Realm of misery and pain
The two vehicles and their occupants continue on their way taking the east road. Every so often signs of destruction are seen, most often in the form of plumes of smoke rising from what can be assumed to be farms and small settlements. Occasionally bodies are spotted laying where they were recently killed. Mutilated almost beyond recognition, sometimes hanging from trees or impaled on stakes, it's evident to even the most unobservant that those responsible are no longer following any rules of decency or morality. Freshly torn up ground gives evidence that there is at least one heavy tracked vehicle in the area, probably a tank.
Sounds of distant gunfire is heard from time to time when the engines are stopped for refueling. This is approximately every half hour due to the BRDM-2's damaged fuel tank. Once a large explosion rocks the landscape but experienced as most of you are, you realise it's located several kilometres away and of little immediate threat.
All in all, transit of this region of Poland is nothing short of disturbing. Everyones nerves are on edge and all fully expect an ambush at almost any moment. Despite all the signs of destruction and wanton carnage, your movement is not interrupted by hostiles. No signs of the living are seen - anyone still alive most likely taking to cover at the first sound of your vehicles.
Four hours after leaving the civilians and as close to midday as any of you can agree on, you find yourselves nearly out of fuel for the BRDM-2. Up ahead, your scout vehicle spots a village. A battered and bullet holed sign declares it as the village of Wolbrum. Refering to your assorted maps places you approximately 20 kilometres to the east of Zyrardow and 40 kilometres to the northwest of your destination, Krakow.
There is no signs of life - no movement, no smoke, no crops growing in the fallow fields, nothing... It seems the place has been abandoned for reasons unknown and the marauders either not bothered or not reached this far, yet. From the condition of the buildings and the substantial growth of weeds from the cracked pavement, nobody has lived here for about a year, perhaps more.