A/N: Big thank-you to all of you who read this story, faved and/or followed it. I'm glad you like it.
Special thanks to Byron W.4 for pointing out a mistake I made with the serial numbers. I appreciate your help.
Less than a week later, they were down to 30. Basic training was far more rigorous and taxing than their previous training. The women did their best to ignore the whispers and mutters, but some of the men purposely spoke loud enough for them to hear it.
"The Army's no place for broads." "Should'a stayed home and married."
Some women were quick to silence the critics, whether through words or deeds. Though they couldn't do anything about it when it was their superior officers that voiced their doubts and displeasure. And nobody was more open about his disgust than Lieutenant Herbert M. Sobel, the CO of Easy Company.
He managed to get every single person in the company to hate - or at least strongly dislike – him already on the first day and reinforced those sentiments a hundred times over every day that followed. During each inspection, while having them stand at attention for what seemed like hours, he revoked weekend passes left and right, finding faults and citing the most ludicrous infractions.
And then he made them run Currahee.
.
"Jesus bloody Christ", Louise cursed, kicking her boots off and yanking her OD shirt over her head simultaneously. "I hate that prick!"
Catherine Wilson, fittingly nicknamed "Mom" by the rest of the women, slid into her PT shorts and replied: "He wants his company to be the best, of course he is going to be tough."
The door to their cabin opened and Irene came in, already in her PT gear. "Running up that hill won't be that bad", she argued. "It's only 6 miles to the top and back, how hard can it be?" In her defence, she hadn't had to run Currahee yet since she'd been recovering from a badly sprained knee.
"With Sobel?", Ana María Hernandez asked, walking past. "It's a nightmare."
Mia Arricante, who the women had secretly dubbed "The Odd One", laced up her boots and headed towards the door, handing Frances the hair tie she had accidentally dropped. "Let's just hurry up", she suggested quietly. "Before he decides we're late and punishes us."
Irene had to admit that Ana María had been right. Sobel made running up the mountain twice as miserable. At first, while they ran in formation, he asked them a fixed set of questions, always in the same order and always expecting the same replies.
"Where do we run?", he yelled. It had become something of a running joke among the women that Sobel only had two settings: yelling and sneering.
"Currahee!", Easy Company responded as one.
"What's Currahee mean?"
Elizabeth Vaughn shared a look with Theresa while everyone answered: "We stand alone!"
.
"How far up, how far down?", Sobel continued his questioning.
"Three miles up, three miles down!"
Jessica Helak muttered under her breath: "Imagine that, it's the same length down as it is up." Beside her, Floyd Talbert snorted a breathless laugh.
"Now, what company is this?"
"Easy Company!"
"And what do we do?"
"Stand alone!"
"We're neither alone nor standing", Helen Griffith whispered to Irene, making them both suppress snickers.
.
Up ahead, Catherine nearly bumped into Mia when in front of her, Warren "Skip" Muck suddenly stumbled because of a cramp in his leg. They, as well as the men around Muck, reached out to steady him when he cried out in pain.
"Do not help that man! Do not help that man!", Sobel bellowed, giving Malarkey a push. "You do not stop!"
The two women, both of them medics, complied, though with great reluctance. Catherine glared at the CO's back. Mia only shook her head, having already accepted the fact that Sobel hated them all, some more than others.
He shouted: "You have 13 minutes to get to the top of that mountain if you want to serve in the paratroopers!" Speeding up, he cried: "Hi-yo, Silver!", a phrase they had all come to loathe with a passion.
.
Irene was leading the field. She heard Lieutenant Winters spurring them on, encouraging them. "Come on, you can make it!", he was telling them over and over again.
When she had overtaken him, he had called: "That's it, McKinsey, keep it up!"
The top of the mountain came in sight. And with it, a decidedly bored-looking Lieutenant Sobel, who was watching dispassionately as the company fought their way up the steep slope.
When Irene came running up to the top stone, chest heaving with each panting breath, sweat pouring down her face, he didn't say anything. He only scowled at the stopwatch in his hand and glowering after the woman's retreating form for a moment before going back to yelling at the rest of the company.
"I'm gonna be sore all over", Kathleen moaned, rolling her shoulders as she stood under the stream of the shower.
Jessica winced when she reached for the towel. "Yeah", she agreed. "Me too. I can feel it already."
Towelling off and slipping into her uniform, Irene said: "I take back what I said earlier. Running Currahee is a nightmare."
.
On their way to the mess hall, Frances had a similar conversation with Maxine Lloyd, a hand pressed to her side.
"Every time", she grumbled, taking deep breaths to help with the pain. "Every damn time we run up that stupid hill, I get stitches in the side."
Maxine gave her a smile of commiseration and suggested: "Maybe you haven't found the right rhythm for breathing and running yet."
Frances just shrugged, massaging her side.
.
The mess hall wasn't too full yet and out of the women, they were among the first since the rest were still in the showers.
"Let's sit over there", Frances said, gesturing towards a table in the back.
A flicker of something crossed Maxine's face, but she nodded. "Alright."
They sat down next to Catherine, who was talking quietly with Don Malarkey, Skip Muck and Alex Penkala.
"What's wrong?", the 24-year-old asked when she noticed the pinched expression on Frances' face.
"Nothing, Mom", she replied, using the nickname they had given Catherine early on. "Just a stitch in the side."
The female medic nodded and offered: "It'll pass soon. Just breathe deeply and slowly."
.
Skip grimaced and rubbed his leg for the tenth time since sitting down. "I hope this passes soon, too", he said. "It hurts." The cramp still hadn't let up completely, causing him to be in pain even when he didn't put any weight on his leg.
Catherine turned to him with a sympathetic smile. "Mia went to fetch you something for that", she told him. She paused and looked to the door. "There she is."
Indeed, the young woman was walking down the aisles to their table, a tray in her hands. She manoeuvred through the people and set her tray down next to Frances before heading over to Skip.
"Here", she said, dropping an innocuous white tablet into his hand. "Put it in some water and drink it. The cramp should go away in about twenty to thirty minutes."
"What is it?", Chuck Grant wanted to know from where he had slumped onto the bench across from Penkala, curiously eyeing the tablet in his comrade's palm.
"Magnesium", Mia replied, taking her seat. "It's good for cramps and sore muscles."
.
Skip dropped the tablet into his cup of water, watching in fascination when it hissed and fizzed. When it had dissolved, leaving the water a cloudy white colour, he picked up the cup, studying it with a dubious expression.
"It doesn't taste too good", Mia spoke up apologetically, "but I promise it's going to help."
After another moment of hesitation, Skip downed the concoction in one go, shuddering exaggeratedly as he swallowed.
Half an hour later, the muscles in his leg relaxed and the pain disappeared.
Mia Arricante knew well enough that some of the other women had labelled her as odd behind her back. It didn't bother her too much. It was a lot nicer than some other words she had been called, in the past and during basic. And they were nice to her, even if they sometimes laughed at her.
She was getting along fine with the men, too, though she wouldn't go as far as calling them all her friends. They were civil and nice, but that was it. Not that she could fault them for it. The medics sometimes trained separately to the company and they had many different lectures, too.
Maybe it was better this way, the rational, more cynical side of her brain would point out. Medics shouldn't get too attached because they would be the ones treating their wounded and dying comrades.
She wasn't completely isolated either. She liked talking with Eugene Roe and occasionally exchanging a few pleasantries and making idle small talk with Shifty Powers, Chuck Grant and Pat Christenson. Out of the women, she often found herself in the company of Louise, Catherine or Frances.
.
It was on one of the 12-mile marches Sobel insisted on sending them on every Friday night that she gained a new friend.
"Say, Arricante, where are you from?"
Mia turned her head to see George Luz, their resident jokester, looking at her, the genuine smile on his lips mirrored in the twinkle of his dark eyes.
"Vermont", she answered. "And you?"
His smile widened, like he was pleased with her response. "Providence, Rhode Island."
They continued marching through the dark for a few moments before George spoke up again.
.
"Soo... got somebody special back home?", he asked, a hint of slyness entering his tone.
She glanced at him, eyebrows creasing briefly before her features smoothed out again. "No", she replied after a beat.
"Why not?", he wondered. "You're a pretty girl."
Mia refrained from heaving a sigh. "Because I had enough to think about already."
Her attention was momentarily diverted when Kathleen, who was walking in front of her, tripped over a rock and nearly fell face first into the dirt. She heard Ana María mutter something in Spanish as the Puerto Rican steadied the New Yorker.
George wasn't an idiot and he wasn't mean-spirited either. Seeing that he wouldn't get anywhere with this approach, he decided to switch to a less tricky subject.
"I'm from a big family", he said, hoping that she would volunteer more information about herself if he did it first. "Was never quiet in our house with a bunch of kids running around."
He already counted it as a success when the female medic smiled and asked back: "Oh yeah? How many siblings do you have?"
"Nine. Six brothers and three sisters." He paused and studied her for a moment. "You got siblings, too", he then determined. "Hm, let me guess...Oldest of...six. Am I right?"
.
The young woman stayed quiet for a moment, long enough that Luz was starting to think that another attempt at friendly, casual conversation had failed. So he was caught slightly off guard when she quietly said: "Not quite."
He blinked, brain scrambling to connect the dots, and asked eloquently: "Huh?"
Another smile travelled across her face. "Before", she elaborated. "You guessed that I'm the oldest of six. Not quite."
"Ah." George flashed her a grin as he recovered. "But I was close, right?"
He could have sworn that he heard the faint whisper of a laugh coming from her. She was smiling when she looked over to him and answered: "Second youngest of five."
"Really?" He paused. "Huh...didn't expect that."
Mia liked Luz. He was easy one of the friendliest guys in the company. You could always count on him to lighten the mood and make people laugh, especially when he used his gift for imitating voices. He was a good guy and therefore, she decided to accept the offer of...maybe not friendship, but at least simple companionship.
"Yeah", she said, not missing the way his expression seemed to light up when she spoke, "Three brothers and one sister."
They fell silent once again because they were back at camp now and didn't want to get yelled at by Sobel for talking, but this time, the silence felt easier. Lighter.
The company followed Lieutenant Winters to the parade ground and stood in file as Sobel prowled up and down trying to find something amiss to shout at them for. For a change, he didn't seem to be able to conjure up any infractions on the spot, which made his scowl deepen.
He dismissed them and stumped off. Not that anyone in Easy cared. They were all just looking forward to their bunks.
.
The next morning, Luz smiled at Mia when he joined the line at breakfast and he invited her to sit with him. He managed to hide the twinge of guilt he felt when her eyes widened in genuine surprise.
After he'd convinced her that yes, he was serious about her having breakfast with him and the guys, he made a mental note to find out what kept everyone from getting to know the young medic. Because in his modest opinion, that girl was really not bad company.