Soldiers
Chapter Nine
"damn"
jean swears
"Mikasa, Armin... the idiots." conny yells
"JEAN, [], You lead the rest to HQ I'm going after Armin" he continues
"Were coming with yo-" jean starts
"Don't be stupid, there are still titans everywhere you two have gotta help the others only you two can" he begs
Was I really that good? Did people really think I could lead? I didn't even make the top 10 how could I ever lead anything. However conny was right if I didn't do this nobody will and everyone else needs leaders right now with that in mind I put to bed the destructive thoughts entering my head and focused on the task at hand
"I don't like it any more than you do but he's got a point these guys will crash and burn without us," I say to jean with a pleading look in my eye
"fine, don't die on us man," he says
"right back at ya, see you back at HQ" conny laughs as he flies away
As we push forward into the titan onslaught an unease settles on me and I just pray Mikasa or Armin hasn't died. I hack down titan after titan clearing a path however some slip my grasp in my worry-filled trance which I'm finally snapped out of by the cadets behind us yelling
"It is no use were not getting anywhere NEAR headquarters, not unless we all mind dying" Jean mutters
!GORE WARNING NOW!
As I land on a rooftop Jean and I observe the scene below. A scene that would haunt me for years to come. My nose was filled with the stench of blood, a smell that made me want to throw up as it hit my nose. All I could hear were the dying screams of those I had failed. See the entrails splattered on the floor and on the mouths of our tormentors like cannibals enjoying a leisurely meal or like I was watching a meat factory at work. These people I was supposed to lead and protect with my own life if it came to it but my distraction just killed entire squads, destroyed lives, traumatized the cadets and worse these people had families, mothers, and fathers that were waiting for them behind wall rose, I didn't. Who was I to survive and them not? Due to my failure, their dead entire families have been destroyed, and all because I couldn't get over my silly feelings. I cant lead why did I ever think I could
Dismembered corpses and Mangled corpses fill my eyesight burning themselves into my long-term memory like a piece of wood art, my dreams forever haunted by the screams of those I couldn't save. I hear people scream for friends and colleagues as they desperately try to get out of the white pearly teeth of the nightmarish humanoids. The sheer amount of arms legs heads and ODM gear collect at my feet placing me on top of a pile of bodies. These lives ended prematurely and it's all my fault.
!!GORE WARNING ENDED!!
"Why couldn't we stop them, why couldn't we?" This is a nightmare, how can we lead these guys I'm not meant to lead I'm the last person that should've been given the reigns" Jean mutters what has been running through my head
"I don't know I really don't but we have to way to," I say shaking my resolve. Even if I couldn't handle the pressure of this I had to at least act like I could, for the rest of the cadets
"We couldn't save those below us but we sure as hell aren't letting anyone else die in this hellhole" I comment as I look at him and he nods back to me and in that instant I know we have bonded on a level deeper than the bond I have with Armin, Mikasa and Eren and I gain a new respect for him. He's just trying his best in this screwed-up world as we all are and despite his arguments, he is an amazing leader.
"come on then, let's talk about this later," he says turning around to address those behind us
"GET OFF YOUR ASSES GET BACK TO HQ BEFORE THE BASTARDS GET LESS DISTRACTED AND HUNGRIER" He yells jumping off the roof as I follow suit.
"GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU GOT" I yell back to those of us left
"You guys really came through for us there we owe you big time, don't shrug it off I mean it, Jean you make a great leader, as do you" Marco compliments bringing a smile to my face
"easy with that crap, we're not out of this yet" Jean replies smirk evident as he speeds up
After a couple of grueling minutes of dodging titan grabs and hearing screams behind us I try to ignore, we finally make it to HQ just as our gas was about to run out and we line up to smash through the windows using the very last of our gas to give us the momentum to break through the glass and land on our knees very ungracefully as the rest of the cadets follow
I could feel my knees scrape on the ground below me and almost wince in pain and exhaustion, nobody will admit this but the sheer strength and resolve it takes to be a soldier at 16 is so much more than I anticipated. I feel my fingers ache with the relief of not having to suspend myself in the air
"ha ... ha we did it" I breathe out Jean and I hug very quickly in pure relief that most of us survived that death charge
"yeah but how many of us made up bodies and people did we abandon to get here," he says pulling away from the quick hug
"We shouldn't think about that right now let's just get to our next steps," I say observing around the room noticing people hiding under the stacked tables behind me
"always the forward thinker aren't you?" he says
"what can I say I'm used to ignoring the problem till it builds up" I laugh and look around the room and spot people crouched under the tables behind us covered in a blood splatter
"wait..arent you with the supply team," I ask wearily as Jean looks to where I am, and before I can even blink he has one of them by the collar punching them square in the jaw as Marco hold him back
"You cowards, you left us out there on our own, people are dead because you didn't have the guts to do your job" He screams letting out the frustration from earlier
"The titans were coming at us from every angle, they overran the supply room okay" the poor girl cried and I felt bad for her it must have been terrifying however this goes quickly as i remember they were trained for this and put thousands of lives at risk by not doing what they were trained to.
"ITS YOUR JOB TO DEAL WITH IT AND BACK US UP ANYWAY" He continues
All of a sudden a droning sound comes from outside as one of the cadets close to the wall tells us to hit the deck and before we could move the wall is smashed clean through pushing me forward toward the floor with extreme force. As my back collides with a wall I notice my vision go black for a second with the severe trauma I know my spine and head have endured eventually it comes back and I'm faced with the face of two titans glaring at us
"There's too many of us, they can smell us" Jean realizes and panic starts to settle into the traumatized recruits as they start running to get further into the structure for some form of safety. However, as I get up to run I notice Jean just sat on the ground staring in disbelief probably realizing how hopeless our fight is and I work through the crowd and shake him slightly to snap him out of the trance so he can get to safety
"WHAT-" he yells as a fist make contact with the titan's faces in what felt like slow motion and we see a 15m black haired titan staring at the two dead titans on the floor as questions begin to form in my mind I hear the smashing of the last window and see Conny, Armin and Mikasa come through
"Oh my god you guys are alright I was so worried," I say pulling my two best friends into a hug
"you are a certified genius from now as far as I'm concerned your word is law" conny praises hitting Armin's arm playfully but a little too hard after we pull away
"check it out we found an abnormal who has a bone to pick with its own kind and the best part is he couldn't care less about us, that's right this big beautiful SOB is our ticket out of here" He announces proudly
"you mean like fighting fire with fire," someone asks
"that's impossible listen to yourself, you are out of your mind if you think titans going t, o h..help.. u.ussss" Jeans voice, and the rest of the conversation gets drowned out by the ringing in my ears
Staring at this titan, it feels familiar, like my entire life has led up to this moment on the battlefield staring at a 15m tall abomination. and the phrase that links me to who I was and my past outside the walls starts blaring in my brain like a war cry or air raid siren
'protect the founding titan, protect the founding titan,protectthefoundingtitanprotectthefoundingtitan' as the words crescendo in my head I realize that the emergence of all these abnormals including the colossal and armored must be linked somehow to this 'founding titan'. How though? I wouldn't find out till much later.
"-en't going to take this building, not with him on a rampage out there" Conny comments as I finally snap fully out of my daze
"that's all well and good but what is to stop him turning on us when he's done" Reiner questions
"I guess we cross that bridge when we come to it but something tells me he isn't, maybe it's a gut feeling I don't know," I say mostly to myself as I'm still slightly out of it from my little titan trance
"Hey glad your back with us, you alright you kinda went into a bit of trance," Conny asks
"Sorry, got a lot on my mind I'm fully focused now though" I smile and a quiet sets over the group before Jean interrupts announcing he has found some muskets that may come in handy
"Courtesy of the Military Police, and covered in a layer of dust," he says as he puts them down and picks one up blowing off the dust and coughing to emphasise his point of their unuse
"you sure a musket shot is the way to go? Seems as though we might as well throw spitwads, I mean cmon guys are guns even effective?" Jean asks
"I don't know but they're bound to be better than nothing" Armin answers
"were looking at 8 titans in the supply room about 4m tall if perfectly time this much ammo should do the job" he explains
"step 1 we lower a group into the area via the lift to get their attention then when they are in a range they fire simultaneously, blinding them, then the hard part, the moment of truth as it were. Before they have time to recover 8 people need to swoop down and strike the weak spot of all 8 titans at the same time."
"so that's the plan, it puts all our lives on the line we screw up were dead not like that is anything different than the past 24hrs," I say with a short laugh
"Yep, 8 people have to slay 8 titans at the same time we're gonna need the best, the 8 of you most gifted and adapted with their pairing blades" Armin continues
"Hey it's a solid plan," Reiner says
"The risk is the same for everyone so it doesn't matter who goes" Annie corroborates
"look I'm willing to be talked out of this, it can't be our only option," Armin says
"hey for our only plan it is a damn good one and very well thought out, don't be so hard on yourself" Marco encourages bringing a smile to my face
"It'll be fine you just have to be confident" Mikasa adds and Armin quickly looks towards me in a sense of desperation as I speak
"hey I have no complaints, I trust you, Armin, that quick thinking has saved my life many times"
"When did I ever..?" he asks
"ALRIGHT, The lifts are ready to go and guns are loaded to the top, lets go kill us some titans" A cadet yells
"they're right, you didn't realize it at the time but we can talk about it later," Mikasa says as we both head toward the stairs to the supply room
"Okay, I'm going to ask the obvious question here can we do this without ODM gear?" Conny speaks as we descend the stairs
"Yeah, no problem, they're 4m tall so the weak spots aren't that much above eye level" Reiner answers
"size won't be an issue the spots are still only 1m high and 10cm across"
"back of the head to the nape of the neck" Sasha chimes in
"all else fails you can always shove one of these up their ass, that's the other weak spot" Reiner jokes
"wait what, that's news to me"
"did I miss a day of class?" Sasha asks
"knock it off Reiner, you want your last words to be an ass joke," I say with a slight giggle
A brief silence sets in as we approach the bottom of the stairs and we pause looking at each other
"good luck guys, don't die or I'm killing you myself," Conny says just before we all part ways and climb up onto our support beams and wait out
as I sit on the beam gripping my blade I can tell everyone has a sense of responsibility that cannot be shaken. This is it if we fail the remaining cadets are dead and we don't get another chance, we are stuck in this hell.
After a minute or two, we hear the lift clunk down and stop in the middle of the room and a symphony of cocking guns echos signaling the plan has begun
After a few more minutes of waiting, we hear the guns fire and I swoop down off the rafters and clutching my blades I wing downward motioning to slice my titan down
"mines dead, you guys all good?" Mikasa yells
"SASHA AND CONNY MISSED" Bertholdt yells
"Shit," I say as I run toward them in an attempt to get them out of it but before I get there Mikasa and Annie have taken them down and I breathe slightly it's better they did it than me
"THEY'RE ALL DEAD START LOADING UP SUPPLIES" jean yells after a minute and the lift comes all the way down I notice Amrin holding out a stumbled Marco and people begin piling off and offering a quick thank you to the 8 of us as the panic goes away and hope begins to settle
"Sash, you doing alright?" I say loading up my gas tank as I notice the girl sat whimpering in the corner next to me
"I choked how can I ever face them again" she mutters and I know not to press the subject but I hear conny yell at her afterward but don't catch it as I walk to the exit with everyone else
Noticing Mikasa on the rooftop staring below I go to investigate as this is uncharacteristic for her
"We have to go now, Mikasa.... cmon," he says
"look, down there," she says glancing toward the scene below
horror strikes through me as I witness the scene. The titans eating the berserk one like cannibals as the abnormal shrieks out in pure agony, also striking a deep chord within me
"Holy shit" I whisper
"Can he not regenerate like the others," Armin asks
"This may sound stupid but I was hoping he would be the key. He would offer some insight into the titans" Mikasa preaches as I hear the telltale sputter of gas canisters and knew the others had joined us
"she's right, he's far too valuable to let die, we have to get the others off him. He's no good to us picked apart" Reiner adds
"are you out of your mind" jean yells " we got a path out of this nightmare and you wanna stay?"
"think about it," I say "having an abnormal as an ally would be an incredible advantage right? A cannon has nothing on a titan that likes to rip apart its own kind"
"Are you hearing yourself? He's not just some new friend" Jean says
As soon as he says that we hear the booming of footsteps and Armin recognizes the titan that apparently ate one of his and Erens squadmates. However, the abnormal seems to react to the appearance of this specific titan for some reason pushing the rest of them off him and using his mouth to destroy the nape and kill it once and for all as we all stand in shock at what we just witnessed, a pure unadulterated rage as the titan screams out and falls to the ground
"Alright enough of this, let's leave while we can. We are lucky the ugly bastard didn't get bored, or else we would be next on the menu" Jean says walking away but after noticing nobody had followed comes back
"look a titan is a titan.." he starts saying before he notices what we all do something emerging from the nape of the titan's neck as the smoke clears and we get a better view we notice a person coming out of the nape
As my eyesight trains to see who is coming from the nape the person's head snaps up and come back down and I see clear as day who it was and before I could register what I'm doing I jump off the building and make my way over to him as fast as my exhausted body could take me I probably looked like a weirdo but I stop just before to process the news that the boy I cared about was not only alive but now apparently harnessing a titan body
"How is this... what's going...." I mutter not being able to finish due to the pure shock in my brain and it trying to wrap itself around what I was witnessing
I hear the familiar sound of ODM next to me and see a raven hair gripping onto the boy for dear life, checking his heart and breathing and sobbing as she does and I feel tears prick to my own eyes and my hand cup my mouth at the realization that the boy I loved was alive.
As Mikasa brought him up and Armin cried over his best friend we all looked out and realized that Eren had killed multiple titans leaving carnage in the wake of HQ and I can't help but feel a sense of pride in him but also a sense of fear of the future, the MPs wouldn't let him live, not after this.