"The flames of war continue to ravage Europe, but reinforcements have already set off from the United States! Every able-bodied young man is ready to protect his country!"
A passionate and stirring voice came from the speakers next to the big screen, and the scenes transitioned to soldiers enlisting.
Steve returned to New York, back to Brooklyn, the gloom in his heart making it hard to breathe. He walked into a cinema, looking to cheer himself up, where Wilson Enterprises' new zombie film was being screened.
He still remembers this was a term he and Baki came up with as children, and Mr. Wilson brought it to the big screen.
The flesh-eating zombies looked exactly like the people he saw in the subway station as a child, only dirtier.
The film perfectly recreated the fear they felt back then. Logically, someone like him with a heart condition shouldn't be watching such movies, but to relive his childhood, he bought a ticket and came in.
In the cinema, besides women, there were more elderly people; there weren't many middle-aged men left, as they had all gone to the battlefield.
Now, society is in a wartime economy, and watching movies is one of the cheaper entertainments.
Therefore, during the daytime, the cinema is quite crowded, but in these times, regulations require enlistment adverts to be inserted at the beginning, middle, and end of movies to promote the United States' enlistment policy and to expand people's patriotic fervor.
So one moment it's the beautiful heroine encountering the zombie dog in the corridor, and the next, the screen switches directly to U.S. soldiers walking into the barracks.
Around him, there was a collective exhaling of frustration.
Just at a crucial moment, an enlistment advert appeared, ruining the atmosphere. The audience sighed, "I took off my necklace for this?"
But Steve, full of yearning, looked at those soldiers, envying that they could join the army, envying that they could contribute to the country.
His eyes sparkled as he imagined himself marching in the ranks.
However, the screen changed to a boy about six or seven years old, wearing a scout cap, picking through a pile of junk for scrap metal that could be re-melted into weapons or tanks.
The impassioned narration recurred, lavishly praising the boy on the screen: "Even little Timmy is contributing to the country, collecting scrap metal, well done, Timmy!"
Steve instantly felt countless gazes fall on him. The women around him sneaked glances at him with the corners of their eyes, their looks seemed to imply something.
"Why are you watching a movie here?"
"Go to the battlefield, man! Tsk tsk!"
"Why don't you learn from little Timmy and collect scrap? Oh, maybe you're just trash!"
"Shame, boo!"
But those looks quickly moved away, as the women finally saw clearly in the darkness that this man was even more frail than themselves, as pale as a skeleton, possibly not having long to live. They indeed couldn't demand a sick person to go die.
Their eyes shifted to sympathy and apology, though their thoughts were much the same — 'You poor thing.'
Steve shrugged lightly; over the years, he had grown accustomed to such looks. Kindhearted people around always took care of him in life. When buying vegetables, even the most picky market women would give him extra and remind him to see a doctor early; some illnesses shouldn't be delayed, etc.
Precisely because of these good people, Steve couldn't bear to let the flames of war reach them; he was even more eager to enlist and stop the war.
Some thoughts flashed through his mind, but they were castles in the air. He smiled bitterly and refocused on the 'Iron Wall' tank on the screen.
This was also a creation of Wilson Enterprises, but such a massive steel beast hardly fits the style of American industry. Two gigantic, menacing cannons, a flat body, and thick armor, more like something from a country across the Pacific Ocean.
He remembered Mr. Wilson talking about this tank during their chats, with an internal development code name 'Apocalypse,' not sure why it wasn't used after it came into service.
Perhaps they wanted to create a series with other military products, Steve thought.
However, the reality wasn't as such. This tank only had the appearance of an Apocalypse tank; beneath the surface, it was essentially an M3 'Grant' with a different shell, fitted with larger caliber cannons turned into a twin-turret, with thicker armor, and additional engines.
Like a cobbled-together toy, except for its defense, none of its aspects were up to standard; slow as a self-propelled gun when reloading, moving like a turtle. The experts at the armaments factory had exerted all efforts just to make this thing operate.
In the beginning, the experts had their noses in the air when Su Ming illustrated the appearances of T34 and IS for their reference, which they dismissed. Then Su Ming sketched the Apocalypse, and they boasted it could absolutely be made, guaranteed to be formidable.
During the internal acceptance, Su Ming wanted to kill these incompetents. After all the R&D budget given to them, they produced a self-propelled gun and T95 turret combination?
But he thought it over and restrained himself, since the money was already spent. A turret is justice, so make do.
If this scrap could still be called an Apocalypse tank, it would purely tarnish the name. After sending these 'experts' to study hand tractors, Su Ming simply renamed this metal monster the Iron Wall Assault Gun, emphasizing its sole advantage of defense.