Chapter 10: From Holland to Bastogne

Holland was quickly beginning to wear thin on the men just after a month of being there. The entire Operation had been a series of hits and misses, more of the latter than they would have liked, and everyone was beginning to feel the crushing feeling of defeat. Easy Company knew if anyone could push the Germans back and make it into Germany, it would be them, yet even they hadn't been able to drive the Krauts back out of Holland.

On October 5th, some of Easy had made their temporary home in a barn. It wasn't exactly an ideal place to stay, but it was a little better than staying outside. O'Carroll's eyes were closed and she was laying on the ground, trying to imagine the hay under her was a large, comfortable bed. Needless to say, it wasn't working very well. With a loud groan, she gave up and pushed up from the ground. Luz glanced back at her before offering a cracker in her direction. She took it and popped it into her mouth. George turned back and placed the receiver of his radio back on his shoulder and pressed to his ear just as Talbert made his way over.

"New guys giving the replacements the what-for and why-is." Tab said to Winters with a soft scoff. Luz grabbed another cracker to lure Tab's new dog, a German Sheppard, to him. "I swear one of them has never shaved." Luz coughed a small chuckle and gave O'Carroll a pointed stare. The woman rolled her eyes in response.

"Yeah." Winters said, not noticing the interaction between the other two soldiers. "Kids."

"This is a hell of a dog, Tab." George said as he pet the dog. O'Carroll moved in closer so she could scratch it behind the ears. The dog's tail wagged slightly, happy with the attention it was receiving. It would be a shame when the dog was inevitably left behind.

"Thank you." Talbert grabbed a stick and threw it across the barn for the dog to fetch. "There you go." As the dog trotted after it, O'Carroll sat back in disappointment.

"What'd you call it, Tab?" Winters asked, though his focus remained on his work.

"Trigger."

"That's good, I like that." Luz mused as he ate another cracker. "Trigger." O'Carroll nodded in agreement, it was a fitting name.

"Got anything on this?" Floyd gestured to Luz' radio and George shook his head, holding to the receiver so it wouldn't fall.

"No, it's all quiet." Luz said and as if in response, the door to the barn burst wide open.

"We got penetration." Someone yelled as a group of soldiers came in carrying in another. "Alley's hurt, we need the Doc."

Everyone was up and moving, Talbert making it over to the group in a heartbeat. "Alright, get him on the table."

It took O'Carroll a little longer to get off the ground, but she was soon heading toward the men to help in any way she could."Did you say Alley?"

"Yeah, it's Alley." Talbert grumbled. "Alright, I got this." He grabbed someone's rifle from them so they could set Alley down.

"Easy." Liebgott said as they lowered Alley onto the table. When she finally saw the man clearly, she could see that he looked to be in really bad shape. His entire side was bloody from multiple wounds.

"Alley, you're gonna be okay." Talbert said as he stood by the man.

O'Carroll moved to his other side and grabbed Alley's hand that wasn't hurt. "It's okay, buddy."

"Boyle, go get Doc Roe." She heard Winters voice come from next to her.

"Where am I? Something happened, what happened?" Alley was mumbling and O'Carroll gave his hand a light squeeze.

"You're safe now, Alley. It's okay." She said in a soothing voice, though she wasn't sure he heard it.

"Where was it?" Winters asked.

"Crossroads, where the road crosses the dike." Liebgott answered. Bridget glanced up at him and noticed he was holding a bandage to his neck.

"If it wasn't for your loud mouth, they'd have never known we was there." Joe Lesniewski accused the other man.

"Hey, you know what, Joe, back off." Liebgott snapped in return.

"Lesniewski," Winters interrupted. "Send a runner for Lieutenant Welsh." He ordered, knowing it was best to separate the men with tensions running so high. "Lipton, assemble me a squad."

"Yes, sir. First squad, on your feet." Lipton yelled out and people began moving away from the table to gather their things. This made room for Doc who had finally arrived. "Weapons and ammo only!"

With Roe now bust helping Alley, O'Carroll moved to Liebgott; someone needed make sure he was alright. She gently nudged his hand that was near his neck. "Let me see."

"O'Car-"

"Move it." Bridget ordered and he moved his hand and the bandage to reveal the blood on his neck. She leaned in close, examining it as best she could. Blood wasn't spurting out of it in an alarming way and she didn't see any chunks of shrapnel so that seemed to be a good sign. She placed the bandage back over his wound and tied it on.

"Thanks." Liebgott muttered softly before returning his attention on helping Roe with Alley.

"No problem, Joe." O'Carroll pat his back and moved away to pick up her carbine and ammo.

"Let's get moving everyone!" The order was given and so men started out of the barn and toward the crossroads. Avoiding the road in order to avoid being seen, they treaded softly in the dark through the fields beside it. They didn't have to go far to hear the machine gun firing. At the sound, everyone went prone, dropping even further out of sight in case the guns were aimed at them. The lack of bullets whizzing overhead told them that it wasn't an issue. They looked up to see that the MG was shooting down the road perpendicular to the road they were walking by. When O'Carroll looked down it, all she could see was emptiness. The Germans were shooting at nothing.

"What the hell?" Bridget breathed out.

"There's nothing there." Malarkey murmured as he moved to her side.

"No shit." Bridget said, lightly nudging his arm as she did. "Maybe they're seeing things." Donald snorted in response. They watched as one lone figure, undoubtedly Winters, ran up the hill to get to the road on the other side in order to get a better view of the situation. The men shifted uncomfortably as he signaled for them to wait until he returned. The seconds passed as slowly as hours as they waited for Winters to come back into view. Their concern was proved unnecessary when Winters came into view once more and signaled for them to follow him back across the road. The soldiers moved silently over the hill to cross the road and down the hill on the other side, sans the two on the machine gun who were setting up by the road.

"This is our fallback position, here." Winters said once they had stopped at the base of the hill. "Mortars, deploy here. First squad, on me. Go." Before following behind Winters, O'Carroll looked at Malarkey and touched a finger to her brow before pointing at him. Malarkey mimicked the motion before moving with Skip and Penekala to set up the mortars. This was something O'Carroll and Malarkey had started doing shortly after the failed attack of Arnhem. They knew they couldn't always keep an eye on each other so it was their way of saying the other needed to stay alert and not get killed, a reminder of the promise both of them had made. O'Carroll then quietly ran up the field with Winters and the rest of the squad.

As they got closer, they could hear the Germans shouting orders. The men stopped when Winters ordered them to and watched as crawled on ahead again. He signaled for them to come forward quietly and take positions along the road. O'Carroll moved to rest on her stomach and pointed her gun toward the Germans. She watched them as they roamed around, entirely unaware of the American soldiers with their guns now trained on them. Winters leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Second on the right." Her aim shifted so that it was focused on her target, following him as he wandered aimlessly. The German stopped moving and idly scratched his neck. It was strange to see the man so oblivious to the fact that he was going to be dead soon. "Wait for my signal." Winters ordered and O'Carroll's grip on her M-1 tightened. Her German target sighed and stared up at the night sky, he was bored. While everyone else was having orders yelled at them, he had nothing to do.

Her observations were cut short when the sound of a rifle shot filled the air. That was a hell of a signal. O'Carroll wasted no time and took her shot, the man was down in one hit. Quickly, others began to fall around him. The Germans started rushing around in an attempt to retaliate, but several of them were already dead. "Fall back!" Winters yelled and the men started back to the predetermined area. O'Carroll heard the mortar squad fire off a shot and their machine gun began firing down the road. The soldiers started running, the Germans had their guns on them now. Once back at the ditch, everyone dropped down and began shooting back across the field. Moments later, O'Carroll felt something hit her feet, but she didn't look back. She couldn't looking back.

"Fuck! Dukeman's down." Someone yelled and that explained what had landed on her. Bridget managed to keep her attention forward, however and it wasn't until both sides had stopped firing did she turn around, pulling her legs out from under the body. She swallowed hard as she moved forward to gently set his body back against the ditch, getting him out of the path, but leaving his lifeless eyes to stare at her.

"Hey..." Malarkey mumbled as he settled in next to O' glanced at Dukeman before quickly looking away. She hadn't been able to take her eyes off him yet. "Birdie." He spoke again, touching her arm until she finally looked at him.

"Do you think this ever gets easier?" She asked, her eyes moving back to the man in front of her. "Seeing... seeing all this death." Bridget clarified, before he could ask. He considered her for a moment, but her face simply showed a somberness, nothing suggesting she was about to have a break down.

"I don't... I don't know. Maybe." He chewed on his lip as looked at Dukeman. "I hope not. I mean... I just don't want to become someone who becomes indifferent to death."

"Things would be easier that way." She mumbled as she pulled her rosary out of her pocket, fiddling with it for a moment.

"Yeah, it would." Malarkey agreed. "But who the fuck said this was going to be easy?" O'Carroll smiled slightly and gave a nod. He had a point. Her thumb and finger moved to the first bead and she softly began praying the Rosary to herself, keeping Dukeman in her thoughts. It was the least she could do for him.

As the sun began to rise, O'Carroll used the light to reach forward to take what she needed off the body in front of her, including a packet of Lucky Strikes. She shoved the cigarettes into her pocket and made sure the ammo was in reach for when she needed it. Winters formed a plan, knowing that the men had to attack otherwise the Germans would get them first and they did not have the best defensive position. Eleven men would go up the left flank. Eleven men up the right. Ten men and a woman up the middle, a minor detail Winters didn't need to know.

"Fix bayonets." The order was hissed and O'Carroll sat up a little more, it was almost time. She snapped the knife onto the end of her weapon. "Go on the red smoke." She took a deep, steadying breath. This shouldn't be too bad, they were only running across a long, open field towards an unknown number of hostiles who were situated on the higher ground. Winters threw the signal grenade and began running before it even went off. Everyone moved, ready to go, but there was no red smoke yet. It was taking too long and Winters was already halfway across the field.

Finally, the signal went off and the rest of the men started running. O'Carroll sprinted as fast as she could with all of the gear she was carrying and was one of the first people to join Winters on the hill where he was firing down at the German soldiers. She took a shot before dropping to her knee to continue firing. When she had to reload, she dropped to her stomach, reloaded, and quickly resumed firing. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, O'Carroll thought as she watched the Krauts fall to the ground.

But soon the barrel was overflowing with fish as another company of Germans came over from the hill on the other side. The men continued firing, however, not willing to give up their advantage just because there were more Germans than anticipated. At the sound of their own artillery, the American soldiers slid down from the road into the ditch before continuing to fire. It was just in time too, at least for most of them. The German artillery soon retaliated and was firing down the crossroads.

"Oh, shit!" O'Carroll yelled and ducked further down.

"They've got the road zeroed in! Take cover!" Yet a few men got hit, including Webster.

"They got me!" He yelled and O'Carroll made her way over to him. "Patrick, they got me." Her brow knit for a brief moment as she moved to look at his leg. She had forgotten that he was one of the few who had never known the truth. She wasn't close to him and none of her friends were either so they hadn't let it slip yet.

"It's alright, Web. It doesn't look too bad." She said as she carefully pulled a piece of shrapnel out of his leg. "I think you'll make it." O'Carroll said with a smile and a slight laugh. Web only shook his head. Her face turned serious again when she realized she had left her aid kit back at the barn. "Shit." She muttered softly . "Hey, Skinny!" She called as soon as she saw Sisk. He trotted over. "You got a bandage Webster here could use?" He nodded and grabbed his kit and she let him get to work. O'Carroll then turned her attention back to her squad and back to the fight, but with the help from the artillery, there wasn't much of a fight left. In the end, it turned out that it had been two entire companies of SS that Easy was up against. It was amazing considering that they had only lost one man. Only one... It could be said that that was a good price, but that didn't seem fair to Dukeman.

After the crossroads incident, Winters was promoted and took over the whole Battalion. It was a great loss for everyone in Easy. Luckily, "Moose" Heyliger who took over for him seemed to be a good man and a good leader from what the men knew. Unluckily, their first mission under him, rescuing a bunch of lost Brits, was also their last under him. While on a patrol with Winters, he was shot several times by a replacement. He survived, but he was shipped out and Easy had to get yet another new C.O. This time it was one Lieutenant Norman Dike. It didn't take long in Holland for the men to recognize that Dike was not a good leader and they all began calling him Foxhole Norman.

Not too long after that, Bill Guarnere also had gotten shot. He had stolen a motorcycle and had been driving around to encourage the platoon when he got shot in the leg and was knocked off the bike, managing to get some metal in his ass in order to keep up the Easy Company tradition. Bill, of course, went AWOL in order to rejoin Easy. He was caught at first but he let them know he would only go AWOL again and so within a week, they sent him back to Easy.

Even with how bad things had been going in Holland, Easy was now getting a chance to relax. With Christmas drawing near, there were plans for a football game against soldiers from the 502. Apparently someone thought that O'Carroll was a good choice to be one of the coaches and so she had spent the entire afternoon with Malarkey learning the details of the game. Afterwards, he invited her to a game of craps, but she declined, having already agreed to go see a movie with Luz that evening. She could sense his disappointment and that only reinforced her decision. Some free time apart might do them both some good.

While waiting for it to be time to see the movie, O'Carroll was outside, despite the sting of the chilly air, leaning against one of the barracks. She was enjoying what little sun there was along with a cigarette. As she took a drag, she coughed roughly. Bridget was still new to it all, but she already understood the appeal and almost regretted not starting sooner. It was a form of escape for the men and now for Bridget as well. For now, however, she was going to keep it to herself. After two years of swearing she'd never have one, something told her the boys would be a little surprised to see her smoking a cigarette now. She didn't want to deal with whatever they'd have to say just yet.

By the time she had finished the cigarette, the sun had slipped down below a building and the chill hit her harder. She dropped the butt to the ground and stomped it out. She didn't move from her place by the building yet, however, and pulled her dog tags out to look at them. As her fingers traced over her fake name, a soldier who had been walking by stopped and backed up to her. It was George Luz.

"Hey, Princess, there you are. I was just coming to find you. The movie is going to start soon." An odd expression filled his face as he looked at her, noticing her seriousness. He leaned against the wall near her. "Everything alright there, Bridget?"

"I'm just tired of pretending." She examined the name etched into the metal. "I mean, I knew what I was getting into, at least I thought I did... Now that we're out here though... Someone is bound to realize soon that I don't grow facial hair."

He chuckled softly and gripped her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, no one has noticed it yet. No matter, the Duke should cheer you up tonight."

"Yeah, of course. The Duke has the power to make everything better, even when it's my life on the line." Bridget said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"Now, look here, girl," George began his John Wayne impression and it quickly had O'Carroll smiling. "You're gonna be happy, and you're gonna like it." Her laugh was enough to appease him and he gave her shoulder a soft pat. "There you go." His voice returned to his own. "But really, Bridget, you know if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here, yeah? You don't have to tell everything to just that red-headed dolt you call a best friend."

"Hey, hey, hey, careful what you have to say about that dolt. He's still my best friend." Bridget continued laughing. "If I have to, I'll fight you to protect his honor." The two of them snorted.

"I'd kind of like to see that." Luz chuckled. "And I know he is, but my point is he's not the only one that cares about you, yeah? You're my friend and I worry. And before you say I don't need to worry about you, too bad, it's what friends do. And if you pretending ever gets to be an issue, I've got your back."

"Alright, alright. I'll keep that in mind if I ever need someone to whine to." She pushed away from the wall and turned to point at him. "Also, I'm taking this as if I ever get caught, I can throw you under the fucking bus now."

"Great friend you are." Luz laughed and pushed away from the wall as well. "Now let's go, the movie's starting soon." The two friends made their way to the hall that the movie would be showing in. They took seats in the middle and chatted as they waited for the movie to begin. As the film began rolling, it turned out to be one that O'Carroll had seen before, so she quickly lost interest.

Luz must have noticed she was bored because soon, he started doing his John Wayne impersonation again. "Look at me, I'm John Wayne. The costume department set me up with these great navy whites."

"Luz, shut up." Joe Toye grumbled from the row in front of them.

"What do you think?" Luz continued, ignoring the protests. Bridget snickered though it was clear that Toye and Lipton didn't think it was funny.

"I'm trying to watch this." Lipton turned as well to scold the two of them.

"I've seen this movie 13 times, okay?" Luz said.

"Well, I haven't so shut up." Joe grumpily said and turned back around.

"Watch the movie, it's fine." Luz said as he gestured at the screen and O'Carroll had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing too loud again.

"Hey, Skip!" O'Carroll quickly turned to see Malarkey run into the hall. He caught her eyes for only a second and paused to smile at her.

"Shh, c'mon." Luz scolded the man as though he hadn't just been talking loudly himself.

"Where've you been? I've been looking all over for you." Mal whispered to Muck as he sat right behind Bridget.

"Well, Don, I was at home in Tonawanda. But then Hitler started this whole thing, so, now I'm here." Bridget snorted as she listened in. "How'd you make out in craps?"

"Not so bad. Here's the 60 bucks I borrowed." Malarkey said.

"You're paying me back?" Skip asked in disbelief.

"And to say thank you..." Malarkey continued as he counted out more money.

"Surprising." Skip muttered.

"A tip." Don finished.

"Jesus!" Perko almost shouted when he saw the money.

Lipton and Toye turned again. "Shut up!" They both said in loud whispers.

"I was up six grand, but I only have 3,600 left." Don said proudly as he put the money back into his pocket.

Bridget turned now to really join in on the conversation."Only 3,600? Seriously?" He nodded.

"What are you gonna do with all that dough?" Perconte looked like at Malarkey expectantly, unsurprisingly wanting in on some of the cash. Skip, still in shock, was counting his.

"Blow most of it in Paris as soon as possible." Malarkey said with a grin.

"Gimme a tip." Perko held out his hand, but Don only ignored him and grabbed a cigarette from behind Skip's ear.

Out of instinct, Bridget pulled out her lighter and lit his cigarette for him. "What the hell are you going to spend all of that on in Paris?"

"Lots and lots of alcohol." Don chuckled around the cigarette before moving it from his mouth. "Maybe I'll pick up a souvenir or two."

"So you don't forget your wonderful European vacation?" O'Carroll laughed, earning a shush from the front row. "You better save some of that for when we get back to Oregon. I'm expecting a few drinks."

"You're the one that owes me, O'Carroll." He chuckled.

O'Carroll shook her head and pointed at his pocket."You're the one with the money, you buy the drinks. Just how it is, sorry. I don't make the rules."

George elbowed Bridget to turn her attention back to him and then he tapped Lipton's shoulder. "Bridge, Lip, favorite part." Luz said. "Got a penny?" He said in an odd voice causing O'Carroll looked at him strangely. "Got a penny?" He said a bit louder and then took a drag of his cigarette. "Got a penny?" He said even louder, right before Marlene Dietrich said the same thing on the screen. Bridget couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter, he was just too ridiculous.

Her laughter was quickly cut off. "Lights!" Someone shouted. The lights came on as a few men stormed into the hall.

"C'mon!" Everyone started to complain, even O'Carroll who hadn't even been that invested in the movie.

"You can't do that to the Duke!" Luz groaned.

"Quiet." The man shouted, but no one listened. "I said, quiet!" The screen turned off and finally everyone shut up. "Elements of the 1st and the 6th SS Panzer Division have broken through in the Ardennes Forest." Luz rolled his eyes and O'Carroll let out a loud groan. "Now, they've overrun the 28th Infantry and elements of the 4th. All officers report to respective HQs. All passes are cancelled." Shouts of 'No' filled the room. Just when everyone was getting to relax a little, they were being sent out again. That's how it always was. "Enlisted men report to barracks and your platoon leaders." The men then left and slowly the Easy Company soldiers got up.

Malarkey light tapped O'Carroll's shoulder as he stood up, causing her to look back. He gestured for her to walk with him and O'Carroll stood, patting Luz's back as she did. She made her way out of the row and then walked with Malarkey from the hall. When they stepped outside, it was no longer cold, it was freezing. "Jesus Christ!" She hissed and hugged her chest in an attempt to block the cold.

Don looked up at the snow that was falling now and frowned. "Hey, Birdie, do you have winter clothes?"

"No, why?"

"Cause I don't either, but something tells me we're going to need them." Don said and as Bridget looked to the sky as well, she knew he was right. Suddenly, leaving Holland seemed like an awful idea.

Bridget was huddled on the floor of the truck, stuck between Skip and Malarkey. She had hoped that since they were all pressed in close together, it would be at least a little warmer, but it wasn't in the slightest. "I guess the blackout's not in effect." Buck said as he stared back at the headlights shining into their truck. No shit was all O'Carroll could think. It was great to have Buck back though. "Luftwaffe must be asleep."

"What a difference a day makes, huh, Lieutenant?" Ramirez said as he stared at his cigarette.

"Christ, I miss those C-47's." Bill complained.

"We've got a tailgate jump here." Said a shivering Talbert, but no one could manage a chuckle.

"I just wanna know where they're sending us, what the hell we're supposed to do with no ammo?" Babe grumbled.

"We'll just have you talk the Germans to death." Bridget said and Babe only flipped her off.

"Hey, kid, what's your name again?" Guarnere asked the poor replacement for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Suerth, Suerth Junior." Jr. answered as he finished lighting Popeye's cigarette

"You got an ammo, Junior?" Babe asked.

"Just what I'm carrying."

"Just like everyone else." O'Carroll said, the sound muffled as she tried to warm her hand by breathing on them.

"What about socks, Junior, you got extra socks?" It was Toye's turn to harass the kid.

"A pair."

"You need four, minimum Muck began and O'Carroll was already rolling her eyes. "Feet, hands neck, balls." All of the older men, O'Carroll included, joined in. "Extra socks warms them all."

"Okay, we all remember that one." Muck said. "But did we remember the socks?"

"Of course not." Bridget responded as she pressed a little closer to Don for warmth.

"At least you only need three pairs, O'Carroll." Skip whispered into her ear. She lightly elbowed him in the gut.

"Yeah, I'd give my boots for a cigarette." Guarnere piped in.

"That doesn't sound like a fair deal for you, Bill." O'Carroll said, not mentioning that she actually had a cigarette. She knew that was a sure fire way to lose them.

"We're all out of ammo and socks." Don gestured between the two of them, hoping someone would have something for them.

Bill pointed at Suerth. "I bet Junior's got plenty of both."

"I don't."

"How about a hat, you got a hat?" Liebgott asked the replacement and the kid shook his head. "What about a coat, you got a coat?"

"I wish I did." Bridget groaned, remembering once again just how cold it was.

"Shut up with the coat, Liebgott, no one's got one." Muck grumbled at him, bringing his knees closer to his chest in hopes of warming up.

"How about some smokes then?" Ramirez asked.

"Yeah, I got some smokes." Jr responded. Ramirez had hit the jackpot and everyone reached out their hand. This was exactly why O'Carroll hadn't said anything.

"Oh, now you're talking." Muck exclaimed as he grabbed a cigarette. In no time, all of Jr.'s smokes were gone. Not too long later, the trucks pulled to a stop and everyone was able to jump out.

"Alright, guys, 15 minutes. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Keep warm, guys." Buck told them as they piled out.

"Where the hell are we?" Don asked.

"Sure we ain't in hell, it's too damn cold." Muck responded and O'Carroll nodded in agreement.

"You can say that again." She rubbed her hands together, but it did nothing to make them warmer.

"Sure we ain't in hell, it's too-"

"Shut up, Skip." O'Carroll cut him off. She noticed nearby a fire being lit and she went to stand by it. As the flames shot up, she held her hands toward them. "Oh my God, that feels good." She could only enjoy the flames for a few moments before someone was calling for her

"Hey, O'Carroll," One of the men yanked away from her warm fire and pulled her to the road.

"What the..." The sight before her was incredibly disheartening. The road was filled with silent men walking away from the forest. None of them seemed to be in good shape physically or mentally.

"What the hell is going on?" Don exclaimed as Bridget moved to stand near him.

"We have to go back that way?" She said as she stared down the road at the woods.

"Hey, you're going the wrong way." Guarnere tried to stop one of the retreating soldiers. "Hey, pal." He grabbed another one. "Hey, pal, what happened? Where the hell are you going?"

"They came out of nowhere, they slaughtered us. You gotta get outta here." The soldier said.

"We just got here." Babe said, staring at the man.

"Gimme your ammo." Bill ordered, it was a smart move. "C'mon."

"Take it, you'll need it."

"Go on, get out of here." Babe pat the soldier's back, sending him on his way.

"Holy Christ." Bill muttered as he stared at the soldiers. Soon, everyone began taking what they needed from the other soldiers. As they were doing that, a truck came up with more ammo. Soldiers began grabbing as much as they could from it.

"A Panzer Division's about to cut the road south. Looks like you guys are gonna be surrounded." The man in the truck informed Winters. O'Carroll stopped grabbing a box for a moment to listen.

"We're paratroopers, Lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded." Winters said, but O'Carroll's morale plummeted. Nobody wanted to be surrounded when they were this short on supplies. She made her way back to Malarkey and together they followed the others towards the woods.

As they passed under a sign, she pointed up at the one that said Paris, which was in the opposite direction of where they were headed."Too bad we couldn't go there."

Malarkey looked up to read the sign and then scoffed softly. "Yeah, too bad."

"So, what did you do with that 3,600?"

He looked glum. "I had to put most of it up, I didn't want to lose it while we were out here. But now that means I can't get it until after the war. So much for blowing it in Paris."

"Sorry to hear that." O'Carroll pulled out her packet of cigarettes and handed him one before taking one for herself. She lit them both and he watched her as she inhaled, thankfully not coughing this time. It was obvious he wanted to ask, but he refrained from doing so. "Ammo shortage, no winter clothes, being surrounded by Krauts, this should be fun."

"Of course. Least we got each other, right?"

"Don't start with the corny bullshit now, Mal. Save it for when Jerry's got us by the balls, alright?" Bridget laughed. Malarkey opened his mouth ready to say something, but she quickly cut him off. "I mean figuratively so don't even say what you're about to say."

"I was just going to say let's hope it doesn't get to that point. I promise." Don snickered and O'Carroll shook her head, a smile still on her face.

"You're right though. I'm glad you're here." She said, looking down at the ground in front of her. Bridget took another drag from the cigarette before continuing. "Although I think I'd be happier if I had a winter coat here."

"Ain't that the truth." And with that, they stepped into the shadow of the trees, the darkness surrounding them like one of the heavy coats they sorely needed.

Sorry, quick note: As the school semester is starting soon, it may be a little difficult for me to get up chapters regularly, but I'll try to keep it up. Thank you for reading and any comments would be appreciated!