Wow! Thank you so much for the positive feedback from LovingBOBThePacific, wandertogonder, ellegirl15kansas, and ChastityHope13! You're kind words mean so much to me! :)

To all my new followers and favoriters- you make me smile! Thank you for hopping aboard!

Fighting Before Their Feet Hit the Ground

The atmosphere was drenched in death and its piercing stench. The earth was flooded, and I struggled to walk as the mud engulfed my boots. The clay seeped and pulled in the scuffed black cork boots as I walked towards a collection of frightened cattle. Men wrapped harsh chains around the dainty legs of perished horses that laid motionless as a roadblock to tanks and jeeps. The earth around them was stained red with blood.

I strolled over to a cream colored heifer, and c autiously put my shivering hand to the sleek bridge of her nose. She cooed a gracious moo in her throat as another pair of boots trudged through the muck.

"I heard you took one, Lottie… why are you not in a bed?" Buck Compton placed a worried hand on my lower back, stealing my attention from the bright-eyed calf.

"Doc already took care of it," I reassured him, mustering a smile. I furrowed my brows in confusion as I saw Liebgott, Lipton, Winters, Popeye, Petty, Malarkey, Guarnere and Toye walking grouped together with weapons at the ready.

"Where y'all going?"

Buck looked down at me with his striking blue eyes. They made me miss Bull, even though I didn't like to admit it. "Meehan is nowhere to be found, so Winters in the CO. We're going to go take some Kraut batteries attacking the beach." He said shortly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

I took a step towards the aid station to get my bag, "Then you'll need a nurse and I'm coming along."

Eugene tore from the mangled barn and tent combination, kicking the slop up behind his boots to trail up his back. "Doc Roe is coming with us, because you are wounded."

I began to chase down Gene as Buck caught up with the other men, "Gene! Gene, I'm coming too! Wait up!" I called, struggling to keep my lungs going. My breathing was labored, and my shoulder ached deeply.

He loosened his stride, predominantly rolling his brown eyes. "I'm ordering you to stay here, Brave. No if's or but's about it-"

I opened my mouth to protest, but he quickly cupped his pale palm over the opening. He glared down at me as if I was a small child getting disciplined, "Go back in the aid station, and get some rest. I don't give a damn if you're tired or not, you will get in there and do not follow us."

My heart whimpered and I struggled to keep my lip from quivering. Slowly he removed his hand that bound my words. He shot down one last warning glance at me. I had never seen him so worried or angry before. Usually he kidded around with me, but the harsh look in his eyes and the stern tone in his voice let me know he was completely serious.

As he trotted down the slippery road, I shuffled back to the measly barn with my tail between my legs. The friendly cows behind me lowed for my attention, but Eugene's strict words bit at my head and I entered the stuffy barn. Surgeons scurried about, blood up to their elbows with white masks stretched across their shouting mouths. War is such an ugly thing.

Keeping the soldiers in mind, I left the empty cots available, and laid down in a musty bed of graying hay. It wasn't sweet smelling and smooth like the hay back home. It was uninviting, and the sharp edges poked through my still bloodied uniform.

Habit to rest on my ride side; I bent back my arm to make a sad excuse for a pillow. My left arm flopped lifelessly at my side, still aching and burning down to my bone. The helpless strands of hair piled onto my cheeks, blocking away the gray sun from my eyes. Giving up the fight of staying awake as familiar rounds popped along the horizon, I allowed my eyelids to slide over my exhausted eyes.

God be with them… God be with them today. I whispered to myself as the exhaustion swept me away into a collapse.

B.o.B.

A blanket of night draped over the small French town as I settled in a canvas covered truck. Malarkey was bent over a steaming ammunition container of bubbling slop, after he had convinced us all Irishmen were good cooks. Uh-huh.

"Shit, can you believe it?" Malarkey slapped his knees, "24 hours ago, we took off. Now here we are…"

I held out my tin plate, hungry for combat and a meal, "What was it like out there, boys?"

"Intese," Liebgott said plainly before crawling over all of us to get out of the truck. "Jesus, let me outta here!"

"Light discipline! Light discipline!" Carwood called after Liebgott who threw back the flap. "Guarnere, close that flap."

"Let the Krauts cook their own goddamn food," Guarnere spat out bitterly, closing the flap.

"We only lost one man, Hall from Able," Lipton answered, returning to my question.

Bill elbowed me, "Cowboy. How we doing, Malark?"

He tasted the concoction, "We're doing good."

Buck and I held out our plates and Don spooned it to us. It reeked, but my growling stomach didn't give two damns. My thin tin spoon had bent during the jump, and I recalled the last thing I had eaten with it was soupy ice cream back in England.

Harry ripped one on the opposite bench of me, forcing me to bury my nose in my collar.

"Jesus Christ, gimme some air!" Guarnere poked his head from the humid truck. He reluctantly yanked his head back in, hearing the other men chuckling over a joke my innocent mind didn't understand. Bill pulled his cigarette from behind his ear and held it to my nose, "Want a smoke, Lots?" Before I even shook my head no, he put it in-between his lips, knowing I wouldn't accept his offer.

A helmeted man with a grimy face stuck his face into our truck, "Something die in here?" I recognized it to be Winters.

"Malarkey's ass," Harry teased, beaming.

I hid deeper between Lipton and Bill, slowly feeding myself.

"Any word on Lieutenant Meehan yet, sir?" Buck questioned, dousing the mood.

Richard fiddled with his sleeve, "No, not yet."

"Don't that make you our commanding officer, sir?" Bill asked, relaxing his toothy grin.

"Yea, it does."

"Here you go, sir," Joe offered Dick a half-empty bottle of booze with a slurred voice.

"Joe, Lieutenant here don't drink," he said wisely.

Surprising us all, Winters reached for the bottle and lifted it in salute, "It's been a night of firsts." He took a burning gulp, his eyes growing wide with the shock. Holding his pride, he held the bottle to Bill, "Don't you think Guarnere?"

A sly smile slid across his face, "Yes, sir." Bill took a swig, wincing at the horrid taste. He reached over my chest, giving it to Lipton knowing I would reject that as well.

"Carry on," Winters pulled from the flap halfway. "Oh, and Sergeant?"

"Sir?"

"I'm not a Quaker…" With a knowing smirk he left. Bill cackled and Lipton playfully slapped his back. I even smiled and snorted at our Lieutenant's cleverness.

"He's probably a Mennonite!" Bill cackled, nudging me once more.

"What's a Mennonite?" Toye drunkenly asked, leaning against Harry for support.

I wanted to be cheery with these six men, but my mind was focused on the ones not sitting with us. I hadn't seen Luz or Hoobler, two men that though they were silly, were so dear to my heart. Muck and Penkala, the two inseparable brothers hadn't met with us either. Perconte and Moore were missing as well.

I patted Don's shoulder by reaching behind Carwood, "Yo Malarkey, seen Penk or Skip yet?"

He rested his scraped clean plate on his lap, staring on the open flame, "Nah. I don't think anybody has. Probably just dropped in the wrong DZ, you know?"

I wanted to believe him, but the worst case scenario still gnawed at the back of my head.

We sat in silence for a minute, remembering the men that were still missing. Talbert was nowhere to be seen, Shifty or Bull. The three men that sacrificed to help me up the mountain Currahee were nowhere to be found. I remembered that the boys weren't aware of how Denver and I were not speaking.

"Anybody seen Randleman yet?" Buck asked, followed by spooning a gulp of slop into his mouth. I knew with their solemn shakes nobody had seen him.

"What about you, Loretta? We know you got a thing going on with him," Bill winked, playfully elbowing Lipton in the side.

I sat down my plate on the empty bench beside me and wiped my lips with the back of my hand, "No, I haven't." I stood, and lifted the flap of the truck, gasping for fresh air.

Joe's raspy voice hung as low as the dense air outside, "Sure hope the man's alright…"

I looked back at them over my shoulder, "He's fine… I know it." But I didn't know it for sure.

"Popeye took one in the ass, Lottie!" Buck chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood. Then I realized the only reason that had come to mind is because my ass was right in front of their noses.

One corner of my dry lips curved as sucked in a gasp of air, "That's gotta hurt- his ass and his pride!"

They all roared in laughter, and my smile cracked brighter, pleased I had managed to boost the morale.

"I'm worried about Hoobler, Luz, Tab and Shifty. All of them. They could be anywhere in Europe. I can't stand sitting here, laughing when Bull could be laying wounded somewhere." I swallowed, realizing I had just separated Denver from the rest. "And the others of course…"

Bill rested his heavy left arm around my shoulders, lowering my eyes, "We know how you feel for Bull, and he feels the same."

I sarcastically snorted, "He hardly acts like it. I mean, he calls me Private for Christ's sakes."

Welsh chuckled, "C'mon now, we're talking about Bull Randleman here. Has he ever been known to be affectionate?"

Buck reached across and rubbed my knee, "I'm sure they're all fine… they're just missing like Meehan. Just give it a few days and they'll be back with Easy, cowgirl."

I blinked back tears as my stomach churned. I wasn't sure if it was due to the food I had just ingested, or how Easy Company wasn't easy at all.

Smiling weakly at them all, I excused myself. I pulled back the infamous flap and hopped down from the tailgate. The town was growing quiet, all of the men giving up on their hopes of finding something to eat for dinner.

To the west, I saw what I thought was the sun rising. Then I realized it was just the overwhelming glow of a neighboring town up in flames. Tracers, just like the ones that had pierced my chute 24 hours ago, were scattered across the amber atmosphere. I closed my eyes, begging for the screaming of wounded men to stop. As if their agony was in a battle or competition with the monotonous booming of exploding artillery.

Though I had already killed two men, had been shot myself… I had survived D-Day. The day that would be scripted in the text of history books for years to come. I prayed that I would survive D-Day plus 1 and two and however days added to today would follow. But more than that, I prayed Bull would be at my side through it all.

How do you guys feel on the length of the chapters? I try to keep it no less than 2,000 words… too short, too long or just right? This one felt short, but it was a set up for Carentan. The OC boy will be joining Loretta in the next two chapters! Very excited for that! Please let me know what you think and thank you for reading!