TEN YEARS, The Kenny Ackerman Story BOOK TWO~ FUTURES, by Melly O'Hara

ABANDONED

CHAPTER 6    ABANDONED

Paradise. The last haven of humanity, built over one hundred years ago by King Fritz. An island that contained our territory within its three concentric walls; some say built by God himself, to protect us from the titans that had over run the earth and devoured the rest of human kind.
The three walls, Maria, Rose  and Sina, divided each district from the other. Wall Maria had the largest circumference, and was therefore perfect for farmland. Wall Rose, the middle district, had a more affluent population with less farmland and more trade, merchants and commerce and Wall Sina; the smallest, where the capital of Paradise was situated, was the safest place in Paradise and was therefore where the monarchy, the nobles and the wealthy lived. My home.

Each of the three walls, Maria,Rose and Sina also had four semi circular walls built onto their outer shell; along the compass points of north, south, east and west and unlike the main walls, these outposts had two gates. One gate to the world outside the walls, where the titans roamed, and the other gate directly opposite on the other side of the town that gave access to the territory inside the major wall the outpost was attached to.  And in each of these semi circular outposts, entire populations, cities and villages lived.

These outposts had been built onto the walls as a fail safe; a protection in case a titan or titans ever breached the walls. And, to be frank, these outposts served as bait; a population of people that the titans would be drawn to, devour and hopefully leave the larger population inside the main walls untouched. Therefore ensuring the maximum amount of human survivors. That humanity would never again be threatened with extinction. What was that old saying? Something about, 'The needs of the many.....outweighing the needs of the few..'

Throughout the afternoon, I learned that it had been the southern most outpost on Wall Maria, the Shinganshina district, was where the mysterious titan was first seen. The head of a ginormous titan had appeared from the world outside and looked onto an unsuspecting people; hugging their children, doing their chores, squabbling with their neighbours, feeding their pets, walking, shopping, resting, playing. Living.

No titan had ever appeared that was taller than our protective walls. Our walls; fifty meters tall, thirteen meters wide and impervious to any destructive force; either man made, natural or titan. And all the titans that roamed outside the walls were only between two and fifteen meters tall, resembling humans, but having no humanity. The sheer size of the walls made them appear like mechanical dolls, mindlessly banging on the exterior of Wall Maria; the wall thick enough so that their pounding and grunts couldn't even be heard on the other side of the wall. Lulling the people of Paradise into a false sense of security. It was almost as if they were no threat at all, unless you dared to leave the safety of Paradise and its walls. And that's why we were so SURE, so complacent.

But on that Spring afternoon of cloudless blue skies and gentle breezes, the horrifying visage of an enormous titan's head appearing above the outpost wall of Wall Maria a titan that was easily sixty metres tall; looking at the population inside as though they were lobsters in a tank, ready to be chosen for the evening meal, preticipated the beginning of the Nightmare of Paradise. And the horror of it continued when, with seeming intelligence, it destroyed the gate separating the outpost from the outside world; almost as if it knew that though  the walls were impenetrable, the gates were not. We've named it The Colossal Titan. And the hole that it made when it smashed the gate allowed all the swarming, smaller titans that clamoured outside the walls, just waiting to taste human flesh, their entrance into our haven.

It was as if the smaller, mindless titans had been called by The Colossal Titan, as if he were their leader; showing them the way to food. And once inside the titans destroyed all that was in their path as they hunted. As they feasted. Mindlessly searching out humans and swallowing them whole, or chewing on them slowly; deaf to their cries of pain and fear. Gorging themselves on human flesh and bone and muscle and sinew until they threw it up in mucus filled balls that were transparent enough to still see the faces and limbs of those that had been consumed. And once emptied, the titans searched for new prey to ingest. The cycle unceasing.