I'll Make You Bleed

Run (Berthold POV)

**written by: blueTshirts** 

12:04 AM 

To be fair, I haven't held a shotgun in quite a while. It makes me kinda nervous, I don't want to be the one to screw up and get someone hurt. On top of that, I'm the only one with a gun between me, Reiner, Sasha, and Connie. The pressure is on me to protect everyone.

Let's just hope we don't run into the psycho.

As I'm sitting on the floor against the kitchen island fiddling with the gun, I glance over at Sasha, Connie and Reiner all in the living room hunched behind the couch. I can barely hear their whispers, but I notice the obvious fear in Sasha's eyes and the determination in Reiners. He is trying to talk them through the plan another time, just to make sure that we can get this right and so I don't have to use a gun.

Jean and Marco are closer to me as they're sitting against the kitchen cabinets next to the back sliding door. The pair say nothing, except hold each other's hands and watch the trio in the living room along with me.

Sasha and Connie probably have the best bet out of any of us, even the ones that are staying in the cabin. All they have to do is get to the car and speed like hell off the Jaeger property, the rest of us have to do the dirty work. But I can't blame them for being terrified, we're all terrified.

I notice Reiner's head poke over the back of the couch at me. He gives a subtle smile. It makes my stomach churn.

They're ready.

I take a moment to breathe and then scoot myself across the cabin floor to get to the front door. Unfortunately, the front door doesn't have nearly as many windows as the back door. The only windows I have to check if the coast is clear are little half foot tiles on either side of the hard wooden door. Plus, with the electricity still out, there's no porch light. The killer could be hiding right behind the door for all I know.

Reiner, Sasha, and Connie come up from the living room with their heads low and crouch behind me. Reiner rests his hand on my back softly, his thumb brushes over my spine to try and give me some sense of calm. It doesn't work. I know Reiner, he's just as terrified as everyone else, if not more so.

"Can't see much," I whisper so low that I almost can't hear myself. Reiner nods and lowers his head to Sasha.

"Wait until I've waved at you to come out," he says. Sasha doesn't argue, but I can hear her breath as she fails to remain level headed. I don't blame her, I don't blame anyone, I'm astounded that I'm as calm as I am. I don't think the reality of the situation has really hit me yet.

I take another look outside. Darkness. The faint reflections of moonlight off car hoods is all I have to give me an idea of what we're running into. I sigh in frustration.

I give Reiner a look. He knows that this is shit. We're about to be blind dogs running into the sea and expecting a shark to not be around. Stupid. Of course Reiner had to sign up for this part. His recklessness is disguised as confidence and born from constant uncertainty. I knew Reiner was going to jump at the first moment to become a walking target. In his head, he can pretend that he's doing it for his friends, for their greater safety, he can die for them and earn an honorable death. But behind all that is a hidden relief that maybe someone else can pull the trigger on him rather than him doing it himself.

How the hell am I supposed to get through to him?

The answer is: I can't. So all that's left for me to do is protect my boyfriend from himself. In this case, that means going into the middle of the woods at the dead of night to become bait for a murderer. You do what you can for the people you love, I guess.