Chapter 3-tanks for the visit
sorry for the wait, this chapter has gone through a few re-writes and iterations before reaching it's current stage and it is the longest chapter I have written yet (at over a thousand words) so please give any issues with the story to me so I can work on them.
we return to our bashful crew in the darkness of night under the light of a broken moon
"sooo I'm not the only one seeing this right?" I ask hoping I'm wrong as I look towards the others
the others are staring up in shock and disbelief "someone, pinch me" trinity says as she stares wide eyed at the moon
"what do we do now?, I mean we aren't on earth anymore" charles asks looking towards ben for an answer
ben looks down and contemplates before saying "well if they can shatter a part of the moon then they must be civilisation, I doubt that would happen naturally" he says turning to look at the three of us, "i mean this planet has a breathable atmosphere so it's not out of the question that there is intelligent life here"
"let's hope we find life otherwise... well we'll cross that road when we come to it" I say looking back to the tank thinking how far we will have to go
ben looks at all three of us and says "well as we are all awake, we might as well start driving and take this planet like a blitzkrieg*" as we all walk towards the tank and embark.
Billowing dust clouds follow the tank as it blitzes through the desert at full speed through day and night with a steely determination to find civilization
"he ben any sign of life yet?" I ask while looking through a pair of binoculars through the open hatch
"no luck yet, you?" he asks looking through binoculars at the horizon to our left
"well nothing yet but may ….. wait what's that?" I say as I see something out of place amongst the rolling dunes
"TRINITY FULL STOP" ben commands over the radio as the tank slows dramatically to a stop as I hear cursing from inside
"what the hell was that for ben?" charles asks from inside the tank as I point to the odd shapes in the sand
"ben do you see those or am I going mad?" I ask as he looks towards where I am pointing
"yea I see them as well" he affirms looking at them
"I think we should investigate them" I say looking to ben for a response
"trinity turn 15 degrees to the right and full speed ahead" ben commands as we turn and accelerate towards the odd shapes
I hold my breath as we approach the shapes, praying that it is not just some rocks
the tank rumbles onward towards the shapes in the distance
as the tank shudders to a stop among the ruins of the buildings we prepare to disembark and search on foot
"ok sam you search the north, charles you cover the east, trinity you cover the south and i'll cover the west and meet back here in an hour" ben commanded as we split of weapons in hand
time skip 15 minuets
as I walked towards the next house …. or what is left of a house as I walk through the destroyed front door and see claw marks on the walls and floor ,"what could have caused this?" I ask myself as I move to the next room looking for anything of use and slap bang in a frame is a map of "remnant?, what sort of name is that?" I ask as I remove the map from the frame and place it on the table.
"ok so we are here" pokes a red X with the word home, "and the nearest place to us appears to be... vale? It's going to take some time to get used to these names"as I roll up the map and place it under my arm I ponder "I hope it still exists" I say as I continue my search.
as charles wonders through what used to be a shop he stops at a counter with the label dust "what the hell is dust?" he asks himself as he grabs a vial of red powder "i guess if we find actual people I can ask what this dust is" he says as he fills a bag with whatever he can find on the shelves that may be of some use, "nice water we will need that in the desert" he says as he picks up a few boxes of bottled water, "now I understand you are in a desert but do you only have canned food?" charles asked himself as he picked up a few cans of food and carried them with him out of the remains of the shop.
Trinity searched through house after house until she came upon an half burned book called the tale of the 4 seasons "hmm, I wonder why they would tell a story about the four seasons" she wondered if they were rationalising it as she walked through the remains of someone's home.
"why did the people leave this village so quickly?" ben asks as he walks towards a large central ruin
"i doubt it was planned either by what I've seen so far" he says strolling through the destroyed doors of the ruin, peering around what used to be a hall, "something big must have came through here" he looks towards some rubble of the damaged roof, "must have been to have caused that" he says walking through the scratched corridors.
back with the tank
"ok guys what have we found" ben asks as the others gather around the tank
"well I found some food and water" charles points out while carrying a bag full of supplies, "and something called dust, whatever that is"
"and I found a book about the seasons or something" trinity states holding up the book with a defeated tone
"well I found a map with where we are marked on it and the closest big place, I think it's called Vale" I say as ben looks at me like a miracle has happened
"give me that map and we can plan from there" ben commands as he grabs the map and begins to plan our next move.
A/N
Blitzkrieg* - German tactic and term coined for the use of Blitz tactics using armour and mechanised infantry to attack quickly
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