Hello folks and here is chapter 4

Note: There will be a little strong language here.

Disclaimer: I do not own Penguins of Madagascar

Dave looked back at the other animals after his flashback had ended. Mason pointed at Dave's third purple heart and asked, "Now how did you earn the third heart Dave?" Dave nodded and picked up his third purple heart. He opened his mouth to tell them and then thought for a moment. This was his most painful memory, the one in which many friends were lost and the mission where he had come closest to death. It was just too much to bear and he didn't want to talk about it, not yet.

Dave shook his head and put his purple heart down. "I'm sorry guys. I'm just not ready to talk about this one yet. Too much lost and too much pain. I just can't talk about it yet," he said with a couple of silent tears running down his face. Marlene patted Dave's back and said, "It's okay Dave. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. What about your cross?" Dave looked at his distinguished service cross and said, "I earned it in the same mission as I earned my third purple heart, so I can't talk about that one either." Dave looked back at his medals and picked up his Soldier's medal. "But I can tell you guys about this medal."

Dave displayed his Soldier's medal to everyone and explained it to them. "The Soldier's medal is earned for and I quote, 'Distinguishing oneself by heorism not involving actual conflict with an enemy', unquote." Dave leaned back and began his next story.

(Flashback. 3 years ago.)

The scene opens on an Army base in the Middle East as a number of men and women went here and there doing whatever their current task was. The focus comes in on four soldiers playing basketball. One of them is a young caucasian soldier with green eyes and black hair and appeared to be in his mid twenties. His dog tags clanged against his chest. Another soldier is a tall african-american soldier with bright eyes. They played until the two other soldiers called it quits and walked away. The caucasian soldier and the african-american soldier continued on anyway, playing into the late afternoon. The caucasian soldier dribbled the ball to half court and shot the ball at the basket and it went in.

"Nice shot Perkins," said the african-american soldier to the other soldier who we know as Dave. Dave smiled back at the afircan-american soldier and said, "You're not bad yourself Captain Wilson." Captain Wilson walked back over to the ball and tossed it back to Dave. "Just wait lieutenant. I'll make a come back," Wilson said to Dave. Dave smiled back at Captain Wilson and said, "I'd like to see you try." Both men shared a good laugh over that.

The men continued playing until the alarm on Dave's watch went off. He looked at his watch and said, "It's six o'clock captain. It 's time for chow." Wilson nodded his head and the two men dropped the basketball and started walking towards the mess hall. As they walked, Dave turned to Captain Wilson. "Congratulations on the promotion sir," Dave said to Captain Wilson. Captain Wilson patted Dave's back and said, "Congratulations on yours Lieutenant Perkins."

The two men continued walking towards the mess hall when they heard a loud crashing sound. They looked in the sounds direction and saw that a jeep had crashed into some gasoline barrels. Dave saw the wreck and ran towards it. "SHIT SHIT SHIT," he cursed when he saw several men inside and saw the engine catching fire.

He ran to the drivers side door first and opened it. He saw the driver still in his seat and placed his fingers on the mans neck and waited for a pulse. Sadly, no pulse came. Dave shook his head and lifted the man out. He carried the body several yards from the wreck on his back and set it on the ground. Dave ran back over to the jeep and pulled another soldier out. He felt his neck as well and he felt a pulse this time. Dave nodded and carried him to the deceased man's body and set him next to it. Dave went back to the jeep and carried another still living soldier to the other's. At this time several other soldier's had gathered at the unconcious soldier's that were lying on the ground.

Dave rushed back over to the jeep one more time and noticed that no soldier's were rushing over to it. He could see why too. The fire had taken hold of the engine and was spreading to the gas barrels. He knew that the jeep and the barrels could blow up at any moment. But Dave rushed back over one more time anyway and pulled the final door open. He pulled the seatbelt off the last man and pulled him out of the jeep

As Dave carried the man over to the others, the man stirred. The man noticed that he was being carried and asked Dave, "What happened?" "Your jeep crashed and your driver was killed," Dave answered the man. The man shifted a bit, groaned, and asked, "What about the others? Are they alright?" Dave nodded and said, "They are alive if that's what you are asking." The man on Dave's back nodded and said, "That's all I need to know sir."

Dave carried the man to the others and set him on the ground. Right after he had placed the man on the ground, the jeep exploded. Everyone stared back at the jeep as it burned and right after the explosion, a number of soldier's ran over to it carrying fire extinguishers.

Dave turned his focus on the four men lying on the ground and noticed how bad their injuries were. The first soldier he had pulled out was dead, killed by a nasty bump to the head. But at least he had been spared being burned to a crisp. At least his family would be able to have an open casket funeral for him. The second soldier had a nasty gash on his forehead and likely had suffered a concussion. The third man had a wound in his torso which could be fatal. The fourth mans injuries were the least serious. All he had was a busted wrist and a small cut on his forehead.

Dave stared at the four men as Captain Wilson turned Dave away from them. "Don't feel bad lieutenant. You did everything you could. All we can do now is hope that they pull through. Still you did a good job solider," he told Dave. Dave nodded and walked away from the scene. "Lets just go get something to eat captain," Dave said as he and Captain Wilson walked towards the mess hall.

(Present Day)

Dave showed them all his Soldier's medal one more time. "The last thing that I expected was to recieve a medal for what I did. But I got one. This medal right here," Dave said as he took pride in his medal and then contiued. "Because of what I did, three men are still alive and one family was able to bury a relative intact," he said as he finished his story.

Becky and Stacy clapped as Dave finished. "Wow Dave that was so brave," Becky said to Dave. Dave smiled and said, "Yeah I know. But if you ask some people they'll say it was incredibly stupid and not brave. I say to them 'Think what you will, but I saved the lives of three men and got an award for it and what have you done?' and after that, they shut up and go away." Everyone laughed at that.

Originally I was going to write a chapter about the third purple heart and the cross. But then I got thinking, the story about those two would make a good story in themselves. So I'm putting those two aside for now and will get back them in a future story.

But in the mean folks. Read and review please.