Going back to his pod, he immediately spotted his bag, pulling it out he checked its content. Inside were several ration bars, enough to keep a man going for months, and a soldier for weeks. They tasted like nothing but somehow smelled like rotten fish, although one didn’t really complain when you could either choose this, or carry your own weight in food.

There were four mags of ammo, each containing two hundred rounds. Taking out the mags, he put two in easily reachable pockets and one ration bar in a not so reachable pocket. He would rather have the smell away from his face than getting to it easier.

The last thing he found was a water bottle, filled with purified water and a small tube that seemed to connect with the water bottle from outside the bag. Looking closer, he recognised what it was. A filter, or a water filter to be more exact, capable of extracting the humidity from the air and condensing it into pure water, a necessity on this hostile planet. It worked well enough to fill the bottle after a full day’s cycle. Although when times were rough, and you needed more water, the water filter could extract the water from dirt, but it wouldn’t be one hundred percent clean, although he would rather drink that than die of thirst.

Jimmie made his way back to the group, the commander sat hunkered down with numbers written in the dirt, his head facing my direction. Peeking up, Jimmie noticed that everyone was looking at him. This made him feel slightly awkward, considering that he was the only one who had to ask “what bag?”. Then he quickly dismissed the thought, as it was weak, quickly huffing out.

“I got fourteen ration bars, four mags, not included the one already in my gun. And a water bottle with its respective water collector” The commander nodded at that, writing the numbers on the ground, then raising his hand to the helmet, adjusting something with his finger in silence.

As the commander did that, Jimmie glanced up, noticing Dick with his rifle strapped to the front of his body, slightly turned away from the rest of the group, his eyes focused somewhere in the distant. One hand holding the handle of the gun, but the other fiddling with something, something that glimmered in the sun. Dick seemed to notice something, his head whipping around, briefly stopping at Jimmie, closing his hand around the glimmering object, then turning his head down towards the commander, saying.

“Commander, I can see smoke on the horizon” Taking the attention of all present, and indeed, there was smoke. The commander rose to his feet, fingers tapping at his helmet, then moving to hold the handle of his rifle. He took a moment before he spoke, letting everyone remove their attention from the pluming smoke in the distance.

“We’ve got about two week's worth of rations, and about a week’s march to the nearest fortification. Before any of you ask, the next closest fortification is somewhere behind the one were heading for, which would only add another week's travel" The group nodded at that, Chris and Rick whispering something to each other. Then Bill spoke up, hand scratching at his beard and face contorted with lowered brows.

“Wait, but.. Isn’t, ehm, Warden depot supposed to be a chokepoint?” The commander nodded. And Bill continued.

“Then, are we marching towards Warden depot?” The commander gave Bill a look, straining his head back to see the giant's eyes.

“No. We’ll be moving towards an outpost that’s further out than Warden depot” Bill tilted his head at that. Then Rick took a step forward, almost looking scared.

“Waitwaitwait.. Wasn’t Warden depot overrun by enemies?” The commander stayed still for a moment, face never betraying his emotions, then nodded. Rick stammered out.

“B-but... Doesn’t that mean we have no way of getting back?”

It turned real quiet. The whole group shocked by the news. Jimmie glanced towards Dick and noticed that he didn’t look shock, nor surprised. But before Jimmie could think more about it, the commander spoke up.

“Yes, we're in deep shit” Then took a deep breath, pointing his arm towards the smoke.

“Dick, you know the way, Jimme and Piernov, be on your toes. Let’s move out. Keep your rifles close and radio tuned” He took a long look at everyone, holding each and everyones eyes for a few seconds before moving to the next, then spoke.

“Dont worry, I’ve been in worse situations. And isn’t this better than right in the middle of an all out battle?” That seemed to do the trick, as the group smiled slightly, then rose to carry out their orders. And apparently, they weren’t moving fast enough for Dick’s liking, so he started yelling out profanities that garnered a few chuckles from the group, and a bellowing laugh from Bill. As Jimmie rose to move, he noticed that Piernov was walking with his head turned down, staring at his toes intensely.

Jimmie, Piernov and Dick jogged for a bit before easing down to a march, quickly walking in a rhytm that would make it easy to keep an eye out with no unnecessary distractions. Jimmie glanced back, noting the odd hundred or so meters that separated the front guard to the main body. He then glanced at Piernov, noting that he had stopped staring at his toes. His thoughts quickly interrupted by Dick, who had started speaking. And Jimmie pondered, just for a moment, if Dick even knew what “unnecessary distractions” meant.

“Hey, have you heard about the alien that farted in a bar?” Dick said with a smile. Jimmie sighed, ignoring the stupid joke. Piernov looked over, tilting his head as he responded.

“No? I didn’t even know aliens could fart” Dick slowed down to walk next to Piernov as he immediately said.

“That’s not important right now. But the answer is. The alien didn’t, but it sure as hell smelled like it!” He enthusiastically said, smiling widely as he turned to Jimmie, then quickly back to Piernov as Jimmie’s reaction wasn’t to his liking. But Dick’s smile faltered when Piernov said.

“And?”

“And what?” Dick retorted, one hand slumping to the side.

“Did it fart?” Piernov asked with a straight face, taking even Jimmie by surprise.

“Wha- no. No it didn’t. I mean, it smelled like it farted” Dick said hesitantly. Jimmie perked up.

“But then why did it smell like a fart?” Piernov responded, eyes far into the distance, face a mask of no emotions. Dick’s face went limp with confusion, eyes raised and responding with trepidation.

“Uhm. It’s a joke?” Piernov took his eyes away from the horizon.

“Joke?”

“Yeah... A joke… The joke is that the aliens smell like fart... Because they smell bad... Like a fart” Dick said, each sentence ending with Dick staring at Piernov, trying to decipher the mask of neutrality that Piernov wore. But Then Piernov’s mask broke, and it became clear that it confused him, and the more Dick talked, the more confused he got. Jimmie laughed, Dick whipping his head around to glare at Jimmie, and Jimme stopped laughing, but only for it to turn into a smug smile, annoying Dick in the process. Then the both of them jumped back in surprise as Piernov burst out laughing.

“AAAAHAHAHAHAHA!” Eyes closed as his head bent backwards, back arching dangerously, looking ready to fall over at any second. Dick stared at Piernov, then looked back at Jimmie, immitating Jimmie’s smug smile. Jimmie felt a ping of annoyence.

“I UNDERSSTAND! What a great joke. Dick, you must tell me more” Dick took his eyes away from Jimmie and smiled widely at Piernov.

“Yes! Of course Pier”

“Pier?” Piernov’s smile quickly disappeared. Replaced once again by confusion. Dick’s also disappeared, quickly saying.

“D-dont think about it”

“Okay” To which Piernov also responded quickly, face going back to its mask of neutrality while staring out at the horizon, smoke pluming up far, far away. Dick seemed to breath out in relief, and Jimmie felt slightly happy about Dick’s misfortune. Dick glanced over at Jimmie, but said nothing.

And the group marched on. Minutes passing by slowly, and slowly, ever so slowly until the creep of boredom took over. Jimmie glanced over at Dick, then Piernov, noting that they seemed occupied in their own minds.

And they marched on. Jimmie felt himself losing himself in thought. Dragged into times of old, times he would rather not think about, weak times. He tried thinking about something else, mind giving him images of red. To which he reeled back, disgusted by the sight. Then the picture of red got clearer, and it morphed into a blob, turning into blood, the blood turning into what once was a head. Jimmie’s heart started beating faster, his breathing turning heavier. A face started emerging from the blood. Its eyes blood-shot and cold, staring at Jimmie. And it spoke.

“Hey, Piernov. Guess have many times Jimmie has been deployed?” Dick said while bumping Jimmies arm with his elbow, rousing Jimmie from thoughts, taking him a second to get back to reality. Piernov responded.

“I dont know“ His nose wrinkling slightly as a piece of dust floated near it.

“Zero” Dick said, hand formed to the corresponding number. Piernov glanced over at Jimmie, then looked back to the horizon.

“He’s a boy, not surprising.” To which Jimmie immediately turned towards Piernov, brows furrowed in anger.

“I’m not, a boy” Jimmie said with a low growl. Piernov didn’t even glance upon hearing Jimmies response.

“Then you are liar, I can ssee clearly that you are a boy” Jimmie felt his jaw tighten, then through the corner of his eye, he noticed that Dick was smiling, and as Jimmie glared at him, he heard a small whisper.

“Hehe, “not a boy” pfff" Jimmies free hand tightened to a fist, eyes narrowing. Fuck you Dick, he thought, but didn’t voice it. No, he already knew that Dick was infact, a dick. But instead turned his anger towards Piernov.

“So, just because I’m a “boy” you think I’m weak?"

“No” he answered flatly. Taking Jimmie by surprise.

“Oh” Jimmie simply said, body loosening and eyes widening.

“What doess it matter if you are a boy? You are probably the best soldier amongst our group. Probably, our entire company” While saying this, Piernov wasn't looking at Jimmie. His face weirdly contorted into a grimace that did not match his focused eyes.

“I’m glad to have you as a comrade, I feel safer with you around” Then going quiet, his grimace turning comical, as if he had bitten on something really sour.

Then he sneezed.

“Bless you” Dick said, but getting nothing in response.

Jimmie looked at Piernov, body loosening up and anger subsiding. Taking its place came a weird sensation. Pride was one of them, but he knew it well. It was something else... Gratitude maybe? He couldn’t place it, he wasn’t the best at emotions. Then his mind stopped thinking as Piernov blurted out.

“And you don’t smell like Alien fart.”

Taking Dick and Jimmie by surprise. Both staring blankly at Piernov before both laughed loudly.