Same Difference

By: Aspergian Mind

A/N: A quicky I had in mind. I've noticed people's other works on Yautja in Iraq or Afghanistan. A hot spot no doubt lures them, I decide to focus on the mentality of it. How the blood pours by means beyond their knowing.

P.S. - Not to be taken too seriously. Not most professionally done nor have I done hard research on it, so there's bound to be glaring errors, but come on, you know you come here for a Predator than accurate war drama.

This is getting to be one long agitating itch that will lure you to scratch it but be worse as a result. Making you do it again.

First we had one enemy, a dictator and his regime. Well, he was not cast out as he should have been a decade ago. We scratched his stance as a Middle East power, but he still stayed. We came back under the next Bush to scratch him out again, harder. This time it worked, but followed by a new itch.

Now we have wars among the tribes, groups within the Iraqi people. Sunni and Shi'a. It's like the Republicans and Democrats back home when it was the Civil War.

We're sticking longer to resolve this? What made them all of sudden kill each other? We had our Civil War, and today we sometimes hold each other by the necks. But yet we stand for freedom and liberty. And these clans, they're still Islam, who hold true to what they believe, whatever the hell it is being different from our Christianity.

Same difference. Kill for our beliefs.

Anyway, take it as it goe-

BANG!

My trigger instinct snaps my head up to a sergeant come sprinting through the door. Legs wide apart covering as much ground possible with jerk force from his legs, suddenly stand together in formation.

"Sir. News from the fight, sir."

"Yes?" Of course curious.

"The enemy have engaged us in the southwest at the apartment complex."

Sighs. "Fine location amongst civilians." I muttered.

"But there's something. We didn't finish the fight nor did they retreat. Something else stopped it."

Some 'thing'? "Something else? That's something I ought to see for myself."

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

"I know."

The apartment complex is just 2.64 miles from base. We are safe in the fortress base. Anything coming near us not us, we know is unusual activity likely leading toward hostility. But here, any cell phone can be the detonator.

Five minutes later, after being met with varying faces, we arrive at this old gray building block. Seemed not seem to specially beaten up as anything in this land, on the outside that is. What was special happened on the inside and is finally emerging in body bags.

I see one and then another and another. A whole line of body bags, color-coded white from the traditional black. That usally mean they need the white background so to better recognize evidence they need to find on the body.

"We're taking all of them to study, equally the same attention."

"Worth the trouble? You know one you know them all."

"We want to see if 'whatever' done it gave all of them the equally perfect treatment. At first glance seem...skinned each as if given an hour's time in the hand of a perfectionist." All them extraordinary deaths? No, it can't be done that well. New detail, skinned. Great we have a taxidermist. I have to see for myself.

"Some discretion..." Ignored his advice and wished I hadn't. Quite a horrible waft of stench and an unforgettable face overwhelmed me that split second.

"Uhhhh..." From my stomach and confused mind. "Did a good job of keeping the eyes in, did it?" I winced. It still be sickening if the eyes were out, but it's horrible when the dead are still staring.

"Yeah all 26 men have both, with the extraocular muscles well intact, but that's obviously only the tip of the iceberg. All were skinned, pealed as easy as stickers, and a lot were hanged up in the stair wells."

So far up and with such strength I could guess their average strength would be heavy weight plus twenty percent extra muscle mass."

"This is monstrous compared to anything before."

"Same difference." It ain't the same as decapitating, but the same idea. Disgust, shock and awe. "Reall the events, how they've taken place."

"This is extraordinary what they did. We noticed the first signs until it ended 3 minutes later, took a minute wait when all was quiet, 5 minutes to thoroughly search, basement up, to find this."

"How many were there?"

"I'm talking about the other ones.

"Fewer estimating would mean it'd be easy to infiltrate our perimeter, but would make it more problematic in explaining how this happened so fast."

"Who can we affiliate this to?"

"Bloody hell should I know? It's like being specific who murdered who when both are dead."

"Not a proper analogy. These other murderers are a heavy-weight yet as invisible as air. I think it limits our list of felons substantially."

"I don't get this. A massacre occurred with the enemy. I wouldn't mind except the act was heinous and could have only possibly to have escaped had it been done by just one person. This adds up to something more monstrous than man."

"He'd be nothing but a man. A man can have a cold heart, not a beat faster in the adrenaline, tear ducts dry, for remorse within is barren dead, but either one of us can still fire one shot in the head to decommission his mind from his brain and body. Because he is mortal, because he bleeds, we can kill him."

Returning to the exact spot on my chair, behind my desk, in the same building, carrying on where I left off on this grueling war. Actually, not exactly. For even up to today, it was still an issue of government and people of Iraq. This new occurrence is totally alien.

"Sir, we combat from outskirts." Got up to see what that is. I naturally go to communications to hear for myself. But instead all I hear is static.

"Another fight outside of town, at the oil field." He explains. "They tried to blow the rig but we stopped them, but…we lost."

"Oxymorons don't work and aren't accepted in war."

"No, they radioed in, said they cleared the area, and then we heard fire again, and lost contact."

"Then it was a retaliation."

"No the rig is still intact, so that particular opponent had different objectives. Similar to the last one."

"You don't mean…"

"Well there are no skinned bodies, just blood trails that end suddenly in the middle of nowhere."

"Same difference." A blood lust unlike anything.

Even more radical than radical Islam? They have their decapitations, stoning of adulteresses, suicide bombers. The morality on which they conduct war is obsolete. Now we are dealing with a whole different faction. Finding mutilation as an art.

Though not in the US Army. Our army is not about playing death, it's about preserving life. Always sacrificing hundreds for thousands, they may not like it but should we leave they'd regret it.

Iraq, over-throwing a dictator who's crimes are more factual than his hidden nukes, I might add. Now doing what ever it takes to maintain order for transition into democracy. This is getting unnecessaringly bloody. This is a wild card doing it's own business and I want it out of town.

"Get our best reconnaissance. We'll have a news briefing with them and give them a new target. Who ever is responsible is going to get a smash so hard they'll want to return to their norms."

"Their norms are not ours."

"Same difference." Battle is the game, death and life are the only two outcomes.

I feel I should make this announcement starting with these people here at communications. "We're going to show the enemy that we'll not descend to their level. They have continued with their sick methods. But we will have one, just plain death. Never selling our soul by indulging in the act. Hey may act as monstrous as he likes, but one shot to the head would have him out of the equation for the rest of our lives. So let's find him and get him out of this world we try to maintain. Go get him."

Now to start a "real" war...

A/N: I wasn't sure what I have done some of time, honestly. A bit lampooned some of the lines I think have it fit inappropriately. Feels weird previewing it that I want it to be a serious little piece that searches that side and silly a bit with the leading guy.

I couldn't help but give the leading man a tiny touch of Monty Python and Patton into that guy. That over grown sense of nobility, valor, and determination coming from about half of Graham Chapman.