Strips
Tall Tank Tales
Water & Power
No sound is quite as pleasing as the crisp crackle of breaking cellophane off a fresh pack of cigarettes. Especially when you’re in the dusty midst of the post apocalyptic Australian Outback. Part of the pleasure is the rarity of this sacred event. How often does one encounter a fresh pack? Sure, one can sometimes find a pack with a few broken smokes and one or two bent ones that can still be lit, but a fresh pack? Precious!!
"Hey, get your foot off his head", Tank Girl yelled.
"Sorry, how undignified of me", Booga replied, removing his foot from the dead soldiers head.
"You killed him, you big lout!", she snarled.
Looking down in assessment, "That is my belief, at this moment".
"Well, how can I pelt him with rocks if he’s already dead?" she balked.
Booga saw she had a point even though the entire premise was somewhat crass, but there’s not a lot to do out in these dusty surroundings. The soldier was another Water & Power scumbag. A scumbag who traveled with a fresh wrapped pack of cigarettes; but a scumbag - none the less. Booga wasn’t a cold killer (like his girl friend) but he did know to walk the line when push came to shove. The W&P soldier had pushed. Booga shoved - his knife into the man’s chest.
He knelt down and began to wriggle his knife from the bloody mess. It was beginning to smell in the heat.
"Booga?" she called genltly... almost with angelic tone.
"Yes", he replied turning to smile at her.
"Do you love me?"
"Of course, my precious", he winked at her.
"THEN GIMME A FUCKING CIGARETTE", she belted almost knocking over the poor roo with surprise.
She anxiously pulled a fresh smoke from the pack, put it to her lips and struck a match.
"What a glorious morning... death is in the air, a fresh pack of smokes and not a care in the world", she mused as she spun around in the morning sunshine.
Still unable to free his knife from the soldier’s chest, he stood and gave Tanky a hug and took a drag from her cigarette. Part of the blade was lodged against bone. A harsh snaping sound split the air and he pulled the large blade free.
"We need to get you a gun", she remarked flicking aside her first butt of the morning.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the heat began to build. Ugh! Thoughts turned to water - a protected resource to say the least. One could occaisionally find a filterable mud-hole, but to enjoy a cool glass of water, now that was nearly orgasmic. Well, maybe not that good, but it was necessary.
Continued...
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