Hello again!

I give up with timing, It's not like I've ever updated when I said I would. Procrastination skills!

Anyway, sorry to anyone who hates my guts for taking so long, I've just started college (UK college so not Uni, just to be clear) so I'm slowly going insane.However one things for sure I defiantly won't leave this story unfinished. Even if it takes me another 2 years, it will be finished!

The ship will sail!

Thank you again to anyone who takes their time to read my fanfiction(s) and to the 23,000 viewers who either glanced or read it all. Every reader helps!

Enjoy!

Wonderfully Beta read by CryDon'tSmile!

Disclaimer - AS ALWAYS I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO ATTACK ON TITAN, ISAYAMA IS BAE AND WE SHALL KEEP IT THAT WAY.

Chapter 15 - The Dangers of Nature

(Eren's POV)

My rib cage feels like it's going to explode from the sheer force of my heart beating. If it wasn't for the wolves' cries I think it would deafen me.

"What's the plan?!" Mikasa shouts across to me from her horse. I can see her hands gripped tightly around the reins; which I can't blame her for. I've never been on horses moving this fast. Sheer terror drives all animals this way.

"We just need to lose them!" I reply, having no plans whatsoever.

Mikasa gives a short nod and begins to drive her horse forward even more. The only way out of this is speed. The forest around us suddenly gets denser, making vision difficult, considering it's already night and the thick foliage isn't helping. I suddenly remember snatching up the oil for a lamp in the church and my hands fumble for the bag that's slung round me. The realisation I got this oil from a dead soldier's hands comes back into my mind and I have to do my best to not gag.

"You got the lamp?" I ask Mikasa, grasping the oil pot in my hand.

"Here," she shouts, throwing it to me. I light what little oil is left in the canister, topping it up with some from the pot. The sudden change in lighting makes my eyes strain. I try to focus on Mikasa, noticing her panicked expression.

"What's up?" I yell.

Her eyes meet mine slowly. Her confused yet worried look takes me aback a little.

"Did you pick up any of the supplies we unloaded at the church?"

I feel the blood drain from my face. All our food, water, gas… I put it by the door when we arrived.

"Shit...Are you fucking serious!"

Desperate, I tear through my shoulder bag I have on looking for anything important I may have picked up but there are only a few measly cans of food, my water skin and the oil pot with matches. My eyes meet Mikasa's again and she mimics me, looking through her bag. My heart relaxes a little when I see her expression soften however. She pulls out the map Levi gave her and waves it in her hand. Without that we would be dead in a week. She places it safely back in her bag. A wolf call comes from behind us making my body stiffen. I snap my neck around, expecting to see the pack snapping at our heels, but all I see is the shadows of the forest. Still, I know they're close. I'm starting to really wonder if we can outrun them; how long can the horses keep this pace?

"How much gas have you got?" I call over to Mikasa, thinking of methods we may have to use.

"Enough," she says, her answer not comforting me at all.

The terrain suddenly changes as we enter a narrow pass, the trees rising above us on steep cliff sides forcing us to go single file down the path with me taking the lead. We're too vulnerable. Just as that thought enters my head I hear the faint yipping of dogs above us on the cliffs. I look up, catching a flash of eyes peering down at me. It's like they read my mind. I turn to warn Mikasa but she's already seen them, her hands already gripped around a sword. Following her lead, I grab mine too as we prepare to fight them off, still galloping on horseback. A few of the smaller wolves emerge from the tree line with their paws knocking pebbles and dust from the top of the ridge, but they don't pounce. A couple more run ahead and join in on scrambling next to us. My eyes dart forwards, tracking where the path bends and my heart jumps when I see a two way split down the passageway no more than two-hundred metres from here. That's our exit.

My voice calling out Mikasa's name can barely be heard above the snarling and stamping but, despite that, it feels like I've just let a bomb go off. Before I even realise what's happening a scrambling mass of grey fur is already lunging onto me from above. I hear Mikasa scream my name but it's a whisper compared to the sound of the animal snapping at my face. My arms desperately try to push it away as it digs its claws into my shoulders, making my skin burn with agony. More wolves attempt to jump in my direction and all I can do is kick them away, leaving me desperately hanging on with one leg. Panicking, I suddenly remember I'm gripping my blade and I do everything I can to twist my arm around the wolf's ribs, planting the weapon deep into its side. It lets out a high pitched whine as it's body slumps off me, down under the hooves of the horse. Another one lunges at me straight after that, but I bat it away with my blade. I hear the sound of gasping behind me and I whip my head around to see Mikasa battling away. She makes them fall like dominos beside her. For a second her head turns to face me and I cringe at the gash she has on her right cheek, blood streaming down her chin. Another wolf draws her attention away from me and she carries on, unfazed by the cut. My horse makes a sudden cry and I whirl back to the front seeing a larger wolf sinking its claws into its neck. I slash it away but it remains planted, the horse now crashing into the sides of the ridge trying to shake off the beast. I look up quickly, seeing we are less than 50 metres from the spilt in the passage. We can still make this. Driven by adrenaline, I slash and stab at the wolf biting at the horse, managing to half decapitate it in the process. I flail my sword around in a frenzy driving off most of the other wolves that slip down the side. The smaller ones hesitate to continue.

"I can see an exit!" I shout back to Mikasa and she replies with some untranslatable scream that sounded positive. I think she gets it.

Despite the pieces of flesh now dangling from its neck my horse makes a sudden last burst for the side slip, darting past any oncoming wolves. It feels like a miracle when we make it past the spilt. My lungs let out a sigh of relief as we draw away from the wolves down the new path, the barks and snarls echoing behind us. I glance back just in time to see them struggling to get down the ridge we left behind, and I doubt most of them will follow.

"Are you injured Eren?" Mikasa hollers to me, her voice slightly hoarse. I give her a thumbs-up despite the fact I'm actually having 50 heart attacks right now.

Deciding we are far enough away from the other path, I slow down slightly to face her. My breath catches when I see her properly. Her face is scratched and bleeding and her clothes are ripped, showing dozens of blossoming bruises. Why is she asking me if I'm alright? I mean, I can see she's losing blood… She's even missing half a finger...

"Mikasa, you-"

"I'm fine Eren," she snaps, her eyes warning me.

I open my mouth to argue but a growing bounding of feet behind us again snaps it shut.

They just don't quit.

"How many?" I call back.

"Just one, I can handle it," Mikasa says shortly, slashing her blade behind her. A howl of pain tells me she did handle it. I feel the tension leave my body a little as she puts her blade away.

"Clear?" I ask.

"Clear as it can be for now," she answers, before taking a quick gulp of water from her water skin.

I really do hope the worst is over.

We slow down a little after Mikasa is convinced the pack have lost interest, the lonely howls echoing in the distance. However, despite what she said, I can't shake the feeling we are still being watched, the shadows of the forest keep playing tricks with my vision. We give the horses a few gulps of our now limited water supply after Mikasa's begins to stumble,, and it's too dark to see but I think it's got a nasty bite wound on its back leg.

"He needs rest," I say looking at Mikasa's horse while Mikasa herself is busy messing with her pack. She must have checked the food we have left about 5 times now; I don't think she can accept everything's pretty much gone. It's been a rough day, that's for sure.

"We can't stop until dawn," she says bluntly, glancing up at the sky. "We've got another hour at the most until then."

I look at her horse again, its back leg limping heavily now. My gut twists as I hope she really isn't going to make that thing walk much further. I don't think it can.

"Mikasa, look at it!" I demand, stopping my own horse in front of hers so I'm blocking the path.

She looks up slowly from her supply check and stares at me with a mild expression of annoyance. I try my best to not bring up the oozing cut she has on her face. Sighing, she tears her gaze from mine and jumps off the saddle, taking the gas lamp with her to the back of the panting animal. I hear her sigh again and I know it's not good. The horse sits down as if it's bracing for the bad news itself. Mikasa looks at me while stroking its behind. "It's got a chunk missing from its upper leg; I'm surprised it isn't bleeding out."

God damn, I didn't want to hear that.

"How long until you think you can run on him again?" I ask, knowing it's not going to be an overnight fix.

Mikasa bends down again looking the cut over again. "A couple of weeks, maybe? I'll have to ride with you until then."

I raise my eyebrows at that last part and feel heat rising on my face. I turn away from Mikasa quickly; that's a bit too close for comfort. I'm about to tell her we can sort all that out once were out of the woods when something catches my eye again. The shadows are playing tricks on me, I'm sure. I squint into the darkness and just as I'm convinced I'm hallucinating from lack of sleep, I see it. I call out to warn Mikasa just as one of two wolves' springs past me and onto Mikasa's bleeding horse, the other pouncing for me. My horse rears at the shock and I tumble backwards onto the forest floor. I glance up to Mikasa hoping for help up but she's already batting away the wolf attacking her horse. I see her take one of its ears off just as its friend snaps at my foot, changing my attentions direction from Mikasa to the wold itself. As I scrabble backwards to get away my back hits the trunk of a tree and I do my best to kick the beast away while at the same time reaching round for a blade. It's apparent that I really can't multitask, but I finally get my sword out, though ending up getting a shallow bite mark under my left boot. I grunt in pain, earning a worried call from Mikasa. I ignore her and continue to struggle against the wolf, feeling very pleased with myself when I manage stab it straight in the head. Pushing the body off me I stand up, leaning against the tree. Another wolf howls from the tree line. The pack must have tracked us and looped round. Thankyou dad for not telling me how smart these fucking animals could be! My head darts to Mikasa who has just finished off the first wolf, and I run over to her and the distressed horse that remains on the ground, now with a fresh wound shredded into its neck.

"Help me get him up!" Mikasa yells pulling at the horse's reins, earning more sounds of pain from it.

I nod and run round to the horses back, pushing as much as I can to get it to his feet but the effort is futile; it's in too much pain. Mikasa continues pulling, anger plastered on her face that tells me she knows it's too late as well. A sudden rustle from the bushes draws my vision and I panic, lunging at Mikasa and taking her to the floor as a wolf jumps into view, going right over us. It sinks its teeth straight into the horse's stomach, ignoring us. The noise the horse makes is traumatic and I have to hold my breath to stop myself from vomiting. Mikasa herself stares in horror at the carnage and all I can do is climb off her and drag us both away to my own horse, leaving the poor thing behind. We're both climbing onto the saddle when another three wolves emerge from further down the path. Mikasa suddenly screams as one dives her way, pulling at her sideways off the saddle. My hand grabs for hers desperately but only our fingers graze and I watch horrified she hits the floor head first. Her face slackens as she loses consciousness. My whole body goes rigid.

Mikasa...

I scream her name distraughtly as I feel raw anger build up inside me, sending me into frenzy. I dive onto the nearest wolf, slashing and gouging at its face and not caring what I hit; so much that I think I cut my own face in the process. It cowers away and I frantically snatch Mikasa's limp body away from another attacker, throwing her onto the horse. I cut the remaining wolf on the nose and it backs off, growling, joining the rest of the pack tearing away at the still struggling horse, leaving me an opening to get out. Backing away, I jump onto the horse, leaving no time to see if Mikasa's okay, only caring about getting the fuck out of here. I don't look back to the scene I leave behind once. The sounds of Mikasa's horse dying mixed with the feeling of her blood seeping from her head through my shirt are enough to give me nightmares already.

I don't even know if she'll wake up.

(Levi's POV)

"Ah, I miss the taste of tea," I say to myself while drinking from the bottle of shitty lake water I collected this morning. What I wouldn't give for a pot of green tea, or maybe some Earl Grey.

Or maybe a whole bottle of whiskey would hit the spot too…

I take another sip of the disgusting water, trying not to vomit as I look up towards the moon. It must be 2am by the looks of things. That makes three days exactly since I got here. Three days of waiting around for something to happen. Three days of trying to scrub the disgusting cabin I'm in clean with only fucking rats to talk to. Three more days here until I can move anywhere again. Yippee.

I stand up from the extremely uncomfortable log I'm sitting on to stretch. You would think the Survey Corps supply areas would come with some sort of seating to use but apparently sleeping on rock hard floors and waking up with back ache every morning is all included in the job. I quickly feel slightly unhappy thinking about who arranged all the supply areas. I kick the dirt in front of me, mumbling to myself.

"Fucking Erwin and his fucking funding not going on chairs. Fucking Erwin sending a kid to warn me about the king and his men. Fucking Erwin going and dying on me... that piece of shit."

I sit down again suddenly overcome by how alone the thought of everyone being dead or locked up makes me feel. I run my fingers through my hair that hasn't been washed in three days. Ugh.

"H-Hello? Some...one..." a hoarse voice calls from the cabin behind me.

Just what I fucking need.

I stand up, sighing at just the thought of reciting everything that's happened to him in the last three days of him being out of it.

It's time to inform Armin of how I heroically saved his useless life and how I have a plan to find his two just as useless friends. I might also tell him he needs to go and chew some fucking mint leaves for that breath. Giving that guy CPR two times nearly killed me.

Don't you just love cliff-hangers? But hey! Look on the Brightside, Levi is back! (well sort of)

Like I said no promises when it will next be updated but hopefully it will be before the new year!

Until next time!