Chapter 2: Slow day

"TAKE COVEEER!"

"WHERE THE HELLS THE REINFORCEMENTS?"

"I'M HIIIIT, I'M HIIIT!"

[Boom!]

"WHERE'S THE AMMO!?"

"THAT BASTARD LEFT US!"

[Pow!]

"EDDIE, EDDIE GET DOWN, NOW!"

"TWO HEAVIES COMMIN FROM THE EAST!"

"COVERING FIRE!"

"I DON'T SEE ANY!"

"EDDIEEEE!"

My eyes shoot open as I sat up off my cot. My eyes looked around the room as I started to breath slow and heavily. I wiped the cold sweat off of me as I slumped over a little bit in the bed. I grasped the dog tags hanging on my neck as I looked up at the ceiling.

"Aaaah, damn it." I groaned out as I rubbed my face. I looked around the room to see the lieutenant just waking up. I got up from the cot as I began to put on my hbt uniform and look for my boots.

"Well, I guess I'll wake up the men." I said as i put my cap on my head and began walking to the door.

"Alright, I'm right behind you, I'll go and set up everything." I heard the lieutenant reply. We both walked out of the small barracks and parted ways as he went towards the castle and I made my way towards the two soldier barracks. I stood in front of the door and cleared my throat as I began stretching. Then, without further hesitation, I kick open the door to the first barracks and began the yelling.

"WAKE YO LAZY ASSES UP!" I shouted walking down the rows of sleeping soldiers. The young men immediately shot out of their beds and stood at the foot of them as all eyes were put on me.

"I want all of you dressed and ready to go in five minutes or less and outside awaiting further orders," I continued, "DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"

"SIR, YES SIR!" They replied in unison. I continued the same routine with the second barracks until all of them were outside in three rows of twenty awaiting commands.

"Today, all of you will be assigned to a team, each team will be assigned a different task to do around the base, wether it's Striker unit maintenance or guarding the entrances you will be given a specific task." I paced side to side as I inspected all of them from left to right. I could see some of them were still trying to adjust to the sunlight.

"Alright, let's hurry up and get up to the base, the lieutenant is up there waiting to give you your jobs." As I finished, they all began to march up the small road towards the base.

"After your done with your food you'll be going straight to work." Jackson said as everyone gathered around him on the outside of the base.

"Corporal Williams." Jackson said looking around at the group of soldiers until someone stepped out the crowd saluting him.

"Sir!" Williams replied.

"Your going to be taking a few of our men and heading out to the observation post we pasted yesterday." Jackson said pointing at him.

"Yessir." He said as he stepped back.

"Corporal Garcia , you and your crew will be working with the AA guns and ammunition."

"Got it."

"Sergeant Hester and Corporal bishop, your crew will be doing guard duty."

"We got you." I said.

"The rest of you will be doing striker unit maintenance with me," he said," any questions?" Everyone stood in silence for a moment.

"Dismissed." With that said, everyone went to grab something to eat and went to their duties.

After everyone was done eating, we all went to our post. Me and Bishop sat next to the main gate and basically did nothing. The others just paced around or stood in place.

"Well this is just boring as hell." Bishop stated as he lit a cigarette and began to lean back in his chair.

As I sat there contemplating our situation until I was finally brought back to reality by the corporal.

"Hey, you alright, you okay, Smacks!" Bishop said finally getting my attention. I snapped out of it and turned to him as he exhaled a cloud of smoke into the air.

"Toss me one." I demanded holding out one of my hands.

"I-is you serious?" Bishop raised an eyebrow as he asked in a hesitant way.

"Man, just hand me one." I said again impatiently. He finally just shrugged, set down his rifle and reached into his pocket. He finally placed the cigarette in my hand before he reached into his pocket lit it for me.

"What's wrong with you?" I took a big inhale of the cigarette before answering his question.

"Don't know what you talkin about." I said leaning forward in my chair with the cigarette still hanging between my lips.

"The only time you ever smoke, you stressed out about something, so what is it."

I sat there for a few second before I took a deep breath and looked at the ground. I knew Bishop want going to let go of it that easy.

"Do you know who's in charge of this base? Bishop looked at me puzzled.

"It's commander Wilcke, ain't it?"

"Who's the superior officer, though?"

"I think it's that Britannian named Maloney, right?"

"And who's name keep comin up every time we hear that one?" Bishop sat there thinking for a while as I took another hit of my cigarette.

"I want you to think real hard." I uttered letting out a puff of smoke. Bishop sat there for another second before his eyes widened a little from realization.

"Davidson." he muttered in disbelief.

"Bingo."

"What he got to do with anything?"

"They gave him a promotion, they gave that bastard a promotion after what he did."

"Ya serious," Bishop said in disbelief," I thought they still had him under investigation?"

"Well, they said they couldn't find no dirt on em, so he walks away without a single consequence and a even higher rank." I began clenching my fist as the thought began to frustrate me even more.

"Hey," Bishop said as he put his hand on my shoulder trying to calm me down,"I guarantee you, after this it's all done, I'll help you make sure he's court martialed."

I just brushed his hand off as i got out the seat.

"Naw, I don't want him in prison...I want him dead."

"Yeah, and guess who'd be the one getting a court martial." Bishop got from his seat as well and walked next to me.

"If we play the cards right, he'll get what he deserves, just trust me." Bishop pleaded trying to convince me.

I contemplated for a second before answering,"Alright,fine."

"You trust me?" Bishop asked.

"Yeah, I trust you."

"Good to know." Bishop said as he tapped me on the chest and felt something hard impact his hand.

"The hell?" The corporal blurted out.

"What is that?"Bishop questioned. I responded with opening my shirt, revealing what layed under it.

"What in the hell is that, Clyde?"

"A metal plate." I said nonchalantly.

"W-why do you have that?"

"To protect my chest."

"From what, a neuroi blast could go right through that."

Before i could answer, i was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.

We turned to see the lieutenant approaching all straightened up and saluted.

"Gentlemen."

"Sir." Everyone replied.

"Sergeant, got a task for ya, follow me." I began following him to a nearby jeep as he stopped.

"What is it." I asked.

"A couple of the witches need to be driven to a nearby town to pick up some supplies for one of their new recruits."

"And, what's that got to do with me?" I questioned while crossing my arms.

"Well, I need you to drive them there." After Elijah had said that I looked at him with confusion on my face. He's telling me to basically be someone's chauffeur. This was exactly one of those times I wished I was back on the battlefield.

"You can't be serious." The lieutenant did not reply, but just smirked and crossed his arms.

"So I'm a chauffeur now, can't they drive themselves?" I angrily questioned.

"Yeah, they capable, but I volunteered YOU to take them." he emphasized.

"Any reason why you volunteered me?" He handed me a piece of folded paper which I opened up to see that it was a form for something.

"What's this?"

"There's a Liberian outpost by the town your headed to, I need you to pick up a piece of equipment I requested."

"What is it?" I inquired, but he didn't want to tell me. I wasn't gonna beg him if he didn't want to. I complied with my orders and waited for the witches to come out so we could be on our way to our destinations.

I sat in the driver's side of the jeep and continued to smoke the cigarette in my hand while my wrist rested on the wheel. I sat there for a minute waiting until I pulled a picture out of my pocket. The picture laying in my Palm was of me and my brother...or my late brother. In the picture we were standing side by side in our uniforms, my forearm resting on his shoulder and his rifle slung on his left shoulder.

On account that there was nothing but sand and a small burning building in the background, I knew the picture was taken in North Africa...the last place my brother would ever see.

I was still fixated onto the photo until I heard the sound of footsteps coming from my right side. I look towards the stairs to see two witches coming down. One was a orange haired girl with a Liberian army uniform while the other was a younger brown haired girl in a fusonese sailor uniform.

I acted quick and tossed my cigarette on the floor before stomping it out. I stood at attention with my hands behind my back as they approached me.

"Good evening ladies." I saluted them as they stopped in front of me. The oldest girl returned the salute while the younger girl waved with a wholehearted smile.

"Well hello, I'm guessing your with the group of new personnel that just got transferred here?"

"Yes ma'am, Sgt. Clyde Hester from the 92nd infantry."

"Nice to meet you sergeant, I'm Fight lieutenant Charlotte Yeager from the 363rd Fighter Squadron."

"So your with the Air Corp?" I asked.

"Yep, since '43." I looked to my left to acknowledge the younger girl.

"And you are...?" I asked the young girl as she finally noticed the question.

"Yoshika...Yoshika Miyafuji." She responded as I gently shook her hand making sure not to give her such a firm handshake. " Nice to meet you Ms. Miyafuji." After introductions, we finally jumped into the jeep ready to go to our destination. I started the engine and proceeded towards the only bridge leading out of the base. I stopped by the guard post to be met by Bishop. He tipped his cap to the two young women in the passenger's seats before addressing me.

"Leaving base, sarge? He asked.

"Yeah, gotta make a supply run for the lieutenant ." I confirmed.

"Alright, see you soon." He signaled to the other soldiers on duty to open the gate to let us pass. I drove through before speeding up and finally going over the bridge. The drive seemed a bit long until the silence was broken by the younger girl in the back.

"Uhm, sergeant?" The young Fusonese girl said from the back of me, before I turned a bit so she knew I could hear her, "How long...have you been in the military?" She asked with a bit of hesitation.

"Ya know, I was gonna ask the same thing. You seem a bit young to already be a sergeant." The older girl had added. I smirked a bit before giving them there answer.

"Well, I've been in since '42 and I'm 16 now," I said keeping my eyes on the road, "our unit did have a older sergeant and lieutenant, but our sergeant was killed a year and a half ago so, they gave me the promotion and stuck Jackson with the title as lieutenant."

"I'vewhat happened to the former lieutenant?" Charlotte asked me making me tense up and tighten my grip on the wheel. Being reminded of that person just made me so uneasy but I calmed down before either of them could notice.

"The old lieutenant...the old lieutenant decided to take a promotion given to him and left the unit, after that we never heard from him again."

"So your with the 92nd, Right?" I turned to Charlotte as she asked the question.

"Yes, ma'am." I confidently replied.

"What unit are you with?"

" I'm with the 366th infantry regiment, B company."

"I've heard about you guys, your units pretty tough, you guys have been giving the neuroi a run for there money."

"Really?" Miyafuji exclaimed from the backseat. "Yep, they've been fighting from Africa all the way to now." Charlotte informed her.

She talked about us as if we were as significant as a witch but we weren't. It's true, the 92nd has been fighting since the start of this war...but we also had the most casualties in the army. No one really cared if any of us died, except for our loved ones. That's why we were always somewhere at the start of a battle.

"Please, we wouldn't last a day in this war if it wasn't for you guys," I said giving the witches all the credit they deserve, "y'all saved us in Britannia." My comment earned me a chuckle from the orange haired girl.

"Imma bit surprised though."

"About what?"

"I mean, nobody in the Liberian military, like yourself, actually notices us."

"What do you mean?" Yoshika asked.

"I mean we don't really get treated like we're soldiers some of the time, most of the time we're treated like Canon fodder and by our own troops, we had to learn that the hard way." Miyafuji opened her mouth as if she was about to say something until Charlotte got the first word.

"Oh look we're here." she pointed forward as I realized we were already in the town. I slowed down so I could give the people walking a chance to get out of the way of the jeep.

"You can pull over right here." she said pointing in the direction of a small store. I did what she asked and pull over to the side of the store. I stop the vehicle as the two witches jump out and head towards the door.

"Just give us a couple of minutes and we'll be right back." I tell them not to worry and take their time to get what they needed.

A few minutes go by and I see Charlotte walking from the store with her arms filled with bags and items and Miyafuji looking down with a bit of embarrassment on her face. I stood by the jeep chuckling before talking. "Well you two seemed to have done quite some shopping." I said with a smirk on my face.

" I told her I didn't really need most of this stuff but she insisted we get it." Miyafuji said looking up a bit. Charlotte was still standing there with a wide grin plastered on her face. I finally helped her load the bags into the jeep before entering and moving on to my next destination.

"I hope you don't mind but I have to go and pick up something from a outpost close to here." I said turning the jeep.

"Not a problem at all, we have enough time." Charlotte responded. I finally see the gate to the outpost and drive up close enough towards the gate and stop next to the two guards standing next to it.

"Hey, I'm here to pick up some equipment for Lt. Jackson from the 501st's base." I hand the guard the papers proving I'm able to be here. He looks at the papers closely and hands them back to me.

"Yeah we were expecting you, come on in Sergeant." he said as he opened the gate and I drive through into the outpost. I look around to see soldiers either walking around, busy carrying crates or doing there own thing. I stop in the middle of base and exit jeep.

"I just need to go and get this equipment and I'll be right back." I said as I saw Charlotte leave the passenger side.

"I'm gonna see if I can find the little ladies room." she said walking by me. I then turned my attention to Miyafuji who was just sitting in the back of the jeep by herself.

"Are you gonna be alright here by yourself, Ms. Miyafuji?" I asked her, making her then gaze up at me in surprise.

"N-no I'm fine right here, thank you." she responded.

"Alright I'll be back in a few." I began walking towards the small warehouse at the end of the base.

Yoshika's POV

I just sat in the jeep watching the soldiers pass by me as I waited silently for Shirley and the sergeant to come back. I sat there thinking about all the new people I was able to meet after taking the major's offer to join the 501st. I got bored and started looking around the jeep until I saw something catch my attention.

In the front was a small picture of two people, two young black soldiers at that. I lean forward and grab the picture to inspect it a little more. I look closely at it to see that it was sgt. Hester. He had a wide grin on his face with his weapon laying on his shoulder with his left arm resting on the shoulder of the person next to him.

They both looked a bit similar so I assumed he must've been a family member. The other boy had the same grin stuck on his face with his weapon hanging on his shoulder by the sling.

They both had looked a bit dirty and their uniforms were a bit tattered. They looked like they had just gotten out of a warzone but yet they still had two innocent smiles stuck on their faces. the image caused me to smile a bit too noticing the happiness in their eyes. As I looked closer they both did look a bit familiar to me. almost as if I had met them before.

"Well hey there, little lady!" I jumped up from the sudden outburst and began to look around to find out where it came from. I turn to my left two Liberian soldiers approaching the jeep. They seemed alright to talk to until the first one approached me. He had a blonde shaved head covered by a cap. He smelled a bit like liquor and tobacco as he got closer to me. He had a big smirk on his face as he stopped a few inches from the jeep. I returned the smile as I responded.

"Oh, um hi." I said waving a bit.

"Your a witch, right?" he asked me with the same smile on his face.

"Um...yes, that's right." I answered. It looked as if his smile grew a bit wider after hearing what I said.

"What's a pretty, little, young lady like yourself doing around here?" His face got a little bit close to mine causing me to move back a bit with my smile still on my face.

"Oh, well, I'm just here waiting for my friend and one of our base personnel to come back so we can leave." I nervously said. He moved his face back and whispered something to the other soldier I couldn't understand.

"Well what's the rush," he began, "we were just about to go and get something to drink so why don't you tag along with us until your friends come back?" he suggested. I started to wonder where Shirley or the sergeant was at that moment as I tried to peacefully make the two soldiers go away.

"Um...n-no thank you, I'll just wait here for them to come back." I gently said trying to kindly decline his offer. Out of nowhere I feel a hand grab me by the wrist. I open my eyes to see it's the soldier with his open mouth grin trying to gently but forcefully pull me out of the jeep.

"Come ooooon Toots, it'll be fun what's the worry?" he said as he began to pull a bit more. I got a bit more frightened at what was happening right now but kept on trying to decline as gently as i could.

"No that's alright again I'm just gonna wait a little bit more." I said a bit more nervously. I was beginning to think they weren't coming back until I heard something heavy getting dropped on the ground behind the frightening and persistent soldier. The two soldiers looked behind themselves as I looked over the persistent ones shoulder with relief in me to see that it was Sgt. Hester who had grabbed both of their attention. he had a calm but serious look on his face as he walked over the crate he was carrying and approached us.

He looked at both of the soldiers in silence and then turned to me.

"Are you alright Ms. Miyafuji?" He addressed me with a faint smile on his face.

"Yes, I'm okay." he then turned his attention to the two soldiers with a hint of anger in his face. The two soldiers then did the same and turned their attention to him.

"Is there a problem here?" Sgt. Hester addressed the two soldiers as they walked up a bit towards him.

"No problem here or no problem that concerns you, Jigaboo." The soldier spat towards the sergeant. He just stood there and began to tighten his fist as if he was ready to punch the man who looked to be a couple of years older than him. But he just calmed down and took a deep breath and responded.

"Well, it is my problem since this girl is under my supervision for right now and you seem to be bothering her so, I suggest that you leave her alone and walk away." He calmly said. The two didn't seem to be bothered by this.

"Oh yeah and what're you gonna do about-"

"Hey, look," the soldier behind him interrupted, "look at his patch." he said pointing at Hester's patch on his shoulder. I looked too to see that it was just a green patch with what appeared to be a buffalo.

"He's with the 92nd." he added making his friend's eyes widen a bit.

"I think we should leave right now." he advised his friend, he then put his hands in his pockets and bumped into Hester as he walked away muttering a "whatever" as the other one followed him and caught up. Hester kept looking at them until they turned around the corner and were out of sight. He then walked up towards the jeep as Shirley finally came back.

"Hey what I miss?" she questioned.

"Nothing really, a couple of soldiers were bothering her so I had to scare em off." Hester responded in a relax state. I was so relieved to finally see both of them back at the jeep.

"So, are you ladies ready to go?" he said loading the heavy box onto the back of the jeep. "Ready when you are sergeant." Shirley responded.

We then began our way back to the base. I watched as everything passed us by again and realized I forgot something.

"Um...sergeant?" I asked grabbing his attention off of the road a bit.

"I...wanted to say thank you for helping me out of that situation." He just smiled and put his eyes back on the road. "Ah, don't worry about it Ms. Miyafuji." he said waving it off.

"Actually, you can just call me Yoshika." I requested. I didn't feel like he had to be formal towards me if he didn't have to.

"Alright then, Yoshika." the drive back to base until it was broken by Hester's voice.

"Hey did anyone see what happen to the picture I had laying here?" he asked looking around for his lost item. I gasped as I realized I still had the picture in my hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was looking at it, I forgot to put it back where it was." I handed it back to him as he received it back.

"No harm done, miss." he put it in his chest pocket and returned his attention back to the road again. I couldn't help it and my curiosity had gotten the best of me again.

"So who's the other boy next to you in the photo?" I asked a bit reluctantly as I expected not to be getting a answer.

"That's my older brother, Eddy." the mention of the name caused him to smile a little.

"where was this picture taken?"

"I think we were probably in Africa when we took that picture."

"That's weird, I've seen most of your unit but-" Shirley's sentence was interrupted as I pointed something out.

"Hey look, by the base." I pointed my finger towards what appeared to be a aircraft coming from the right towards the base.

"Something ain't right," Clyde had muttered shaking his head,"it's flying too close." Just as the unidentified aircraft got close enough, a red beam exited from the side of it. It hit somewhere in the middle of the base as a large explosion could be heard and a puff of fire and smoke could be seen as it made its pass.

"SHIT, Neuroi!" I heard Clyde shout out as I looked in surprise.

"IT'S COMING THIS WAY!" Shirley shouted as the both of us looked as it cut left and sped up coming right at us.

"BOTH OF YOU GET DOWN!" Clyde commanded as we another beam hit the road in front of us, causing Clyde to swerve off just in time. He was now driving on the grass field until he came to a abrupt stop. He then hopped out of the driver's seat with his rifle in hand and began shooting at the airborne threat causing me to wince at the sudden sound of gunfire, but it had no effect on it as it just flew right and made it's way back towards the base.

"SHIT!" He yelled again before lowering his rifle.

"Are you two alright?" he questioned making his way to the back of the jeep.

"Yeah, we're fine." Shirley responded as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Good to know." Clyde added as he pulled off the speaker to the radio in the back.

"Base, Base come in, over." He said speaking into it. The three second long pause was followed by a voice.

"THIS IS BASE, GO AHEAD!" I heard somebody shout from the other side as I could hear coughing and the sound of gunfire.

"Bishop, what happen?"

"Neuroi...came out of nowhere, the witches went to go and intercept it but when they did it let off a few drones and got past them."

"Any casualties?"

"We got a few injured but no dead so far."

"Where's the Lieutenant?"

"HE's on one of the AA guns trying to shoot those...Ah SHIT DOOOOOOOWWWWWN GET DOWN AND TAK-" I listen in horror as nothing but static could be heard and another explosion rings out from the base.

"Bishop, BISHOP CAN YOU HEAR ME...BISHOOP!" I hear Clyde yell out but to no success.

"We gotta get to the base as fast as possible." He rushed to the driver's side and jumped back in, putting his rifle on the ground beside him and starting the ignition. We backed up out of the field and back onto the main road as we drove towards the base straight towards the ongoing battle.

Well that's it for this chapter. The real action starts in the next one as the boys of the 92nd begin their first battle for Mont Saint-Michel. as always, leave constructive criticism or a comment for support. Any question about the story just message me.

Thanks for reading.