Levi led the group of four outside the building. They reached the cart with Armin and the two from earlier. Jean was nowhere to be seen. Jason walked past the others. Levi had ordered him to sit at the front of the cart. Jason didn't know if he was expecting him to drive or not. When he saw the man with brown hair from earlier sitting in the driver's seat, he figured he wasn't supposed to drive. I've ridden chariots before. I could have driven the cart. Jason moped.
"Hello." The man greeted him. "The name is Moblit Berner. Executive officer of the 4th squad of the Scouts." Jason sat next to him.
"You work for the crazy lady?" Jason couldn't help asking.
The man chuckled. "Yes, I work for the crazy lady."
"Sorry to keep ya." Speak of the devil. Hange waved to the others in the cart. "Took longer to prepare than we thought." Entering the cart, Levi, the Pastor, and Hange sat across from the three younger scouts. Armin's eyes stayed on the pastor. "Umm… isn't this a priest from the Order of the Wall?"
"Oh, Nick and I are best buddies! Right?" Hange put her arm around the pastor. "Don't let him bother you. The whole makeup of this squad doesn't make any sense. Right, Levi?"
Levi kept his eyes on Jason. Then he slowly looked at the other three.
"No, I think it might. Erwin picked them out for a reason."
Jason decided to keep his eyes forward. Why does Levi want me here? Why does Erwin? None of this makes any sense.
"OPEN THE GATES." A voice yelled from the front. Jason was so lost in thought that he hadn't realized the amount of scouts in front of him. Three to four rows of soldiers on horseback were at the ready. Jason noticed a familiar salmon headed individual in the front of the formation.
The gate rose, and Jason saw the image on the door. It was a woman's profile. She had her hair up in a bun, and her crown had multiple spikes on it.
Jason turned back to the Pastor. His necklace had the same image, along with two other profiles.
"The situation within Wall Rose is unclear!" Erwins voice made him return his gaze forward. "But everything up until Ehrmich is safe. We'll save time going through there. Move out!"
"Yes sir!" Yelled all the scouts.
"Take us out." Levi ordered.
"Yes sir!" Moblit answered.
Jason noticed they were entering the interior of Wall Sina. "Shouldn't we be going into Wall Rose?" He asked, "Isn't that where the titans are?"
Moblit kept his eyes forward. "Well it's faster if we go through the interior of Wall Sina."
Jason gave him a puzzled look.
Looking at him suspiciously, Moblit explained the situation.
"Each of the walls has four cities that were built outside of the inner wall. Titans are attracted to humans in large groups. These cities were built to keep the titans away from the main wall. They are our first line of defense."
Moblit whipped the reins, "The cities are placed north, south, east and west of the walls."
Moblit pointed back at the gate they just went through. "The Stohess district is the eastern city on Wall Sina. We need to head south, to the Ehrmich district, the southern city on Wall Sina. Not only would it take longer to reach the breach exiting from the eastern district, there's also the titan threat which is still unclear within Wall Rose."
Jason nodded his head. "So, riding through the titanless Wall Sina is the best course of action."
"Exactly…" The man kept his eyes on the road, "You really don't know anything, do you?"
Jason, about to nod his head, felt an intense glare on his back.
He decided to stay still. Levi was sitting right behind him. Are they trying to get information out of me through Moblit?
Moblit noticed Levi's stare. He returned his eyes forward. "We're not bad people you know." He said. "We just want to understand the world we live in."
Jason looked at the wall. He heard it was 50 meters tall. How many feet were in one meter? He couldn't recall. He didn't need to remember though. The wall almost reached the starry night.
"I'm sorry. I don't doubt that you're good people, but… I don't have the answers you're looking for."
Moblit stayed silent for a while. Then he leaned in. "Don't worry. Captain Levi may look mean, but he's actually really nice."
"I highly doubt that." Jason whispered back.
The driver laughed out loud and returned his focus back to the road.
"Whatever your situation," he continued, "Ms. Hange and I will try and help out as much as we can. If anything, Ms. Hange loves new specimens." Moblit whipped the reins.
Now I'm an experiment. Jason thought in dismay.
Jason couldn't recall how the conversation started, but the people in the cart behind him were discussing the walls. Apparently they were made of titans. It was the green eyed boy that made him pay close attention to the conversation.
"No, no, no, no! This is all backwards!" He stood and slammed the small table in the cart. He yelled, "If there's something you know, tell us about it! Nothing is more important than keeping humans from going extinct!" The boy winced and clutched his girl with the red scarf sat him down.
"Eren, settle down." She told him. "You're still not fully healed."
So that's Eren. Jason thought. He's intense.
Jason heard a gun cocking behind him.
"There's more than one way to get answers." Levi said quietly. "I may be injured and useless right now, but it doesn't take much to watch one man. I'm hoping we can settle this without blasting a hole into anyone." He emphasized that last word, giving Jason a sidelong glance.
Is this what a nice man sounds like? Jason questioned.
Hange audibly sighed. "Threatening him doesn't work. Believe me, I've tried." Hange shrugged one of her shoulders, "It seems to me that this priest is capable of sound judgment. That's why I wonder…What if the reason he doesn't talk is because he knows something more important than the fate of humanity?"
The cart suddenly became quiet.
What is this? Not only do they have people from the outside trying to eradicate them, but they also have people from inside holding information. Everyones working against them. They're cornered.
He started to form an idea.
Jason turned around to face the younger scouts. "Armin, how did those titan's attack your hometown?"
Armin, caught off guard by the question, answered, "The Colossal titan kicked open the outer gate. Then the Armored titan broke the inner gate."
"And didn't they attack another city?"
"Yeah, the attack on Trost was a month ago."
"How did they attack Trost?"
Armin, still confused by this line of questioning, answered candidly, "Well 'they' didn't attack. Only the Colossal titan kicked the outer gate. The Armored titan never showed up."
"So Trost was abandoned?"
Armin shook his head. "Eren turned into a titan and plugged a hole in the wall with a boulder."
Jason looked back at the wall.
"Armin, who is this guy?" Eren asked skeptically.
"It's like you guys are cornered." Jason said quietly.
"What?" Armin asked, ignoring Erens earlier question.
Jason tried to think out loud. "Those titans, they attacked the gates on purpose. Then they let the other mindless titans take care of the rest. And then Trost was attacked, but why didn't they bust through the inner gate? Did their goal change?"
The cart gave him a confused look. Only Levi's face was unchanged. Jason rubbed his head in frustration. "You guys are being attacked from both sides. The people outside the walls want you dead and the people inside the walls are withholding information. And I have a feeling those outside the walls know that."
Pastor Nick's eyes widened.
The other had shocked faces. "How… How could the people outside the walls know that?" Armin asked.
"I don't know. But I know a military strategy when I see one. Your real enemy knows more than you think."
Eren stood up. "And who are you to question humanity? From what I heard, you could be one of those titans that destroyed Wall Maria!"
Jason didn't like the baseless accusation. "If I was one of those titans, why would I try to save you from the Female Titan back in the forest?"
Eren's mouth shut.
Jason pointed to the girl next to him, "Ask your friend, she was there when it happened."
Eren sat back down. "Mikasa… is he telling the truth?"
The girl's eyes darkened. "Yes." She answered quietly.
Jason felt the tension in the cart. Did she not like that I saved her? Or was it because I asked her to corroborate my story? I can't tell with these people.
Hange clapped her hands.
"Alright, that's enough. Let's not hurt each other now, we are sharing the same cart." She sighed. "Jasons thoughts are just that, thoughts. And Eren is right to be skeptical. But both of you need evidence for your accusations. Think about that over the hour we'll share together."
She looked at both Eren and Jason.
"Is that understood?"
They both mumbled, "Yes, ma'am."
Jason returned to his original position. Eyes out front, he looked at the road ahead. I wonder what's waiting for me outside those walls.