I had fun with this one, it was nice to write *SPOILER ALERT* a fight scene.
Thank you for the people who favourites/alerted now I jusy need some reviews *hint, hint*
Enjoy chapter 2 guys.
Following Allie off of the military bus Rosalie breathed in the warm Georgia air.
It begins here. She thought, eyes closed.
"Rosalie, come on." Allie smiled over her shoulder.
Rosalie easily fell into step beside Allie as they followed the other women who were following an army officer of some sort. Suddenly all the women turned their heads to cat calls and wolf whistling coming from across the field by the mess hall. There was a group of men in their khaki army pants and white t-shirts appraising the new girls entering new territory.
Across the field stood George Luz, Bill Guarnere, Warren "Skip" Muck, Frank Perconte and Walter "Smokey" Gordon. They had all been at Camp Toccoa for about a week and had been warned about the arrival of the women; it was just by chance that they happened to be walking to the mess hall for lunch as they had pulled up. One girl imparticular had caught their eye, the reason being she wore a bright red dress that immediately drew your attention. She was walking next to a girl with chocolate brown hair and they both looked about the same age, eighteen, maybe nineteen. They were obviously trying to avert their eyes away from the boys but couldn't stop the amused smiles gracing their faces.
"Hey, red!" Luz shouted, she didn't turn.
When Rosalie heard one of them shout "red" she didn't understand right away so carried on walking. The man shouted it another two times before her eyes became downcast and she remembered exactly what colour she was wearing. She quickly looked around to check that she was the only one wearing red and came to the conclusion that he was trying to get her attention. She stopped and turned towards the group of men not sure which one it was she was meant to be addressing, they quieted immediately to see what she would do. She raised her right hand and flitted her fingers in a flirtatious wave to which the men all cheered.
At that moment Allie grabbed Rosalie's raised hand and dragged her back to the group of women that they now had to catch up to.
Luz and the boys watched her friend drag her away with satisfied smiles on their faces.
"Come on, boys, let's go eat." Bill drawled out in his thick Philly accent and they all followed him into the mess hall.
After getting their food they joined some of the other Easy Company men.
"The broads are here." Perconte announced sliding in opposite Joseph Liebgott.
"Oh yeah?" Joe asked, shovelling mashed potato into his mouth. "Any talent?"
"Why don't you ask Luz? He seemed eager to get the attention of a blonde in a red dress." Muck laughed.
"A lady in red huh, Luz?" Joe teased.
"Shut up." George protested.
"When do you think they'll be joining us?" Floyd Talbert asked from the other end of the table.
"Didn't Winters say that they're going to train them for a week on their own so they can get used to it and have the option to back out and all that shit?" Donald Malarkey said.
"Yeah, then they'll be sorted into companies." Carwood Lipton clarified. "So you gotta leave 'em alone until then."
That first week had been brutal. Rosalie had never worked so hard in her life. Half the women that she arrived with had left; some more had joined them along the way, and the most notable, a brute of a woman named Marla. Rosalie had never hated anyone in her life but she physically hated this woman. Ever since she had arrived all she had done was point out that she was better than everyone else, that she was more physically fit than everyone else, that she was the only one who deserved to really be there. The last straw had been when she had pushed Allie after she had bumped into her by accident on one of the obstacle courses.
Allie was so focused on getting to the end that she hadn't noticed Marla stop moving in front of her just balancing on one of the tree stumps over the mud, it was too late when she looked up, she was half way through the air jumping from one stump to another when she collided with Marla and knocked her face first into the mud. Marla let out a feral growl worthy of a wild boar. Allie immediately stepped off the log to help Marla out of the mud but the beast of the woman stood on her own and shoved Allie so hard that she would have fallen if not for Rosalie standing behind her and catching her. Marla turned to walk away, grumbling something about "stupid, pretty girls" but Rosalie just couldn't let her get away with that.
"Hey! Don't you dare walk just away from her. Apologise." Rosalie demanded coming to stand face to face with Marla. She would have squared up to her but that was kind of impossible with their differing sizes. Marla outdid Rosalie in height and width.
"Okay, I'm sorry that your friend is such a klutz." Marla snorted.
"Excuse me?" Rosalie snapped.
"Rose, it's okay, just leave it." Allie tried to pull Rosalie away.
"No, Allie, she owes you an apology." Rosalie pulled her arm out of Allie's grasp. "Ever since she got here she's been walking around like Mr Big shot, thinking she's better than everyone else. Well you know what? You're not. You were the one who stopped short just then and that's why Allie knocked you into the mud."
"You better watch your mouth, little girl." Marla snarled cracking her knuckles.
At this, Rosalie let out a loud laugh. "You're actually cracking your knuckles? Maybe I'd better just roll up my sleeves to match your cheesiness." Some of the girls around them chuckled.
What none of them had noticed was that some of the men from easy company had heard the commotion on their way back to their barracks and stopped, hoping to see a chick fight. When they heard Rosalie's sarcasm some of them laughed and began rooting for her.
Marla was now fuming and breathing hard through her nose, her face turning a bright shade of red. She quite reminded Rosalie of a bull ready to charge. She quirked an eyebrow. "What? No manly retort for me? What's the matter Marla? Not used to people not being afraid of your she-manness?"
At that moment the crowd gathered, including the men, watched Marla charge and rugby tackle Rosalie to the mud.
"Get off me you brute!" Rosalie shouted and kneed Marla in the stomach which caused her to roll to the side holding her middle.
Growing up with two brothers meant that Rosalie knew how to fight.
Rosalie stood and dusted herself off, she wouldn't kick Marla when she was down; she knew how to fight but she refused to fight dirty.
No sooner had she stood she felt Marla tackle her legs tripping her back down into the mud. Marla was now on top of her and punched her right in the mouth, splitting her lip.
At this some spectators, including Allie and a few of the Easy men stepped forward to pull the giant woman off Rosalie. This was until they watched Rosalie head-butt Marla, catching her straight on the nose, hearing a crack and watching blood spurt from between Marla's fingers which were now over her nose. She groaned and again rolled off of Rosalie and sat in the mud in disbelief.
Rosalie sat up and looked down at her clothes covered in mud; she put a hand to her mouth and brought her fingers back, seeing the blood she swore under her breath. Then a hand was stuck out in front of her, she looked up to see one of the men that had been shouting her when she first arrived a few days ago.
"Need a hand, Red?" George grinned down at her.
She smiled and took his hand gratefully. When he pulled her up he kept hold of her hand and shook it gently. "The name's George." He smiled.
"Rosalie." She returned.
Only now did she notice the men dispersed in the crowd around her and Marla. Everyone looked at her expectantly, it seemed like the women were afraid to speak in front of the men from awkwardness. Finally, she just smiled and spread her arms either side of her as if she was performing. "Enjoy the show, boys?"
The men just chuckled and shook their heads', turning to walk away. "See you around, Red." Luz said as he followed the rest of the men.
The women were now sat in a large room waiting to hear what company they would be in. Hearing her name, she looked up. "Baker, Rosalie?"
She stood at attention. "Sir?"
"Captain Sobel, Easy Company."
She was handed her uniform. "With me, Baker." Captain Sobel walked out of the room and she hurried to catch up with him.
On her way out she noticed Marla glaring at her, white tape covered her nose, the term 'if looks could kill' came to mind.
On the way to wherever they were going Sobel had handed her a timetable which included P.T., weapons training, hand to hand combat, military strategy, and for her, medical training.
"Permission to speak, Sir?"
"Granted."
"Where are we going?"
"The men's barracks, I assume you want to meet your comrades."
"Yes, Sir." Rosalie was slightly nervous.
When they arrived at their destination Sobel slammed open the door and immediately all the men stood to attention.
"At ease." Sobel said.
"Boys, we have a new recruit, Private Baker." Sobel gestured to Rosalie.
"We are under strict orders to treat her no different than any of the men." He ordered sternly. "Baker, you have five minutes to familiarise yourself with the men then go back to your barracks and change into your P.T. gear. We're running Currahee." Sobel informed her and walked out the door, leaving her at the mercy of the men.
It was quiet for a second before a familiar voice boomed through the room. "Eeey! It's Red!" Luz grinned, cigarette hanging from his mouth.
"How you doin'? I'm Bill." Guarnere stepped forward and shook her hand. "This is Joe." He gestured to Joe Toye who was sat on a bunk behind him. Joe nodded with a smile.
"Hi ma'am, I'm Eugene Roe, the other medic." Eugene stepped forward and shook her hand politely.
"Welcome to Easy." Joe Liebgott smiled at her.
"You'd better go change into your P.T. gear; Sobel's a tough son of a bitch." Donald Malarkey, a young man with red hair warned her.
"That's what I hear." Rosalie nodded. "Guess I'll see you in five minutes." Rosalie turned to walk back outside.
"Sure thing, Red." George called after her.
"Thank fuck we didn't get the manly one." Joe Toye laughed.
"Whaddya think fellas?" Bill asked the guys' opinion on Rosalie.
"I think we got lucky." Perconte said.
Overall the boys seemed relieved to have gotten the famous lady in red.
Back at the women's barracks Rosalie ran into Allie. "Hey, how were the boys?" Allie asked.
"Very welcoming." Rosalie smiled.
"I'm in Fox Company." Allie told her.
"How're your boys?"
"I'm going to meet 'em now." She said and headed for the door. "Oh and good luck with Captain Sobel." She teased before she left.
Rosalie picked up a pair of rolled up socks and threw them in the direction of her friend but she was already gone, instead they hit Marla, who had just walked in the door.
"Just my luck." Rosalie hissed under her breath. She turned toward the woman whose eyes were now wide with shock. "Marla, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that." She apologised sincerely and not just about the socks.
Marla just pushed past Rosalie and went straight to her bunk. Rosalie sighed and headed out to where the men and Sobel were waiting for her.
"Ah, Baker, thank you for joining us." Sobel said sarcastically.
"Apologies, Sir."
As they marched to Curahee, Rosalie met some more of the men including Muck, Grant, Shifty, Talbert, Bull, Smokey, Hoobler, Webster and Blithe. She had also been introduced to Cobb after he made a snide comment about her gender.
After the Curahee run, Lieutenant Winters had introduced himself, along with Lewis Nixon.
Rosalie easily fell into the group like she had always been there and found herself thankful that she had been chosen for Easy Company.