Days Of Ruin11…Never Ending

I do not own Advance Wars or any of the series…if I did…I wouldn't be writing this.

The clouds above began to darken, signaling that nighttime was approaching.

Both Tabitha and Zene were heading away from the city and toward the lights coming from the trucks parked a few hundred feet away. There was only one truck that had its engines running, the rest stood silent with their lights cutting into the now approaching darkness.

As the tank approached the truck the operators inside saw one of the several displays light up, it pulled up information on the vehicles ahead, it was labeled 'Civilian units'

"Ok that's them ahead." Zene said, pointing at the center display that zoomed in on a single truck ahead. He soon climbed up onto the top of the moving tank.

"Hey Tabitha! I'll tell them the news, so just stop in front of them." He said as he looked down into the hatch. The turret's radio came to life.

-Yeah I heard you! You still need to fix your habit of yelling even though you have a radio next to you!- He just frowned a bit at the radio.

'Yeah, I'm trying! There's a reason why they are called habits!' He wanted to say that but the tank was slowing to a stop, the figures in and on the truck were getting clearer.

There were only three people that were left behind to wait, two of the forms were sitting on the truck's hood and a taller form was standing next to the two. The War Tank soon stopped several feet from the front of the truck, the two vehicles' lights illuminated the small area between the two.

Zene got down from the tank, lowering himself from the rear ladders of the tank. The people in front of Zene called out to him.

"Hey leader!" Yelled two enthusiastic boys, both their faces had faint black grease streaks on their foreheads.

"Boy! Where are the rest of the guys? They still out raiding?" The shopkeeper called out to his leader.

"No…they're off sleeping." Zene tried his best to say it in a way that wouldn't hurt the boys, the shopkeeper caught on and ushered the boys away.

"C'mon boys, leader's here now so you all go on and sleep." The aged man pointed to the back of his truck, the boys were about to complain but they started yawning and drowsily left their leader and the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper's voice took on a serious note. "So what happened?" After he said this, his leader recollected the events that happened that day. The shopkeeper lowered his gaze and started crying, obviously saddened by the words of his leader.

After the man finished crying he said a few words for the lost men and lifted his gaze back up. "Those boys, they were impulsive…just like my grandsons…" His words drifted off, full of sadness.

"I knew death would come…but I thought it would be of old age, seeing as we somehow managed to survive our last meeting with bandits." The man stopped, after hearing his own words he accepted the deaths of his sons.

"I'll take care of the two children now." The man turned to head to where the children were sleeping, until his leader began to speak when he was halfway there. He knew that being depressed over his son's deaths wouldn't bring them back.

"I don't think its best for you three to stay with us any longer…" The leader said, taking out the knife he had borrowed and returning it to the shopkeeper, who nodded. He lifted his gaze to look up at the clouded skies. "Ignorance is bliss eh?" The words were whispered to the air.

"Hmm?" Zene was about to ask him what he had just said but decided against doing so.

"I'll take the boys somewhere safe. People will come to help us when they see an old man with two children." He went to the back of his truck and woke the boys up to tell them he was going to start driving, after he got the boys to return to their sleep he closed the back doors of his truck. He headed back to the front of his truck to see Zene and Tabitha in front of him.

"Old man, there's an underground bunker not far from here, it was made for some important, but now dead people, and it should be able to barely feed the three of you for a long time." The man doubted her words but he accepted it when he saw his leader give him a nod of assurance. She handed him a map and scribbled on several numbers.

"You'll need that when you get there, there are more instructions on the back so you should be able to get there in a few hours even without Zene's help." Informed Tabitha. The man got into his truck and started to drive, but not before stopping with his window rolled down.

"Boy…no, Zene…please look after this young lady. She is your responsibility. I'm charging you with the task of protecting this young lady. Please do not leave this world before I do." He finished giving his farewell words to Zene. Zene soon started to get back into the tank.

"And you…Tabitha? Yes, Tabitha…thank you for your help. I have a task to give you too…please set my boy on the right path whenever he faces trouble, John and I aren't there to comment on his actions, I entrust you with this…and I hope your futures will be as bright as the sun!" He finished saying his last words to Tabitha before heading off into the darkness. She was blushing, but with her back to the lights of the tank no one would've seen her emotions,

Tabitha went to the trucks to gather sleeping gear and ammunition for the tank and she finished up by turning off the lights of the remaining green trucks and headed into the operator section to meet up with Zene.

The two people quickly laid their sleeping bags across the floor of the area they were in and fell asleep. The two didn't have to zip themselves up in their bags since the tank would shelter them from the cold night wind. The two of them were parallel to each other, one to the right and one to the left of the main seat of the tank.

The area was now dark, all of the lights were off and the former Raider along with a former IDS CO slept peacefully through the night. The only sound around them was the sound of wind blowing around them, but that too died down…giving the two sleeping people the peace they deserved.

A/N Pretty short huh? I felt the natural pause here when I looked over this, so I decided to end this chapter here. (Hides Chapters labeled 12,13,14,15,16 and 17 from view) I usually churn out about 2000 words a day, but the proofreading, story connection, terrain checks, and battle scenes take a few days. It takes me longer to make emotional scenes but not as much for battle scenes...idk why. The real fun is just starting.