Cornered

Assault 4

Carl ran like he never had before in his life, but no matter what he tried Levi was always right behind him. Finally out of breath, limbs trembling from over-exertion he collapsed in a gasping heap. Levi came on steadily now, his eyes practically searing with contained fire.

"You forget Carl, I came from the under city. I lived with your kind every day and I learned how to defeat them. Never in a million years would you have been able to break me. But I know exactly how to break you; better still I know you will never change. There is no cure for your kind, only death." Carl snapped.

"Please don't! Don't kill me! I didn't mean any harm I swear!!"

"You used injured men as hostages to make us surrender, because you knew we at least had honor. You beat up an innocent man for the sport of it, and you tried your hardest to break us. Well Carl there's something you need to learn here and now." Levi had reached the squirming coward and he crouched swiftly his precise accuracy getting just enough of the man's coat to lift him to eye level. "I have stared into the very jaws of my death and come out alive. Nothing you could dream of doing will ever frighten me." Levi stabbed Carl and the man screamed in pain his eyes almost popping out of his head with terror. Levi was panting from the fever and his grip wasn't as strong as it normally would have been allowing Carl to pull free in his panic. Levi yelled down the hill after his retreating form.

"The only thing you can do is make me more angry at you than I already am. And someday Carl, someday you will push me too far. On that day you had better watch every shadow because I will come for you and I will not stop until your dead and lifeless body is in pieces at my feet. Now run!"

Although he had been pushed to exhaustion Carl's adrenaline fueled panic got him back to his feet every time he lost them as he fled down the hill. Levi only watched for a few seconds before turning and heading back up the hill. The Military Police who were able to had fled or were in the process of following Carl as he ran away. Levi could hear them calling a retreat even through the fog of his fever and he let them pass. He could feel it intensifying, burning within him. He focused on breathing and keeping one foot in front of the other.

"Captain Levi." Levi's head snapped up at the sound of Eren's voice. No! What was he doing here? He couldn't be here. If he was here then everything they had done tonight would be for nothing. He remembered seeing Sasha and realized he hadn't connected her appearance with Eren's whereabouts. It was quite possible that she had returned and he had followed with Reiner. Still he was not happy that Eren had come back. He barely noticed Mikasa following behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Levi demanded. Eren looked surprised.

"We came to help..."

"Your job was to not get captured. Your job was to make it so that those who sacrifice their lives for you do not die in vain. Instead you decide to come back and make all that meaningless!" Levi's anger was so intense it was causing his head to spin, or was that his fever? He couldn't tell the difference anymore. He shook his head, trying to clear it.

"We...we need to get the wounded in the wagons...take them to see a doctor. I..." Levi pressed a hand against his forehead trying to hold his thoughts together but it didn't help. Everything was spinning. Farlan. He needed to help Farlan. Yes, he would not lose him again. Levi started walking forward once more. Eren was calling to him, trying to say something but he couldn't hear him through the tunnel around his ears. Then he tripped, pitching forward. Arms caught him before he hit the ground, but he never saw whose.

Reiner pursued Robert with cold determination. He was lucky that the man stumbled several times allowing him to close the distance. He lunged forward wrapping his arms around the others legs and pulling him to the ground. Both scrambled to try and get up but Reiner was faster. He grasped one of the legs wrenching it in an unnatural direction before jumping to his feet. Robert yelled in pain before Reiner kicked him hard in the lower back twice. Robert grunted still trying to push himself back to his feet. Reiner reached Robert's head and punched him hard in the temple causing him to collapse.