The Devils Inside

The Devils Inside - Chapter 8

Danielle's PoV

I Rub The Back Of My Neck With A Groan and I Am Walking Beside Mikasa When She Spins Around. I Stop and I Turn To Look At Her and I Snap, "Oi Ackerman! Now Isn't The Time To Be Worrying About Yeager" She Turns To Face Me and Says, "You Wouldn't Know What It Feels Like To Be Away From Someone You Care About"

I Grab Her Collar and I Growl, "Actually, I Do Know What It Feels Like! My Best Friends and My Girlfriend Are Somewhere In This Damn Town Fighting Titans!" I Let Go Of Her and I Walk Back Over To Ian and He Says, "Redwolf. I Trust Your Abilities So The Right Flank Is All Yours" I Look At The Right Flank Where I See Three Twelve-Meter Class Titans and Two Thirteen-Meter Class Titans. I Nod and I Jump Off The Roof and I Use My ODM Gear To Get Closer To The Titans.

I Stand On A Roof Near Them and I Flip My Blades In My Hands and I Hook One Wire To The Titan's Nape and I Pull The Triggers and I Launch Forward. I Cut The First Titan's Nape and Then I Zig Zag Between Titans and I Land On A Roof As I Watch All Five Of Them Drop To The Ground.

I Wipe The Blood From My Face and I Begin Travelling Back To Ian and Mikasa. "It Seems These Devils Know Next To Nothing About The Titans. That Makes Our Mission Much Easier. The Devils Will Probably Be Too Caught Up In Research That They Won't Think About Their Being Traitors Among Their Ranks." I Grunt Under My Breath and My Mind Wanders Back To The Class Where We Learned About Titans.

Flashback

I Sit At The Back Of The Class With Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt As We Listen To The Teacher Drone On About Titans. I Lean On My Hand and The Teacher Says, "What We've Learned About Titans, Such As Their Mode Of Life, We Owe To The Latest Reports By The Survey Corps. We Haven't Been Able To Confirm Whether The Titans Possess Humanlike Intelligence. Therefore, There Is No Precedent For Mutual Understanding Between Our Races." I Sigh and Grumble, "No Shit Dumbass" Loud Enough So Only Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt Can Hear It.

Annie Elbows Me Hard and Growls, "Shut Up. We're Doing Recon Remember. We Need To Know How Much These Devils Know About The Titans" Into My Ear and I Nod With A Sigh As The Teacher Continues, "The Structure If The Titan Body Is Fundamentally Different From Other Living Beings. They Have No Sexual Organs and The Method By Which They Reproduce Is Unknown. Most Of Them Tend To Have A Male Physique. Their Bodies Have Extremely High Temperatures and, Strangely, They Show Absolutely No Interest In Other Lifeforms Other Than Humans"

I Pull The Leather-Bound Journal From My Shirt Pocket and I Begin Writing Down A Recon Report As The Teacher Continues, "The Titans Sole Behavioural Principle Is Eating Human Beings But When We Consider That They Existed In An Environment Devoid Of People For Over 100 Years We May Make The Conjecture That Titans Don't Actually Need To Eat" I Look Up From The Journal and I Feel Paper Hit My Head. I Look Over At Reiner and He Nods At The Paper. I Pick It Up and I Open It. "He's Stating The Obvious Now" Is Sprawled On The White Page In Reiner's Untidy Handwriting and I Write "I Know. I'm Getting Sick Of These Devils and We Have Only Been Here For A Few Years.".

I Pass It Back To Him and He Reads It and Nods In Agreement. I Continue Writing My Recon Report As The Teacher Continues, "In Other Words, Their Purpose Isn't Predatory But Rather Purely Killing" I Hear Murmuring and Annie Grumbles, "Idiots" Under Her Breath and I Hum In Agreement.

The Teacher Looks Back At His History Book and Says, "Also, The Main Reason The Human Race Has Been Driven Into A Corner Is The Titans Astounding Ability To Survive." Everyone Stops Murmuring and They All Look At Him "Since Long Ago, Humanity Has Possessed Enough Power To Blow The Titans Heads Off. However, That Enough Wasn't Enough To Cope With Them. There Are Individual Differences, But In Most Cases, Heads That Are Blown Off Regenerate In One To Two Minutes," He Continues. Everyone Starts Murmuring Again and Marco's Hand Shoots Up and He Asks, "So Then Are The Titans Invulnerable?!" I Shake My Head and I Say, "No, Nothing Is Invulnerable. You Just Have To Know The Weak Spots. In A Titans Case, There Are Three Weak Spots..."

The Teacher Cuts Me Off and Says, "Thank You Miss Redwolf. This Is My Class and If You Don't Mind, I Will Continue To Teach It" I Slouch Back In My Chair and The Teacher Draws A Diagram On The Board and He Draws A Circle Around The Nape and Says, "Aim For Right Here. This Area Below The Occipital Region, At The Nape Of The Neck. If A Titan Sustains Major Damage Here, It Doesn't Regenerate and Dies."

I Roll My Eyes and He Motions To The ODM Gear On The Desk and Continues, "For That Very Purpose, You Must All Master This Vertical Manoeuvring Equipment. At Present, The Most Efficacious Means Of Repelling The Enemy Is Through Combat Skills That Make The Best Use Of Mobility."

I Close My Journal and I Place It Back In My Pocket and I Cross My Arms and The Teacher Says, "Each Hand Uses The Grip Of This Device To Operate The System. The Firing Mechanism At Both Sides Of The Waist Launches An Anchor. Steel Wires Discharged From Inside A Cylinder Is Reeled In Through Pressurised Gas."

He Picks Up A Blade and Continues, "This Replaceable Blade Is Your Weapon. In Order To Cut Through A Chunk Of Tough Meat, The Blade Is Made To Be Flexible" Bertholdt Passes Me A Piece Of Paper and I Open It. "It's Obvious That They Don't Know About The Shifters. I Think Were In The Clear For This Whole Operation" Is Sprawled Across The Page In Bertholdts Neat Handwriting and With A Light Chuckle I Write, "Don't Jinx It Now. There Is Still A Chance That They Could Learn."

I Pass The Note Back and He Reads It and Hums. I Look Back At The Teacher When I Hear Scratching On The Chalk Board and He Says, "You Use These Two Blades To Slice Through The Area. If The Attack Hits The Titan's Vital Spot, It Dies Instantly Before It's Regenerative System Can Kick In."

End of Flashback

I Land Next To Ian and Mikasa and I See An Aberrant Run Past. I Narrow My Eyes and Ian Yells, "WE HAVE TO GET AFTER IT! IT'S HEADING FOR THE GATE!" I Jump Off The Roof and I Drag My Blades Through It's Achilles Tendon and Then It's Spine and It Drops To The Floor and Mikasa Cuts The Nape. I Jump Off The Body and I See A Carriage Blocking The Gate. I Growl and I Glare Daggers At The Man Who Is Ordering Civilians To Help Push The Carriage.

Mikasa Grabs My Jacket and Growls, "Don't Be An Idiot" I Shove Her Off With A Growl and I Walk Through The Crowd and I Say " Oi!" The Guy Looks At Me and Says " Finally! Tell Them To Help Us!" I Stab My Blade Into The Package On The Back and I Growl " Move The Cart. Now" He Nods and I Walk Back To Mikasa and I Hear " Thank You" I Turn Around and I See A Little Girl and Her Mother.

I Smile Softly and I Crouch Down To Her Level and I Say, "No Problem Kiddo." I Pull My Jacket Off and I Pass It To Her and I Say, "Here. It's Yours." The Kids Eyes Widen and She Gasps, "Really?!" I Nod and Say, "Yeah. I'm Going To The Interior Soon So I Don't Need It Anymore." I Sling It Around Her Shoulders and She Wraps Her Arms Around My Neck and Says, "Thank You" I Pat Her Back and I Say, "No Problem" I Pull Away and I Stand Up and I Salute.

The Girl Grins and Her Mother Says, "She Will Treasure That Jacket For The Rest Of Her Life. Thank You" I Gulp and Say, "No Problem, Ma'am." She Smiles At Me and Walks Through The Gate With Her Daughter. I Sheathe My Blades and I Hear, "That Was Nice Of You." I Turn Around To Face Mikasa and I Snap, "Don't Mistake My Intentions Ackerman." I Slam My Shoulder Into Hers and I Use My ODM Gear To Climb Up Onto The Roof and Ian Says, "I'm Letting You Go Now. Go and Help Humanity" I Nod and As I Run Off, I Sneer, "I'm Not Doing This For Humanity. I'm Doing This For Myself" and I Use My ODM Gear To Kill Some More Titans As I Make My Way To The Middle Guard.