The Fall

Today, all of humanity received a grim reminder.

I stood there, rooted in place, staring at the giant flesh-less face of the Titan the peered over the wall at us. No one spoke, no one moved, no one even dared to breathe as its large eyes glared at us. They seemingly piercing right through our very beings and in the next moment, when I did dare to take a breath to scream, the base of the wall directly in front of us exploded with a violent wind.

I crossed my arms in front of me to protect my face from the flying debris that came my way and shut my eyes tight, just barely staying on the ground as I skidded back a couple of feet on my toes, my skirt and hair whipping around violently in the unnatural wind. Once it finally subsided I lowered my arms, now cut up and bruised from small rocks that flew my way, and opened my eyes.

I looked to the wall where the explosion and wind had come from, and what I saw made my heart stop in fear. There was a hole in the wall, bigger than most of the Titans that were now making their way through. They had breached the wall.

But that was impossible, that wall was 50 meters high and forged from solid bedrock.

What was happening?

Somewhere nearby a woman suddenly screamed, her high pitched wail piercing the air like a siren, unfreezing everyone from their dazed and fear induced shock. My knees buckled from beneath me as the people around me screamed and scrambled to get away, abandoning whatever tasks they had been doing beforehand.

I looked up, barely being able to see the silhouettes of people in Titans' grasps and mouths, most already being dead and some were even children. Only then did I really hear the screaming of the people, the dying people that were uselessly struggling against the Titans.

It was no use. We were dead, all of us, no matter what we did we were going to die.

But something deep down in the back of my mind kept me going, something in the back of my mind told me to fight, to survive. And that something, that little voice, made me stand on shaking legs, turn tail, and run. Run so hard and so fast that my legs felt like jelly and made my throat raw.

I was not brave, I was a coward, but that was just like the rest of humanity, living trapped behind giant walls waiting to be devoured like livestock. This day truly had been coming.

I just managed to turn a corner and hide behind a building, collapsing onto my hands and knees, and gasping for much needed breath as my legs began to cramp.

I leaned against the wall behind me for support and peered around the corner. People were stampeding past me, screaming and in such a panic they didn't even care if they were trampling one of their own, with a group of Titans hot on their trail. Some snatching them up, crushing and eating them.

I was shaking so violently in fear I thought I might vomit.

I chocked when I saw a child, no more than eight, get snatched up from where he sat on the ground, crying and wailing for his mother. He cried and shrieked as the ugly, grinning brute of a giant brought him up to his face. The boy struggled, kicked, and writhed against the Titan's grip uselessly as the Titan opened its large maw, showing perfect rows of shining white teeth ready to rip through flesh.

The Titan shoved the boy into its mouth up to his thighs. Then he bit. With a sickening crack and splatter the boy was bitten in half, his struggles ceasing. Blood splattered on the ground making some people slip, fall, and be eaten by another Titan.

I felt a drop of something warm and sticky hit my cheek. I dabbed at it with my fingers and glanced at them. Blood. My fingers were covered in the boy's blood. This time I really did throw up, only to dry heave when my stomach was empty. I glanced up, still gagging, and saw the very same Titan coming towards where I hid.

I scrambled up despite the protests of my aching legs and turned to run, only to discover that I had run myself into a dead end. I ran to the end of the alley, and shrunk down into a tight ball and hugged myself as I hoped and prayed the Titan would not find me. My prayers were in vain however, when the Titan somehow spotted me out of the corner of its eye.

It turned into the alley, its everlasting grin still plastered on its lip-less face. I whimpered, not wanting to die. Not now and not like that boy.

"God… help me… please." I whimpered, my throat raw and burnt from my upchucked stomach acid.

With each step the Titan took towards me I sobbed and just sat there absolutely petrified. I trembled and shook, clenching my hands so tightly my nails dug into my palms, creating small crescent cuts and dripping blood onto the ground and my skirt.

"Oh god…" I whimpered again as the Titan reached down and plucked me from the ground, bringing me ups to its face. Its grinning, putrid face seemed to mock me. "Please no…"

It opened its mouth, bombarding me with its breath that stunk of gore, rot and blood as it shoved me part way into its slimy maw.

"Oh please god, no."

Its mouth was hot, slick and horrid. It's tongue fleshy and tough against my fingers as I weakly tried to claw to freedom. I felt like throwing up all over again but all I did was gag and heave.

The Titans now had the means to break through the walls. We were doomed. All of mankind was doomed to die as the cattle we were, locked in our cages. There wasn't even point in fighting.

That was my last thought before the Titan bit, snapping my spine in a brief moment of pain before the Titan's sharp teeth ripped through my flesh and bit me in half.

At the very least; it was a quick end.