A Little Understanding
By:AliasCWN
Chapter 1
The hot desert sun beat down without mercy on the four men as they staggered across the sand. One of them stumbled and fell to his knees.
"Sarge!" Mark Hitchcock stopped and reached down for Tully's arm. His call stopped the two sergeants in their tracks.
Tully shook him off and climbed unsteadily to his feet. "I'm okay."
"Take a break." Troy ordered. Raising an arm that felt like it weighed a ton; the sergeant shaded his eyes as he squinted up at the sun. The lazy yellow orb was taking its own sweet time making its way across the sky. In the meantime it was making Troy and his team very uncomfortable. Sliding the strap of a canteen off of his shoulder, Troy handed the canteen to Tully. "Take it easy, we have a long way to go."
"Come now Troy, do you really think Dietrich is going to wait until we reach some kind of shelter?" Moffitt dropped to the ground next to the two younger rats and looked up at Troy.
"No, not really, but I'm not ready to give up just yet. You never know just when an opportunity will present itself." Troy glanced over his shoulder to see how far behind them the German column was following.
Dietrich had had his driver stop as soon as the four of them had dropped to the ground. Troy could see him smiling and talking to his driver while they enjoyed a drink of water. Only they had all they wanted, and they were riding in comfort across the sand while they waited for the Allied soldiers to wear themselves out.
"Look at them." Hitch snorted in disgust. "You'd think they took out both of our jeeps with skill rather than luck."
"There may have been some skill involved." Moffitt suggested gently.
"Maybe Dietrich's been making them practice their shooting." Tully drawled tiredly. He sucked on his matchstick, trying to preserve the moisture in his mouth.
"I still think it was mostly luck." Hitch declared stubbornly.
"Whatever it was, there's no sense arguing about it, it's done." Troy growled. "Save your strength." Shaking the canteens on his shoulder, he glanced around at his men.
Tully looked the worst. He was still recovering from an earlier injury and he wasn't up to full strength yet. He had been shot during a raid on a fuel dump and had just returned to duty. The hot, dry walk was not agreeing with him. Troy could see the tired slump of his shoulders despite Tully's verbal reassurances. He hadn't set a fast pace because he knew that Tully would try to keep up even if it killed him. The lean private wouldn't want to hold them back no matter how bad he felt. Tully's skin was covered by a fine grit that clung to the sweat that still seeped from his pores. Al least there was still enough water left in his body to sweat.
And they still had water. Troy carried their canteens; all six of them; but only one still contained water. He was reluctant to drop them, just in case they found a source of water where they could refill them. Water on the desert was more precious than gold.
Troy looked at his driver with a frown. "What's wrong Hitch?"
"I twisted my ankle. It's okay Sarge, I can walk on it."
Troy had noticed the blonde's limp but he had put it down to exhaustion. Hitch had shouldered most of the burden of helping keep Tully on his feet. Both of the privates looked to be near the end of their endurance. Now, seeing Hitch rubbing his ankle, he wondered how much further the two younger rats could go. He looked toward the German column again but they were still sitting in the same spot, just watching.
"He's waiting for us to wear ourselves out. Why risk injury to his men and damage to his machines when he can just sit back and let the desert defeat us." Moffitt sagged against Tully and gratefully accepted the canteen from the private.
"We're not done yet."
"By the time Dietrich picks us up we won't have enough strength left to offer any resistance. He'll just have his men pluck us up off of the sand and throw us into the back of a halftrack. We'll be back at his base before we find the energy to even complain."
"Complain? To who? Dietrich would really get a kick out of that." Troy laughed without humor.
"My point exactly old man." Moffitt nodded. "We're giving him just what he wants."
Troy looked at his men again and frowned in thought. They stayed on the ground longer than he wanted, but they needed the rest. He was itching to move, to keep trying to escape, despite the odds. He knew that the others were with him, no matter what. They would fight to the death if he told them that that was what he wanted, only it wasn't. He wanted them all to live. If they surrendered now, they might survive. Dietrich was an honorable man; he would probably ignore the directive from Berlin concerning commandos and just send them to a POW camp. He'd done it before. But Troy felt responsible for all of the men, and once they were sent to a POW camp there was no guarantee that they would all be kept together. There was no way he could protect the younger men there, they could be separated or killed in any number of ways. There had to be a way out of this mess!
"Okay let's go!"
Moffitt and Hitch helped Tully to his feet. Tully protested, saying he was fine, but the others knew better. Hitch hobbled along, trying to downplay the injury to his ankle. Moffitt shouldered his own weapon, plus Tully's, plus the few rations they had managed to salvage from the jeeps.
A few cartons of k-rations, about half a canteen of water, four exhausted men, two of them suffering from more than just heat and thirst; Troy shook his head and led the way.
An hour later and Dietrich had still not made his move. He was still hanging back and letting the desert do his work for him. Troy noticed that the trail his small team was leaving behind was weaving back and forth like the tracks of a hound dog looking for a scent. Troy laughed at the image; they were the rabbits and Dietrich was the hound dog, and the dog definitely had the scent. The Germans were relaxing in their vehicles and probably laughing at their doomed prey. Troy began to formulate a plan.
"Okay, take a rest."
Tully groaned in relief as he settled to the sand. He had been falling more and more often and getting up slower. Hitch had tried to support him but his buddy was having problems of his own.
Hitch lowered himself to the ground, taking care not to put much weight on his injured ankle. Tully chuckled as Hitch sighed and leaned back onto the sand.
"Is your ankle swelled Hitch?" Troy asked of the blond.
His driver looked up in surprise. Troy could see the exhaustion in his features. His face was sunburned and there were dry spots where he had fallen and the sand had sucked the moisture from his skin. Even his usually lively eyes had taken on a dull appearance.
"It's okay Sarge."
"Is there any swelling?" Troy repeated more forcefully.
"Yeah, a little." The blond admitted reluctantly.
"Black and blue?"
"Maybe a little."
Troy nodded and scooted over closer to his driver. He glanced toward the Germans to see if they could see what he was doing. Before Hitch could react Troy took the stock of his machine gun and hit the blond on the sore ankle.
"Ow!" Hitch jerked away in surprise.
"Now it will be black and blue."
"Sarge!" Hitch rubbed his ankle and glared at his sergeant.
Troy looked toward the Germans again. "Hitch, your ankle is swollen and black and blue. I think you need a splint."
"A splint? Where are we going to get a splint out here?"
Troy turned to Tully. "Do you have your slingshot with you?"
Tully nodded, keeping his eye on Troy.
"Give it to me."
Tully reached into his shirt and pulled out the item that Troy wanted. It wasn't the original one that Troy had made him; Tully had refined it, making it smaller and easier to carry. The forked wood was gnarled but strong; Tully had smoothed it until it was comfortable in his hand. The thin strips of rubber were the same ones as was the small piece of leather originally from the tongue of Tully's boot.
Troy took the slingshot and dismantled it as the others watched. He put the wood against his drives injured ankle. "By putting the y at the bottom it will support your ankle better." He explained.
Hitch nodded and began to remove his belt to hold it in place.
"No, that will slip off. We'll tie it on with these strips of rubber. They'll give you support while having enough stretch to let you walk." Troy tied the wood tight against his driver's ankle using the rubber strips. Looking up at the youth's tight features, he adjusted the tension a little bit. "Too tight?"
"No, it's good Sarge."
"Okay, don't let anyone take that off."
The blond nodded.
"Here Tully, a souvenir." He handed Tully the small piece of leather from the tongue of his boot. "Keep it, you never know when it might come in handy."
Tully nodded and slipped the leather into his pants pocket.
"Do you still carry stones those stones you saved for the slingshot?"
"Yeah." The Kentuckian nodded. He reached into another pocket and pulled out about a dozen small, round stones.
Troy took them and passed them out, dividing them equally. "Keep these in your pockets to put in your mouth when we run out of water."
The others nodded and pocketed the stones.
"We may as well eat, there's no sense carrying the k-rations when we can eat them."
The others looked at him like he had gone crazy, but they obeyed. Moffitt broke out the packets and they shared them equally. They ate them cold but no one really tasted them anyway. Everyone was too exhausted to even complain about the lack of taste. When they were finished Moffitt glanced at the canteen and asked permission with his eyes.
"Go ahead." Troy agreed. "Take a good drink; we're leaving all of the canteens behind." TH others looked startled at the order. Moffitt looked as if he wanted to argue but he held his tongue. They let Tully take the first drink; Troy finished it off after the other two had had their share. Tossing the canteen to the ground next to the other empty ones, Troy staggered to his feet. Moffitt reached out to steady him as he swayed and nearly fell. Weaving on his feet, he took the lead again. The others followed wordlessly, trusting him no matter what.
"Hitch, I know that leg hurts, don't try so hard to hide the pain." Troy had been watching his driver try to hide his limp. The kid was keeping up but it was getting harder. Hitch opened his mouth to deny it but Troy shook his head. He could see the truth in the tight set of his mouth.
"I can make it Sarge."
"I know you can, but lean on me. Moffitt can help Tully."
"I'm fine Sarge." Tully protested.
"Lean on Moffitt." Tully looked like he wanted to argue so Troy growled at him. "Lean on Moffitt, that's an order."
Hitch and Tully looked at each other and kept their silence. The two younger men leaned on their sergeants and tried their best to keep up.
Troy set a slower pace as they struggled along in the loose sand. Sometimes their feet would slip out from under them and they would slide down the slope. More and more they were falling. When that happened they would pick themselves up and go on. No one spoke, they were all too tired. They paused at one point and Troy had them all put pebbles in their moths to stimulate saliva.
"Troy!"
Troy paused as Moffitt and Tully fell again.
"We can't go on this way." Moffitt gasped. "Tully can barely walk and we're no closer to escape than we were three hours ago."
Troy nodded his agreement. Hitch was limping more and the struggle to keep him on his feet was wearing on Troy too.
"All right. Dietrich wins this round. Put your weapons in a pile and we'll walk on a little way until Dietrich comes to collect us." Troy dropped his machine gun in the sand and stood swaying on his feet.
Hitch sat down and put his machine gun next to Troy's. Then he added the knife that he carried on his leg. He was sitting there working the brim of his hat in his hands when Moffitt stepped forward to add his weapons. Tully passed his to his sergeant and watched as they were added to the pile.
Troy saw him looking at his knife and smiled. "Dietrich will have us searched for weapons. He'd take it anyway." Tully only nodded in reply. "Okay, is everybody ready?' The others nodded. "Then let's go."
"You don't want to shake it?" Moffitt teased in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Doctor, I don't think any of us have the energy to shake it, even if we had anything to shake."
Moffitt laughed, not amused by the truth, just glad that the end to their nightmare was in sight.
The four of them continued walking, waiting for the German column to catch up with them. As soon as Dietrich saw the weapons he would know that he had won.
"That's far enough Sergeant." Dietrich's voice over the bullhorn stopped them in their tracks. At Troy's command they all put their hands behind their heads and waited for the Germans to catch up to them.