The jungle was calm and quiet as the hunters traversed through the soft mounds of humid soil covered in roots and small vegetation. Not a single step sounded misplaced, not a single breath was too loud. It was almost as if the boys knew instinctively how to act during those kinds of situations.
Eren was walking at the front, paving way for the rest with his bayonet. Travelling the dense trees proved to be difficult during the night, but most of the hunters had already been acclimating here for long enough, to know how to navigate through the wild forest. Of course, there were some exceptions…
"Ouch!" Armin cried out as he tripped on a wet root.
"Will you shut up?"
"You're too loud!"
"Why did we even take him?"
The murmurs were starting to get on Eren's nerves, so he motioned for everyone to stop.
"That's enough" he said as he looked over the boys.
"I'm sorry but I barely see anything at night…" The bespectacled blonde whispered in shame.
"Yeah, more like at all…" Marcel chipped in.
"Enough with that" Eren expressed, raising his improvised spear.
The young leader brought another hand to his temple. If they wanted to succeed, they needed a plan.
"Connie" the dark-haired chief spoke into the crowd of frustrated teenagers "the first day, you said that Sasha saw a pig. Where exactly was that?"
The short boy stepped out and walked over to Eren.
"On the other side of the hill" he spoke as he pointed his hand "there are a lot of natural holes and caves over there, so I never ventured that far away…"
It sounded like the kind of place that the pigs could use for rest, during the scorch of the day.
"We'll be going over there" Eren decided as he commanded Connie to guide them.
The trek itself wasn't that long, since the jungle was quite remote. As the terrain got steeper and rockier, the trees started thinning out.
It was at that point, the young chief motioned for everyone to stop.
"There are eight of us" Eren said "we'll divide into two groups. One will be looking for the pigs hiding in the caves, another will be checking the holes for those that did not hide..."
"I'll be taking my brother, Bertholdt and Reiner" Marcel said, before the chief could finish.
The dark-haired boy looked at his informal rival. The other boy was extremely determined to replace him as the leader of the group, so it was obvious that he would do something like this.
Eren considered this for a moment. It was clear that the other team had the strength on their side, so his own was at a disadvantage. But calling out that disproportion would be similar to admitting weakness, so he wouldn't give him that. Instead, he decided to play it with his head.
"Alright" he finally spoke "since you've got the brawns, you'll be checking the caves."
Eren tried to pass it off as if admitting defeat, but in his mind their team was better off, checking the holes.
The caves seemed like a good place to hide, but from his village, he knew that pigs liked to sleep under the sky, especially during the warm seasons. And someone like Marcel, who lived his whole life in a city, couldn't have possibly known that.
"Great!" His rival agreed with a smug smirk "off we go!"
And so, the two teams split up.
"Now, be quiet!" Eren ordered as he walked forward, looking for the sleeping animals "Armin, you'll be securing the rear!"
"Yes, sir!" The bespectacled blonde responded nervously, trying not to be a drag.
In reality it was more to get him out of the picture, and possibly not in between their prey and anyone who can realistically kill it.
Now, they were creeping forward quietly. Only then, in complete silence, they could finally hear sounds unreachable to regular ear.
The soft humming of a night bird, the water dripping from wet leaves, the weird noises of unknown animals coming from the forest…
But one peculiar sound stood out to Eren. One of very steady snoring…
"There…" he whispered as he walked towards a large crack in the terrain.
When his eyes hit the source of the snoring, his heart stopped for a good moment.
There, between the rocks, on the very bottom of the hole, laid a large pig, easily bigger than any of the boys.
Instantly, he pulled his hand up, halting the other hunters' movement. He closed it into a fist, a sign that they talked over earlier, and motioned for Jean and Connie to circle the chasm and cut the escape route for their prey.
As the two boys started making their way towards the other end of the hole, Eren and Armin stepped into the crack.
"Watch out, it's rocky in here…" The young chief whispered as quietly as he could.
The duo was walking closer and closer to the animal. Now, the dark-haired boy could see that it was a big male, sporting two considerable tusks from its snout. Thankfully for them, its breathing was loud enough to cover the soft cracking of the rocks caused by their steps.
As the young chief looked over the hog, he could faintly see the other boys, already at their positions.
Suddenly, a loud noise and ruffling of the stones ripped through the air.
Everyone looked towards the source, just to see that Armin actually tripped.
Instantly, the pig jerked up.
Just as Eren measured, it was pretty big. So big in fact, that if it managed to stand on two legs, it could easily dwarf them.
"Jean! Connie!" Eren yelled, making the two boys raise their spears.
But the hog did not plan on using that particular escape route. Instead, it chose to charge right at them…
To be exact, it charged right at Armin.
"Armin!" Eren yelled as the boy barely managed to stand up.
But instead of using his spear, the bespectacled blonde threw it away and started running away from the beast.
The animal, however, was relentless. It sped up, trying to outpace the clumsy boy.
"It's running after you!" Eren exclaimed, before bolting towards the running pig.
In the entirety of his short life, the boy would often chase the pigs in Shiganshina. The animals were quite fast, in fact, and could easily outrun any human that tried to run away from them.
But one, particular time, Eren managed to catch a running pig.
Sure, it was way smaller, and the boy actually held an advantage over it, that day, but his tactics remained the same ever since.
On the run, Eren picked up a rock from the ground.
Quickly measuring the distance, he threw it at the pig, right when Armin tripped once again.
Thankfully, the rock hit the hog square in the face.
Its snout cringed from the pain as the beast stopped in its tracks.
When the animal turned towards Eren, barely any thought registered in the boy's head. The only thing his instincts were telling him was to run…
But sometimes, there are things you cannot run away from. This is because sometimes, living your life isn't about survival…
He stepped back, plunged the blunt end of his spear into the ground and pointed the other at the charging pig…
Time stopped as Eren was hit with the full force of the raging hog. The young chief was sent flying a few feet away…
His fall wasn't dangerous, although he felt that he was severely beaten from the impact. The rocks themselves were hard, but none of them were exactly pointy, so as the dark-haired boy looked over himself, he noticed only a few bruises.
"Eren!" He heard from somewhere.
As the boy looked up, he could finally see who was yelling.
His friend, Armin, was running towards him.
"Eren!" The bespectacled blonde exclaimed as he embraced the stunned boy.
"Historia…?" The boy in question murmured, trying to form a coherent thought.
"Huh…?" Armin exclaimed, trying to make sense of the situation "…oh, right. We are on a hunt…"
"A hunt…?" Eren asked, remaining in his state of stupor.
"Yes…" the blonde spoke, before leaning away to look him in the eye "…you've just caught us some dinner…"
This sentence finally broke him out of his stun, and the boy slowly looked at the downed beast.
He did it. The pig was dead. Impaled on his spear.
And he was the one to kill it…