A/N: Sorry for the late update. I was trying to decide whether to publish this chapter on its own or split this and six, and that's what I did. This one is short, but six will be up tomorrow. Here you go - chapter 5!

The recruits would arrive before supper the next day. Eight men, all experienced in combat, all dropping everything at a moment's notice to come be part of a guerrilla tactical unit. Ella was excited to meet them.

Donny was beating her at 21 when Aldo found them in the barracks. "They're here. Tidy up, double time to the courtyard by the trucks."

The officers dropped their cards and straightened out their uniforms, Ella tucking any unruly wisps of hair back into her bun. They each holstered their weapons, and Ella belted on the V-42 stiletto knife she had carried since the moment she was made a member of the Devil's Brigade. They glanced over each other, nodded approval, and jogged to the spot Aldo said. They had arrived, no doubt. Eight dark-haired men stood at ease in the courtyard, fully equipped, packs on their backs. They all snapped to attention when the officers came into view, but Ella felt their eyes on her.

"At ease, men," she ordered. Authoritative, but not too demanding. She had to think about keeping the nervousness out of her voice. It wasn't often that Aldo told her to make sure the troops knew what was going on. "I am your Commanding Officer, Corporal Demski. Behind me is Sergeant Donowitz. I have been through hell and back already in this war, and now I'm going again, except that you soldiers are coming with me. You have been briefed on why you are here. This is not your average mission. We are about to head straight into enemy territory and make a name for ourselves killing Nazis. Let me tell you something about your new unit. We are different. We will work differently than the rest of them. We will be a team. Not so much about chain of command, but how many Krauts we can kill before this war is over. I am here to fight alongside you, just like Donowitz here and the Lieutenant. You will follow orders, but we will be brothers. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" they chorused, a little unsure.

"I know I'm a girl. You ain't gotta tell me twice. But I enjoy seeing the blood of those mass-murdering bastards as much as you do. You need to trust me. I'm your CO. And yeah, 'Sir's is the one to go with."

A few of them smiled, just as another pair of boots echoed down the hall to the courtyard. Ella spun an about-face and saluted as Aldo emerged.

"Attention!" Donny's booming voice commanded. Ella fell in beside him when Aldo nodded to them.

"Good show, Corporal," Donny whispered. "I think they're in love."

She just smirked.

Aldo took his snuff out of his pocket, putting a pinch in each nostril, and snapping the tin shut. When he spoke, it was at a normal volume, but Ella found herself hanging on every word as her Lieutenant paced in front of them.

"My name is Lt. Aldo Raine and I'm putting together a special team, and I need me eight soldiers. Eight Jewish-American soldiers. Now, y'all might've heard rumors about the armada happening soon. Well, we'll be leaving a little earlier. We're gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we're in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin' guerrilla army, we're gonna be doin' one thing and one thing only... killin' Nazis. Now, I don't know about y'all, but I sure as hell didn't come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and jump out of a fuckin' air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity."

Ella chuckled. He sure as hell hadn't.

"Nazi ain't got no humanity. They're the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatin', mass murderin' maniac and they need to be dee-stroyed. That's why any and every every son of a bitch we find wearin' a Nazi uniform, they're gonna die. Now, I'm the direct descendant of the mountain man Jim Bridger. That means I got a little Injun in me. And our battle plan will be that of an Apache resistance. We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty they will know who we are. And they will find the evidence of our cruelty in the disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us. And the German won't not be able to help themselves but to imagine the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels, and the edge of our knives. And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us, and the German will fear us. And when the German closes their eyes at night and they're tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with. Sound good?"

"Yes, sir!" the men said again, stronger this time. Aldo was the best man for this job, no doubt about it. One speech, and his soldiers would follow him to the end of the world.

"That's what I like to hear. But I got a word of warning for all you would-be warriors. When you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me personally. Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y'all will git me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis. Or you will die tryin'.

"Now move! We fly out at 1600!"

The men marched out.

A/N: Chapter six up tomorrow! Lemme tell you...it's a big one! See you tomorrow! -Alex