Hey readers!! I can't believe it!!! I'm already on Chapter 8!!! Squee! Anyhow, I just want all of you to know that I'm sorry for not updating quick enough... ( *^*) But, I'll still do my best! I'll make this next chapter longer than the rest!!!! Chou!

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Chapter 8

Street clothes, check. Basket of food, check. Black cloak to hide my face, check. Running boats, check. I was ready to go.

I tiptoed to my bedroom door and gently and slowly pushed it open. It creaked, but wasn't too loud so I assumed that no one would hear. I breathed in a sigh of relief. So far so good.

I made my way through the building until I reached the front door. If I could, I would have punched my fists into the air. Hooray for Karen! She made it through the hallways of her house alive! Isn't that amazing?!

As I was congratulating myself, I heard 2 voices coming from the hallway that I just passed through.

"I can't find Milady! Where is she?!" one of the voices squeaked nervously. "Master Levi will kill us if he finds out!"

"Hush!" the other voice told the squeaky one sternly. "Do you want the entire house to know? We need to move quick. Milady can be anywhere." I gulped and ran for the nearest vase. I squat down and hid behind it as two figures came into view.

"But, where?! The question is where is she?!" the squeaky one said frantically. I peeked out from my spot and saw a maid with light green hair tied in a fishtail braid standing next to another maid with dark purple hair that she let loose dangling by her shoulders.

"I said,'Hush!'," the dark haired one said annoyed with the fact that the light green haired maid was overreacting. The green haired maid whimpered and remained silent. I felt sweat go down my neck. I'm never going to leave his house unless I think up of a plan fast. I looked around myself. There wasn't really much of anything for me to use. Way to go Karen.

"Let's check the other rooms before we make a conclusion," the dark purple hair maid grunted and the footsteps went away the other direction. I slumped down and let out a long breath that I was holding in.

I stood up and sneaked to the door once more. I pushed it open and looked behind me once more before running out. For the first time since I got here, I'm free.

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The streets scared me. Boys and girls, women and men, were begging for food on their knees. As I made my way through the crowd of people, I noticed a little girl no older than 6 sitting next to a large poster that read:

HELP THE HUNGER. WE ARE ALSO HUMANS. MUST WE DIE WHILE YOU, THE RICH WITH GOLD, LIVE THROUGH HARMONY? GIVE MONEY TO US TODAY AND MAY THE GODS BLESS YOU FOREVER.

I paused to stare at the poster. I am part of the rich with the gold. I am part of the rich who sits around doing nothing while people all around me dies. I clenched my fist and went over to the little girl.

As I approached her, she looked up and I almost gasped.

Her eyes were shrunken with black circled beneath her lashes. Her cheeks looks as if they lost all of their color. Her lips were swollen with black and purple bruises. I bent down and met her eye level. She stared at me as I set down my basket and lift up the red scarf that covered the contains.

The girl's eyes widened when she saw all of the food. I reached into the basket and pulled out a bun, still hot from the oven. I handed it to her.

She accepted the bread and just held it in her hands as if she has never seen anything like it before.

"It's okay," I told her gently. "You can eat it." She looked at me as a single tear escaped her eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered, her eyes now filled with tears. She took a huge bite out of the bread and chewed on it, savoring the moment, And then she took another bite, and another, and another, until she was eating the bun like mad. Finally, only a piece of crumb was left. She licked that crumb off of her fingers and then looked back up at me gratefully. I smiled warmly at her and handed her another bun. She wolfed her second bread down just as quick as she did for the first one.

I stood back up and looked into my basket. I still had 3 more buns so I handed her one more.

"Keep this one for when you need it," I told her. She nodded and took the bread. I pulled my black cloak tightly around myself and then moved on.

Throughout the streets, I found more people dying of hunger. I handed them food, drinks, and money. They all seemed grateful and happy. One woman grabbed my hand as I was about to leave.

"May the Gods bless you my child," she croaked. I nodded and smiled.

"Thank you," I whispered back to her. She nodded and let go of my hand. I walked away after giving her a tiny wave.

As I weaved through the streets, I heard a man yell, his voice high and scared,"T-They're coming! The Survey Corps are back!" People screamed and dived into their homes. The homeless were kicked to the sides as men and women ran in all directions. I, myself was knocked down. I landed hard on my wrist. Pain surged up my arm. I wanted to yell in pain, but instead bit down on my lip. I curled into a ball as people rushed past me. My basket of goods was gone, lost in the sea of people. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for everything to end.

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I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. Dust. Everywhere was dust. I sat up using my hand to support me. I gasped and fell back down as pain I've never felt before flared up in my wrist. Everything came back to me in an instance. I had a broken wrist.

I rolled over and laid on my back as I looked around my surroundings, but all I saw was dust and more dust. There wasn't even a sign of human life around me. Tears threatened to spill out of my eyes, but I held it in. All of this was my fault. I should of listened to my dad. I shouldn't have came out. Now I'm going to die. And everything happened because of me.

"I think someone is down there!" a male voice called.

"Say what?! Are you sure Eren?! I thought everyone made a beeline for their homes when we came! No one is here!" another voice, female, called back.

"I'll go check!" the Eren one yelled and I heard running feet coming my way.

I gritted my teeth and rolled onto my stomach. Time to play dead, but don't worry. I'm awesome at that game.

I couldn't see, but I felt him bent down to examine me.

"Hey, Hanjii! I think that it's alive! Not sure what it is, but I think it's some sort of girl!" Eren yelled.

"It?! What is 'it'?!" the female, Hanjii, yelled back.

"Dunno!" Eren called. "It's breathing though!" Shoot. They found out I'm alive. Plan failed. But I got other things to worry about. Why is this boy, Eren, calling me an 'it'? What in the world is that suppoed to mean?!

"You should come check it out!" Eren called. Another pair of footsteps, this time it sounded lighter than Eren's, comes running my way. It stops beside me and the female, Hanji, gasped.

"Oh my god..." she whispered. "It's a human from the other side."