War will remain an abstract concept until it is experienced.

Nothing you see in films or read in books or see on the news ever tells the whole story. Only when you are in it, feel it, smell it, and hear it will you know the horror of it.

The space invaders, as they became known, approached the planet unnoticed, using the moon as cover. They mined large pieces from the far side of the moon, and once they had enough, they attacked at night. Giant chunks of moon rock were towed behind their ships and directed at the lights of the largest cities.

The devastation was immeasurable. The rock, now kinetic energy weapons, accelerated to 24,000 miles per hour. These house-sized projectiles exploded a few miles above their targets, producing shock waves that flattened buildings and stopped hearts. Many thousands died in their sleep before the fragments hit, vaporizing city blocks and everything on them.

The invaders swooped in with their sleek fighters and attacked military bases and airports before returning to the moon.

They did not land until seven days after.

That’s when the ground war started.

***

This invasion happened two years ago. Gard joined the corps when he turned sixteen, on the first anniversary of Invasion Day. He joined the corps because, like all men his age, he wanted to fight for his kind, for the planet, and die if required!

He received twelve weeks of training and was sent into the field immediately after.

Whatever feelings of righteous indignation he had evaporated on the second day of his battlefield deployment.

‘Fresh’ troops are always used to retrieve the dead and wounded. There is a method to this madness. All hopes and aspirations they might have had of being a hero soldier are quickly replaced with horror and dread by doing recovery duty. Horror and dread can be molded into hate.

Gard and two other ‘fresh’ were sent to an outpost that was attacked overnight. The buildings were peppered with head-sized holes and pocked with fist-sized divots inside the concrete walls.

The invaders often used munitions that can punch through almost any structure and then explode a few meters inside the building. This explosion delivers baseball-sized shrapnel and a shock wave that literally tears everything apart.

Gard walked into what used to be the mess-hall and vomited his breakfast all over his boots at what he saw. There were parts of soldiers scattered everywhere, plastered against the walls, floor and ceiling. This in itself was awful, almost too much to comprehend, but the soldier sitting in the middle of the room yanked at Gard’s soul and stopped his breath.

This soldier was young, probably a ‘fresh’ himself. He was sitting behind the cafeteria counter, with his back against it, holding his severed legs tightly against his chest. His eyes were still open. His legs were still clad in pants and boots, cleanly cut off across the hips. Except for this grave injury, the soldier was otherwise whole.

It was his expression that undid Gard’s resolve. The soldier did not look terrified or even scared. He just looked sad, like someone who was about to cry. The pieces of meat scattered everywhere were disgusting and shocking, but this scene contained enough of the original person to make his death heartbreakingly honest.

It took Gard a few days, but he managed to turn his feelings from utter despair into a fiery hate for the enemy.

He used this hatred to kill many of the enemy.

***

The science team were studying one of the invaders. It was left behind by its comrades when they were forced to retreat during a recent battle. The invaders do not retrieve their fallen. The ones that are killed or immobilized always self-destruct. This one did not explode like they usually do.

Gard was watching it, waiting for the detonation. Like all other things employed by the invaders, these self-destructing explosions are mighty. When the blast did not happen, Gard approached carefully, and after waiting a little longer, grabbed the enemy by its legs and dragged it back to his squad.

They took the invader to the science team for study. They learned that the body is an exoskeleton, and the actual alien was a pale, feeble-looking being connected to its suit of armour with pipes and wires.

***

The news spread quickly. The invaders are weaklings who rely on technology, unlike the brave soldiers protecting their homeland, who risk their own bodies.

This knowledge renewed the soldiers’ resolve to protect their planet against these cowards who attack at night, throw rocks and use machines to fight!

Images of the naked alien were printed and distributed. These were plastered everywhere, displaying the feeble nature of these beings.

They had hair only in some spots on their tiny bodies. They had only two arms and two legs! Their mouths were small, filled with a single row of teeth on top and on the bottom. Useless teeth that cannot be used for fighting!

Every time Gard sees one of these pictures, he stomps his four feet and slams his four fists into his chest. During this dance, his tail remains straight behind him, pointed to the sky as he bares his many rows of razor-sharp teeth at the alien ships hanging in the sky, waiting for shuttles to bring the planet’s water up to their empty storage tanks.

Others saw him and adopted this dance. They call it the dance of death. Death to the invaders!

***

The scientists devised a plan to defeat the invaders.

Already, many soldiers are rowing out into the ocean, their packs loaded with explosives, ready to hitch a ride on the automated shuttles.

They will do the dance of death before they sacrifice themselves.