The girl was lying on her side, visibly weakened from having spent God knows how long in the open. And if they did, it would fall back into their hands soon enough. Pieck knew that retreating was the safest option for the moment, and it eased her mind to think that the survey corps weren’t likely to find the titan before them. Perhaps thanks to the adrenaline of the moment she managed to transform, took her companions between her jaws and escaped from that place. However, there would still be more titans around them, and it was a priority now to protect her remaining friends. Pieck's observant nature made her immediately aware of it, and she thought that perhaps she could wait there for it to regain its human form to devour the lost titan again. Luckily for them, the titan's physical problems and her unevenness prevented her from rising. When the shock left her body, she grabbed her companions by their collars and tried to drag them as far as she could, even though they were twice her size. Pieck had not yet regained all of her strength, and she could only stare in horror at the result of her mistake. He placed them at a relative distance from each other, facing down, and opened the cold gray box with four syringes. He prepared them all at once, and took a defeated sigh. After having deliberated on the state of all of them, he decided which ones were the most likely to become functional beasts. The sun began to set as Zeke paced, unaffected by the intimidating presence of the titans, luckily finding six more bodies that could be useful. After a few moments, he raised his gaze from the ground and continued his way in search of complete victims. He quickly noticed it was a young woman, though his face remained unaffected by the sorrowful sight. One bare arm revealed a small, pale-skinned hand with the marks of a bite. Near one of their huge feet, Zeke finds a body whose bones were totally shattered, especially his back, although it remained in one piece. The titans who until recently feasted were now immobile due to his control. Walking among the horrid sight and by seeing the placement of the bodies, he quickly deduced what could have happened. He just had to wait for the troops to move away and hopefully find some almost complete remains of Eldian soldiers. Besides, Paradis was the right place to carry out the experiment on a larger scale without major expense they wouldn't need ammunition to kill the transformed nor almost any type of security measure (if carried out by someone like Zeke). This could be a great advantage, since they would be able to profit their soldiers for a little longer. According to the army leaders, this new product would be able to resurrect and turn corpses into pure titans.
He had brought the silver box with the hope that something similar would happen, but not so incredibly suitable. To his surprise, he found himself in the ideal situation to test out Marley's new weapon. He knew that Annie was in danger, and that Reiner and Bertolt’s identities were soon to be discovered. The traitors of humanity had been undercover in the army for several years, but he still felt the need to test the waters for himself, in order to decide how they were going to carry out their next plan. Among them Zeke, whose power had allowed him to approach the battlefield safely. Hidden in the forest were some still unknown figures. After exchanging several shouts, the tail boards opened, dropping those bodies whose rescue had already posed a considerable risk.
Somehow, it comforted him to know that with that decision he was valuing their sacrifice, for he couldn't let their deaths lead to more casualties. There was something about it that felt wrong, as if he was repeating his mistake by leaving them behind.
However, it took him a moment to vocalize the decision. It didn't take much reasoning to figure out that getting rid of their fallen comrades was the most effective way to increase their speed and save themselves. Unfortunately, however, not frantic enough to keep them away from the rumbling of gigantic footsteps dangerously approaching them. It was a monotonous and stable noise, almost as much as the danger to which they were constantly subjected. In such a tense moment, the sound of the chariot wheels became unconsciously annoying, increasing his anxiety. After so many years fighting, he had grown used to the feeling of having every part of his body active, the tingling blood through his limbs and the acceleration of his perception.