Chapter Seven: Come On Sunshine
"He's in shock." Jack said as he observed the wound on the officers' shoulder. Three deep red gouges ran down across from the edge of his right shoulder to his chest, oozing with blood. Taking out a small pack, the soldier began to take out medical supplies to treat the injury. "Everywhere…" Shepherd muttered. "They were everywhere…" He turned desperately to Colin. "You have to get me out of here before they come back!"
Colin looked back at the officer in concern and uncertainty. "Who, Captain?" He asked. "Who is going to come back?!" Shepherd didn't respond at first but instead franticly darted his eyes about to the gory massacre around them. "There was only supposed to be one!" Shepherd whimpered. "Bollocks to this." Colin spat.
"Sarge!" Jaxx called out. "It'll be dark soon. We best get to that farm now. Its' about a kilometre north." She explained. Taking in the information, Colin rallied the squad. "Listen up." He ordered as he picked up a handful of rifle magazines. "Anyone not carrying live ammo better do so. You shoot anything that moves. You see the Colossal Titan himself I expect you to drop the bastard!" He barked as he tore at the charging handle on the rifle, which in turn slammed a bullet into the chamber.
Shepherd grimly stared at the ground in front of him. "It won't do any good…" He said. "…They won't die." Colin grabbed Shepherd by the collar and dragged him closer. "Let's play a game. It's called shut the fuck up; you play first." He said spat.
At that moment, the otherwise silent forest erupted as a long, screeching roar echoed in the distance, followed by multiple subsequent growls. Tommy gripped the rifle in his hands as he shook with fear. "Aw shit!" He stuttered through clenched teeth. "Squad, on me!" Colin ordered. "We leg it through the treeline to the farm. Stay close but don't bunch up, we take turns providing cover fire and running and we get there in no time." He said, getting to his feet.
"Terry, you take point." He barked. "Jack, you cover out rear. No heroics." Jack shrugged as he raised the submachine gun in his grasp. "Aye sir." The growls were getting closer now. They couldn't be more than a hundred meters away now, but even then, the dense woodland made them invisible. "Okay! Go!" He roared and the squad took off through the forest, leaving the ruined campsite far behind them.
As he was running, Colin saw that Tommy was struggling to keep up. Slowing to be beside him, the Squad Leader grabbed the back of Tommy's pack and threw him forward. "Come on sunshine! Get a bloody move on!"
Jack ran as fast as he could finger on the trigger as he could hear the growling grow fainter. Are we losing them? He thought. Spinning round, he swept the area behind him and saw no movement. Whatever was following them didn't seem to be anymore. Turning back round, he saw that the others had disappeared. Shit! He screamed internally. He ran in the direction he thought the squad was, vanishing into the thick woodland behind an ocean of clustered, twisted branches as the sun slowly melted away on the horizon, causing shadows to grow and grow.
He stopped for a second when he heard a branch snap ahead of him, followed by a rustle of leaves. Jack raised the gun and slowly approached the source of the sound. "Sarge?!" He called out. No response. With the weapon aimed in one hand Jack pushed leaves and branches away with the other until he came into a clearing and he froze solid.
Someone was standing out in the clearing with their back to him. Or at least it resembled a person. It was too tall to be a man but too short to be a titan. Standing close to seven feet, the thing was oddly malformed, strange muscle placements twisted over others, with huge hunched shoulders making it hard for the back of the head to be seen. And instead of hands, the things' fat fingers melted away into massive razor sharp claws.
The thing was breathing heavily as Jack cautiously approached it. It suddenly spun and when Jack saw its' face, he knew it was not human. Though most of the details were blocked out in darkness, it stared back at him with bright yellow eyes. Then it growled.
"Hostile Contact!" Jack roared, firing a wave of bullets before fleeing. The creature shrugged off the rounds and gave chase, catching up to him way too quickly. Jack yelped as he felt something sharp stab him in the back, throwing him to the ground. He was about to fire again but was too late. The gun was swept out of his hand before the creatures' claws dug deep into his chest.