I couldn't get out of the jeep, not from what I was seeing in front of me. It was making me sick to my stomach, almost like I wanted to vomit in my seat from the sight that was in front of me whether I liked it or not. The others were talking to each other about what the best scenario would be in help these people.

These prisoners.

Doc and Joe led me over to Winters who was outside in the courtyard, a somber look on his face as Perconte was still looking like he was about to shake at the knees. He explained that they found something out in the woods on their patrol in the morning while the rest of us were still in our own worlds back in the town. We grabbed all of the jeeps that we could and we went out on the trail that Perconte mapped out for us, having me lead the way in the jeep and Perconte sitting next to me. I kept looking at him every once in awhile to see the look he still had, he was still looking pale and like he saw death in front of him.

And he was right.

There was a camp, some kind of camp with barbed wires all around the perimeter and small hurt inside, some of them dug into the earth. All of the smells we were encountering when we reached a certain point in the drive that made me try not to breathe from the stench of some kind of rotting of the skin, or burning of the scent to be precise. None of us knew what it was until we saw the camp there and all of those faces looking right at us. They looked so lost, so lost and not knowing what to do when they saw a whole group of Americans rolling in trucks and jeeps towards them.

I would be afraid too.

"Open it up," Winters ordered the men as they were standing at the front gate that was chained closed. I was still in the jeep, clutching the steering wheel like I was about to be washed away from a storm that was coming my way. The rest of the men were standing close by Winters, seeing the sight there and already most of them were at a lost for words. I was trying to breathe, but nothing was coming in or out now.

"Anyone of your men speak German?" Winters was asking for someone to talk for him, to translate and try to help in any way as the soldiers were slowly going into the camp, looking at each prisoner and seeing them eye us back in wonder and in stunned silence.

"Come on, Adaline. Let's go help whoever we can," Doc urged me now as he was standing close to me and eyeing the sight himself, clutching his satchel now and having me look up and over at him. He wasn't looking sick, but more like he was concerned about every person he was making eyes with within that prison there, having me see that his heart was sinking on how much work he had to do. I slowly got up from the jeep with my clammy hands and shuffled a bit on the dirt floor. The stench was getting far too great for me to take in and not throw up on my boots, and I placed my hand over my mouth to get most of the smell and odor away from me.

"Here," Doc handed me something from his satchel and it made me look: a Blue headscarf of some kind. It was light blue, almost pure in color with an few drops of stained blood here and there now as he handed the scarf to me and I held it within my hands. I took a moment to hold it before I slowly moved it up to wrap it around my mouth and nose, in an effort to mask the waves after wave of death that was slamming me hard in the face and all along my body.

"Thanks," I thanked him, seeing him nod his head at me and help me tie it on as the others went into the prison camp.

"Better to not get you in trouble and be seen as a female," Doc reminded me, having me nod in agreement as to why I would once again hide the fact that I was a female. I didn't want an uproar with these prisoners when they see that I was a female in their presence, that could be chaos for all involved. Doc was trying to look out for me and we both started walking out to the front gate. I stayed close to him, seeing that the others were scattered about in the camp and interacting with the prisoners, who were either hugging them in weeping stars or just trying to speak to them in German.

As soon as we made our way through the front gates and into the main area, prisoners were there left and right, looking at the pair of us and having me see them up close now. All I could see were bones, bones and gray skin that seem like they have no ever witness or touched the rays of the sun. I wondered what kind of place this really was, if they really are prisoners and why it felt worse than anything. Something was very wrong here, as if a secret was lying here and was very vile and very unholy.

"Jesus, can you believe this place, Web?" I could hear George talking to Webster now as they are walking together, analyzing the place as I was staying behind Doc and seeing him being approached by a couple of the prisoners, trying to talk to him in German, but he had no idea what was going on.

"No," Webster replied back almost dumbfounded. George then found me where I was, having the both of us lock eyes and silently telling each other what we were thinking. We both were scared now, having me really wish I could go over there and hug him close and wish this was all some kind of sick dream that was not even close to being real.

"I don't know…I don't know what you need." Doc said to the prisoner who was talking to him in a weeping tone of German and I looked back over to him. He was trying so hard but all he knew was French, and this was not going as planned. I moved the bandana down now to my neck to get my face to be seen again as I turned my head slightly over in Webster's direction.

"Web, we need you over here." I called to him but keeping my eyes on Doc now as the prisoner was still trying to talk to him and seeing if he was going to indeed help them. Webster jogged over to us now, seeing the situation hearing in what the prisoner was talking to Doc about.

"They're wondering if we're here to help them," Webster translated for us, then talking to the prisoner in German now and the man looking back at him in shock that there was someone who was able to talk to him now.

"Here," Doc said to the man, giving him his canteen and the man drinking it all down now in earnest. As he was doing this, I saw Joe Liebgott talking to another prisoner, translating for him for Winters and Spiers who were trying to understand what this place was.

"I don't think criminals, sir. Uh… Verbrecher (Criminals)?" Joe asked the man now whom shook his head and went on talking to him some more with a stammer there in his voice.

"He said that they were left here this morning, the officers were not looking back at all." Webster was translating some more for Doc and now Bull who happened to have passed by and was hearing what was going on. I looked back at the man too, seeing tears freely fall down his cheeks as he was pointing with his skeleton finger to the opening of the camp, all of us looking too and seeing him shake there.

"There were officers here?" Bull asked, Webster translation for him and the man nodding in return before he brought his hand to his chest like he was touched by fire.

"All of them fled before the sun even rose in the morning, we didn't know where they were going, or if they were going to the other camp where the women were." I cringed when he said it, having me really try and figure out what kind of place this was and how all of these men were looking like they were doing to die at any moment. But I heard Joe said the one sentence that made all of this now a sick twisted of a joke yet it was all real.

"They're Jew. Poles and Gypsies." It was the one sentence that made all of us that were hearing him have the floor fall from underneath us, like the gravity was now making us leave the earth with no sense of holding onto something to bring us back. We were all stunned, even Doc and Bull heard Joe and they were so quiet and in shock now as Webster found his voice again, asking the man a question and the man simply nodding his head before he spoke himself.

"All of them are Jews." Wester said to us now, having me feel some tears fall from my own face now as the reality was sinking in. It was all about religion, not about what they did. I never thought something like this was real, very real and it made me really try not to stomach down the fact that humans were capable of doing this to one another. How could humans do this? It made me really see the Germans in a new light, a new raw light that was even close to kind.

"Christ, they're malnourished." Bull said in almost a mourning manner now as Doc was handing him some of his rations in his satchel with a sour look on his face.

"I'm gonna call Sink. Find Spiers and figure out how to get them some food and water." I heard Winters say to someone as I walked away from the group I was near and over to the middle of the camp again, thinking that this was only the worse thing that I was going to see. But more should be coming, more should be worse that we were going to see and this was only the tip of the iceberg.

What more was there to see and be afraid of?

I watched from the sideline now as they were trying to keep the men back in the camp to monitor their food and water intake. I was now in the verge of a breakdown, knowing that this was happening around me to these poor souls. Just watching them fight over bread even to them from the local bakery, it was making me almost lose my stomach now as I felt someone grasp my hand yet I kept focus on what was in front of me.

"Adaline…" George said to me, and I felt it, having em move away from him now and then rush over to the nearer bush before emptying my stomach into the leaves there and trying not to fall in. It was killing me from the indie out, having me empty out all that was in me and feel so empty and defeated.

"Jesus, Christ." Luz said aloud in a mutter now as he was standing behind me and watching me throw up into the bushes. I almost feel over within moments and he grabbed my arms, keeping me up from falling there into my own vomit and I felt myself shaking all over again. Not only was it making me spew it all from my mouth, but tears were there now from my eyes that were free falling now and hitting my jacket and the leaves.

"Come on, come on back here," George said to me now in a hushed manner as he pulled me back to stand up again, both of my hands were shaking all over and I was hyperventilating there within his arms.

"Doc, over here Doc." George called out to Doc now as I was still trying to breathe, but nothing was really coming out. Someone was running over to our direction now as I was shuffled over to the side where the nearest jeep was and my head felt heavy from all of the images that I was seeing, all of the men who were now permanently in my mind and they all looked like death and they were all so real.

"Let me see, come here and let me see," Doc urged me as he crawled my face within his hands and I was still having a hard time to get oxygen. I saw his eyes, how dark they were and yet how concerned as things were getting blurry in the head now and my hands were trying to grasp my jacket and they shook violently.

"Adaline, you need to breathe in and out. Through your nose and out your mouth." Doc instructed me, having me feel foolish since both men were looking after me and trying to make me feel better in front of the others and making me feel pathetic and worthless. I didn't want this kind of attention, not even the closest.

"You're having a panic attack, focus on your breathing and you'll be okay," Doc explained as I nodded to him, my breathing still out of whack as George finally got into my line of vision. It was no longer Doc who was trying to calm me down and bring me back to earth, it was George now.

"Listen to me, okay sweetheart?" George asked me, having me fully focus on his face and his handsome face that was worried there in front of me, "You need to focus on something, remember back when we were together plenty of times? We talked about movies, which ones made us laugh, and then we talked about Beth. Think of her…think of how much she misses you and how close you are to being with her again," I saw her face in my head, and this time it was not a bad thing to see her. No, this time I was glad I was seeing her face there because it was once again, now in a positive light, bringing me back to reality.

"I know you can see her in your head," George said to me in a loving manner, his hands were rubbing my arms and then he reached over to wipe the falling strands of my hair from my eyes, "You're gonna be alright, I know you will be. If you can survive a plane crash, you can get over this." I reached up to grasp his hand now as I heard Joe talking to the survivors now in German, the prisoners were moaning in pain and in despair from what he was telling them. I only wondered what he was supposed to be explaining, yet George was there trying to bring me back down again. This had to be the tip of the iceberg for me in this whole war, but it was no longer a tip and more of a shove.

"Let's get some of the men back into town or a recon check and a ration protocol. We need to find more supplies for these men and also get you guys some rest." Sink was telling some of the other Captains there within the area as more medics were going over to the prisoners and to check on them. Slowly my breathing was coming back to normal now as George was still holding me close with his hands against my sleeves and his head almost touching my own. I was hoping that no one was watching us and seeing that one again I was not myself anymore.

"Let's go back into town, get away from here, okay?" George asked me as I breathed in deeply and I nodded at him, "Okay, let's bolt out of here on the jeep."

"I can take you," Doc suggest to me as I was standing back up completely and moving away from George and over to the jeep, finding my senses again and no longer freaking out. I shook my head at that, not wanting to steal Doc away from what he needed to do with the others as the main medic.

"No, you need to stay with the men and take care of the prisoners here," I said to him placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from going further. He looked a bit offended at me not having him come with me and take care of me again. He has already done that plenty of times now in the war and now he needed to still be on his own as a medic.

"I can take her, Doc." George reassured him now as he could see how hurt Doc must have looked from me telling him stay behind with the rest of the group. Other soldiers that were not helping were filing over to the jeeps now as both George and I walked together, close by each other and having me try to keep my head down so that others would see what I was going through within that moment.

I was just wanting to get the hell out of that place.

The next day was a bit the same, not bad and not good. We were stationed to go back to the camp and send the survivors to the local hospital there in Landsburg, other patients, there were pushed out and sent away from there so the whole building would be occupied by the ones who survived the night. For the locals who stayed in the town, and whom apparently had no die that on the other side of the forest where they were living, were sent to the map to help with the clean up and demolishing the camp. Nixon was more than happy to help with the locals going over there since he looked the most pissed about what happened to innocent men.

But it was worse to hear that there was another map down the railroad line, one of Women.

I heard about that in the morning when I woke up and I went into the main square of town for news. I was informed that there were more camps like this all around Europe, all of which were mostly filled with Jews, Poles, Gypsies, and other who were not part of the normal crowd. It made me want to hate them, hate the Germans from what they did. But then again, I was dumbfounded than anything.

I helped load and unload the survivors into the hospital now, seeing them come wave after mourning wave into the building and me going back to the camp again before all of them were finally there and safe within the walls. Most of them were malnourished and were needing some more food that was not going to kill them and a good couple of days to get warm and stable.

They were the lucky ones,

When the sun was about to go down on the town and we were getting most of them ready for bed, we had another group of jeeps coming in from another company that too found the camps that were further down the railroad line, past the women's camp. I looked from my own spot in the lobby, talking to some of the other sergeants and jeep drivers as to what we were going to do with the rations that we were going to get the next day. What I saw made my own heart break, but I said nothing as they were flooding the lobby now with the soldiers guiding them, some of the soldiers carrying them.

Children. Goddamn, children.

Some of them were as much as being 4 years old, others as old as 12 years old and as tall a small little sugar cane trees. They all had shaven heads, like the other prisoners from the first camp we saw. and some of them were too like skeletons with skin seeping over bones. They looked so lost as they were being herded into spare rooms, 3 or 4 to a room now and nurses were looking at them over as well as the medics that were available. Doc Roe went there too to help with the little ones, and I felt pretty bad since all I was to them was a driver. I had to think of something.

"What can I do for those kids, George?" I asked George as we both were sitting there together on my bed, after another round of nightmares from the camps opening my mind to raw things. It was still early morning, and I had no heart to go back to sleep again so George and I started to talk about the camps again in hopes that I would clear my mind.

"They probably need some kind of distraction, you know?" He asked me, having me cock my head a thin since he sounded so unusual, "I mean, I always thought humor was the best way to try and forget, to try and make things better."

"But how can we try and make them forget something that has almost killed them?" I asked him, trying to place it all together in my head and almost sounding pathetic about it really. Georg grabbed the both of my hands and held them close, giving me a sad smile since I knew he too was in pain from seeing the children.

"I'm not saying we need to make them forget, since that is close enough to be impossible," He agreed with me and I was about to say something to him when he beat me to the punch, "But I know kids and I know how to make them…at least for a short while….forget where they are and have them feel like kids again."

"You do?" I questioned.

"Sure I do! I would help babysit kids sometimes when I was a teenager maybe young too since they all thought I was a good laugh. I know how to make kids grins, make them run around after me like I was a scary pirate, and mostly just make them feel safe," I grinned, the first time that day I smiled and it all because of how George spoke about giving children that sense of safety when they were rocked of her minds and their lives. I knew how Beth was when she would have a nightmare, or when she would fall to the floor and scar up her legs and knees. I knew to distract her, to get her mind off of the pain and what was causing it and make her think of something else. George had a point, it does work well on kids, better on them than adults.

"We do we have to do?"

The last day we were in town there in Landsburg, we were all briefed on George's plan. Well, some of the men in Easy were briefed, the ones who were assigned to work the hospital really since the rest were back at the camp again. We told them to help out in any way whether is telling stories to the children or just telling them jokes and among faces. We had to find a way t make sure they are distracted long enough to somewhat smile and feel better about life. At first, the Easy Men were a bit skeptical, not thinking it was going to work. But George and I knew since he worked with kids for some time and I had a child of my own,

It was going to work.

I was afraid of how it was going to work, but we had Webster to translate for the children as George was telling the children some old fairy tales that he remembered as a kid. I was watching from the door now, seeing about 13 children all sitting at George's feet and he was in a chair, Webster next to him as George was telling the tale of Cinderella.

"That's when the fairy Godmother appeared with her wings and a long magic wand, and she told Cinderella, 'You can go to the ball and I'll make you the most beautiful maiden there!' " George said to the children as Webster was telling it in German. Most of the children were wide eyes, some of them and their mouths open from the story. I made me grin, seeing how innocent they were with their shaven heads and still looking like skin and bones. I wondered how long they are going to look like this now, having me feel a bit of a pain there since something else flooded my head. They had no idea where their mothers and fathers were.

Do they know if they were alive or dead?

"Hey," I looked over my shoulder at the hallway, seeing that it was none other than Joe Liebgott there. I wondered how he was doing. I haven't seen him since we were at the camp days before, and from what I was told by Perconte and Christenson, he was not taking the whole situation lightly. He was in tears on his ride home in the jeep, not having anyone look at him and make sure he was alright. I knew it was making him feel like he was buried alive, not being able to breathe. He had it was worse because he too was a Jew and these were his people.

It murdered him.

"Hey," I replied back, smiling at him a small grin as he was analyzing the group inside the room. The children giggled after George made a romantic kind of face and sighed loudly. Their giggled and laughter were a chorus that was somehow lifting me from the ground, yet I could still see the look of pain on Joe's face now as he was watching, not getting anywhere close to the room now, as if he was afraid to be near them.

"What's he doin'?" Joe asked me now with his head motioning to Luz, who was talking some more with his hands and using voices to tell the tale.

"Telling the children a story," I replied back to him, seeing him look in both disbelief and with a hint of confusion there on his face. I kind of knew this was going to happen with him since Joe was never once to really embrace anything new or anything out of his comfort zone.

"A Story?" He asked, almost sounding like a snort. I could see he was still rocky from the whole thing, the war color was no longer there and it felt like there was a boulder on his shoulder now instead of a small chip that someone would get.

"They need something to help them get better other than medicine, so we're trying to….get them to feel better." I explained to him some more. He then glared at them, having em really want to find out what was going on in his head and if it was something that I could fix. He then moved away from the door now and started to walk away from the scene, having me sigh in defeat and walk after him.

"Look, Joe," I started still following him and having me see him still walk with a hunch on his face, "What happened to them was not at all fair, let alone decent in the very least. We are just trying to make it better for them so that they can at least find some kind of silver lighting—"

"What kind of silver fucking lighting can they get from what happened to them?" Joe said now, looking back at me with anger on his face now as we were standing in front of each other in the hallway, soldiers were walking by us and some of them were watching us now. I stayed calm since I knew Joe was going to have some kind of blow up because of all of this. I just didn't think it was going to be on me now.

"They need a sense of hope, Joe. If that's the only thing we can give them right no, then so be it," I explained calmly again, but he shook his said and scoffed.

"It's all utter bullshit! You guys are trying to hide what happened to them and the fact that there were hundreds if not thousands of my Goddamn people who died back there and in other camps! You all act like nothing happened from how you're telling them stories and filling their heads!" Joe countered back at me, taking a step towards me and having me that he was shaking a bit from pure hate and anger in his body.

"We're not pushing it aside," I said to him, raising my voice slightly as he went quiet, "We all saw what happened, we know what the German soldiers did! Don't you dare call us oblivious to what happened, We are just trying to move forward and focus on those who survived now!"

"It sure doesn't look like it, with George acting like a complete jackass in there as if nothing happened," Joe challenged me, having me shift in my spot and make fists at my sides.

"Don't you say that about George! He's your friend, and you're making it sound like he's committing a crime, that we all are." I said to him, trying to call him out as it he as he stalked over to em to stand so close that I could see the sweat on his brow and in the hate in his brown orbs.

"You guys are committing a crime, all because you think telling them a few stories will make all that they were exposed to go away? Those sick fucking bastards deserve to be rubbed alive because of what they did and I don't want to be like the rest of you with a thumb up my ass and acting like dicks—" Joe was cut off before he could insult me even more when he heard someone walking over in our direction now, having me feel like Joe just ripped open my heart and stomped it to the floor with the heel of his foot.

"Liebgott." I kept my eyes on him as we heard Major Winters, looking at the bath of us with his hands on his hips in the middle of the hallway. As soon as Winters said his name, something switched off in Joe, having me see him take in a shaky breath now as he lowered his eyes to the floor and I just stared. I knew he was in pain, I knew he was trying to find his way back from where he was, but I also knew too that he didn't have to take it that far. It hurt, how he said it to me and made me feel more like a fool than anything. For some reason, it hurt.

Real bad.

"Liebgott, you were assigned to go on a run for me for the next few days," Winters said to him, his voice calmer than before when he was telling Joe to cease with his rant on me. Joe still didn't look at me, sighing in agitation now.

"I'm fine, sir." He said back to Winters, but Winters shook his head.

"It's not a choice. Come with me and we'll head to CP," Winters ordered him as he walked over to me now. I wanted to get out of there and not look at Joe for the rest of the day, It was making me really wish that I didn't go after him, but then again he had to know what we were doing with the kids and not just filling their heads with stories and false promises.

"O'Malley, everything okay with the children?" Winters asked me, yet my eyes were drilling into Joe's now as I moved away from him and nodded my head shortly.

"Yes, sir. Everything's fine." I replied, saluting him before I walked away from them both ad back down the hall without a second thought. It was not worth bringing to Winters what Joe said, I was never once to snitch on another person because of their attitude. I was still sore about it, how he talked to me like I was someone who was in his way. We were close friends, and now it felt different. I felt a small tear escape my eye as I wiped it away with my sleeve.

Damn Joe Liebgott. Damn him.