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7. Amelie-Nadine

           I turned to see a huge tank barreling towards me: an M1A1 Abrams tank. Seven large road wheels on each side of the tank propelled the huge machine across the desert. Sand was thrown back in a cloud behind the vehicle. The large main gun was pointed in my direction and I could make out the silhouette of a soldier, whose torso was sticking out from the hatch, piloting the smaller machine gun at the top of the machine. 

    Thinking that maybe they might stop for me, I waved frantically to get the driver's attention but they didn't give any indication of acknowledging my existence nor did they make a move to stop. In fact, they seemed to be speeding up; closing the gap between the both of us and training that huge fire arm on me...

   "They're coming for you." Alice's words echoed in the back of my mind. 

    They..

    A small chasm of fear began expanding in the bottom of my chest. The image of bloody chunks of human flesh and piles of scattered limbs flashed before my mind's eye and that was enough to get me going. I didn't know who 'they' were or what 'they' wanted but, I'd be damned if I let them scatter me across the desert sand. Without a second thought, I spun on my heels and ran. I ran with everything within me, heading north without a glance behind me. The sound of the metal beast in close pursuit kept me going. My muscles strained just a little harder and I forced my legs to stride just a little farther every time it seemed as though the tank was getting closer.

   Silently I prayed that some form of shelter would come into view. I couldn't possibly outrun this machine. My muscles were beginning to tire and with every passing minute, the idea that I might die here became increasingly more plausible. They would mow me down, right here under the blazing sun without a soul as witness. 

   The sand a few inches to the right of me exploded upward as a round barely missed me. Two more rounds were fired at the ground just a few feet behind me and my breath quickened. They were using the smaller gun, rather than the larger one. The smaller gun fired smaller rounds. It was best I used this to my advantage. 

    I adjusted my strategy and began running in a zigzag formation, narrowly avoiding the rounds that were fired at me in quick succession. Just as I was feeling my body succumbing to fatigue, I saw the shape of an encampment tent in the sand just a few yards ahead of me. Drawing on some unseen strength, I forced my legs to move faster. I gulped in large breaths of air to feed my burning lungs and dived into the tent just as a larger shell, mostly likely from the main gun, hit the earth where I had been standing and propelled me forward. 

   I hit the ground inside the tent mid-roll and collided with a wooden table that ran almost the entire width of the space inside the tent, dividing the area in two. I crawled backward still, on my hands until I had my back pressed against a cot at the back of the tent. For a few moments, I sat there, struggling to get my breathing under control and craning my head toward the entrance to listen for the sounds of anymore rounds being fired. 

  But I heard nothing. I didn't hear the vehicle come to a stop or the sound of boots on the sand. Everything had just suddenly fallen silent. 

  I surveyed the room and took in the familiar room. Dark green tarp was draped on the floor atop the sand and a few electric lamps hung from the tent posts. There was an electric fan in one corner of the space and bags, no doubt containing the belongings of the occupants of this particular tent, lay stacked on a pile in another corner. Cautiously, I rose to my feet and considered inspecting the outside of the tent to ensure that I was no longer being pursued. A man burst into the tent before I rounded the table.