Never let me go

18: The beast in me

One man's wilderness is another man's playground.

Iris blew at the hairs that fell down her forehead and tickled the side of her nose. Behind her R.D raised her head from her feeding bucket, eyeing her rider as if judging her mood. The horse's chewing produced a low rumbling sound as her flat molars ground together in a slow, rhythmical way. Wispy white clouds drifted lazily above their heads, resembling giant white slugs creeping across the deep blue sky. The barn they were waiting by smelled of horse, dung and dirt. Across from her Sasha stood stiffly, wearing a long green cape, keeping her hood pulled up as if to accentuate that she was up to no good and knew it fully well. To her left Connie brushed through the mane of his horse as it was feeding. He had one of them hats on, this one being even uglier than the one Jean wore. Iris thought they were ridiculous as far as disguises go, because no teenage boy would, or should be caught dead in them. The streets were buzzing with the news that commander Erwin Smith had been arrested for murder. Rumors had him pinned as a dangerous leader of a cult previously known as the survey corps; trained and savage killers, obedient to a fault and now plotting to take over the military ranks.

The irony of it was just how close to the truth these rumors came, with one minor adjustment of course; they were trying to crown a new monarch. Most of the corps members would probably object to being labeled as savage killers as well. The people though, especially those in Stohess, remembered the military letting two titans battle here. Those who died that day had been a calculated sacrifice by Erwin, because an evacuation of Stohess ahead of time would have alerted Annie of their plans.

"Armin" Iris said quietly. He was sat atop a crate to her right, thoughtfully staring at a tuft of grass sprouting from the dirt. They grew here and there, forming small green patches in the street.

"Hm?" He looked up.

"I have been thinking about something. How do you think they knew that Dimo Reeves had turned sides?"

"I've been thinking about the same thing. Perhaps someone figured there was something suspicious about the 'accident' of the two interior MP's that we captured. Or they noticed that Mr. Reeves was acting strange. But them figuring everything out that way seems a little far-fetched, doesn't it?"

"With their job being what it is, paranoia probably comes naturally. They might just have suspected Mr. Reeves had betrayed them, and killed him to eliminate the possibility. Maybe they just had no more use of him."

"Why would the king have need of men like that around him..." Armin mumbled.

"Because people like us exist." She studied her nails. Biting them off had left the frayed and uneven.

"I have a feeling that whoever figured us out must have known Levi was likely to make a deal with Reeves instead of just killing him. But who other than Erwin and the veteran soldiers in the corps could judge his character so well?"

"He was pretty well known by the MP's back in the day; perhaps one of them took a special interest? Either way you're probably right."

"If I am they might see through our plan for today." He sounded troubled.

She was about to tell Armin there was little they could do about that when Jean came strolling around the street corner. He wrote a button up vest over his plain white shirt, paired with a pair of dark trousers, a cape and that ridiculous black fedora with a white linen band around the base. His combat gear was hidden underneath the cloak for the time being. As she saw him walking towards them Iris realized she had been wrong – He looked more like the overlord of a criminal gang than a quirky private detective. It was the eyes.

"You can use that street." He put his hand out, offering a flyer to Armin. "They were passing these out."

Iris poked her head over Armin's shoulder as he read the text. There was a drawn likeness of Levi on there, but if not for the hair Iris would not have known it was him. They had really not captured the captain's baby face, or his flinty eyes. "... This means the survey corps is dissolved" Armin stated numbly.