Stranded II

After walking for a while he guessed by the way the sun beat down against his back that it was possibly around noon. A watch wasn't left with him when he was stranded here, but thankfully he had a journal so he could at least count the days. He also wondered how these people were going to find him in the first place if he was free to roam where he pleased. Unless this place was somewhere small. An island, maybe? He shrugged his shoulders with another sigh.

He thought harder about the situation he was in and the person, possibly more than one, behind it. Was it some kind of organization? They said this was for training, but for what purpose? Eren scratched out the possibility of the military being involved, since this would be considered an illegal act. A secret group, perhaps. He felt a shiver run through him and he wondered briefly if these people were as dangerous as he was making them out to be at this point. All he knew was that he needed to survive and reach humanity, a town, he hoped.

Trudging on, his eyes caught a glimpse of a small lake ahead surrounded by a group of trees that thinned out the farther they grew from the water. It seemed like a decent place to take up camp for the next couple nights until he could get his thoughts together and maybe, finally, get someone to answer him over his transceiver. Speaking of which, he had tried multiple times during the past couple hours and he still received nothing but static. Why would they bother giving him this transceiver if they weren't planning on talking to him? Unless they were giving him time to collect himself, he didn't see a reason not to answer him. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. The shock of being left out here was wearing off a bit, his mind choosing to focus on the survival skills he had researched and sorta practiced at home.

Ahh, home. He could be somewhere in the state still, or in another state entirely. He had only lived in New York since he was 13, his parents having moved to the United States from Germany around 12 years ago, and he stayed with Mikasa around the same area ever since, so he wasn't too clear on what the entire state had to offer.

As he walked, he huffed and unhooked the transceiver from his belt, bringing it up to his face.

"This is Eren Jaeger, please respond!" Minutes passed. He growled. Damnit. This whole mess was just becoming infuriating.

Hooking it back onto his belt, he finally reached the water and stared down into its surprisingly clear pools. Small tadpoles scurried to and fro when his shadow loomed over them. Kneeling down, he cupped his hands in the water and splashed the cold liquid onto his face, cleaning off sweat and grime from the long walk. He thought about stripping and taking a dip to cool off entirely, but he wasn't sure about what lurked in these waters.

He stood and walked toward the trees, emerald eyes scanning the area for anything that he could possibly create a shelter with. The rain cloud he had spotted earlier in the distance had grown closer, but the wind was almost nonexistent and he had been walking away from it so it was still a ways away. He had time to put together something. Too bad those coots didn't give him a hatchet or an axe, it would have made this entire thing much easier. Instead, there were decent sized branches laying around and he picked them up, dragging some, to a raised part of the ground by the lake. This way he wouldn't be sitting in a pool of water by the time the rain passed, and he would be relatively dry.

There were fresh branches that he broke off from the trees as well, using his pocket knife to split the ends before pulling them apart, creating make-shift rope to tie up the pieces of wood. He made a small bed off of the ground and a poor lean-to, but it was enough. He scattered dead leaves over the back of it. It took him about 2 hours to finish, at least it felt like 2 hours. He struggled to judge the time by the position of the sun, but guessed it was the afternoon. He was at least happy that there was a light canopy above that gave him shade to work in.

With a sigh, he finally sat down on the small, wooden bed, and pulled out a bag of beef jerky, tearing it open to pull out two pieces. He put the rest away, even though his stomach growled in protest. He would have to catch and gather his own food soon enough, and he wasn't looking forward to it. Whoever it was didn't even give him a gun, something else besides two knives, albeit very sharp knives. He would have to settle for small game with trap he had learned how to make off the internet and his machete. Also, fire. He would have to figure out how to do that as well. He cringed. This was not looking good so far.

He wondered, has this happened to anyone else? He chewed on his lip nervously, thinking about Mikasa. If they came into my room to take me away, something must have happened to her as well. Mikasa had always been a very light sleeper, and she would have heard something going on, which leads me to believe they did something with her. Took her somewhere. Did something.

Gah, his thoughts were racing too fast, he needed to slow down and take a deep breath, and that's what he did.

Or, he thought. Or...maybe they didn't need her and left her behind, albeit her putting up a fight. Eren ground his teeth together. He couldn't make sense of anything and hung his head after devouring his snack.

He didn't know how long he sat there, but when he looked up again the sun was a little lower in the sky now, looking to be around the late afternoon. His body was stiff, but not sore. It would take a lot more to make a student of BJJ and Muay Thai sore. He grimaced. He would be missing so many classes, he would have to make up for it out here.

He felt a small drop of rain land on his arm and he scoot back farther into the lean-to as much as he could, using his backpack as a pillow and his cloak as a blanket. The air was already cooling down as the sun sank lower and lower.

Eren heaved a deep sigh and let his thoughts wander where they pleased, but where they went, he couldn't hold back the stinging of tears in his eyes. He was alone, completely and utterly alone, in the middle of nowhere, away from home, away from Mikasa. He wanted to hug her, he wanted his bed, he wished he was out at a bar with Armin, laughing and throwing away his cares. He wanted to scream and cry. His fingers found themselves tangled in his hair and his eyes were screwed shut. For the rest of the night, he wondered if he would ever see home again.

When Eren awoke the next morning he realized it was still pretty early, the sun still out of sight behind the mountain range. There was just enough light for him to see and he rose to a sitting position to stretch. He groaned miserably. The cold from the night had made his limbs stiffer than the day before and he felt a goosebumps on his arms. It was still chilly and he unconsciously wrapped the cloak tighter around himself. The water was still, only small ripples here and there as signs of small fish, water bugs, and tadpoles. He also noticed the branches of his lean-to were damp, and some of the rain had still reached him in his sleep. No big deal.

Reaching for his pack, he brought out another piece of jerky and slowly ate, tearing off tough chunks and chewing thoroughly. As he ate, he thought of his next move. If he left tomorrow he would continue heading the way he was going in hopes of coming across a road or trail of some sort. Any sign of human life would be enough and he would track whatever he found.

"This is too insane," he said to himself as he pulled out the transceiver again. Hopefully, this time he would get an answer. It head already been a night.

"Hello, anyone there? This is Eren, please respond." Once again in German, just in case.

Nothing.

He squeezed the small device tight in his hand as it trembled lightly. Damn it! His fist came into contact with one of the branches, causing it to crack and splinter underneath his fist. The pain was almost nonexistent from years of hard training and for a second, he almost wished that wasn't the case. Loneliness was the bane of anyone's existence, and he wanted none of it.

The sun beat down harshly on the brunet, the chill of the morning having worn off hours ago, but thankfully, the cloak draped over him was a great deterrent. He rose early and began on his path once more after packing his things. Still, no one had answered him and he began to wonder if there was any purpose at all to having the handheld transceiver. Not that he would get rid of it, of course, there could still be a use for it yet.

A sweaty hand tried in vain to wipe away the sheen of dampness on his forehead. He huffed and used the cloak, wiping at his eyes as well where the saltiness of the sweat had stung his eyes.

The mountains to his left were a great help in guiding him on his path and they stretched as far as he could see while shading his eyes. The grass beneath his feet was a mix of lively green and crunchy dead straw. Patches of wildflowers were scattered all about, some of which he had no idea the names of, and there were some he had never seen before. He had studied plants all over the US with the aid of books from the library and the internet; there was rarely anything he couldn't identify.

Eren's feet hurt, as did his spirit, and he focused on mindless things to keep together his sanity. He thought, What would Mikasa do in this situation?

Most likely the same as he, but unlike him her consciousness was like steel. She was strong. This situation made him feel weak. Hopeless.

By the time the sun was setting he made it to another body of water, this one much smaller than the last, but just as clear. He wondered if it snowed here. The clear water would be runoff from the melting snow to create the fresh springs, and when he took a closer look, the mountain caps were white. Something that he didn't notice before.

Eren shrugged off the backpack and sat down in a patch of bright green grass, immediately taking off his shoes to rub his aching feet. His fingers made small circles, pressing harder where it hurt the most. He released a long groan of relief and looked at the sky.

The clouds had disappeared, leaving nothing but a clear, beautiful blue sky above. There would be no need to make another shelter this time and he thanked no one in particular for the easy night.

Deciding to keep his shoes off for the night, he settled down and ate the last few pieces of the jerky before stuffing the wrapper into his bag. Middle of nowhere or not, he wouldn't litter.

He wrapped himself into his cloak and threw the hood over his head, curling up into a tight ball. He watched the small ripples in the water, letting his mind drift off once again. After his parents were killed he made a vow to live a happy, carefree life with Mikasa. He vowed to protect her. Keep her safe from everything that dare harm her. He was overprotective; the definition of overprotective, even though he knew damn well she could take care of herself. He always relayed what he learned from his classes back to her, teaching her everything he knew, and in return, she taught him how to use guns and knives from the weapons shop she worked at. They both worked to keep their lives easy; she at the shop and him at an ice skating rink across the street from his Muay Thai gym. Alongside that, he had Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes every other day, and online college classes to finish, so you could say their schedules were filled and neither got to sleep until late at night.

When he felt something warm and wet on his face, he reached up a hand to investigate, realizing...he was crying. The tears continued to flow, warm and salty, and he struggled to breathe, his chest feeling so tight that he wanted to clutch at it and pound for it to stop. He felt so fucking alone. There was no one, and the realization that he might die out here made him tremble.

He yanked his hair and let out a loud, heart wrenching scream.

Later that night, sleep had still yet to take him and he lay there motionless with dried tear stains on his face. He felt numb, and his heart ached in longing. The moonlight reflected off the water and cast a bluish hue on his surroundings. It was serene, but he didn't care.

That's when he heard the static.

Jumping up, he nearly pounced on his bag and dug out the transceiver from the bottom, his heart going wild. Someone was going to finally talk to him, someone was here! He brought the transceiver up to his face and spoke hurriedly, his voice filled with relief.

"Hello, this is Eren Jaeger, please respond!"

After a moment, a smooth, deep voice sounded from the device and he felt like melting into the ground.

"Hello, Eren Jaeger. This is Levi Ackerman. Tell me your location." The man sounded impatient.

Eren nearly stuttered, but he kept his voice steady. "I... I don't know where I am. I just woke up in the middle of nowhere, who are you? Why did you leave me here? What are you going to do? Why did you put me here?" By the end, his words were coming out frantic. He finally had someone on the other line.

There was a pause, and he could have sworn he heard his own heart beat.

"Shut up, brat," the man said sharply. "We are going to save you."