Attack on Fortress

Chapter 3: Strange People in a Strange Land

Chapter 3: Strange People in a Strange Land

850, unknown, 9:15 am

Location: Somewhere within 'Wall Maria'

'I need some goddamn coffee' Engineer grumbled mentally, trying to keep his eyes open and focusing on the long stretch of barren road in front of him.

He had been driving for two hours now, and a lot had happened to him and his team in-between that time. To start, he had spent half an hour rushing through plains of vegetation, wheat, grass and other turfs alike, while his team recovered in the back. Thanks to Medic giving each member a check over and a boost of his Medigun, all the kinks, wear, and fatigue that plagued their muscles were gone and their morale was boosted thanks to their renewed vigour. All thanks to the crazy doctor and his life-saving invention.

By the end of that half an hour mark did Engineer find something of interest: a road. Stray grass and rocks littered said road, obvious signs that it hadn't been used in a while. The team celebrated the finding of an actual route, even Sniper himself chimed in with a near-silent 'nice'. Engineer was the happiest out of the group, glad that they no longer needed to drive through uneven and rocky terrain. The truck was on its last legs after all and he doubts it could survive another hour on the unpaved terrain.

They travelled up the road and came to a stop at a crossroads. They had struck gold yet again as this one had a weathered but readable sign pointing to each road. With some help from Spy, he gave the RED Team some directions.

The roads leading to the East and West didn't have anything to note other an inns and tourist attractions like the Titan Forest; a name that many of the REDs agreed was likely the name of a Zoo that must have held some Giants. The roads leading to the North and South were the most intriguing and, hopefully, places likely to have human civilization. South lead to two smaller towns, a few residences, and a District: Shiganshina. Some of them scratched their heads at the bizarre name, some even questioning if Spy translated it properly but alas, Spy was sure that it was the proper translation. Seeing as Shiganshina was carved in bold and elegant typography, and was placed atop the sign, told the group that this was an important place. Maybe it was a city or trading hub.

The last past of the road's description piqued everyone's interest: Wall Maria.

From the excerpt from the Frost-Borrow Farm girl's diary, the author had said that Wall Maria was breached by the Giants, meaning that the place had to be swarming with them. The Shiganshina district had to been besieged by the Giants as well, seeing as they're no humans around the South, where the REDs themselves came from.

That only left them with the Northern Road, which they had all hoped it could lead them to a place known as Wall Rose. The REDs collectively had to guess that since the dairy mentioned something known as the 'Wall Goddesses' called Sina, Rose and Maria, and that one of them shared their names with a Wall and were called 'Wall Goddesses', it wasn't a stretch to guess these people worship these walls. Though the REDs didn't blame them, they would praise a wall too if it kept out monstrosities like the Giants.

Back to the point, the Team hoped that the Northern road leads to another one of these walls. True enough, their theory was correct as the sign pointing to the Northern road described a District called Trost and Wall Rose. Though there was a slight unease among the group that no one wanted to address: If this Wall Maria was breached, would the same be said for the Walls Rose and Sina?

Obviously, the more optimistic members of their group wanted to cling to the hope that the walls were safe and secure, and at less offer some form of human society sophisticated enough to give them general directions to where they are or provide a radio to contact Miss Pauling or a vehicle to travel long distances. From there they could pin-point where and how exactly they were going to go home.