"Keep low and go fast." Adeline said calmly.
An explosion rocked their barge, and she pushed Thomas' head down automatically. She put her lips next his ear. "When the ramp lowers, I'm going to throw you over. Understand? Remove what you don't need." He began frantically unbuckling his canteen, and she nodded in satisfaction. Then the whistle blew, and the ramp lowered and all hell broke loose.
Her eyes widened as immediately, the men in front dropped like stones, blood spraying everywhere as they were hit.
With a grunt, she grabbed Thomas, and heaved him over the side of the boat, and then threw herself in.
The men who had been listening to her followed suit, frantically paddling out of the way of the barge, which was still under fire. Thomas was just in front of her, head just bobbing above the water. She powered forwards as he began to sink under, but as his head dipped under, a spray of bullets just missed him – hitting a man next to her.
"THOMAS!" she yelled, gulping in air before she dived under. She opened her eyes, ignoring the sting of salt, and grasped him by his collar. She dragged him up to the surface, and dragged him with her as he coughed and spluttered.
"COMMANDER!"
She turned at the call of her title, and saw the green-eyed man, beside her. "Follow me!" she yelled back, and let him grab onto her other side. She let out a wordless bellow at the weight, but with the help of the man, dragged them all to shore, panting as her feet hit solid bottom.
Thomas and the other man gripped her, dragging her forwards out of the water, and behind the first hedgehog. Thomas was shivering, his eyes wide as he stared past her.
She followed his gaze to a man half in and half out of the water, one leg gone, and his intestines exposed. She gripped his chin, turning his face to look at her. "Don't look at it Thomas, look at me!
"We have to get to the dunes, otherwise we'll be blown to bits!" The green eyed man gritted his teeth.
The three of them ducked down as an explosion went off near them. "Why is the fire so heavy?!" she snarled.
Thomas had pulled out a soaking wet map, and was reading it, eyes squinted almost shut as he tried to make sense of the blurred ink. He looked up at her, eyes terrified. "We're in the wrong place. We landed just outside the strong point and the garrison."
"We're going to have to fight inland." Adeline muttered. A spray of machine gun fire passed over them and she hefted her rifle. "Hard and fast, run to the next hedgehog when I fire!"
She stood carefully, and raised the rifle Howard had given her.
…"This is a machine rifle. One of a kind, honey, just for you!"…
She pressed on the trigger, aiming towards the gunfire, and wiggling the barrel to splay the bullets further.
Almost immediately, one smaller gun was stopped, and the others concentrated fire on where she had been.
But Adeline was already moving – with her inhuman speed – towards the hedgehog next to the one Thomas and the other man were sheltering behind. Beside her, a man without a bottom half clawed at her weakly as his blood turned the sand red.
She looked at him, eyes meeting.
She watched his life drain from his gaze, and trembled.
This was death.
An explosion tore apart the ground beside her, and she was thrown sideways.
Her ears rang and she blinked unseeingly at the grey sky for a second. Hands closed around her shoulders and uniform and she was dragged, sand entering her uniform and her ear. When did her helmet come off?
Something made her head jerk sharply to the side. A pain bloomed in her cheek, and she sluggishly raised her hand to feel the tender skin.
The green-eyed man was yelling something far away. Thomas' face drifted over her vision. He was crying.
She sat up, gasping as her eardrums repaired themselves with a painful pop.
The world was thrown back into focus – the screaming, the gunfire, the battlecries.
"-the hell is wrong with you?!"
The green eyed man was yelling.
She looked dazedly down at her torso. Her flesh was exposed. Was that a rib?
Adeline sat up, pushing her insides back into herself as her skin rapidly closed over the exposed flesh, blood still leaking out around them. The green eyed man was saying something to Thomas, eyes wild. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the noise and stench.
"What is your name, Soldat- soldier." The small man was watching her carefully, something soft in his gaze. He didn't seem to realise she'd just spoken to him. He had the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen.
"Rogers. Uh, Stephen Rogers – uh, I mean, just Steve." He blushed a pretty pink, and she stifled the smile that threatened to break out at his awkwardness. It was endearing. "Just Steve Rogers."
"Well, Just-Steve. Please. Let us begin."
"Steve…" she breathed, and opened her eyes.
She had to get back to him.
And that required taking the beach.
The green-eyed man had picked up a rifle and was firing at the direction of the large strongpoint overlooking their part of the beach. She knew that if she took out the strong point, the Germans would retreat into the uninhabited town of Le Hamel. There it would come to house-to-house combat.
House-to-house combat was easier than running up a beach, under fire.
She looked around at the beach, placing her head low to the ground, and squinting through the chaos. Some men had already made it to the first set of dunes, underneath the strong point – but thought they were slightly more covered, they were still under fire. In front of them lay another deadly maze of hedgehogs, as well as the odd occupied trench – before they could reach the base of the strong point.
There was no going around the strong point – they had to fight upwards and inwards. It would be a bloody battle.
She set her jaw.