Smol Women

Chapter Eleven

"How are we gonna get back to the base?" Selena asked as the group settled down in an abandoned building not far from ISIS's base.

"Nevermind that, why was there a shrine of Max?" Thomas asked.

Tank shrugged. "No idea. Maybe ISIS isn't as bad as we thought?"

Everyone shot him a mix of annoyed and confused looks, but nobody bothered responding.

"We'll worry about that later," Gibby said. "You said he's missing, didn't you? For all we know he's dead."

Tank let out a hacking noise/sob at that and crawled over to bury his face in The Hoff's shirt, wiping his snotty nose on it.

"Stop that!" Selena gasped, dragging him off.

"What's wrong with him?" Theodore asked, nodding towards Tank.

Marianne shook her head in a way to say, Don't ask.

"We can just stay here for the night and decide what to do tomorrow," Thomas decided. "Mitch needs to rest, and there's nothing we can really do now anyway."

Everyone seemed satisfied with this, and they split some of the food rations that Marianne had.

While Gibby and Theodore tended to Thomas, Selena and The Hoff's injuries, Marianne pulled Tank aside.

"You need to keep it together," she said, slapping Tank across the face.

Somehow, Tank caught her hand in his mouth and bit down on it, causing her to gasp and yank it away. Tank hissed at her.

"Wha— Tank! What is your problem?" Marianne studied him. "Do you love Max?"

"Yes," Tank declared, not hesitating with his answer.

Marianne shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh. "You've known him for like, a week, not even. How do you love him?"

"I just do!" Tank pouted, crossing his arms in protest.

"Okay, okay. Even if you do, you need to hold it together. You're acting ridiculous and we're in real danger, do you understand?"

Tank shrugged, scraping the ground with his foot. "I dunno... ISIS soldiers seemed pretty cool. Plus, if they like Maxy Max so much, can they really be that bad?"

Marianne's eyes widened so much they practically bugged out of her head. "Yes! Yes, they can be that bad! They're terrorists, Tank?"

"I know, I know, but Jason is their leader, so..."

Marianne shook her head, "If you're not so sure about this, maybe you should rethink your place in Squadron 69."

With a glare, she turned and walked over to help treat injuries (which she was promptly denied permission to do).

Tank, meanwhile, sat sulking in the corner where Marianne had left him, angrily watching as everyone fussed over the injured. Why didn't they care about Maxy Max? Who knew if he was injured, or worse dead?

He remained in his corner for a while, until Selena walked over.

"Hey, Tank," she greeted, sitting down beside him. Her head was bandaged, and she had a black eye. "I feel like we haven't really talked since all this happened."

"Yeah, well, you've been too busy with Mitch," Tank muttered, crossing his arms.

Selena sighed, "He could die, Tank. I thought you liked him?"

"Yeah, but I love Maxy Max. And he's missing and nobody cares!"

"You love him? You just met him, Tank," Selena argued.