The sun had gone and hid beyond the horizon, leaving behind the darkness to descend upon the island. Team three settled deep in the forest, their horses tied together behind a few bushes as they surrounded the campfire. Floch was not paying much attention to the conversation. He had nothing worth sharing with the group, which was a strange feeling considering that occasions like these were his social spotlight. Then again, what his young adult brain considered worthy topics differed from theirs.

He played around with a lighter in his hand, flicking the wheel with his thumb and listening to the distinctive sound of the flint grinding against the metal. He looked at it with a small smirk, thinking of an officer back at camp who was now without his expensive iceburst stone lighter. His eyes darted towards Ymir, finding her equally uninterested in the conversation. They briefly shared a look before she averted her eyes elsewhere. He noticed she's been eyeing him a great deal the last few hours, he was dying to know what went on in that head, he wasn't particularly in favor of asking her for a piece of mind though.

A rustling in the background caught his attention.

"Ahh!" Ruth Yelped, frightened by the sudden noise.

"Shhhh." He made a hushing gesture before discarding map he held, he unsheated his ODM blade and turned towards the source of the disturbance. He made a mental note of the person who had used their ODM to get to a higher position, but he didn't bother to check who.

"What was that?" Hannah questioned in alarm. Franz patted her shoulder and stood up to check. Floch and Gordon flanked his sides as they inched closer to the bushes, with a few nods they pounced on the threat, discovering the small figure of a scurrying rabbit.

Floch sighed before he sheathed the sword and returned to the campfire with the other two boys. It didn't slip his mind that Ruth looked incredibly pale. He scowled at her, his pent-up frustrations finally coming to a boiling point. "Why would you even join the damned military if you haven't got the heart for it." He complained, surprising himself as a result, not realizing he spoke that sentence out loud. Everyone around him was taken off guard by the sudden outburst. 'Screw it, might as well say it now.' He thought.

"Huh?" She let out, her lips quivering.

"You barely pass selection, every physical exercise leaves you on the ground within an inch of your life, and are one tree branch snap away from suffering a heart attack. Why are you even here if not to fill the stomach of a titan?" He harshly spoke in a calm factual tone.

Her breath hitched as tears built up, but Floch would not relent. She needed to hear this, to understand before it was too late. The way she was going now, it was very much like lamb to the slaughter. And everyone around her from the commanders to her fellow cadets enabled it, well, he would do no such thing.

"Come on, Floch, that's too harsh." Hannah chastised from the side.

"Harsh? She needs to hear this. She'll be nothing but a liability for everyone around her, including herself." He chided, the redheaded girl crumbled as tears silently streamed down her cheeks. "If this carries on like this, she'll end up like Shadis always says."

The thick silence that took hold was broken by her hiccuped sobs, as Hannah rushed to comfort the crying cadet. "Look what you've done!" Hannah angrily shouted at him, and he looked on indifferently.

Gordon walked up to him and clutched him by the collar, Sparks flew between their eyes as they glared at each other. "What the hell is wrong with you, do you enjoy doing this?" Gordon asked with evident irritation.

"Hey! break it up, no fighting!" Franz Called out as he rushed between the two boys.

"Better to cry than to be eaten is it not?" Floch began, Gordon hesitated for a second. The redhead took hold of his arm and twisted it around, Gordon winced in pain as he suddenly found his arm forced behind his back, Floch shoved him away and the taller boy barely kept his balance as he turned to face him in anger.

"I can barely recognize you anymore." Gordon spat, rubbing his sore wrist. Floch looked at him indifferently, before turning to see the troubled look on Sandra's face.

Floch inwardly seethed at his words, though he reminded himself that none of them knew any better. They needed to think, they were child soldiers for a reason. Their world was withering away wall by wall, as their enemies crept up on them like vultures readying to strike. None could afford to slack off when the titans and warriors were an active threat to their existence, if they could only understand that fact.

"Am I wrong for not wanting her to be sent to an early grave? When we signed up for this, did you think life would be all campfires and good times? Or have you forgotten what awaits us once we finish training?" Floch questioned, his features darkening in a silent rage.

The silence grew thick at his question. Gordon felt breathless, shrinking under those intense eyes.

The boy snapped out of it and grit his teeth. "So what? We're just supposed to wallow in misery day in and day out?-" He was going to continue but Floch cut him off fiercely.

"I'm asking you to take this seriously. Otherwise quit while you're ahead." He turned to face Ruth, the girl visibly flinching upon meeting his gaze. "When we're sent out there, titans won't care about hurt feelings, they'll chew you to bits and spit you out."

Most took notice of his choice of words, Gordon and Sandra especially were taken back by his newly discovered desire to venture outside the walls. The redheaded boy immediately saw their faces twist with worry and discomfort at the thought.

"O-out there?... You're joining the survey corps?" Sandra faltered with a shaky breath.

"I am."

The crackling of the fire and the resounding forest life became more pronounced as silence took hold. They looked as if he had crushed a puppy in front of them, distrubed by his revelation. He expected something like this, morale was at an all time low after the walls were breached, the majority of cadets who couldn't make the top ten favored the garrison heavily. It was no different for the one hundred and fourth.

"It's getting late. I will take the first shift, goodnight." He spoke. There was no more to be heard from them as they all began preparing for sleep, Hannah and Franz moved to comfort the sniffling Ruth.

Gordon didn't look finished, but Sandra took hold of his arm and shook her head at him. He sighed and allowed himself to be dragged away. Floch used his ODM gear to reach an elevated position, he perched on a thick tree branch high up and began to watch over the camp. He wasn't sorry, as long as the message got across. He wasn't bothered by their reactions, they were kids, emotional and irrational. Once they're older and more mature they'll understand him, or maybe not but when they're inevitably caught in the clutches of a titan, they'll know he was right. Floch didn't want it to reach that point though.

"Remember that thing I said about you being an uptight asshole? Well, that was quite the scene you made, riveting stuff." Ymir spoke next to him.

Floch's heart missed a beat as he turned to the origin of the voice, blankly staring at her sitting next to him on the thick tree branch. He raised an eyebrow in astonishment, how in the hell did she get there without a single sound? Did she climb up? He couldn't hear any indication of ODM gear use.

"I've been up here since before you lost your shit down there if you're wondering." She answered his inner question.

"Ah, I had a feeling I was forgetting someone. Didn't see you on the way up." He spoke softly. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

"Hey come on now, Just trying to cure the boredom, and you delivered!" She smirked, god did he hate her smug attitude. "Would have been really awkward to just sit here in silence." She shrugged.

"I'm glad that these things amuse you, I'll be taking first watch, so head back down to bed with the others." He replied dryly.

"I'm comfortable up here, thanks. Though I have to say, Didn't expect you of all people to be such a bleeding heart." She teased. He felt a vein pop in his forehead.

"What the hell are you saying?" He asked her with furrowed brows.

"Yelling at princess like that, for her own good and all. You're trying to do a good thing, it's all you've been doing this entire day. Which is surprising because most of the time you're just brooding around, people talk you know?" She pointed out.

"What's it matter to you?" Curiosity inclining him to find out more.

"I find it entertaining, you lean into the role of a disciplined and assertive leader pretty well. Floch Foster, the sole cadet that can keep up with that monster Ackermann, you're interesting." She said, there was a mocking tone in the way she spoke about him.

"I'm honored you pay that much attention to me, didn't think I'd be able to pull your nose away from Lenz's ass." He jabbed, she snorted at that.

"You know, if you retire after spending your entire military career stuck in Ackermann's shadow, you'd make a great clown." She retorted with a smirk, "You've got the aptitude for it."

Floch simply pushed air out of his nose in a weak chuckle. "Besides, I'm not that tunnel visioned on Krista, my vision isn't obstructed by that monstrosity you call a hairstyle." She sneered, dangling her feet back and forth as she observed the cadets below having a chat of their own from the comfort of their sleeping bags.

"So what's your reason for joining, it can't be just for the entertainment." Floch leaned into the tree, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye and brought up her knees to her chin.

"For the most part, it is. Not everyone here's passionate about killing titans like you and Yeager." Floch could respect that, He could. "Shockingly, you and I can both agree on one thing for certain. Those that can't pull their weight should be left in the dust." She continued. Floch felt his anger bubble at her words, with barely concealed contempt on his face.

"Don't make me laugh, You and I are nothing alike."

"How so? Do enlighten us less than worthy folks!" She made a grand gesture with her arms, letting her legs drop down as she leaned back on her arms. His features softened and he found himself looking up at the sky somberly.

"I might be 'playing soldier' to you, but I have a duty to uphold for this land and It's people. Don't get me wrong, just because I asked them to take matters more seriously doesn't mean we're suddenly on the same page."

"Oh, brother please! Not another one of you assholes! ahahaha!" She laughed in his face, clutching her sides. It took her some time to recover as Floch eyed her with slight annoyance.

"I'm not sure I follow."

She shot him an amused look. "You're just another Yeager. I mean come on, exterminate this, reclaim that, upholding your duty! hah! Spare me from all that crap! You two have to be the only ones dumb enough to even think about joining the scouts."

"You know there's nothing I hate more than seeing people squander the chances they've been given to fight. What Eren and I have is sacred, our ambitions are simply beyond one's own selfish desires. Tell me this, our world grows smaller wall by wall, when the day comes, what do you have to show for the life you chose to live?" He asked.

"I didn't join to be somebody's lap dog that's for sure. What I have is my freedom to choose what I want to live for, when that time comes I'll deal with my own consequences. Besides, fight or not we're all fucked anyway. Hardly matters." She hissed in objection.

Floch closed his eyes and took a deep breath, opening his weakly as he stared down at the others somberly.

"Down there, they're all nothing but a bunch of naive kids who don't know they're in for a rude awakening. None of them have seen what a titan looks like outside of drawings. They slice a piece of wood in an empty forest and think they have it all figured out, but the world doesn't work like that, you must know that. But even then, don't you think that if they all came together, and gave it their all to fight for a good cause. Wouldn't you think the outcome wouldn't stay the same?" Floch reasoned, Ymir listened to him with pensiveness.

"Heh, you're just the gift that keeps on giving, just stop it." Ymir whistled.

"Laugh it up all you want, but it doesn't change the simple fact."

"And what's that?"

They both stared at each other, the moonlight illuminating his features. Ymir hadn't felt this rigid since turning back from being a mindless titan, frozen by the intense gaze of those amber eyes. For a brief moment Ymir felt compelled by them, he uttered the next words as if they were the absolute truth.

"Humanity within the walls will prevail."


"There was one thing I wished for with all of my heart. If i'm ever given a second chance in life, I want to live for only myself. That is my sincere wish." -Ymir 785 AD, seconds before being condemned to mindlessly roam Paradis for eternity.


It was early in the afternoon the next day when the cadets reached their destination, the journey from the forest and through the mountains was excruciatingly awkward for most of them but not Floch. He didn't care much for what happened last night, he already moved on from it, he couldn't say the same for the rest. Talking was kept to a minimum and they only ever exchanged words with him when he needed to give them orders.

The walk through the mountains proved rather difficult, at times they had to step down from their horses and traverse on foot due to how risky some of the roads were. Floch didn't think it was worth changing paths as long as they could be trusted to maneuver around the cliffs carefully. There were some shady areas and close calls here and there but they managed to pull through. Which now led them to the summit where they met the other unit of their team.

"Yooo!" Nack tierce shouted at them from below, his unit was the second to arrive at the destination.

"Nack! What's up you guys! What took you so long!" Gordon shouted at the approaching cadets of the second unit.

"Please! These mountains are a drag!" Mylius complained loudly.

"This dumbass almost fell down a cliff on the way here." A cadet Floch didn't know commented.

"That's terrible, glad you're okay!" Sandra replied with genuine concern.

"Thanks, so where's the item?" Mylius asked the primary unit, automatically turning to Floch.

Floch gestured at a shack behind them just at the top of some steps. "Over there." He replied.

"Much obliged." Nack thanked.

The units took some time to sit together and relax before they headed back to the camp, they sat by the shack and exchanged stories and supplies. It helped ease the tensions from yesterday's incident, he shared a small talk with Mylius about team management and a few tips about the use of ODM gear. Floch was forthcoming with his answers, helping in needed areas. If his advice could help save a life in the future then he was more than happy to oblige these questions. Most of the cadets found themselves leaning in to listen, intrigued by his level of knowledge.

An hour later, the teams separated and made their respective journeys back to camp. Floch realized too late that they could have just gone back the way they came from instead of switching routes with the other unit, but he didn't mull over the thought too much. Once again they dismounted their horses to carefully navigate the cliffside road. Moving through the narrower parts of the ravine one after the other. Most had protested against having to burden themselves with the heavy ODM gear but Floch knew better than to move around without proper safety.

"Crap!" He heard Hannah hiss from behind, he snapped back to check on her as did everyone else.

"I'm fine. Thought I felt the ground move for a second there." She reassured. She took another step forward, and without warning, parts of the earth from underneath her crumbled under her weight. Hannah found herself plunging into the river alongside her unfortunate horse.

"Hannah!" Franz shouted from the front.

Fortunately, she was able to act quickly and deployed her ODM gear, she hung from the cliffside as everyone worriedly glanced down at her. Floch and Franz helped pull her back up with haste.

"Are you okay?!" Franz asked her frantically, the girl looked shaken but otherwise fine.

"Y-Yeah, that was close." She sighed in relief, she looked down at the running water down below and frowned.

"The Horse-" She groaned.

Floch's ears perked up, picking up on a peculiar sound from above. His eyes followed the line to inspect where Hannah's hook had latched on to, He gaped in horror after noticing the hook had stuck to the underbelly of a portruding cliff which began to visibly crumble like a cookie. Her line detached without warning and Floch found himself pushing the two cadets out of the way as a giant rock came tumbling towards them.

"MOVE!" He yelled shoving the two away, The debris managed to knock Floch off balance as he found himself free falling to the river below, to his horror it managed to make his ODM gear malfunction. Before he could plunge deeper into certain death he felt the arms of a guardian angel wrap around him as he was swung to safety, only to discover that his savior had been Ymir.

"So much for that big talk yesterday, now look at you." She smirked at him.

"LOOK OUT!" Gordon's voice boomed throughout the ravine.

The two cadets looked up to see more debris headed their way. Ymir couldn't do anything with the extra weight slowing her down as the rocks connected with them. A pained cry died in his throat as he did his best to suppress it, his left arm had been directly hit. To their misfortune, her hook line was broken amid the confusion and the two of them fell into the water below.

The rest of the cadets could do nothing but watch on in fright as they disappeared into the water with a splash. A cold dreadful aura washed over them, and Sandra and Gordon's world came crashing down on them. Their childhood friend died before their eyes, and they could do nothing but watch. Sandra's cries echoed the ravine, but it changed nothing.


"I don't care about your reasons or your secrets! No matter what happens, I'm on your side!" - Historia reiss 850 AD, being held by the jaws titan alongside the armored and Collosal while speeding away from Paradis.


Floch's head emerged from the water as he gasped for air, Ymir swam alongside him. The duo made it out of the water and crawled onto land before collapsing on the grass, only Floch looked winded whereas Ymir was perfectly fine. He survived without much harm thanks to her tanking the damage from the plunge, had he not known beforehand about her titan-shifting status it would have surely slipped his mind how calm and unscathed she was.

"Still alive, huh?"

"Sorry to disappoint." He hissed unevenly.

Floch pushed himself up with a wince, he made a conscious effort to not put a strain on his broken arm. His head snapped from left to right in an attempt to make sense of their surroundings. Eventually, his eyes recognized a few landmarks and frowned in response, noticing the absence of most of his ODM gear.

"Shit, river swallowed my equipment. It took us closer to our previous camp, that's bad. The others are at least one hour away, maybe more."

Ymir stood up to her feet, she moved toward a tree and leaned against it. She looked deep in thought for a moment before she opened her eyes and directly stared into him.

"Got anything to alert them to our location?" She asked.

He felt himself slowly freezing from the chill, his entire body shook from the cold. Floch unfastened his ODM belt and used it as a sling to support his broken left arm. Ymir watched him impassively, vigilantly guarding their surrounding area for any threats that loomed in the forest. He searched his pockets but came back empty-handed, sighing at their misfortune.

"I lost my flare gun." He announced much to her discontent.

"Tsk. Wonderful." She scowled, inspecting his wounded arm.

Floch followed her line of sight and closed his eyes in thought, before sending her a knowing look.

"We need to dry up first and foremost. I'll gather some firewood before we freeze our asses to death. We'll burn a bunch stuff to give a smoke signal for the others. You look around for any food source. If you have it in you, get some fish from the nearby river. The sooner we're warm both inside and out, the better." He commanded as he rose to his feet.

Both of them stilled at the sounds of the howling in the distance, Eyes narrowing with apprehension at the imminent threat that circled them.

"And what do we do about that? Oh, great leader!?" She inquired sarcastically.

"We fight."

The bushes rustled from behind them, and both of them turned to face the noise. Ymir's breath hitched, a pack of wolves was beginning to circle them, she slowly backed away until she stood side by side with Floch. She carefully pulled out her ODM sword while handing Floch a hiltless blade which he wrapped a cloth around. There were six of them, and while he knew she would be fine, Floch didn't favor his odds. He felt at a great disadvantage, knowing full well Ymir would rather have him be mauled to death than transform and save them both.

"You've got to be kidding me! Already?!" She breathed incredulously.

Floch steadied himself and mentally prepared to hold off the beasts, he didn't think they'd get to them so soon. They looked ravenous and more aggressive than the ordinary, the only good news was that they weren't as massive as most of the other wolves scattered around the wilderness of the island.

"Those that can't pull their weight should be left in the dust."

His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, last night's conversation surfacing at the front of his mind. Worried eyes glanced off to his right and found the girl face's had darkened with contemplation. He felt his heartbeats quicken, was she considering leaving him behind to be eaten by these beasts? Floch swallowed, sweat beginning to build on his forehead. He didn't trust this girl at all, for all he knew she could push him into certain death to flee out of here.

"Got anything?" She spoke, breaking him out of his trance.

"Does your ODM still work?" He asked, a thought coming to mind.

"If it did, I wouldn't be standing here right now, dumbass." She bitterly answered.

"Is that why I'm not being left for dead." He concluded dryly.

"Shut up. You said fight, right? We're going to now!" She hissed back at him.

"I have a plan." She looked surprised, releasing a short breath of joyous relief. Floch slowly reached for the lighter inside of his jacket and motioned for Ymir to unscrew her gas canisters, the girl smirked after understanding where he was going with this.

The wolves began growling and baring their canines, they were boodthirsty and the two cadets would suffice. The predators neared them, Floch carefully took the canister off of Ymir as he got into a stance. He held the lighter with his broken arm, then motioned for Ymir to start backing away.

"On my mark unscrew your canister and throw it at them-."

Without warning the wolves growled then broke into a sprint at them, taking them both off guard.

"SHIT! DO IT NOW!"

Ymir unscrewed her canister with haste and threw hers first before taking the other of the hands of the struggling Floch, they ran away as he fidgeted with the lit lighter and threw it towards the hissing gas. Moments later a chain reaction occurred as the two gas canisters lit up in proximity. Engulfing the clearing in a blue blazing inferno as they ran, though to their misfortune not all of them were caught in the blast.

Floch found himself pushed to the ground, with one of the wolves biting at him. He barely held it at bay with the back of his sword, it growled and barked as it attempted to chew into his neck. Drool made its way onto his face and jacket as he desperately fought off his attacker. Floch mustered all of his energy and kicked the beast off his body then adjusted himself, it pounced on him once more bearing its teeth, however, this time, he lodged his sword deep into the back of its throat with all of his strength.

It released a pained cry as it fell to the ground kicking and whimpering, he pulled the sword and watched it thrash on the floor. Crimson leaking from the mouth and snout, the wolf released a snoring sound as blood pooled inside its throat. He stabbed it again through the neck rendering it lifeless. He looked around to find Ymir on her knees next to the bodies of two other wolves. The boy limped his way toward his teammate. Her back was facing him, she was covered in blood from head to toe, blood that may or may not have belonged to her. Floch's mind raced as images of scouts laying dead on a field outside Shiganshina flashed through his mind, he snapped away from his trance and focused his attention on the drenched titan-shifter.

"Come on we need to move! More of them could be coming ba-" Floch paused. His eyes expanded with surprise, as he patted her shoulder. He looked down at her forearm, a sizeable chunk of it was missing and steaming. Ymir didn't move from her spot, She looked mortified. Her eyes were wide as saucers, gazing at the healing wound.

"Ymir." He breathed.

"We need to g-"

The other canister exploded in the distance, sending a scorching shockwave throughout the forest which took him off guard.

The following few seconds passed quickly, and as she turned to face him again, he felt fear and worry. She took advantage of the situation and moved quickly, pouncing on him. He desperately tried to protect himself from the assault she subjected him to as they both crumpled to the ground. Her grunts grew louder and more ferocious with each strike as she bloodied his face. Floch yelled in agony as pain surged from his damaged limb from the tightness of her grip. He rolled to the side, shoving her in that direction, buying himself a few precious seconds of breathing room to run before the girl tackled him once more, they rolled down the dirt and fell into the shallow river water below.

Floch struggled immensely at holding her back, slowly succumbing to the pain and fatigue as she overwhelmed him. They rolled in the mud and plunged into the shallow river water below, where he immediately made a mental note of how ideal It's depth was for drowning. Ymir easily overpowered him, hooking her claws around his neck and pressed hard, forcing him into the watery grave.

He struggled fruitlessly, gulping down liquid while fighting for every last breath of air. As he faced the reality of the situation, his long-term objectives and aspirations for the future gradually faded into far-off fantasies. Ymir weighted tons, straddling him, her face twisted with horror at being found out. He flailed his good arm at her face in a pathetic display to hold onto his second chance at life, earning himself a nasty bite on the palm in return, an anguished scream forced itself out from the back of his throat, costing him more precious air.

He'd eventually run out of breath, his vision flecked with white, and his heart thumping loudly in his ears. One final effort was made to save himself. He frantically searched for anything his hands could grasp beneath the surface until he stumbled upon a reasonably shaped rock. Floch wasted no time bashing her head in repeatedly with every last ounce of strength he had left, he emmereged from the water in a pitiful condition, forcing himself to move closer to the stunned Ymir. He gave one final blow and struck her in the skull once more to put her out completely, as she fell limp face first into the water.

The boy weighed a ton, his breathing difficult and uneven. Ymir was alive but unconscious, and he could only do so much to get them both to land. He washed up on the edge of the river, still struggling for breath, running on nothing but fumes and willpower as he pushed on, a fierce blaze raging in his chest. "Pull, drag, pull." He kept repeating to himself, as he crawled with the girl in tow. He released the belts that bound his legs and used them to tightly restrain her before suffering a strong coughing fit and collapsing from exhaustion against a tree.

Floch spat blood over to the side while gasping and sweating, as if he had just completed the world's deadliest marathon. He had to make sure she didn't vanish anywhere for fear that she could turn and eat him. That proved challenging. Ordinary, aching, and beseeching, his body was. What was once a proud soldier had become a humbled vessel of battered flesh, teetering on the edge of consciousness and the dark.

He made one last-ditch effort to remain awake only to succum to the abyss as his body failed him.


The horses raced down the mountains with an air of uncertainty. They wandered like headless chickens, searching every direction under the sun's dying light. Sandra, Gordon, Tom, and Ruth followed along the river. In desperate search of something down below. A sign of life, a call for help, a hint of brown and a glaring white, or simply a fresh corpse.

"This is pointless! We'll never find them like this! Let's head back and wait for help to come!" Tom called out. Gordon's intense glare struck him like boiling oil. He flinched away and felt himself shrink under his gaze.

"They could be anywhere! Nothing guarantees we find them before we run out of supplies! Even if the other two get Mylieus's unit to help us!" Tom continued to argue however.

"You can have mine." Sandra spoke. "Please, Help us find them." She begged. His breath caught in his throat as he looked back at her.

"Dammit." He muttered under his breath. "Alright, but you better not get us into trouble." He grumbled. Sandra gave him a tender smile before turning back to the path ahead.

"Thank you." She told him.

A faint explosion resounded from afar in the dense forest, alerting the group of cadets. They came to a halt as they tried to pinpoint where it came from. Gordon was the first to notice a cloud of smoke beginning to rise into the air.

"Over there! it could be them!" He shouted in a voice dripping with hope, pointing at the horizon.

Tom wanted to speak about how impossible it was for them to have survived that fall, yet he kept that to himself, out of respect for them. It would be an hour and a half later that the cadets reached the source of the explosion, they left the horses behind and cautiously entered the clearing. Ruth's nose scrunched in disgust at the smell of ash and blood. The corpses of wolves littered the smoldering earth.

"What the hell happened here?" Tom wondered out loud. He kept moving forward to investigate, leaving the other three to look around the charred surroundings.

"L- look here, isn't this a piece of a gas canister?" Ruth pointed out. Gordon kneeled to inspect the metal and hummed.

"The explosion took out most of these wolves." He confirmed. Sandra's eyes lit up momentarily.

"That means...They're alive! Nobody else should be around this area!" She spoke overjoyed. Gordon nodded at her with a half-smile.

"The only thing left is to find them." He replied.

"Hey! Come look at this!" Tom called out. Their heads jerked in his direction as they quickly joined him.

"What did you find-" Gordon paused. He followed Tom's line of sight and found the half-eaten carcass of Hannah's horse washed up on the river bank. "That explains the wolves, I guess. " Tom commented.

"Where in the hell are they." Gordon groaned.

"All the supplies that were tied to it are gone." Sandra noted.

Ruth's blood-curdling scream startled the cadets. She fell to the ground with a thud and frantically crawled away until she bumped her back into Gordon. Her hands shook as she pointed. They jerked their heads in that direction. Sandra's blood froze, feeling bile rise at the back of her throat at the sight of what looked to be a severed leg lying in a pool of blood.