Resistance

Chapter 17

I stood there staring at this alpha as though I could pick all the information I needed straight out of her head. She was claiming to be one of the friends Eren so desperately wanted to find, but could she be lying in hopes that I would let my guard down? For all I knew the humans she worked for could have learned the identities of the people Eren had been pursuing for the past several years. If that were the case, then this could be a ploy to lure my alpha into a trap and that wasn't something I was willing to risk. It didn't matter who she said she was, the fact that she was with the enemy kept me wary.

While I thought over what to do, both Jean and Farlan gathered around us, inching closer to Mikasa with their guns drawn. She didn't seem concerned by their approach. Her eyes were scanning the area around us. It wasn't until Jean cocked his rifle that she paid him any attention at all.

Her dark eyes flicked in his direction, but she held her ground. "You're nothing to Eren, so I won't have a problem snapping your neck."

"Go ahead and try," Jean said, aiming the muzzle at her head. "You'll be dead before you can even move."

The part of me that was dominated by instincts wanted Jean to pull the trigger and kill the enemy on the spot, but the rational part knew that if this truly was Eren's adopted sister, then killing her was the last thing I wanted to do. I had to take Eren's feelings into account. He'd been looking for this person for quite a long time. I couldn't just allow Jean to shoot her down. We would keep her alive until Eren returned. He could decide her fate from there.

"Don't shoot her," I said. "She could be Eren's sister."

Jean's eyes bulged. "Are you kidding me right now? How in the hell is she his sister if she's running errands for the humans? She deserves to die for treachery."

"I'm not doing this for pleasure," Mikasa said in a calm tone.

"It sure seems that way to me."

She looked away from him. "You don't know anything."

"Just keep your gun on her," I said, "but don't shoot unless she tries anything."

I would have to trust Farlan and Jean to keep Mikasa in check if she decided to cause problems for us, because my vision was becoming too clouded to focus on her. I had to fight the urge to rub at my eyes until the stinging subsided, even when I knew that touching the contaminated areas would only serve to make things worse. What I wanted was to head back to the sanctuary with the remaining members of my squad. Staying out here in the open was just asking for trouble, but as of right now there was really nothing we could do except wait for Eren to come back. And I would wait for him for as long as I needed to. There was no way I was leaving without him in tow.

With Farlan keeping watch, I turned my attention to our surroundings. There was nothing out here we could use to repair the armored car. We had left the sanctuary in such a rush that we came unprepared for any obstacles we may encounter along the way. If I could go back in time, I would suggest bringing an extra vehicle as a backup plan, but that didn't matter much now. No amount of wishing we'd gone about things differently would change our current situation.

"Where the fuck is Eren?" Jean said, never once taking his eyes off Mikasa, who in turn never took her eyes off him. "We can't stand around here forever. We're sitting ducks right now."

Farlan nudged Mikasa's shoulder with the muzzle of his rifle to gain her attention. When she gazed at him, he asked, "Where are the soldiers you were with? Are they near here?"