We stopped in the next town, a small village called Landsburg, with all the jeeps and trucks with the men lurking in slowly and coming to a stop in the middle of the square. The was a quaint little town, the citizens there were looking at us in awe and curiosity as the men were piling out of the trucks one by one. I hopped out of the jeep, looking back at the rest of the girls before I was going to walk over to the other Captains that were meeting with a game plan.

"Get some rooms for us over the building on the left side, then meet me in the lobby in ten minutes and we'll go over a game plan," I instructed them as they nodded their heads. I moved then over to Welsh, Lipton, Spiers, Nixon and Winters who were talking together. I could see some of the lingering eyes of those citizens as they saw me walking in my Black Mamba uniform, in awe that a woman was amongst the men there as well as the other girls.

"I want to spend out patrols. I'll have Dog here in the vIllage, Easy and Fox in the woods," Winters said to the the group of us, in which case he looked over at me, "You alright sending Black Mamba in with Easy and Fox?"

"I'll let them know, Major," I replied smoothly.

"Easy and Black Mamba are going to take the Northwest, Lieutenant Lipton, have 1st and 2nd platoon swing up to the wood and have the third swing around," Spiers instructed Lipton

"Yes sir," Lipton replied as he walked over to the others and I was left there with Spiers.

"You think it's advisable to have all of your unit out there in the woods, or would you prefer to have some of them here with Dog Company?" Spiers asked m, in which I raised an eyebrow to him.

"I think Dog can handle the village without Black Mamba aiding them, don't you?" I asked, not wanting it to sound like a tease but it almost did sound like it. Spier almost chuckled, a real one too as he was thinking about it. I looked back over at the girls in Black Mamba, all of whom were talking together while they were getting their things and about to walk over to the hotel that we were going to take. It pained a bit to see them acting like they had no care or worry int he world. But it was a painful reminder that we were still being watched not by civilians, but by other soldiers and officers. We were still not safe in this place, even with me being a Captain and some kind of rights and authority.

"Have you heard back from Captain Matthews?" Spiers asked me as I was still watching the girls walk over to the small hotel, shoulder to shoulders and laughing about someone's joke that was just said.

"I should be hearing from him soon," I answered,"I should be hearing a recent new report on Black Mamba and our performance."

"You fear you're not fulfilling a unit's priority?" Spiers questioned since it sounded like he too was curious and almost confused about that as well as I. How could I word it to him without sounded cruel or mean on my own part? How could I make him understand what kind of danger we were in as a unit compared to the others in the army merely because we were female? It would be lost and confusing for him, but for us was real and it was so close to exploding in our faces. But I felt like I shouldn't talk to him about it, not now since we were still doing our job there.

"It's not my decision whether or not we can be here and help, Captain Spiers," I left it at that, walking away from him and over to the hotel lobby. I couldn't do that in this moment, not while we were still on patrol and still doing our job with helping Easy in any way we could. I still had to think of the unit and what worked best for us and what was going to make us succeed. I couldn't think of things that could happen to us in the near or distant future, I had to remind myself that the present was all we could work with and hope for.

What was going to happen was going to happen.

"From here on out we have to keep our heads on straight for anything that could happen to us," I instructed the girls there as we were meeting in the lobby. We were all alone there in that dimly lit lobby of the small hotel, I could see the German decor and the furnishings there that made me both feel like home and out of place at the same time. We got the chairs all in a circle, facing each other and we were talking about the next few days and what we could be up against when it came to our place in the army and with Easy.

"Captain Matthews still thinks of us as an ally for Easy I assume?" Harper asked me, mostly to me but I knew she was talking to the others in the room.

"As of thus far, we're still supposed to say with Easy Company with whatever they need. However, I would have to keep you guys warned that we could be called away from them sometimes soon within the next day or so," I explained, pausing a bit after I said that to them to have to sink in. They looked a bit off when I said it, looking at each other to see who was understanding it. But it was O'Neal who finally spoke up then.

"Ma'am, Are we going to go back home?" She asked me, almost tentatively as the others were looking at me as well. They were now wondering the same questions, and I didn't know who to word it to them without making it sound bad.

"You all know that we've been watched: both by the soldiers and the officers. They've been wondering if we are good enough to be in the army, to be amongst them and working alongside them. So I wouldn't be surprised if we get pulled out for who know what," Some of them sat back, drinking that in, others were looking a bit frustrated about it really as I took in my own shaky breath.

"I want you all to know, that whatever happens with us, you have all done a great deal of service to your country. I wouldn't want to fight with anyone else, believe me when I say that." It felt like we were about to go off on our own and never see each other again, and it pained me to say that to them. They must have known that we were going to be on the ropes sometime soon, and for whatever reason, we could be pulled and taken home.

"I'm not gonna be surprised if they do, ma'am. But I'm not going to quite just yet," Harper explained to me as she shifted in her own seat, "We came this far, haven't we? How many missions do you think we've been on?"

"More than I can count on both fingers," Stranton answered.

"Exactly, and if they can't see that as something, if pardon my language for the brief moment, but fuck them." I saw the other chuckle a building when she said that and they grinned too. They were on the same pair when it came to something like that, they knew what they did and they didn't need other to recognize that. I even grinned, for some odd reason since she used language like that, it made me feel better about it. They were content with the future and what it had in store for them.

But was I satisfied?

As soon as I walked out into the courtyard again after Black Mamba went off to help the Easy scouts in the woods, I could see more and more soldiers that were talking with each other and just passing the time. It still felt warm as I could see Babe, Liebgott, and Sisk talking with each other against the fence in front of one of the jeeps. As soon as they saw me, they waved me over, having me shove my hands in my pockets and walk over with an ease in my step.

"Heya, Captain," Babe greeted me.

"Babe, Sisk, Liebgott. Have you guys seen Doc Roe around?" I asked, making it mostly a curious question as they all shook their heads.

"He's in a meeting with Spina and the other medics in Dog and Fox company, ma'am. Going over supplies for something like that," Babe answered, "Where are the others?"

"They're on patrol." I replied smoothly, "Why you wanna know?"

"He was hoping that Harper would teach him that mean right hook she has," Sisk said in a grin, Babe then shoving him a bit with the back of his hand against his chest to quiet him down. It was then that Liebgott spoke up, almost look down for a brief second and then right at me in the eyes.

"Hey uhh…I wanted to say sorry," He said to me kindly, and I could tell he was trying to make it sound very genuine on his part, and it was.

"For what, Liebgott?" I asked, not getting what he was talking about or where this was coming from. He rubbed the back of his head, Babe motioning to Sisk for the both of them to move out of the way so that LIebgott and I could talk. They both walked away a bit, too hard to hear but close enough to see if there was going to be any trouble. Liebgott stared at them now, rolling his eyes.

"Christ, I ain't gonna hit her! She's a Captain for Christ sake, leave us alone," He grumbled at him, Siske rolling his own eyes as be and Babe walked away some more and Liebgott looked back at me again, his eyes soft once more as he kept talking to me now, "For what I said back at Hageneau. It wasn't right, even with Webster ripping my ear and telling me over and over that, I was acting like a jerk to you,"

"Joe, you don't have to worry about it," I reasoned with him since it felt like this was not the best place to talk about something like that which happened in the past.

"Well you're a Captain and for me to say that to a Captain, in general, wasn't right at all. Sorry about that," He apologized, and I saw how he was almost shrinking himself in with a hunch of his shoulders and his hands shoved in his pockets. It felt like I was looking a kicked puppy who was trying to get in my good graces again after being punished, and even the way he was watching me with his eyes was enough for me to see that he really was sorry for what he did.

"Liebgott," I said to him finally, seeing him watch my every move when I said that, "It's totally okay. I was speaking out on my own feelings as well, which is frowned upon with our training. But it's nothing that we have to worry about anymore." I was never one to make another person feel about for something that they said to me when I knew that it didn't matter that much to me, to begin with. For me, that argument that we had back in France when we were cold and shiver, not to mention ready to just be done with the war in general, was nothing but water under the bridge and we didn't to really fret about it anymore. I smiled, seeing him about to give me a smile when someone was running back into town at a very fast pace, and he was not alone. Right behind hi,m was O'Neal. Liebgott and I both looked, both of us very confused as we were seeing Perconte running, his helmet in his hand and his face looking like he was about to have some kind of panic attack.

"What the hell?" Liebgott asked beside me, having me think the same thing now as we were watching going from person to person now, talking frantically and the people shaking their heads in return. That's when I knew something was off, and it was not pretty as O'Neal finally saw me in the crowd with Liebgott. Perconte ran off on his own, going over to Winters now as O'Neal was running over to me and she gasped for air as she stopped. I knew something was up since she was the fastest running in our unit, aside from me, and she had a pale look on her face.

"Captain! I need….I need to tell you…" She was gasping out, almost going into a hyperventilation on her face and in her breath. I quickly grasped her shoulder to help her stay up from hunching over since she was running so fast. I didn't know what was going on, but it was making me panic too since she couldn't even compose herself now. Even Liebgott placed his hand on her arm to keep her up for keeling over.

"Jesus," Liebgott said in a mutter as he reached over to grab his canteen that was on his hip. He unscrewed the top and handed it to her, seeing her drink down a big drink of cold water now before she found her voice again, her eyes big like headlights and

"We found something….out there on patrol that's….I-I I can't." she gasped out like she was in pain from what she was trying to say as I rubbed her shoulders.

"Take a breath, O'Neal," I reassured her since the last thing that we would need was someone who was going to have some kind of panic attack trying to tell me something. I looked up from her now over to where Perconte was, seeing him finally seek out Major Winters and trying to talk to him now when O'Neal spoke up once more.

"We found something."She gasped out finally, having me snap my eyes back at her as she was looking at both Joe and myself. The way she said it was almost demeaning as if she was afraid to say it out loud and give it breath. I couldn't say anything for a word or so since I could see enough on her face that whatever she saw, it was not good.

"What did you see?"

The first thing that we noticed was the smell. It was almost making me gag from smelling it while we were going down the road, The closer we were getting to where Perconte and O'Neal pointed out, the stench of something that seemed beyond horrid was getting more and more intense, even some from of the soldiers were trying not to get sick in the jeeps. Winters had the whole battalion that was in town come, jeeps and trucks filled with them since Perconte told Winters that we needed to bring everyone.

It made me panic.

As we rounded the corner, I finally saw what was bringing the horror on both Perconte and O'Neal's faces. There was a fence, a tall fence with the pillars made of thick wood and barbed wires, stretched along a long section of the forest that seemed to have been mowed down for this kind of place, smoke was rising into the sky, the source of the stench and silent smell that we were breathing in whether we were ready for it or not. I could see some wooden huts that were lined up in rows and rows, but that wasn't the firs thing that we saw.

We saw people…hundreds and hundreds of people.

But they didn't look like people that first, not in their faces but in their body language. They wore printers clothes, I could tell that much, some of them had caps on their heads, and even some were shirtless to show their skinny chests and every rib on their skeleton. They looked like skeletons to be honest which made all of us go into silence as we stopped in front of the front gates that were secured shut.

Bull was waiting for us there, squatting in front of the gates and look juts as graves as the others who were waiting with them. No one said a word, we all just were in shock as we followed Major Winters out to the front. I felt the others in Black Mamba right behind me, not saying a word but I looked back at them all.

"Bandanas on," I instructed, putting on my own that was in my pocket. They all grabbed theirs, placing them in front of their mouths and over those noses since the last thing we needed was one of our own getting sick. Winters ordered the front gates to be opened, someone breaking down the chains as the prisoners that were in the area were looking on in curiosity and anticipation.

But were they prisoners? What were they?

Once the gates were opened, we slowly walked in, seeing that there were more people within those barbed wires, all of them were watching us closely and intensely. The others in Fox, Dog, and Easy were not able to do anything else but walk in, taking in all that they saw and the prisoners finally coming up to them. At first, I thought they would be afraid of us, not to mention violent since we clearly were coming into their area, but we got the opposite.

Some of them were hugging soldiers, others were crying and trying to speak to them. They spoke German, which made me look over to find Dunkle, our translator of Black Mamba.

"You stay with me in case we need to talk to them," I instructed, then looking back at the others behind me, "Go give your water and scraps of food, make sure we get them warm with blankets and your jackets if you can spare it. We need to take care of them."

"You got it, Captain," The others said to me as we were walking through with Easy men that were being things left and right. I didn't know where to start, or what to do at this point since it all felt like this was crashing down all around us and nothing was stopping it or slowing it down. Soldiers were trying to comfort the prisoners, and the prisoners were almost walking around like they were in a mist;

"Here you go…here you go," Dunkle was talking behind me, having me realize that she walked off to talk to one of the prisoners, She spoke to him in German, who talked back to her in a fast pace in return. I walked over to her, seeing her hand the prisoner some of her own water. This made me desperately wish that I spoke German and was able to hear what was going on, and from the look on Dunkle's face, she was not liking what the prisoner was telling her.

"Dunkle?" I asked, finally seeing her tear her eyes from him now and over to me.

"They've been here without anyone guarding them since this morning, the guard left them her and some of them were there killed before the guards took off," Dunkle explained to me as the prisoner was drinking slowly from her own canteen, "I didn't catch what kind of place this was, but all he said was that they killed his friends, all of them."

"Jesus," I grumbled, looking over my shoulder to see Liebgott talking to another prisoner with Spiers, Winters, Christenson and NiIxon listening in with him. They looked grave as well when I looked back at Dunkle now.

"Ask him what kind of place this is," I urged hers seeing her go back to talk to the prisoner again. My own eyes were gazing around, seeing the scene in front of me. Babe was with Malarky, the both of them were looking off somewhere, Luz and Webster are walking and talking together in shock and in uncertainty. No one os knew what to do or what to say, none of knew what to think and how to feel.

"Ma'am," I looked back at Dunkle, seeing her give me as solemn look at me like she was stuck like lightning, "They're not prisoners from a crime."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her since it was not clicking in my head just yet. She bit her lower lip, moving away slightly from the prisoner now as she looked at me directly in the eyes and I felt like she was punched in the chest and the air left her lungs completely.

"They're innocent people here, sent to die because…because they're Jews."

Jews….They were all here because of their religion?

What kind of place was this?

It wast true, we heard from that prisoner and from others that people talked to, it was sinking in under our skin and churning things over and over again. None of us could really take it, take in that humans were doing this to each other, that thesis men were being forced to work until they would fall over and die. All because of the fact that they were Jews, nothing more or less.

Why?

We got them blankets and water, as much as we could find from the town, though most of them were still stunned and in a daze as to what happened. I felt as though I was going to be sick, not having this all settle in just yet. The looks in their eyes, the stench that filled the air, the haunting looks of their skeleton faces and skinny bodies, and the countless bodies of those that were killed before we came along.

I made sure the girls were taking care of the prisoners, helping them in each way that they can. I didn't know where we were going to start. I had to make sure that my own unit was going to help those in need, since I was Captain I had more of a line of duty to do instead of doing it myself, It didn't stop me from at least giving up my jacket to one of the prisoners since he was shivering and was almost about to collapse. We had to get them help and we had to get them help fast, but right when we were just about to break some ground when it came to bringing some aid, Winters walked over to me as I was talking to Black Mamba.

"Captain," He said to me, his voice sounding stern and almost bitten off as I watched him, "Captain Matthews is on the phone back over near our jeeps and wants to talk to you."

"Anything serious, Major?" I asked, thinking that something serious happened.

"There are more of theses camps apparently and it sounds like he wants you to take Black Mamba to one of them, one of the female camps." I felt my own heart about to be shattered at that moment, and I couldn't say a word and I heard Harper gasp behind me, not to mention O'Neal cursing under her breath. I wanted to say something brash, as to why this was happening and what was really going on, but my own Captain part of my brain was not clicking in just yet.

I had to stay calm about this, and not have my own blood boil and my own voice screaming. There was more than one place like this, more and more people being held against their will and being killed or elf to die. It was all too much for me to just go with and go amongst my business, It felt like I was about to explode from all of this happening.

"Matthews wants us to go and help that camp I take it, Major," I asked him, trying to carefully make sure I was sounded like a professional Captain than someone who was feeling beyond hurt about all of this. I didn't want to be there in that moment, I would rather be anywhere else but here and feeling all of this at the same time. it was almost getting to the point that I was going to be sick. And as selfish as it was gong to sound, I wanted to find Eugene.

No, I needed Eugene.

"He thinks you can handle it, but he leaves it up to you since this is your unit," Winters explained to me, seeing the hesitance on my face. I stayed still, taking in my own shaky breath. it was harder than I thought when it came to keeping my sense of control and cool. This was not what I was trained for when I came here, none of us were trained in this at all. How could we react to this and not be less than the soldiers we were supposed to be.

"We can go," I reassured him since the last thing that I wanted to do was to say no to a Major, it would not only make me look bad as a Captain but Black Mamba would have a bad look on them as well since I was their leader. We still had a job to do: to aid Easy in any way that we could. If it meant that we were going to help another group that was in need.

"I'll leave you to it," Winters said to me in a calm tone, slowly walking away from me before he scanned the area behind me, I could see it on his own face that he too was not liking what was going on around. I took out a shaky breath and I could hear someone walking up behind me. I froze, not knowing who it was and I thought I was going to be caught for being in a state that was not a Captain's state of mind. But that wasn't the case, when I felt a hand slip into my own hand and grasp me tightly like a death grip, I instantly knew who that was.

Eugene.

"Olive," He whispered to me, almost desperate. I instantly shook m head, this was not the place to talk like this.

"Not here, come on," I said to him in urgency. I released his hand in an unsettling manner, the both of us walking together and not saying a word as we were making our way back out of the camp and away from the prying eyes of the others. I kept my face stern and facing forward since I didn't know who would be watching, and I was thinking Eugene was doing the same thing. I had to get out of there, away from the smells and the wandering eyes of those on their last breaths and last legs of life. I was no longer within my own head thinking like a Captain. I wanted to do something else that was going to make me angry.

Once we left the camp, moving a bit further out where there were barely any soldiers since they weren't brave enough to go inside and see the horror for themselves, we were finally alone and we went around the corner to hide behind one of the passenger jeeps. Finally, after feeling like I couldn't hold it in for what seemed like an eternity, I breathed out a shaky breath and I tried to breathe one in. It was harder than I thought since it felt like my insides were turning and my eyes were burning from the tears that were threatening to fall. I was still holding it in since I wanted to do more than jut cry. I wanted to scream.

Eugene immediately took my hand again and I felt myself slumping against him in a way that made it seem like my now legs gave out from underneath me. He took my weight against him without bling twice, finally having me feel his other hand go around to hold me up with my back and I took another shaky breath out.

"They're Jews, Eugene….they're…..people," I said in a shuttering breath.

"I know…I know chere." He whispered back, his own voice sounding raw. I blinked away the few tears I knew I had inside of me since I wasn't ready for him to see me cry just yet. I just needed that moment to just breathe in through the pain and the sadness that I was feeling, whether or not I was ready for it, and breathe out the calm that I knew I was supposed to have.

Finally, I moved away from him supporting my weight and trying to ease me down. I rubbed my face with my hand to calm my own self down before I looked over at Eugene, seeing him watch me carefully and I saw his face. He looked out of it too, from what he saw and he looked like he was mostly in shell shock.

"I'm okay," I reassured him, thinking that it would make it better. But even the look on his face, watching me like a hawk, I knew that it was not going to fly with him. He stayed silent for a moment or two before he finally spoke out to me.

"No, you're not." I knew he didn't mean it like a bad thing, nor was it supposed to make me feel terrible. He was staring the truth and we both needed to hear it. I didn't want to argue with him, nor did I have the stomach to really be okay with all of it I had to face the reality of it all.

"No, I'm not okay."