With the train speeding towards its destination, Maho after several hours awakened at last with only several minutes left until the train was to reach the station.
Looking out the window, the fields of grass and crops continued to fly by, she decided to simply enjoy the view of the countryside until the end of the line under the high ceilings of stone, glass, and steel of Munich's Central Station
She was among the last to leave the platform, having helped several of the older officers recover their baggage, along with having to ask directions from one of the staff for the meetup point with the recruitment transportation. As Maho walked through the massive station, wherever she looked, she saw loving families, and groups of friends as they made their way to unknown destinations. She cherished the memories of the days when she had loving friends and family, but now that was all they were... memories. Apart from Miho and Kikuyo, she had no one left.
Reaching the platform that she was informed to reach, she joined a large group of men wearing the same black uniform as her in a line to report to several officers on a small desk.
As she waited, she was not surprised to notice several of the others in line starting to look at her. There were no other girls in the group, and as far as she knew, the entire Wehrmacht probably didn't have that many others in it as well. Before she actually got to the point of bashing one of the men over the head with her pistol grip, she got to the front of the line at the desk. Finding herself packed into one of several trucks being loaded.
With the last of the new recruits signing in, Maho along with the rest of the men found themselves ordered into several waiting trucks as they left the station. Maho ended up at the very back of the truck looking out as they moved out of the bustling city to the open countryside.
She was always an outdoor person, always playing with her sister either by the river, or deep in the woods. The exhilaration of being in the wild was always in her blood. As a result of that, she never liked letting her hair grow out too much so it could get caught on something as she went through the foliage of the forest. And the other girls always thought of her as weird, and wouldn't really like having her around.
Her attention shifted immediately as they neared their destination.
A massive camp loomed to her right now, lined with high fences and armed guards along the perimeter.
As the trucks made their turn into the main entrance under the watch of heavy armed guard, they continued into the camp. The inside was filled with wooden barracks, and massive formations of soldiers in exercise drills, and multiple Panzer 1s and 2s out on maneuvers.
From the days of her father's tin armored car, and wooden barreled guns in the Weimar army, Germany's war machine has risen large enough to wage war against half the world, fairly well.
When the trucks stopped, several officers ordered everyone out, and into order. After several tense minutes, an officer came out in front of the recruits. Taking role call from each man in line, his stern expression didn't change until he came up to Maho.
"I noticed that the new recruits were getting younger, but I never knew that there is that little manpower left available." He exclaimed.
She doesn't say a word in response. Prompting the officer to change his focus on the whole unit.
"Now then." He addresses "From this moment on, every single one of you are now official soldiers of the Wehrmacht. And as such, you are expected to maintain the utmost in military discipline at all times. Most of you will find yourselves one day in the battlefield. Whether it be the Egyptian deserts, the streets of London, or the icy tundra of the Soviet Union, what you learn here will mean the difference between life and death for you, and your comrades. Do you all get me!?"
"We get you sir!" The whole unit answered in unison.
"Good. Everyone is to be assigned a bunk in the barracks. There will be no breaks though, as all of you will be called for basic training at O twelve hundred hours. Dismissed!"
Maho bent down to pick up her heavy bag as the rest of unit scattered in the direction of the nearest barracks building, and followed suit.
As she entered the small barracks, she found herself in a main discussion room practical filled to its limit with the other men as they were becoming acquainted with each other. She was able to discreetly get around the horde of people in the room with getting noticed. Letting a long sigh as she closed the door to her assigned bunk room behind her. She almost immediately made her way to the uppermost bunk in the far corner, the one that would have the least traffic going past it.
Being the center of attention of a group of young men, all stealing not so stealthy glimpses at her direction every once in a while was getting really annoying. She actually didn't like it back home when others avoided her, along with her younger sister out of fear of their mother.
Maho was sitting in her room. As the heir apparent to the school meant that her workload was much larger than that of the average student in her grade. Calling hard work was an understatement to say the least, but she managed quite well.
She was working through the large pile of assignments that stood on her small desk, but was brought out of her concentration by the sound of loud footsteps moving up the main staircase.
Immediately knowing who it was, she slowly made her way from her room, walking down the hallway to the door that she knew would be occupied.
Miho was sitting in her bed with her back to the door, and her head hung low in the shadows. Maho couldn't see her face, but knew she was crying.
"Miho?" She asked with concern in her voice. "May I come in?"
Miho only nodded in response, allowing her to enter her room. She slowly approached her, and sat on the bed behind her little sister.
"Miho, what's wrong?" She asked as she placed her hand on Miho's shoulder.
"My friends, they said...they said that they didn't to be with me anymore, because of what mom does, and everyone at school avoids me outside of class..." She stuttered as she cried.
"I'm so sorry Miho." Maho said as she tried to comfort her by holding her tightly, her sister's tears soaking her shirt.
Looking at her sister, while she tried to wipe the tears out of her eyes. "Is Mom a bad person?"
"No!" She answered almost shouting at her sister's face, before calming her voice down as she continued. "Mother might seem cold and mean, but she still loves you. And what she does may appear wrong at times; everything she does, she does because she cares for us."
"I never felt so alone." Miho said as she put her head into her older sister's shoulder.
"There there now. Everythings alright now." She said as she continued to hug her younger sister.
"I promise, I'll always be here for you."
As she setted up her bunk, she came upon the two pictures that she had with her and her sister and the stuffed bear. She couldn't keep her promise, she couldn't be there for her when she needed her most. When she was down at the river, she couldn't be there to play with her now that no one else would. When she when she felt down, she wouldn't be able to comfort her as she always had before. When she felt truly alone, she would be too far away to be at her side.
'I'm sorry Miho.'
Sorry for the long wait, when I started I found that the closest wehrmacht facilities was in Munich, but that was for Infantry Officers, and with half of Maho's part in the story being on her way to Munich, I had to find a way to solve this problem. Since Munich had one of the main hubs for the German Reich Railway, that was my best bet of getting out.
Now comes the fun part of the story. The two girls, fresh from training. Will find themselves in the middle of the greatest slaughter of the Second World War...unless you want some chapters about their training into soldiers, which I would do if you want me to.
I probably won't, because I'm in the mood for some action already, then I can always make more flashbacks if you want.
Kimeck, thanks for the Russian names you sent me, I'll use them in the future as I'll need a lot more people when they reach the city, including several more characters from the anime, primarily German, and Russian based characters.
