With a Jerry can each, Jackson and Abbey stopped in front of the frozen stream.
Just getting right into it, Abbey broke the ice apart, by standing on it.
Jackson did the same and soon, they managed to place the Jerry cans into the stream, letting the cans fill up with water. Jackson found those few minutes to be his most peaceful time in Bastogne. No fighting, no shells, just water. And he let out a content sigh, while his eyes moved up stream. Only, he wished they didn't.
Jackson's face paled.
"Oh my God…".
Abbey was still looked down at her Jerry can.
"What?" She asked.
Jackson blinked.
Was he really seeing this?
"Abbey". He whispered, "we have a headcase".
Abbey frowned.
What?
"What?" She mumbled, looking at him.
Jackson, with wide eyes still, nodded to where he was looking.
Sighing quietly, she turned her head and followed his stare.
Abbey's eyes soon grew wide.
The pair of them remained quiet, though still filled up the Jerry cans.
She broke the silence.
"It's fine". Abbey mumbled, looking away.
Jackson pulled a face.
"Abbey – that's someone's fucking brain in the stream!"
"Yes". She whispered, "we have a dead Germans head and brain in the water, Jack. What of it?"
He almost laughed.
But felt slightly sick instead.
Jackson swallowed, "that's disgusting".
"Just – just put those pills inside our canteens and we'll be fine".
They had sulphanilamide tablets, so they wouldn't catch malaria from the water.
But Abbey didn't know if that would cure "a headcase disease".
Still, it was better to ignore it.
"Hang on". She mumbled.
Jackson looked at her, "what?"
Abbey huffed out a tiny laugh.
"Bill and Heffron used this stream last week". She said, "that brain – that's at least a week old, Jack".
And Jackson leaned away from the stream, where he started to vomit.
They never mentioned the water situation, and no one complained about it tasting funny. Though, Abbey did give Bill a very suspicious look when he went to fill up his canteen. Their Platoon Sargent smirked and winked at her.
"You shit". She whispered.
Guarnere grinned, "good source of protein, nut".
Jackson groaned again, "that's fucking horrible".
"Drink the damn water, Jack". He warned him, "put your fucking pill in – you'll be fine".
Finally, it was starting to feel a little normal again.
The sky was still clear.
And the men's morale was still up after their supply drop.
…
The mood shifted on Christmas Eve morning.
For one, Abbey didn't even realise it was Christmas Eve.
And it came as shock to her.
"Already?"
"Yup". Toye replied, "pretty weird, huh?"
And two, Lipton warned them of an attack.
They suspected the Germans were trying to break into their lines again. So, everyone was getting ready for a possible attack. Those were always the worst, waiting for something to happen. Abbey was behind Heffron and Al, who were on the machine-gun. Few yards back, Malarkey, Skip and Penkala were manning their mortar.
They suffered a few casualties.
One of them being Smokey.
He got shot in the left shoulder, the bullet came out from the right and brushed against his spinal column. He was paralyzed from the neck down. While Smokey was taken off the line and towards the aid station, the Germans continued to fire.
Abbey was at the front, firing out along with Heffron.
The most intense part was the German infantry.
Some of them came very close to their line.
Abbey had to shoot quietly and if it wasn't for Heffron next to her, she'd have been shot a few times. It was a close call for them all and heart stopping. Easy hammered them with bullets, machine-gun fire, grenades and were backed-up with artillery. Lipton counted thirty-eight dead Germans outside of their woods when the Germans eventually fell back.
Abbey sat up and wiped the blood off her face.
Heffron shook his head slowly.
"Jesus". He whispered, "pretty close".
"It was". She mumbled.
That same afternoon, Easy all lined up for something warm to eat.
Navy white beans.
The cooks did their best to keep the food as hot as possible but once it reached you, it was either warm or verging on cold. Still, food was food and they were hungry enough to eat cold beans. Abbey had a spoonful placed into her ration kit. Stepping away from the line, she brought out her metal spoon and stood beside a tree.
Winters was with them.
It was always reassuring to see their Captain.
But what's more, Colonel Sink soon came down in his jeep.
Lorraine gave Abbey a grin and a nod.
She frowned, though her lips formed a small smile.
It had been a while since she last saw Lorraine.
"Better than sitting down to a Christmas Eve dinner of turkey and hooch back at Division CP". Sink was telling Winters, while he walked over to them.
Abbey didn't know if she was supposed to be listening.
But Sink was talking loud enough for some to hear him.
"Dammed if I don't like old Joe Domingus's rancid-assed beans better". He said.
Abbey looked down at her serving of beans.
A turkey dinner sounded nice.
"Hello, Easy Company". Sink greeted them.
"Hello, sir". They greeted back.
Sink stood in front of Winters.
Abbey was standing close by.
Not intentionally.
Sink and Winters shook hands.
"Hello, sir". Their Captain greeted.
"General McAuliffe sent a message to the entire Division. I thought maybe your people would like to hear it". Sink said, bringing out a letter.
Winters had his arms crossed, keeping himself warm.
Or at least, trying to.
"Oh, that should be your prerogative, sir". Winters said to him politely.
"Fine". Sink responded, "Men – lady!"
Abbey frowned a little.
That was a first; she thought.
"General McAuliffe wishes us all a Merry Christmas". Sink started, "what's merry about all this, you ask? Just this. We've stopped cold everything that's been thrown at us from the north, east, south and west. Now, two days ago, the German commander demanded our honourable surrender to save the USA encircled troops from total annihilation. The German commander received the following reply; to the German commander, nuts!"
The men laughed quietly at that.
Even Abbey smiled a little.
"We're giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present, and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms, we're truly making for ourselves…a merry Christmas". Sink folded up the letter and looked at the men, "merry Christmas to you all and God bless you".
"Merry Christmas, sir".
Though some men cheered gleefully;
"nuts, sir!"
But her smile slowly faded, when her eyes landed on Roe.
Their medic was leaning against a tree, eyes glazed over.
He hadn't touched his food.
Abbey placed her ration kit into Skips arms.
He'd finish them off for her.
"You'll make me puke, Abbey". He said, while she walked away.
When Abbey was standing in front of Roe, she wasn't exactly sure what to do next. But Abbey didn't like the look in his eyes. He looked drained, worn out and sick of seeing men get wounded and killed. It was no wonder Roe didn't make many close friends within Easy. There was always a risk one of them would be calling his name.
Abbey's hand went out for him.
The medic frowned, looking up at her.
She shrugged one shoulder.
"I wasn't very hungry either".
Pursing his lips together, Roe took her hand and she pulled him up.
Letting go of his hand, they went back inside her pockets.
Nodded towards the left, the pair of them walked away and headed back towards the line. The sky was starting to get heavy again, Abbey sensed more snow. Which put a damper on her mood because the last thing they needed, was more snow. For a few minutes, they walked in silence. The Germans weren't attacking, perhaps they planned to give them a night off. It was Christmas, after all. Abbey could only hope that was the case.
They ended up sitting down in a foxhole.
Abbey reached into her bag and brought out her blanket.
She wrapped it around them both.
It was already starting to get dark.
Four o'clock was closing in.
Roe might have wanted to be alone.
But Abbey was scared he'd get too cold sleeping alone in a foxhole. And the thought of him being alone when he felt sad, or whatever, sat heavy in her heart. Roe might not have wanted to make any friends in Easy but after everything he had done, it was hard not to be his friend.
Same went for Ralph.
The medic from South Philly. He was very close with Heffron.
Abbey leaned back against the frozen mud.
And Roe eventually wrapped his arm around her.
She was pulled into his side.
Without saying a single word to each other.
They both fell asleep.
…
Boom!
It was a good thing they were used to waking up to loud explosions, or else everyone would have died from a heart attack already. But nonetheless, it was still alarming. Abbey shot up and looked all around her.
What was going on?!
Another shell hit the earth.
Trees exploded.
Splinters and shrapnel flew everywhere.
It kept on coming.
Abbey looked over and saw Roe, who was curled up.
She wondered why he looked as stiff as a board.
But then heard someone call out for a medic.
"Doc!"
Abbey's eyes widened; it was Winters.
She moved over to Roe and gave his arm a shake.
"Gene!" She yelled, "come on – get up!"
The shells continued to fall around them.
The whole forest lit up like a fireworks display.
And Abbey flinched when one hit close by.
"Fucking hell". She muttered, one hand going on her helmet.
But thank God Heffron and Ralph came over.
"Come on, doc!" Heffron urged, reaching out for him.
"Is he hurt?!" Ralph asked.
"No!" Abbey replied, "but someone else is – Babe, get Gene up! I'll go and see!"
Once she was out of that foxhole, Abbey sprinted towards the Captain's calls for help.
There, she spotted Welsh.
He had been hit on the leg.
Winters, Nixon and Peacock were there.
And the remains of a small fire.
Abbey stared at the Lieutenant.
She had no idea what to do.
So, she made her way over to them and helped apply pressure towards Welsh's wound. The Lieutenant was moaning and yelling out in pain. The shrapnel had chewed away at his skin, leaving a deep and bloody gash.
"It's okay, sir". Abbey said softly, "it's okay".
"Roe!" Winters yelled.
And soon, the medic was running towards them.
But Roe stopped so suddenly and stared at Welsh.
Her eyes went wide, she slowly looked at him.
Why wasn't he moving?!
Winters was struggling to stem the bleeding.
He looked back at the medic, "Roe?"
And he snapped out of it. Abbey sighed in relief, while their medic got to work and began to get Welsh ready for the ride into town. After a shot of morphine and some sulphur powder, the jeep arrived to take Welsh to the aid station.
Abbey rubbed her bloodied hand against her trousers.
The medic sat quietly beside her.
"Eugene". Winters sat behind him, "get yourself into town, get a hot meal".
Soon, he was on the jeep with Welsh and heading into town.
She hoped the hot meal would help.
It usually did the trick.
Her eyes moved towards the small dead fire.
Abbey walked over to it and crouched down.
It wasn't hot anymore, but she could still smell the once burning wood. And while she sat there, a hoard of planes flew over them. Feeling her stomach turn, she looked up.
The Luftwaffe.
Abbey got back onto her feet.
A few minutes later, they could all hear the explosions.
They were bombing Bastogne.
Her heart sunk a little then.
They were going to lose Bastogne, which meant, they'd lose the aid station. All those people in town, all those wounded men. And there was nothing they could do to stop this bombardment.
Biting down on her lip, she turned around.
She met Winters eyes.
Abbey sighed quietly and looked up towards the sky.
It was turning orange.
Surrounded, and now, the Germans were bombing Bastogne.
Shaking her head, Abbey looked over at Winters.
"Merry Christmas, Captain Winters".
