Author's Note: I had a hard time finishing this chapter, and I'm really starting to doubt the way that I'm making Donny act with Lucie. He either needs to be really tough or really nice with her, but right now he's sort of in between...

This is why your reviews and constructive criticism are strongly appreciated! :) I'm going to need a lot of encouragement to start the next chapter.


"Hey! Get up!"

Lucie opened her eyes and rubbed them with her bloody hands. Once she was somewhat more awake, her vision became clear and she was able to recognize the large silhouette standing above her. It was Donny. Out of all of the soldiers in the troop, it just had to be him.

Quite visibly, Donny Donowitz was not pleased to see Lucie either. He grabbed her arm tightly and dragged her out of the vehicle. The truck had stopped in a vast forest. Lucie didn't know where she was. After all, they could have been in any forest in France, since they all looked the same. She spotted a few other Basterds setting up tents nearby. A few feet away, there was some sort of abandoned bridge, covered by plants.

Lucie's arm was really starting to hurt. As if it wasn't infected enough, Donny was squeezing it with his dirty fingers. She could feel her blood pulsing pretty fast.


A few minutes earlier…

Donny was about to step out of the truck, when the lieutenant stopped him.

"Wait up, Donowitz."
"What?"
"I'm puttin' you in charge o' the girl. Understood?"
"You have to be goddam shittin' me…sir."

Aldo looked at Donny very seriously. He was not kidding.

"She's just a girl Donowitz. Treat her wounds, feed her and make sure she doesn't go anywhere, okay? And if she gives you any trouble, deal with it yerself. I ain't the police, I'm your damn lieutenant. Tomorrow we'll put her to work. We gotta have something for her to do. Who knows, maybe she's a good cook."

Aldo jumped out of the truck, grinning as Donny was out of his sight. Annoying the sergeant was one of his favorite activities. Meanwhile, Donowitz stared at Lucie's frail body. She was still sleeping then, her chest slowly coming up and down as she breathed softly. He didn't care what the hell she was dreaming about, all he knew was that she had ruined his day. Donny took the girl's shoulders and shook them violently.

The Bear Jew was furious. After all, he was the second highest rank of the Basterds, so why would he have to babysit? Utivich or Ulmer seemed fit for the job. But Aldo had his reason: he wanted to see how long it would take for Donny to tell Lucie what he had done. He wanted to watch him be tortured with guilt. And most importantly, he wanted Donny to apologize.


Donny, still fuming with rage, dragged Lucie down a small hill, heading towards the tents. She nearly tripped on a few branches, getting even more bruises on her legs. He stopped next to a tent that must have been his, and motioned to a rock nearby.

"Sit," he commanded Lucie, who didn't dare disagree and sat on the rock. Since the day before, she had become used to being treated like a dog. However, it somewhat annoyed her that Donny didn't show any more care for her than the Nazis did.

Donowitz walked up to Utivich, who wasn't far off, and Lucie saw them talking. Utivich searched his bag and handed some sort of pouch to Donny, who then came back to Lucie. She looked at him, trying to figure out what he was going to do next. He simply sat down beside her and opened the pouch. It was filled with bandages and bottles that looked like disinfectants. Lucie was relieved: who knew what the Bear Jew could do to her?

Without even asking for her permission, Donny took her arm and dabbed a piece of alcohol-filled gauze on it. Lucie wasn't quite ready for this sudden sting.

"Aïe!" she yelled as she yanked her arm away from Donny.
"What? It hurts?" Donowitz chuckled and started addressing her in a childish voice. "Oh look, the poor little baby has a booboo..."

He suddenly stopped his teasing. Even though she was looking away from him, he saw her eyes filling up with tears. Perhaps he had gone too far.

"Look," Donny continued in a more gentle voice. "Just please give me your arm. I promise I won't do that again. You're gonna get infected if we don't do anything soon."

Lucie, still avoiding Donny's eye contact, reached her arm out and put it back in his care. He started to clean her wounds again, this time in a softer way that was less painful for the girl. Occasionally, she would twitch or clench her teeth, but she still let him treat her. In about a half hour, Donowitz had managed to mend all of the wounds on her arms, legs and back (she had reluctantly let him unbutton her dress). None of her injuries were fatal. In fact, most of her cuts and bruises were mild ones. It was the quantity of wounds that shocked Donny the most. The poor girl had been hit way too many times by those sonuvabitches.

By the look of it, Lucie had probably been violently slapped around by the Nazis. Her cheeks were red and puffy, and there was dried blood under her nose. Donowitz took some cream out of the first aid pouch and he applied it carefully on her face. He glanced at her as he did so, noticing for the first time how charming she looked. Lucie was not what Donnie and his friends back in Boston would have qualified as "hot". Her beauty was much more subdued. She had these big hazel eyes and dark brown hair, which contrasted with her soft pale skin. He could tell that she was a shy girl – totally not his type.

"There ya go. All done." Donowitz stood up and put the bottles of disinfectant away.

Lucie could still feel the alcohol burning on her skin, but told herself that it was for her own good. She thanked Donny with a week smile, too scared to verbally address him.

"Hey Donny!" Aldo's voice called out. "Dinner time. Bring your lazy ass and the girl over here, will ya?"

The Bear Jew grunted. He offered his hand to Lucie to help her stand. She stared at it for a few seconds, wondering why he hadn't grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the campfire yet, like he had done to get her out of the truck. She finally put her hand in his, but immediately let go once that she was up. Even though her legs were a bit shaky, Lucie could still walk. She and Donny joined the other soldiers, sitting around a campfire. It had gotten quite dark outside, and then sun was almost done setting. It had gotten chilly and the fire made Lucie feel a lot warmer.

Utivich, friendly as usual, made room for Lucie on the log on which he was sitting. She dropped herself next to him.

"Donny didn't kill you yet, that's a good sign," the soldier pointed out jokingly.
"Nah, he prefers to torment his victims before doing anything fatal to 'em," added Aldo, putting a piece of bread to his mouth.

The Bear Jew grunted, clearly not amused by his comrades' sense of humor. He gave Lucie a dark glare, one that made her look away at once.

Lucie didn't get as much food as the Basterds. This was not a concern for her because she wasn't extremely hungry. Water was what she needed more than anything, although none of the men had offered her any. Too scared to ask, she let her horrible thirst linger in her mouth. It was not a good feeling.

The men sat around joyfully around the campfire, talking and eating. Lucie's head started spinning. She was parched and exhausted. Stiglitz must have taken notice of this, because he elbowed Donny and pointed at Lucie, showing him how tired she looked. The girl saw a silhouette coming towards her and pulling her arm. She stood up, too dizzy to say goodnight or even look at the Basterds still around the campfire.

Donny took her back to his tent, where he had set up another pillow next to his own. He helped Lucie lie down and opened her bag, searching for something to keep her warm. When he found the blanket that she had brought, he carefully laid it on her. By the time Donny turned the light off and lay on his own cot, the girl was fast asleep.