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Nelly couldn't recall dreaming, but she did wake up by herself after an hour or so. She heard the familiar sound of a lighter flicking to light a cigarette. It was right by her ear – Liebgott was now awake and smoking. The engines were still purring loudly but not as loudly as before. Nelly felt a tiny twist in her gut, nerves, mostly. But she wasn't scared. She was anxious to get out of the plane and jump into France. It was actually a comforting feeling, being anxious because Nelly was so used to it after her last drop into occupied Europe. And even growing up, Nelly was so used to feeling anxious in her own home. So, it wasn't an uncommon feeling – to feel that type of anxiety. Her thick jump gloves gave her harness a tug. Nelly shifted on the metal bench. It was next to impossible to get comfortable. And her right leg soon grew numb from the heavy leg bag – it was another eighty pounds strapped to her leg.

Nelly tugged on Winters's sleeve.

He leaned down, so his ear was by her face.

"Legs dead!" She informed him calmly.

Winters gave a tiny nod. "I'll get you up, don't worry!"

"Thanks, sir!"

The smallest of smiles reached Winters's face. Giving her shoulder a clap, he straightened himself up again and look out of the opening. Below them, were thousands of ships crossing choppy waters. They were nearing the halfway mark across the Channel. Nelly still felt a little drowsy but not drowsy enough to pass out again. As the plane flew over Guernsey Island, they could all hear light enemy fire but nothing serious – it didn't seem to faze the men. Nelly was certain that if Winters started to panic, that's when the men would really panic. But Winters, a very level-headed man, wouldn't panic over light enemy fire. In fact, Nelly didn't think the man would panic over heavy enemy fire. She didn't think anything would cause that man to panic.

Nelly's eyes looked across from her, where she saw Malarkey at the back. When his eyes met her stare, Malarkey smiled. Nelly smiled in return. And he mouthed to her, "Erebor needs us". Nelly nodded. She knew what that meant – Erebor was France, the dragon was the enemy and France was a burning country under the heavy casualties of war.

Gloved fingers drumming against her legs, Nelly mouthed back. "Long live the party".

Malarkey grinned and raised a fist in the air. Of course, it was almost impossible to see their faces in the dark. Malarkey could have mistaken what Nelly had said. There were faint glows of lights on the ceiling that shone in a dim orange. And while her fingers drummed onto her legs, Nelly's legs began to bounce up and down. Adrenaline was powering through her veins. It was an odd mix of adrenaline, nerves and mild drowsiness.

The planes headed east across France's Cherbourg Peninsula and straight for Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. However, that's when all hell broke loose. Big guns thumped below. Searchlights rolled around the clouds, searching for the likes of Paratroopers. Every so often, a small strip of light from outside would come inside their plane. And Nelly thought, the guns below must have been mighty to overpower the noise of the plane engines. Upon hearing those guns, Winters stood up, turned and faced his men.

"Stand up!" He was taking Taylor's word – they were going to stand and not die sitting. Winters's hand reached down and grabbed Nelly's arm, where he pulled her up and onto her feet. And from her standing position, she finally looked out of the opening.

The clouds lit up in flashes of white from the searchlights. And below, Nelly could see fires burning from planes that had already been shot down. As well as bursts of fire from the heavy anti-aircraft guns. And tracer bullets from those anti-aircraft guns zinged through the night sky. Nelly had never seen anything like it before. It was frightening and impressive – impressive because of the sheer gun power and the German's ability to quickly gather and start trying to push the American Airborne back. Of course, falling back wasn't an option – it didn't cross a man's mind to fall back. However, they did want to get out of their plane quickly.

There came this terrifying loud noise from the plane, as it began rapidly descending toward the ground. For a moment, Nelly thought they had been hit. "Hook up!" Winters yelled at his stick. If they were dropping, they'd need to vacate fast before they nosedived in the earth. Winters had the right idea of getting the men prepared to jump before the lights changed. "Equipment check, sound off equipment check!"

The men were anxious, and it turned out to be the quickest equipment check in their entire Airborne career. Liebgott slapped her arm, "Three, okay!"

Nelly looked up at Winters. "Two, okay!"

"One, okay!" Winters called back.

The plan was to fly at fifteen hundred feet and drop to six hundred above their drop zone. But their plane must have dropped to three hundred feet as it tried to dodge the incoming flak on the ground. And the plane was meant to slow down for the incoming drop, however, they were screaming at two hundred miles per hour. Jumping was going to be hard – not as in difficulty but in power. Nelly was already concerned about that prop blast – the gush of power and air at the start, where it felt like the wind would rip a person's skin off. Nelly's eyes fell toward her leg bag. If she was going to lose anything to the prop-blast, it was going to be that. Her rifle was in there – all of her ammo and weapons. If she was to lose that bag, Nelly would only be armed with a jump knife.

But she had bigger concerns at hand.

The plane was dropping, and the light remained red.

Her eyes flickered up toward her Lieutenant – he wasn't panicking. His face remained a picture of calm. Winters was a fantastic leader. He remained calm to ensure his men were calm. He led at the front, and he led by example. And though their guts were tight, and their palms were hot and sweaty under their gloves, no one panicked. If they were going down, they were going down together. Nelly wanted to die as an old lady in her bed but dying on a plane with the men around didn't seem so bad. She felt Liebgott's hand on her shoulder. And Nelly smiled softly up at her Lieutenant.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted – she thought to herself.

But then the light turned green.

It was time to jump. They weren't going to die on the plane, after all, their pilots had brought them to safety. Still, they were dropping at three hundred feet and two hundred miles per hour – it was far from their normal jumping conditions. But it was better than blowing up in smoke and turning to ash.

"Let's go!" Winters yelled to his men before leaping out of the plane.

And very quickly, Nelly followed her Lieutenant into war.

Immediately, Nelly felt the harsh jolt of the prop wash tear her leg bag away. The chute burst open seconds after she lost her rifle, ammo and other supplies. And the rope snapped off the leg bag. But there was no time to think about losing her weapons, Nelly needed a place to drop. And, using the splash of moonlight, Nelly's eyes searched the ground. Around her, the guns continued to fire out and hit floating troops and planes. Dead Paratroopers hung limply in their harnesses as their chutes carried them to the ground. It briefly dawned on Nelly, that her friends might not have seen a dead body before or watched someone die.

Guiding her risers away from fire, Nelly's boots brushed against the tops of trees. She didn't want to get caught in a tree and she didn't want to burn to death. Spotting a clearing in the woods, Nelly pulled on the risers and guided herself to what looked like a safe place to land. In a matter of seconds, she hit the ground.

Sitting up, Nelly pressed the snap-release on her harness and shrugged it off. Then off went her helmet, Mae West vest and her helmet went back on again. She had survived the first part of the mission – the drop. Sitting on her knees, Nelly reached into her musette bag and brought out a hand-held radio Skip had given her at the hangars in Upottery. Their plan was to contact each other and meet up. Nelly skimmed through the radio channels until she reached the correct one.

"Gandalf". She whispered breathlessly. "I've landed. Over".

Nelly gave him ten seconds. But she didn't get an answer.

"Gandalf?" Nelly questioned. "I'm in a clearing...I'm surrounded by trees and...". Looking to her right, Nelly saw the tops of buildings. "I think...I see a village or something close by. Over".

Static replied – not Skip. Nor Alex.

Nelly sighed and tried again. "Gandalf?"

Pulling the radio back, Nelly checked to see if she was on the correct channel. Only to find, she wasn't – she wasn't sure what channel she was on, but it wasn't a direct line to Skip's hand-held radio. The radio squeaked. Nelly's frown deepened. And then, she heard a man speaking.

"We see you...Yank...". He had a German accent.

Eyes widening with horror, Nelly turned off the radio, shoved it into her bag and rose to her feet. Her eyes scanned the area – she was surrounded by long and thick trees. Heart picking up in speed, Nelly pulled off her jump gloves, reached down to her boots and grabbed her knife – but that wasn't going to save her. Nelly turned toward the direction of the buildings.

Running would save her.

"Feuer!" A German command was made.

So, Nelly ran.

And the Germans ran after her.

...

It was like being chased through the dark forests of Austria all over again – Nelly had a group of Germans on her tail, and they were firing at her. With no bearings and no clear direction, she only had one choice – to head for the village. Adrenaline turned Nelly into an Olympic runner, but the Germans were fast too. Sweating and panting, branches from trees attacked Nelly's face as she ran between them. She didn't have a trail to follow, just a hope that she'd get out of the forest alive. And to avoid those random bursts of fire, Nelly had to zig-zag and duck behind trees every so often.

But before long, she burst out of the woods and ran toward a farmhouse. It was not a village she saw – it was a farm. And for some reason, Nelly sought the safety of inside the old farmhouse. The door was locked. Nelly's fist pounded on the door.

She could hear German boots running across the road and toward the house. With no time to lose, Nelly took a few steps back and charged toward the door. Side crashing against old wood, the door fell off its hinges and slammed onto the ground with Nelly on top. And as she lay there, to catch her breath, Nelly soon heard a few commands in German – they were going to shell the house.

"Fuck!" Nelly cursed loudly.

Pushing herself off the ground, she stumbled onto her feet and ran into a kitchen and toward the back door. Nelly's rib bashed into the corner of a table while she raced for the exit. Unlocking the door this time, Nelly rushed outside and sprinted through the back garden and to a wall. Her boots stomped on soil, killing vegetables and flowers. Climbing up that wall, with one leg over each side, the farmhouse exploded with a loud cry. The impact threw Nelly over the wall, where she landed on her back on the wet grass.

Groaning, Nelly slowly sat herself up. Ash and smoke billowed in the air. To her right was yet another forest – she didn't have much of a choice. Rolling onto her stomach, she pushed herself up and got onto her feet. The forest was up a slope. Nelly ran up that slope and disappeared between the trees. Turning around and peering out through the trees, she saw the flames from the house and the Germans in the back garden. One of them looked over the wall. Nelly let out a sigh of relief – she had just made it.

Grabbing a hold of her bruised ribs, Nelly turned to face the dark forest and began walking – walking to God knows where. She was lost. She hadn't landed in the drop zone. Nelly didn't think anyone landed in the drop zone. And there were no lights from pathfinders to help direct her in the right direction. She walked for twenty minutes and then stopped. Sitting down on the green, wet and muddy earth, Nelly grabbed her canteen and had a drink of water.

Her drawn-out map was useless if she didn't have any bearings. And a feeling of loneliness began to creep through her body. Nelly was lost and alone. She swallowed that gulp of water with great difficulty. Screwing that cap back onto her canteen, Nelly bowed her head and drew in a deep breath threw her nose. She exhaled slowly out her mouth. Lonely, yes. But she was alive – Nelly was still alive.

On her feet once again, Nelly trekked through the heavily treed forest. It was so dark. Nelly couldn't see her hands. She couldn't see where she was going. Her legs just continued to move – acting as if they had a mind of their own. Nelly tried not to think about her friends while she tried to navigate her way through the forest. And she tried not to think about the fact that she was alone and probably in immediate danger. The grip around her jump knife was tight. Nelly was prepared to stab anything that came in her way.

She was constantly looking over her shoulder – making sure no one was following her. And even if someone was following Nelly, she wouldn't notice – it was too dark. But she would hear them. She'd be able to hear the sound of twigs snapping and guns coking into action. Nelly didn't hear any of that, but she did hear the sound of a crackling fire. Her walk turned into a jog as she followed the sound and soon Nelly saw the sight of orange flames and black smoke. She was hopeful the fire would become a bearing and she'd find out where she currently was in France. But while gaining closer to the cause of the fire, Nelly stopped.

She had walked for over an hour inside the forest – only to go around in circles.

Nelly was staring at the burning farmhouse – the one she just escaped from. Instead of losing her mind, she took in a few calming breaths. "Okay...". She whispered to herself, "You're okay, it's fine...it's fine...". Head tilting up toward the sky, Nelly exhaled slowly. "Oh, Nelly...we could be fucked here...". She whispered, "Once more...lost...in a fucking forest...Jesus...".

Turning her back to the farmhouse, Nelly faced the woods.

She almost thought about finding that road in front of the farm and following it but decided against the idea. The road was out in the open, it would have been a dangerous idea. However, as her eyes peered into the dark and damning forest, a face appeared – seemingly out of nowhere, like a ghost. At first, Nelly didn't do anything. But then, the face had a tall body and a weapon raised. A lone German soldier soon moved between the trees like a snake. He had a rifle. And the barrel of his rifle was aimed at Nelly's head.

He only stopped walking when the barrel pressed against her forehead. "American...". His voice was low. "Surrender...".

That wasn't an option. If Nelly surrendered, she'd be caught and sent back to Mauthausen or one of the other camps in occupied Europe. "Ich bin...kein Amerikaner". Which wasn't a complete lie – there was a lie in the truth. Technically, she wasn't American, but she was fighting with the Americans.

A confused frown met the soldier's face. "Du bist Deutscher?" He asked if she was German.

And Nelly outright lied. "Ja".

"Wo ist deine Uniform?" He questioned cautiously.

"Verloren". Nelly replied lowly – she had deepened her voice to sound more male. "Nass".

He huffed. "Du siehst aldern aus". He said to her lightly.

Nelly didn't know what he had just said to her, but she smiled and nodded.

And the barrel of his rifle lowered. His shoulders dropped. "Wo ist Ihr Gerat?"

Not knowing what "Gerat" meant, Nelly could only shrug as a response.

The man hummed. And soon smiled. "Keine Sorge". He assured her, "Ice helfe Ihnen".

He told her not to worry, he would help. Nelly plastered on a soft smile. "Danke".

It wasn't going to work for long, Nelly knew he'd figure out she wasn't actually German sooner or later. But for now, she'd stick with him until she killed him. "Wie heissen Sie?"

Smiling, he took her hand to shake. "Dieter". He replied, "Du?"

"Felix". Nelly shook his hand. "Schon, dich kennenzulernen, Dieter".

"Du auch, Felix". He asked, "Woher kommst du?"

"Munich". It was the first German city that came to her head.

And Dieter grinned and raised his hand. "Heil Hitler!"

Nelly thought about killing him right then and there after that.

But she needed him.

She needed Dieter to get her back to Easy Company.