“Poop” Piernov said unheustiastically.

“What the fuck? no- what? What do you mean?” Dick asked, looking at Piernov in a highly disturbed manner.

“I’ve tasted poop before, and its better than alien”

“Wha-?! No, why would you even admit that?”

“You asked” Piernov tilted his head and looked at Dick in confusion.

“I was telling a joke! What’s worse, poop or alien”

“Poop”

“NO! Your supposed to say, I dont know, then I’d answer with. Both! Because they both look like shit”

“But poop tastes worse than alien”

Jimmie couldn’t hold back and started laughing, feeling immense pleasure at Dick’s predicament. Dick didn’t look at Jimmie, knowing that he’d only see a smug smile from Jimmie. Instead, he asked Piernov.

“Why would you even taste poop?” Piernov shrugged.

“I wondered what it tasted like”

“You tasted it when you were young? NO WAIT! Please dont answer that.”

Piernov shut his mouth, but almost seemed eager to answer the question. Jimmie burst out laughing.

They’d been at it for a couple of hours. For some weird reason, Dick had found it unbearable that Piernov couldn’t understand his jokes. So he put it on himself to “teach” Piernov about good jokes. Which turned out to be a royal pain in the ass for Dick, but a huge pleasure for Jimmie.

“AHAHAHAHA! I understand joke now! They both look like shit!” Dick sighed at Piernov’s sudden exclamation, shoulders slumping forward as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

“Yes, Piernov, that’s right”

“Good joke. Another one?”

“... Give me a moment” Dick responded hesitantly, body leaned forward in defeat. Yes, Jimmie really enjoyed this. And he got to give it to Piernov, he seemed like an absolute idiot, but he was honest to a fault. He was also trustworthy, his eyes alone was worth their weight in gold. Jimme respected Piernov, he wouldn’t go as far to say he liked him, but he wouldn’t be averse to working with Piernov. Dick on the other hand? An entirely different story.

“Contact, 12 O-clock” Piernov suddenly exclaimed, the group falling down on their stomachs, rifles slung forward to brace against the ground, safety switched off. Jimmie didn’t dare look back, but guessed they immitated them. Dick repeated Piernov’s words to the radio, then turned to him.

“What do you see?” Piernov narrowed his eyes and stared intensely.

“A W8N2 Titan, destroyed by melting, I’m assuming plasma,” Dick cursed under his breath, whispering.

“Fuck, that’s a support tank. Piernov, can you see any survivors?”

“Negative” He quickly responded, eyes moving away from the tank and scanning the surroundings. Dick repeated what Piernov had said, then stayed silent. After nodding to no one, he turned to Jimmie and Piernov.

“I’m assuming that that’s the source of the smoke that we saw earlier. We just got orders to proceed with caution. If you spot anything, point it out. But dont shoot!” Dick said, keeping his attention oddly fixed on Jimmie. Piernov responded before Jimmie could say anything.

“Yes sir” Then proceeding to get up on his feet, rifled aimed while walking towards the tank. Dick did the same, and Jimmie followed soon after. He glanced back, noting that the others were also standing up, moving slow, but deliberate. Bill in the distance were holding his heavy gun with both hands, awkwardly shuffling forwards with wide steps.

Jimmie tried to spot the tank, but couldn’t because of the long distance. But he didn’t doubt that Piernov had seen it, which to Jimmie, meant that the enemy could have spotted them. He shifted his rifle into burst-mode, hands naturally holding it, his eyes scanning for any movement.

The minutes passed by in silence, eventually Jimmie saw the tank in the distance, a huge hole melted through its thin armor. Jimmie peeked to the side, looking at Piernov, but Piernov didn’t react, probably nothing new to be seen.

Another minute passed, and Piernov made a stop gesture with his hand, easing down to a crouch. Me and Dick quickly following suit. He kept his gaze fixed and whispered.

“I see prone bodies, presumably human, I’m assuming dead”

Dick repeated Piernov’s words on the radio, then nodded at what Jimmies assumed was the commander. Dick then removed his hands from the radio and spoke silently.

“Any signs of the enemy?”

“Negative”

Dick nodded, glancing over at Jimmie, raising an eyebrow in question. Jimmie shook his head. Dick looked back at the tank, then decided.

“Let’s continue, if you see anymore bodies, let me know, but dont stop unless they seem out of place.”

Piernov nodded, standing up in a swift motion. He looked back, then continued walking. Dick and Jimmie followed a step behind.

As they came closer, Jimmie noticed the body that Piernov had pointed out, then another, and another. Strewn about haphazardly around the tank, Jimmie couldn’t figure out what had killed them from this distance, but he could guess. His heart started beating faster at the thought, his breathing getting more agitated, Jimmie noticed it, and forcefully calmed himself down. He was so close, so close to the enemy that he could almost taste it. He had trained his entire life for this. He wasn’t feeling nerves, no, he was feeling excitement. From their angle of movement, the tank blocked what was behind it, but Jimmie’s imagination flowed freely.

Jimmie hadn’t seen that tank before, but its height and width made it tower far above the earth. It looked big enough to fit an entire company, with small cannons fitted on either side of the tank, the size of Bill’s big rifle. Its right side was almost entirely melted off, exposing black innards, shadowed by its top portion.

The closer they got, the bigger the tank looked, almost twice the height of Jimmie, and probably thrice his width. But looking at the scarce amount of bodies strewn around the tank, Jimmie guessed that the majority had died to an ambush. Or had taken off on foot, which seemed unlikely considering anything that could create that big of a hole in a tank would probably not have a problem with killing running soldiers.

Soon enough, they were right next to it. Dick advised Jimmie and Piernov to not touch anything; it could be trapped. But Jimmie doubted it, anything trapped this far out in no-man's-land would be a waste of resources. Piernov and Dick took it slow, almost sneaking their way towards the tank, Jimmie just marched his way forward, hearing a whispered “Jimmie!” from Dick.

Letting one hand rest on the tank, he peered into it. The first thing that hit him was the smell, smell of decayed and burned bodies. Then his eyes adjusted, and he saw black, charred bodies, seemingly cooked alive inside the melted tank. His stomach churned for a second, but kept it in, he wouldn’t be weak, he wouldn’t show weakness.

Taking his eyes away from the wreckage, he noted that all the bodies that had escaped the tank had a black hole somewhere in their bodies. He assumed these were their cause of death, death by plasma. Darkened holes strewn the battlefield in random locations, some bodies were even hidden inside them before they were killed.

Jimmie walked to the opposite side of the hole, intent on peering our it without the stench of death filling his nose. Piernov had moved to examine the inside of the tank, Dick was walking towards Jimmie with an angry expression. But as Jimmie rounded the corner, he spotted it, and immediately fell down to his knee with his rifled trained on it, mind going clearer than a lake.

An alien, laying on top of its mech. It was a fair distance away, but not too far for Jimmie, he knew he could easily make the shot. The alien didn’t seem like it had noticed him, so he slowly put pressure on the trigger.

“Stop” Dick whispered into his ear, sitting awfully close with his own rifle aimed at the alien. Jimmie eased the pressure on the trigger, but didn’t remove it.

“We need him alive” Dick whispered.

Jimmies eyed Dick for a second as he couldn’t believe his ears, but Dick kept his face neutral and unreadable, pulling his hand towards the radio. Jimmie looked back at the alien, seeing its tiny little body taking a deep breath, its many arms folded on top of its body. It looked like someone had stuck a goat's head on top of a monkey's body, attaching eight arms to add insult to injury. He felt disgusted by the sight; it laid there like the perfect little devil. The anger built up, an anger that had been building the entire day. Their companies crashed ship, Jimmie being incapable of doing anything to stop it, watching a comrade getting shot, feeling fear and scared. His anger boiled over, and he pushed the trigger, shooting it.

Five bullets flew straight through the air, a loud bang cascading through the rifle. The alien roused to action, but for some reason, it didn’t move, merely turning its head to the side. Then the five bullets perfectly impacted its body, moving its way along to the top of its head. A shower of plastic shrapnel ripping it from the inside, almost exploding from the force.

Silence.

Jimmie felt a brief sensation of success, tugging its way up, forcing a small smile to surface. Then something tugged at Jimmie, a force that dragged him behind the tank, pulling him face to face with Dick, staring down at him in anger.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Killing aliens” Jimmie responded quickly, feeling himself pushed back against the tank.

“And what did I just tell you?”

Jimmie didn’t respond to that, letting the side of his small smile speak for itself. Dick grew red in the face, anger clear as his hands closed to tight fists intent on hitting Jimmie. Then he spoke through closed teeth and clenched jaw.

“That, alien, held valuable information”

“That alien could be a trap”

Dick narrowed his eyes further, fists dangerously close, but Jimmie’s smile just widened. Then the commander ran up, speaking with a yell that made Jimmie forget about Dick and instead curse himself for his stupidity.

“WHAT HAPPENED!” The commander shouted, his gun pointed in the dead alien’s direction, head whipping back and forth, trying to see the supposed enemy. Dick breathed in, then out, his breath smelling like rotten fish.

“Jimmie killed an alien”

Jimmie stared wide eyed at Dick, sweat slowly forming on Jimmie’s lower back, he tried lifting his rifle, only to notice that Dick held it firmly in one of his fists. Jimmies mind reeled to the location of his obsidian knife.

“Enemies?” The commander asked, still looking out over the battlefield.

“You're looking at it”

Dick said, eyes glued on Jimmie but his free hand pointing at the dead alien. The commander looked puzzled at the alien, then down at us.

“Why would you kill a wounded alien? It might have had valuable information.”

Jimmies throat closed up, he noted that Piernov had positioned himself on the opposite side of the tank, but had stopped too look over. The others ran up to the tanks position. Dick just kept staring at Jimmie.

“Sorry commander, It felt suspicious, so I told Jimmie to kill it” He said, eyes glaring down at Jimmie.

Jimmie looked back, eyes wide with surprise and incomprehension. The commander looked at the two with suspicious eyes, the rest of his face a neutral blank canvas, nothing readable. Then he looked back at the alien, and Dick let go of Jimmie, going up to his feet and facing the commander. The commander spoke whilst looking at the alien.

“Dick, I trust your judgement. But going against protocol in such a, stupid manner leaves me no choice”

Jimmie looked up at the commander in alarm, then back at Dick. The commander turned around, Jimmie noting that the rest of the group, except for Bill, had made their way to the destroyed tank.

“Chris, I’m leaving you in charge of the front guard. Dick, you’ll be with me and Rick”

Chris looked at the commander confused, then to Dick, then nodded in aknowledgment. The commander turned to Dick and simply asked.

“Understood?”

“Yes sir” Dick simply responded back, saluting stiffly, his face still red but his expression unreadable. Rick took a step forward.

“Commander, can I be at the front guard with Chris?”

The commander looked at Rick, then shook his head, saying.

“Negative, I need Piernov’s eyes at the front”

To which Rick merely nodded, eyes downcast whilst looking pleading at Chris. Chris smiled weakly back, scratching awkwardly at the top of his head.

Suddenly, Dick’s hand was in front of Jimmie. Looking up, he saw that Dick was holding out his hand for Jimmie to grab. Grabbing it, he felt himself dragged up swiftly and firmly. Dick then took both of his arms and placed them on each of Jimmie’s shoulders, staring deeply into Jimmies eyes whilst his face stayed neutral.

“Last chance”

He simply said, then let go of Jimmie, turning to wave at the closing Bill.

And Jimmie felt a new emotion.

Shame