Chapter 6: The Flytrap
Porco and Reiner soon found Zeke outside the officer's club talking with Magath, relived everyone was okay. Marcel spotted them first, and before he could comment on their position, Porco harshly shoved Reiner away from him.
"Get off me, I don't wanna catch your separation anxiety." Reiner's head tilted in confusion as he watched Porco run ahead, not knowing what he ment. He jogged quickly to catch up with Zeke and Magath.
"This doesn't make any sense." He heard Zeke mutter in confusion, "Why would Suvla attack now? Has a supply chain snuck through our lines?"
"It's difficult to say- but we can let the technicians deal with that after it's said and done. All we know is what the reconnaissance unit has told us: Suvla is preparing for something." Magath responded coolly.
Zeke nodded, "Right, when do we move out?"
"In the morning, we think an attack will happen sometime two days from now. UR Planes have spotted Camunni troops moving towards Suvla, they should get there in 2 days." Ursa Reconnaissance Planes, a brand new plane that's able to fly higher and faster than the typical model- of course the downside was that they couldn't carry much more than a hundred rounds for a machine gun. It all seemed rather pointless to Reiner if it couldn't carry a payload, but command has been going crazy over them.
Zeke scrubbed an exasperated hand over his face before turning to the Cadets with a big, fake grin: "You should go get some sleep, we'll move out early in the morning."
"But, We'll be safe right?" Bertolt asked hesitantly, even when Zeke did say everything would be fine Bertolt was still almost killed. He didn't want to think how terrible it would be if Zeke couldn't even conjure up a convincing lie.
"...Let's go back to the tent." Zeke answered instead. Bertolt whimpered.
As he walked away, Reiner had to quickly catch up to walk next to him, "Zeke, what does separation anxiety mean?" He asked quietly, in case Porco heard him.
Zeke sighed in exasperation at Reiner's priorities, "It's when you have to always be with someone or else you get scared." Reiner cocked his head to the side in thought, he was fairly certain that was just called being smart. When people leave and you can't see them, they may never come back.
"I told you to stop doing that stupid thing with your head. You're a human, not a dog." Zeke harshly bit out before walking faster away. Reiner paused in his steps, has he ever been called a human before? He'd been called devil, monster, rat, fink, but never Human. It resonated with him for some reason, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He grinned and ran after them.
Unsurprisingly, the cadets didn't sleep very well that night. Despite everyone being forced into the tents, the camp still buzzed with anxiety. Quiet mutters of discontent, sobbs from men knowing they may die the next day, and the screams of anyone that did manage to sleep all carried through camp as easily as through a loudspeaker. Even Zeke, who usually slept soundly through anything, stayed awake cleaning his guns. He made a token effort to work by candlelight, but Bertolt and Reiner still couldn't sleep through it.
What little sleep the Cadets managed was interrupted about 30 minutes before morning reveille; when the soldiers started to sneak around camp to pick up their pilfered goods from the other day. Marleyan officers slept away from the others, and were able to sleep through the small commotion. As cadets, they didn't need to go through any of that sneaking around to make sure they got the nessicary gear- they were the good ones.
By the time the sun just started to crest over the horizon everyone was loaded into the beds of the many trucks en route to Suvla. As they got closer to the city, the land became flatter and the forest canopy became thinner and thinner. When they broke through the forest line and descended into the valley Suvla rested, most of the foliage was destroyed. The most someone would see were patches of shrubbery. This is what made Suvla especially important strategically. It rested in the middle of a valley surrounded by forest, mountainous terrain and muddy lowland swamps that was impossible to mount an effective attack through- made all the most hazardous by bushwackers. It worked to the Camunni's advantage as a natural defence against attackers, so gaining and maintaining the valley of Suvla was an invaluable passage to the rest of the continent. A chink in Val Camonica's armour.
They were dropped off close to the city, enough they could see it but far enough to be out of range of artillery around the perimeter. While the stronger men dug deep trenches with about an inch of groundwater in them, the Cadets had the lighter job of rolling out razor wire in what would turn into no-man's land. They wrapped them around sharpened wooden stakes stuck in the ground at an angle.
When Zeke was teaching them how to do it, he demonstrated by lining himself up to the top of the pike, "You want it to be about at crotch level for an adult." Reiner marveled at the simple but effective tactics, and also almost felt bad for any man that ran into that. "And then the wire at about shin level." Zeke said as he demonstrated how to properly unroll the wire without hurting themselves. More than a few times Reiner was grateful for the leather gloves Magath gave him.
Occasionally, while he worked Reiner would steal a glance at the city over the tops of the tall sandbags that surrounded it. He couldn't see much from the distance, but he could at least be assured by the constant lookout watching for any activity. Farther up the hill, men worked on make-shift pill boxes made from sandbags and two by fours. They didn't offer much coverage, but it gave some protection to the men operating the machine guns and protected the ammunition from enemy fire.
As the sun started to go down and the sky had turned pink, Reiner yawned loudly while leaning against a sandbag in the trench. He was sitting in half an inch of water, but he didn't care, everybody was caked in sweat and mud. It was almost refreshing. At the very least, everybody had rain boots with paper thin rain pants tucked into them, keeping him mostly dry.
"We'll be able to rest soon." Zeke said, legs slung over the sides of the trench, and leaning back against sandbags. "We'll switch with nightwatch in a few hours, they want fresh eyes to look out. Go grab some grub now before they make you sit in here for watch."
Moments ticked on slowly, the only indication any time had passed at all was the sky growing steadily darker and darker. Until suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once.
The shadows seemed to come alive around them as men charged across the line- and to Reiner's horror it was like they phased right through the barbed wire. Shots were fired on both sides, and Marleyan officers screamed at the top of their lungs to command people to their battle stations.
"Hold your ground! Return Fire!" He could barely discern the CO's voice over the strange yells of the enemy. Reiner didn't know what to do, he didn't know if he should move, return fire, retreat- so he did nothing. He did nothing like a coward and held his gun, pretending to know what he was supposed to do.
There was one particularly loud shout next to him and another shadow landed in the trench next to him. In the half light of the moon, Reiner could just barely make out a man's face with hard features steeped in a thick layer of dirt and stubble. His face contorted in rage and he held a hunting knife at the ready. Reiner stumbled back, completely helpless despite holding a loaded rifle. He could only watch the metal gleam in the moonlight as the man prepared to kill him. Someone he didn't even know was trying to kill him, many people he didn't know were trying to kill everyone important to him. But, what else was new?
Just before the man brought the knife down on the helpless child, it stopped. The man's eyes turned glassy and the terrifying expression went slack. Reiner was so focused on the knife, he didn't even notice the hole in the chest. The tan Camunni man fell forward and collapsed on Reiner, staining his tan uniform red. Still frozen, he looked past where the man stood and saw Marcel still holding the smoking rifle. Marcel rushed forward and knelt next to Reiner and with a groan he managed to roll the corpse off him.
"Snap out of it!" He yelled over the gunfire, "We gotta move! This is no time to space out!" It was like cold water was splashed on Reiner and brought him back to awareness. However, instead of getting up like Marcel wanted, he instead just looked at his hands covered in the man's slick, red blood. Just as he opened his mouth to scream, Marcel slapped him across the face. "I said get a hold of yourself! I'm not leaving you behind and I ain't carrying you, so get up!"
Reiner could only stare up at him for a moment, mind reeling to catch up with the situation. Dumbly, he stood and took a deep breath, trying to somehow ground himself and distance himself at the same time. He glanced at the body that took up most of the trench, "We have to move it!" Reiner called, "It can't block the path, more people are gonna move through here!"
Marcel glanced at the body and sized it up, "You're right, let's make those bastards jump over him to get in!" He bent down to grab the body by the shoulders. Reiner quickly took in his surroundings before joining him. Bertolt was keeping his cool- at least outwardly- and maintained his position, shooting down enemies just as they came into view. Reiner couldn't see anyone else due to the way the trenches twisted and turned, it was made purposely confusing just for this scenario. He couldn't tell if his friends were okay, and that made him more scared than anything.
They were just barely able to roll the man over the sandbags and out of the trench after some time of struggling. In that time more men dropped all around them; Marleyan and Camunni men alike fell into the trench only to die seconds later. It didn't seem like it did a lot to move the one man. It didn't seem like killing them at all did a lot, as they just kept coming from the shadows.
Reiner got his gun ready and shot at anything on the other side of the line that moved. He went for the ones he couldn't see the face of, and pretended the ones so far away he couldn't tell the shape were deer. Frantic little baby deer that ran for their mamma's, but would never find them.
"Gas Masks! Now!" A voice yelled and was echoed by every man who heard it. Reiner frantically shrugged his bag off his shoulder and rifled around for the mask. A few feet away from where he knelt laid a slowly dying Eldian man, whose cries for help Reiner dutifully ignored. His leg was blown off, he could not fight so he would not be helped- that was the first thing combat first aid training taught him. As he looked, older men ran through the trench carrying large canisters of something. Finally, Reiner found it and slipped the insect-like mask over his face and secured the straps tight against his head and neck.
Just as he finished clasping the hood of the mask to his flak jacket, a pale colored gas plumed from the canisters the men had set up. The cloud settled across the battlefield and even into the trenches. Reiner's uniform covered his body head to toe and protected him from the toxic cloud. In the small gap where his sleeve met his glove made his skin tingle and burn.
He could no longer ignore the dying man when his weak pleas for help turned into a wet cough. Before he could force himself otherwise, Reiner's head instinctively turned to look at the sound. In the haze around them, he could see the blood trickle lazily from the man's mouth and nose, the rise and fall of his chest slowing by the second. That wasn't that unusual for wounded men, but forming right before Reiner's eyes were discolored lesions like burns on his face. His eyes turned red and watery, and if Reiner stayed to watch he may have seen them burst. He didn't know for sure, but that thought alone made him turn his head.
Then he remembered something that made him break out into a blind run down the trench and scramble past already dead bodies that had the same lesions forming on them.
"Wait!" Marcel called out to him when he saw the movement from his station, "Where the hell are you going!?" He cursed under his breath when Reiner didn't respond and turned back to the field. They were slowing down, the gas must be doing it's job.
He ran because Annie had been complaining that morning about having to carry the extra PPG to the trench when they weren't expecting to fight anybody. He was fairly certain Zeke had told her to do it anyways, but Annie didn't always like to listen to Zeke. He remembered her complaining on more than one occasion that he was two-faced, trying to act like he was in charge of them but then acting like a dog to command. Please, God, let Annie be a little bit less stubborn just this once.
He couldn't actually tell who Annie was with the masks, but he could count the cadets. He ran until the last station the cadets were at and allowed himself a second to relax when he counted all 6 gas masks including the ones he could see from his original station.
"What do you want?" The cadet he stopped next to bit out, and Reiner sighed in relief when he recognized Annie's voice.
"Th-Thank god. I thought maybe you didn't have your gas mask." She squinted at him, and figured it must be Reiner under that mask. Only he and Bertolt ever made a show of caring about her, but Bertolt was taller than her while Reiner was a bit shorter. She rolled her eyes.
"If you're done disobeying orders, get your gun ready and help me."
"Right!" Reiner went to a nearby amo case in the wall of the trench and got out another small stack of magazines. He shoved one in his gun and the others in his pack, then peaked his rifle through a place where the sandbags had been knocked down. He squinted through the scope and frowned, he didn't see anybody. Was he missing something?
Slowly, the night air became quiet again except for the few stray gunshots. Nobody relaxed though, in fact the longer the lull stretched the more anxious the soldiers became. Reiner never took his finger off the trigger.
Magath made his way to the front quickly during the short lull in the battle. To anybody else, it may have looked like a retreat, but Magath knew better. At best gas gave them the luxury of a short intermission while the enemy retreated, masked up and prepared longer range weapons. No way would the Camunni's retreat that easy, not when defeat meant losing Suvla.
"All Warrior Cadets of Marley!" His voice boomed over the field and was recognizable even through the mask, "Retreat to the back of the formation and take up machine-gun positions."
As soon as he saw him, Zeke scrambled up the side of the trench to give Magath his report-all too eager to get out of those death pits. Behind him, the rest of the Cadet's climbed out at their own pace, regrouping and checking each other for injuries.
"Commander Magath, sir!" Zeke saulted.
"Has anybody died yet?"
"No, sir."
Magath nodded slowly, "Good, let's hope that lasts. Go join the others, you can finish your report when the battle is over."
"Yes, sir." Zeke said before turning away. With him gone, Magath pulled out a pair of binoculars to peer into the lowlands. He would guess they had at least ten minutes before a counter attack, but he would not underestimate them again. When he didn't see anything in the distance, he looked at his spotters on the front line. It seems that most of them had died, but that was to be expected and new ones were already being sent out. Magath was about to return his attention to the treeline when one of the watchmen collapsed.
Magath didn't waste a second, "Get to battlestations! Move now!"
When Zeke heard the call he herded the cadets to the relative safety of the make-shift pill box. Reiner looked around, frantically trying to see whatever apparent danger. That was when he saw another wave of men trying to cross no man's land. It was a horrific sight, to see the dark mass of people barely slow down when machine guns roared back to life. There were at least 200 men in that small valley. When Reiner stopped to gawk, Zeke grabbed him harshly and dragged him along.
When the Cadets were safe enough, Zeke yelled over the gunfire and pointed, "You see all that ammunition in the back, there. Your job will be to run that to the gunmen when they run out and shoot any Moonie that makes it past the line and in here. You will make sure those gunmen don't have to look away for a second from their targets, got that?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" They yelled back.
"Good, now move- and take off those masks we're out of the gas range now and it'll only slow you down. Go!" The Cadets jumped to life and scrambled to do their jobs. They ran and grabbed the long, heavy chains of ammunition with 4 inch bullets. Reiner clumsily ran over the brass casings that littered the ground only to fumble with shaking hands to feed them into the chamber. The sound alone was defining, and no one could actually hear each other. Thanks to their hard work, for nearly two hours the guns never fell silent. It still didn't stop the charging soldiers.
Slowly but surely, the enemy crept up the valley and took over Marley's trenches and picked off retreating, terrified men from there. It filled Reiner with righteous rage that those Moonie basterds would adopt what he had dug to kill his countrymen. That rage was the only thing that kept him from keeling over and running amo to the gunmen. When one man would get shot by an enemy sniper, a Marleyan CO supervising them from the safety of the two layers of 7 foot high sandbags would yell out an order and someone would replace them.
There was no time to move them, so Reiner worked around them. Most of the time they wouldn't even be completely dead, but when the CO gave the order he would be shoved aside for a brand new face. The first time it happened, Pieck had tried to stop the bleeding with an old piece of cloth and the CO had cursed her for abandoning her station. When it happened again, Bertolt froze and held the dying man's gaze until the CO threatened to shoot him. By the third time, when it had happened next to Reiner, he had learned from the other two and simply finished loading the gun as if nothing had happened.
At the third hour, their modest fort had been under so much fire sandbags freely leaked and the wooden supports slowly turned into splinters. Even the CO's untouchable place, where there was the most protection available, couldn't last forever. Reiner could see it happening slowly everytime he got closer to the window and could peer outside for a fleeting, terrifying moment. He didn't say anything though, for fear of being shot for insubordination like Bertolt had been threatened.
The beam that kept the sandbags from collapsing inward was slowly turning into dust and with every new round fired at it they moved just a little bit more. The man would have been blind not to see it, and it would puzzle Reiner for a long time why he wouldn't just move out of the way. Inevitably, the high walls came crashing down and the man was slowly crushed to death under hundreds of pounds of dirt and sand.
No one helped him, and Zeke immediately took to shouting orders and shoring up the defences. He saw what was happening to the sandbags and came up with a quick plan.
"Cadets!" He yelled over the gunfire, "Go grab those bodies and drag them to the walls! Put them wherever the defence has been compromised! Move!"
There was a tense moment where the Cadets stared at Zeke in confusion and horror, waiting for him to revoke his order or at least explain it. No way did he want them to use fallen comrades as a meat shield. It seemed inherently wrong to Reiner at least; it was grotesque.
"I said move you Worthless Devils!" At last, the children snapped out of their shock and paired off to drag the bodies laden in PPG across the floor. Reiner grabbed a man with holes in his chest by the shoulders and Bertolt grabbed the man's feet. They brought him to where the wall collapsed on the Marleyan CO, and other men Zeke had flagged down stacked them on top of and next to each other. Zeke stood to the side with a pair of binoculars and looked out for enemy activity.
"Take cover!" He called suddenly, "South side, south side!" He shouted to the gunmen while running to lay behind the short barrier. Reiner laid down and protected the back of his neck from any shrapnel, the other cadets followed soon after.
Machine gun fire rapidly sped up for a few moments and then, "Clear!" A man yelled, "we need more rounds!" Another yelled. Reiner, Bertolt, Marcel, and Pieck ran without hesitation to the amo stalks. Reiner ran the belt to the man that had called out and loaded the gun. He glanced up to nod to the man and then turned away to get back to work. Howwver, he had to pause and look at the man again, with his glassy eyes, pale face and a trickle of blood from his forehead. He must have been shot before Reiner was able to get the ammo to him. Reiner shoved him over and yelled to Zeke what had happened. There was a new man in his place seconds later.
At the fourth hour the Camunni's had taken the second of three trenches dug into the wet, muddy valley. Magath was getting desperate, and so was everyone else. He called over a Marleyan Officer from his place on top of the hill behind layers and layers of sandbags.
"Yes, sir." The man saluted, "What are your orders?"
Magath gave the younger man a hard look, "In three minutes, turn this valley into a gas chamber. Warn the others."
The man's face went pale, "Yes, sir. I'll pass it along, sir." He said before running away, no doubt to secure his own gas mask before passing the orders along. Magath turned his attention back to the field, and wished God had mercy for those sonsofbitches- because he sure as hell did not.
Zeke was told the information two minutes later. He checked his watch and cursed before shouting the orders to everyone in the gun bay. The men and children rushed back and forth to find their gas masks to fasten them to their flak jackets. In the flurry, one man reached for a mask that Pieck had left on the ground. Zeke didn't hesitate to crush the man's hand under his boot.
"Cadets first." He growled out, and the man retreated like the dog he was. Seconds later, Pieck retrieved her mask and hastily put it on.
Outside the crumbling shelter men holding the same canisters as before rushed forward with reckless abandon into the oncoming fire. The same awful fog settled over the valley, but so much worse this time. The haze started deep in the valley where it liked to settle, but as more and more canisters were thrown into the fray the gas climbed higher and higher. When it became too difficult to see down the hill, the machine guns went quiet and the Cadets stopped running amo. Instead, they watched hesitantly and listened to the enemy scream in agony.
Reiner leaned against the wall and slid down slowly, it felt like he could fall asleep then and there. It was nice and quiet again, and the screams were even dieing down. Reiner didn't think about the implication of that, and instead enjoyed the moment. Even as the pungent smell of sickly sweet cut grass became overwhelming and the fog infected their post.
Zeke looked down the hill through his binoculars: he didn't see much enemy movement, but he couldn't see much through the fog. He let them fall and glanced back at the younger kids, all seconds away from passing out. He knew that if Magath was there, he would tell Zeke to pull them out.
"Come on." He called loud enough to be heard through the mask. "Let's get out of here, before shit gets worse."
Marcel dragged himself off the ground, "But...The battle isn't won yet."
"We'll let command handle the rest. You're little more than slow moving targets right now" Zeke said simply. Marcel sighed, but was in no hurry to question his orders. He set to helping the other cadets off the ground, starting with his brother. Zeke glanced over and saw Reiner slumped against the wall. Half expecting him to have died from exhaustion, he harshly shook the boy's shoulder. He groaned and made feeble attempts to lash out at Zeke, which earned him little more than an eye roll and more shaking.
"Can I go home yet…?" Reiner slurred slightly, sitting up straighter.
"No, not yet." Zeke replied, grabbing his bicep and dragging him to his feet. Reiner stumbled, but was able to keep his balance. A good sign, all things considered. "Let's go to base camp and get some rest."
When Reiner woke up the next morning, they were told that soon after the gas was deployed for a second time, they were able to push the Camunnies back into Suvla. However, lack of troop reinforcements meant they couldn't push forward. From what Reiner gathered, everything had gone back to how it was before. Annie said it was useless, but Reiner couldn't agree. There were a lot of dead Camunnies on the field after all, how many more could be hiding in that city? Annie had shot back there were a lot of dead Marleyan's too, so Reiner should do the math on that. But Reiner couldn't remember how, so he too was back at square one.
In the end, ruminating on fractions and ratios didn't change the fact he would have to go back into the field and fight again. They got back into the covered truck bed packed butt-to-gut with other dead faced soldiers and rode it straight into hell.
"Put your gas masks back on." Zeke said as they got closer.
Marcel frowned, "I'd think the gas would have dissipated by now."
Zeke shrugged, "Command went a little overboard with the canisters last night, reports say it hasn't dissipated yet." He paused and took in their solemn expressions, "Stop complaining, back when this war started we didn't even have masks. I had to piss into a handkerchief and breathe through that. You guys are lucky."
Pieck looked at the bulky mask in disgust, "I think I'd be luckier if there was no gas…"
"Well, people in hell want ice water." Zeke replied, already strapping his mask to his face.
True to his word, only a few minutes later the bus drove into a light haze. When Reiner got out of the truck, he looked down the valley and saw it go so much worse as it descended. He couldn't even see the city of Suvla anymore.
The cadets spent most of the day in the gas pit, hauling heavy artillery shells and setting up equipment. Any movement was made worse by the mask, and on more than one occasion Reiner was sure he was about to faint. Eight hours later they were allowed back into camp, where they were hosed off in their underwear to rinse off any lingering agents.
Early the next morning, it was the same thing. Get on the truck, put on your mask ten minutes away from the site, and work in misery for another eight hours. This time, they manned machine guns mounted in the back of carts and shot anybody that tried to leave the city. No one ever did. They were smarter than the Marleyans, and refused to approach the wasteland. This of course worked to the Marleyan's advantage, because they didn't mind losing a few men to set up better heavy artillery.
And they did lose men, even with the ceasefire. Occasionally, a person would just start to freak out, tear off their gas mask and start spitting up blood. "I can't breathe!" One man had cried, "For the love of God, I can't breathe!" Others were less dramatic, and simply sat down and went to sleep. It terrified Reiner that it could happen so quickly, with so little warning. Yet another aspect of humanity's darkest secret.
On other parts of the line, men actually made headway into Suvla, but despite everything the Camunnies still held strong about a mile into the city. However, Reiner had faith it was only a matter of time, because Marley always won. If he was lucky, he wouldn't have to contribute any more to the victory than he already has. He would feel great pride in his fellow countrymen for taking the city without any more his help.
When they got back to camp one evening, they did their usual routine. They undressed, took turns rinsing themselves and their discarded clothes with a hose that lazily spilled tepid water. When it was her turn, Pieck ran the water over her head and ran a hand through her long, black hair. When she looked at her hand, clumps of the midnight back hair she loved so much were threaded through her fingers.
Pieck screamed.
"It might be easier to cut it." Reiner observed lightly as he carefully ran a brush through his friend's hair. He had waited for it to dry so it wouldn't stick together, but even then it was brittle and snapped easily.
When Pieck finally calmed down, Marcel had hypothesized her loose hair had compromised the seal of her mask, and allowed some of the agents to damage it. Reiner had suggested putting it in a braid, and was stunned to learn he was the only one that knew how to braid hair. Reiner wasn't sure if that was more sad on his part or theirs-although, given his history, probably his. Still though, this wasn't so bad...
"Maybe." Pieck agreed, her knees drawn to her chest while Reiner sat behind her. They sat in the tent all the Cadets shared, due to limited bunking options. No one complained when they saw that the enlisted men had little more than a tarp and a few wooden poles to sleep under. It was nighttime, and the tent was illuminated by a kerosene lamp while the others settled into bed. "But, I don't want to. In all the photos I've seen of my mom she always had long, beautiful black hair. It makes me feel closer to her."
Reiner nodded in understanding and didn't press the issue, moms were very important after all. He had little things that made him feel closer to his mom too, like the crochet techniques she taught him after that horrible incident. It calmed him down, and he really wished he hadn't left his supplies back in Narcissus. He could use something therapeutic like that right now. Gently, he pulled Pieck's hair back into a tight ponytail and started to braid it.
"Is your mom…" Bertolt trailed off, suddenly regretting talking in the first place.
"Yeah, she died not long after I was born. Papa didn't tell me much, just that she wouldn't stop bleeding…"
"Sorry." Bertolt mumbled. He couldn't imagine losing his mom, although he imagined losing his dad quite often and then immediately felt guilty afterwards. Not his mom though, he didn't even want to think about it. The thought alone upset him.
"Don't worry about it." Pieck reassured, giving him a gentle smile, "You can't really miss something you never had. It's kinda silly."
"I don't think so…" Reiner muttered below his breath, concentrating on his work and thinking of his own father. At least he had an opportunity to be reunited with his dad eventually, as long as he kept his head down and worked hard enough. It was only a matter of time for him, but Pieck couldn't and nor could he fault her for wanting to. Pieck hummed in confusion, but he didn't elaborate any further.
He finished his work quickly and with skillful hands, making sure to make the braid extra tight so it couldn't come undone in the night. He smiled at his work, "There, all done!"
Pieck pulled her hair over her shoulder and inspected it, "Thanks again. Did any more hair come out?"
Reiner looked down at the brush he had used, and noticed there was, in fact, a sizable amount of hair between the teeth. Before he could think better of it, he immediately ripped the hair out, rolled it into a ball and tucked it under a nearby mattress. Zeke raised an eyebrow but made no comment and quickly returned to his book, much to Reiner's relife. Smiling, he handed the brush back, "Nope! I think you got all the dead stuff out in the hose."
Pieck allowed a sigh of relief, "Good, I thought for sure I was going bald. Thanks so much, Reiner." He gave a strained smile in return, and next to him Zeke clicked his tongue.
Reiner stood and brushed his pant legs off, while he did this Pieck scrutinized his work. "Where did you learn to braid anyway? Do you have sisters?"
"Kinda." Reiner shrugged, "When I was little- uh, littler- my Mom would take me to the daycare at her work. It was like having 20 mothers and even more sisters, it was pretty awesome. They taught me how."
Annie hummed from her cot, "Well, that explains all the feminine energy. I just thought you were gay."
Reiner's face scrunched up in idignance and he planted his hands on his hips, "What do you mean, "Feminine Energy"?"
Annie only gave him a flat look. He flushed, and self consciously let his hands hang at his side.
Porco laughed perhaps a bit harder than the situation warranted, "That doesn't mean anything. He's probably both. Don't you think so, Annie?"
Reiner sighed deeply, and settled in for a bout of insults and teasing. Given the fact he had proved Annie's point without even trying, any act of self defence could only make it worse.
Annie rolled her eyes, "I honestly don't care. If it means he stays away from me, then all the better. I don't get your fascination with it. Maybe you're just more personally invested."
Porco opened his mouth to retort, but found himself in a similar situation to Reiner. Instead he shouted, "Hey, just whose side are you on?!"
"My own."
Reiner stifled a laugh as he pulled back the sheets of his cot, "Not so tough now without Annie to fight your battles. I would say it's not very manly to let a girl fight for you, but Annie isn't really a girl so I guess it's fine." He shrugged, secretly revelling in the moment. Finally, Porco gets a taste of his own medicine.
"Don't get so uppity." Annie glared, "Just because you finally managed to say something not completely stupid."
Reiner desperately tried to think of something smart to say, but when nothing came to mind he just laid down. "Whatever, I'm tired anyway." He said, definitely not resembling a dog running away with its tail tucked.
Marcel smiled to himself as he watched the scene, maybe things would be alright in the end. He would quickly be proven wrong.
The next morning, as always, they were woken up just as the sun started to rise over the horizon. After eating breakfast, Reiner excused himself to the outhouse every Eldian shared, but one whiff of it made him turn away. This area had no tall vegetation, no thick trees, nowhere for the enemy to jump out from or landmines to be hidden. So instead, he ventured just far enough into the sparse forest for privacy.
Despite the apparent lack of danger, he jumped at every sound and refused to go near any tall tree. He walked slowly and methodically, looking out for any threats in the increasing morning light.
Reiner jumped suddenly when he heard something rustle the bushes next to him, and sighed in relief when he found a small, harmless tree frog. He laughed at his own paranoia.
"Hey, little guy." He smiled, kneeling down to get a better look. It must have startled the frog, because it jumped away and onto a bright red, double-lobe shaped leaf of some plant he didn't recognize. He grinned, and was about to reach over and try to catch the thing, when suddenly the mouth-like leaves snapped shut, trapping the frog inside.
Reiner could only stare in horror as the frog continued to struggle, but it seemed to only make the... thing angrier and close it's maw faster, until it was swallowed completely. He honestly had no clue what had just happened, and his mind reeled to come up with an explanation.
Really, there only was one explanation.
A plant had just eaten an animal. There was a plant, not two feet from Reiner's hand, that had an obscene taste for blood. Hesitantly, he looked around the clearing at similar plants that had skeletons of larger insects and small animals on their leaves.
Reiner could not comprehend why this had happened. Where had life gone so wrong that there existed a species of plant that ate flesh? By what means did this sick perversion of nature happen? Was this some cruel joke perpetrated by the cosmos? What kind of a God would allow something so horrible?
He stood and looked around the clearing, suddenly feeling very unsafe. Like at any moment, the plants would come alive and try to eat him. He wished he could go back to his naive self of five minutes ago that thought Mantega could not get any worse. Once again, he had underestimated the misery this place had to offer. Because plants were eating animals now, and he did not know how to move forward with that information.
He wasn't even sure if he could keep living with this new, terrible revelation: Everything was trying to kill him. Literally. Even the plants.
Numbly, Reiner walked back to camp, completely forgetting why he went into the forest in the first place.
Pieck noticed his distraught expression first, "What happened?" She asked, frowning.
"God has abandoned us all, a long time ago. I think" Reiner said quietly and simply. There was a long stretch of confused silence, until Zeke broke it by saying sympathetically:
"Oh, Reiner. There was never a God in the first place. Not the one you would want, at least." And, for once in the time Reiner knew him, he sounded genuine. He did not know what to do with that either.
After a full week since the initial attack, the gas had finally dissipated enough that they only had to wear their masks in some places. Less gas also meant more visibility, and once again Reiner could see the city of Suvla in all it's broken and beaten glory. He would squint at it whenever he had to rest, and think that, somehow, it seemed alive.
On such a nice day, The Cadets were allowed to work out of the trenches and enjoy the weather. They helped unload supply trucks carrying guns, heavy artillery, and ammunition. It was still hard work, but was still better than manning the machine guns.
A nice breeze ran through the valley, carrying the pleasant smell of fresh mud and rain while drying the sweat on their backs. Reiner savored every deep breath he could get, although on occasion his cough would act up again. Porco seemed to struggle slightly while lifting amo cases on a cart bound to the front, but no one mentioned anything. Not because they didn't care, the opposite actually, they knew better than to draw commands attention to it. Just like how no one would comment on Reiner having to rest more often or Bertolt having troubled bending at the waste.
It was while they were taking belts of heavy ammunition off the truck and onto the horse drawn carts that they could suddenly hear loud explosions in the distance. Reiner looked back to the city, and looked in horror at the smoke rising in the near distance around the border of Suvla. It was happening again.
Immediately, the Cadets were on edge. Without even meaning to, they stopped their work and reached for their guns, still on their back as always. Zeke was the only one that didn't move, and merely watched the distance with stealy hate. He put a hand up and the others stopped their preparations.
"We wait for the order to prepare for combat. Until then, do your job well and to the fullest. Have a little faith in our comrades fighting in Suvla."
Hesitantly, the Cadets looked at eachother. Reiner especially looked for Pieck and Marcel's reaction to the order, they were much smarter than he was after all. Still, every instinct Reiner had screamed at him to take cover. Maybe it was the amount of billowing smoke, the intense frequency of the blasts or their volume that told him to take it seriously. Slowly, Marcel put his gun back behind his back, but Reiner noticed he kept the safety off. So Reiner did the same, and got back to work.
Zeke nodded in approval of their obedience, and started to work again to get the ammunition off the trucks faster. While he tried not to let his haste show to the others, he also knew whatever was happening at the moment would require as many supplies as possible. Naturally, Zeke was in no hurry himself to help with the conflict and get himself killed; however, he would be lying if he said he wasn't preoccupied with the safety of the Cadets. Whatever was coming, it was coming fast, and Zeke would make sure the kids were back to camp before that.
Reiner sent another furtive glance in the distance when he heard another, closer, louder explosion. "I don't like this…" He muttered, nervously fiddling with his gun strap. Another explosion sounded, and this time all the cadets paused to look in the same direction.
Zeke glanced between what was left on the truck and what was already loaded on the cart. He bit the inside of his cheek; well, no one has ever accused Zeke Yeager of being a perfectionist. He shut the door to the truck with a loud slam and turned to the Cadets.
"We've done enough, come on." He said, turning to walk back to their base.
"But-!" Porco looked at Zeke in confusion, "What about the truck? We can't walk back to camp." He couldn't at least, he's barely been able to work today. For some reason, he was just off today.
"Trust me, it's faster than trying to drive a truck through that mud." Zeke said, not giving them a second glance. Marcel grabbed Porco's hand and led him after Zeke with the others.
Reiner weezed another cough as they tried to walk up the mud slick hillside. Bertolt put a hand on his shoulder and sent him a concerned look. Reiner managed to give an unconvincing smile before another cough came. He focused on regulating his breath until eventually, he was able to just barely keep up with the rest of the group. Porco was less lucky, and had to lean on Marcel's side the entire trek, and by the time they got to camp he was essentially carrying his brother.
"Sorry, Marcel." Porco whispered between labored breaths and hacking coughs. He blinked, eyes tearing up slightly, "I'm so useless..."
It took everything Marcel had to keep himself from crying too, "Don't worry Porco. Just give it time, you'll get better. It's just an off day, that's all." He nodded, but Marcel knew his brother well enough to know his words didn't help at all.
Magath saw them first and immediately came to confront Zeke about breaking formation. Once he was given permission to speak, Zeke responded, "I apologise sir for breaking command, but I made the decision to bring the Cadets back. Enemy fire has been getting closer to our position, and I prioritized the Cadet's safety."
Magath frowned, but nodded anyway. "Good work, Cadet Yeager. I'll send a runner to the front to investigate this matter. Until then, keep the Cadets safe." His eyes focused especially on Porco state and to a lesser extent Reiner's.
They waited at the camp quietly while the other half of the soldiers slept fitfully. Magath had sent the runner, a young enlisted man maybe 16 years old, and when he returned he said something that made Magath age slightly. After that, Reiner was eventually able to hear the booms of the battle approaching steadily. He never failed to jump with every new explosion, and Bertolt shook like a leaf the closer they got.
Pieck laid down on the ground with her ear to the mud, "It's even louder from here." She whispered, "I can feel it."
When it eventually became unbearable, Magath made the order for everyone to retreat to underground bunkers- haphazard chambers buried deep into the earth to protect from bombings. They were small, but enough Eldians had died and no one was left behind. The Marleyans had their own bunker, meaning they would be separated from command.
Everybody was in an immediate frenzy to grab their meager possessions and bedrolls to take underground with them. Zeke took anything the Cadets couldn't carry, and Marcel carried his and his brother's bedroll. Halfway to the bunker doors, emergency sirens started to blare around camp. Reiner stopped and looked around at would could have triggered it, only for Zeke to harshly shove him along.
"What's going on?" Reiner asked.
Zeke shot him one of his famous flat and patronizing looks, "I'll give you one guess, how about that?"
"Oh yeah…" Reiner muttered, looking down at his filthy cot he barely managed to hold by himself sadly. He hadn't thought things had gotten this bad.
When everyone was settled in, the doors were barricaded behind them with a lound, resounding clang. Someone lit a kerosene lamp that immediately cut through the darkness, the prevailing silence was deafening. The only thing they could hear was the boom boom boom of enemy fire that permeated through the ground.
Marcel frowned, looking around the cramped space, "Now what?" He asked.
"Now, we wait for orders. Until then, no one is in or out unless I say so. I'm the highest ranking officer here at the moment, so you will do as I say." Zeke declared to the group, and when no one challenged his declaration he sat down on his bed. He pulled out his book and started to read, figuring his work was done.
Marcel sighed at the unhelpful response. Shaking his head, he sat down next to his brother. "How are you?" He asked with a strained and lopsided smile.
Porco continued to stare at his feet, "I'm fine" he bit out, unconsciously wrapping his arms around himself. "Just tired."
Reiner threw his bag full of clothes and whatever else he had thought to grab out of the tent in their tent on his bed, sending a cloud of dust into the air. Pieck wrinkled her nose, setting her stuff gently down on the cot beside his, "This place is disgusting."
Reiner sat down with a huff, "And hot. I feel like I'm gonna suffocate down here." He said, stressing the word suffocate for dramatic effect. Absent-mindedly, he began to pick at the scar tissue across his arms.
Bertolt settled into the cot on the other side of his friend, "Well, we should only be down here for a few hours, right? I mean, that first attack was pretty nasty, but even that was stopped after a few hours…"
Pieck nodded enthusiastically, rustling around her bag for something, "Exactly! Until then, do you know how to play poker?" She turned to her right, "Annie? How about you. We can wager our rations of pudding cups." She said with a sly smile.
Annie shrugged, "Never heard of it. I guess I can try."
Reiner was about to protest that it would be gambling- which was a grave sin, as all sins were. But then he remembered God had abandoned them as soon as he created a place as horrible as Mantega, and he let Pieck deal him in.
Even stretching the game out way past it was still fun- although Reiner lost interest pretty quickly when it became clear he was not good at it- by the time they stopped they still weren't let out of the bunker. 5 hours locked underground with no end in sight.
Constant shellings shook the entire structure, and dust rained down from the ceiling creating a thick haze. Reiner couldn't imagine what it looked like outside, but it must have been essentially a wasteland. Periodically, he would check his watch only to see five minutes have passed.
It was also around this time people had to relieve themselves in a very public and also very small bucket. The stench was immediate and the collective body heat in the space made the environment hot, wet and thick with the smell of human urine. One small blessing was that the military rations often caused constipation.
"Anybody who shits." Zeke declared over the explosions when it first started, "Will be sent outside to empty the bucket immediately. Keep that in mind."
As more hours ticked by, Zeke became visibly worried. He set a young man outside to try to run to the CO's bunker to ask what the plan was- he also took the bucket with him to empty it. He didn't return, and two more men were killed trying to get that stupid bucket back.
The cadets had abandoned the game at this point and instead sat in miserable silence. They had striped down to their underwear but even then a disgusting sheen of sweat coated them. Reiner had tried to sleep after 8 hours had passed, but the loud bangs kept him awake. He sat with his knees to his chest and passed the time by lightly scraping his nails against his arms.
Every once in a while, Pieck would suggest a new card game like crazy-eights or go fish. Go fish proved to be a bad idea, as twenty minutes into the first game Annie stood up in a rage, kicked the card pile and curled up on her bed. It was hard to hear, but Reiner thinks he heard her crying. After that, even Pieck stopped trying to engage with them.
Marcel stayed close to Porco, and after 12 hours in the ammonia and dust laden air his breathing got worse. Marcel brushed a hand over his brother's forehead, and he was burning up.
He went to Zeke to ask what they should do, because Porco may die if he stayed in these conditions. "We wait." Zeke said again, "I can't stop the bombardment."
"What if it never stops?" Marcel asked in desperation, "What if we're gonna die here?"
"...We won't." Zeke replied, slowly and evenly. Marcel could tell he was trying to convince himself more than him.
The hours blurred together, and eventually a slow and sleepless 24 more hours have passed. Reiner wondered how long it would be until they ran out of air completely. That could happen, right? They would just slowly suffocate and pass quietly. There were worse ways, he supposed.
36 hours and Reiner couldn't physically keep his eyes open anymore. He tried desperately to stay awake, pacing around the small space and when he couldn't do that anymore he laid against the wall wheezing through every breath. He was so hungry and thirsty; he's never gone this long without eating before.
Bertolt laid down next to him silently, "You should just save your energy…" He muttered.
Reiner looked over at him and looked back down at his knees. "What does it matter?" He asked, "We're gonna die down here."
"Reiner." Pieck said on the other side of him, flipping through the same book she'd re-read multiple times, "Get some sleep. It'll make you feel better, I promise."
Hesitantly, Reiner looked between his friends before laying down. A moment later, he fell asleep. Pieck sighed in relief, he was making everybody even more anxious. Maybe now he could calm down, and maybe by the time he woke up this would all be over. Pieck hoped he would sleep through the end of this.
Sighing, she laid down herself to try to get some sleep like many other men. She had no idea if it was day or night outside, but it didn't matter. She closed her eyes and slipped into something akin to sleep. Then-
"GET THEM OUT OF ME! LET THE MAGGOTS OUT! PLEASE!" Pieck sat up immediately at the yelling and whired around to it's source. She saw Reiner thrashing around on his cot, clawing at his arms, yelling and shaking visibly.
Pieck got up immediately, "Help me hold him down!" She yelled at Bertolt, who snapped out of whatever stunned state he was in. "Don't let him hurt himself!" Bertolt nodded, and tried to hold his friend down by the shoulders. Pieck tried uselessly to hold down his legs, narrowly avoiding getting kicked. Eventually though, Reiner quieted down, still shaking and whimpering slightly. He never woke up though, that was a small blessing.
Pieck breathed heavily and looked at Bertolt, who looked like he was about to cry. Slowly, he reached out and took Reiner's hand in both of his, shaking just as much as him. His head was ducked, so Pieck couldn't see his face, but faintly, she could hear him whispering quiet pleas for everyone to make it out alive. She wasn't sure who he was talking to, but it looked like he was praying.
Any sparse small talk that was happening stopped immediately, and the space was left in a tense silence, as if anticipating something.
It started as a whisper, "Get them out." Someone repeated slowly.
"Get the Maggots out...just, please." Another whispered, scratching at his skin.
"They're inside me." A man sobbed louder
Then, it got louder.
"Let us out goddammit!"
"You can't keep us down here with the maggots!"
"They're all around me!"
"Move out of the way!"
As if on cue, a hoard of men surged towards the exit. Shouting paranoid ramblings about bugs under their skin and suffocating. Begging to be let out of this hell. Pieck curled up in a ball and covered her ears against the shouting. She cried silently.
Zeke stood, and retrieved his handgun from his ankle holster. He covered one ear, and fired into the ceiling. The resulting bang was deafening, somehow much more than anything else they heard. The sudden and ear-piercing noise made all the men stop.
"Pull yourselves together!" Zeke yelled over the ringing in his own ears, "Anybody who really wants to go outside is welcome to go and die for their treason. And anyone who doesn't die out there, I will personally shoot for insubordination. Understand?" They didn't answer, but they went back to their cots silently. Every so often, mutterings about maggots who moved just under the skin would ripple through the bunker.
Marcel let out a shuddering sigh at the scene while blinking back tears, holding his brother tightly. Porco didn't even try to resist his brother for once. He brushed sweat matted hair off his forehead and pressed his temple against it. "Just a little bit more, Porco." He whispered, voice cracking.
"Yeah, Yeah…" Porco muttered and Marcel laughed tearfully. Porco was still well enough to be snarky, that had to be a good thing.
Zeke ran a hand through his oily hair, looking around the enclosed space. Something needs to happen soon, or else they'll crack. Already, they were falling apart at the seams. He raked his nails against his arms as he thought, and as soon as he realized what he was doing stopped immediately. He was going to fucking kill Reiner, as soon as he woke up.
On what they could guess was the dawn of the third day, Zeke sent another man outside to try to get in contact with command. It was also when Reiner finally woke up. He stretched and yawned, "I slept awesome!" He smiled.
Pieck and Bertolt looked at him like he was insane. "Didn't you have a nightmare?" Bertolt asked.
"Umm, no?"
"So, you don't remember waking up, shouting about maggots and freaking everybody out?" Pieck urged slowly.
"No, I feel great actually. I don't remember saying anything about maggots…" He trailed off, shrugging. He glanced around, "Oh, we're still down here."
"Yes." Zeke drawled sarcastically across from them, "We're still down here."
The door to the bunker opened suddenly, letting the low light of morning and a sweet smelling breeze inside the dim, stagnant space. "It's stopped!" A voice called down.
Zeke stood immediately before anyone could rush outside, "How do you know!? Who are you!?" What if a Cammuni soldier with halfway decent Eldian had found them?
"Come see for yourself." A familiar voice called down, and Zeke immediately relaxed. Commander Magath.
At his command, they slowly filed out of the mass grave, squinting against the meager light and wobbling on disused legs. When Reiner got up, he stood too quickly and would have fallen if Bertolt hadn't been there to catch him. He offered his friend a lopsided smile, and they walked out of the cave and straight into hell.
The first thing Reiner noticed was the smell of smoke in the air, and then the buzz of biplane engines- nearly silent compared to what they had gotten used to. Frightened, he turned to where Suvla had been. Now, it was little more than a pillar of smoke and burning rubble. Planes painted bright red soared through the air, close enough to the ground that when they flew overhead Reiner could see the forms of the pilots. All of them dumped a strange black substance into the valley that burned brighter than Reiner had ever seen.
The Cadets gaped at the carnage and coughed up the thick smoke. Reiner wondered how many human bodies were burned to create that smoke- no, savage bodies. Moonie's weren't human, they're savages and worse than animals. Reiner shouldn't feel bad for them. That didn't stop him from dry heaving at the smell.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked over to see Bertolt looking in the opposite direction. He glanced at the others and saw Zeke smiling, his back turned to the carnage and pointing at the rising sun. Reiner joined the others in following his eyeline, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Well, would you look at that." Zeke said in a light, almost reverent tone, "And the world keeps turning. Like nothing even happened."
...Reiner still didn't get it.