The tank is on the move.

I relished the wind’s gentle caressing and clanging of the tracks as the machine covered kilometers of the road.

“Brace yourselves, we’ll drive over a dent.” (O)

‘Pum’

“It was not so bad.” Jester was sitting inside the turret while I sat on top and held the kord’s handles.

“You said that like you really do enjoy it.”

“Nah, just used to it. Speaking of which, are you not looking like you are fine as well? Captain, what was the worst of the roads you saw?” He peeked outside.

“Well, it was few years ago when my grandfather died. I had to drive all the way to Tatarstan and on the way back I missed the correct turn and ended up on a highway a bit to the north. One moment I was driving on a smooth highway, the next I was driving 120 on a dirt road, or an unfinished highway. You don’t want to know how my a* felt. Had to repair the suspension… Also, there was a time when I…”

One eternity later.sfx

“… and for that reason I prefer to avoid the snowed fields. Hey, Jester, were you f* listening?”

“Y-yes… ‘uwaah’. I’ll be sleeping.” He closed the hatch.

“Got it, if I’ll need you, I’ll be kicking you.” I shouted inside.

I lazily looked around. When I looked in front of us I saw something but before I could order to stop the vehicle, we hit an escarp.

‘PUM’

“F*, why the f* is that f* piece of f* s* is there?” I said and then started swearing.

“Kakogo h*, skazal poruchik Rzhevskiy i gryazno virugalsya.” [‘What the f*’ said lieutenant Rzhevskiy and sworn. – Poruchik Rzhevskiy is a character of Russian jokes, known for his obscene actions/phrases which comically exaggerate Russian hussars.] Jester showed his head.

We bumped into the obstacle and were shaken quite badly. The mechanical parts would not be damaged, after all I was not sent flying, but I would not be surprised if one of us has bruises.

“Sorry, did not see it in time…” (O)

“Don’t sweat it, I missed that thing as well.”

“Are we stopping or going on?” (O)

“Forward, slow.”

Only after we were sure the suspension is fine we continued the march.

---

I was observing the surrounding area when on the edge of a forest I saw a number of figures looking at us.

“Prepare for engagement. Old man, slow down!” Jester and I dived inside.

“Where?” (J)

“2 to 3 o’clock. Wait for the exact azimuth. Load HE, wait for the next orders.”

‘Buzzzzz’

‘Whuuuu-ch-whuu’

As the stabilizer was turned on, the gun twitched and the breech started gently waving up and down when the tank hit dents and rocks.

“Heading 164, range 200. Infantry.”

“Ready.” (J)

We continued moving as we waited for the contacts to act. It is not the wisest move to show them our side but we are not even sure what is going on now, there are hostiles around but the allied forces should be nearby as well.

The contacts started moving and ran out of the forest. They were… weird.

“What the f* is going on…?” (J)

“Hold fire, we need to make sure what we are dealing with.”

They don’t look human to me… they are armed and running at us.

“Fire.”

“Shooting!”

BOOM

The shot landed right in the middle of the attackers but the majority of them were alive.

“Fire coaxial.”

Tra-ta-ta Tra-ta-ta

Bu-bum

We fired short bursts but the contacts did not retreat but instead accelerated.

“Old man, faster. We need to get out of here before they bring AT.”

Bu-bum

Tra-ta-ta Tra-ta-ta

Before the enemy disappeared from our sight we killed a lot of them. When we catch up to the vanguard we need to ask what we encountered.

---

When the sun started setting I faced a dilemma. If we camp here we might be attacked, if we try to catch up we will be tired.

“What…?!”

‘WHIEEE!’

‘PUM’

In a split second something jumped out of the bushes and right when it was lit by the lights, it was smashed on the front plate. Old man stopped the tank almost on the spot.

“Grab the rifle. We need to take a look.”

“Right behind you.” (J)

The two of us climbed out and looked at the corpse.

“What the f* is this…?”

“No idea, though it surely resembles the attackers from before.” (J)

The something had a greenish skin and large tusks on its face. I started kicking the body to get it off the armor.

“Hey, you! Yes, you, lazy a*hole! Are you going to stand there or do something?” I barked at Jester when he dozed off.

“Captain, do you even see that it does not move…?” (J)

“SHUT UP AND WORK, YOU LAZY PIECE OF S*!”

“Yes, as you command.” I kept on kicking but it…

‘Kick’

“Wha…” HOW DID IT ROLL DOWN AFTER ONE KICK?!

“I did as you ordered, sir. Are you going to sit there or do something?” Jester…

“Jester, do you have a death wish or something…?” I took out Makarov.

“W-wait…!” (J)

“You don’t have any issues cleaning the armor after this, right?” He fervently nodded.

“Out of my sight.” In a blink he vanished and shut the hatch.

“Forward.” I returned to my position right outside the hatch.

Less than an hour later I saw a large number of lights in the distance.