So so so so sorry for the long wait on this chapter! I went on a March break trip with my school to England and France, which was just lovely! This is kind of a silly little chapter, I tried to add lots of goofy dialogue, because after this shit gets hardcore. Please review and enjoy! ;)


"Psst…"

George opened his puffy, sleepless eyes, and pulled his face off of his pillow, which seemed to be bound together with glue. If it was Perconte trying to wake him up for no good reason he was going to sock him in the mouth.

He propped his elbows up in front of him and his eyes glanced about the cabin, which turned out to be worthless because he couldn't see anything but the vague and dark outlines of his fellow paratroopers sleeping soundly in their beds. The misty and translucent reflection of the moon sifted through the back window beside George's bed and onto his blankets, yet it was so faint it did not aid his vision. He blinked a few times, trying to adjust his groggy eyes to the desperate lack of sunlight, and looked over at Perco, who appeared to be fast asleep. His hair was matted on his forehead with sweat and his jaw hung open, drool escaping down his chin and onto his pillow. Sleeping beauty, huh?

Giving up, George rotated himself back around and placed his head on his pillow and closed his eyes again. With his eyes closed, his ears were quite alert. He could hear a choir of crickets in the distance, pouring out their lonely laments. Snores echoed throughout the cabin, the majority coming from Malarkey. Jesus Christ that kid could wake up the entire fucking camp, George wondered how he had managed to fall and stay asleep all these nights in Toccoa. Probably because they were so damn tired all the time.

"Pssst! George Luz!"

This time George jolted his eyes open, wide-awake. Who the fuck was calling his name? The voice was hushed, yet seemingly anxious or excited, one of which he could not tell, and it was coming from his vicinity.

He once again stared down Perconte, who hadn't moved, and then repositioned his eyes over to Malarkey, who's snores were annoyingly consistent. If this was some sort of joke, he was sure the instigator would find it hilarious to have his nose smashed in…

Suddenly, the raucous sound of an indictable small object ricocheted off of the outer side of the window, leaving a loud cracking sound in its path.

George leapt out of his bed with the sprightliness of a jungle cat chasing it's prey, perhaps with lesser grace and agility. In the process, his sheets tumbled off of his bunk and he clumsily stumbled over them, closely avoiding a collision between his face and the floor. He caught himself, and stood frozen in fear. His eyes glanced about the cabin, and he silently prayed that he hadn't woken up the whole fucking platoon. He closed his eyes as internal relief washed over him; everyone appeared to be sleeping like a log.

He staggered over the window; he was still slightly numbed with sleep, including his brain, which hadn't seemed to be functioning like it usually did.

The moonlight was nearly blinding, so George shielded his eyes with his hand. When his eyes adjusted, he was appalled by what he saw.

Crazy bitch.

There stood Josie, clad in white cotton shorts at a length her mother wouldn't approve of, a matching collared and long sleeved pajama shirt. Her feet were bare and her curls were frizzed and stuck out in a frenzied mess. Her expression was a mix of wild excitement and anxiety, her eyes had a crazed look to them.

What the fuck? Did she sneak some uppity drugs from one of her classes? What the hell was she doing?

"George!" She cried in a hyped-up whisper. She frantically gestured with her hands for him to come join her.

George's eyes bulged at her. What-the-fuck? he mouthed at her, and threw his hands in the air whole heartedly. Crazy fucking bitch! What's wrong with her? George suddenly felt anger bubbling inside of him. She was a child, such a fucking child! They weren't in Rhode Island anymore, where they could pull this shit, they were in a military camp where things are a whole lot fucking stricter. Did she even realize the repercussions if he or she were ever caught? There was no doubt he'd get his stripes ripped off his arm and thrown on a train back home, to be fucking humiliated in front of his family for the rest of the war.

"Come George, it's real important, I swear!" she hushed desperately, a stupid smile on her face, which made George even more infuriated.

George nervously looked about the cabin, relieved that no one had woken up yet.

"No, go away!" he hissed angrily, narrowing his eyes menacingly at her.

Josie let out a long breath out, and bit her lip in frustration. "Please," she pleaded desperately.

Alright, this was it. George was going out there. Not because she wanted him to, but to receive the verbal reprimanding she deserved.

He moved his eyes to the main door in front of the cabin, which seemed two thousand light years away from where he was standing. There was no fucking way he could get out there without being caught by a CO of some type. He had to go through the window. Taking another shy look around, he slowly unlocked the window, each side making a click as he did. He squeezed his eyes and held his breath at the noise, silently praying no one had heard. After listening to the unchanging rhythm of Malarkey's snores for a moment, he slowly pushed the window open, letting the humid Georgian air waft in. Placing on foot on his bed, he lowered himself to the sill, where he could comfortably jump out.

He winced as his feet hit the warm and wet dirt. Josie immediately advanced and threw her arms around him, much to George's dismay. He pushed her off of him quickly.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" He hissed. Josie's expression immediately switched, as if he had just ripped her heart out on the spot.

"Do you even realize how much shit I could get in for this? You're so fucking immature Josie!" he mutedly snapped. He froze as he saw out of the corner of his eye that a light had flicked on in the neighboring cabin.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

That was the fucking CO's cabin!

He looked over at Josie, and her eyes were as wide as saucers. "What do we do?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"What the fuck else? We run!"

With that, both of them took off. George's heart hammered in his chest, and his feet pounded on the dewy evening grass. He felt a small sliver of pride swell in him as he noticed how much faster he was than Josie. He guessed Currahee was paying off.

They ran and ran, until the cabin and impending trouble was out of sight. George recognized where they were, they were coming on to a deep ditch that lead to a wide field that stretched on for miles, where jumpers practiced. George slowed down his stride, and eventually stopped, where Josie managed to catch up with him, breathing heavily.

"How- are- you…. How are you not dying?" she gasped, leaning over and placing her hands on her knees.

Instead of answering the question, George merely rolled his and continued stepping down the mucky grass.

"Hey!" Josie called, and he could hear her chasing after him. "Wait up, will ya?"

George spun around with haste and glared at her. "Wanna tell me what the fuck that was all about?"

Josie folded her arms in front of her and sighed. "I ship out."

"Yeah, no shit Josie, you think you were going to stay here the whole fucking war?"

For a moment it seemed like Josie was just ignoring his sarcasm but the pause went on a little to long.

"George?"

Her voice was quiet, and soaked with fear; George knew immediately something was wrong, and diverted his attention to her. Her eyes were huge, staring in shock at the ground in front of him.

"What's wrong?" he asked calmly and began to approach her.

"Stop!" she silently screeched, crazily waving her arms in front of her. "Don't move!"

That's it. She was officially crazy. This was insanity.

"What the fuck has gotten into you?" he cried.

She lifted a shaky finger in front of her. "There's a fucking crocodile!"

"What?"

George looked around, than froze with fear as he heard a frightening growl from below. He slowly moved his head over and stopped as his eyes made contact with a huge, long, scaly, fanged snout no more than two feet away from him.

Oh fuck.

He was going to die.

Shit.

George held his breath, eyes bulging at the ferocious green beast in front of him.

"What do I do?" he whispered edgily in an almost inaudible voice.

"I don't fucking know!" Josie hissed silently, and George knew mental chaos was about to ensue.

"Josie…" George snarled as quietly as he could. He was about to be munched into lunch meat and she was going to just fucking stand there and watch?

"Um," she whispered, her voice once again starting to tremble. "Try to edge away slowly."

George could have issued a snotty sarcastic remark, but he was too mentally frozen to even think of one.

Not taking his eyes off of the creature, he took one foot and moved it unbearably slowly away.

It all happened in a snap.

The alligator snarled, and snapped his enormous jaws at him, and Josie shrieked at the top of her lungs. By then George was already up the hill and on to the field. He didn't know that he could even run that fast!

"Holy shit!" came Josie's terrified voice from directly behind him, causing George to jump in surprise.

"What the fuck?" Josie cried frantically, throwing her arms up in the air. "Since when do fucking crocodiles live here?"

George ran his hands through his hair and let out an exasperated sigh. "First of all it's an alligator, dumbass, and second of all they're all over the south! Didn't you take Geography class? Even I know this!"

"You almost got your balls eaten off!"

"Yeah, no shit!"

George placed his hands on his knees; they were still clammy. His heart raced, and he could bet his face was as white as snow. He took a few, slow deep breaths and glanced up at Josie.

She was laughing.

Laughing.

"What the hell? I almost died and you're laughing?"

Josie clapped a hand over her mouth and only seemed to laugh harder.

"Stop it!" George cried angrily, "Seriously!"

Tears of hilarity were now springing to Josie's eyes. "What just happened?"

As much as George didn't want to, he could feel laughter coming up inside of him too.

"I don't know," he said, as he could no longer hold back laughter. She doubled over, to the point where she tumbled onto the long and wet grass.

Though under the weird circumstances, and even though he did everyday, it was nice to have a laugh. Especially with her.

"I wonder if alligators like balls?" she spurt out between giggles.

"I swear to God I'm going to recommend you to an insane asylum, Josie..."

"What? That was like, a life changing event we just experienced! Someone should write a book on that shit!"

"And call it what?"

She spread her hands out in front of her in a goofy manner, as if motioning to a sign. "When Gators Attack... a young man narrowly escapes an alligator attack with his testicles in tact."

"Yes, and it will sell millions of copies, and I will become a world-renowned celebrity and be more popular than Hitler."

"And your testicles will be even more famous, and they will dedicate a radio show after them..."

George took a seat beside her, as he began to stop laughing. She still had an idiotic grin plastered on her face, as she looked up at the clear Georgian sky.

"So," started George. "What was the whole point of me coming out here?"

The smile on Josie's face started to vanish, and she tilted her head to face George.

"Um," she bit her lip. "I'm leaving tomorrow."

George felt an active feeling of dread erupt inside of him, as if his insides were being torn out. He always knew that this day would come, but had an undying hope that it never would.

He looked at her, how the moonlight bounced off her golden hair and her porcelain white skin, and could feel all hope diminishing.

"Where ya headed?" he asked, after a few moments of bitter silence.

She let out a sigh. "We don't know. I heard a rumor that we're heading down to England to work in a recovery hospital and get some experience, but who knows."

"Shit, eh?"

Josie let out a halfhearted laugh, which ended on a note of letdown.

"I'm gonna miss you."

"What a sappy goodbye," George announced sarcastically. Josie crawled over to him and latched on to his arm.

"It is a goodbye George, want to take it seriously?" she asked dryly, casting a mommyish reprimanding look at him.

He scoffed in reply. "When are you ever serious?"

She crossed her arms. "Pfft, I'm always serious!"

George rolled his eyes. "Okay sloppy Joe, try tellin' that to Joe Toye next time you see him."

Josie pursed her lips and glared at him, and George raised his hands in defense. "I'm joking, sorry!"

They both grinned for moment, then Josie's expression went serious.

"I'm worried about you," she murmured and squeezed his arm like she always did.

"It's okay, I'm pretty much a wizard and Jesus reincarnated, so I really should be fine."

"About the seriousness, George?"

"You don't have to worry about me, alright, I'll be fine."

She sighed, and placed her hands gently on each side of his head, letting her fingers gently caress his forest of brown hair. She leaned in to him, and his eyes connected with hers. Out in the moonlight, hers shone, and were the color of milky peppermint tea his mother used to make. She briskly and frantically leaned in closer, and gently planted her lips on George's forehead. They were dry, yet soft and when they touched him, George swore his heart skipped a beat.

"Please stay safe," she pleaded, removing her lips away.

"Don't worry, I'll make my best effort to get blown up as soon as possible," George chirped, grinning. Instead of the pissed reaction from Josie he expected, she shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"So much for a sweet goodbye, ugly."

George rolled himself off the grass and brushed off his boxers in the process, before reaching a hand out and helping Josie.

"Well, adios amigo, see you in five years," he quipped and saluted at her as she stood up.

She stared out in the distance of the field. "Maybe we should take a detour back, just to make sure we don't encounter any alligators."

George laughed. "Good idea Jos, good idea."