Ochlajewo

How did this happen? How did such a dereliction of duty occur? How could such a terrible situation be allowed to happen? Who is responsible? Who should be punished?

No one in the 20,000-strong community of Okhlajewo survived. But let's start from the beginning.

Okhlajewo is located in a complete wilderness. The nearest town in each direction is reached by a roughly 126-kilometer stretch of road, which is still impassable in many places. Apparently, all the notables from the capital forgot about rebuilding Okhlajewo. Or perhaps they simply had more important matters on their minds than dealing with a town known for nothing, where nothing happens. The truth is, however, that all the notables from the capital prayed for the total destruction and razing of Okhlajewo, which for them was merely an unnecessary hole in their budget. Besides, the war had only just ended, and there were many other places that needed investment. Okhlajewo was left alone.

Ironically, however, it turned out that the war didn't cause much damage in Ochlajewo. Apparently, the invaders saw nothing there that might interest them. Even the nearby lands were of no value to the invaders, so they left this black hole alone. For a long time during the occupation, the residents of Ochlajewo had no idea that the war was raging and that their country was in danger. That is, until a tank unexpectedly appeared nearby.

The residents weren't particularly concerned, in fact, they didn't notice anything. After all, a large part of the town was a post-war scrapyard, and one tank had escaped everyone's notice. However, there was someone who treated the scrapyard as a passion and soon discovered the arrival of a new tank. It was six-year-old Witek. Long deprived of his parents, he wandered the scrapyard, counting tanks. That's how he spent the last year of his life: counting tanks. So, he noticed the arrival of the new acquisition immediately. He was extremely interested, as it was a new-generation tank equipped with long-range warheads, four 13mm cannons, and a full complement of 35mm Fox cannon rounds. The only strange aspect of the tank's arrival was the complete lack of any information about it, let alone its crew. Never before had the armed forces dropped off equipment here without warning, and they always expected a receipt. But here, nothing of the sort happened.

Witek immediately rushed to inform the Okhlayevo authorities of this strange fact. However, of course, no one took him seriously. They threw him out of the city council building and banned him from returning. However, Witek said he would prove it to them, and if they didn't believe him, he would. He returned to the scrapyard and climbed into the tank.

He was immediately seized by straps that closed around his chest, waist, and legs. A helmet was mechanically lowered over his head, broadcasting a strange message to the wearer: "Kill, destroy, crush everything." After a few minutes, Witek stopped struggling. He straightened up, checked all the data, and moved like a seasoned tank operator.

Leaving the scrapyard, he encountered a group of vagrants who seemed to be experiencing a collective hallucination in a drunken stupor. None of them fled. With a deft move, Witek turned the tank's tracks toward them, and within moments, only broken bottles remained. Driving on, Witek leveled each house he encountered with well-aimed shots. Bursts from 13mm cannons caught up with all the fleeing men, incredibly accurate bursts. No one could escape little Witek's devastating work. He saved the city council building for last. He knew that the residents of Okhlajewo would seek help there. With short, accurate bursts, he eliminated every councilor, employee, citizen—in short, everyone in the vicinity and the city council building. When the heat sensors indicated on the monitors that only one remained, the fattest citizen of Okhlajewo, in the city council building, who also served as the city's mayor, Witek perfectly aimed at his rear end and fired a long-range nuclear warhead with a camera mounted directly at the mayor.

Many hours later, he still savored the sight of flesh being torn apart, the hectoliters of blood, the sheer scale of destruction. He also resolved to strike every town in the area, and perhaps, if he didn't tire of it, he would even conquer the entire world. But then something terrible happened.

The tank was rapidly losing power. The harness loosened, and the voice from the helmet suddenly disappeared. Instead, another voice appeared, this time more familiar, not as mechanical as the voice from the helmet. The voice repeated strange words, considering the situation our Witek had just created. The nervousness was clearly audible in the voice, so Witek listened more closely. The voice perfectly imitated his mother's.

The voice repeated: Witek, how many times do I have to tell you not to play in the tank? Go home. Dinner's ready!