyes transforming Reiner into a Titan.
Chase waved the resulting steam away from his face and began his ascent up the wall with the other cursing all the while.
"Keep your eyes open, well still need to find his allies!" The commander boomed but just as Chase reached the wall to pull himself up yellow flashes appeared to their rear.
Suddenly dozens and dozens of Titans appeared blocking their exit back to Wall Rose.
Shocked Chase shakily rose to his feet and gazed out to the dire situation he found himself in.
"No fucking way..." he muttered to himself.
The Beast Titan then picked up a huge boulder and with seemingly practiced ease thew it towards them.
The huge rock came hurtling their direction, then Erwin shouted out a warning to all that could hear. "Incoming boulder, get down!"
"Brace, for impact!"
"Get to cover!"
"Shit!"
Panicked voices all about him sounded as troops scurried to find something to get behind while others like himself just stood stock still, frozen in their boots.
The projectile slammed into the gate below them causing shockwaves, dust, and debris, to kick up and knocking most off their feet.
Chase rose to his knees and looked on toward the many titans that wanted their demise.
"It's us or them now, we can let the Titans crush us or bring them crashing down!" the Commander shouted drawing his only available blade.
A deep pit formed in Chase's gut, for the first time since Trost he felt the whisper of death, maybe that bastard demon of his was right about one thing...perhaps he would die today.
Fuck...