The Fantasy Project

1. Remember the Hellcats

I truly wish I could explain what I'm seeing. I intend to use this journal to that end, but without context, you'll think I'm insane.

Hell. I thought it. Still do, truth be told, but not in the 'he thinks he can see into the future' way. More the 'he's having a meltdown and cant distinguish fiction from reality' kind of insane.

Even the Captain had his doubts and HE believes he's a damned wizard. We're on the brink of the third World War and he thinks he's Gandalf the Beige. (On account of his khaki dress uniform.) Sergeant Nichols laughed like an idiot when he made the joke but no one joined in. We were more preoccupied with the fact that the Hellcat's Boss was somehow convinced that he could throw fucking fireballs. More concerning: top brass assigned him to command the outfit knowing he was delusional. If this were a new unit full of recruits then having a psychotic Captain would be understandable. It would weed out the weak, test unit discipline and cohesion, or at the very worst: break down the officer in charge and send him packing.

But they sent him to us.

The Hellcats.

Whatever else we are, we take care of our own. You dont become a Hellcat by assignment. Drawing this outfit as a duty order is more like a raffle ticket. It only gives you an opportunity. Its the reason I'm still here. I earned my place and, despite the jokes and suspicious eyes that doubt my mental stability, I am and will forever be a Hellcat. A looney that thinks he can predict the future, yes. But a Hellcat, nonetheless.

A week before the attack on Galveston island, I had a dream about a Russian invasion. The Sergeant told me to write it all down to help me deal with the anxiety, so I started the journal. It got passed around. The Captain got hold of it. Everyone thought it was a good read. I wanted to be a writer before I joined the Army. Never took any classes for it, but I learned. I went to the school of Hemmingway, Poe, and King and was an apt student. My journals entertained the Hellcats.

And then, without warning or provocation, the Russians attacked. My journal read like a sports playbook. Not one detail had been wrong.

The Hellcats stopped joking. Still havent seen one puff of smoke from the Captain, though.

I'm going to explain some things. First, as far as I know, time travel is impossible. The sneak-preview you are reading is an accurate depiction of future events, but the story in your hand is changing. We can change the future. Anyone can. But what you've read, what's in your mind... It has changed since you began reading. You aren't aware of it, because simply reading it will affect a thousand decisions that will lead to the point this narrative begins. Using this journal, I give you the power to change the details of what I am seeing.

And buddy, if you've changed things into THIS, then the original snapshot, the first time I put pen to paper? Well, it must have been fucking WILD.

Second, I dont want you to get upset. You are the reason events are playing out this way. As you read along, there's going to be sadness, happiness, victory and defeat. But whatever happens, whatever version of this ends up in these pages, things started out a hell of a lot worse than what is written here. It is through the actions of the readers that this should be so. This book is going to affect every aspect of the war to come. The more people who read it, the more likely this story will have a good ending.

Lastly, my dreams appear to be non-linear in time. I dont know how far out the dreams take place but it can't be far. I still see Androids and iPhones, Windows, Linux and Macs. When I dream tonight it will be of some random day before or after my last dream. Its weird as hell, but thats not the least of it.

In the dreams... I'm not ME. I see the whole of the situation. Not just what's going down for the Hellcats as a unit, but their individual emotions and thoughts as well. Everyone simultaneously. And it makes sense. Sometimes, I see through the enemy's perspective. I am part of it, but no different from the rest of the people in the dream. There's no sense of myself. I've seen me... Have read my own thoughts and emotions but without any indication of ownership for them. That's how this journal plays out. There's an entry before the dream. I see no other way for you to make sense of this crap... Then I write the dream as I experience it.

I dont know what you can take away from all of this, but if everything goes right, this war may never happen or this will be a damned boring book. I hope to God that will be the case.

So read on. You have a part to play in these events as they unfold.

And please:

Remember me. Remember the Hellcats.