“She looks like she’s 14.”
“She still killed one of our men, so no matter how young she is, she still is dangerous and is an enemy,” A pause and a sigh, “and therefore should suffer the same fate as the enemy.”
“For fuck’s sake Edion, she’s just a child.”
“A child with a gun!”
The voices broke me from my forced slumber, but as my eyes fluttered open I could see nothing but darkness. Pins and needles violently stabbed into my legs as I shifted my weight to get a bearing as to where I was.
My head hit the side of a concrete wall and a jolt of pain shot through my body as blood started to pump through my stiff muscles. the voices had stopped and i could hear footsteps approaching. a sudden flap of a wool tent door being brushed aside and the yelling of soldiers outside reminded me of the night before, and it came to my realization that I was probably still in the same encampment as last night.
A prisoner.
"I see your awake." a female voice spoke and I felt a hand upon my head. A sudden swoosh of cloth snapped away from my head and the dim light of the oil lit laterns within the tent poured into my retinas. I blinked and looked up from where the voice came from.
It was the red-haired girl that captured me. yet her eyes didn't strike fear into my soul, but her eyes instead seemed concerned.
"What's your name kid?" she said.
"Ari." I felt reluctant to say it, but I had nothing better to say instead.
"Alright Ari. I'm Emilia," she stood up and poured steaming water from a kettle that was heating on a stove nearby into two tin cups, putting one at my feet she continued, "I have to say I was suprised that children were trying to steal my tank."
I remained silent, tanking the cup into my cold hands that where still tied together. the warmth flushed back into my hands, taking the chill out of the air.
"What would a couple of kids like you want with a tank anyways?"
I gave her a look that I believed awnsered her question because she didn't pause long enough for me to reply.
"I don't know who you want to fight. but it isn't us Ari."
"Isn't that what both side would say?" I snarked back. My body and mind returning to normal. Now i realized the situation I was in, and I needed to escape. no matter how nice she acted, she killed Georg.
Emilia laughed, "I suppose it is." She turned around and put down the tin cup. I could hear engines starting outside, "I like you kid, but I'm in a rough spot. Maybe you could help us, and maybe I could help you."
I'll admit I scoffed at the idea. I was in the hands of the enemy. A group of soldiers that kill because they are told too. burn down villages, and destroy lives because someone wanted it done and they just fallow orders.
The tent flap opened and the man with blonde dishevelled hair and polka-dotted underwear stuck his head in, "Yo Em, the unit is moving out. do whatever with the kid and lets go!"
Without turning Emilia replied, "In a bit Baker, get diesel into Wolf while you wait."
The man named Baker looked at me and back to The red-haired girl before shrugging and leaving.
"We are moving out. I can't leave you here else they will just shoot you." she said as she took out a knife, "Now I highly suggest you stick with me." The knife sawed through the rope holding my hands together and i quickly rubbed my wrists to get the blood back into them.
I considered running, but as I fallowed Emilia out of the tent I saw that that would have been an impossability. sometime before morning the encampment was reenforced, now hundreds of soldiers march in rough lines and ride in dirty diesel trucks. moving the fight along. I would have seen a bullet in my back before i even get within a 100 meters of the edge of the woods.
We were walking to the tank we tried to steal last night. She called it "Wolf" and in the morning light it looked very different than the other tanks moving along in the frozen mud.
"I hope your not to cold Wolf," Emilia put a hand on the strange tank as if it was an old friend, and the engine purred on. She giggled, as if talking to an old friend.
I was startled. Georg has worked with machinery, and so have I, and we couldn't start it. Yet the red-haired woman started it up from just talking to it. Emilia turned back to me, "get on."
The UbersReich had fired the first shots. Occupying the northern countries and the combined states of Germania. Emilia came from one of these states, same as I. In retaliation the states formed an alliance with Saxony to create two armies. The Central Army, and the Home Army. Emilia was part of the Home Army, trying to free the occupied Germanian states, and her home, from UbersReich control.
Soon Francia and the Normanicas joined the war, then the whole world burned. That was all six years ago. Advancements in technology outdated tactics, resulting in high death tolls, and soon specialized units were created to break out of the war's current stale mate.
Emilia's unit was one of these special unit. Known as unit 13, or "Valkyrie". The unit was tasked with scouting out enemy positions and destroying key locations. Often in extreme danger and outnumbered the Valkyrie unit received advanced technology, some tested more than others.
Wolf was one of these experiments, also called GEAR. It was an artificially intellegant system built to support soldiers on the battlefeild.
The ride was smoother than most tanks, and the ability to drive without a driver seemed impossible, even scary. I had heard of this unit, known as the "Ghost Unit" among the UbersReich because they believe the tank is driven by ghosts. In a way they were not far off.
Emilia had explained the standings of the war to me, some of which I had already known, yet being in the Forgotten Forest for so long the war sometimes seemed like a fairy tale. That was until the bombs started dropping and the guns started booming.
"Why are you telling me all this?" I had asked her while we had stopped briefly at a crossroad for Baker to check the map. Another man, named Edion argued with him.
"You are one of The Lost yes?"
I stayed silent, but nodded.
"You have given both us and the enemy quite a hard time traveling through these woods." She pointed up ahead, the road sign that was normally there had been painted over with red paint. something I had done weeks ago to slow down supply lines so we could ambush them easier. "So am I correct in assuming you know your way around these woods right?"
Again I stayed silent and nodded.
"I need you to show us where something is. in exchange we will let you free with an ample amount of rations and medical supplies." She paused watching me for some time before continuing on. "Winter is going to be here soon. the frosts have been regular, and you need the supplies I am sure."
She was right. We intended to use the tank to intimidate supply lines so we could take more, but if she could get it for use, maybe we wouldn't need the tank. not yet anyways.
Yet as much as I wanted to trust her. She still killed Georg.
An explosion erupted nearby, sending dirt and shrapnel into trees and the tank. Emilia grabbed my shoulder and through me down into the dirt behind the tank and rolled on top of me as another explosion sounded nearby, setting in a loud ringing into my ears.
Several bullets cracked into the air and I heard a sound I could recognize over any explosion.
"Ari! We are here to save you!" Tomas yelled from the woods. He was still alive, and by the sounds of it, he wasn't alone.
ns 15.158.61.18da2
