Tainted (Levi x Reader)

Chapter 4

Your eyes opened groggily to a forest canopy above and the sound of something sliding. You raised your head as best you could and looked to either side, then up.

The same man from last night limped along, dragging you behind him by a rope. You were wrapped in a blanket and bound with more ropes.

"Hey shit face!" You shouted at him. "I'll give you five seconds to untie me or I'll finish what that shorty started!" Please don't make me have to kill you. I've been doing so well.

The stranger glanced back at you with angry eyes and a blood crusted face, but didn't say anything.

You groaned inwardly. Feeling along your waist belt beneath the blanket, your fingers deftly found the throwing knife holstered on the inward facing part of the belt, and you easily wiggled it free. You poked a hole in the blanket and widened it, continually glancing at your captor as you sawed slowly through the ropes.

"Hey, hey!" He finally noticed and dropped the rope to wrestle the knife away from you, holding the sharp black blade to your throat and pressing hard enough that a thin trickle of blood rolled down your neck. "Your daddy said he wanted you alive," the man growled as he pinned you. "But he never said you had to be in good shape."

You glared fiercely at him and spat in his face.

The man sighed. "Look, I'm just trying to keep my own head off the chopping block here, okay? I got a family, you know."

"Yeah? Your bitch know you're out and about kidnapping little girls?"

The man shrugged. "Don't matter none, long as I'm home for supper. Look, I'm gonna have to knock you out again. Do us both a favor and take it, soldier. Little girl, my ass," he muttered the last part.

As he shifted his weight slightly to put you in a headlock, you lunged up and snatched a knife from a sheath on his belt. You plunge it into his gut, twisting it. Blood poured onto you as his eyes bulged.

His meaty hand clenched the knife he still held as he slumped. You somehow managed to push the man off and stand up. You were drenched in his blood from the stomach down. Walking with your limbs spread, you put a few steps of distance between you and the man.

Great. Where am I? You turned and surveyed the endless forest around you. Nothing looked familiar. He dragged me, so maybe if I follow that trail it'll take me home...

You heard a soft whir seconds before pain exploded in the back of your left thigh. Can't you just stay dead for once?!

But looking back, he was definitely dead, and still gripping your throwing knife. Your movement was just in time to avoid a second knife that hit the tree beside you. Ohh, shit!

You yanked out the knife from your thigh with a stifled scream, and immediately took off at a sprint in the direction the trail seemed to come from, trying your best to ignore the heavy bleeding in your leg and keep going. You weaved but still kept to relatively the same direction as you ran. You heard the sound of a horse not far off from where you had come. Hopefully the dense trees slow it down.

~*~

At HQ

Levi stood in the doorway as Erwin and Mike inspected the room for clues.

"Cadet (L/n) certainly put up a fight," Erwin murmured, indicating the broken chair and the twisted sheets of the bed, with the occasional spatter of blood. The whole room was a disaster, but Levi took a few deep breaths to calm down about the mess.