The pop of machine gun fire started as soon as Harper and the squad stepped out onto the field. None of them could tell how many men were in the nest. There was only one machine gun, and that's all any of them needed to worry about. Well that and not getting shot, which was turning out to be more difficult than any of them had originally anticipated.

As she ran, Harper felt a round of gunfire hit the ground next to her feet. She pushed her legs faster and dove behind the closest hill to the nest. Reiben, who had been tailing her, dove in beside her. Thinking it had been Jackson behind her, Harper franticly searched the field behind her for a lump dead on the ground.

Reiben hit her shoulder. When she looked at him he nodded toward another hill where Wade and Horvath were in the process of lopping grenades toward the nest. At first Harper didn't see what Reiben was trying to show her, but then her eyes drifted off behind them a way and she saw muzzle of the Springfield sticking over the point of a hill. She let out a shaky breath and smiled as the unmistakable crack sounded over the field.

At that moment she regretted giving her Springfield to Tim to hold. What if he broke it? Or shot himself in the foot by accident. He was never very good with his rifle even when the safety was on. Plus, she longed to be back there with Jackson, feeling the crackle of electricity as she and the tall southerner were completely in tune with each other. Without even realizing it, Harper let her mind wander back to when Caparzo had gotten shot. She remembered how Jackson had lined his target up first but instinctively waited for her to line up her shot before he took his. Then when they both pulled the trigger at the exact same moment. Just remembering it sent chills up her spine. Harper had never that in sync with anyone ever in her life.

That moment however was not a good idea to be off in your own little world because if you weren't paying attention, you would most likely get shot or blown to bits.

"Harper, pay attention!" shouted Reiben shoving her hard.

Harper suddenly realized her stupidity in letting her mind wander. She snapped back in a flash and caught the grenade one of the Germans had tossed at the hill. Without a second's hesitation, she lopped it back into the nest. It exploded right above one of the German soldiers, sending him flying down on top of Reiben and Harper's hill. Reiben looked up in time to see the body coming and to jump out of the way, but Harper was to late. The scared, knife welding German landed on her like a ton of bricks. Reiben, meanwhile was thrown out into the open on the other side of the hill. The machine gunners immediately took advantage of this, though luckily they were not the best aim. Reiben threw himself behind a different hill.

"Harper! HARPER!" Reiben yelled over the gunfire.

"I'm…… fine…." Harper answered, though she doubted he heard her.

She was struggling furiously with the German. Despite his small stature, he was very strong, and the knife he had was drawing blood from one side of her neck. Harper grabbed his shirt collar and managed to push him up high enough to get her feet under his rib cage. Once there, he knew he was beat. Harper threw him off herself and jumped on him. She wrenched the knife from his grasp and held it against his neck, fully intending to slit his throat until she looked into his eyes. He was a child. Younger than she. His boyish face held terror. Harper hesitated as she looked into his eyes. They were surprisingly similar to Wade's. At the moment they were terrified, but Harper could tell, had she seen them anywhere but in this hell hole, they would have been gentle and kind. This hesitation on Harper's part, however short, was enough for the German to get his feet under her and throw her off. She landed hard against the back of the hill and the German got up and scurried away around the hill. Just as he did, the crack of the Springfield echoed across the hills making Harper jump. She looked around and saw a pair of army issue booted feet sticking out from around the hill.

"Harper! You alright?" came Reiben's voice.

He sounded frantic. When she turned to tell him she was fine, she saw a grenade being thrown their way.

"Yeah I'm fine, but you wont be if you don't get down!" she shouted while at the same time diving at him.

She knocked the Brooklyn boy out of the way of the oncoming grenade. They both rolled over and over down the other side of the hill. Harper rolled a few feet away from Reiben, who crawled quickly to her side and they both huddled together under the falling debris from the grenade. After the dirt finished cascading around them, the machine gun fire started again. They both scurried back over the hill to safety.

"Watch yourselves!" Miller shouted from across the field.

We're trying sir!" Reiben yelled back. "But these Germans are like damn cockroaches!"

"Then lets squish them like cockroaches!" Mellish shouted making Reiben snort with laughter.

"Alright fish. You go squish em' then!" yelled Harper smiling.

She heard Mellish say something back, but couldn't make out what it was over the exploding and shooting. At that moment the Springfield cracked again and another German fell from the nest spouting blood from his blood.

"How many of them are there, Jackson?" yelled Miller turning back to Jackson's position.

Jackson leaned around the hill and held up both hands then two fingers.

"12," breathed Harper.

"We have a lot of work to do!" yelled Miller. "Someone's got to get up there!"

The squad cowered behind their hills waiting for Miller's instructions.

"Reiben, you try to go around the back. Take Mellish," said Miller.

Reiben nodded and took off around toward the back of the nest with Mellish in toe. Harper muttered an inaudible 'be careful' then turned back to Miller for further instructions. Miller watched Reiben and Mellish go then turned to the rest of his squad.

"Lewis, go back with Jackson. See if he needs any help."

"Sir how am I going to help him? I gave Tim my sniper," said Harper as a grenade hit the outside of the hill.

Miller didn't even have to say anything. He just glared in her direction and she obeyed. It was no use to argue when Miller was like this.

"Covering fire!" shouted Miller as Harper prepared to run.

As the German fire sounded, Harper waited to hear the American fire, then she ran. Though she had less gear to weigh her down she still couldn't run as fast as she would have liked considering her back was to the enemy. Finally she got close enough to the hill to see Jackson. He shot a quick smile at her then went back to looking through his scope. As Harper heaved herself to the top of Jackson's small hill, the Springfield cracked right next to her head making her temporarily deft.

Harper looked up to Jackson's face. He was yelling something, but Harper couldn't hear him so she followed his gaze out to the battle field. Her hearing seemed to come back as she did so.

"WADE GET DOWN!" Jackson bellowed as he desperately fired off shots at the machine gunner.

Harper quickly scanned the field for the Medic. When she found him, her mouth fell open. He was charging up the hill right toward the nest!

"What is he doing?!" Harper shouted to Jackson.

"I don't know!" he yelled back. "He's gone insane!"

Harper stared at him but suddenly realized what he was doing. Wade had stopped about halfway up the hill to help a wounded German. That was the bad thing about Wade. He was still human. This war hadn't beaten away his humanity like it had for the rest of them, then on top of that he was the medic, and really cared about life. It didn't matter if that life was evil or not.

"Wade get back here!" shouted Miller frantically.

He was trying to find a way to get to the stupid medic without getting shot, and Harper knew there was no way of doing that. For Miller at least. Thinking quickly Harper dove behind the hill next to Jackson and began pulling off what little gear she had left.

"What do you think you are doing?" asked Jackson who already had a pretty good idea of what she was doing.

Harper didn't answer.

"Harper," Jackson grabbed her shoulders and forced her to stop.

"Let go of me Jackson. Wade is going to get himself killed," said Harper pulling hard against him, but his vice grip on her shoulder's didn't budge.

"I'm not going to let you kill yourself trying to save our stupid medic," said Jackson with fierce conviction in his brown eyes.

Fire flared up inside Harper and she shoved Jackson so hard he fell backward.

"Its fine if you don't feel like risking your life for one of your squad members, but I'm going to help Wade," hissed Harper.

She turned ready to charge the field when Jackson caught her arm. Harper whirled around and glared at him.

"Harper I-"

"Shove it Jackson," Harper growled and pulled out of his grasp.

She turned back and took off down the steep hill. Machine gun fire popped behind her as soon as she started running. She heard the Springfield crack behind her and internally thanked whoever was listening for Jackson and his amazing shot. The machine gun was quiet for less than a second as someone else took the first German's place. He had his sights on Harper. That is until he saw Wade and the German soldier.

The machine gun immediately set its sights on him.

"He's trying to help your man!" screamed Harper pushing her legs faster than she ever dreamed they would go.

Though screaming was useless since the German couldn't hear over everything that was going on. Harper was forced to dive behind a hill as a grenade flew her way. She rolled to the other side of the hill just in time to be blinded by a wall of dirt that exploded in front of her face.

When she could see again, she saw Wade cowering against the hill as machine gun fire rained down around him and the wounded German. The medic looked terrified, yet he was using himself to cover the wounded enemy. Rage and pride filled Harper at the same time. Pride because the medic in her squad was so heroic and cared about every life, and rage because he was going to get himself killed trying to save the enemy.

"Cover me!" she yelled to whoever was listening.

Harper shot out from behind the hill, zigzagging, dodging bullets and grenades until, through no miracle of her own, she made it to Wade.

"How did you do that?" he asked, surprised to see her by his side.

"Magic," she said smiling light heartedly at him. "Now can we please get out of here?"

Wade looked ruefully at the dead German by his feet.

"A few more minutes and I could have saved him," said Wade.

Harper put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know Wade. It's ok. You did your best."

Wade nodded but still didn't look happy. Harper nodded back to where the rest of the squad was and smiled.

"Lets go," said Wade, and with that they began running out onto the field.

Wade was in front with Harper pushing him mentally to go faster. Harper heard the Springfield crack twice, and just as she thought she and Wade were in the clear, she heard an inhuman scream.

It sounded very close, but she couldn't see who was hit. Then it dawned on her. She stopped in the middle of the field and looked down at her front. Her fingers found warm, sticky blood soaking through her uniform on her stomach. Her mouth fell open in surprise as Jackson's voice could be heard over the battle field.

"NO! HARPER!"

The sharp sound of the sniper filled the air as Harper saw Wade turn, quickly take in her appearance, then rush to her side. At that second she collapsed and blackness enveloped her.