A greater good?

‘I don’t know how you do it, man; just shoot them dead.’

McManus and Smith were sheltering in a bomb crater.

‘Self-preservation. Pre-emptive strike. The way I look at it, if he’s dead he can’t kill me.’

‘But it’s so cold-blooded.’

‘And firing artillery and charging positions isn’t?  What difference does it make – random shell, a ricochet, a sniper’s shot? It’s war.’

‘Which we all hope we’ll survive.’

‘And I’m increasing the odds. Take out the officers the others will surrender. It’s for the greater good.’

‘For us or them?’

‘For all of us.’

‘Except the poor bastards who’re dead.’



A drabble is a story of exactly 100 words.