Evelyn felt like shit.
The bed was lumpy, the room was drafty, and she couldn't stop the avalanche of questions and theories forming in her mind. From alternate realities, teleportation, and her wanting to run to the barn and make sure her car wasn't suddenly a time machine or something, sleep did not come easy. Levi had left sometime in the night. Evelyn couldn't say when, she only saw the empty chair after pounding on the room's door had woken her.
"Rise and shine!" Hange called, opening the door and entering the room.
Evelyn groaned in response. Horrible bed or not, it was still a bed and she was not prepared to face the day. "Go away," she grunted.
"Not a morning person, huh?" Hange asked gleefully while opening the window. Another grunt came in reply. "Well, we've got a big day ahead. I bet you'd feel better after a nice breakfast." Hange motioned toward the door. "Come on."
Having slept in her clothes, Evelyn grumbled under her breath as she forced her upper torso off the bed. She slipped her boots on, tucking the laces inside rather than tying them. Hange led the way as Evelyn shuffled down the stairs and into the dining room from the previous day. Evelyn collapsed in the closest open chair and glared at the food laid out. Bread and gruel.
Nice breakfast my ass.
Several soldiers sat at the table. Some looked toward Evelyn in annoyance, others cocked eyebrows. A familiar young woman with ginger hair sat to Evelyn's right.
"Hello," she sheepishly greeted as Evelyn looked toward her, apathetic. "Remember me? I'm Petra, we met yesterday."
Evelyn yawned and nodded her head in greeting. "Yeah I remember, you're with Levi. I'm Evelyn."
"That's a rather informal way to talk about the captain," Petra said defensively, her cheeks turning red.
Reaching for some bread Evelyn said, "Yeah, well, not in the military. Pretty sure I could call him whatever I want." Taking a tentative first bite, Evelyn thought back to the bag of breakfast items in her car. "Nice chat, I have to go."
Exiting the house and letting the farmhouse door fall shut behind her, Evelyn stopped briefly at a deep voice asking, "Where do you think you're going?" Looking back, she found Captain Levi leaning against the house, holding a porcelain cup by its rim to his mouth.
"To get something from the car." Evelyn said over her shoulder.
"No. You're not going near that thing alone." Levi stood from his leaning position.
Evelyn rolled her eyes at him. "Then get someone to tag along, cuz I'm going." Continuing onward, she heard soft footsteps on the dirt behind her.
Two soldiers stood guard at the entrance to the barn. "Let me in." Evelyn demanded.
The soldier to the left of the barn door shook his head and said, "Commander's orders, no one goes in or out."
"Open the door," Levi ordered. "I'll take over from here." The guards looked questioningly at each other once before nodding and slightly opening the barn door.
Remembering that she left the car unlocked, Evelyn searched the backseat for the white plastic bag that held her prize. Levi leaned against a nearby post, sipping from his cup.
Once Evelyn found the bag, she dug through it searching for the second bear claw and another small bottle of orange juice. As she opened the driver's door, Evelyn noticed Levi stiffen. Without saying a word she sat sideways in the seat and twisted the cap off the orange juice. Taking a sniff of the contents, she took a cautious sip. It was warm, but better than gruel.
"What's that?" Levi asked.
Evelyn let out a satisfied sigh after taking a big gulp. "Orange juice."
"What's it in? Doesn't look like glass." Levi took another sip of his tea.
"Plastic, go ask Hange what it is. If you have to stand there, just glare. You're good at that." Evelyn opened the bear claw packaging and used it in an attempt to keep her hands clean while eating.
Eyes narrowed, Levi watched the woman in front of him intently. In between mouthfuls she would rub her eyes or cover her mouth when she would yawn; in turn causing Levi to fight the urge himself. Although he rarely slept well, staying up watching her toss and turn didn't help. He only left once he was sure she was asleep and wouldn't crawl out the window.
Movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention as Hange and Commander Erwin entered the barn.
"I had a feeling we would find you here." Erwin said walking closer to the car. "Good morning." Evelyn looked toward the approaching pair, nodded her head downward with a grunt, and continued chewing.
"Morning." Levi looked toward Erwin before refocusing on the car and its contents once more.
"Cheer up you two, we have a full day of experimenting to do!" Hange beamed. Evelyn's left eyebrow rose in response.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Evelyn asked after forcing a large mouthful down her throat.
"After our discussion yesterday, Hange came up with some tests we can run. If you're willing to help us that is." Erwin stood at the end of the open driver's door.
"That depends on the tests to be honest. Not really into the idea of being dissected." Evelyn said. Crinkling her breakfast's packaging in her hand into a ball, she turned in her seat. She fumbled with something before turning around again holding what looked like a bar of packed oats.
"There are two things that interest me the most. Obviously one is this car and the other…" Erwin pulled out Evelyn's pistol from a small bag. "This gun, as Levi believes it to be, is far more advanced than what we've seen from our own military. I'd like to see it in action."
"One," Evelyn held her right pointer finger up. "The car only has a little under 2/3rds of a tank of gas left. As you know nothing about gasoline, I highly doubt we'd be able to refill it so it would be stuck motionless forever when it runs out. Two." Her middle finger flicked up. "I'm not a mechanic and cars are pretty closed off as far as seeing the magic happen. I think the most I could do is take you out for a joy ride. And three," Evelyn closed her hand into a fist before raising three rings. "I only have limited ammo, eight bullets to be exact. And I don't trust you enough to hand them over."
Both Hange and Erwin's faces held expressions deep in thought. Considering the woman's words, her usefulness seemed to be pretty low. Levi was sure Hange would find some way to squeeze out as much information as possible and probably even find a way to design something they could use.
"These items can be disassembled can't they?" Erwin asked.
"Hold the fucking phone there pal!" Evelyn jumped out of the car and took a defensive stance. "This is still my car, what gives you the right to even suggest that? Besides that, there's no way you'd get it in working condition again. Not with everything I heard about your technological level."
"Please, clam down. It was a simple suggestion for after your resources have been depleted. While it is your property, it is of great use for not only us, but it could benefit yourself as any discoveries we have would benefit the whole of humanity."
"Look, the more time I spend here the more I believe you. But. I still am not comfortable with you taking apart things to where they won't function anymore. I can show you how the gun works, I disassemble it for cleaning regularly. But the car not only takes special knowledge, but special tools as well. I'll tell you as much as I can about whatever questions you have. The one thing I know is that simple concepts from my world may be gigantic breakthroughs in yours."
"How much more time are you willing to spend playing scientist?" Levi looked toward Erwin. "We're sitting ducks out here."
"I have considered that." Erwin replied. "With the men confused about why we are spending so much time stationary, morale is likely wavering at the moment. Still, we cannot waste this opportunity."
"Considering the men think we're sitting around doing nothing, I suggest we come up with a good lie or getting moving." Levi said.
"About that, how exactly was this kept secret? I'd assume the guys that found me would have spread the message all over by now." Evelyn added.
"The men that found you were isolated, ordered to keep the information confidential, and told to join us here. As far as I can tell their message did not spread far, it's also pretty far-fetched. The other troops may dismiss their claims on that alone. Last I saw, they were having breakfast in the house." Hange said.
"Ah, I was wondering why I was getting the stink eye from some of them." Evelyn said.
"People generally don't like being grunted at as a greeting." Hange said resting her right elbow on her left hand in front of her as her left arm rested against her stomach.
"Back to the matter at hand," Erwin interjected. "What we can study in the walls will be brought back. We won't be able to sneak the car through the gates without the public spreading the news like wildfire. The best we can do is move it to a more defensible outpost with less activity. How far can you move the car before it runs out of this 'gas'?"
Evelyn scratched her head. "Depends on what measuring system you use. But in terms of time, roughly six hours or so at the same speed we used on the way here."
Erwin's expression darkened. "The first outpost after leaving the walls is a half a day's journey from here. I'm not sure if we'd make it in time. It would be the optimal location with an abandoned warehouse nearby. Two squads could easily defend it while the rest of the battalion focuses on a secondary objective."
"Car's get better gas mileage at higher speeds. I could drive ahead if someone guides me and probably have at least a fourth tank of gas left." Evelyn suggested.
"Out of the question." Erwin shook his head. "Not only would you have little to no protection from the titans on the way, we can't take the chance of the car getting stuck in the open."
"I'm pretty sure the car could outrun them." Evelyn sighed and crossed her arms. "But if you're so against the idea, if you get enough horses together along with some good rope, you could get them to move the car without wasting any gas."
Hange's brows furrowed deeper and deeper as the conversation went on. "With that many horses, the soldiers are bound to notice something, it would nearly decimate the back-up supply for stranded troops. If we cannot learn more about the car by observation, it would be wiser to bring it to a safer area. If we need special tools, we would have to bring engineers outside the walls to examine what we'd need. They'd likely want to stay in the walls to begin with; so getting them out will be difficult. The other consideration lies in finding a secluded space with enough room to lay everything out for examination. The warehouse would be our best bet."
"What did I say about disassembling?!" Evelyn asked annoyed.
"I know you're not the greatest fan of the idea, but what other use does the car have if it doesn't work?" Hange asked.
"This is the closest thing I have to a home here and you want to tear it apart." Evelyn's eyes began to water.
Hange looked at the woman with compassion. "We wouldn't tear it apart. We'd be very careful. We want to be able to put it back together again, and even create more. Our main concern is in finding an optimal place to keep it safe."
Evelyn's eyes narrowed as she examined Hange. "Considering you're worried about people dying out here, it sounds like a decent plan to move it. We can discuss this issue later, but I don't promise I'll change my mind."
Erwin nodded his head in agreement. "Hange, look into the idea of having horses pull the car. If we have enough supplies, we'll go with that plan. To keep this somewhat under wraps, every squad here will travel ahead of the main group expect for mine. The troops are already suspicious enough, having their commander disappear may cause more damage. That should provide enough protection and time for the battalion to arrive at the outpost without being detected. We'll send a covered wagon from there to your location to transport what we can into the walls for further examination. Ms. Turner can stay with her belongings and we'll be able to sneak her in as well. We will need a spare cape for her to wear; it will hide your strange clothing." Erwin looked to Evelyn who nodded half-heartedly.
"We'll give you a ten minute head start. If anything goes wrong, we'll be in signal range. Head out when you see a green flare from behind you." Erwin commanded from horse back. Everyone was saddled up and ready except for Evelyn and Hange; who waited in the car. Well, Evelyn was in the driver's seat while Hange sat with her legs dangling through the open sunroof. Hange had arranged for six horses to pull the car along, attached by a hastily made contraption out of wood and rope. Hange controlled them with voice commands and some make-shift reigns out of rope. It all seemed a bit much, but the horses had to cover a great distance and it worked well enough in a practice run.
Hange's squad waited on the right, Levi's squad split up, covering the front and back of the car, and the soldiers that first came across Evelyn waited on her left.
"Don't you ever clean your boots?" Evelyn asked; her voice distorted as she held her nose closed. "I think I'm going to move to the back."
"No!" Hange bent down, her head casting a shadow over car's interior. "You need to control the car in case the wheels turn the wrong way."
Groaning, Evelyn pushed Hange's legs to the side so they would hang more in the passenger's seat. "Keep your legs there real quick will you?" Kneeling in the driver's seat Evelyn scoured the back seat for her backpack. She turned in her seat and placed her bag in her lap once she found it before saying a quick thank you. As Hange settled herself back to her previous position, Evelyn dug through the bag before taking out a narrow metal can and placing the bag in the passenger's seat. She quickly shook the can up and down causing the can to become cold to the touch.
"What's that?" Hange looked curiously.
"Deodorant." Evelyn said before spraying some on Hange's boots.
"Hey!" Hange called kicking her left foot out. Evelyn flung her head to her left. Her hand shot to the left side of her head in anticipation of pain. With the window shattered, she felt nothing and it took her a second to realize it was no longer there.
"What are you two doing now?" Levi sat on his horse to the left of the car's hood.
"She started it." Hange said examining her left boot with her leg crossed in her lap.
"Oh, how mature." Evelyn pouted looking at the woman's legs.
"You're one to talk, spraying unknown substances on me." Hange said returning to her original position. "Although, it does smell nice."
"At least I keep my shoes from smelling funky. I swear, it's like you're allergic to the notion of personal hygiene." Evelyn glared through the open sunroof.
"Tch," Levi scoffed in a light tone. Evelyn could have sworn he almost chuckled. "Knock it off, I don't have the time or patience to babysit you two."
"What does that mean?" Evelyn spun to face him, incredulous. Before she could continue, a loud boom echoed from the sky behind them.
"That's the signal." Levi said before turning to ride to the front of the group.
"Everyone," Levi yelled, "move out!"
Hey everyone, sorry this one took a bit longer to get out. I went on vacation last week and have some finals to get through this week. Like I said, I'm not going to keep to a schedule when writing this as I've learned personal schedules cause me to abandon work rather than focus on it.
Thanks for those leaving reviews, my ego loves the extra boosts here and there.
