It was a sunny November day I was told, it was a happy day. A little chilly but it was a happy day, the day of my birth. The day that started the story of me and the beginning of something good. Or so I was told anyway, It was a happy day for my parents but one that I don’t remember anything from. My name is McGavin, Jonathan McGavin. I was born on November 2, 2126, the year of the European Union. Or so we thought, little did we know that not everyone was happy with our reign over the world. We had made everything better and cleaner, more refined as you could say. But I am getting ahead of myself; I grew up believing that no one could control me. My mother hated that, she said that it made me a very rebellious boy and I remember that. I remember one time when I was seven, my friend Carl and I hotwired old man Roberts junk hover cart that he had salvaged from the war, Man we had a blast with that thing. Then one day we snuck over to do it again and it was gone! The old man sold it for scrap, if I had known that I would've made him an offer. Even though I had nothing, I would do chores or even mow his lawn for that hover cart. But I soon moved on, High School Baby! Supposedly the best years of your life, Carl and I, We had dames. Our girls were the best in the world; I remember when we met them. They are sisters and due to that we do everything together but that’s alright with me and Carl. Once we “borrowed” my mom’s four door jalopy and went to lover’s peak, Man that was a night! Then it happened, I was fifteen and living the life with a girlfriend and a sweet ride. Man it was great, But on my birthday we received a knock on our apartment door. I was happy, I expected it to be Carl but boy was I wrong; It was a recruitment officer bringing the “death note”, That’s what we called it. By it I mean the draft, The officer with his chiseled jaw and muscular features jammed the piece of paper in my face and I froze. Right then in front of my eyes my life end, Fell apart right before my eyes, destroyed and all because of a stupid piece of paper. My mother slipped in behind me and gasped, The officer looked from my face to hers and then as if he was used to it, Mouthed the words “sorry”. He turned almost mechanically and left down the walk to deliver the next death note. My mother recovered from the shock before I did and snatched the note from my hands.



“Mom?” I said in a quivering tone, My voice shaken from the news
She dropped the note on the ground and as if it were a demon, Stomping on it repeatedly.



“Mom! Stop it, I will be alright!” I shouted.
But unaffected by my cries, She erupted in a blast of sorrow. She fell to the floor and wept for hours on end, All I remember is awaking on the living room floor all by myself. The house was empty, my mother was gone! I had no idea where she could of gone. Then as if it couldn’t of become any worse, A hollow knock sounded at the front door



“Bang, Bang, Bang”
The noise echoed through the apartment, I froze, my heart stopped. Who could that be, Mom? No. A policeman with news involving my mom? My world was seemingly being crushed and obliterated piece by piece.



“Bang, Bang, Bang”
This time the knock sounded friendly yet it still inflicted terror into my stricken body. Finally I moved towards the door at first, then towards the window. I stopped, whoever it was would certainly see me leave through the window. I stumbled forward slamming my knee into the coffee table, as a consequence a loud clatter erupted as the china on the table shifted. Whoever was at the door is hopefully gone now and th-



“Bang, Bang, Bang, We know you’re in there!” Stated a gruff voice.

Then as if a light bulb lit up “Soldiers” I whispered, As if I was being dragged, I moved closer to the door. Little did I know that thanks to my curiosity, every step sealed my fate further and further. I grabbed the door handle, The cool metallic feel cooled my burning hands. I slowly opened the door as if to postpone my fate. It did not work as I had hoped, The owner of the gruff voice shoved the door open further. The shove caused me to lose my balance and start to fall backwards. As I drifted towards the ground it felt like an eternity then I felt a rough, squeezing sensation on my wrist. I stopped falling, did i hit the ground I thought to myself. I couldn’t of, I did not feel the impact. I opened my eyes to see the owner of the gruff voice standing over me, practically suspending me in mid air by my wrist.
“Son, if you are going to fight for the EU then you need to be a bit steadier on your feet” Stated the Gruff voice. He stood like a tower, He had to be close to 6” 8 or taller. He had rippling muscles and the face of a soldier chiseled and war beaten. There was a scar that ran from his eye down to the corner of his lip. As he raised me back up onto my feet, I could feel the intensity of his strength. It was as if I was a sack of potatoes, My weight just did not bother him.
“My name is Corporal Tanners but you can call me Tiger, My friends do because of the scar on my cheek” as he said this in his gruff, scratchy voice i noticed that the scar on his cheek bulged as if it were a blood vessel. He must of noticed me staring because he looked me straight in the eyes and said “Boy if you don’t stop looking, you're going to meet the same cat that did this to me.” I slowly stepped back as if fear had pushed me and as i did I noticed that one of the two Guards started to chuckle.
“Leave him alone kitty, The whelp is going to get enough battering as it is once he hits basic training”
Almost as if it was a natural reflex, Tiger rotated on one foot towards the guard and before any of us knew what was happening, hit him. Hit him square in the jaw with such a force the his eyes rolled into his head and his knees buckled causing him to crumple and fall down the stairs. I could not help but laugh at the horrific face the other guard made as Tiger slowly turned towards him, You could sense the fear in him
“Do you have anything to say?”
“Nnnn no Sir, Sorry Sir!”




“Alright, Go pick Charles up and put him in the Humvee.”

The soldier moved swiftly yet at the same time he stumbled and almost fell down the steps onto his passed out comrade. Tiger turned towards me and looked me straight in the eyes, overwhelmed by his immense size I stepped back. His arm shot out as fast as a bolt of lightning attaching itself to my shoulder and seizing me in place.

“Look son, I have a lot of bad news to deliver to unsuspecting parents in a small amount of time, so we can do this one of two ways.” he said in a hushed yet aggravated tone.
“Which one is the easiest.” I said as I shook with fear.
“You can either fight and get tranquilized or you can say goodbye to your parents and come with me.”
“I can’t say goodbye.” I stated as my gaze shifted from Tiger to the ground
“Yes you can kid, Its easy. You just walk in there to your mom or dad or both, look them in the eyes and say, Goodbye and love you. Now go!”
“No! I mean I can’t because my mother is not here and my dad died.” Tiger’s look softened for a moment then hardend back up to the soldier he was.
“Fine kid then just lock your door and come with us.”
“Alright.” I complied, for I had never been taized before and I did not want to find out what it felt like. I turned around to face the living room of my house for one last time, The familiar carpet, The scuff in the were carl and I were goofing off, The rug on the hardwood floor where I tried to ride my skateboard in the house. All of the previous memories saddened me and caused my legs to give out. As I fell, thoughts of my mother swarmed my head and there were many but one in particular kept flashing back. It was when my mother and I went camping, We had just bought a new tent and we were huddle in it for protection as the storm raged outside. I remember curling up in my mother’s arms scared of what was outside yet some how I felt protected in her grasp. I remember repeating the same phrase as I drifted asleep in her arms, “Don’t worry, You’re safe. Don’t worry, You’re safe.” I awoke, immediately I was hit with the smells of a bus, Body odor, Diesel exhaust, The putrid smell of barf, and the sound of crying. A sat up straight and looked around, It was dark out and the bus was dimely lit yet every face was easy to make out. I notice coworkers, school mates, and good friends. I felt a hand touch my shoulder and it caused me to jump, I looked over and was instantly filled with joy as Carl’s face slowly emerged into to dim light of the bus.
“Carl!”
“Hey Jon.” Carl replied in sad tone.
“Whats wrong?”
“I thought you were never going to wake, You fell and hit your head pretty hard.”
“So thats what happened?”
“Yeah, you were looking into your house and then you just crumpled!”
“Hmm… I must of because I don’t remember a thing”
“Well you're here now, we have a long ride but I have no idea where we are going.”
Thats the last I remember of Carl, you see we were placed into different platoons. He was placed into the Hells Fury squad and I was placed into Titan 6. Titan 6 was fine, we were an airborne unit that was there to assist Hells Fury in their assaults. We flew in big airships called Titans that used magnetic levitation and that caused them to be slow, Yet what we lacked in speed we gained in fire power. A single Titan airship could level a city the size of Berlin in less than an hour. So that is where we gained or platoon name was from our main ship. One day I was out on the flight deck refueling jets when warning sirens started to screech their evil song. Immeadiatly I knew we were going down although we had not been hit yet. I turned and ran, ran through cordoor after cordor passing multiple soldiers rushing for arms and munitions. I slammed through a door sending a sharp pain through my shoulder which faded out of my mind due to the present commotion. I had entered another small barracks, running to the nearest locker I grabbed viciously for the latch. Lifting up, The door open and reaching inside I grabbed a Scar 47 assault rifle, A first aid pack, a parachute, and a small rucksack. Jamming the aid pack into the sack, I threw the pack over my shoulder and ran. Passing through corridor after corridor that I had previously passed seeing no one inside. I emerged on the flight deck blinded by the sunlight at first but my eyes soon adjusted showing the problem at hand. The deck was empty, No helicopters or jets, Just one soldiers standing alone waiting for his fate. That soldier was me, looking up, I noticed an object hurtling towards the Titan at an alarming speed. It only took seconds to reach the Titan but what seemed as an eternity to get to me. Boom! The Titan rocked back with startling force causing me to lose my footing and fall onto the deck. I slowly arose to my feet to see a startling sight, the rapid descent of an one thousand ton war machine. I felt as if the ground was slowly being removed from my feet. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out but air. The Titan started to tilt forward allowing me to see my fate, A fate that was lit afire with the battle that killed many but won nothing. As we descended faster and faster I thought of my mother, How I had never gotten to say good bye. How she disappeared on the day of my drafting and I never saw or heard from her again. A wave of sadness and fear surrounded me as the ship neared the ground. The last thought that remained in my mind was my mother.

“Mrs. Mcgavin, In honor of your son whose life was lost in the heat of battle, I commend the highest available medal that is in my power to give. I present to you a Purple Heart for your son’s eager response to the call of duty and with the utmost respect and best wishes, Pray that he is in a better place.” Stated a tall, well built man with a scar running down his face. “He will be remembered for his valiant service.”