I followed the men out of the barn and watched them get ready to go and attack the guns.

Leibgott, Petty had a machine gun to take out While Plessa and Hendrix had the other. Buck with Malarkey, Toye, and Bill Guarnere, made up one of the main attack forces.

I stood near Compton as he picked up ammo for his men. "Fey." I looked at him shocked that he was actually talking to me. His lips were barely moving and I had to strain to hear his voice over the crowd even though I was so close. "You cannot come with us during the assault."

I glared at him. "Who do think you are telling me what I can and can't do?!"

He glared back "Your superior officer!" His voice got even quieter, but his words were sharp.

"I'm not even in your goddamned army! I'm not even from the same damn time period!"

"As long as you're wearing that uniform you are. And I order you to stay here. You can't go rushing into the sunset with two grenades and a knife."

I frowned. "How would you even know if I stayed? It's not like you can put me under guard. You're the only one who can see me and I'm sure that would go well anyway. 'Soldier, watch this invisible dame for me while I go and take out a battery. Don't worry that you can't see her or touch her, she's right there.' Yeah that would fly."

He glared. "You follow orders and stay here. If you don't I'll find a way to punish you. Invisible or not." He turned from me and started to divvy out supplies.

"Compton lets go!" Winters called. The men headed out with much commotion. As soon as they were around the bend I ran into the forest and followed.

The paratroopers cut through a cabbage field which bordered their target. They crouched behind a fence and moved slowly towards are guns, looking for the officers hand signals along the way. Part of a wall between the cabbage field and the machine guns was a broken down farm truck. I found a nice bolder to hide behind and wait for them to move on.

Winters crawled into the car and it looked as if he were getting a good view of the guns. He turned and talked to three Non-Coms. These three men hung back as the other soldiers began to move into position.

Winters and Buck moved on and I watched as Dick pointed at the car then the German bunker. The two men and their respective groups moved into position.

Fire erupted from the machine guns to the side of the bunker as my boys began to pour shots onto them. The Germans began to yell and fired at our hidden troops. Bullets flew from all around and some of the Jerry's were struck. It seemed as if for the moment the boys were safe.

I began to crawl towards the fight, fear and adrenalin pulsating through my body. I tried to stay as far away from Buck's sight as possible. I hunkered down beside some scraggily shrubbery and strained to view the fight. To the left I could see Compton's group, and if I squinted a bit at the shrubs to my right I could catch a flash of Winter's red hair.

Buck, Guarnere, and Joe Toye crawled up close to the German machine guns and Buck motioned at the others. The pantomime meant little to me, but the men took grenades from theirs vests, pulled the pin, and gave them a toss. The hand bombs flew like baseballs, exploding as they hit the ground. The three assault squads attacked as soon as the grenades hit home.

I moved after the men, pulling up into their previously occupied spots. I looked around for a better vantage point, a tree caught my eye. I ran over and cautiously placed my hand on the lowest branch. I climbed with the same deliberate pace(for I had never gotten over my fear of heights), and swore shakily as one of the branches broke beneath my feet. I edged myself onto one of the thicker branches and gazed out over the field of war.

Buck, Bill, and Joe made it into the trenches that connected the guns together, but I lost them in an explosion of dirt. Winters and his men charged across the field, bullets flying into the dirt scant inches away from their feet.

My body was tight as they charged in, bullets and mortar rounds bursting about them. Winters made it into the trench and his men followed.

I lost track of the men as they ran along the trenches and I crawled down from the tree and started to inch my way forward. "GERNADE!" A yell came from where I had last seen Compton. The men jumped out and crawled over the rise just before it exploded. Even as the dirt still flew they were back in.

I jumped up and ran, ripping a grenade from my vest and dove into the trench. I glimpsed the backs of the men heading to the right so I went left. My breath was coming out in short gasps and the sensible side of my self was screaming bloody murder.

I sprinted down the trenches, past German soldiers who didn't even notice as I rushed by. As I turned the corner, I came face to face with one who did. He screamed and pulled the trigger. My body jerked as the bullet slammed into my shoulder. My shoulder was on fire as if twenty thousand ice cold needles were being jammed into my skin. An unearthly howl left my lips as I tottered backwards into the dirt. I scrambled with my one good arm to move back away from the man but he made no action towards me. He just turned back to the line and began to fire.

I gasped staring at him and put my hand to my shoulder to stop the blood I knew would be spilling from the wound. Except there was none. I ventured a glance. There was no red stain on the cloth of my jacket; the only sign that I had been hit was a bullet hole through the cloth and the dulling throb. I swore in disbelief and stood shakily up. The German made no motion just stared ahead with glazed eyes.

An explosion from one of the gun bunkers brought me back to reality and I grabbed my fallen grenade and tottered forward, closer to my objective. A second explosion pushed me faster. I had to do what I could at the remaining guns and get my ass out of there. Even if I did disobey Compton's orders, there was no way I was going to let him find out and lose my only ally.

Gunfire was closing in on my objective and I saw Speirs running towards it from the other direction. I came to a halt as the men who followed him fell to the ground. Sympathy washed over me having had two close shots myself. I turned and saw the men on the other side of the battery pull themselves out of the trench and run back into the forest. I swore as I frantically crawled over the side of the trench and took off to after them.

By some miracle of god I made it home before the boys did. If only just barely. I was breathing like a 7th grader who just finished the mile run in the middle of August. There would be no hiding it if Compton found me. So I did the best I could to find a spot to hide until my breath calmed.

It took thirty minutes for Buck to ditch his friends and track me down. I had moved quite a few times to stop him from finding me. Unfortunately luck wasn't in my favor that day and he found me anyway. My latest hiding spot was one top of one of the supply trucks. With their canvas roofs it wasn't too hard to make myself comfortable.

He glanced at me and looked around for the closest man who was about four meters off. "Get down from there." He ordered quietly. I followed his order sure that I had him fooled. He looked me up and down and gave the slightest smile, "When did you get hit?"

Shit. I tried to play stupid. "What are you talking about sir? I didn't leave town."

He chuckled. "Sure you didn't." He reached over and gave the hole in my jacket a tug. "I saw you running back. Its hard to believe you can move that fast."

I flushed. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me sir."

"Walk with me,' He was silent for a moment,' There are a lot of things I don't understand about you. I don't understand why you're here, or if you're even real or not. It's kind of hard to judge when I'm the only one who can see you."

"It's not much easier for me. I have fewer clues about what's going on then you do. The only thing I got was a bunch of rules. At least you know why you're here." I scoffed.

"You're still in trouble for disobeying orders," He pointed out. A half smile crossed his face when he said, "Your punishment is to find out what's going on from that Angelo guy. You have one week."

We walked into a populated area of the town and went silent. We had a new understanding of each other. Hopefully, its one that will lead to some answers.