The Last Tankery Match...

In The Bleak Aftermath

  This is a part that finishes up everything, it's mostly about the Scorchers, and has little to do with GuP, but read if you like. And I'm also setting up my future work.

    Sister? And..... Yukari?!
Miho sees her sister Maho and her love Yukari stand prominently on a Tiger 1.
The two talk, and share laughs as they discuss the Tiger's specifications.
Where am I?
Miho looks around, they're in a field, with bright blue skies overhead.
Suddenly a Panzer II drives up, it's a light tan camouflage. A small figure leans out of the turret.
Miho is utterly speechless.
Then Maho hops down, she stands staring into the distance.
Yukari looks as if she has an upset stomach.
Miho turns around.
Oh my gosh, is that...?
It's Ruster. And he holds an unconscious Yukari in his arms. The peaceful look of sleep is painted onto Yukari's face.
She watches Ruster slowly walk towards her with Yukari.
Miho panics as Yukari catches fire.
Her still body burns as she sleeps.
Within seconds Yukari becomes nothing more than a glowing pile of ash. The fragments of her lover fade and gently blow away with the wind.
Ruster stands there, amongst the smoke and fire, his gas mask hiding all emotion.
Suddenly and without warning, Ruster charges at Miho, using his powerful legs to propel himself forward.
Miho calls for help, she turns around to call her sister.
Maho's head shatters into a million little  pieces.
She too disintegrates into ash.
Miho looks back.
Ruster now wields his totokia, he gets closer and closer until he's frighteningly near.
Miho watches the zero emotion through his gas mask.
She gasps as the head of his totokia rushed down onto her.
The spiked tip stops only inches away from her head.
Ruster then fades into smoke.
He is gone as well.
Now she is alone.
Her cries echo into the disturbingly peaceful surroundings. Everything is so cheery, as if trying to lighten the mood.
But Miho saw through the fake apparition.
Everything bursts into flames, the sky turns dark red, and the Earth rumbles.
The ground beneath her shakes.
Then her Panzer IV appears.
Mako, Hana and Sayori wave through the hatches. All happy, but eerily distorted.
Mako drives the tank into the smoky darkness.
There is a high magnitude earthquake ongoing.
Miho screams as the shifting of tectonic plates becomes overwhelmingly loud and shakes her down to her broken core.
Then Miho thinks.
Am I dead?!
Is this hell?!

Miho opens her eyes, this time she sees the sky, smoke still lingered, but was clear for the most part.
She sat up and felt horribly sore, and incredibly thirsty, she felt like she could drink an entire lake.
Her head hurts, her body ached, and her face still held dried tears.
But then she notices a scar on her stomach.
She reaches down to feel the damage, but stops.
Her hand is missing.
Then it all clicks...

That was just a dream...

And now she was back in reality...

Miho feels the painful stub, dried blood everywhere.
She refuses to look beside her. As she knows Yukari's corpse was lying there, nothing but a pile of once living flesh and blood, only a reminder of the beautiful and such innocent soul that occupied it.
Wait, why is the Earth still shifting?
Was she still dreaming?
No, it was a whole lot worse...

      The source of the rumble was massive.
A huge tank slowly rolled towards Miho.
It's thick tracks crumbling the road beneath it.
Miho didn't care.
She laid back down.
And waited for the heavy tracks to grind her down to a bloody pulp.
But they stopped.
Hopefully it was a Scorcher about to take her life.
She wished to be executed, so she could join Yukari and her sister and everyone else in the afterlife.

     The tank halts, and the driver hatch opens.
Miho hears the sound of heavy boots hit the ground.
She thinks of her sister, and Yukari, and every girl who was killed under her command.
They were all dead, just dead piles of organic matter.
People who once were alive and well, they had hoped and dreams, relationships, friendships, families, and they were happy.
But it came to a sudden and painful end.
And Miho had the worst fate.
She would live on. To suffer through all the sadness and trauma, to carry the guilt, and to know of all the death she could have prevented.
Yukari was gone, and so was Maho. Her friends were now just distant memories.
They had all been killed.