You're Not Alone

•40•

As we ride along in the dark of night, my mind starts to wonder. The plain grassy terrain starts to fill up with snow, soon all I can see is the white specks floating down to the ground.

I'm taken back to boot camp...

~flashback~

My feet make indents in the fluffy snow as I walk between Connie and Sasha. We are dressed in large heavy coats with fur lined hoods, packs with blankets on our backs, and thick pants and boots.

I've never been in this much snow before. My body isn't fond of the coldness, but I can see the lights of burning wood near the camp buildings. The warmth is calling to me. Just a little further Sophie...

"Come on! You're almost there!" I hear one of the female soldiers shout. "Keep it up!"

We finally make it and approach the girl and her partner near the flag post at the camp. My legs feel like jelly from all the hiking.

"Nine hours, twelve minutes. Not bad given the conditions you had to trudge through," the guy laughs.

I ignore him, as do the rest of us. We walk past and collapse against the fence. They told us we weren't allowed inside yet. We're going to change anyways, so I don't mind sitting on the cold snow.

"I thought we were dead out there," my brother groans. "Dammit. Nobody said training was gonna be this tough."

I lean my head against the wood post fence and stretch out my sore legs. The calf muscle feels like they're going to rip into small strings, while my thighs just feels like solid rock.

"Anyone else not feel their legs?" Jean mutters next to me.

"The opposite," I sniffle. "I feel all the pain in my legs."

"Why won't they let us inside already?" Connie frowns.

"I bet they're busy laying out a massive banquet for us as we speak," Sasha licks her lips.

Jean's head falls forward as he slouches against the fence. I look at his legs and punch his right thigh. He flinches and rubs the spot I hit.

"What was that for?!" He exclaims. His eyebrows furrow and his eyes glare.

"What? You said you couldn't feel your legs. I wanted to make sure you weren't paralyzed," I smirk.

"Well obviously-," Jean gets cut off by Reiner running up to us.

"Hey! You guys seen Christa?"

I let out a surprised breath. My eyes dart through the small group I'm with, not recognizing the short blonde girl.

"Not for awhile. She was with Daz, and he wasn't doing so good," Mikasa informs us.

"Yeah, well he's not here. Ymir isn't back yet either," Reiner scowls. Marco walks up to him.

"They're probably mixed in with the last squad."

"That's just it. Thomas was leading the last squad. Says they never saw them." Reiner turns to look at Thomas who is standing with his group to our left.

My knees pull up to my chest and I try to stand up, using the fence as support. Since my muscles are worn out, it's much harder to accomplish.

My gloved hands grab onto the wood post and I try to pull myself up, but my hand slips and I lose my grip. Jeans hand presses against my back and pushes me up to a crouching position. My legs do the rest and I'm now walking up to Marco and Reiner.

"Do you think they're lost?" I ask the two, loud enough for the group to hear.

"If they get stuck out there in the snow storm, they're done for," Connie's voice is serious and if he's getting real about this, then we should be worried.