Eren

I grab a solid branch in front of me with both of my hands. I let myself fall and hang on the branch before swinging and jump on another tree. I'm around ten meters high, and here the branches are so entangled together that I can move easily by jumping from a tree to another, without ever needing to get back on the ground. I grab another branch, then another one, and so on. I don't need any three-dimensional maneuver gear. I don't have mine anyway. It has obviously been stolen. I keep on focusing on my gestures. If I ever miss any move, if any branch breaks as I grab it, I fall. And given the height of the tree I'm hanging on, it would not be very pleasant.... But I'm staying calm. I know my exact limits, and I trust my own abilities. I know what I can do, and what I can't.

I'm carefully following a four-men group for several minutes now. They are not actually inconspicuous. They are totally silent, yet their lights are betraying them, even through the thick leafage. For my part, I'm totally undetectable in the darkness, totally inaudible in the silence. Just one more shadow in the night, one more breathe in the wind. I'm following my pursuers, and I can see them searching for me all around them, without ever looking up. So far, so good.

Then, under my foot, a branch cracks and falls down on the ground, ten meters below. I freeze instantly. It catches the soldiers' attention. Some light beams go through the leafage right below me. I hold my breathe.

"Hey, what was that?" A man inquires, suspicious. "I heard a noise, right here..."

Two of the men search with their lights around the place where the branch fell.

"An animal, I guess... We're in a forest, y'know. There are animals basically everywhere. Don't get scared every time there's a little noise... Stay focused, kiddo."

"Fuck off..." He replied while finally getting his light down with a little hesitation.

Hidden behind the trunk and standing on an high branch, I feverishly catch my breathe. I curse internally for calling their attention. I was lucky they didn't check what was going on above their heads... But if I keep making such mistakes, I'll soon get caught... I will have to act soon. To be honest, I don't even know what I'm waiting for. I still can't accept this idea, but I would probably have to kill them, otherwise they would kill me. There is no doubt about their intentions. But my instinct is somehow stopping me from attacking now. I am anxious, what will probably happen is scaring me. I can see that there is a huge gap between the power of their weapons and my current state. Their heavy guns are made to slaughter human beings with a horrifying efficiency... The indescribable of the bullet piercing through my flesh is still etched in my mind, even though my body kept no memory of this.

While we are advancing through the forest, I feel my muscles weaken and stiffen with cramps. My stamina is reaching its limit. No matter if I want it or not, the fighting time is coming. Once again... I sigh. Well, I guess it's now or never. If I wait any longer, it will be too late. I reach a tree right above the four soldiers, and silently climb down a few branches. I pull out my new knife, and carefully choose my target.

Music: ERENthe標
By Hiroyuki Sawano

https://youtu.be/G0UG_CC4S2c

I'm now seven meters above the ground. The landing will definitely be painful, but it's nothing compared to what I'm going to make them experience... The knife tightly held in my fist, the blade down, I jump from the tree. As an eagle coming down from the sky to catch its prey, I fall right on my victim, and I shove at the same time my blade through his skull. I hear a grim sound, and we both fall down to the ground. I stand up. He stays on the ground. I don't waste any second: I take the opportunity given by the surprise effect, and I throw my armed fist at one of the soldiers' throat who is petrified by the shock. He made no noise, and just collapses on the ground while drowning in his own blood.

A gun is then aimed at me. I grab its cannon, throw it away and give a violent heel strike in the sternum of the man who was holding it. But behind me, the last soldier, aims at my back. He is too far from me to stop him from shooting at me, yet too close to allow me enough time to dodge it. I have no other choice: I protected myself with the only shield I found. I grab the man I winded by the collar, and I pull him between the other soldier and me. His eyes almost go out of his sockets as he was getting in the back the rain of bullets I was supposed to get. I step back a few centimeters under the force of the gunshots.

All of that happened in a short time: in a matter of seconds, three men are already lying on the ground, dead. The only ones still standing in the middle of this macabre scene are me and a young Marley. He seems... horrified by what just happened, and what he did. His eyes are expressing so much terror and despair...

I have a short moment a doubt, before I realize this hesitation could have killed me. But thanks to my military reflexes, I manage to avoid a certain death: I immediately go on the ground to narrowly dodge all the bullets that just came out of the soldier's gun. I can't afford any other hesitation. Still on the ground, I rush on his legs, encircle them with my arms, and I tackle the soldier who drops his assault rifle. He tries to take out his knife, but I'm faster: instantly, I shove my knife in his temple. Some hot and dark blood flows down on my hand. Slowly, the life leaves the eyes of my victim.

I don't move for several minutes. The blood dries on my hands. My heartbeat gradually slows down. Then, I finally stand up.

I don't feel anything. Just as if I became insensitive to any emotion. I simply pick up the rifle from the soldier, and a flare. Then I climb up a tree again. I'm moving without even being aware of what I'm doing. Just as if my acts are normal, ordinary, habitual. I don't think. I act. If I start thinking now, I know I would not have the force to carry  on what I have to accomplish.

I fire up the flare which flies into the sky with a red and intense glow. The only thing to do now is wait... I wait. I don't think about anything. My mind is totally empty, blank, like... anesthetized. I know what happened, yet I can't feel anything, as if it  was too much for my mind to handle. I stare at the red-tinted ground with no emotion. Passive and impassive, I silently wait for the right moment.

External POV

"You know what this signal means. Our comrades need us... We don't know how the situation is yet we must be ready to fight! Now is the time. Fight with honor and fulfill your duty as soldiers of Marley! Think about this: if we win tonight, we could finally get over this war. We could get the peace. And come back to our homes. Our families. Isn't this what we want? Yeah... That's why we have to succeed tonight. The future of Marley depends on our success." Wolfgang said.

The two others silently agree. They both know what Wolfgang is fighting for, and what he is ready to do for that. Beyond his faith in Marley, he fights for something else: His family is everything he has, and he would do anything to finally be able to live a peaceful life with them. Anyone who would know him, even a little, would know this...

"Yeah..." Ludwig says. "I can't die here... I will come back to my home, no matter what... I can't die like all the others that were massacred last night..."

The three men start running as fast as they can through the forest, holding their guns tightly to be ready to shoot as soon as needed.

Eren

Gradually, human sounds reach my ears. Loud voices, heading to my position. Yeah... They are coming. As expected, they gave  up on the discretion at the sight of the light signal, as they must have thought that the enemy had finally been found. They are far from even imagining what they will actually find out... They are extremely close now.

I arm the rifle.

"We're getting close to the target!" Someone shouts.

I aim at where the voices are coming from.

"Prepare yourself! We are almost there!"

I put my finger on the trigger.

"The victory is at our fingertips! Get ready!"

However, tonight, their hope of victory will be shattered by a cruel disillusionment of death.

They come out of the trees and instantly stop, seeing the massacre that happened there. On their faces can be seen stupor. Incomprehension. Pain. Terror. All of that, at the same time.

As the only soldier able to discern me in my camouflage, Wolfang looks up at me. He sees my weapon aimed at him. And I see in his eyes that he just understood. He understood what is going to happen to him. He understood that he will not make it back home. Never. He closes his eyes. One only tear runs down my cheek. I press the trigger. A leg immediately gets crushed. A random arm gets torn off. A rib cage gets destroyed. A face gets ripped up. A head gets exploded. A hand gets cut off. An eye gets burst out. A shoulder gets wrecked.

I release the trigger. The few remains of the corpses collapse to the ground in a thud. Then, an absolute silence. I sling the rifle on my shoulder I jump, and painfully touch the ground. I come close to one of the corpses, and take off the blade shoved in his skull. I take a cartridge belt off him, and put it on.

I stand there for a few seconds, staring at what I did, before looking away. I turn around, and walk away, slowly. I go straight ahead, advancing sinuously between the trees. And I come across all the forest like that, before eventually reaching the edge separating the wood from the outside. I come out of its oppressive darkness for that of the moonless night, more peaceful. I stop here.

And, only then, all alone in the middle of nowhere, I start crying.