Not Forgotten

Chapter 7

My horse neighed as we passed through the gate leading out of the Wall Rose. I sang "Do you want to kill some titans?" then laughed. 

Everyone stared at me like I was crazy. The person on the horse next to me laughed. 

"Nervous?" he asked. 

"Very," I replied. 

"Don't worry. You'll most likely survive." 

"Comforting." 

"Cut the small talk," the squad leader commanded. "Stay focused." 

"Yes, sir," I replied. 

"We got this," Krista whispered. 

I smiled at her. "Yeah, let's go kill some titans." 

We rode in silence and I nervously fidgeted. The ground started to shake. 

"Oh my God," I turned around. Running towards us was a nine meter titan. 

"Kill it!" the squad leader yelled at me. 

I balanced on my horse and prepared to fight. 

"Let's go!" I yelled, launching myself into the air. The titan tried to grab me, but I landed on its back.  

"Go, go, go!" The squad leader screamed. "Kill it while it's distracted!"

I quickly aimed for the neck and made the kill. The titan dissolved. "Wait, were we supposed to kill it?"

I turned back to the squad leader, who had the signal gun in the air. He didn't say anything.

"Good job!" Krista exclaimed.

"You too," I replied, even though she didn't do anything.

"Get back on your horse and keep moving!" the squad leader commanded.

"Yes, sir."

We continued.

As we rode, different signals appeared in the sky. Red and green were the most common. After a while I saw a black signal. An abnormal had been spotted. It came from the right flank. The ground shook. The sheer force of the shaking plus being on horseback flopped my hood up. I didn't bother to pull it back down.

"Oh God," the squad leader muttered.

A titan appeared in the distance. It was female. I fumbled for my signal gun.

I fired the signal as the titan swung her foot. The squad leader tried to attack, but got smashed.

"Luke!" I yelled. Now it was just Krista and me.

"Oh God," Krista said. "We're going to die."

Strangely, the female titan turned and ran. Leaving us unharmed.

A riderless horse galloped  towards us.

"Isn't that Jean's horse?" I asked.

"They must have been attacked," Krista said.

 "We should check on them." 

"Agreed. Let's go." 

Our horses galloped through the open field. We saw a flare and assumed it came from Jean or Armin. 

"Over there!" I yelled. We changed direction, heading towards the smoke. 

Jean saw us riding towards him and started to wave. His horse ran straight to him. 

"There you are!" Jean said to his horse. "I knew that you'd  come back to me." 

"Armin! What happened to you? Are you okay?" Krista asked.