It was just past noon when the group of twenty stopped to rest. Everyone was using the short break to eat their lunch while they had the opportunity. The group was quiet and on edge. At the moment, they were stopped in a large field. It gave them a clear view of their surroundings for about a mile around. Even still, they were wary of titans. Sasha had been at the front all day, carefully tracking the bandits' movement. At first, she had been nervous about having so much responsibility, but over time she seemed to calm down and truly focus on her task. Amy had to admit, she was impressed. Sasha had been able to keep up with the tracks, even at a fast pace and hadn't led them astray once.

As Amy finished the last of her lunch, she gazed around at everyone, pausing on each of her friends. Each of them was grim-faced and focused on the mission, but at least they were still alive. Amy hoped that they stayed that way and that they all made it back to the base safely. She knew, deep down, that it was a foolish hope. The world was a cruel place. None of them would likely survive in it long.

Amy pushed the depressing thoughts to the back of her mind. It would do her no good to dwell on them now. They would only serve to distract her from the mission. As her thoughts turned back to the bandits they were pursuing, she couldn't help wondering about them. What was it that had driven them to leave the safety of the Walls and risk living in titan territory? It could have been the food shortage, but Amy felt that people would truly rather starve to death than be devoured by a titan. No matter how much she thought about it, she just couldn't conceive a reason for it. Titans were the most terrifying thing in the world. Humanities number one enemy. No reason she could think of seemed good enough.

Amy flinched when the Lieutenant's voice cut through the silence. "Alright. Break time is over. We need to keep moving. Mount up and move out." He ordered firmly. Everyone shuffled to their feet and pulled themselves into their saddles. Amy watched as Sasha moved to the front of the formation and wished her friend good luck. Sasha moved out into the lead and the rest followed after her. Steadily, the group was moving towards the mountains that were silhouetted on the horizon.

The tracks were moving unerringly in that direction. It seemed that either by pure luck, or some other miracle, the bandits hadn't encountered any titans on their path. The squad hadn't seen any evidence of a titan attack on the route so far. But it seemed they weren't going to be so lucky. Almost directly ahead, the group could see a titan lumbering around. It was tall, at least a fourteen meter class, with shaggy brown hair. Amy wondered how they were going to deal with it. They were on flat plains, which was the worst for using the maneuver gear, but it was the easiest terrain for the horses to run on. If the titan wasn't an aberrant, they should be able to simply out run it on the horses.

The Lieutenant signaled to circle around it. It seemed they were going to try and avoid it. Amy followed the rest of the group as they turned towards the left. The titan was facing the other way and hadn't seemed to notice them yet. They were almost past it when it finally turned and noticed them. A grotesque grin spread on its face as it started to chase them. Luckily, they made it past and soon the titan was trailing further and further back. It couldn't keep up with the speed of the horses and Amy sighed with relief as they left it far behind, a dark figure in the distance.

For hours they rode on with only the sound of the horses' hooves pounding against the earth. The sun was burning in the sky above, making it unbearably hot. There was no wind out, not even a slight breeze. Amy felt a trickle of sweat trail down between her shoulder blades. Being in full uniform out in the heat was taking its toll. She could tell everyone was starting to get tired. They had pushed the horses all day and she could tell they were nearing their limits. Dark sweat had gathered on their flanks and they were lathering at the bits in their mouths.

Ahead the mountains loomed dark and tall. Amy stared at them in wonder. She had never seen mountains so close before. The closer they got, the more trees there seemed to be until they were riding into a thickly forested area. They had to slow down the horses but there was still a fairly clear trail through the trees. It seemed to continue in an almost straight line towards the side of the mountain. It almost looked like an old, overgrown dirt road. Amy looked around at the terrain with apprehension. There were many place where titans could be lurking, unseen.

Her eyes trailed to a large boulder ahead to the right of the trail. It was huge and she wondered if it had rolled down from the mountain long ago. It was covered in a thick layer of green moss. The front of the line was just riding past it. Amy's eyes widened in horror as a large hand reached out from behind it and grabbed someone right off their horse. The person, a girl with brown hair, screamed and struggled against the titan's grip. Time seemed suspended for a moment as the group watched her blood spray through the air, her body bit clean in half by the titan's teeth.

The titan had been sitting on the other side of the boulder, leaning against it. Lieutenant Harrison shouted orders as it stood, using the boulder to push itself up. "There's only one! Use the trees and take it down!" His voice rang out around them. Before he even finished his sentence more titans came bursting through the trees. They were cut off from behind, and with titans on either side. It left them with only the option of going forward, towards the unknown, or fighting them.

Some of them were still heeding the Lieutenants orders and had already used their maneuver gear to dart through the trees. The Lieutenant yelled a crazed battle cry before activating his gear and flying through the air. "NO!" Amy heard someone yell out, she turned and saw Jean. "There are too many of them! We should retreat!" He was yelling as he tried to hold his horse steady. "Lieutenant, please it's too mu-" He stopped short, his expression horrified. Amy turned back and quickly realized why. One of the titans and reached out and grabbed Harrison by his leg as he flew by. He was going to die, and by the look on his face, he knew it too.

"EVERYONE RETREAT!" Harrison yelled as loud as he could. But it was too late for those that had chosen to fight. Amy watched as they each died, either eaten while still alive, or killed before being devoured. Those still on their horses kicked them into a run and headed further down the trail. Amy turned and looked behind them, watching as several of the titans split off and followed after them. A scream ahead of them pulled her attention back. One by one, the horses were falling to the ground. The pained, terrified screams of the horses mixed with theirs. Amy tumbled to the ground and rolled, trying to avoid being trampled. As the people shakily climbed to their feet, they could see the cause of the accident. Large, metal hunting traps had been laid out on the trail. The steel teeth traps had snapped closed over the horses legs, breaking them.

Amy, still a bit dazed from the fall, climbed unsteadily to her feet. The bruises on her back still weren't fully healed and they throbbed with renewed pain. "Amy look out!" Jason screamed next to her, she turned just in time to see the titan's fingers close around her body. It lifted her, its grip painfully tight, and opened its mouth wide. Amy stared at it in stunned silence. Pure terror coursed through her veins as the huge mouth grew closer and closer.

It jerked forward a bit and Amy saw the blood splash from its neck. Its grip loosened and she fell free. She watched as Jason skidded to a stop not to far away and ran towards her as she hit the ground. The titan's body shook the ground as it landed heavily next to her. Jason grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. "Come on!" He said as he began to run, dragging her with him. They dodged through the trees on foot, running towards the mountain still. Soon the trees thinned and Amy could see a black hole in the mountain side. She quickly realized it was a cave opening. They ran towards it, desperate for some kind of safety. They could hear the loud, thudding steps of a titan chasing behind them.

The darkness of the cave surrounded them as they ran inside. Their harsh, panting breaths and footsteps echoed around them. Amy turned and almost screamed but the movement she saw was just Jean and two others she didn't know running in behind them. Her heart thundered in her chest as a titan's face loomed before the opening of the cave, blocking out the sunlight. It reached in, trying to grab at them, but thankfully it couldn't. They cave looked like it went further back, but it was so dark the only thing they could see was a deep, inky blackness. At the cavern opening, the titan continued clawing at the floor and walls, trying to get to them.

Amy sank down to her knees and stared. Silent tears of grief trailed down her cheeks. Was this all that was left of them? Were they the only ones who got away? She couldn't help wondering. Lieutenant Harrison was dead, and so many others. What about Sasha, or Armin? Had they gotten away, or were they dead now too? Jason knelt next to her and slipped his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her against his chest and held her as she cried. After a moment, Amy wiped her tears away. She turned to Jason and gave him a small smile. "Thank you, for saving my life earlier and, you know, for everything." She told him quietly.

He smiled gently back and patted her on the head again. "I did say I'd look after you, didn't I?" He replied. Their smiles didn't last long in the face of the tragedy of their comrades deaths. Amy looked over at Jean and the others that had made it. She didn't really know the other two. She'd seen them around, but she didn't know their names. There was a tall girl with pale, blonde hair and green eyes and a boy with black hair and blue eyes. They both looked shaken up and were leaning against the wall not too far away. Jean was sitting with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

"What are we going to do now?" Amy asked, raising her voice to be heard over the noise of the titan clawing at the entrance. Her question wasn't really directed at anyone in particular, but she was looking at Jean. He lifted his head at her question and looked back at her. He was the only one present that had been in the same trainee squad. She knew him best out of everyone and she knew he had the potential to be a leader. He looked around, glancing first at everyone's faces and then to the entrance of the cave. Then his eyes trailed to the back of the cave, where it was too dark to see anything. When no one else spoke up, he sighed and answered her.

"The way I see it, we have two options. We can wait for that titan to lose interest in us and then sneak out, or we can try to see how far this cave goes. Both options have obvious dangers. If we leave the cave, then we expose ourselves to the titans. And if we try to explore the cave we could end up falling in a pit or something, since we don't have any light to see by." As he finished his explanation, he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

The other boy stepped up. "I think we should wait until nightfall. That titan will probably wander off by then and we can sneak out and head back. I'm sure some of the horses survived. Maybe we can find them and use them to get back." The blonde girl shook her head, looking frightened.

"I'm not going back out there." She said firmly. "There were so many titans and we were helpless against them with a squad of twenty. There are only five of us now. We wouldn't stand a chance." Nervously, she glanced over her shoulder and stared at the titan at the entrance. It had stopped clawing at them and was now laying there, just staring in at them with wide eyes. It was almost more unnerving.

The boy frowned at her. "Don't be stupid Marie. We don't have any supplies here. We can't just stay in this cave forever." Marie just continued looking back at the titan, fear in her eyes. "Listen to me!" He yelled, grabbing her arms and shaking her.

"Hey!" Jason called, standing and walking over to them. "Knock it off, Shaun. She's just scared, we all are, but we need to figure out what to do." Shaun glared at Jason, but let go of Marie and stepped away. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the cave wall. "Well, what are we going to do then?" He demanded, staring at Jason.

Jason shook his head, looking lost. Jean finally stood as well and cleared his throat. "I don't want to leave anyone behind, and honestly I agree with Marie on this, it's too dangerous to try and make it back to the castle at this point." Shaun shook his head, looking pissed, but before he could say anything Jean continued. "I think we should wait for a chance to go out and gather some wood. We can try to make some torches and explore the rest of the cave. If we're lucky it will lead out somewhere else and we can escape."

No one said anything to contradict his plan, so they all became silent and settled down to wait for the titan to leave. Jason moved over and sat back down next to Amy. They leaned against the cave wall and Amy winced. Her back was hurting quite a bit, but she stayed quiet and didn't say anything about it.

Marie stared at the titan the entire time, while the others tried to ignore it. Though, every time it shifted they would all turn to look at it. Several times it started up again, trying to claw its way to them. Some parts of the cave walls crumbled as it dug and it made them all nervous. That was when it finally happened, the titan scraped its fingers across the cave roof and it collapsed in, making the ground shake as the dirt and rocks rained down. Everyone scrambled away and covered their heads, trying to avoid the falling debris.

Total darkness surrounded them as the dust began to settle. Amy coughed and covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve. She could feel grains of dirt in her mouth, nose and eyes. Tears welled up and she let them flow down her face freely, trying to wash the dirt from her stinging eyes. Eventually, the stinging faded away and she could breathe again. Even with her eyes up open wide, she could see nothing, though she could still hear the others moving around and coughing. Jean's voice rang out, loud in the pitch black cave. "Is everyone alright?"

Everyone called back that they were fine. Jason's voice sounded like he was right next to her and Amy reached out to try and find him. Her fingertips brushed against cloth and she sighed with relief. Having someone there to be able to tangibly hold on to was reassuring in the dark. Her arm was grabbed roughly and suddenly twisted behind her back. She gave out a startled cry from the pain and a light flared to life. Everyone blinked at the bright glare and stared in shock at what they saw. From deeper within the cave, several people had snuck up on them. A few were holding flashlights and Amy could feel the cold barrel of a gun pointed at her head.

"No one move or I'll blow her brains out." The one holding her said in a gruff voice. Amy stared back at her squad mates with fear in her eyes. These had to be the bandits they were looking for. The other men in the group came forward and began removing their maneuver gear. Once they had them off, they snapped shackles on their wrists. Another man came up to Amy and removed her's while the man behind her held the gun steadily to her head. She shivered with disgust as his hands lingered in places they didn't need to as he pulled the straps free.

The heavy, cold weight of shackles settled on her wrists and she was shoved over to the rest of her team. "Come on." They man said, pointing the gun in their direction. The men standing behind them pushed them forward and they were lead deeper into the cave. More men had gathered up their maneuver gear and were carrying it back. Amy wondered where they were being taken, and what would happen to them once they got there.

Sorry for the long wait guys. I've been super busy.