"What are ya working on, Red?" Luz asked me as I was leaning against the wall in our new location, writing out in my journal and blinking a few times in order to stay awake. After the incident in the Holland town, I got a huge earful from Doc, almost as bad as Luz was when I came back with Bull. He told me never to do that to him again or he'll tie me to a building before I could go off and do anything stupid, in which I smiled at him in return. Who knew he had an older brother streak in him? I had to explain to him all that happened: The Dutch family helping us and the German Soldier that Bull killed. He seemed a bit better about it, not too much since I was MIA for a whole night. My own bruise was still there on my cheek, now spreading to the whole cheek and was still a nasty light yellow and green with a hint of blue in it.
Even Joe was still pissed off about me running off without giving anyone a heads up. These days he's been on edge, even with me when we would talk every once awhile coming to and from a town. It was as if something was eating away inside of him, something nasty and bad that I was not bale to get to in order to fix. But that night hew as on patrol with some men, leaving me with Luz and Winters, along with a soldier who found a German Shepard somewhere at sometime. The dog seemed to be infatuated with the soldier, playing with him and the stick he was holding. I never had a dog, but he seemed nice enough to the soldiers around him.
"My medical journal, since we are in need of one and needing to keep it up to date." I explained as I wrote down the days some more and who was injured. It was true, our medical journal needed to be out to date since the Colonel was going to need it sometime soon before I would get in trouble. Doc had his own, and the both of us almost looked identical since we were part of the same battles and the same struggle.
"Way to be a team player." Luz commented to me in an undertone, having me chuckle from my spot and then see Winters smile from his spot as well. I then had another thought as the German Shepard barked at the soldier whom he was attached to, waiting for him to throw the stick.
"You know what's up with Liebgott?" I asked aloud to the both of them. Winters didn't move from his job, but Lux looked up and gave me a quizzing took.
"What do you mean?" He asked, clearly not knowing where I was going, "Isn't is always walking around like there's a stick up his ass?"
"No. I mean, he doesn't seem like himself lately." I explained some more, hoping what I was saying was working. Winters paused a Luz rolled his eyes.
"You know how Joe is: He has a vicious streak against the Germans ever since we came here, maybe even beforehand." Luz told me, ruffling his hair as I watched him carefully. Vicious streak, what does that even mean?
"Streak? What is that supposed to mean." I asked, not getting what he was telling me.
"Look, I know none of us are far too keen about the Germans right now since we're practically here to kill them, but Joe seems to hate them more than the average American here, you know?" Luz asked me, having me think about it and have him watch me. He never said no good thing about them, well, none of the others did. But Joe seemed…..vicious, far more vicious. Why didn't I see it before? I sighed, looking back at the journal as Luz asked the soldier what he was going to name the dog.
"Trigger." The man replied with a grin on his face. But my mind was back on Liebgott, who showed more colors to me than he did before.
"La Noux." I heard from near me, having me look up and see Winters now watching me with worried eyes as I dozed off with the journal in front of me, having me worry about the man whom I was falling for harder and harder. Was he that vicious and cruel in his own mind? Would I even get past that, knowing that I was here to serve people? Was he here just to kill people? Did he like killing people?
"You alright there?" He asked me, having me look up from him and come back from my thoughts that were plaguing me. I nodded my head as I gave him a short smile. He wasn't buying it, not from what he was seeing on my face. But before he could even talk to me, I saw a group of men rushing in and they were carrying someone in their arms. Someone got hurt, having me throw down the journal I was holding and rush over as they cleared the table and got the injured man on the top of it. One of the men carrying him was Joe, looking determined to get the man inside. I moved to the head, having me see the young man there and him just staring up at the ceiling and his face looking so cold and shivering. His leg was torn up in the blood and some of his jaw was red. His body on his left side as blown to bits but he was still there. I cradled his head as I looked behind me at the other men.
"Get Doc Roe quickly." I ordered them, someone running off as I looked back to the young soldier whom the others were calling Alley, "Take a nice deep breath, Alley. I have you right here, okay?"
"What happened to me? What happened?" He asked me in a soft tone, still confused as to what was going on.
"Where was it?" Winters asked Joe as I looked at both of the eyes of Alley in front of me.
"Crossroads, along the dike." Joe replied, getting a spare bandage and placing it on his own neck that I could see as bleeding.
"You know if it wasn't for your big mouth, they wouldn't have known we was there!" Another soldier argued with him in retaliation.
"You know what, why don't you back off!" Joe said back to him in almost a bark, having a third soldier break the two apart from before they would kill each other.
"I need my satchel, please." I said aloud, having Luz come over with my bag and I dug through it, getting some of the powder that was needed to calm down the pain that I could bet was soaring through the wound he was harboring. Winters barked out an order to them, having me hear Joe curse under his breath as Doc ran over finally and got to work on Alley. He was more qualified in this than I was, having me clap him on the back.
"You get ahead, Doc." I told him, seeing him nod his head and start telling the other soldiers what to do with Alley. I grabbed Joe before he could even get an order, pulling him away from the scene in front of us.
"You, come with me and I'll get that stitched up for you." I explained pushing him onto a chair that was against the wall. I grabbed the satchel again, ruffling it through and the getting what I needed before I looked up at him. Joe wasn't smiling, nor was he too pleased on being here. He just looked as if he was having the worst day of his life. I got to work on his neck, hearing him say nothing but hiss every once in awhile.
"Joe," I said to him, not seeing him look at me at all, "Talk to me Joe. What happened out there?"
"We were just on patrol, that's all." he said in a short manner to me, having me eye him suspiciously as I got the bandage on him nice and clean.
"That doesn't sound the whole thing from what I'm getting here." I said back in a light tone, trying to somehow lighten the mood that was there between us. But he wasn't buying it, not once as I got some of the blood off his neck and cheek. The familiar feeling I would get from touching him lightly wasn't there, maybe it was because he wasn't his lighthearted self when he was usually with me. This was something else, something darker.
"Why do you wanna know anyhow?" He asked me in a low tone, having me eye him and move away from him then. This was not the Joe Liegbott that I knew, something was wrong with him and he was getting it all out on me. I watched him carefully and he watched me back with cold eyes now.
"Because I care about you, that's why." I replied back in a bold tone, no longer light. He scoffed, having me look at him in pure amazement to this new side of them that was never shared between us.
"You care about me now?" He asked his voice a bit louder than before, having me look back and see Doc still working on Alley with some of the men helping them. I looked back at Joe, seeing a smirk on his face that looked like he was ready for a fight.
"What in the hell is the matter with you, Joe?" I asked him in a low tone, "You've been acting like this with me ever since I came back with Bull."
"Maybe it's because of the fact that I had no idea where you were, let alone if you were alive at all." Joe spat back at me, the both of us fighting so hard to keep our voices down at this point, "And it's even better when I see you with a shiner that is taking up half of your face because of a fucking Kraut giving you the ass end of a gun." I glared at him now, having me see his vicious and evil side come out when he started talking about the German but using the term that sounded far too cruel.
"Why don't you call them by their real names, Joe. Why not call them Germans?" I asked him back in a counter argument.
"What, you gone soft on them already?" Joe asked me, raising himself up from the chair to be bigger than me. But I was holding my ground with him.
"Since when do you think I would go soft for them. It's one thing to call them by their real names and hate them, but to use slang against them?" I asked him, my voice going a bit bigger now since the argument was getting more serious, "As I recall, you hated the phrase Son of Abraham." As soon as I said that, he glared at me now with such hate that I could feel it seep under my skin.
"That is not the same." He gritted through his teeth, trying too hard not to yell at me,
"It's not?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow, "It's not the same thing? I think it is. I don't care if you have a personal vendetta against the German, I really don't Joe. But don't drag the rest of these men and myself down with you when you find yourself lower than the mud they walk on."
"I'm not going to stoop to that level, Marley. They're fucking Krauts!" he proclaimed to me in such a bold tone that I suddenly lost it in that moments.
"They are humans!" I screamed at him, having the whole are go quiet and everyone looking at the both of us. I was fuming, both of my hands were making fists at my sides, my eye glaring at him and could feel the anger soaring over my whole body. This was too much for me, coming from him. I know I was fighting for America and for us to win this war, but I knew too that we were fighting other humans that were also fighting for their right to live. I grew up with the notion of right and wrong: what Joe was doing, was wrong. I knew it, and for some reason it took me this long to see it.
Joe watched me carefully, his eyes were now in a bit of a shock from my outburst but I knew he was still too stubborn to say otherwise. He was holding his ground, as was I. Two stubborn fools who were trying to make sure they were right and other was wrong.
"They are human beings, Joe. I don't care what they've done and where they have come from: they are still humans who are fighting for the same thing as us. I don't want to see them as anything else than human." I told him in my boldest tone, the area was still quiet as the whole area was watching us now, no one moving or talking. Joe scoffed at me again, having me shift my weight on my feet as he got closer to me.
"You know, I've always wondered why you're not a soldier. But now I get it: you have no spine to shoot a man down." He sneered at me, having me loose my own breath as he insulted me for not having a spine. I had nothing else to say to him since I was now seeing him in a new light: a cold one. I just took in a deep breath, letting that insult sink in and I looked down, no longer wanting to look at him and I said nothing. He was probably right: I had no spine to kill a man. However, I was not going to let that stop me from showing it to him.
"Oh shit." I heard behind me, having me notice that the others were listening in and I looked back at Joe, seeing that my eyes were on the brink of tears then. I would be fine if I heard it from anyone else in the Company. Hell, it sounded like something Guarnene would tell me. But not Joe, coming from him made it hurt even more. He saw my eyes, and I could tell something shifted in him when he saw me and how I was affected.
"I may not have a spine, Joe. But I'm not a heartless killer, like you." I said back in a lower tone, then turning my heel and walking away from him. I pushed past the the soldiers that were still there, most of whom moved out of the way from me as I escaped the room and out into the open where I could hear the current battle that was happening around me. I sighed, looking out and around me at the flashes of bombs going off on the landscape and hearing the clattering of gunfire in the cool night.
Joe and I had a huge fight, having me see him in a new shed of light now and hating it. Why didn't I see this before, why couldn't I stop this from getting worse for me now than when we first met. I should have stayed away, listening to my head more than my own heart. I needed to breathe, to forget his own face and move on. That's what a good soldier would do. But me? I was too occupied by the venom that was seeping through his teeth and eyes when he insulted me. Why Joe? Why he of all people?
"Marley." I heard a familiar face behind me, having me look over and see both Doc and Luz there, standing about 15 feet away from me and looking just a torn up as I was. I wiped away the tears from my own face, seeing my hands were still shaking and still cold from the feud as I looked back away from them. They walked over to me, Doc on my left and Luz on my right. Doc took my hand in his as Luz just stayed there, looking serious which was new for me to see since he was always a barrel of laughs.
"You okay?" He asked me in a low tone, having me say nothing at first but sigh out in a shaky tone.
"I can't stand him anymore." I just murmured, feeling Doc's hand in my own tighten from the tone in my voice. I sounded so sad, but it was laced with pride as well.
"He's a handful. But what he did in there was wrong," Luz reassured him, having me watch him as he too was watching the battle from far away, "Give him time to think about what he said. He'll come back around."
"I don't want him to," I said in a bitter tone, having the both of them look at me now, "He took it too far for me." They said nothing as the three of us looked out into the battle. I needed a cigarette, even a beer, something or anything that would take the pain away from what just happened. After a moment or so I felt something tugging at my shoe lace as if it was trying to pull me somewhere. I looked down, seeing something that took my berth away and was surprising at the same time. Doc and Luz looked as well, having me see Luz smile widely and Doc looked with a raised eyebrow.
It was a puppy. A German Shepard puppy.
"Look! A little scabber!" Luz said in a grin as I leaned down to grab the puppy, who was playing with my shoelaces with his puppy teeth. I grabbed him, pulling him up with ease and he licked my face. I had a small smile on my face, it felt odd to smile from recent events that happened to me. But the puppy licked me some more, along my jaw and on my cheeks.
"He might be an orphan." Doc suggested as the puppy snuggled into my arms, having me hold him a bit closer with my one arm, "His mother must of been killed in this whole war."
"Looks like you have a new friend to fall in love with, eh La Noux?" Luz asked me in his grin, having me eye Luz from my spot and then the puppy, "You can keep him you know."
"You think?" I asked him with a hint of optimism in my voice.
"Of sure. I know soldiers keep dogs all the time. And you can train this on too. Maybe he can be the new Medic Mascot. You know?" He asked in a shrug of his shoulders. I smiled from the thought. it would be nice to have a dog around here, let alone a puppy. I needed something to keep my mind off of Joe and all of his hate on the world, and if it wasn't going to be medicine, then it would be a puppy. So I looked over at Doc, seeing him eye me suspiciously as I held up the puppy to him with my own puppy dog eyes.
"Can we keep him?"
Doc and I rolled up in the jeep to the aftermath of the battle that just broke out, having me watch as rolls and rolls of dead bodies were passing us by and we were going to to fetch the rest of the wounded that were waiting for us and the other medics to come and get them. After my fight with Joe, I've tried to hard to ignore him and keep a fair distance from him. The others knew about it too, sensing the deep rift between us and I could see them watching me for my own reactions about the situation. I was not going to let him ruin by time here, not with my mission still at hand.
I saw the puppy's head poke up from the backpack that I had on my lap, watching the action and I smirked. I got the blessing from Winters that I could keep the puppy though he was convinced the puppy would be a burden more than a blessing. But I reassured him that I would train the dog to stay with us and not be a distraction, though I had no idea who I was going to train him. Thankfully, Toye knew a thing or two about training dogs since he was erased around them since he was a kid. He was willing to help me train the puppy, which made me glad that he was still willing to be nice to me without losing his cool.
Doc smiled from the seeing the puppy looking around, his tongue out and looking with his big brown eyes and his floppy ears flying in the wind.
"How's it going with your little adopted child there?" He asked me in a grin, having me pat him on the shoulder as we chugged along the road to get to our next spot.
"Don't be jealous, Doc. I was thinking that you could be the father if you wanted to." I teased him, seeing him roll his eyes as I giggled. We pulled to a stop, having me sling the backpack straps over my shoulders with the extra weight in it from the small puppy. He was staying in my pack throughout most of the days, though I would have him out running around to stretch his legs. That was my next task: find him a collar of some sort and a leash so he went won't off. Doc and I hopped out of the car, walking over to the wounded area where other medics were getting them ready to be loaded up and head back to CB. Most of the men that were injured were too far out of it for us to talk to, maybe it was the drugs that were taking over them.
"Come on." I urged Doc as we got a stretcher ready for another wounded soldier who was looking alright. We got to work, loaded and unloading soldiers as fast as we could and got them ready to departure. I had my mind occupied by the men, seeing home over and over with her heads in my hands and having me tell them that they are okay, nothing was going to happen to them, and they were going to live. As the count of men booming less and less, I looked over my shoulder, seeing Winters talking to another official about something serious from the look I could see on his face. Was he being evaluated? Did he do something wrong? Or what it something he did that he was going to be praised for? I had no clue, not anymore.
"Let's get them some coffee, it looks like they need it." Doc suggested as we were finished with the loading of men. I nodded my head, following him with the puppy still on my back, licking at my ear and having me grin. I reached behind me, grabbing his ear and seeing him nip at me playfully. I saw a winded Luz walk over to me with a grin, ruffling the dog's head as we walked together.
"He seems to like you, this one." He commented as we all walked over to the area where they were serving coffee. I nodded my head, having me look at Luz and see the radio on his back.
"How's your back doing with that thing on, Luz?" I asked him in wonder, having me see him shift the thing around on his back as if it was about to pull him down.
"I'm used to it now, though this things not as easy as my old girlfriend back at home." He joked, having me shove him playfully away from me, hearing him cackle in laughter as I grabbed him a tin of hot coffee, giving it to him and seeing him smile in relief. It was nice to be around Luz, he was a breath of rest air for me and a good sense of humor in a time of war. He knew how to lighten a mood, having me watch him take a long sip and smile so widely.
"I feel like a million bucks now. Thanks, you dame you." He said to me, having me nod my head once as he ruffled the pup's head once more on my back, the pup barked at him once in return, "You need a name of him."
"I know, though I don't know what to name him." I replied, having me see him eye the dog and then smirk at me.
"How about John Wayne? He looks like him." Luz suggested, having me shake my head at the thought of naming a dog after a movie star. It didn't seem right to me, having me see him shrug at me again and walk off as I noticed Doc handing a weathered looking Winters a cup of coffee. It was a peaceful morning there for us, though peaceful was the wrong word to use since we were always at war. It made me think back to Joe and our fight: him hating the Germans beyond measure. A part of me wanted to talk to him and make amends, but another part was still angry a thin for what he called me and how he said it. I sighed, looked back at puppy on my back. He rested his chin on my shoulder, having me feel him nuzzle against me and I stroked his nose.
"Red, we're needed! Something happened to Moose!" Doc said to me, tapping me on the shoulder as he was about to run out of our room that we were sharing. I saw our puppy sleeping against the wall, knowing that he wasn't going to anywhere since the rest of the boys were there as well. I followed suit, grabbing the satchel in the process as we ran into the dark quietness of the night. Apparently there was a mishap that happened with Moose, one of our members and another soldier who was still new to the whole thing of war. Winters was with them, seeing the whole thing and we ran to see what happened to Moose. He was bring brought over on a small combat vehicle, out of it and almost dying on us as Winters yelled for a stretcher. Doc went to him quickly and I helped him down on the stretcher on the floor.
"I got him, Did you get him morphine? How much?" Doc asked aloud as he got Moose under the arms as I held Winters with his legs.
"I don't know: two or three syrettes maybe?"
"Three Syrettes maybe? Jesus Christ, are you trying to kill him?!" Doc asked in anger as we got him on the stretcher and ready for the car that was waiting for us to take him to the hospital. "You don't think it might be important to let me know how much medication the man has had, huh? Because I don't see one Syrette on the man's jacket."
"Sorry Doc." We hauled him up on the platform in the car, having me help shove him inside gently as Doc went on with his rant.
"You know, it's a good thing he's a big man. Maybe he'd stand a chance." I looked back at Doc, seeing the anger fuming in his face as he was trying to make sure Moose was going to stay alive. I was a bit peeved too, since the wrong amount of medicine would in fact kill him, but Doc was on overload with anger and I was so close as to pulling him back from biting both the soldier and Winter's head off.
"He was in a lot of pain, Doc. We didn't know what to do—"
"Well, you outta! You know you are officers, you are grownups! You outta know!" He barked at them, pointing his finger at the both of them and having me see the sting of hate in his eyes for them going beyond his call. They said nothing as I grabbed his arm, pulling him into the car with me before he would get himself in trouble.
"Come on, let's go!" I yelled, hearing the car roar to life and seeing Winters shut the door behind us. Doc and I sat in silence as Doc looked over Moose, having checking his pulse and then getting out the bandages to change them from what he had on already. Winters tapped the door twice with his hand as we started rolling out of the area. I had to take a deep breath, breathing into my cold and shaky hands as we were taking Moose over to the hospital. What a routine for me to have: to be going in and out of the darkness and saving lives. I needed a break, both Doc and I did. I looked out and over to the back door window of the car, having me see the bloody handprint that was left there. That represented my life.
My life was a bloody handprint at this point.
"Come here you." I said aloud, pulling the puppy out from my backpack and keeping him on my lap. He yawned, snuggling into my lap and falling asleep as we were watching a old movie of John Wayne in a large room, some of us in engrossed silence as we were etching a break for the night. The men were under the command of a man named Dike since Winters took a job out in Paris was now Colonel Sink's new executive officer, no longer out commander. It hasn't felt the same since he left, having me wonder if he would ever come back for us and be our leader again. Ever since coming back from being MIA, nothing has felt the same. I doubted it ever will.
The puppy was fast asleep as I was sitting next to Luz, who was engrossed with the film. Toye and Lipton were in front of us, trying to watch, but Luz would quote the movie with his accent every once in awhile. I grinned, not saying a work as I stroked the fur on my puppy's head. I nudged Luz, seeing him look over at me as I saw Malarky sneak his way over to Muck and Perconte, whispering to them about something exciting and then getting a earful from Lipton and Toye to shut up.
"I thought of a name of him." I whispered to him, having me see him look down at the pup and then back at me with a small smile on his face.
"And what would that be?" He asked me, having me grin at him before answering.
"Archer." He looked at me with a confused look, almost surprised really as I smiled big at him.
"Archer? Really?" He asked me, shifting in his spot. I nodded my head as I heard the movie going on around us.
"It's good name, you think?" I asked him, looking down at the small bundle of fur in my arms. He was fast asleep, having me kind of glad that I had him in a confusion time for my life. Luz nodded his head, stroking the top of Archer's head before going back to the screen, tapping Lipton in the shoulder to his get attention.
"This is my favorite part: Got a penny?" he said the line in such a accent that it was thick next to me, After repeating it a few times, the woman on the screen said the line finally. Luz laughed as Lipton rolled his eyes. What a peaceful moment for the whole lot of us: watching a movie and not having a care or worry in the world. But it was cut short when the lights went on and the men were getting angry that was movie was cut short, Two officers walked down the middle of the room, having me sit up and watch next to Luz as he called us to be quiet a few times.
"The 1st and 6th SS Panzer Division broke through the Ardennes. They overran the 28th Infantry and the 4th." he explained, having us all mumble from what was said. This was not good on our part, not one bit.
"Officer, report to respective HQ's, all passes are canceled." As soon as he said that and started walking away, another uproar in the room started since were about to head out into another area for battle. I got up, Archer in my arms and he was still asleep as I walked out with Luz. It was going to be a tough fight in the cold, freezing cold. I wasn't going to look forward to it.
But I had nowhere else to go.
