“The Grim Reality”

June 26th, 2040: Yokota Airbase, Therapy Room

Lieutenant Matthew Rogers made his way through the winding hallways toward one of the many psychiatrist rooms, having been ordered by high command to seek help or be discharged for ‘misconduct’. He was none too keen on this but didn’t exactly have a choice.

“Which fuckin’ room was it again?” Matthew pulled a piece of paper from his camo jacket and found himself not too far from the room he should be in.

Upon reaching the door he knocked before entering and was greeted with a view of one of the more luxurious rooms. There were a few bookshelves filled with all manner of texts and in the center was the classic couch and nearby armchair.

“Ah, you must be Mr. Rogers.” A thick German accent greeted him. Turning to his right he found a man in a dark grey blazer and lighter grey shirt. “I will be with you in just a moment. Just need to finish this uhh…paperwork here.” The man lifted the papers he had on his desk.

“No problem doc.” Matthew took the liberty of settling himself on the couch. Laying upwards and facing the white ceiling. “Were you going for an old 90s style with this room?”

“Yes, I was. I found in my research that having a more…oh what's the word in English, klassisch umm.” The psychiatrist repeatedly snapped his fingers.

“Classic?” Matthew replied.

“Yes, thank you. A more classic room like this makes my visitors more comfortable and relaxed.” The man nodded before setting aside his paperwork and grabbing a clipboard.

“Now we can start. I am Leon Strätch.” Leon stretched out a hand and Matthew shook it. “Pleasure.”

“Now, we are here today because of something that happened a few days ago, no? Leon watched as Matthew’s face contorted uncomfortably.

“Yes, unfortunately. I’m sure you’re aware of what happened.” Matthew stared at the ceiling, not wanting to make eye contact.

“Only from the report General Wolf gave me. But I have not heard your side of the story, a key part in all of this, correct?” Leon gave a smile.

“Fair point, but I don’t know where to even start. The whole thing was turned into a shit show when we spotted the convoy. We managed to neutralize the soldiers but we were not fast enough to save some of the civilians.” Matthew clenched his fists while listening to the sound of a pencil on paper.

“Then what happened?” Leon asked but was only met with silence. Looking up from his clipboard he saw that Matthew was trying his darndest not to show any emotions but was starting to falter. “If you do not tell me the whole story, I cannot help you Mr. Rogers. Start from the very beginning, and we will work through this together.”

June 23th, 2040: Unknown Dirt Road

The convoy had been traveling for days now with the hope of reaching Yokota Airbase before completely running out of fuel. Having started with nearly thirty vehicles, now down to a meager twelve to conserve fuel, destroying Bradleys and strykers first, then the trucks. Thank God they only had one tank to deal with. Matthew had half his body sticking out from the commander's hatch on his tank, Cancer Stick. Being the lead vehicle, he wanted to make sure to see any surprises ahead of them.

“Anything interesting Lieutenant?” The gunner asked, half asleep in his seat.

“If you discount rolling hills of grass with the giant wildfire to our right as interesting then no Zach.” Matthew glanced at the wall of smoke rising in the far distance.

“Seems our friends above have been busy. Any idea why commander?” Zach shifted his gaze from Matthew and the fire.

“Fucked if I know, your guess is as good as mine. Andrew, got anything to add?” Their attention turned to the loader.

“My guess? The top brass saw something they didn’t like inside that forest and wanted it gone. Maybe a group of trolls?” Andrew pondered his own question as the rest of the crew also wondered.

“Aren't those the small green thingies?” Jim, their driver chimed in with his own question.

“You’re thinking of goblins. Trolls are usually massive bastards that wield logs as weapons or something similar.” Andrew, the only one in the tank to know much about fantasy, clarified for Jim.

“No wonder the air force was called. Though this seems a little excessive, no?”

“Eh, I think it’s justified if it means I don’t have to worry about it. Out of sight, out of mind, right?” Zach shot a cheeky smirk at Matthew who could only sake his head and stifle a laugh.

“I should never have taught you that saying.” Matthew muttered.

The convoy continued down the road and those who could see the wall of smoke and distant fire watched on, the atmosphere filling with ever-increasing dread. At this point, it had finally hit most that this was no longer Earth and now anything goes. Some soldiers had started to write letters to their loved ones or friends, only to be reminded that those who weren’t American were no longer with them.

Peering through his optics, Zach started a slow pan around the tank. Excluding the wildfire, there really wasn’t much else to see.

“Oh, how I would kill to have something to shoot at.” Zach mumbled, only to have his lazy scan focus on a low dust cloud ahead of them.

“What the?” Zach pulled his head back from the optic sight before taking another look. “Commander! Dust cloud, bearing three-five-seven!”

“I see it. Cancer Stick to convoy, be advised we have a dust cloud ahead, prepare for possible altercations, how copy? Matthew looked behind him to see some of the humvees and MRAPs(Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) trucks with machine guns starting to test the movement of their respective weapons.

“Solid copy Cancer Stick, Killware is ready to provide assistance, over.” The closest cougar MRAP veered slightly right to get a clear shot past Cancer Stick.

As Cancer Stick crested the next hill they were met with multiple dots on the horizon. Zach increased the magnification on the gunnery sights only to be startled to see a wagon convoy with foot soldiers on the side wearing chainmail and wielding short swords. Just as he was about to report, a canine demi-human got pushed out of the back of the last wagon. Their body was limp and they didn’t move from the ground.

“Commander, we’ve got a slave convoy ahead of us, orders?” Zach turned to Jim whose face was turning red with anger at the sight of the convoy ahead of them.

“Wait one Zach. All Units be advised we have a slave convoy ahead of us, weapons ready, I repeat, weapons ready, over.” Finishing the transmission to the rest of the American convoy, Matthew turned his attention to Jim. “Get on your MG, we can’t risk collateral damage to the civilians.”

As they got nearer it didn’t take long for the slave convoy to realize that someone was behind them and closing in fast. The foot soldiers started running to the back of the convoy to protect it and its assets.

“Killware to Cancer Stick, I have a clear shot, permission to engage?” Matthew looked to his right to see that Killware’s driver had put his foot down and was speeding alongside them in the grass, bouncing around because of the terrain.

“Killware clear to engage, weapons hot!” Matthew didn’t have to wait more than a few seconds to hear the machine gun on Killware start laying down a hail of bullets.

The cracking of bullets breaking the sound barrier filled the air alongside the rumbling of American armor. Jim, along with the MRAP gunner, took extra care to not aim directly at the wagons or cause a ricochet that would harm or even kill civilians. Lowering himself back into the tank and using the CROWS(Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station) system Matthew watched the battle unfold in front of him. As expected, bullets had no issue tearing through the wooden shields and chainmail armor, leaving the opposing soldiers at a loss as to what to do.

In what looked to be a snap decision, a man in cyan robes poked his head from one of the wagons. Taking out a book it levitated in his hand before he raised his right arm and pointed at Cancer Stick.

“Shit! We got magic in play, I want that mage fuckin’ gone!” Matthew shouted over the comms, with Jim snapping the coaxial machine gun at the mage and firing, only for a yellow circle with symbols and runes to appear in front of the mage.

In response, the mage enlarged the magic circle and caused it to turn a deep orange before a fireball shot out of the circle and was sent flying towards the tank.

“Fuck! Brace!” All the crew inside the tank grabbed the bracing bars, praying that modern armor would save them… but nothing happened.

“Did they miss?” Zach looked around inside the tank before peering through his gunnery sight to view the mage who had a shocked expression forming on his face.

“Who cares? Load sabot! I want that fucker to be a red smear on the ground!” Matthew barked as Jim loaded the cannon breach in record time.

“Ready!” Jim yelled while quickly switching back to the coaxial to get a few shots off at the remaining foot soldiers.

“Fire!” Matthew ordered while using the commander's sight to see that the mage had thankfully moved just far enough from the wagons to hopefully not cause collateral damage.

“On the way!” Zach replied, then fired.

With that, the tungsten arrow was sent towards the mage. Once again the yellow circle appeared, however, it was immediately shattered when the sabot round punched through it and absolutely disintegrated the mage before slamming into the ground behind.

“Jesus Christ he was vaporized!” Andrew jolted his head back slightly from his optics half shocked and stunned at what had just happened.

“Stay focused. Jim, get back on your MG and sweep up any stragglers.” Matthew ordered while opening his commander hatch. Taking control of his own machine gun he began cutting down anyone else who was even attempting to put up a fight as Killware moved up to the side of the convoy to sweep in between the wagons.

After only about ten minutes of fighting, the few foot soldiers that remained were either running for the hills in terror or had thrown down their swords and shields and surrendered. Taking a quick glance behind him, Matthew watched as American troops in the other MRAPs and cargo trucks fanned out to secure the area and all the prisoners, while the medics and some of the troops saw to aiding the civilians. Parking the tank behind the convoy Matthews got out of Cancer Stick to inspect the vehicle, sure enough, the fireball had hit but left only a black smear across the front.

“Well, that could have certainly gone worse.” Mathew mused to himself. Turning his attention back to the wagon convoy he noticed a small boy, maybe no older than seven, stepping or rather stumbling off one of the wagons, landing hard on the dirt road.

“Hey kid, you alright?” Matthew started walking towards him but quickly turned it into a jog when the kid didn’t get back up. “Hey kid!” Matthew called out once more, no response.

With care, he rolled the boy onto his back and held two fingers to his neck, finding a very slow and weak pulse.

“I need a medic over here now!” Matthew turned to his convoy then back at the boy. Grabbing his canteen he unscrewed the lid before lifting the boy's head, pouring water into his mouth with extreme care so as not to accidentally drown him.

“Come on kid, stay with me,” Matthew muttered. The boy's eyes slowly opened, the pupils seemed to emanate weakness nearing death's door. With what strength he had left the boy slowly opened his mouth.

“T-thank y-yo--” This was all he could say before Matthew watched as what little life remained in the boy’s eyes faded away and his body went limp in Matthew’s arms.

“No…no no no come on kid hang in there--where the fuck is that medic!” Matthew, with an ever-increasing sense of urgency, turned back to his convoy, finally seeing a medic sprinting from a cargo truck. But, when the medic reached the boy he already knew it was too late.

“I’m sorry sir but… he's gone.” The medic watched as Matthew stared at him, then at the lifeless body he was holding.

“B--but he--I… there's got to be something you can do.” Seemingly in denial of the situation, Matthew looked at the medic in desperation.

“They were just too far gone before we got here sir.” With that the medic left to go treat others, leaving Matthew holding the lifeless body. The world around him seemed to go dark, cold even.

“Unhand me, you savages!” Broken from his trance, Matthew looked up from the boy to see two American soldiers fighting to control what looked to be a knight. “Do you know who I am?” the man shouted at the soldier who responded by kicking the soft spot behind the knee to force him to kneel.

“No, and I don’t give a fuck who you are, now shut up before I go find some duct tape.” One of the soldiers said before leaving. The knight noticed Matthew looking at the scene.

“You are all purebloods yet you fight to protect these animals? You should be thankful that The Puroiya Church is forgiving to those who repent their sins.”

Feeling his heartbeat in his throat, Matthew gently laid the boy down before walking over to the knight. Standing in front of him for a few seconds, Matthew drew his pistol and pointed it at the knight's left lung.

“God will judge you for your sins…” Matthew replied before firing a single round into the knight. Immediately the knight started to cough up blood which spattered as he tried to breathe. He fell backwards and, as Matthew watched, died slowly and in great pain.

“Lieutenant! What the fuck?” A nearby soldier stared dumbfounded at Matthew.

“Bastard had it coming.” Was all he said before returning to his tank.