Prologue: Omaha

The mist that crept onto my back made me shiver as if the spray of the sea wasn't enough. I took off my glasses, breathing onto them so I could rub away the smear that the salt water had left while my comrades and I were all huddled together like a bunch of penguins. A man to my left, ill with motion sickness barfed off to the side since there was no room to kneel down. The rest just stood there with morbid looks on there faces. It was no longer the looks of determination to fight for me, their Country, it was a look of fear, almost like looking into the eyes of little children. They knew as well as I did that more than half of them would all die within the first few minutes of combat. It always got to me knowing that I could never die beside my brothers in arms the way they did. I could never sacrifice myself for them. I could do my best to protect them but I could never reveal the secret of my identity to them. It was hard when you got shot and your comrades swear that they saw you get fatally wounded and you show up in the mess hall the next morning bandaged but alive and well so I had to be as cautious as possible. It wasn't all fine and dandy being a country. We were still able to get wounded and had to heal like the humans it just didn't take as long. Roger, a soldier I have gotten rather close to over that past couple months stood next to me with chew in his mouth.

He spit off to the side and looked up at me, wiping his face, "Into the jaws of death, eh Jones?" He coughed a little and cleared his throat. I just gave a weak chuckle and looked ahead. This was it: D-Day. Omaha beach was getting closer and my adrenaline began to pump, familiar with the field of battle. The screams of our allies and enemies began to become clearer as well. Finally, the hatch opened and my brothers poured out into the chaos, many not even making it three feet before getting shot down into the water. I trudged as quickly as I could, trying to make it to the freaking beach. Bullets shot past my face, sounding like whistles. One nicked me in the ear but I didn't bother to stop and complain, I kept going, the sand was shifty and thick, making it harder to run so I tripped when I reached the shore. I tried to get up as quickly as I could, my hair now drenched in blood red water. So much blood…

"We're getting slaughtered out here!" I heard one guy shout, not knowing if it was one of our men or another. I regained control of myself and ran a little further ducking under a small dune. I looked out, seeing a soldier on his knees, starring up at the sky. I squinted to get a better look. He was one of ours.

"What the hell are you doing? Get down idiot! Get down!" I tried to call out to him but my attempts were futile. The man was shot through the throat. I couldn't let myself lose it now I had to keep going.

"Damn it!" I clutched onto my M1 Garand Rifle and ran faster. My glasses were badly smudged from the sand and blood and I couldn't see nor could I stop to clean them. Suddenly I felt myself fall back. I felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder. I could feel the warm blood seeping out as I held it. I had been shot. This was not my day. As I rolled over onto my arms and got to my feet, I noticed a flash of someone run in front of me, beginning to shoot at the enemies ahead. I took that opportunity to quickly hawk some spit onto my glasses and wipe them clear enough to see. I looked up to see what idiot would risk their life for me and saw that familiar mess of blonde hair.

"Heh, nice timing Arty. Don't think this means that I am gonna start needing your help all the time though." I said, running to his side to shoot with him.

"Someone has to look after you, you git!" He shouted over the roaring of the bullets. I had to admit, Arthur may have looked thin and kind of weak but he was anything but. He had been through more wars that I could count and, though I would NEVER admit it, I still looked up to him and admired his skills on the battle field.

"Let's get going! We gotta claim more ground!" I shouted to him

"Agreed!" He answered.