The Tank

The Tank, Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Our village was so isolated that there was no paved road too or from it. There was a gravel road, once. We don’t know why the road was there, and we don’t know what the land was used for before the war, but we didn’t want to be found, so we dug it up and scattered the gravel and planted weeds over it. That worked for a time, until scouts from Axel’s gang found us. They’d seen the smoke from our cooking fires and drove to us on ATV’s. Once they spotted us it was only a matter of time before Axel dug up a new road over which his technical could pass.

The tank didn’t need a road. It rolled right over the hills, crested a rocky outcrop, and descended straight into our valley of grain. Nobody came to greet us. They were afraid. Like me, they’d never seen an M1 Abrams in real life. But they knew what it was. They knew it was a machine designed to kill and destroy. They thought maybe it was one of Axel’s new weapons. But if it was it would have driven straight through the wheat. Instead, the tank rumbled to a halt on the edge of the field. Cordite stood up in the turret hatch and scanned the farm for any sign of human life. I tried to see the farm through his eyes, as his view passed over the barns and chicken coops all manufactured from stolen highway signs. Pigs rooted in the mud of a small pen, oxen ate slop from a trough, and dairy cows looked up from their meal of grass. Cordite didn’t say a word. I began to feel ashamed. The animals were filthy and the buildings made from junk. Cordite lowered the binoculars from his eyes, silent and seemingly disappointed. But it wasn’t disappointment that caused his silence, quite the opposite. The sight of the animals and the wheat had taken his breath away. “It’s so beautiful,” he finally said, and my heart filled with pride.

“No radiation poisoning?” Cagney asked the question and it took me a moment to realize it was directed to me.

“Not enough to kill us, anyway.”

Cordite looked back over his shoulder at the surrounding hills. “Looks like the valley’s far enough from the main strategic strikes. But where is everyone?”

“Hiding,” I told him. Then I climbed up out of the tank and jumped down to the ground. I scrambled to a patch of weeds and brushed dirt off the ground, revealing a metal hatch. I banged on it with my fist and waited. Moments later, the hatch swung open and my father popped his smiling face out.

            “Nicole!” He grabbed me in a hug.

“Papa!” I hugged him right back.

Then my father lifted me in his arms and walked straight toward the tank. He realized now it wasn’t an enemy. Tears in his eyes, he kneeled down right in front of it. “Thank you. Thank you for bringing her back. I owe you...everything.”

Other men and women began to emerge from the hatch, now. Tex watched, impressed. “What is it?”

“Looks like some sort of underground shelter?” theorized Cagney.

“It must be huge.”

But Cordite kept his mind focused on the business at hand. “We need fuel,” he told Hector.

Hector nodded. “Of course, as much as we can provide.”

“And how much is that?”

“We’re about a month away from harvest. After that...you can turn whatever you need into ethanol.” My father glanced at the farm and Cordite followed his gaze to the beautiful golden wheat.

“That’s all of it? You don’t have any from last year?”

My father shook his head.

“No sir. Axel’s gang stole it all.”