Chapter 2: Bored in Shiganshina
Zeke's plan is simple if a little bit vague. We're going back to Shiganshina and we are going to wait. That's it. In a rare display, Zeke complimented Reiner and me on our work breaching Wall Maria all those years ago. We had placed some necessary pressure on humanity within the walls and as a result, we set current events into motion. The land that made up Wall Maria was immense, larger than Rose and Sina combined so it would be a big step forward for humanity to take it back. Eren and the Scouts would come to us, planning to plug up the wall in a similar manner to how it had been done in Trost. When they got here, we would be waiting.
The thing is…we don't know if and/or when Eren will get here. If at all.
"That's why we have Pieck with us," Zeke says
"What's she going to do?" Reiner asks.
"She'll take us to Shiganshina, along with the supplies, and we'll set up camp. From there she'll go out on patrol, routinely scanning the gates of Wall Rose for signs of the Scouts. She'll make her way back here and report to us on their movements."
"We should tell her to focus her attention on Trost. It has the straightest line to Shinganshina. If they're going to come here, that's where they'll start their operation from," I say.
"Good to know," Zeke replies.
Pieck delivers us to the blasted gates of Shiganshina and we position ourselves atop the walls like we did that first night not even a few days ago. It will be different this time, though. We'll have blankets, and an actual bed to make the overall experience far less unbearable. Pieck leaves for Wall Rose immediately after that without so much as a goodbye. It's just the three of us now, Reiner, Zeke, and I. The rest of the soldiers from Marley went home on the ship with Ymir. They wouldn't be needed for this part of the mission. They'll only get in the way. We have enough supplies to last us several months but I hope we won't have to be here that long.
A week goes by and there is no word from Pieck. The three of us spend the time doing our own things. It's boring, to say the least. Who would have thought there'd be nothing exciting to do in an abandoned city district? Reiner and I only have ourselves to blame for that. Zeke had brought a chessboard and some playing cards and these kept the boredom at bay for a while but we grew tired of these pretty early on. It was only a matter of time before we started playing hide-and-seek or tag in the streets and abandoned houses. The space was vast enough that we could spend a whole day trying to find each other. Zeke never joined us in our childish games. He seemed perfectly content to just throw his baseball against a section of the wall. He threw it and it had enough force to bounce back to him. He did this for hours. His mind must have been somewhere else, far away from here. Every once in a while, he asked us if we wanted to join him. We politely refused at first but once we grew bored of tag and hide-and-seek we reached a state of advanced boredom and we gave in. The three of us tossed the ball in a triangle with Zeke tossing to Reiner who tossed to me and then I threw it back to Zeke and around we went. When we were in the mood for something a bit more dynamic, we would take turns seeing how far we could throw the ball, heaving it down the main street of Shiganshina that lead out into open territory. Zeke won every single time, though this came as no surprise. Towards the end of that first week, we had a small pick-up game: Reiner and I vs. Zeke. It wasn't so much a game as it was Zeke pitching the entire time while Reiner and I alternated between hitting and catching his pitches. It was clear right away that Zeke was trying to tell us something. Neither of us could get a hit off of him. The best offense we could muster was a pitiful little blooper I bounced up the middle, right back into Zeke's glove. He threw with such speed and I was so used to missing the ball completely that when I made even the slightest contact, it felt surreal. The vibration from the bat sent a spark of paint shooting up both of my arms like a chill. I flinched and dropped the bat like it had electrocuted me. It didn't occur to me that I should try running to first base, which was nothing more than a square of dirt Zeke carved into the ground with the heel of his boot. I didn't run. If this were a full game with more people, Zeke would have easily thrown me out at first and there was no point in expending energy like that.
Hitting wasn't so bad. It was embarrassing to be left swinging at air but no one was around to see us whiffing so badly. Catching Zeke's pitches was the actual worst. He was unrelenting and more than a few times, he threw it so hard that we were sent staggering backward.
"Could you slow it down a bit, Zeke? We get it you've got a good arm," Reiner said.
Zeke only laughed and threw harder.
"Why would I bring down the heat when I've got a perfect game going," he replied.
My arms were aching by the time we called it quits. It wasn't like we wanted to do any of this but we were so starved of activities that we would probably continue taking part in his unfair games just to get a break from the monotony. The message was clear. Zeke was trying to say that he was in charge and that we couldn't do anything about it.
After a while, time began to lose its meaning. I stop measuring it in days and weeks and shift to tracking it by the times when Pieck would return to Shiganshina with nothing new to report. The days become agonizingly long, the hours slinking by. It reminds me of that brief time we spent right before the alleged breach of Wall Rose, when we were still hidden, sitting around with Connie, Sasha, Historia, Ymir, and the other recruits. I still remember the way Sasha rested her head against the table; her body slack, her eyes vacant from sheer boredom. I understand that feeling now and would do anything for something, anything at all, to happen. But nothing happens at all and the days continue their slow march into tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that.
It remains like this until one morning when Reiner and I are playing chess. It's one of those days where Pieck is due back. She's done this about four times so far. She usually arrives in the evening and sets off back for the walls early the next morning. Her endurance may be the best of all of us but even she needs rest. Zeke is sitting not that far from us, reading a book and sipping his coffee within earshot of our game. None of us are talking. The only sounds are the wind and the light scrape of wooden chess pieces against a wooden board. It's an uncomfortable sound. I had stopped counting the number of games Reiner and I played together a while ago but by my estimate, it's been nearly a hundred games up until now. The game this morning is one of the rare ones where Reiner might win. He isn't thinking too much about his moves and half the time he isn't even looking at the board. But somehow, this is working in his favor. I, on the other hand, have made a few greedy decisions early on, sacrificing a strong pawn structure in favor of securing some meaningless material, and on top of that, I lost my queen. Now Reiner has command of the center and material advantage. If he keeps playing this way, he'll win in the next four or five moves. But then Reiner makes a move that I do not expect, something radical in the game of chess. He grabs the board by its sides, jostling the pieces and knocking a few over. He moves to the edge of the wall and heaves the board off the side. I'm not familiar with this maneuver but I don't protest its legality. I just watch as the pieces careen in a scattered murmuration, black and white specs losing all detail or distinction as they soundlessly hit the ground 50 meters below. Zeke had looked up from his reading just as Reiner threw the chessboard.
"May I ask why you decided to throw a perfectly good chessboard off the side of the wall? My perfectly good chessboard, I might add."
Reiner turns to face Zeke. His fists are clenched and he's gritting his teeth and looking very tense.
"I don't think I can't take this much longer, Zeke. We've been here for over a month. How long do you expect us to sit around waiting like this?"
"As long as it takes. But why are you bringing this up now? Why didn't you make your voice heard before we wasted a month of supplies? Do you distrust my judgment, Reiner?"
"You spend your whole day throwing that damn baseball without give a shit while Bertolt and I are kept in the dark. We don't know anything about what's going on in the walls. Pieck keeps coming back with nothing. We don't know what Erwin or Eren or the others are planning, what they're doing with Annie, or if they'll come here at all! We should be taking the fight to them. Not waiting around and wasting time and energy."
"As I recall, you and Bertolt tried to take the fight to them and it didn't seem to work out, did it? If it wasn't for Ymir you'd be dead, I'd be down two more warriors, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. They're not just going to roll over and die, Reiner. But remember this, they want to see what's in that basement, right? Whatever secrets down there must be pretty juicy. You told me that yourself. So it stands to reason that if we just wait right here, they're bound to embark on another expedition. But, by all means, if you want to charge at them head-on, and sacrifice our home-field advantage, then go ahead. But I won't come and save you, and neither will Bertolt."
"The least we can do is find Annie. She's still trapped in there somewhere. We can't just leave her. Come on, Bertolt, back me up."
Reiner looks my way and I can see the anger in his eyes. He's livid. But there's also a quiet desperation on his face. He wants so badly to do something.
"Reiner, I—"
"Don't bring Bertolt into this. Unlike you, he's good at following orders. Besides, do you even know where Annie is?"
"She went and joined the Military Police while Bertolt and I stayed with the Scouts to keep an eye on Eren. That must mean she's still in Wall Sina somewhere."
"Ah, I see. So, she's not only is she is back over there in the walls, she's even deeper than you two were. What's your plan then? Are you going to reinfiltrate the walls? Where everyone knows your face. And then are you going to go searching high and low in garbage piles and under beds until you find Annie? Do you hear how stupid that sounds? Think Reiner. Think logically for once in your life."
"We can't just sit here and do nothing," Reiner says, softly. I don't know if he was talking to anybody or just to himself.
"Tell you what," Zeke says, clasping his hands together, "Since you're so dead-set on doing this. Let's make this interesting. Why don't the two of us have a little fight to sort this out. We'll transform. We'll have at each other as titans. And whoever wins, we follow their plan. If you win, we'll go and rescue Annie. And if I win, we focus on securing the Founder. Sound reasonable?"
"Reiner, I don't think this is a good idea," I say.
"It's a perfect idea. I'm a fair and agreeable person. Reiner thinks his plan is better so he should be able to fight and prove it. If his cause is worthy enough then fate will declare him the victor. Do we have a deal?"
Fair and agreeable aren't exactly words I'd attribute to Zeke but he is the War Chief so it isn't like we can challenge him on his claims.
"Sounds good to me," Reiner says.
"Reiner, wait—" I say but the two of them are already shaking hands and making it clear that I'm invisible, that my opinion doesn't matter.
"We'll fight at dawn," Zeke says.
"Dawn it is then," Reiner replies.
"May the best man win."
Shit. So, they're really doing this, then. In my heart, I agree with Reiner 100%. I want nothing more than to save Annie, take Eren, and get the fuck off this godforsaken island. But at the same time, Zeke is right. We can't just blindly go back in there. Even in our titan forms, at our full strength, they outnumber us. They won't just agree to lay down and die because ours in the nobler cause.
And also—I don't know if Reiner remembers this—but what if what Armin said back then was true. About Annie being tortured by the MPs. I don't want to believe it but it certainly got under my skin. The way he said it, like he were the one personally seeing to Annie's torture. If they already got to her, then it might already be too late to save her and we'd be marching in to find whatever pieces they decided to keep. No. I can't let myself believe that. Annie wouldn't let herself get caught. She's smarter and tougher than the rest of us, combined. She had to have gotten away, somehow.
