Girl From Outside The Walls

Ava Marie

She woke up to the sun early that morning, the dream she had the night before forgotten. Another batch of people such as herself had returned from wherever down below. She pulled her reddish-brown hair back into a ponytail as she fixed herself to go salvage what she could of the dead– equipment really. She wanted to know how they were fighting the giant beasts– the titans, her mother once called them– flying around like they were. She found the lower half of someone, the gear strapped to them still relatively intact.

She could hear the thundering footsteps of another titan approaching as she worked to take the person's remains somewhere safe for her to remove the equipment. "Shit." She reached for an explosive at her waist as she prepared for it to spot her. It did, its beady eyes sizing her up for a snack. Like hell she'd let that happen. As soon as it opened its jaws, she threw the bomb into it and watched it erupt into pieces. The steam stung slightly, but she wasn't near bothered by it.

"Back to the task at hand," she told herself, turning her eyes back to the corps. She picked them up, knees slung at her shoulder as she climbed back into a tree. Once high enough she started to remove the equipment and other weapons. Some of the straps were busted– she'd have to fix that at home– but everything else seemed good. She then spotted an engraving on the side of the blade container; "Ava". She paused for a moment. "So, your name was Ava? That sounds beautiful," she would say she felt bad for the family that lost their member– yet she couldn't help but remain in silence as another titan lumbered past.

Once she had the equipment as secured as possible, she leapt into action. She quietly jumped from branch to branch before she reached a zipline high within the branches. She was quick to zipline across the gap between her and shelter, having to drop a couple explosives into titans again. She dropped onto the wooden floor with a small thud. "Step one, obtain the equipment. Check." the teenager told herself. She walked over to the carving her mom did in the wall when she was there. It had been how long since she lost her mother? The titan that ate her was long gone, but that didn't stop her from being weary every time she was out.

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of someone screaming. She was quick to the balcony. A man– probably in his late twenties to early thirties– was being held above a titan's open jaw. "Shit," she muttered to herself, jumping onto another zipline– already flying close. "Hey," She called out to the man, warning him to close his eyes as she threw a bomb into the creature. She hit the tree feet first as it blew to pieces like previous titans. She looked to see if she actually managed to save the guy– he had caught himself with the use of his gear.

She shouted to him again, "You alright?" Thankfully– according to who's asked– the man responded, "Yeah. You?" She nodded then dropped to a branch below the zipline. He made his way over, landing beside her. He stood there as she scanned the ground for more. "We're in the clear for now," she spoke after a moment. He then started to speak, "Alright, I need answers–" she put a hand up in a silent wait. "You'll get your answers," she told him in a hushed voice, "Let's just get some place safe first."

She could hear him scoff before he tried demanding stuff. She began to get irritated with him but held her stature and kept an unbothered expression. Patience was something that came easy to her as she found herself dealing with her own survival a lot. "I have a place we can get to from here."

"Where? And how do you expect to get there exactly?"

A nuisance– she just saved his life too. She sighed through her nose before she spoke, "You have your ways–" She leaped onto another branch a bit above the one they were on. "And I have mine," she finished her sentence as she grabbed hold on another cable above her. She took off back home, knowing he'll follow her. She had a better landing this time too. She took the belt off and set it over a chair as she made her way inside. She could hear his equipment whir as he made his way to her house in the trees. He paused on the balcony outside.

She turned to look at him, "You're welcome to come in. I don't get very many visitors– other than those beasts, that is..." she got herself a glass of water and returned to the equipment she had left on her floor. She heard him slowly enter the house. He seemed almost at a loss for words. "You don't- how long have you been out here?" She shrugged in reply. She had been born out there, but she didn't know about trusting the person from nowhere yet. "A while," she knew that wasn't much info to go off of, so she'd give him that.

She sat to fix the straps on the equipment she now had. "Think you can teach me how to use your kind's equipment?" She wasn't hesitant as she asked the question. The man stood there as though she just spoke in tongues. She heard him try to deny him teaching her to use the ODM gear– as he called it. She took a breath, "Fine. you know where the door is. Good luck getting back to your people." He stood there dumbstruck. She didn't care for the lack of cooperation and knew full well the titans outside could easily make a snack of him.

He visibly tensed at the tone of her voice. "Okay," he blurted out like a scared kid, causing her to pause and truly pay attention to what he's doing. "Fine, I'll teach you under one condition." She looked up from her work as he spoke. "You're leaving this place and coming with me and my living comrades back to the walls."

"Sounds like a glorified cage," she told him, setting down her patchwork. "But, I suppose it can benefit us both in a way. You get home safely, and I'm no longer left to face these things alone." He snorted. She was quick to get the ODM gear situated on herself along with her belt of explosives. She'd packed two bags– one of her own food rations and some supplies to help her start a new garden of food– and the other of more explosives and tools to make them. She handed him the bag of explosives. "What? Don't trust me with the food?" The guy asked.

"I'm the 18-year-old you just met. Would you trust me with your own food?" She half snapped back. "Besides, if you get eaten with that on, everything within radius will be destroyed. So insensitive not to be eaten."

"Damn kid." He grumbled in annoyance, but didn't argue. She followed his instructions and found herself flying through the trees. Eventually, they met up with the rest of the man's people– or what was left out there at least. There were a couple that turned to see him land with her beside him. She was greeted with questions of who she was, etc. She tried to remain calm but couldn't help it as she quickly told them to back off. "I will answer questions only to whoever is in charge. The rest of you, please stop." Her voice came off a bit more panicked than she'd intended.

Finally, the one in charge came over and just asked a simple question: her name. "Ava," she answered, wanting to honor the person she took gear from, "My name is Ava Marie."