Copyright 7/14 Kirby's Cowgirl
This is a work of fan fiction, no copyright infringement intended
The Fight
The change in the camp in two days was shocking. They had thrown up tents and a real mess hall. Saunders looked at it tiredly. He wondered if he'd ever get to sit down and eat a meal again without worrying about being blown to hell before he finished it.
"Go eat." he told the squad, gesturing to the chow line. He doubted if even a warm meal would do much to help morale.
"Sir?" he called from the entrance to Hanley's CO.
"Come in, Saunders." Hanley said, looking up from his paperwork. Brockmeyer took the reports he handed to him and started out.
"Are you alright, Sergeant?" Since the day that Saunders had come in and reported to Hanley before either of them realized that he was wounded, he always made it a point to ask. Saunders most definitely was not alright, but he wouldn't lie about being injured because other men's lives might depend on it.
"Yeah." Saunders said, taking his helmet off and dragging his hand thru his hair. "Thanks, Brockmeyer." He liked the Corporal and appreciated all he did.
"I can get you some coffee?" The Corporal had seen the look in his eyes. Somebody was dead. Saunders always took it hard, and he always blamed himself.
"We've got an actual mess this time." Hanley said, standing up. "Why don't we just walk down there?" he'd noticed Saunders demeanor too. He made a slight motion with his hand and Brockmeyer left.
Saunders sighed deeply and laid the dog tags on Hanley's desk.
"What happened?" Hanley asked, looking at the tags. "Johns and Denton. The two new recruits that had gone out for the first time." He had been afraid it was one of the long time squad members. Saunders always took losing a man as a personal failure. He picked up a pad and a pen from his desk. True, he wasn't supposed to fraternize with enlisted men. But the damn Army was always in a hurry. As long as he made the pretense of writing a report, it would be alright for him and Saunders to have a cup of coffee together.
"They ran." Saunders said tiredly. "We were laying low for a Kraut patrol to pass by and Johns panicked and Denton went with him. The Krauts cut them down." he stuck his hand in his mane of hair again.
Hanley had feared that Saunders had shot them himself. You couldn't leave terrified recruits on the loose to pass information onto the Germans. If Saunders had managed to bring them back, they'd have faced court martial. Maybe it was better this way. He would just tell their families they had died on the line.
Kirby looked at the food on his plate. Some kind of mystery meat that he was afraid to wonder what it was, two helpings of mashed potatoes, and a slice of pie. And it was warm! He didn't know when he'd had anything that looked that good. He was eating the pie first, he decided. Never knew when the damn Krauts were going to start shelling.
He was following the rest of the squad and not paying attention, and he didn't see Braddock, or he would have given the man a wide berth. Two seconds later, he was on the ground, food all over him, and Braddock was laughing.
"You're really clumsy for a squirrel." the big man said.
Kirby came up with a growl, grabbed a handful of potatoes and threw them at Braddock, who ducked. They hit Doc right in the face. Normally the medic would have just shrugged off Kirby's shenanigans, but the morning from hell had taken a toll on him too. He dropped his tray and planted his fist in Kirby's face.
Nelson froze in shocked horror, and Littlejohn and Caje each grabbed one of his arms and yanked him out of the way. Grady just laughed, but he made sure he was out of range before he did.
"Oh, shit." Saunders said. "Excuse me, Lieutenant." He saw the smirk on Braddock's face, knew the big man had tripped Kirby, but he hadn't seen him do it. Braddock wasn't in his squad anymore, so he wasn't his responsibility.
"DOC!" Saunders bellowed. "KNOCK IT OFF!" He didn't want to wade into the fray if he didn't have to. It would look really bad if his medic handed him his ass on a plate with all these witnesses. And truthfully, he had no wish to tangle with Doc. He really liked the man, and was as close to him as he allowed himself to get to anyone over here. Mild mannered as Doc was, if he got mad, anybody with any sense got out of his way.
Kirby and Doc rolled across the floor, with Kirby trying to defend himself and Doc throwing all the punches. "Shit!" Kirby wailed. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit YOU!" As they rolled by Saunders and Lieutenant Hanley, "Sarge!"
They were out the door and in the grass, and Saunders was sorely tempted to just let Doc beat on Kirby until he got it out of his system. All the men would have been outside taking bets on the fight, but the look on the Lieutenant's face had kept anyone from even getting up.
"Littlejohn! You and Grady help me!" Saunders yelled.
"Ah, Sarge!" Littlejohn groaned.
"What the hell did I do?" Grady demanded. He wanted no part of the fight either.
"DOC!" Saunders bellowed again.
Doc froze in mid-swing, and Littlejohn took the opportunity to yank Kirby out of his reach.
"Doc." Saunders said, quieter this time. "Calm down. It wasn't your fault."
For a minute Hanley didn't understand, and then he realized that Doc was blaming himself for the two recruits dying. He, like Saunders, took everything personally.
"You and Kirby are going to spend the night in the brig." Hanley said to Doc. "You know brawling isn't allowed."
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant." Doc said, defeated.
"Braddock, you cause any more trouble in this camp and you'll be digging latrines for the rest of your life." Hanley added, looking at the big man inside.
Kirby wanted to kill Braddock, but the big man was out of reach. He hadn't even gotten to eat his pie. He wondered if Saunders would allow he and Doc to take a shower in the morning, or if they'd have to go out on patrol with mashed potatoes in their hair.
"Kirby!" Caje's voice woke him up. He hadn't realized he'd dozed off.
"Huh?" he looked around. Their guard was lounging at the front entrance, smoking.
"Kirby!" Caje called again.
Kirby got up and stumbled to the window, to see Billy Nelson depositing two napkin wrapped bundles on the outside sill. "Pie." The kid hissed at him. "For you and Doc."
Kirby couldn't believe they'd risked brig time themselves to bring him some food.
"The rest of it wasn't worth eating Kirby." Caje said, as he set Nelson down. "You didn't miss anything."
"Yeah." Billy agreed. "I couldn't even chew that meat, and the potatoes were too watery and full of lumps."
"Thanks." Kirby said. "You better go before the guard sees you."
"Don't eat Doc's." Billy warned.
"I won't." Kirby looked sheepish.
"Doc, I'm really sorry." Kirby said. "You can have my pie too."
Doc shook his head, giving him a rueful smile. "I shouldn't have hit you."
"It wasn't your fault about those kids. You and the Sarge - you take everything personal."
They both went back to sleep propped against the wall. And then the shelling started.
"Hey!" Kirby yelled. "Hey! Let us out!"
Doc ran to the barred door and started shaking it and yelling too. Kirby went to the window and tried pulling on the bars. Then he saw their guard in the middle of the street, dead.
"Oh, shit." He said, and ran to the door to help Doc. Try as hard as they could, they couldn't move the thing.
Doc just gave Kirby a resigned smile, sat down in the floor and started praying.
"God, I really doubt you listen to scum like me." Kirby said. "But please don't kill Doc. This is all my fault. He's a good man and he doesn't deserve to die -"
The next shell hit the building, and then there was nothing.
"Kirby!" Someone was shaking him, and it hurt like hell. How could every bone, every muscle in his body hurt like that? "Kirby!" He blinked his eyes open. "Kirby, come on!' Doc was tugging on him, and he realized the back wall was gone. He managed to get to his feet and he and Doc staggered outside.
Hanley looked at the demolished building in shock. He had come across the squad, plus Braddock, just standing there in the middle of the street. The entire camp was gone, there were bodies everywhere, and the few medics that were there, were checking for survivors.
"I killed him." Braddock choked. "I killed Doc."
Nobody bothered to point out that Kirby was dead too.
"You didn't kill anybody." Hanley barked. "The Krauts did. Get out of the street and find some cover."
"Sir, can't we dig?" Littlejohn looked at the pile of rubble helplessly. "There's a chance –"
Billy was crying, Caje, Grady, and Saunders looked like they were going to be sick.
"Billy, if you don't stop bawling, you're gonna be my new second." Grady threatened.
Saunders shot Grady a look of reprimand, but Billy manned up, wiping his eyes and his nose on his sleeve.
Caje made the sign of the cross and turned away, Saunders thought to hide his own tears. Then he made a strangled noise, and took off down the street.
"CAJE!" Saunders bellowed. And then he saw them. Doc and Kirby were both a filthy, bloody mess, uniforms ripped to shreds. But they were alive and upright!
Kirby didn't know where he was. The bed was clean though, and the sheets were fresh. He took a deep breath and regretted it. Pain danced behind his eyes and fireworks went off in his head. He must be in the hospital. Again. And then he remembered. Where was Doc? He tried to open his eyes, but it was just too much effort.
"I'm sorry." Someone said. "I don't like you - but I never meant for you to get hurt like that." Braddock cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, kid. I hope you're gonna be alright. You know there's only room for one con in a squad, and you'll never be as good as me." Then he moved over to Doc's bed and said something to him, but Kirby couldn't hear.
"Shit." Kirby thought. "I'm dyin'. As many times as I've gotten shot - to end up like this…"
"Kirby?" he felt someone patting his shoulder, realized it was Doc. "Kirby, can you wake up? Can you hear me?"
Kirby managed to blink his eyes open. Doc looked like shit. There was a big raw place in his scalp where he was missing a handful of hair, and Kirby wondered whether he had done that or it was from the explosion. Both of his eyes were black and his face had so many cuts and bruises on it it was an array of colors.
"You look as bad as I do." Doc told him. "The Doctor said we were lucky. We don't have any broken bones that they can find."
"Lucky?" Kirby croaked. "I feel like I got run over by a damn halftrack."
"Good, you're awake." Two nurses said. Kirby tried to focus. "Can you eat some soup?"
Kirby tried to nod and groaned instead. "Yes ma'am." He whispered.
The Doctor leaned over Kirby and checked his eyes. Kirby would have tried to pull away but the effort was just too much. "How many fingers?" he asked.
"Three." Kirby slurred. "Hey, are those ladies twins?"
Doc would have laughed out loud but just the thought of trying made him hurt. The orderly who had come back with their soup looked at Kirby like he was nuts.
"How many fingers?" The Doctor asked Doc.
"Two." Doc said. Kirby really did think the orderly was a nurse. Two nurses, actually. The Doctor who taught his medic's class had told him that head injuries affected people differently. Some people would see what they wanted to see. Others would see what they feared. Sometimes he would give anything to live in the little Irishman's fantasy world.
The Doctor sighed. He had only held up one finger both times. "You've both got concussions." He told Doc. "I don't think yours is as bad as his, but you're a medic, you know better. Stay in that bed, or I'll have you restrained."
"Yes sir." Doc said. "Is he gonna be ok?"
"I heard you tried to kill him in the mess tent yesterday."
"That was yesterday."
"So it was." The Doctor said tiredly. "So it was."