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Chapter 4: The Coward

In a small clearing near the edge of a road, many people can be seen spread around a burnt-out fire, a majority sleeping in carriages or on the ground with others by their sides. The sky above is still dark when a boy rises from his slumber, a book falling from his chest as he gets up and blearily looks around, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Yaaaaawn," covering his mouth, the boy stretches his stiff body out. Quietly getting up he puts the book that had fallen in the bag he was using as a pillow and shuffles himself into the cover of the forest. Casually walking through the shrubbery, he listens to the sounds of birds chirping their early morning songs, confidently going in a straight path towards something. As he walks further away from the camp, the soft sound of trickling water can be heard, gaining in volume as the boy walks closer.

Passing by a pair of trees a small stream can be seen, dividing the forest into two. Getting close the boy crouches down on his knees before scooping some water out and splashing his face. He pauses, relishing the refreshing cold water waking him up. Getting back in the moment he starts washing his arms and head with the water, clearing the dirt and grime covering them before digging into his backpack and bringing a sheathed knife out.

Pulling the old blade into dawn's light he lowers it down into the water, using a gloved hand to wipe the surface grime away. He spends a few minutes trying to bring the knife back to working condition before lifting it back out. Rust spots can still be seen splattered over the knife but fortunately for Eirlet none look to be compromising the blade much. Looking closer at the blade's edge he can see it's still sharp, sparing him from the labour of roughly sharpening it.

Wiping the moisture with a cloth Eirlet sheathes the blade once more before using some twine from his pack and tying the sheathe to his lower back horizontally, easy to pull out and concealing it from curious eyes.

Nodding to himself, he looks back to where he came, hearing faint noises in the distance letting him know that the rest of the caravan is awake and moving. Refilling his canteen he starts trekking back to the campsite while munching on an apple. Throwing the core behind him he looks around at the people, despite many of them not getting much sleep everyone's fully active as they pack away their supplies and eat their breakfast with haste, wanting to get to Karanes as quickly as possible.

Leaning against a tree he patiently waits for the caravan to start moving, "Everyone! We will be travelling the same way as yesterday so could you please organize yourselves in an orderly fashion!" A blonde soldier yells out to the crowd. Eirlet guesses that he's the squad's Captain as everyone seems to be following his orders.

"Excuse me!" A middle-aged woman calls out to the Captain, "How long will it take us to reach Karanes?" She asks with some concern plastered on her face.

The Captain takes a moment to mull over the question, "By my estimation, with how we pushed the horses yesterday and if we keep up the pace today we will be a few kilometres from Wall Rose by sunset. Resting for the night and reaching Karanes by noon tomorrow." With his assurance, many people slump over, visibly losing the tension they had over getting to safety.

'Hmmm. Noon will give me enough time to find a nice place to settle for a bit, probably won't be permanent with everyone from Verask heading there so I'll have to head into the forest or something for a bit.' Not much later everyone finishes packing their supplies and trudge forward with Eirlet again near the front. Once again spending the next few hours travelling down the dirt road towards Karanes, more people start to loosen up as they encounter no problems and are well ahead of schedule. A squad of soldiers riding on horseback briefly stays with the group to ascertain their status before heading south, presumably to block any titans from approaching.

As the day dragged on, many people that were walking started to get visibly tired, sweat covering their bodies under the cloudy spring sun, but to not slow down, the Captain asked those in carriages and carts to switch between walking, the threat of titans not letting anyone complain. Though not visibly tired with only a sheen of sweat on his forehead Eirlet takes advantage of being a child and hitches a ride as well.

Getting inside a small carriage he takes a cursory look around and notices another family inside as well, two children absorbed in their own little world with their toys while their parents, with bags underneath their eyes, keep talking. Wanting to get some more rest he sits on the bench attached to the wall, setting his backpack down and closing his eyes. He spends a few moments lightly napping before he feels someone tapping his knee.

"Hey! Hey! You awake?" A young voice questions him.

Opening his eyes he's greeted with two pairs of gleaming brown eyes set on the faces of a boy and girl around his age kneeling in front of him.

'Why are they talking to me? I didn't say anything and I'm pretty sure I've never met them.' He raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"You wanna play with us?" "You look bored and we have a lot of toys!" Both ask him excitedly at the same time. Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, he shakes his head in denial.

""Awwww,"" they both whine, amusing Eirlet with their synchronization. Thinking the interaction is over he starts to shut his eyes before hearing the two talk again.

"Well my name 's Roy!"

"My name 's Elly!"

Confused with the situation he looks at the two who stare back at him in anticipation.

"Well? What's your name?" Elly prods.

Once again uncomfortable with their questioning he nervously darts his eyes around, seeing both their parents napping in their seats. Raising a hand he holds his fingers together while moving his thumb up and down, imitating a mouth. Both children blink rapidly at the hand gesture before he raises his other hand and crosses both index fingers to create an X.

"Charades?" Roy cocks his head to the side, "Why are yooooohhh! You can't talk?" Eyes flashing, Roy figures out what the older boy was trying to convey, confirmed when Eirlet nods his head, "Why can't you talk?" he asks with a slight frown.

Clenching his jaw at the question, Eirlet remembers he's talking to children so he doesn't outwardly show any reaction to it. Elly catches on fairly quickly when he remains silent, pushing hard against her brother's shoulder.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?!" he scowls at his sister.

"You shouldn't have asked him about that idiot!" She returns the scowl with equal intensity.

Forgetting about Eirlet, the two start to banter and insult each other, Eirlet looking on with a slight smile as he remembers the banter between him and his own sibling. As he reminisced, the two finished their argument with Elly presumably winning, her face held high with a dimpled grin while Roy faces away from her and grumbles under his breath.

Remembering who they're talking to, Elly's eyes light up as she claps her hands, "Oh wait! I know just the thing we can use!" With a bright face, she crawls back to where her family's bags are. Eirlet and Roy look on in curiosity as she digs through a bag, grabbing something before crawling back, "Tadah!" She presents a brown journal, "You know how to write right?" She questions Eirlet who nods in return, his smile growing as he understands her idea.

Opening the journal Eirlet can see that some pages are filled with scratchy handwriting and some with drawings before she opens to a blank page. Handing the journal and a pencil over to Eirlet who graciously takes them before setting it on his lap, the two siblings getting up and sitting on either side of him. They curiously watch as he scratches his name down in neat handwriting.

"Earlet?" Roy squints as he tries to pronounce his name.

Chuckling at the pronunciation he writes, 'It's said like Air-let'.

"Eirlet?" he smiles and nods at that, "Eirlet! That's a weird name."

'I know right?'

With a way to communicate the three continue to talk, trying to figure out more about their new friend. When the sun starts to approach the horizon and light the sky with its golden rays the siblings can be seen arguing with each other again, Eirlet in the middle of them looking on at the new argument the two somehow created, the journal open to a page full of writing. Eirlet grins as he sees that Roy once again is losing against his more witty sister, her going full blast on him.

"Well well, it seems you three have been having fun," a female voice speaks out from the front.

The two perk up as they turn their heads and greet the woman, "Hi Mom!" "Hey Mom!"

Turning around himself Eirlet sees the black-haired woman he saw when he first entered the carriage smiling at them and rubbing her eyes as she sits beside a black-haired man who also rises from his slumber, "Who's your new friend?"

The two brighten up as they get the chance to talk about their new friend, "His name 's Eirlet!" "It's really weird!" "But he's fun!" "And he can't talk!" "But he's fine!", the two keep blabbering about him, somehow synchronizing their sentences. Eirlet fails to keep up with what they are saying but their mother nods along, somehow understanding the trainwreck of a conversation.

"Well, we'll be stopping soon enough so why don't you give him some time to get ready, you two come over here and help out as well."

""Awwww,"" the two once again whine, "But Mom we were having fun!" Roy responds in anguish.

"Don't worry we're just packing up, and if you want to keep playing you can ask the boy if he wants to later," The Dad speaks up as he stretches, a man who looks like he's getting on with his age, his belly starting to stick out past his belt.

The two whip their heads around to Eirlet at that deal, "You wanna play with us later?" Elly asks with a broad smile. Never having many friends he hesitates for a second, glancing at their parents, both smiling as the Dad gives him a thumbs up. Feeling weird from such a different attitude from a stranger he nevertheless nods slightly, stretching both of their smiles to their ears from the response.

Eirlet closes the journal and tries to hand it back to Elly who pushes it back to his chest, "Keep it for now, you'll be using it anyway later." Turning around she heads back to where the rest of her family are getting ready. Looking down at the book, he lightly runs his thumb over the cover before opening the bag at his feet and depositing it near the top.

Standing up he stretches his arms over his head, exhaling from the relief of moving his body before strapping his bag to his back. Feeling the carriage turn and slow down he looks through the back and can see the people and carriages behind them turning to the side as well for the night. Walking to the edge of the carriage and jumping down before it stops he takes a look around at his surroundings. Compared to the previous night, the area they're resting in is an open field with trees speckled across the landscape that leads into another forest, a common sight as you get closer to a district. Down the road, he can see the setting sun glaring down at anything in its path.

As Eirlet was about to turn around and help out Elly and Roy's family to set up for the night he freezes mid-turn.

Numbing his other senses, he focuses on his feet and feels vibrations travelling through them, too small for regular people to notice. Slowly turning his head down the road they were heading a flock of birds fly into the sky, disappearing into the clouds. As the vibrations start getting larger, the horses start shifting around and nervously pull on their reins, their owners trying to calm them down. Squinting his eyes, he tries to see past the sun's glare blocking his vision, and as he does his eyes slowly widen in shock as he sees faint silhouettes appearing in his vision, large silhouettes.

No one notices the boy's jaw drop in shock as they all try and figure out what's wrong with their steeds.

"What happened? Anyone know what's spooking the horses?" The Captain speaks out, holding his own nervous -albeit trained- horse in place.

The area gets louder and even more chaotic as the horses start struggling from their restraints with a vengeance, a shrieking whistle breaks the chatter. All eyes draw upon a young boy with brown hair and clothes too big for him, his eyes wide as he points his hand down the road. Following his gaze, everyone follows the boy's lead and their jaws drop, looking on with dawning horror as they see four figures racing down the road, four figures much, much, larger than a human.

"Titans." A man whispers with trembling legs, his words set off a chain reaction of renewed chaos.

"We gotta run!"

"We're gonna be eaten! We're gonna be eaten!"

"I don't wanna die!"

As they start rushing around like headless chickens, the Captain of the squad takes a nervous gulp. Tearing his eyes away from humanity's plague, he looks back at his three-man squad, his youngest member stays rooted to his spot before he runs to a tree and starts puking his guts out.

"Oh Walls, please protect your holy patrons and send us your creator's holy grace. Oh Walls…" Looking down he can see the only woman on his squad kneeling, a religious necklace with the Wall's symbols etched onto it clutched in her hands as she prays, tears welling in her eyes.

Finally, the last man in his squad, a friend he made when he first moved to Verask, his best friend and second in command, the large and bulky man gazes blankly at their oncoming adversaries.

Slowly turning his head back towards the despairing crowd he clenches the handle of his blade, of the ODM gear, humanity's titan killing weapon. With white knuckles from his grip he pulls the blade out of his scabbard -Shing- the ringing sound cutting through the noise, drawing the attention of those closest to him.

"Everyone!" This one word draws the gaze of the people, "I know what you see! You see the plague of humanity, the killers of humanity running towards us! Wanting to eat us!" The titans, although far away, are gradually getting bigger and clearer, now the Captain has everyone's attention, "They want to kill us! Kill your family! But that's not going to happen!" He shouts with vigour, "We! Are! Humans! We survived in the Walls for a century and we will survive for another!" Face determined he raises his blade, everyone looking on with sparks of hope in their eyes, his squad slowly getting to grips with themselves, "We will kill these titans! We, soldiers of humanity, will destroy these titans and take you to safety! So don't cry! Don't despair!" He takes his other blade out, "Squad with me! Let's end these abominations!"

With his final cry, he clicks a trigger and immediately a pair of grapples shoots out from his waist and pulls him along, gas shooting from his lower back as three other pairs of grapples follow him. Cheers ring out from behind as they advance towards the titans, using the trees lining the road as latch points.

The Captain doesn't look back, staring dead straight at the incoming titans only a few hundred meters away and closing fast. Hearing a squadmate to his left he glances and sees his best friend with a similar expression, looking back at his other two charges he can tell they are unnerved but similarly determined to do their jobs.

Releasing his grapple early he slows his momentum and lands in a tree to the right of the road, although not as big as some trees, it can support his weight and keep him hidden from sight. His squad follows his lead and land around him, waiting for orders, "Alright there are four titans and four of us, the only trees are beside the road and that's too limiting, so the best way to take them down is in an ambush and for us to take one titan each," He peers through the branches and judges the distance between them, "They'll be on us within two minutes, Carlos." The young man perks up, "Get an eyeglass on them and tell us their sizes."

Nodding in confirmation, he fumbles around in a small pack attached to his leg, bringing out a small telescope and looks down the road, "It looks like there's a 15-meter and a 7-meter normal titan. The other two," he hesitates as he takes in what he sees, "the other two are abnormals, one's a 10 meter that's running with its hands flailing behind it and its torso leaning forwards. The last is a 5-meter that's running like a monkey on all fours, and… all of them have blood on them, a lot of blood." He gulps as he stares at the disturbing image of bloody naked humanoids running so oddly.

The Captain frowns as he hears the report, "The forward squad couldn't hold them back. Huh."

He contemplates for a moment before he swiftly barks out orders, "Penelope, you go a couple trees behind us on this side, Carlos you're across from her, Tors," the friends look at each other, "you're across from across from me." The others nod as he gives out their positions, "They keep changing positions but there's only enough room for two of them to be side by side. The front is the most dangerous position because the titans in the back can see and grab you if they're not taken care of, since the two of us are the best, we'll take care of it and be the signal, you two just need to worry about taking care of your own titans. Understood?" They all nod in confirmation, "Good now go!" With the plan set, everyone launches off from the tree, hiding within their own beside the road, waiting for their prey.

As the titans get closer, the tension starts to rack up, the Captain's hands shake as he grips his blades and his mouth quivers as the vibrations from their running shake leaves off the trees. They get themselves ready as the titans get close enough that they can pick their targets. The younger members sigh in relief as they see that they only have to deal with the normal titans, the abnormals trailing behind with their awkward stances.

Adrenaline pumps through their veins, the Captain readies himself to swiftly launch out of his tree to dispatch the smallest titan as the front two titans pass by, taking no notice of them. As soon as the titans line up, wires spring out of the trees and attach to the other side of the road, humans and gas trails soon following.

Tors and the Captain launch themselves towards their targets at high speed, being level with the 10 meter Tors reaches his first and expertly slices its nape off. The Captain, being at a higher level than the 5-meter, has to go slower and swing down to its level, his gleaming blades nearing the titan. The Captain grins as he's meters away from getting his first titan kill, but fate has a different plan. As soon as Tors kills his titan the smaller titan springs into action, jumping towards its falling brethren, it grabs its shoulder with both hands, latching itself onto it before leaping backwards. Towards Tors retreating figure.

The Captain's eyes widen as he misses his titan and sees where it's going, 'How is it so quick?! We should have been going too fast for it to react!'

Elated at his quick kill, Tors doesn't notice the commotion of the titan coming after him, "TORS!" He screams in desperation. Alarmed by the scream Tors quickly sobers himself from the high as he glances backwards.

'Eh? Why do I see a tongue?' Are his last thoughts.

The Captain pales as he attaches himself to a tree, looking on as the athletic titan bisects his friend in half, his ODM still attached to his waist and legs launching itself into a tree with a disgusting -SMACK- sound.

His face turns a shade of green as he looks at what's left of his friend, legs still attached to the tree and pouring blood down like a river. Looking up his arms quake as he sees the monkey titan chewing with its mouth open, openly grinding his friend to blood and gore. Looking in its mouth, time slows as he sees Tors head flying inside it, eyes blank with confusion plastered on his face. The titan glances down at him and he swears that it had a glint in its eye as it closes its jaw once more, popping Tors head in a splatter of meat and blood.

Drip Drip Drip

Blood flows down its mouth as it -Gulp- audibly swallows his friend's remains. The Captain reaches up to his cheek, wiping something that splashed on him and blankly looks down at his crimson-covered fingers.

"AHHHH! HELP ME!" A high-pitched scream pierces his ears. Snapping his head up he's once again horrified as he sees Penelope being lowered by her wires into the 15-meter titan's open mouth.

"Hold on Penelope! I'm coming!" Carlos yells as he wraps around a tree, glancing down the Captain sees the 7-meter titan falling over, but instead of the nape, Carlos slashed too high, letting the steaming titan live.

Carlos shoots his wire and latches onto the collarbone of the titan, his focus only being killing the titan holding his friend. The titan, although having a late reaction, turned its head just in time for Carlos to swing his blades, instead of the nape he slices a side of its jaw in consolation, dropping it open.

Carlos passes the titan, clicking to release his hooks before intending to loop around for another pass, but with zero combat experience, he doesn't notice his grapple's tilt during the titan's turn, getting stuck underneath its collarbone. His face twists in confusion as his hooks haven't come back and just as he's about to pass by the tree, his confusion grows as his body quickly spins him around before all he sees is the sky, 'Why's the sky in front of me?'

Staring as Carlos slices the titan, all the Captain sees afterwards is his youngest squadmate's body quickly spinning around and a sickening -CRACK- sound as he folds over the wrong way. His hands touch the heels of his feet as he stares at the sky, his wire still stuck in the titan loops his body around from his momentum, wires wrapping around the titan's neck.

"Oh my GAAAAH!" Penelope cries out in horror before she's suddenly falling, straight into the throat of the titan that swallows her whole, abruptly ending her screams.

Everything took place within a few moments, the Captain stays frozen in his spot as he sees his final squadmate get swallowed alive.

SMACK

Carlos's body stops looping around, sticking his corpse to the chest of the titan like a necklace. Carlos's bulging eyes meet his, sparking something within as the two standing titans turn to look at him.

He stares back at the titans as everything sets in, veins pop on his forehead and he yells in anguish and rage at the loss of his friends, "AHHHHHHH!" He raises his blades and launches his grapples… back to where the titans came from. Pushing gas out from his back he flies away from the carnage and titans, heading down the road to Karanes, leaving the caravan he was guarding to their fates.

'What the hell am I supposed to do myself!? My whole squad got wiped out by them! At least this way I can survive and fight another day and some of you will probably be able to run… though not without any losses.' Tears drop in his wake as he travels farther away from the massacre.

The 15-meter titan stops midstep, its brain trying to catch up with the situation before it dismisses the dot flying away. Turning back towards where it sees in the distance a large black mass where a heavenly smell stems from, invigorating it and jogging once again with its smaller brethren towards it. On the other hand, the remaining abnormal titan initially dismisses the speck of food, wanting to get to the bigger nice smelling food, but the food flying away brings its attention back to it.

The Captain glances back hearing a loud noise and his eyes bulge as he takes in the source of it, the abnormal titan which ate his friend, leaping between trees like a monkey and slowly gaining on him. Seeing the titan with its mouth wide open, blood and meat staining its mouth and teeth, he pushes himself faster, using more gas to get away from the persistent titan.

"Get away! Get away! GET AWAY!" He screams out with a trembling voice, the face of his friend's head popping flashes through his mind, making his screams get even louder as he continues to fly away with the titan down the road.

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Six Minutes Earlier:

'Should I leave right now? If they can't kill those titans then we'll just be sitting ducks here.' Eirlet thinks to himself as he stares after the soldiers, the sound of their gear fading away. Gripping his pack's straps he looks around, everyone staring at the coming scene with hope, 'I gotta say, the man sure knows how to speak, although having an easier time letting them latch onto him like a lifeline.'

Looking into the carriage he just came out of, he can see his two… friends, with their parents. The younger ones look on in excitement as the soldiers hide in the trees, but glancing at their parent's faces he can see they don't share sentiment as the others.

'No. I can't leave. I don't know if they can take care of the titans but if they do and I'm gone that'll just be more dangerous for me. Even if they fail I can still run and hide in one of the forests around here, Karanes is close enough that I can probably make it if we have to split up, though… it'll be a bitch and a half to do.' Determining his plan of action he sticks to his spot, noticing the soldiers start to engage the titans.

From this distance they see two of the titans fall, steam erupting from them resulting in cheers from the crowd, one that soon dies.

Gasps erupt from the crowd as they see two soldiers get caught, one by their wire, the other in a titans mouth. Eirlet's wide eyes stay transfixed to the disgusting scene, with above-average vision he can vividly see the soldier get eaten. He inhales sharply, used to deaths but not ones as gruesome as this.

From this distance they can hear the pleading screams of the soldier as she sees her comrade die, her voice hollowing out as she's dropped into its open mouth. Many people take a step back as they see the squad get decimated, the Captain's retreat and screams of terror breaking their final hope.

As the remaining two titans get up and start heading their way it breaks the dam, people start scattering away, pulling on their family as they run over supplies and trample over people who fall, not wanting to get eaten first. Carriages and carts start pulling away, some able to jump on while others yell for them to wait, the drivers dismissing them as they push their horses to their max.

Eirlet tries to move towards the carriages as well, but he gets pushed to the ground by bigger men and women who don't pay any attention to him, intent on escaping.

"Oof!" Grunting as he hits the ground, he quickly pushes himself back up, launching himself in a run as the carriage starts to accelerate away off-road.

""Eirlet!"" Elly and Roy's scream rings out to him, the two leaning their heads out the back as they look at him with fear in their eyes. Their mother pulls them back as their father leans himself out.

"Run boy! Run!" He shouts to him, stretching an arm out for him to grab. But a horse is much faster than Eirlet and the carriage starts to pick up speed, making him lag behind, that's when he feels a massive vibration. Taking a risk and looking over his shoulder he sees the largest titan, stomping on the ground and picking groups of people off the ground, their screams ringing out as their dropped into its waiting bloody mouth, blood and gore flying out of its mouth.

Instead of going after the slower people, the smaller titan is running in his direction, where the carriages are galloping away. The titan starts to pick up speed, kicking or stomping on whoever gets in its way. It takes one more leap and plants both feet to the ground before somehow launching itself, flying high in the air as it gains on the carriages.

Eirlet follows it with his eyes, its naked body in all its glory flying over himself, arms outstretched and mouth open, flying itself right towards the carriage he was running for.

The family of four hug each other inside the carriage in fear, his eyes meeting Elly's tear-stricken ones. Her brown eyes are the last he sees of her as the titan lands on the carriage, crushing the wood and everything in it to pieces. Eirlet plants his feet and grinds himself to a stop, jaw clenched and cords rigid in his neck he looks on in held back anger and anguish as the titan raises itself with the driver held between its teeth, desperately beating his hands against the teeth capturing him.

"No! No! Help m-!"

CRUNCH

The titan bites down, ending his cries as it swallows everything below the man's chest, the rest falling and smacking into the ground in a bloody mess. It starts running again, stomping on the pieces of the carriage and bloody remains of the horse as it chases after the remaining carriages and carts in the distance.

Dropping his gaze from the back of the titan he looks at the remains of what was there, where his first friends in three years lay. Their blood seeps through the wood, barely visible limbs mangled in the destruction. Although he shouldn't, although he didn't know them for long he keeps his gaze on the pile. He clenches his hand, knuckles turning white before he tears his gaze away, stamping down on his emotions to deal with later.

Taking in the scene he can see that there aren't many people left, while the few carriages that were manned were able to run they still have the small titan to worry about and with how it's taken care of two more they probably won't last long. The titans were close enough that they were able to reach them in less than 20 seconds, not enough time for people to run, leaving less than two dozen alive, many on the ground moaning in pain from their broken limbs. The people on foot are getting chased by the larger titan, able to nab groups of people in the beginning and swallow them there or…stomp on them. Looking around he can see the titan a few dozen meters away, chasing one of the last groups that are trying to scatter and run away.

Looking back where the Captain did his speech Eirlet can see that two of the horses they used are dead, mashed to the ground when they were stomped on. Of the two left one's galloping away in the distance, somehow getting free from its bindings. The last horse neighs wildly, eyes wide and huffing as it tries to pull away from the destruction and death around it, but unlike his kin, he can't release himself.

Seeing the horse Eirlet immediately starts sprinting towards it, keeping an eye on the remaining titan. Slowing himself down as he gets close enough for the horse to stare at him with wide eyes as he chuffs nervously. Slowly walking closer towards his side, staying aware of not getting behind the horse's legs, he places his hands on the horse, reassuringly patting and rubbing its back. Feeling his touch the horse stops pulling, moving his hands further up he rubs its neck and pats its face, calming the horse down.

'Alright buddy calm down now.' Eirlet, keeping a hand on his reins, unties the rope connected to the horse and drops it, the horse immediately tries to move but Eirlet keeps a tight hold of it. Reigning the horse to a stop, he quickly adjusts the stirrups for his feet and leaps onto the saddle. Glancing to his right he sees that there isn't anyone left running, none making it to the forest and the injured slowly being dropped into the large titan's waiting mouth.

'C'mon, you wanna leave, take me with you.' Bringing his gaze back he flicks the reins, the horse reacts and starts galloping faster than normal to get away from the massive titan. Steering the horse, he crosses the road to the other side, wanting to get to the forest a few hundred meters ahead and away from the titan. As the tree line gets closer Eirlet hears large booms behind him, slowly getting louder as he travels.

Knowing he'll regret it, Eirlet risks a glance back, 'Son of a bitch!' He scowls as he curses the running titan and its mother; flicking the reins once more, pushing the horse even further beyond. As the terrain starts to get rougher a huge shadow passes over him and as soon as Eirlet sees it he yanks the reins to the right, dodging the massive projectile that smashes into where they were a few seconds ago.

'Little shit gave me a heart attack!' He shakes a little as he tries to get his heartbeat under control.

As the titan lifts itself, Eirlet feels the horse slow down due to the rough terrain near the treeline. Pulling on the reins to a stop he leaps off. Collecting his bearings he pats the panting horse on the neck, 'Thanks for the lift bud, now it's time for us to split.' He thanks as he runs past and slaps the horse's behind, sending it galloping away as he enters the dark forest in a run.

Once he's a few meters inside and he's sure the titan can't see him he slows down, his footsteps and breathing becoming silent as he starts veering left where the last bits of light filter through the leaves.

As he jogs he hears loud snaps and cracks, stopping himself behind a tree he peers back from where the sound came from, similar sounds following in its wake, 'Fucker's searching for me.' Reaching down he grabs a handful of leaves and dirt and starts smearing it on himself, masking his scent before heading deeper into the forest.

As the crickets start chirping to the night sky and Eirlet can see no more than a meter in front of him, he no longer hears the sound of the bejewelled titan following him. Slowing to a stop Eirlet sits down and leans against a tree, breathing heavily from the high exertion. Bringing his pack around he takes sips from his canteen and after debating he decides to eat the rest of his food.

'Well if I don't make it to Karanes by tomorrow I'll probably die.' He glumly thinks to himself. Finishing his break he brings out the journal Elly gave him, his heavy gaze resting on it as he takes in his friend's deaths, absently rubbing his necklace.

'...I guess… another added to the list.' He sighs heavily as he slips the journal beside the old diary, although depressed he's getting used to people he knows falling like fleas, something that worries him.

"Awooooooo," a long howl rings out in the night's silence, an increasing number responding to its call makes his eyes widen slightly, knowing how aggressive wolves will be to someone as small and weak looking as he is.

Lowering his presence once again he quietly brings out his new compass, checking his bearings he stays in a crouch and brings out his knife, tightly holding it in his right hand. Once again on the move, he pays extra attention to his surroundings, diverging from where he hears howls coming from and occasionally checking to see if he's still going in the right direction.

In the caravan they had to travel at a slow pace to stay together, now by himself, Eirlet travels much further than before but with a large cost to his stamina and wellbeing. Spending the next few hours in silence he travels a considerable distance, occasionally broken up by the rustling of the trees in the night's chilly wind.

As Eirlet flits silently through the forest like a ghost his mind starts to wander, 'Titan's man. Even the people that should have been able to fight them got destroyed. And I was thinking about putting up a fight!' He scoffs, 'Yeah, no. I probably can't do shit unless I get the gear the military uses. Hmmm… Food for thought.' Whilst he contemplates his chances against titans his nose picks up an odd scent, making him stop and sniff the air a few times.

'Oh? That smells… metallic? Blood? I don't hear anything nearby and there isn't supposed to be anything big around here, so that's a lot of blood for something like a rabbit.' His boredom and curiosity getting to him he takes a small detour upwind, towards the source of the smell. Getting closer to the smell he grows confused, still not hearing any sounds telling any predators around hunting.

Stopping some distance away from where he thinks the smell is coming from he stays where he is, alert from the odd circumstance. Scanning as much as he can from the low light -which is only a few meters- he takes in everything, looking from the treetops to the ground, finding nothing until he notices an odd shape on the ground. Focusing his gaze, understanding dawns on him as he realizes he's looking at a boot, a rather bloody one from what he can tell from the puddle around it.

'Oh helllll naw!' He scowls, 'I know where this shit goes and I ain't having none of that!' Quickly scanning his surroundings again he jogs back to where he came, looking over his shoulder as the boot disappears into the darkness.

Once he's out of earshot a sickening crunch rings out and an arm holding a sword falls from above, landing beside the boot in a wet splatter of blood.

Splunk

As a waterfall of blood from above dyes the area crimson, the wolves stay silent.

Eirlet, feeling a tingle on the back of his neck, speeds up, moving further away from the boot and darting glances over his shoulder, 'Fuck that. Fuck that. Fuck that.' He repeats in his head as he gets nervous, of what, he doesn't know and doesn't want to find out.

His boredom squashed and now fully alert he stays on route, albeit starting to slow due to fatigue catching up to him, running and staying in stealth for the whole night quickly draining his impressive stamina. Stopping at a tree as streaks of golden light start filling the night sky, Eirlet long ago had taken off his jacket and stuffed it in his pack, exposing his sweat-filled shirt.

Huffing and puffing, his legs tremble before his knees buckle and drops him on his butt. Pushing his sticky back against the tree, he stares at the glowing sky as he pants from the night's exertion. Grabbing his canteen he pops the lid and chugs as much water as he can, draining it to a quarter before he lowers it from his mouth, exhaling heavily in relief as the refreshing water cools his body down.

Body limp he spends the next few minutes sitting and trying to regulate his breath, closing his eyes for some rest, 'This has probably been the longest I've been running for… I hate it… At least I broke my personal best?' He muses in his head, 'Nah, still hate it.'

Although he's resting his eyes, his ears are wide open, keeping an ear on his surroundings in case any predator heading home for the night notices him.

As birds chirp their morning songs and small critters start their day Eirlet's ear picks up an out-of-place noise coming from somewhere. Eyes snapping open he turns his head to the side, eyes staring through the trees like a hawk as he tries to find the source of the noise. Slowly pushing himself up he keeps himself low as he flings his pack back on and moves behind the tree he was leaning against. Staying still, he keeps his eyes focused as he tries to pick up any more sounds to figure out what's out there, 'Are those… voices?' He questions himself. He starts shuffling from tree to tree as gets closer to the voices, keeping a keen eye around him so he doesn't get surprised.

As he gets closer he can start to hear various people yelling and a lot of movement, 'Is this a group from a village? Whoever they are, it'll be faster if I can move with them, they might have an escort as well and even if they're like the last ones then at least it'll buy me some time as I get away. This time much faster.' Deciding his plan he gets closer to the voices, staying inside the elongating shadows of the trees as the sun starts to rise in front of him.

Sticking to a tree he leans his head past the trunk, peering through the trees that gradually open up to a clearing a dozen meters away. From his point of view, Eirlet can see about two dozen men ahead, 'This… isn't a group of villagers,' he perceives, noticing that a lot of them are well built with some having scars or tattoos along visible portions of their arms or face, 'And what the hell are they moving?' He questions as some of the men load carts and carriages with crates.

'Yeah, I don't think these guys are gonna want to help me.' With how they look and act Eirlet can tell their part of some group or gang and they're transporting something they don't want other people to find out about. With that he prepares to avoid them and move by himself, although dangerous it's much less than trying to get them to help him, best-case scenario they kill him.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A deep voice speaks out a few meters behind him.

'Fuck.'