Sisters, Sisters
There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters.
Three days and three nights of hard fighting my arse.
D-Day + 25 and we were still on the line. All of us were exhausted, we hadn't had a hot meal or shower in almost a month, so we looked and smelt something awful. My skin felt like it was crawling and my hair was so greasy and scruffy, my head itched like no-ones business. Taylor said it was a good job that the Germans were stood upwind from us, otherwise they'd have smelt us coming from a mile off.
Currently, we were hidden in shrubbery and trees, in a little wooded area, looking at an 'abandoned' farm house. Welsh was up front with Nix and Dan.
"I need to know what's in there." Nix told Harry.
"I don't know who the hell to send."
"Ask for volunteers."
Harry grumbled, "I hate asking for volunteers."
Nix turned to him and gave him an admonishing look. "Then pick them." Taylor snorted, but one glare from Nix shut her up, turning her gaze to the nearby foliage.
I knew what was coming. Obviously no one was going to jump up and go out of their way, and I only had to glance at Danni to know she expected me to go.
Harry turned to us, "Need to take a look at that farm house; any volunteers?"
You could hear crickets and as no one stepped forward, Nix turned around and Danni gazed expectantly to me and Taylor. We did a quick rock, paper, scissors and would you believe it, the Gods hate me. Just for once could I not be first in? Everyone else seemed to avoid Welsh's gaze, as if it was going to stop them being picked.
"Oh, for faen skyld! I'm going, I'm going." I huffed, creeping forwards. "Why do I always have to go first?"
I was surprised to hear Blythe's voice behind me, volunteering himself. Over the past month, he'd seemed to have turned a new leaf. He seemed braver, more willing to do things than he was before and not as scared. He was actually volunteering himself.
"Anybody else?" Silence again. "Martin, Dukeman, you just volunteered. Hubba hubba."
What the heck is hubba hubba?
Blythe surprised me again by taking the lead. Maybe it was because I complained about going first or maybe it was because he felt confident. I followed him, with Dukeman and Martin behind me. We halted, just behind some old, broken junk, a few yards away from. Everything was still and silent, almost eerie. It gave me the creeps; I just knew something was up. I could feel a tense pressure in the air, like something was just waiting to happen.
Once again, my gut instincts proved right and just as Blythe turned to us, I saw movement in the building. I was too late to warn Blyth though. A bullet ripped through his chest, blood pouring out of the large wound near his neck. The others behind us started to fire on the building whilst Dukeman and Martin dragged Blythe back to relative safety.
"Medic up front!" Someone yelled. I knelt beside Blythe, the veil of calm descending on me while I zipped his jacket down for better access to his wound.
"You're alright Blythe, you're alright." I soothed. His eyes watched mine while I tried to stop the bleeding. A song I used to listen to kept swirling around my head.
Hariuha laþu laukar gakar alu ole lule laukar hariuha laþu laukar gakar alu ole lule laukarhariuha laþu laukar gakar alu ole lule laukar hariuha laþu laukar gakar alu ole lule laukarhariuha laþu laukar gakar alu ole lule laukar hariuha laþu laukar gakar alu ole lule laukar
Roe appeared from somewhere and took over. I didn't feel like I could leave him, so I told Dan I was going to the aid-station with him. She nodded and called Taylor over to drive our quartet to the aid-station. Martin stopped me on the way, asking what I was saying to Blythe and I looked at him confused. Had I been talking to him?
While we waited outside the tent, sitting against the bonnet of Taylor's jeep as Blythe was being treated, we learned that we'd be pulled off the line, to a fuel depot near Utah beach, before being shipped back to England. Guilt and frustration welled up inside me, eating at me.
If I hadn't had complained about going first, if we'd have just waited a little longer, we could have been out of there and be nice and safe, Blythe too. Instead, I whined and now Blythe was shot. I couldn't help but dwell on it.
"Stop it." Taylor scolded suddenly, a firm hand gripping my wrist. I looked at her funny, before she held up my hand; I had bitten my nails to the point I'd drawn blood and hadn't noticed. "It wasn't your fault."
"It was my fault. If I hadn't had complained so loudly-"
"Then what? You'd have gone first and been shot and then where would we be?" She told me, the cig in her mouth waggling as she spoke. "It was going to happen to someone; whoever had taken point would've got it. Blythe's still alive, just be thankful."
I looked at Taylor, who looked away, turning to the trees behind the tents. Just like she knew I was fretting, I could tell that something was up with her.
"What is it?" I asked softly, taking the cig she passed to me.
"I'm a terrible person, y'know?"
I balked and scrunched my nose up in a frown.
"What? What are you on about?" I scoffed. Where had that come from? "You're one of the nicest people I know."
"The day Tip got it, back in Carentan… I knew him and Joe were clearing houses and the next thing I heard, the building they'd been in was hit... But when I found out that it was Tipper, I thought to myself, thank God it wasn't Joe. That was the first thing I thought. Not, how's Tipper? Holy shit is he still alive? I was so relieved that it was someone else…"
"Why does that make you a bad person?" I asked. "Taylor, it's not like you don't care that Tip got hit, because I know you do. We've lost so many friends in the past 20-odd days, friends that we didn't need to lose. If we hear that the person we're in love with is wounded, we're allowed to feel relieved when it's not true. We're human, Tay. You're not a bad person because you were glad Joe was safe."
Taylor looked back at me with a face full of shame.
"But I did the same thing just now, with you and Blythe."
I smiled kindly, putting an arm around my sister.
"Þat kann ek it ellifta ef ek skal til orrostu leiða langvini, und randir ek gel, en þeir með ríki fara heilir hildar til, heilir hildi frá, koma þeir heilir hvaðan."
"Othan?" She asked and I nodded. "You've been singing that a lot lately."
I shrugged, "Fin used to do it when he got stressed."
"Ah, your brother… everyone used to think he was a big scary Viking guy."
I chuckled. It was true; when he was sent to the Middle East, he grew quite a long beard and platted it so he'd look like Bjorn Ironside from The Vikings TV show. In reality, he was very similar to Winters and was soft as shit when it came to me, his little sister.
At that point, a medical officer came out and told us we could go in and see Blythe. I took Taylor's hand, giving it a squeeze as the two of us entered the tent to sit with Blythe, before they moved him to the big hospital.
We talked to him for a good few hours, before we were told to leave. We promised him we'd write and coerced him into doing the same. We also told him that when we all got home, he had to come visit us.
"Thank you." I heard him croak as I left the tent.
"Are those what I think they are?" Taylor gawped excitedly, as we pulled into the depot, where the rest of Easy were already gathered.
"I think they are."
Showers!
"Where the hell have y'all been?" Danni called as we pulled up in front of her. We were just about to give her a smart answer when she stopped us. "Here." She handed us a set of clean clothes. "Get showered. Everyone else already has. I'll have Guarnere and Toye outside guarding."
To two women who hadn't showered or washed their hair in almost a month, this was heaven, even if the water was cold. It was relieving to watch the dirt, mud, grease and blood run off my body and swirl away down the drain.
"Radi vsego svyatogo!" I heard Taylor swear behind me as I scrubbed my hair. I turned to see she'd shaved her ankle, blood seeping from the little cut, down the drain with the water.
"That looks sore."
"It is… Why don't you have any hair?"
"What do you mean, why don't I have any hair? What do you think this is?" I asked, pointing to the suds laden mop on my head. Taylor scowled and said she meant anywhere else on my body.
"You're like a naked mole rat!"
"My teeth aren't that big!"
"I meant being hairless, dumbass!"
"Taylor, being called a naked mole rat is in no way a compliment!" I remarked, turning to rinse the soap off of my head. "I don't know why; probably my mum's weird genetics. She didn't have any hair either."
"Did either of you hit puberty?" she replied with a grumble.
"Well obviously! I can't help that I don't have any body hair."
The two of us paused.
"Are we really arguing about leg and armpit hair?" Taylor suddenly snorted. I snickered too and we started to laugh. It was a while since we'd argued about something so stupid; it almost felt like old times. Back when we were carefree and the war was oceans away… I wished I could go back.
After finishing our shower, we dressed and exited. I was yet to put my clean jacket on, but when I did, I stopped, looking at it confused.
"Aren't these Sergeant's stripes?" I asked, frowning as I held up one of the sleeves. Taylor did the same, pulling her sleeve around and pointing out she had Corporal's stripes on hers.
We shared a look. Either Danni had given us the wrong jackets or…
"Oh, yeah. I meant to tell you. You've been promoted." She told us casually, when we went to ask her.
"What the fuck?" we chorused. Trust Danni to just spring that on us.
Apparently Strayer and Sink were so impressed by us, we were promoted. Just like that.
"But why am I a sergeant and Taylor isn't?" I asked, not feeling it was a fair decision.
Danni turned to Taylor and asked if she wanted to be a platoon sergeant. Taylor shook her head, announcing the well-used line 'fuck that'. Dan turned to me and gave me a grin that said 'there's your answer', before patting me on the shoulder.
"From now on, you'll be known as Section Leader, not Sergeant. It's exactly the same as a sergeant, but-"
"But you've ripped it straight out of Attack on Titan?" I asked, my brows raised with a smirk. I may as well just change my name to Eren Jager and have done with it.
Tay snorted, commenting that Dan was something else. First Bullet Bill on our patches, now we had Section Commander Toya and Section Leader Conneely.
"Anyway, it's the same as a Sergeant, but with a little more authority… like a First Sergeant, but not quite. Now, your first job as ACS Section Leader is go and find Hall. I'm going to swear him into the Sisterhood, so, show him the salute and fetch him to me. I'll be waiting over there." She pointed off to the verge near the beach.
"Alright… but what is the salute?"
Dan ginned and hit her chest where her heart would be, "Devote your hearts!"
The woman watched too much anime.