Tree. Tree. Rock face. Tree. Leg. Tree. Cave opening. Bingo!
Slowing her pace Evelyn froze, her blood turning to ice. Her head turned slowly to look behind her, a new fear surging throughout her body. Locking onto two eyes, Evelyn fought to turn forward and compel the useless weights attached to her legs to move. Her eyes widened, her mouth fell open, and a nearly inaudible squeak slipped out. Eyes as large as her body glared at her. The head they belonged to looked through two pillars of flesh, its permanent frown resembling an evil smile while upside down.
As giant began to straighten itself, Evelyn found its spell broken. Rushing towards the cave opening, her balance wavered as the earth shook from thunderous footsteps. A shadow of a hand stretched out past her. Instinctively, she dove into some bushes to her left; a swift breeze rustled the thin branches. The cave stood a sprint away; with no other options Evelyn took the gamble. Burning with the strain placed onto them, her legs gave out once she lunged herself onto the cave floor. Two fingers wormed their way after her, plunging the cave opening into darkness and missing her by mere inches. Praying there were no wolves or bears she felt her way to a wall and melded with it as best she could.
Oh fuck! Where the hell am I?
"Report" Erwin wasn't sure what to think. Not only did a messenger ride to his command squad in the long range formation, but they adamantly insisted he should follow them.
"Commander, something strange was spotted at the left rear side of the formation. It's of unknown origins and I simply don't know how to describe it."
Erwin's eyes narrowed. "The entire battalion is exposed and vulnerable to titan attack; our mission takes precedent over an unknown variable."
"With respect sir, this is something we've never seen before. The thing ran faster than our horses. The closest squad leader, Hange, was informed of the finding and they broke formation to investigate."
Suppressing his surprise at something being able to out run the special bred scouting horses, Erwin gritted his teeth knowing Hange would risk her safety and thus that of the battalion for anything that could be used to learn about the titans. Although, this did not seem related to them. And yet, he could not deny his own curiosity as this could possibly hold answers of the world outside the walls.
"Captain," Petra called forward seeing the green flare from the command squad signal to turn left a second time. "Are we turning around? I thought we were supposed to set up scouting outposts."
"That was the idea, what's the point in retreating?" Gunther yelled over the roar of the wind.
"Commander Erwin is calling the shots. He'll have his reasons." Captain Levi called back focusing on moving forward. Meanwhile, a solider rode towards his squad.
Falling in just behind Levi, the solider began, "Captain Levi! Commander Erwin has ordered for your squad to ride ahead and meet with the command squad. He suspects that squad leader Hange broke formation to investigate a strange finding on the titans. I can lead you towards them."
Tch. That reckless four-eyes.
"Just look at this glorious contraption!" Hange yelled with her head inside the driver's side of the abandoned car, the door wide open and her eyes greedily soaking up everything in sight. "What's this wheel for?" She yanked the steering wheel towards her before trying to turn it in the opposite direction but the wheel locked into place. "Why. Won't. This. Move?!"
Leaving the wheel alone her attention turned to the main console. "Radio, media, phone, what does that mean?" Hange's fingers brushed against each word as she said them out loud, accidently pushing one in. "They push in." Pushing each button in turn in, Hange pushed in a button on a knob with a symbol of a circle with a line running through the top. The blank, black square in the middle of the buttons illuminated on its own with a symbol matching the one on the strange wheel. Soon after, a strange hissing sound erupted from all around her causing her to fall backwards in surprise.
"Squad commander! Stop! You're making it angry!" Hange's assistant, Moblit, yelled over Hange's hysterical laughter.
"Are you mad at me?" Hange ran her hand along the side of the closed back passenger door.
"Hange!" Erwin called as he rode onto the scene. Dismounting and walking towards the car he took in the sight of it. "What have you found?"
"Commander!" Hange's head tilted backward, a triumphant smile on her face. "Isn't this amazing? It looks like it's fully metal and glass on the outside with seating inside. It seems to be some form of transportation with the strange wheels. There's a bunch of bags in the back half and it may be trying to communicate with us!" She wrapped her arms around herself and squealed in delight.
"I was told there was a person inside, where are they?" Erwin reached to touch the strange machine himself.
"I don't know anything about a person, this beauty was empty when I got here." Hange began to stand up when the feeling of something under her boots caused her to look down. "Huh? What's this?" She picked up a jacket made of leather and held it in front of her. "What do you think? It looks like it's my size!"
"Why leave this contraption behind if it runs faster than horses? Abandoning supplies makes no sense either unless they were running from something. Could the soldiers be the cause of this flight? " Erwin muttered to himself. Looking across the landscape his eyes fell on the nearby forest.
"It's a bit tight, but goes on smooth. What's this lining made of?" Hange turned in a circle admiring the jacket.
"What are you wearing?" Levi came riding up with his squad behind her.
"You think it suits me?" Hange held her arms out proudly.
"Your uniform is dirty enough, the last thing you need is something else to ruin." Levi shot back with an uninterested look. Appraising the scene before him, his attention turned to his commander.
"Levi," Erwin turned to face the man. "Head into the forest with your squad. There may be a person on the run. I want them found and brought here."
"You heard the man," Levi yelled backwards. "Move out!"
Rays of light bounced off the cave walls in different directions as the giant fingers searched for their prey. Hugging her legs while sitting on the floor, Evelyn looked up from her knees after the fingers fell limply to the floor. Steam filled the cave as they slowly began to disintegrate and caused her eyes to tear up. Sprawling out onto the cave floor to avoid breathing in the rising gas, Evelyn crawled forward cautiously suppressing the urge to poke at the nearly evaporated bones before her.
"Oi! If there's someone in there, get out!" a male voice called from just barely audible over the hissing bouncing off the cave walls.
Stunned, Evelyn observed the last bits of bone float into nothing, not daring to go near them.
"Captain, I don't think there is anyone there," a female voice called from outside.
"That titan wouldn't have been that active for nothing," a third voice shouted.
"I said. Get. Out!" The first voice no longer hid its anger. Evelyn climbed to her feet and held her pistol to her chest. Moving towards the opening and letting her eyes adjust to the harsh light she aimed the pistol ready to defend herself.
"Who are you? Where the hell am I?" Evelyn yelled using what she could of the cave entrance as cover. Looking around she saw five people dressed the same as the men she first encountered.
"We're the ones asking the questions around here," an older man with short, light brown hair and a cravat began walking quickly towards her. Evelyn shot the ground in front of his feet.
Nine.
The man jumped back biting his tongue. "Like hell you are! Back off!" Evelyn's eyes darted between each person as their expressions darkened.
A second man with blonde hair and a small beard came running forward. "Quick before she reloads," she shot at the ground before him as well.
Eight.
"I said back off! I'm done with warning shots. I'll ask this one more time, who are you? Where am I? And what in the fuck was that giant?"
"You want answers? Put the gun down and come with us! Maybe we'll answer your questions if you answer ours." A short man with raven black hair yelled.
"Like hell I would go with you, let alone trust you!" Evelyn roared.
"If you want to end up as titan shit be my guest, we're leaving. I'm not risking my team for an ungrateful shit." The short man turned and began walking back into the forest. With nervous and panicked looks, the rest followed suit. Wires shot out towards the forest from the two men who previously advanced towards Evelyn and she froze in amazement as they were propelled forward. The other woman turned around to look towards Evelyn, her hand clutched in front of her chest, before turning back to follow the short man away.
Fuck!
"Wait!" Evelyn ran forwards, the pistol pointed at the ground. "Hold on!" Once Evelyn found the people again they were mounted on horseback. Panting with her hands on her knees she spoke, "if I go with you, you'll explain what's going on here?"
"You'll get answers when we do." The short man said from the back of a black stallion facing away from her.
"Why can't we do this here?" Evelyn asked suspicious.
"Are you insane?" A man with cropped brown hair spoke. "We're in the middle of titan territory."
The short man turned his horse towards Evelyn. "Disarm and ride with Eld," the man motioned to the blonde haired man with the beard with his head. "We'll take you to someone with more patience for this."
Evelyn took a moment to size up the strange people around her and pointed at the other female. "You want me to go with you? Then I ride with her."
So here's the obligatory thanks for the reviews. I'm not going to promise to post on a schedule as I can never hold myself to them. But in all seriousness, thanks for checking my story out. I thought I'd have some fun writing something random and I'm glad to hear this idea interests others as well.
Just in case editing this triggers e-mails being sent, I just fixed some gender issues in the writing. Please disregard my bad editing skills.
