Being Human [rogue-jaeger]
“I can’t believe they sent me into these damn tunnels all by myself,” the brunette grumbled, carefully and slowly advancing between the stone walls. She stopped for a brief moment, fidgeting with the bag hanging on her shoulder, and gently moved the strap so it didn’t catch on the butt of her rifle for the fifteenth time. She had been assigned by the higher ups to check out and take inventory on some kind of supposed underground facility they had in the catacombs, whatever that was. If she was to be honest with herself, she was just pissed because they didn’t consider her ready for “active duty.” But, orders were orders, so she did as she was told.
She sighed and continued on, though her mind was less focused on the journey itself, and more centered on the the degrading comments she heard from members of the Military Police and civilians as she made her way to the tunnel’s entrance. She thought she was over the amputee jokes and snide handicapped remarks, but after she overheard one of the soldiers mutter to another, “They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel if the Survey Corps had resigned to recruiting cripples now,” she’d almost lost it, but decided against assaulting a member of the Military Police. She didn't want to tarnish the reputation of her branch anymore they felt she already had. But that didn't stop her from feeling absolutely livid.
“Tch, I’ll cripple you,” she whispered angrily to herself, stiffly placing an errant strand of hair back behind her ear, before shaking her head and looking ahead.
“Alright, focus, Arden. The commander said that I had to go left, then take two rights, then one left, and finally…. right? Or was it left, right, left, left, right? Or left, left… uh, right? Or…. I knew I should have written the direction down! These tunnels are ridiculously hard to navigate!” Oh god, she was hopelessly lost, just what she needed.
Arden let out a nervous laugh, attempting to push back the feelings of panic that were welling up inside her. The brunette took a deep breathe, repositioned her crutch and decided to keep going, she’d get there eventually. Probably. Was it just her, or did the shadows appear to be moving? She swallowed and continued to walk at a slower pace, the only sounds echoing through the tunnels being the rhythmic tapping of her crutch, the scraping sound of her boots on the stone, and the soft in and out of her breathing.