The sounds got closer and closer. My mind raced as I listened, confused as ever at what was going on. A thousand questions raced through my mind. Why was I here? Why had I become a tank? Who was that strange voice? I had to put those off and hide. I rolled (I guess that's what you would call it) into a destroyed building and hid inside. I muttered under my breath. Finally, I heard their voices.
"Is the thing even any good?" Said one, sounding kind of young.
"I say you'd be better off with a Schmalturm, you get a better gun." Said another. This voice sounding my age, almost.
"I still have this hankering to get the Panzer V/IV."
"While you guys are arguing about that, me and Kenny will be blasting the crap out of everything from three miles away." Said a third, with a chuckle. This voice sounded exactly my age, slightly deeper than the second. I backed up a bit, bumping into a wooden frame and causing it to collapse. I stood straight like a nail, knowing I had probably been exposed.
"Crap." I thought to myself. They started to get closer and closer, and I closed my eyes in preparation.
"Hey there, what are you doing here?" A voice said. I slowly opened my eyes, and saw the four in front of me. An FT BS, a T57, a Panzerjager 1, and a T-15. I braced for death.
"Hey, we aren't going to shoot you." Said the T57. I opened my eyes again, looking curiously.
"Y-you're not?" I asked nervously.
"Yeah, because we would just shoot any random guy we meet." He said, with noticeable sarcasm. I frowned at him.
"The sarcasm was unnecessary." I said, making him chuckle. He drove up to me and smiled.
"The name's Trev. Short for Trevor, but I don't like Trevor." He introduced himself to me rather kindly, and the others followed.
"My name's Jerry." Said the T-15.
"Doc." Said the Panzerjager.
"Kenny." Said the FT BS. They seemed a friendly bunch, I guess I could ease up a bit.
"And your name?" They asked. What would I say to that? I didn't want to give it away just yet, I needed an alias. I quickly remembered a name from one of my favorite games, and picked it.
"Mobius." I said with a somewhat proud expression. The others smiled at me, and I felt like I was in a safe place after all.
"Well then, Mobius, why don't you come with us? We're always willing to take in a new friend." Trev said, and the others nodded. I thought for a moment. My best chances of survival, if this world was as violent and unforgiving as I expected, were with a group.
"I'd love to." I replied. The group then turned around, and I quickly came up beside them. With a pat on the engine deck and a smile, we left the fields of Malinovka. Was this going to be my new life? Only time would tell.
We travelled for a long time, the others talking amongst each other. I felt kind of strange, like I was some imposter that everyone would be terrified of if they knew my identity. I had to blend in, like nothing separated me from them. I had to change my entire life. I couldn't help but wonder why or how I was put in this position. I had a strange want to learn about my new biology, how we were supposed to function. Maybe soon I would have a chance.
"So Mobius, where ya from?" Asked Jerry. That question, as harmless as the intent was, was a problem. I quickly shot back a response.
"Nowhere, I'm just wandering." I replied nervously. Jerry nodded, my answer seemed to suffice.
"Parents?" Asked Doc.
"Never met them." I answered, again on the fly.
"I was the same." He replied. I felt guilty lying about that kind of thing.
"Not too wise wandering, you being a Tier 1 and all." Trev interrupted.
"Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking."
"That's why we're going to find you some XP."He added, much to my surprise. I looked at him in a confused manner.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"There are two ways to tier up. Free XP, which is hard to find, and normal XP. The only way to get that, my friend, is from battle." He replied. My eyes widened.
"Do you mean-"
"I've entered us into a low tier game in Prokorovka, the winners get somewhere around 15,000 XP. Of course, we would split that amongst the three of ourselves." That would leave me with 3,000 XP, enough to get the Panzer III Ausf. A! OF course, there was the problem of never having fired my gun before. I would have to figure that out eventually. I couldn't help but be nervous about that.
"Don't worry, we'll work together." Trev said, Doc nodding as well.
"Don't count on Jerry or Kenny, they're not too big on fighting." Doc said.
"I don't see the point of it." Said Kenny. Jerry nodded as well.
"We'll just stay out of it." He said. As the talk ventured to other subjects, I felt anxious. I was facing a chance to die. A chance for them to die. Worse yet, a chance that someone might find out my secret.
We arrived at Prokorovka late in the afternoon. It was quiet, but the ominous feeling of what lay ahead was in the air. We were greeted by a VK 30.01H, who was overseeing the fight. What kind of sick person would do this?
"We registered for the competition." Trev said to him. He looked coldly at us.
"Names?" He said in a deeper voice.
"Trev, and Doc. Jerry and Kenny dropped out but instead we have-"
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Go get ready. You're on the north side." He interrupted. Trev frowned, and we rolled slowly across the field. It was a mess. There were destroyed tanks, oil stains, and the smell of death. The latter clung to the air and made it near impossible to ignore. We finally reached the other side, and sat in the ready position. It wasn't until the countdown started a few minutes later that I realized what was going on.
"I'm going to die."
