Yukari missed her tank. She couldn't spend her time doing much, her friends cell service goes in and out, and hers has as well. She could build tank models, but she had already built three in the same day. She forced herself to have fun, but she sorely missed being with her friends, even more than her love for tanks.
She felt out of place without her friends, like a tank lost in the endless void. A lot of her joy and enthusiasm had been sucked out of her since lockdown. Her parents had found a functional working apartment, which was lucky of them to even find in these dying times. She laid on her bed, looking at the ceiling, and gives a heavy sigh.
She looked out her window, at the smoke filled sky. It was dark and gray, and she couldn't see much, but she tried. As if it was a miracle of some sort, Yukari had seen a little part in the smoke, and she looked into the dark night sky. The star shown brightly, but the fires all around her took away from the beautiful sight. She looked down, and ducked. The lights in the house turned off,
Three shadowy figures outside walked buy, talking loudly, and taking swigs out of beer bottles. She held her breath. She knew that they couldn't hear her breathing, but she wouldn't take any chances. There was once instance where they had been found out, but it out of some impossible luck, the Division agents had came and killed the intruder.
She was very thankful for that. As five minutes passed, Yukari stood up, and stretched. She looked back out through her window, and they were gone. She turned on the lights, and the light reflection of her looked back at her from the window. She stared at it. Her fair had barely grown, since both her parents kept insisting on cutting it always. The reflection was some-what sad. "What can I do." She says to her reflection. "What can I do?"
The reflection just mimics her movements. "What am I thinking, I you'll never talk to me, you're just a reflection. I'm just hallucinating." and slowly backed away from the window, and went to her tiny bed. She took one good look around her room. It was filled to the brim with Tank models, the boxes that held them, and a live 75mm shell from her tank. The last remaining thing of her tank she got to see before it was towed away from the carrier.
"Yukari," Her mother cautiously said quietly from her doorway, "It's time for dinner, come downstairs when you're ready."
"Okay mother." She replies. She takes a good look back at the window reflection, and waves, as she turns back, she takes one last glance at the reflection, and it smiles back at her. Yukari's face suddenly changes to shock, and she shakes her head. When she stops, the reflection has stopped smiling. "I must be hallucinating…" She mutters, and walks away, turning off the lights, and closing the door behind her.
Yukari walks down the creaky stairs, and sits at the dinner table. Her father and mother as well as her eat in silence. The usual buzzy family before coming to America were so lively, but now, they were silent, as if dead on the inside. Yukari puts one hand under her chin, and pokes at her food. The uneasy feeling washes over her as a gunshot rings out in the distance, but it was normal to hear that.
As she begins to eat, her stomach gives a little grumble, and she takes in the fact she hadn't eaten since last night. With each grain of rice, and every bit of beef went down her throat, she got hungrier and hungrier, until she wolfed it all down. "Mother, can I get some fresh air? Its a bit stuffy in here." Her father opens his mouth, but her mother gets the answer out first.
"Yes you can Yukari, but only for a bit. Don't get caught, and be careful." She says. Her father protests, but Yukari stands up and thanks her mother.
She opens the front door, walks outside, and takes an inhale. The air was still a bit smokey, but it was better than the inside of the apartment, that smelled of old clothing, stinky socks, and other disgusting things. She walked slowly down the street, her head down. Like always, she was going to walk the around the block, and back again.
It was mild cold night, and she shivered. Not including the never ending gunshots, and fire crackling, it was a silent night. She walked past an old wood fence, and heard a meow. She paused, and stuck her ear out. The meow repeated itself, and again, which eventually turned into a mew.
She hopped onto the fence, and on the other side was small tabby cat. AS she laid eyes on the kitten, something ignited in her, as if she felt some sort of… happiness. The kitten looked at her with sad eyes, and Yukari couldn't help but love it. She slowly and carefully climbed over the fence, and hit the ground with a thump.
Dust rose around her, and she dusted her sweatshirt off. She slowly, and quietly made her way over to the small tabby cat. As she approached, the kitten tried to make a hiss, and Yukari smiled. "Its ok little one, I'm friendly." Yukari stuck out her hand, and the kitten threw her claws out at her hand.
Yukari smiled again, and stuck her hand out even farther, and stroked the small kittens head. The kitten, as if it was human, tried to hide its little bit of joyfulness. But it wasn't too much later when a small purr came out of its tiny mouth.
Yukari felt another rush of joy and adrenaline rush through her body. She slowly and carefully picked up the small cat in the palm of her hand. It wasn't much bigger than the size of her hands cupped. "I'm going to name you Pooli." Yukari says, remembering the tabby cat, named Pooli, who was brought aboard the USS Fremont.
As she walked towards the fence, she heard footsteps, and her heart turned cold. A flashlight, no two bounced off the concrete walls of the apartments next to her. She crouched down, and didn't dare to make a sound. Once again, she held her breath. Out of nowhere a object came flying over the fence, hurtling right at her. She tried to duck, but she didn't want to be heard, and let the impact of the glass bottle hit her in the head.
As if luck had defended her again, the bottle not only didn't shatter, but when it hit the ground it didn't shatter then. She rubbed her forehead, and Pooli ran up her arm, and into her hair. Yukari looked up, and gave a small smile, the cat made her feel comfortable again. There was a small bump, but she didn't mind
Yukari opened the door to her home with her keys, and saw her mother and father sitting at the table still, both silent and reading books. "I'm back." She says, and Pooli gives a small mew.
"What is that?" Her father asked, pulling down his glasses. "And why do you have a red bump on your head?!"
"Its a cat!" Yukari says excitedly, her mother noticing the twinkle in her daughter's eyes.
"No, no and no," Her father said, "That is just another mouth to feed. Food is troubling to find these days."
Yukari looked at her father with pleading eyes. "But its a cat! I'll find Pooli her own food!"
"You named it too?" Her father cried out.
"First of all its not an 'It', Pooli is a she, second yes, and third, she will bring us happiness." Yukari argued back, and with that she walked upstairs, into her room and locked the door. As she slid down the door, she let Pooli onto the ground. The tabby cat was shaking, and looked around with fearful eyes. "Hey its okay, this is my room." Yukari said to her kitten.
She points to the drawer. "See those? Those are my tanks models." she says to the tiny kitten "T a n k" Yukar spells out, and picks up Pooli. She slowly walked over to the drawer, and put the kitten on the tank model. It was a M4A1 Sherman.
She walked over to the window, and kept watch for another 10 minutes. Gangs roaming the streets were common, and she didn't want to be found out, especially since she had just found a new friend. As it got later and later, Yukari's eyes got slowly heavier and heavier, until she could barely hold them open. "Good night Pooli." She yawns, and hops into her bed, and the lights go out.
Yukari wakes up, to light shining through her window. Real sunlight. She shields her eyes, and looks through the window. The smoke had stopped, which was a relief, At the edge of her tiny bed, Pooli laid, sleeping. Yukari yawned and stretched out her hands.
As she stood up and rubbed her eyes, she looked out into the light. It seemed a little bit more calm in the morning than it normally was, and Yukari thanked the sky for it. Pooli gave a little meow, and stretched out on the bed. Yukari walked over and patted Pooli on the head. "Good morning Pooli." She looked over at her mirror, and her reflection smiled back at her.
Once again, Yukari jumped with shock, and looked at the window reflection. When she turned back, the reflection was the same as her present self. "I think I need more sleep." she mumbled and walked out of the room, Pooli trotting net to her.
As Yukari walked down the flight of stairs, and greeted her mother and father. "That cat better not be here." Her father said looking down at an old newspaper. Yukari's mother glared at her father, and he pretended not to notice.
Yukari encouraged Pooli onto her hand. The small kitten crawled into her palm. Her mother looked at her. "Yukari, can you please go to the market and buy us somethings for the pantry?" She held out a small wallet, a small tank pin on it. Yukari nodded her head and took the wallet,
"Come on Pooli, lets go buy some things." She said and cautiously opened the door, and walked out into the broken down city. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over he head, and stuck on of her hands in her pockets, the other holding the small kitten.
She walked amongst the burning buildings, dead bodies and burning dumpsters. As she passed an alley way, she looked to her left and saw two people making out. In disgust, she quickly ran along, her stomach feeling sick. How could anyone feel love in this time, especially that kind of love. She shuddered, and continued on.
As she reached the dark market, she paused for a moment. "Hey Pooli, don't make a sound." she whispers, and carefully puts Pooli into her pocket. The kitten scratches at the coat pocket, but gives up knowing Yukari won't let her out. With a yawn, Pooli curls into a ball, and falls asleep.
Yukari keeps her head down, and walks amongst the adults. Many were smoking cigarettes, or playing cards. Vendors yelled out what they were selling, and many people glanced at the older girl as she walked through the crowd. Yukari took a sharp right, and into a small shop. From there, she went down the stairs, and into a private room. In there, she takes off her hood.
"Ah, if it isn't that mysterious girl!" The man says behind the counter. "How are you doing?"
"Very well Lucas." Yukari replies, "The usual please." Jack nodded his head, and went to the back. Yukari took a seat somewhere else, and remember that time. She didn't know where to go, didn't know how to get around, but Lucas had helped had showed their family the house they were currently living in. She was very grateful for a friend like that.
As she pondered on good memories, Lucas came back out, two shopping bags full of food and MRE's. "Here you go miss." Yukari snaps our of trans.
"Thank you Lucas." Yukari says, and gratefully takes the bags, and takes out the wallet. Lucas stops her as she begins to pull out the bills.
"Its on the house today." He says. Yukari gives him a quizzical look. He nods his head again, and Yukari gives her thanks, and puts away the wallet. "Is there anything you need?" He asks, putting his hand on the table.
Yukari shakes her head no, and grabs both bags. She looks back on the man, and says, "Thank you so much Lucas." The man smiles, and replies "No problem. Be safe!" Yukari walks up the squeaky stairs, and back into the building above. Chaos rages on outside, but she refuses to take notice.
As she opens the door, a sharp pain richoechts through her cheek, and she is knocked to the ground. She hits the ground, blood spilling out of her mouth, an unholy screaming coming out of the attackers mouth. As she tries to get, she receives another blow to the head, and yelps in anguish. There were cries of fear, anger, and hysterical screaming.
As she struggled to get up, Lucas came out of the shop, pistol in hand, yelling. Yukari, half unconscious hears a gunshot, and blood splattering all over her face. It gets into her mouth and she spits it right up. Lucas, pulls her up, and drags her back into the shop. "Wha- wha- what the hell was that…" She mumbles, still shocked.
"That, he was insane. Mentally unstable had gone out and attacked you." Lucas said, out of breath. "He was tearing at your skin, you're bleeding." He says, and quickly grabs a clean rag, and hands it to Yukari. "That thing tried to kill you, so I shot it."
"Why do you keep referring to that man as an it?" Yukari asked, rubbing the cloth all over her face, cleaning herself of the mans and her own blood.
"That was not human. Or human behavior for a matter of fact." He replied calmly. Yukari thought it was strange, but was nonetheless thankful to be alive. Her skins stung as she dabbed it on her torn skin. "Would you like me to get a replacement of your things, I think someone took it amongst the chaos." Yukari silently nodded her head, and Lucas left her again. She looked outside again. That mans body was still there, bleeding out, a gaping hole right through his head.
It made her feel queasy, as it should. There was a dead, bleeding out man right on Lucas's store front, suffering from mental anxiety, driven into insanity, and had just tried to kill her. All of a sudden she felt a movement in her pocket. "Oh no…." Yukari's mind screamed. She opened her pocket, and Pooli was still there, seemingly untouched, and in one piece. She gave a heavy sigh of relief and closed her pocket. Lucas had came back up holding both grocery bags.
"Here ya go ma'am." He says and hands Yukari the bags. She gives him her thanks and takes the bags, and walks out of Lucas's store. "Be careful out there, you'll be targeted after what happened today, news spreads like wildfire."
"Don't worry, I'm always careful." Yukari said and left. She stuck the hood over her head and walked through the silent evil streets. Everyone looked at the figure walking down the dead street.
She didn't notice the Military figure put out a walkie talkie and pointed at her and barked orders into it. As she walked the lonely streets, she turned the corner, and her blood froze. A tank. Not just any tank, and Panzerkampfwagen IV H. Not only that, but a small Anglerfish logo on the side. She shoved her hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. "There was no way thats her tank! its not possible!" She quietly followed the slow tank to its destination.
As it went down the street, everything seemed familiar, the dead oak tree, the half broken down building, that one house with its lights on. Wait, a house with its lights on. "NO!" She screamed but it was too late. An HE round, something that was never used in that tank in her matches, flew through the air and went right through the house and exploded killing everyone inside. the thing of her love and dreams hand just single handedly destroyed the only people who she had left in her life.
