Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thankyou for taking the time to read my fiction. It truly means a lot, that out of the hundreds of other stories out there, you chose mine! I feel blessed.
Just a few things to let you know first.
1) This story is based on the characters from the TV show NOT the original brave heroric men of Easy Company. If they are out of character slightly then that is my doing and it is in no way a portrail of how they were in true life.
2) I have tried my up most to be as historically accurate as I can. There are mentions of things and or events that were not show in the Tv series that actually happened. I have added these moments as i want to dig a little deeper into the war.
3) For the those who are turning for a second read - I have edited the original chapters after such a long hiatus so please, start from the beginning as a few things have been changed and or edited.
I truly hope you enjoy reading this as much as I have writing it.
All my Love
Tabitha
I had always wondered what it would be like to fight for my country. Most people tell me that the job I'm doing now is just that. "Great," I think, "how is sat here freezing my ass off on a squadron exercise, learning how to fight for my country?" Yes I've been to 'war' but I was like so many other now-a-day soldiers, I'd never actually fired a shot. In the whole six months I was away, I didn't fire one round. War was bloody, fierce, and downright scary, but as a female I had never been near the front line. As much as it saddens everyone when the news of yet another soldier is killed "serving his country" and how "he was a true soldier" I wonder what the old boys would say. Each generation of soldier will say that he had it tough when he was in. I know I've said it. "You WHAT! Quilts and fitted bloody sheets! They're not even teaching you how to make hospital corners anymore? Jesus you get it easy!" But when it comes to learning to fight "the enemy" that's where it changes dramatically. Whilst the weapons and the enemy may have changed, the basic principles of warfare remain the same, engage and over come the enemy. The training wasn't much different either, hard work, long days, long drill and repetition until you could do your job in your sleep. Everyone knows the outcome of the biggest war in modern history and thankfully the outcome was what it was; otherwise I would be writing this in German!
It was only when I had a complete out of body experience that I fully understood the realities of war and the ways it could affect the soldiers that were forced to fight in it. This is my story.
"Abbott, do us a favour mate?" Waddington asked me as he leant against the Landover.
"Jump up on the rover and chuck me that cam." I had finished smoking the longingly desired cigarette and clambered up onto the roof. I did it without thinking. You don't worry about falling off or getting hurt, because it's one of the things you do all the time.
"No worries. Where's this piece of crap going?" Cam nets are by far the bane of a soldier's life on exercise. It gets caught on anything and everything. Webbing, rifle, jackets, trousers! The next few minutes would either have us all smiling because it behaved itself or we would be sniping at one another as it tested our patience.
"I hope this is the last frigging move. I cannot be chewed with doing this again!" Waddington just laughed. We had been playing CP up and CP down all day and the whole detachment was getting annoyed.
"I wouldn't put it past them." Laughing at the possibility of yet another move, was the only way to stop us from crying, well stop me anyway. I yanked the net, I had seen it was snagged on the antenna and also round my boots but thought nothing of it. I turned round as Stevenson called out, as I twisted round I felt nothing but the air wrap round me. I had nothing to hold on to and only with the ground for a cushion, I braced myself.
"Oh shit!" I thought "this is really going to fucking hurt!", but I felt no pain, I didn't even feel the jolt of the impact or the all too familiar feeling of air being forced out of my lungs. It wasn't until I was looking down on myself that I knew something was wrong. Unsure of whether I was dead or alive I tried shouting at people, waving my arms in front of their faces, even through them once or twice, but just like in the movies, it was no good.
"You know that they can't see you right?" A tall dark haired man with the biggest smile was leaning against a nearby tree. His clothes were a brilliant pristine white.
"Yeah, I got the whole Ghost theme thanks!" I was pissed.
"So I take it I'm dead then" I asked, my voice coming out a pitch or two higher than the indifferent casual I had been aiming for now the panic was starting to set in.
"Well no, not yet anyway." Now the hysteria was really setting in. There I was watching my unconscious self being loaded into an ambulance.
"So where am I then?" I screamed. The man frowned, as though he was thinking about what to tell me.
"Let's just say that you're in limbo." Great! This was all I needed. The shock and hysteria took hold; I couldn't stop the tears as "not yet" circled round my head. Whirling round on the stranger, I wanted answers and I wanted them now.
"So just explain to me what I'm doing in purgatory?" Because that's what it was. I was invisible to the world except this smart-aleck smiler, who was more cryptic than Bowman radio!
"We have a task for you." He seemed so smug, and he wasn't trying to hide it. It was the whole "I know and you don't" attitude.
"We? Who the fuck is 'we'?" I was losing my patience rapidly.
"We" he said, pointing at the sky.
"Oh… My…" I whispered. So He was true. Don't get me wrong I believed that He was there, but in a one way, last ditch, desperation, conversation kind of way. The man walked over to me as I slumped to the floor.
"Claire, not everything is what it seems. We know that you are not content with this life. So He has decided to give you this opportunity to fulfil your ambition." See what I mean about cryptic!
"I'm happy. I'm finally talking to my sister. My mum and dad are still around. What more could I ask for?" My companion smiled again, flashing me his pearly whites.
"You want to fight." I should have had whip lash from the speed at which my neck whipped round.
"How the hell do you know that?" No one knew how envious I was of the boys out in Afghan, of the "Old Boys" and how they were able to serve their country with dignity and pride. Now-a-days there's too much red-tape, politics and bullshit involved. Back then it was a case of kill the bad guy and go home. But now it's "if you kill the bad guy, we're gonna spend millions reviewing the crap out of it, to see if you killed the right bad guy!" I wanted to prove something; what that something was I didn't know exactly. Maybe it was to prove that I was capable of handling someone shooting at me and, more importantly, I was able to survive.
"I have been told everything about you my dear! So, here's your choice. You go back to this world and don't remember that you had the choice, you carry on as if nothing ever happened or you go where we want to send you, you get to remember your life up to this point, all your knowledge and memories go with you." I was confused but intrigued as to what this 'other' option might be. Watching as the ambulance drove away, I turned to my companion.
"So where am I going?" Clasping his hands together he looked so pleased with himself.
"Brilliant!" I had no idea what this other option would be or whether I would see my family and friends again. Would my unresponsive body give out on me before I got to chance to experience the other option? If I took the other option, would I be able to come back? My heart was aching, almost tearing me in two. I wanted to go home and reassure my family that I was going to be okay, but the soldier within me wanted to fight, wanted to prove my worth. "Will I get new memories, a new name? Or is it going to be bad a repeat of Life on Mars?" The man who had yet to introduce himself, walked over to me.
"My darling Claire all will be revealed in good time. Now please stand still." Rubbing his hands together as though they were cold, he moved them either side of my head.
"You know I didn't think the Vulcan mind meld actually works!" I had to make a joke, I was shaking with nerves. I was leaving everyone and everything I had ever known behind.
"Right my darling, your next stop is..." Touching my temples, I dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. "Not again!"