Disclaimer: I own nothing except the original characters.
We happy, we few, we band of brothers.
Early Morning Hours of June 6th, 1944
Commonly known as D-day or Landing in Normandy
Eugene had hit the hard ground with an audible thud, although no one could hear it due to the roar of the planes and bombs bursting. Standing up as quickly as he could, he cut his parachute from his pack and took in his surroundings. He soon found that they were dropped no where near the initial DZ. The only way Eugene could see was from the flashes of light that illuminated from the sky. Quickly, he began calling for the only person that came to mind, Evelyn. "Desseau! Desseau, where are you?" He looked around him, seeing nothing but paratroopers landing or crashing into the ground. With a quick thought, Eugene decided to head north, considering that was the direction he needed to be. He needed to get out of the open field and into some cover, but he had to make sure his partner was okay before moving on.
Deciding it'd be best to look for Evie, Eugene unhooked the parachute bag and let it fall to the ground. He walked toward the direction of where someone had just landed, and noticed all the artillery fire. Some planes were falling from sky, some were exploding, paratroopers were being shot at, almost everything had gone wrong during the drop. And now Easy Company was scattered across Normandy, alone and helpless.
He spotted a fellow paratrooper about thirty feet in front of him. Doc decided to take a risk and call out the code words, "Flash!" He yelled to the soldier so he could hear. "Flash!" Eugene yelled again. Finally a response came when the paratrooper yelled back, "Thunder, thunder!"
"Guarnere? That you?" Eugene yelled as he approached his fellow paratrooper. He felt his mood drop a little when he realized it wasn't Evie that had responded.
"Yeah, that you Doc?" Sergeant Bill Guarnere said as his parachute bag fell to the ground and made his way to his fellow officer.
Adjusting his pack, Eugene nodded. "It's me all right." He said, meeting Guarnere in the middle. "Have you seen Evelyn Desseau at all?"
"Ya mean that good looking medic who jumped after you?" Guarnere looked at Doc, his Philadelphia accent thick. "Yeah, yeah. I was watching her on the way down. She landed over that hill there." He pointed to an ominous looking hill, where fire was lighting up the sky.
Eugene looked in the direction Guarnere was pointing. "All the way over there? You absolutely positive?"
"No. I'm making up this shit so we can move on with our lives. Of course I'm fucking positive. Let's get a move on before the Krauts find us, Doc." Guarnere tightened his straps and began to move towards the hill. "You got your handgun?"
"Yeah," Eugene replied, patting his side pack. "Right here."
Guarnere nodded and began to descend up the hill. "Be prepared in case we run into anyone."
Eugene nodded and followed closely behind his fellow soldier. He was worried about Evelyn. Worried that she didn't survive the jump, worried that she was shot down, worried that she'd never make it back to Easy Company. So many thoughts flooded his mind that when he reached the top of the hill, he couldn't think straight. His eyes widened when he saw all the flames at the bottom of the hill. Dead bodies were illuminated by light, some were moving, some were running towards the forest. It was ultimate chaos at the bottom.
"Hell..." Guarnere muttered when he took in the sight. He began to pull Doc towards the mess of a field. Planes were down, dead bodies were scattered, it was hell. After walking for about a mile and having picked up Buck Compton, David Webster, Donald Malarkey, Carwood Lipton, Ronald Speirs, Lewis Nixon and a few more of Easy, they came to a crossroads.
"Where are we, Compton?" Don Malarkey asked, looking around him and the others.
"Hang on, Malarkey." Buck paused, pulled out the map from his side pack and unfolded it. "Well, private. We seem to be here." Buck pointed to a small area on the map. "I am assuming since Lieutenant Winters isn't here, that the rest of Easy is scattered across Normandy. My suggestion is we head east."
Doc looked to Buck with an eye raised. "Sir, I've got a missing medic somewhere out in the open."
"Who? Desseau? She'll be able to handle herself. With any luck, she found Winters and they're making their way to base camp now." Buck told Eugene, placing the map back in his side pocket. "We gotta get a move one. Let's head out."
By the time they had reached base camp, it was 0800. They were exhausted but trained to go for long periods of time. The two halves of Easy Company had rejoined but many men were still missing. Luckily, Winters and Evie had made it back in time to regroup with Compton's half.
"Glad you could make it back, Desseau." Doc shook Evie's hand when he saw her again. "Lose any supplies on your drop?"
Feeling the coldness of the Normandy air, Evie zipped up her jacket all the way. "Only about half of my morphine supply. Fell out of my pack when I made the jump. Where did you land?"
"In the middle of God knows where." Eugene laughed as he handed his fellow medic a few tubes of morphine. "I can spare few."
"Listen up!" Lieutenant Winters called out the troops. "We'll be taking out the German artillery located in the nearby fields. With any luck, we'll be able to help our troops on Omaha and Utah. Move out."
"C'mon Desseau, it's gonna be a long day." Eugene smiled at Evie and led her in the direction of the Company.
They'd been walking towards the sound of artillery when the Krauts had begun firing about them. A private who's name no one knew, due to the fact that he wasn't from Easy Company, had lost his live in those first five minutes. Doc Roe and Evie were told to stay back, and come only when someone needed called for them.
"Medic! I need medic!" Someone called from up ahead. Immediately Evie and Doc ran a head.
"I'm sorry Sarge!" A man called Popeye, told one of the Sergeants. "First day on the job and I'm shot in the fucking ass. I'm sorry!"
"Hey, Robert, you gonna be fine. We're gonna get you bandaged up and back to base camp." Doc motioned for Evie to come over to them.
"You can't let her look at my ass!" Popeye said, wiggling in Doc's care.
"Shut up, Wynn." Eugene rolled his eyes and held Popeye down as Evie poured a gun wound disinfectant powder into the wound.
"Mr. Popeye, I'm trained for this." Evie laughed softly, wiping the wound clean of blood best she could. "I think we're going to move you now, right, Eugene?"
"Yeah, yeah. You think you can help carry him, Desseau?" Doc asked, tying the bandage knot so it'd stay secure. "It isn't too far we have to help him, just to the jeep over there."
"Obviously. I am trained for this you know." She smiled whilst listening to his accent and throwing the bloody towel to the side. "Now c'mon, Popeye, we gotta get you to your feet." Evie looked to Eugene. They nodded reassuringly to each other and helped Popeye to his feet, and walked him over to the jeep. Once they were at the jeep, Doc hit it to let them know they could take off.
"Why do you call him Robert?" Evie asked, turning to Eugene with a small frown evident on her face.
"Because his name's Robert." He replied, too busy putting extra bandages away to look up.
Evie looked a bit confused, and folded her arms. "But everyone calls him Popeye."
"Doesn't mean I've got to." Eugene shrugged before lighting a cigarette.
"Those things are bad for you." She muttered, and looked to the field where people were now cheering. Apparently they had destroyed the German artillery. "As a medic I'm surprised you'd even try one."
Shrugging again, he pulled it out of his mouth and exhaled smoke. "It helps me when I feel stressed."
"Whatever you say, Doc." Evie rolled her eyes and began to head in the direction of the field. Eugene sighed, pulled out the cigarette and rubbed it out, following after her.
