Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

ONE-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTEEN

'Intention determines more than we could ever understand. Somehow, against all odds, our desires find us. Even when we'd rather they didn't.'

-An extract from the book 'Evolutions' written by philosopher Adette Briggs.

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ONE-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTEEN

Somewhere in North-Eastern Titan Country

That night, their situation descended quickly to madness.

Levi had been dealing with the titan onslaught for hours, and there had been no relent. There was no sense, no order, one after the next, the beasts barrelled their way into the centre rank. The carnage they left in their wake was... unspeakable.

It was safe to assume the spotters were dead.

If it was this bad in the centre of the formation... By God, Levi dreaded to think about it.

Their grim situation was becoming more and more apparent. They were alone, damn near blind, lost in Titan Country in the middle of a storm. The spotters had been eaten. They could not stop or risk being eaten themselves.

The only option was to persist.

"Captain," Petra rode up to him, wiping the rainwater from her brow. "There's another wave coming."

"Shit," Levi cursed, reloading his blades which had been worn down to stubs. Sure enough, growing larger on the horizon was a fresh slew of titans. "Status on supplies?"

Petra looked down. "Critical."

Levi looked behind him at the wagons they were defending. Instead of supplies, they were near full to the brim of wounded— soldiers, clutching at gruesome wounds lying side by side with the dead.

The living were not faring much better. With the incessant titan attacks, ODM gas was at an all-time low. How much longer they could keep this up, Levi could only guess.

"Conserve your gas. I'll deal with those three."

"Yes, sir." Petra rode back to the wagons.

Levi stared down his enemy. He didn't think he'd ever stop hating the sight of those toothy, mindless grins. Or stop seeing them in his nightmares.

He shook out his arm as they approached, one giant footstep after the next. They leered over him as if surprised he did not scream nor run in terror.

The smaller grabbed for him, but Levi dodged. "Gutsy," he said blankly. Levi leapt from his horse, accelerating into a roll as he cleanly sliced the napes of all three titans in one fell swoop.

His ODM gear sputtered as he landed. Damn it, Levi cursed; he was running on fumes.

He quickly took off back after the battalion; it seemed the barrage was slowing, if only for a little. The sun had begun to peer over the horizon— dawn, at last.

Through the murk of the storm, Levi could see his comrades regrouping. The lot of them were gathered in one great mass, drenched in rainwater and some with rather severe injuries.

Levi couldn't help but notice how few of them there were now. Barely half. Not even.

The rest were dead or missing.

He approached, scanning the crowd for Lorelai. But, instead, he found Erwin and the rest of the higher officers looking rather troubled.

Levi dismounted. "The hell was that, Erwin?" Erwin turned to him, his expression stern. "So much for your evasion tactics. We were damn near overwhelmed."