Camp Mackall, North Carolina

February-May 1943

Everyone was in position as they lay on the forest ground. The company had been lying down for so long that a lot of the men began to grow anxious, shifting slightly against the ground making the leaves and twigs rustle and crack. Marie was on her belly in a crouched position, ready to move when Sobel gave the order; only he wasn't giving any orders. He looked flustered as he talked to Tipper and pointed at the map and checked his compass. When it came to actually directing the Company in combat drills instead of punishing, Sobel was a fish out of water. Marie looked over at Emilia, whom was sitting down next to a giant root. Marie smiled at her, amused at Sobel's actions, but Emilia didn't look like she was in the mood for humor. She was scowling at Sobel, fuming at how lost he was.

"We're so off." Emilia hissed at Marie. "Sobel can't track worth a sh-"

Marie shushed her, although she knew Emilia was right. Emilia had amazing tracking skills. She could be put in a place blindfolded and she'd know how to make her way back. Winters suggested that Emilia work directly with Tipper to keep Sobel on track, but Sobel shot down the idea. He didn't want 'some woman' helping him out with directions, even if it meant getting lost more often. Marie could only shake her head at the man's ignorance. She wished that Sobel could see past their gender and start to look at them as an essential part of Easy Company.

Word spread that they were in the wrong position, everyone groaned. Marie sighed and tried to shift her weight. Her legs and hands were falling asleep as she waited crouched to forest floor.

"Figures." Randleman jeered, he was sitting by them.

"I knew he was leading us in circles. He even has a compass and he still gets lost!" Emilia uttered under her breath.

"It's best if we wait in this position, like Winters said, it's perfect for an ambush." Muck chimed in. He was right, if they were to just wait it out an enemy team was bound to show up.

Marie slid up to take a better look at what was going on. She could see Sobel talking to Winters, both looking distressed. Sobel must've told Winters something he didn't like, because Winters looked taken aback. Winters pursed his lips in annoyance as he made his way quietly over to the Company.

"We're moving out." Winters ordered. Deploying the troops was a horrible idea; Marie knew it had to be Sobel's idea. Sitting tight for an ambush was a basic and effective military tactic, yet Sobel was too damned proud to show that he's made a mistake.

"What?" Muck exclaimed. Everyone felt the same way but had to oblige.

"Unbelievable." Emilia groaned.

Everyone stood up to follow Sobel, whom was marching in front of the platoon like he was taking a stroll through the park. He had absolutely no guard up as he led them a couple steps into the forest. Suddenly a bunch of men popped out of the ground like sprouting plants; it was one of the enemy teams all holding up their weapons in a firing position. They were well camouflaged; Marie didn't even notice they were there. Them pointing their weapons directly at them made her feel nervous though, since they were all really fully loaded.

A solider with a clipboard approached Sobel. "Captain, you've just been killed, along with 95% of your company. Your outfit?"

"Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506." Sobel uttered, his voice fading in the realization that he'd majorly screwed up. Several men glared daggers at the back of Sobel's head, including Emilia. If this were real most of them would be dead. Marie thought about the heaviness of that unspoken statement and she felt her heart grow heavy. This man was going to lead them straight to their graves.

"Leave three wounded men on the ground, and report back to the assembly area." The soldier ordered.

Marie heard Sobel curse under his breath. He snapped his head around and glowered at his company as if it was their fault that this happened. Marie clenched her fists at her sides. Sobel hastily picked three men and pointed to them, then everyone moved out. Marie followed Sobel back to the assembly area, reluctantly along with the rest of the company. The men were all in a bad mood, Marie and Emilia included. This was all getting old real fast.

At this point everyone was seriously questioning Sobel's ability to lead Easy into combat. It was rather obvious that he wasn't fit to lead, but the harsh reality was that there was nothing that could be done about it. Morale began to drop amongst the company as the days dragged on, everyone already felt like they were as good as dead and they haven't even been shipped to Europe yet. Marie tried to go on as if everything hadn't changed, but the attitudes of everyone had dramatically shifted. Emilia had become angrier and sterner, while Marie had grown even less patient than before. She knew it was because of the past week being with Sobel whom kept messing up, but she wished that it would all pass.

"That SOB's gonna get us killed." Toye announced grimly. A few of the men, along with Marie, were all sitting outside in a circle, gathered around and talking ill of Sobel. This wasn't unusual, it happened a lot more than people realized. Conversations like this have been happening since Camp Toccoa.

"I'm thinking it's time we get rid of him." Cobb added. There was something dark about his words that made Marie shudder.

"Like some kind of accident." Liebgott mused. Marie couldn't believe that she was sitting here listening to soldiers talk about getting rid of their CO. He was better off gone, but dead? And by the hands of his own soldiers?

"You guys shouldn't be talking about this." Marie warned.

"He's going to get us all killed, including himself." Cobb said to her. "It's the only way to get a new CO. I do not want to follow that man into war."

"Me neither." Toye agreed. Marie couldn't listen to anymore of it. She got up and went to find Malarkey and Muck to see what their thoughts were about this. Marie later found out that Malarkey had won a three-day pass to DC for placing first in some weapons competition. Although she was happy for him, she couldn't help feeling lonely without her good friend being around. He was her voice of reason and now when she needed him the most he was gone for a few days. Mackall was turning out to be worse than Benning.

The only good news that came from staying at Mackall was that Easy Company had gotten a new Lieutenant. Harry Welsh had joined Easy and everyone instantly loved him. His jovial and joking nature made him fit in well with the rest of Easy. Marie liked him, too, even if his conversations always circled around this girl he loved back home named Kitty. Winters and Nixon were already really close to Welsh, which was always a good thing, Marie knew that they were three men that the company could count on no matter what happened.

Marie had gotten latrine duty from Sobel for some random reason. Most likely she got punished for doing something trivial during the week of training that she couldn't remember. Muck had surprised her by volunteering to for the duty along with her. It made her happy that her buddy came to help, he actually made even cleaning toilets enjoyable. She knew that Muck needed the company from missing Malarkey too.

After a few hours of scrubbing the bathrooms until they were spic n' span, Marie returned to her barracks to find Emilia sitting on her bed, trying to concentrate on writing a letter. Emilia bit the eraser of her pencil deep in thought as she peered down at the paper.

"Who you writing to?" Marie asked as she walked in. "Your many male admirers?"

"Jealous?" Emilia asked her, looking at her with a challenging but joking smile. "Ha, no. I'm trying to write Jane, but I have no idea what to say."

"Tell her how idiotic Sobel is being, and how that ass is going to lead us all to our death beds." Marie deadpanned. Emilia glanced at her frostily, telling her with her eyes that she didn't want to write any of that down. It was better if Jane only received good news, they didn't want her to worry about them.

"I'd much rather write to her about you and Web." Emilia stated with a smile, scribbling down something on the paper.

"Oh my God, there's nothing going on! I rarely even speak to him." Marie huffed, flopping herself down on her bed. She lay sprawled over the covers, looking up at the barracks ceiling.

"You're right, you and Malarkey is a much more obvious choice." Emilia replied with an impish grin. Marie felt her face grow hot but she didn't let Emilia see that. "I see the way you look at him, I can tell you're-"

"No I'm not!" Marie protested, shooting up from her bed. Marie tried to sound as candid as she could but the blush on her face threw everything off.

"Uh-huh." Emilia answered sarcastically, still writing on the paper. "I can see how bummed you are that he's not here."

"That doesn't mean anything, I'd be bummed if you were sent to DC for a few days." Marie retorted. "Besides, he has a girl back in Oregon that he's crazy about. They're high school sweethearts, she's going to be a singer or something. I think Jane would rather hear about your love-life anyway, since yours actually exists."

Emilia raised a skeptical eyebrow at her friend but didn't reply.

"Ha, you know I'm right." Marie smiled, laying back down on her bed.

"You're right about nothing. The only girl around here getting any on the side is Florence." Emilia proclaimed. Marie looked over at Emilia, surprised that she said that. "Oh, dear, don't tell me that you didn't know?"

Marie threw her pillow at Emilia playfully. "It's mean to talk about someone like that when she's not even here."

"Oh please, like you don't do it." Emilia said rolling her eyes.

Marie thought of what Toye, Liebgott, and Cobb were talking about earlier. Her smile faded along with her cheery mood. She was afraid that they would go along with getting rid of Sobel. She didn't want them to make a drastic mistake and suffer later for it.

"Hey, some of the men were talking about 'getting rid of Sobel' today." Marie informed Emilia.

"I don't blame them. We're doomed if we follow Sobel into war." Emilia answered in disgust. "He doesn't even know what direction to walk in."

"Well we'll just have to make the best of it somehow." Marie sighed, knowing that her words were trite.

"Even if that means insubordination in the near future." Emilia added. She continued to look down at the letter until she finally brought herself to finish writing to Jane. Marie wasn't sure what she chose to write to their friend about, but she was sure that Sobel came up in it one way or another.

Malarkey had returned and was instantly greeted by Muck and Marie whom were very happy to see him. It's strange how just one friend not being present could change everything.

"So how was DC?" Muck asked.

"It was great, a nice break from Sobel and training that's for sure." Malarkey answered.

"You're so lucky. I would do anything to have been in your place. Beats having latrine duty with this one." Muck said, patting Marie playfully on her shoulder.

"Excuse me, you volunteered." Marie replied putting her hands on her hips, but smiling at him.

Muck chuckled. "But seriously, though, it must be the damned luck of the Irish. With you surviving that jump then getting to go to DC-"

"What jump?" Marie interjected, frowning as she looked between the two of them. Muck's eyes widened as he realized that she shouldn't of said that. Malarkey shot him a look as he shifted in his spot uncomfortably.

"Uhh, nothing, Hun." Muck replied, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"What jump." Marie pressed, this time she said it firmer than she did before.

Malarkey sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to drop the issue. She was too damned stubborn for her own good. "The spring jump that we had to do in Mackall. I didn't pack my chute very good and ended up getting five blown panels as I was falling. Some loose BB's tore up my chute as I jumped, I think. There was no air in the canopy. I almost landed in a lake, but I pulled the reserve chute but… I kinda blundered on that too…"

Malarkey paused for a minute and tried to laugh it off, but Marie looked at him with serious eyes. He sighed again before he continued. "I barely slowed down and ended up crashing into a tree. I got caught hanging from it with the suspension lines, but I'm okay, really."

"You could've died…" Marie muttered.

"But I didn't." Malarkey added in emphasis.

"Please just… be more careful…" Marie sighed. "I just don't want…" She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Oh, he will." Muck piped up. "I think he's learned a lesson from that." He tried to fix the situation but it was futile.

Marie didn't answer, she felt too upset at the fact that Malarkey had almost died and the war hadn't even started for them yet. The mood had been pretty much killed by then, so Marie decided to return back to her barracks for a few minutes until training started up again. The training had become more sophisticated and serious, so it was a good idea to clear your head before it started, especially when it came to Sobel leading.

Summer was approaching quickly, which meant another Fort to be stationed at, and one step closer to war.