Promises (Attack on Titan)

2. Aftermath

Those of us who were still alive and able to fight were tasked with killing the remaining Titans that were in the now sealed Trost District. The stench of death and rotting flesh was everywhere. The streets that were still intact were bloodied by both civilian and soldiers, and many body parts layabout.

The majority of the homes within the district were damaged or completely destroyed. Smoke was rising in several places where a Titan had been slain, and there were piles of ashes with black rings singed into the ground around them.

The district was a mess.

There were still a lot of Titans, and those of us in the Survey Corps who could still fight were tasked with exterminating them. And many of us were dying, too, by those beasts who remained.

It was hot, and it was smelly. We were enclosed in a space that should have been a safe-haven from the Titans who threatened humanity and its survival. But here we were, killing those beasts we tried to protect ourselves from.

Killing Titans was almost our job. Killing them was nothing new to us in the Survey Corps. We were a lot more adept at using the 3D gear than those in the Garrison, and even those in the Military Police. But many of us still died bloody deaths. Sometimes Titans were unavoidable, and it was very easy to find yourself about to be eaten.

Along with many of my fellow soldiers who fought valiantly by my side, I was exhausted. And I was a little peeved we couldn't take a brief break because of how many Titans remained. It was maddening how no matter how many of those beasts I cut down, it still seemed like we weren't any closer to finishing them off.

There were fifteen Titans trapped in Trost, and it still felt like we were nowhere near being done.

I don't know which is worse, watching a soldier die on an expedition where there wasn't anywhere they could go for actual safety or watching a soldier die by the hands of a Titan in a place that should have been safe.

With my blades high in the air, my twisting body hurtled towards the unsuspecting Titan. The moment my blades made contact with its skin, I pressed one of the triggers, and I reeled in towards the building my hooks were lodged into.

I was able to use both my strength and the strength of the fear to successfully slice through the nape of the Titan's neck. The giant beast fell to the floor, smoke already rising from its deceased body.

I shouldn't have been able to kill Titans with how dull my blades were. But it was thanks to my Manoeuvre Gear.

I was on my last blades, and I was making my way towards the armoury to restock. My air tank was almost empty, too.

The Armoury building was trashed with large holes scattering its walls and windows, and it sat in the centre of Trost. Although it didn't look like it, the building was still in use, and soldiers were going in and out of it with newly stocked blades and gas.

And I was soon to be one of them if I managed to bloody make it.

"Your blades are pretty dull," Calum said, suddenly beside me as we trapezed through the air.

Calum and I trained together before entering the Survey Corps. He was taller than me by only a couple of inches. He had dirty blonde hair and green eyes that seemed to grow duller every time I saw him. Perhaps they darkened with every brutal death he witnessed.

He was the only one left of those in my graduating class who joined the Survey Corps. He and I were the last two of the fifteen who joined five years ago.

"Do you think you'll make it, Anisa? Mine are kind of dull, but not nearly close to yours." He was also on his last two blades. "I can give you a lift if you need it."