Story [Issue 12] Inside Tanki Online - part 2

[Valletta 834]

Back to part 1

The boys’ eyes traced the debris field to and fro, but their looks kept on coming back to the peculiar sign on the wall. For sure there was no municipality in Russia that would contain such a sign, even though one should consider the country’s war-directed past.

In a headstrong attempt to overcome the castaway’s desperation the boys went about exploring the ruins. Among the concrete chunks that were so vigorously scattered about, one could spot quite a few peculiar objects. Objects that appeared to contain metal within. Vasya picked one up. As he was inspecting the brick-size chunk Vasily began thinking out loud:

“These things looks like... shrapnel.” He tore out one of the metal pieces and hit it against some stone. Then he scraped it, sniffed it and even licked it.

“Don’t do that, dummy! It could be rusty,” burst Lev.

“Oh stop it! ... It’s not rust. It tastes like... lead.”

“Lead? Like lead from a bullet?” Lev didn't seem as interested in survival anymore, rather than the origin of this lead shrapnel.

“Seems like it,” concluded Vasily. “See? There’s some used gun shells sticking out of the ground over there.”

“But those aren't regular bullets...” Indeed, the shells weren't even 12-gauge shotgun shells, the largest to be found in a store. They were military. “Geez, look at that caliber!” Vasily continued foraging around bemusedly.

“Wow, those must be some sort of cannon shots... A howitzer maybe?” Lev went on his behalf.

The boys eagerly started traversing the site in search of more interesting debris. Upon shoveling the ground a bit with their hands, Vasya and Lev found a whole machine graveyard. The ground revealed anything from copper wiring and pieces of cannon projectiles to entire hull plates and gear wheels of all shapes and sizes. The kids were astounded by the discovery. The debris field brought both confusion and thrill. It was like playing in a sandbox.

Suddenly, BOOOM! A cloud of dust blocked the kids’ eyesight; they were literally blown away by a few meters, landing in the dirt. Their ears hurt from the unexpected blast. Lev opened his eyes only to see the gaping hole in the concrete just 10 inches above his head. He hadn't even thought about reacting when a second deafening sound came from behind. But this sound was different, it didn't strike as quickly, and its pitch almost dipped below the borders of human hearing. As he picked up his bearings Lev found out another specific feature of the sound.

“My god... That’s an engine!” An accelerating vehicle engine was the exact sound Lev was hearing. It was approaching! The loud, hardcore roar of a heavy internal combustion engine was approaching his way! So there was a dirt road nearby! But something was wrong... the vehicle was closing in and not decelerating.

Lev rushed to pull away Vasya’s knocked-out body but froze before he could do so.

“HOLY-”

A splash of mud through the boy’s face obscured the rest. Lev fell and attempted to clean his eyes so he could at least see what had crashed before him. He gasped.

A complete, smoking, vibrating and roaring Tanki Online war machine was parked, no, rather crashed before the boy’s eyes. A fully upgraded ‘Hornet’ hull with a similarly upgraded ‘Thunder’ gun mounted on top. Weirdly, a hatch opened from the top of the tank. A head stuck out.

“Tanki Online vehicles have drivers?” Lev wondered. That came in as a sort of a backfire considering the whole “You don't just drive the tank, you are the tank” motto of the game. Peculiar.

*Hiccup* “What? Are you calling me a driver? Take your words back, kid, I am a pilot!” The man appeared to be drunk. In his mid-thirties, he wore an army uniform, with a tankman helmet, the look of a hawk... and the body hair of an average bear. The man spoke in a strong Cossack accent.

“Reporting two... kids in the Westfield region," he said awkwardly to his radio station. “Requesting permission to arrest them.”

Lev now began thinking that this wasn’t such of a dream anymore...

“Permission granted. Drive ‘em over here,” came from radio station tucked in the man’s belt.

“You heard it... go on,” the soldier pointed at the hatch of the Hornet.

Lev was no longer as trilled of riding in the majestic tank, as he now realized that he would most probably be locked up along with Vasily in some retrograde prison cell and never see his family again. Speaking of Vasily, he was the only person alive who could sleep through such a mind-boggling event. There was not much room for excess contemplation now, though.

“Yeah, um...” Lev glanced toward the knocked out Vasily.

“Fine. Let’s drag him in," the soldier responded and began a long and painful to watch stagger-like walk to pick up Vasya. After both boys were seated in the Hornet, the tankman sat comfortably in the driver’s position. Only then did Lev actually have the opportunity to take a closer look at the man’s neck. It had some signs written on it. A tattoo? No, numbers... a barcode rather? Yes! Lev was in a tank being piloted by “NPC No.88374” He decided to just remain quiet.

(...)

To be continued...

[jtipt 30]

First.

Waiting for next issue :P

[unholycloak5 1,814]

“HOLY-”

Okay, that's me. Btw, nice article, Val! :D

[r_SwagBoy110 421]

[Valletta 834]

How are my photo editing skills Swag? :P I had to do without the lens glare but hey, looks rather realistic, doesn't it?

[r_SwagBoy110 421]

How are my photo editing skills Swag? :P I had to do without the lens glare but hey, looks rather realistic, doesn't it?

It'a awesome! Sorry I couldn't do it.

[Valletta 834]

It'a awesome! Sorry I couldn't do it.

No problem. Told you I had some practice on Paint.NET :ph34r:

[FederalBureauFBI 2,881]

[SilverCenturion 0]

[Raphael2 3,263]

Really cool ;)

[eatlead3 0]

awesome you need to finish that off ...... why because i flippin well need to read it :) :rolleyes: ^_^

[r_Firingsniper0 1,215]

[donut70 97]

gogogo make the next one, but I wonder what happened to the smoky xt chronicles?