Damage & Decay

Chapter 48

Part Four: Family Business

"Fear is only as deep as the mind allows."

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Once the idea was out, they tackled it and wrestled it and banged it into a weird shape. It became immediately clear that they had to move fast and start at once. Mikasa's trove of weapons and equipment provided them with everything they needed. As they sorted through the supplies, Mikasa never took her eyes off Eren, and he was uncomfortably aware of it. Just as he was aware that Nix never took her eyes off Mikasa, and Eren wondered if Nix was trying to telepathically transmit some message. If so, Mikasa  was either immune to the nuclear radiation of Nix's thoughts, or didn't care. Or maybe having lived for so long--and all through puberty--she had no clear understanding of what she was feeling, what signals she was sending, and the complexities of social interaction. Eren wished Levi was here to explain it to him.

When they were done gathering the equipment, Mikasa led them out of the cave and through her maze of booby traps, then back directly into the forest. She moved fast, selecting paths that were secret as well as efficient. They struggled to keep up as they crossed running water, climbed rocky outcrops, crawled through thorny thickets, and ran along game trails through dappled sunlight. The day felt like the hottest of the whole summer, and sweat poured out of them, but none of them cared. Having a purpose put iron in their limbs; knowing there was a chance to get revenge against Charlie ignited fires in their chests that burned hotter than the sun.

The bounty hunters' camp was on the far side of the mountain, and it took them almost two hours to reach it. Mikasa guided them to a rocky promontory that was overgrown with white sage. They flattened out on the edge of the narrow cliff and pulled foliage over themselves. The camp looked strangely exposed, with paths leading up through forestland to a plateau as flat as a tabletop. Three traders wagons were positioned to block each path, their sides reinforced with sheet metal. The teams of horses were corralled in the center of the camp, each of them wearing a carpet coat, even in the afternoon heat. Without saying a word, Mikasa slowly pointed out each guard and the other men wandering around the camp.

Nix cursed very quietly under her breath. There were twenty-three men in the camp. She glanced at Eren, but he kept his jaw set, so she didn't see the new fear that was making his heart jump around in his chest. The resolve he'd had back in the cave--one part bravery, one part need for revenge, and a couple parts craziness--felt suddenly brittle.

He had not expected there to be so many. Then his roving eyes found the pen where they were holding the kids. It was a pen, too, the kind used for keeping pigs. Two guards stood watch over the captives, and through the shimmering heat haze, it took Eren a couple of tries to count them all. There weren't a dozen kids. There was nineteen of them. Other bounty hunters must have joined the camp in the last few hours, which would account for the higher number of guards and captives.

Nineteen kids. Five boys, fourteen girls. The oldest looked to be twelve, the youngest about eight. They were all hunkered down, tied together by ropes that were attached to metal rings in the leather collars each of them wore.

Ant doubts Eren had when he'd first looked down at the camp withered and died at the sight of those kids huddled like animals in the pen. If Nix hadn't escaped, she'd be collared and penned with the rest. He knew that Mikasa had already  been through that hell.

He saw Charlie Pink-eye walk across the center of the camp, and Eren pointed a finger at him, tracking the big bounty hunter, as if he was looking down the barrel of a hunting rifle. If wishes were bullets, Charlie would be sprawled dead in the dirt.

Careful not to make the slightest sound, they crawled back from the edge of the plateau and huddled together under a willow.

"Harder," Mikasa said. "More than I thought."