I'm back! I'm sure you aren't really interested, but my trip to South Dakota was pretty great! :) Went to countless museums and absorbed all the history I could contain!

Being at Mt. Rushmore on the 4th was surreal, and they had a memorial for the veterans there that night. The whole event was special, but what struck my heart was a little old lady, probably in her 90's proudly standing up there, saluting. When it was her turn to touch the flag, announce her branch and name she said, "(name) U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Gold Star."

I began to cry silently, she was so courageous and as everybody cheered… I think apart of her knew that. As the thousands of people there cheered and clapped for everybody at the end, I couldn't help but think it wasn't enough. My whole life I've wondered how you can possible thank somebody enough for giving it all.

Just something to think about, I really hope you enjoy this chapter! The whole trip I had my notebook in hand and scribbled down ideas. A lot of surprising things are in store! :D

Chapter Twenty-One- Betrayed By the Trusted

"How's the… um…" Bill gestured downwards, and instantly Essie caught on.

She cracked a grin, "It's almost over Billy boy, I'll survive…"

He nodded sheepishly and jabbed his hands further into his armpits. Talking seemed to ease the pain of the cold that stabbed through her. As they crunched nearer to their foxhole, Essie puffed frozen air into her red hands.

Distantly behind them could be heard a figure trotting nearer, and eventually Essie made it out to be Doc.

"Seargeant Guarnere? Did you keep your morphine from Holland?"

"Hey, Doc I gotta talk to you…" Essie noticed Bill glance over at her. "Hey, how's that leg?" Gene asked, concerned.

"Ah, the hell with the leg, I'm pissing needles!" Esther allowed herself to quietly scoff.

"Later. Miss?" Essie turned her attention to him, "Miss, do you have any supplies to spare?"

"'Fraid not, Doc. I'm sorry." As he began to turn to walk away and scrounge up what he could, an idea struck him.

"Esther, I need you to go with Spina later and get some supplies." Before Essie could question what he meant, Gene jogged off to find another victim.

Guarnere swore under his breath as Essie tried not to giggle at him.

"Payback," she paused and Toye handed her an entrenching tool with a smile. "Is a bitch…"

It took some time for him to realize what she was saying. Before he could haughtily respond, artillery sent frozen black dirt into the fog.

Esther bent her aching knees, and tried to melt small into the side of the fresh foxhole. A tree cracked and fell over, missing Eugene by inches. She pried open her terrified and squeezed shut eyes, watching Doc bound through the thin forest.

Seconds later, "They peppered my helmet!" Essie made it out to be Muck complaining, and her heart thumped rapidly when she didn't hear Penkala respond. Her red ears then heard his familiar voice screaming urgently for a medic.

Without a second thought, she sprung up and began clambering up the wall like a skittish animal. Right as she breeched the edge, and heavy hand grasped around her ankle, making her heart beat heavier.

"Where the hell you going, Es!" With one easy yank, Bill pulled her next to his side. She struggled desperately, trying to get out of his hold.

"Let- me- GO!" Her small fists beat into his chest. "I have to go see Penk!"

Toye moved his eyes from his sights pointing out to the line and noticed Bill fumbling around with the young woman.

His hands firmly clasped her shoulders, "Jeezus Essie, settle down! Its fine… listen!" His raspy voice soothed her like no other, and slowly she relaxed. Alex's screams were no longer cutting through the thick and troublesome fog.

Before she could jump to the conclusion he was dead, Bill began drawing small circle's on her back with his hand. Finally calm, Essie blew out a puff of steam blocking the sight of Joe's wide eyes starring at her.

She sat back from Bill, "I'm sorry. It's just- it's just… nothing."

Bill lowered himself from the waist up so his eyes could meet with hers, "No, what were you gonna say? You can trust us." As Bill gestured towards Joe, she felt guilty she was poking fun at him earlier.

"Well," she sucked in a cold gasp of air. "I told those boys to be careful, and they thought I was kidding."

Essie felt a stone forming in her throat, damming up her words. Trying to rid it, she swallowed hard making her lungs burn. "I just don't want anything to happen to them…"

A lone tear traveled down her rosy cheek, but didn't go far as it froze to her skin. Bill smiled gently at her, and brought his arm around her waist so she was beside him. Toye scooted closer, sandwiching her between them. Instantly she felt relaxed.

"That goes for you two too! Please be careful, I want you two at my wed-" She brought her hand to her burning cheek, and they both began to chuckle.

"Having thoughts of marrying Tab, are we?" Joe poked her in the ribs, making her face burn.

"Damn it… I can't believe I just said that." Her face burned brighter, but for once she was glad- it was the only warm thing on her body.

B.o.B.

"Who got hit?" Spina asked Gene who casually plopped himself in the foxhole.

"Penkala," he responded, as if nothing had just happened.

He dug through his bag, handing Spina some bandages, "Alright here, this is what I want you to do. I want you to take Heffron and Fusillade and work your way over to 3rd Battalion."

"Why's Essie coming?"

Eugene rolled his eyes, "Because, with her pretty face maybe they'll give us more supplies."

Spina silently nodded in agreement, "You know what we need, morphine, plasma, bandages. Whatever you beg, you beg. And get me some goddamn sizzuhs… I can't get any! And get yourselves a hot meal too, eh?"

Spina nodded and struggled to get up, "Go get 'em." Gene slapped Spina's back.

Minutes after searching through the fog, Spina finally located Babe.

"Let's go, I need some cover. Doc needs some supplies from 3rd Batt. We gotta find Essie too…"

Babe raised his eyebrows as Spina turned to look around him, "What the hell is she coming for?"

"What? You don't like her?"

"No," Babe searched for the words. "It's just… she makes me nervous."

"What the hell for? She's the nicest girl I know."

"I don't know, Speen! I've never been good with the girls… you know that." He stood up shakily and made it out as Spina bounced on his heels impatiently.

"Hurry up!"

Babe swore, "Why the hell are you so eager to find her?"

Irritated by the turning of the tables, Spina grabbed Babe's collar and drug him along.

Babe lightly tapped the muzzle of his rifle on top of her sleepy head. "C'mon, Essie. Come with us." He was trying to keep the talk simple.

"Jesus…" She was confused and rubbed her face. She placed her helmet over her hair filled with snow balls.

As they crunched through the frozen layers of the white blanket, Essie became fully alert and listened to her friends' conversation.

"You know he told be he's a goddamn virgin?"

"Who?" Spina seemed interested, and so was Essie.

"Replacement in my foxhole, Julian." Babe turned his body to look around. He found Essie with her eyes fixed on the ground beneath her, her collar high around her neck. "Goddamn virgin, just a kid."

Spina pushed on for a chuckle, forgetting Essie was there. "The only virgin I know is the Virgin Mary…"

As Babe chuckled at the tasteless joke, Essie's shot up her head and narrowed her eyes at the prey. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean!"

They both turned to face her, startled by her outspokenness.

Spina thought nothing of it, "It means… anybody who is anybody has had sex. Haven't you, Es?"

"Jesus Christ, Speen! NO I have not! Have you guys?" she wanted to sock them both in the jaw.

"Well, sure. I'm surprised nobody has claimed you yet! And are you still on your cycle, Es? You sure act like it, pissy." Her mouth flew open, filled with disgust.

"What about you, Babe? Have you taken somebody's innocents yet?" Venom coursing through her every word.

"Well… yea. I though everybody had. I mean, no! Essie, it's totally normal. What about you and Tab?" Flashbacks raged through her mind of that one night he tried to get her to make love. And that one night that her and Nixon almost had. Her shaking fingers fumbled to snatch a cigar from her leg pouch. Desperately she jammed it in her lips, trying to suppress the million vicious things she could spew.

Once the cancer stick was wedged in her teeth, she subconsciously spoke, "I almost did… but not with Tab…"

They both shot their bewildered looks at her, "WHAT?" They chorused in unison.

"I mean, Jesus…" She searched desperately for the words to cover up her massive mistake. "I just said that to shut you up! I mean, you clearly know how I feel about this, remember?" She let out a fake giggle, trying to get them to forget about the whole thing.

"What do you mean, almost?" They pushed on, and the pressure plagued her thoughts.

"Uhm… aren't we supposed to be getting supplies?"

Babe was enjoying this more than Spina, "Don't change the subject! Do you mean to say, out perfect little angel has 'done it'?"

"NO! No, we just touched each other…"

They bellowed out 'OH's' and instantly Essie realized how awful that sounded.

"Like, we didn't even kiss! We just sat close, or whatever!" With every word she spoke, the situation got worse.

"And who makes the other half of 'we'?"

"Talbert… it was Talbert." She lied horrifically, but they believed it.

Babe caught on, "But you said it wasn't with Floyd."

She rolled her eyes, acting as best as she could, "I just said that… because I was embarrassed."

Spina still wasn't done toying with her, "So you are embarrassed by Tab?"

"Jesus, NO! I love that man, with all my heart!" Tears formed in her eyes, the frustration was taking over. Her lower lip quivered as she realized she had betrayed Tab as much, or worse than he had betrayed her.

The tears of frustration were steadily falling now, "I hate this company! You are all a bunch of assholes!"

She turned on her heel and sped off, "Essie, no! Wait, we were just messing with you!" Spina called after her as she sprinted off into the foggy unknown trees.

Essie tore through the blanket of powder, tears cascading down her pink face. They rolled so heavily down; even the extreme cold couldn't freeze them in their tracks. She continued to bend and dash through the trees, her pace now slowing down to a sluggish jog.

Out of breath and her lungs burning, Esther decided to stop and rest. Her cycle was still getting the best of her; the emotions so confusing and frustrating. The memories of them laughing at her, Lewis stroking her face, and the painful thought of betraying Talbert gushed through. All of this made her emotions waver and spin, sending her into an unsightly heap at the base of a splintered tree.

Multiple rounds rang out in the distance, and she regained her thoughts. Her heart's only desire seemed to be to bound from her chest. She became filled with fear that Babe and Spina were hurt, and here she was feeling sorry for herself. Essie rested her eye sockets on her bony and protruding knees, and let the stream of tears flow.

"The last thing they heard," she quietly gasped through the sobs. "was me calling them assholes…" She whispered to herself, certain her closest friends were dead.

B.o.B.

"These smell like my armpit!" Malarkey complained, wrapping his fingers around his tin cup.

"At least your armpits are warm," Muck held the greasy biscuit in the air between his fingertips, acting as if it had a disease.

The waiter of sorts turned to face them, "You want syrup with that?"

"Hey, be honest- what's in these things anyway, huh?"

"Nothing you won't eat, Malarkey!" And he walked off, preparing to feed the next group of men.

"I won't eat malarkey!" Skip childishly added.

The virgin replacement piped in, "Hey maybe Hinkle would like your share, eh?"

"Ah, I should've shot 'em when I got the chance!"

"What, running backwards Babe?" Penkala teased.

Eugene faintly smiled, his cigarette wiggling from his curved lips, but they soon regained their original form. "Hey, has anybody seen Miss Essie? I thought she was with you guys."

Babe's eye's got wide, and he swallow the guilt down hard. "Yea, she was with us. But she ran off, she was being all pissy because of her period, or some shit."

Doc chose to ignore the last remark, and instead shot up from where he was sitting. "What? You left her out there, alone! Where is she!"

"Jesus, calm down, Gene! Our baby girl can take care of herself!"

"You left Essie out there!" Malarkey stood up, nearing his friend.

Babe held his arms up in surrender, "She needed to cool off-"

Eugene clentched his pale hand around Babe's collar, forcing him to face his furious face. Malarkey leaned back, astonished by Roe's incredibly rare spout of anger.

"You're right! She is gonna cool down, as in die! It's fucking 20 degrees below zero, Babe! Essie is gonna die out there!"

The ring of men went silent; Doc was breaking so many of his own rules.

*evil laugh* Sorry it wasn't long, I promise to get another one out! I wanted to experiment with new POV's (kinda), and set some things up for upcoming chapters!

Wanna make my day/week/month/year? Then review! :D