Tanks, Allies, And More Troubles Ahead prt.2
Lol, I said butt. Anyway, Here's the second installment of this unknown series. If you would like to see prt.3 (Which I have yet to even think of) Please say so in a comment. And I will start work immediatly! Please be Harsh with you Critique! I know how to take it. If you say it sucks, please say so.
Tanks, allies, and more troubles ahead.
prt. 2
Brian opened his eyes. Sunlight poured into the driver's compartment. His head laid in the notch on the steering wheel. He apperently had a good sleep. The whole wheel was covered in drool. Or maybe, it was of because of last night's activities. "Good, you're up." A voice around the wall beside him said. "I didn't think you was gonna get up."
"Wha..?" Was all Brian could say.
"What, what?" Andy asked, coming around the wall from the machine gunner's compartment.
"Why are you over..?" Brian asked stopping mid sentence.
"Man, you're good at asking questions aren't you?" Andy asked.
Brian didn't answer. He got up from his place, noticing that his clothes were barly even fastened. He closed the buttons on his pants and shirt. Moving to the turret, where the water was, he grabbed a glass bottle and drank with much intent. "Did you sleep well?" Andy asked not even looking at Brian.
"Why is he acting like that?" Brian thought to himself...When he sat down again, last night's activities came back to him at the speed of light. "Ow!" Brian blushed.
"What's the matte..."
"You, quit that, I work down there" Kyle yelled down the loading hatch.
"Shut up!" Andy yelled. "What's the matter?" He asked returning his gaze back to Brian.
"My butt. It's quit painful, to tell the truth." Brian said looking up at Andy, who was now upon him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to turt you," Andy said rubbing the back of his head and stepping back.
"That forced pull-out did hurt," Brian said. "Hey, did Kyle tell the loader?"
"Sorry. I don't know, when i came back up here, he was asleep. He's kept his mouth shut" Andy
said moving his gaze to the escape hatch.
"Well that's good, anyway, what are they doing?" Brian asked yawning.
"They're cleaning the gun." Andy said, moving his gaze to the hand cranks on the turret. "Watch this."
"Oh God," Brian said recovering the yawn.
Andy grabbed the lateral crank and started turning. Laughing at the resulting yell. "What the..!" Kyle yelled out. "QUIT!"
Andy and Brian just laughed.
*pause*
Andy looked at the half broken clock that was hung by a simple rusted wire to the inside hull. 10 o'clock A.M.. He turned aroud and shouted, "Get up here, we need to start moving if we are to meet the next attack force."
Two 'Yes Sirs' where heard. Kyle, followed by the loader, crawled into the hatch. Brain, forgeting the previous day's events, tried his luck with the key start. The engine turned but wouldn't start. "Well, that's odd," Andy said. "Yesterday the key start didn't even work. Kyle, go out and hand crank it."
"Nah, i think i'll let bimbo do it," Kyle said pointing one of his black digits at the loader.
The loader sighed, and frustratedly crawled out and started to hand crank it. Nothing. The engine was at the mercy of the loader's paws. He turned faster and faster, making a whining sound. The engine just kept turning. "It won't start sir, i think something's wrong with the engine," The loader shouted giving his own two cents.
"Shit, well I'll call in a Half-track and see if we can get a tow," Andy said. "And maybe some more fucking crew members!"
This set Andy off, making him irritable for the radio call. Andy grumbled around a bit. Finally scooting back to Jeff's former position. He ripped the headset off the top of the radio. Turning on the radio and dialed it over a bit. He heard some crackling, and finally some chopped up talking. "We have a decent tank disabled around the Allied villages, calling for pick-up." Andy growled into the radio.
There was white noise until a friendly sounding female voice came on. "We have a halftrack about two miles from the village, can you relay your coordinates?"
Andy scribbled his location down his on a piece of paper. He punched in the call button, and relayed his position back. Brian, not wanting to make Andy even more mad, walked over to where Kyle was sitting alone. Kyle was random, but he was playing with his whiskers, something odd in anyone's book. "What are you doing?" Brian asked in a playful tone, cocking his eyebrow while doing so.
Kyle jumped, likely daydreaming, and quikly replied, "Fooling around, is there something wrong with that?" His tone uneven through the whole phrase.
"What's poppin'?" Brian asked starting up the small talk.
"I'm sitting here, on a dead hunk of steel, with three other guys, waiting for someone to pick us up before we get picked off by that...that. ." Kyle started, slightly shaking. "Tank Destroyer."
"You don't have to be so negative, i mean look at the bright side, you still have your..."
"Sexuality?" Kyle cut off Brian, trying and failing to laugh to himself.
"Well, actually, i was gonna say health but..." Brian trailed off.
"Yeah, i know," He said, still having yet to make eye contact.
"What is your problem? You look like you've seen someone die,"Brian asked.
Kyle looked out the side of his eye, finally making eye contact, but not the way Brian wanted it. He didn't respond; He just went back to fooling with his muzzle. Brian looked over at Andy who had just raised his ears and looked up from what he was doing. There was green moving in the distance. Andy went and grabbed his binoculars and pointed them towards the approaching green blob. "Shit, guess what you guys," He asked still focusing his lenses.
"What," Kyle almost shouted.
"The TD is coming over to say hi," Andy said putting the binoculars down.
"You're kidding right," Brian asked about to run to his battle station.
"Yeah...no, they're sending a green Panzer to fetch us; Forget the halftrack, we got a whole unit." Andy said.
The panzer neared. A good 200 FT from where they were sitting and an armor peircing round went straight into the side. A huge fireball erupted from the tank and it stopped dead. Andy, Brian, Kyle, and the Loader all sat and watched the tank burn. Just as the tank's gas tank exploded three tigers and a wespe emerged from the forest across the field. The Tigers where making their way to the village while the wespe stopped to set up shop. A couple of Hanomag halftracks came next followed by a supply truck. It didn't take long for the M10 to retreat back into the village. The slow Tiger's lost it in a matter of seconds.
The supply truck came and pulled up to the Tiger. A female fox and a male cheetah hopped out of the cab. Andy walked up to the Fox and shook her paw. "What happened?" She asked already seeing the bent track guards and the rod coming out of the crank.
"We rammed a Sherman and it killed the keystart, then we parked over here and the engine died. The Cheetah started turning the crank. The Engine whined and sputtered. Nothing. he went into the driver's compartment and looked at the gas guage:Empty. "You Check the gas?" He asked.
"No. Brian, didn't you look at the gas?" Andy asked turning to Brian.
"Not really..." he trailed off and the tank. "We're on a hill aren't we?" He blushed.
"I would say so." The fox said.
The Cheetah went around to the back of the Truck and grabbed some gas cans. "Can i have some help?" He asked pulling at least fifteen out. Kyle, emerseed in the beauty of the other fox didn't move. Brian and Andy walked over to the truck and started helping. Leaving the fox to stand. She went over and striked up a conversation with Kyle.
*Intermission*
At nightfall the three tigers started patrolling the village. The wespe was completly camoed into the hillside along with the hanomags that were full of snipers. Every now and then, you'd hear the Wespe sqeeze off a shot at the village. The tiger crew and the two from the supply truck sat around a fire they made behind the truck. "We haven't had the pleasure of greeting each other." The fox said breaking the silence. "My name is Sarah, i lived in Ireland before all this mess. I liked Germany, thought it would be a good place to raise a family. But...I came at a bad time, during the depression. And then Hitler drafted me into the 'anthro' company. And so i'm here." She said.
"My name is..."
"Kyle, I came from Ireland too," Kyle cut Andy off. "I lived there and came here four years ago.
Sarah laughed. "You don't say?"
"Yeah, really."
Andy and Brian exchanged looks. Andy looked over at the Cheetah," My name's Andy, I'm in command in this tank. And this is Brian, my trusty driver."
The Cheetah shook their paws and answered, "My name is Alex. Let me summerize my life. I have been here a while, in reserve. I knew this was gonna happen. My parents hate me for staying in so long. My wife even left me because I was more dedicated to my work than her. I resorted to drugs and got off not too long ago. They said they help, but after a while there is that rock bottom you hear about. But don't let me bother you with my problems."
"Sorry to hear that" said the Loader. My name is Thane, i load the cannon. I have had my share of drug problems. Hell, problems period. But, I thought i was bad until i met these two here," He said pointing at Brian and Andy.
"Why's that?" Alex asked, looking amused.
And from the other conversation the two foxes were having there was a little string of words that answered that. "Why are those two sitting so close?" Sarah asked.
"They're like a gay couple or something. You know, the pink triangles." Laughed Kyle.
Alex looked back and said, "Maybe thats why you two are sitting so close." he laughed just now noticing their proximity.
Andy and Brian exchanged a worried look.
"Don't worry, I won't tell," Cheetah said.
"Anyway," The loader said. "I'm from the America's, south to be presise. I saved up enough mone....
Brian and Andy stopped listening. "Who do you want to kill first" Andy whispered into Brian's ear.
Brian sat for a second and leaned over and whispered,"How about neither, it was going to happen anyway, Kyle was on the topic and 'Thane'," He said making air quotes. "was nearing the topic."
Andy leaned over and whipered,"How the fuck did The loader find out? Did Kyle tell him?"
Brian nudged Andy and made a small point at Kyle And Sarah already holding each other.
"I'm gonna go start the tank, to see if that's was really the problem," Brian said giving Andy a small unnoticable peck on the muzzle.
Brian got up and walked over to the tank, taking everyone's attention from their conversation. He pulled himself up on the hull and slipped into the dark mass. Andy got up and followed him and went behind the tank.
"Watch, they're going to do something," Kyle said looking at Sarah.
"I Wonder what?" She asked.
"Sex probably," Kyle said laughing.
The new couple looked at each other, becoming completely oblivious of their surrondings, Kyle closed his eyes and went in for a kiss. As soon as their lips met, the Wespe fired a shell up into the sky, making a loud boom echo through out the little area scaring the couple. Following the event, the Tiger's engine started whining loudly and turned over. Brian reved it a couple of times before Andy started shouting "IT WORKS, SHE LIVES!" The smell of gas floated around the air.
Kyle and Sarah were a mile apart from where they were. Kyle was breathing heavyly when he grabbed Sarah agian. She laughed.
Brian hopped out of the Tiger and moved around to the back. Andy was standing on the turret and hopped down and followed him.
"Maybe, they will do something now?" Kyle said to Sarah.
"I doubt it, they seem to be more interested in the working tank." Sarah said.
"You're right, just wait til' we go to sleep. That's when it will happen." Kyle said.
"Speaking of sleep, i think we'd better get some, wouldn't you think?" She asked.
"I agree, i'll see you when i wake up." Kyle said getting up.
"No, how about i sleep in your tank, with you?" She asked, giving him a seductive look.
Kyle straightened up. "That would be nice...would you?" He said, raising his brow.
"Sure, i'd love to." She said taking his paw and standing up.
Andy walked out from behind the tank with Brian, stopping the couple. "Where do you think you are going?" Andy asked, raising his eyebrow.
"To sleep, Is there some sort of law against that?" Kyle asked.
"Any other time no, but now...Yes," Andy said breaking eye contact and attemping to pull himself onto the tank's hull.
"What do you mean?" Kyle asked, not seeing where this was going.
"Well, we are gonna patrol for a couple hours, while the other tank crews stop to rest," Brian inserted.
"DAMN!" Kyle shouted.
Not even looking at Sarah, he let go of her. He furiously turned around and stomped over to Thane and grabbed his shoulder. Kyle pulled him over to the tank and almost yelled," Get in" His teeth locked tight through out the command. Thane did as he was told and pulled himself over and got in the tank, not making a sound. "Bye. See you later." Kyle growled to Sarah, not even looking at her. He hauled himself up onto the tank. He fell into the turret and closed his hatch.
"Uhh, bye," Sarah said turning around, obviously not happy.
Andy and Brian got into the tank. Brian started daydreaming as andy took a supplies check.
"Alright, go." Andy said temproarily breaking Brian's concentration. Brian dumped the clutch and pressed the gas pedal down. The tank's idle slowed then sped up, filling the tnk with the smell of petrol. slowly beginning to move. It climbed over the little incline they were sitting on and started beginning to top out. Brian let off the gas and pushed the clutch down, adjusted the gear shift to his right and dumped the clutch again and pushed the gas back down. Listening to the engine slow off. And begin to regain it's rumble. They started going around on a little path the other tanks had made.
With not much happening, Brain began worrying. This was his first night patrol mission. And he knew that there was a TD in the village, just waiting to kill them, with one shot, with two, however many it took to destroy them. He began trembling, uncontrollably shaking. Suddenly, inside his muzzle, a smell filled his nose. It was a musk that Brian knew well, Andy's. He must've been back there thinking of them together. Though Andy could not see Brian, or vice versa, this didn't stop Andy from imagining.
Then, as sudden as it started, it stopped. He heard a cough, and another scent filled the air. It was a musk of some type. But Brian couldn't pin point it's exact location. "Geeze, what's that smell?" Andy finally asked.
"God, I don't know," Thane responded.
"Ain't me sir," Brian replied.
*pause*
"Uhh,ah, not me sir," Kyle said, taking a moment.
"Right one of you is thinking about someone in a biblical way. Focus,I want to live thorugh tonight," Andy said, reasuring the crew he was scared shitless as well.
As Andy was saying that, an explosion occured beside the tank. The tank rocked back and forth on it's bogies. "Sir?" Brian asked. Brian looked at the gear shift anxiously waiting to shift forward or backward.
"Keep going forward,"Andy commanded.
Brian pressed the gas back down, just then realizing he was still moving. The tank roared and sped up a bit. "14mph s..." Brian said before another round went right in front of them. "Sir, what do you want me to do?" Cried kyle.
Right about this time, Andy just went all or nothing. 'Brian stop, and kill the engine. Kyle, when he stops, look for what ever is shooting at is."
Two yes sir's were heard followed by Brian's actions. He stopped and killed the engine. Kyle, then used the hand cranks to move the sights to where the shots were coming from. Andy looked into the periscope and looked around. He could see nothing.
Kyle looked deep into the night, he swallowed and looked back into the sights. Waiting for an explosion, waiting. He finally got his break when the M10 turned on one of it's convoy lights, it was retreating. Kyle didn't waste a second on zeroing in and firing. "BOOM" The tanks shimmied from the sideways cannon firing a shell straight into the M10's metal hull. A deep pitched sound was heard. Then nothing. The crew gave a long sigh, the only thing lighting inside of the tank was a small, red light in the loading station.
"Well, it looks like we..." Andy was interupted by a shell exploding on the ground right from their road wheels. "Shit, another one! Kill them!" Andy stressed.
Thane opened the breach and slid in an AP shell. Kyle grabbed the breach handle and shut it, automaically locking its self into place. Another shot was fired, the M10 crew was obviously faster. Kyle postioned himself at the sights yet again. The last shot was so close, he could smell the gunpowder.
Kyle amied where he had last seen a flash and fired. Boom! The tank shook. Following that, Andy looked at Kyle, who was panting frantically, and gave him a paw sign. Kyle got the message and whispered, "Reload." He said it in a hoarse voice. The process was repeated, but in vain.
Kyle went back to the sights, nothing. It was black to begin with, but now it had an erie feeling of emptyness out there. Nothing moved, nothing sounded. All kyle could see out of his sights was black. A small breeze came and hit the tank broad side. The breeze came through the sights, Kyle felt the cool air against his face. He finally broke the silence, "Sir?"
"Stay put," Andy whispered. Andy climbed out of the copula, slowly. He came out, embracing the breeze, which had developed into a small wind. His fur was pushed back and he narrowed his eyes. All he could see was blackness, nothing ness. "Let's go Brian, maybe we can get out of here."
Brian did as commanded and turned over the key. The engine floped, floped, then sputtered a couple times and fell into rythem. Brian wasted no time in getting the tank up to top speed.
"21MPH sir," Brian yelled over the imense sound of the engine.
"Good! Now we can get out of here" Andy yelled.
They were halfway back when another explosion happened next to the tank. A shockwave of air went across the crew. "Brian, 12MPH!" Andy yelled, already knowing what was happening. Brian slowed the tank down, and threw it into 5th gear. The tank quietened down, and was slow enough for Kyle to use the 88mm. Thane had an AP in there before Kyle knew it. He was looking down the sights, trying to steady himself against the wall. The tank occasionally bumped or something that knocked him off a distant convoy light. Kyle centered his marker on the light, making his calculations before the next bump, and hit the button. The shot fired filling the air with smoke. The tank rocked back and forth before Brian pushed it back to full speed.
They left a giant flaming ball behind them. "Good job boys!" Andy yelled. "We won't have to worry about them now!"
When they arrived back, the crew of the truck was still awake. Waitng on them. The tank pulled back onto its little incline and Brian shut off the engine and Alex put out the fire noting their arrival.
Halfway through the night, Brian woke up. Not able to got back to sleep, he got out. Andy soon followed. "Here they go, just listen. Kyle broadcasted to Thane, who were up waiting for this.
"Hey, man i didn't know you were up too." Brian said seeing Andy emerge from the Turret.
"Yeah, i couldn't sleep. It's becoming more often that this happens. I was thinking," Andy stopped.
"Yeah?" Brian asked. The words they said could be heard clearly throughout the tank.
"I was worried, i haven't talked to you all day about last night's events." Andy said.
"Don't worry about it. I enjoyed myself. What do you say we disscuss while servicing the tank, I did ride it pretty hard?" Brian stated smiling.
"That sounds nice, no funny business, k?" He said.
"Whatever you say."Brian said.
**
Kyle sighed. "I thought they were gonna do something. Sorry."
"They will, i can tell it, or, at least they will turn up some dirt," Thane said.
There were suddenly padding outside, followed by another voice joining the conversation outside. It was Alex's.
"Hey you two, what are you doing up?" He asked.
"Like-wise man," Andy said.
"Can't really sleep. I heard you two talking about last night's events. Mind if you share? I'm in for a good story." He said proping himself up against the tank.
Brian and Andy smiled. "Sure."
Brian started out,"I was stationed on here, me already being the way i am, i thought it would suck. Then i saw who was running the operation. He was this handsome Wolf here." He said smiling at Andy.
"And after a couple of days working under him, i told Kyle and the late radio otter, Jeff. That i was gay, as sort of a way to tell them to watch out. I didn't tell Andy because i was gonna save it, just incase he might turn me in. After awhile, I wanted to see what he was like. And so, last night it was. I couldn't sleep so I climbed out of the tank, in this very spot and sat where Andy is standing right now." Brian paused.
"Mhmm, i see. Then what?" alex asked intriged.
"I'll let Andy tell this part." Brian said.
Andy picked up,"I came out here, expecting to make jokes with him, seeing as how he was bashful and stayed away from me. Maybe get to know him so i could work better with him. And i ended up telling him i haven't had a girl ever. And one thing led to another and Kyle popped out of the turret and seen us making nasty behind the tank."
"Right, if i were you two, i'd be getting sleep. Not having ..ha...sex!" Laughed Alex.
Brian looked offended, "We were going to change the filters, not have sex!"
"Oh, well, i'm going to go back to bed." Alex said backing off to the truck, pointing one of his digits in the direction he was headed.
"Ah, the filter can wait. Alex is right, I need the sleep.." Andy yawned.
"Three," Brian said walking off with the other two.
**
"Damn, i though something was going to happen." Kyle said from inside the tank to Thane.
"It was going to happen."Sarah said.
Just then the hatch opened above them and Andy glared in with his large yellow eyes.
"What did you think was going to happen? Damn, can't live without you'all thinking we were gonna bone each other." He said in an angry tone.
Brian crawled back into the driver's hatch and laid facing the fox couple. His Bright fur shone in the moonlight. His eyes planted on the two. The loader already asleep. "Sorry,"Kyle said.
"Shut up," Brian barked.
"Sorry.."Kyle said looking to Andy.
Andy said nothing. "Night Andy, see you tomorrow," Brian said.
"Night love," Andy said back.