Living on Borrowed Time

Chapter Five: Central Town

By PolarNegetiveZero

This guy was in a hurry. It was so much, that I needed to push my damaged engine to its limits, getting us going around 20 kph, including the terrain and the difficulty navigating these tunnels. We were going for about ten minutes before we saw a change. A big change. The terrain had gone from dirt and stone to reinforced steel in about ten feet. It took us about a second to cross from dirt to steel, so I was actually surprised by this. It felt good to have some sort of reinforced material beneath my treads.

Scratch that, it was all around us now. Kind of strange, unless it was built before the Shell. This also made me nervous, as it was said that the Shell hit Russia pretty hard. "We are close. I ask you to quiet until I talk to guard, yes?" The SU-85 had rolled to a halt at this. I shrugged, and looked at Sig, who looked thoughtful, then shrugged and said "Fine. But you'd better not abandon us. We'll find you if you do." She threatened without words at that last part. Given her quirks that I've seen so far, that's not at all surprising.

I think she has a fear of being alone. Like me. I remember that some philosopher once said "Being alone is not the worst thing in the universe. Being in a crowd of people and still feeling alone, is." That sums up my condition, but Sig seemed to just not want to be alone. It seems weird, given that she's a natural leader. Perhaps something to do with her past…? I omitted a few things from mine, no reason she shouldn't do the same.

I revved my engine, and then eyed the fuel cans on the back of Sig. Maybe if I use my gun, I could snag one… She notices me, and says out loud "They're empty. And you're not touching my engine compartment without me telling you to." I felt like running my tracks until I drove right through the steel floor, then pulling the chunks on top of me. "That- That's not what I meant!" I stammered out, trying to recover from the off-putting comment that she'd made without warning.

"Relax. I was joking about my engine. But seriously, they're empty." She said looking a little nervous that she'd offended me. See, Murphy, this is why you don't put two shy people in the same group without at least ONE tank acting as a buffer. Otherwise, you get no conversation! I heard the SU-85 rolling back, and I muttered at the same time "Saved by the Russian." He rounded the corner, with another tank behind him.

This was a KV-1S, now tier five and it had the 76mm gun. A dangerous opponent 1 on 1, but I could take him in these close quarters. "These are people I speak of, Flench. German and British tenk." He said to the other, speaking in English so we could understand what was being said. "Flench" shook his cannon barrel up and down, and then said "We can help these people, Scar. We have enough fuel and spare parts to help others." He spoke in fluent (Rather too much to be a straight Russian, if you ask me.) English, and then turned to us. "Follow me and Scar. We'll give you parts and fuel." I nodded my barrel up and down, but I still kept my wits about me.

This could be a really well-organized trap, so I needed to stay focused .But the promise of fuel and possibly grease made me daydream about what I would do once my engine was fixed and I had enough grease to have it leak out of my tanks. An unusual fantasy, but it was like a human starving without food and then getting to eat a three course meal.

Oh, right, we know what humans are. We just don't know much about them. How else do you think we got these phrases? Anyways, I was so deep in my daydream that I actually bumped into the rear end of the KV-1S. I focused my optics, and took in the sights. A town that was underground. What else do you want to throw at me, Murphy? A freighter? Maybe a frigging biplane while you're at it? I was actually the least bit frustrated that these people could come together just like that.

It made me think about the squabbling and the mistrust that I used to have from other scavengers. Which made me feel angry on the inside because I couldn't have at least tried to do this with some other scavengers around me. But, now was not the time for memories. The town was actually pretty small. Two streets that were perpendicular to each other and crossed in the center. A two-story garage house that had the name "The rusty gun" on a sign out front, with the sign hanging from an old Tiger I 88 mm gun. Oh, very funny, Murphy. Extremely funny. Another building next to it was a fuel depot, along with a mechanic's garage with a TRV working inside, whistling a tune that I couldn't place and was too busy to try.

There were a few privately owned garages and what looked to be a gatehouse of sorts, along with a blockhouse build into the bottom of it. The one in front of us had already opened without me looking, and it had the same set up as our little convoy rolled into town. The blockhouse was placed on the East side, if you were looking at it from the side with the wall and the guard tower. The gate was on the west, and it swung outward, giving cover to the tanks opening it. Very smart, these guys. They had a similar set-up on the other side, and a ramp to get into the watchtower. On the other side, there was a Jagged-Panther with a personal can of fuel beside him, his front facing away from me. On our side, there was a KV-85 with the long 122 mm gun. The D-2-5T. The one that had the thingy at the end. I don't do good at explaining details of stuff, so find a photo of it yourself. I was finished looking over the place, and looked over at Flench.

"Hey, how much do I need to pay to get us some room and board? A fuel can come with it?" I asked him, trying to discern anything else from his response. "Costs about 2,000 silver per night, or twenty gold coins." He responded, rolling to the blockhouse, SU-85 beside him. "Look, it's been a long day for me, and I'll assume you guys to. Go talk to our Bergepanzer about getting fixed up, and go to the Rusty Gun and grab a fuel can and a room. I'll give you a proper welcome tomorrow." He looked tired, and so did his friend. I shrugged, and looked at Sig, who was still taking in the town.

"Seems kinda weird that they managed to set this all up underground, huh? Never would have found the place if it weren't for you." I said, trying to make her feel good about herself. What? I try to be nice to the people who I come across (When I'm not in a sourpuss mood, anyway) and I try to be polite. She blushed slightly, but took the praise lightly. "Well, how about getting fixed up? It's been a while since I've been cleaned." She said, taking a look at the TRV's shop longingly. I revved my engine in agreement, and started rolling towards the shop and its owner.

After having been fixed up and cleaned (And holy PISS did it feel good to be clean and running well again!) I drove over to the Rusty Gun's garage door, and pressed on the track button to open it for me. It slid open with a few squeaks, but it was well oiled, so it wasn't that bad. A few tanks were already in here, and looked up at us. I moved over to the obvious owner, sitting behind his counter-top made of some sort of stone (looked to be granite, wasn't sure). I said "We'll need a room. Not sure for how long, so I'll pay for ten days in advance." I slid the silver over the counter, and counted my war chest. I had about 150,000 silver left, and 84 gold In stock.

He counted the money, grunted, and tossed both me and Sig a fuel can, and she started drinking hungrily. Most of the folks had gone back to their conversations by this point, and I started rolling up the ramp, engine now thrumming with power. Sig sped to catch up, and raced me down the hallway, finding our garage and opening the door. I didn't take a look around, all I did was reverse my arse into the place, set my fuel can on my engine compartment, and fell asleep like a rock.

Murphy?

…

Yeah, good night, ya sonuvabitch.

Well, this was less exposition, more of a filler for the next chapter. I'm actually already writing a rough draft for it, because I'm that excited for it. Also, and I seriously doubt it but it's a possibility, if you are a follower of this story, I lied. If I miss a day, then I'm sorry in advance and I'll say it again in the next upload, but sometimes, I just don't feel like writing.

I feel like sleeping instead.

Ciao.