We exit the building and step into the rain; it's coming down much more than before. I have my gun tucked into my pants, and my left hand is grasping the back of Daniel's vest. He's tense, I can tell and wonder if he's always like this or it's just because I'm here now.
I copy what he does, kneeling when he does, running when he does, and getting up when he does.
"Alright, that's the end of the block, the gates are the end of the square," Sergeant Hill says to Daniel's commander.
Daniel moves forward and kneels again, and I do the same, one of my knees pressing lightly into his back.
"Reiben, where's the captain from?" one of Daniel's squad asks a man in front of him, who must be Reiben.
Daniel gets up and moves gracefully around them.
"You figure that out, you get yourself a nice prize," Reiben answers.
"Three hundred bucks last I heard," Daniel comments as we pass them.
I can't hear what they say next because of the rain. Daniel moves over to a brick wall and gets down again. I rest my left hand on it, shifting closer to him. He looks back briefly over his shoulder, an indescribable look in his eyes- which is saying something. I've known him for a good portion of my life, I've always been able to tell what he's thinking or feeling. Maybe it's because of where we are, or because I haven't seen him in such a long time, but a pang of sorrow hits my heart.
"Around this corner, there's a defilade right up to those gates," Dunne says.
We stay still as the others move around us and the man from earlier says something else. "Somebody must know where he's from, what he did for a living."
"I've been with him since Kasserine Pass, and I don't have a clue," another, older and heavier set man says.
Daniel gets up and moves forward slowly and I step in his footsteps. We move down the street, looking up at the buildings and windows, trying to spot any snipers or Krauts.
Staff Sergeant Hill is muttering to himself, something about how he's going to need a wheelchair. We step up onto a pile of rubble and it moves under my feet. I start to fall to the right but Daniel's arm shoots out and grabs my arm, tugging me back up.
He doesn't have to ask if I'm okay, I can see the question in his eyes. I smile and nod and he focuses back on scanning for any threats.
"Reiben, so you don't even know where he went to school?"
Doesn't this guy ever give up?
"Captain didn't go to school. They assembled him at OCS out of spare body parts and dead GIs," Reiben jokes, but sounds completely serious.
Another tall and brawny man comes up behind the guy asking questions. "You got to pay attention to detail; I know exactly where he's from and exactly what he did because I pay attention to detail."
Daniel reaches the pair and as we go around them he says, "Hey Upham, careful you don't step in the bullshit."
I laugh quietly and Daniel glances over his shoulder, smiling slightly. That's my Daniel.
The company takes cover behind a wall that's crumbling from being hit most likely by mortar shells. Daniel stops behind his captain and Upham comes and stands behind me. It's a little cramped so I just step closer toward Daniel, who shifts his gun to his left hand. He puts his right hand on mine where it's grasping his vest and squeezes before dropping it and holding his gun properly. His captain tells the man in front of him to do it.
"Thunder! Thunder or we will fire on you!"
The captain signals one of his men over and moves to the back to peer around the wall through the slates in the gate.
"Upham, tell them to show themselves," the captain orders. Upham moves over to the captain and shouts, "Montrez-vous! Montrez-vous!"
They must come forward because the captain and Upham run through the gate, Daniel and I following. There is a hole blasted in the side of a building. A family; a man, woman, little girl and boy are inside. He takes up a position next to Upham and I kneel down next to him.
"Ask him if he knows where the Germans are," the captain orders.
Upham translates and the man says something back in French. I then notice the white bundle the French woman has in her arms; a baby. My heart clenches and I feel a wave of pain and grief. I quickly wipe that from my expression and look at Daniel, but he's looking in the opposite direction.
"What's he saying?"
"Something about the children," Upham answers.
"The kids?"
"They want us to take the children."
"No, no, we can't take the kids."
Upham translates this back but the father picks up the girl and dangles her over the edge of the building. One of the soldiers walks up the incline of rubble, I recognize him as the one who told Upham he knew where the captain was from before Daniel called him on it.
He stands in front of the family, slinging his gun over his shoulder and puts his helmet down. He reaches up and takes the little girl, putting her on his hip.
"Are you nuts, listen to the captain!"
"He thinks they'll be safe with us sir," Upham explains.
"They're not safe anywhere!" the captain says as he runs around us. "Caparzo! Put the kid back!"
The man, Caparzo, gives the girl his rosary as she's still reaching for her parents.
"Caparzo! Put that little girl back! Caparzo, give that kid back now!"
But Caparzo doesn't listen. He instead walks toward his captain and says, "Upham, how do you say 'It's okay'?"
Upham doesn't answer and I watch anxiously as the captain and Caparzo fight over whether or not to take the children. We shouldn't; I've seen something like this before, and it didn't turn out good for the soldiers involved, or the little boy.
"I can't sir, she reminds me of my niece sir!" Caparzo says as the little girl cries.
"Caparzo, get the kid back up there!" the captain yells.
"Captain, the decent thing to do is to at least take her down to the next house," Caparzo says.
"We're not here to do the decent thing," the captain says and takes the girl from Caparzo, "We're here to follow fucking orders!"
"Sarge, take this goddamn kid!"
Caparzo then jerks forward and a shot cracks through the air. He lands on a half demolished piano, making a loud noise when he presses miscellaneous keys.
"Cover!" someone shouts and the captain shouts it out a second later, ducking behind a car. Everyone takes cover and Caparzo tries to get his gun and run out of the open, but trips and falls. Daniel grabs my arm and Upham's collar and pulls us toward the captain behind the car. Upham seems to be in shock and stumbles, falling into the car, banging his shoulder on it. I land a little more gracefully.
"Goddamn it, where'd that come from?!"
Daniel let's me go and changes the hand he holds his gun in. "He was on the ground 'fore we heard the shot!"
He moves forward to peer around the car and I tap on Upham's arm, motioning for him to get behind me as I crawl to the side. I leave him just enough room to let him scoot by and I take his place next to Daniel's captain.
"That's where I'd be," Daniel says, looking at something in the distance. Frankly, I'm a little more concerned about Caparzo than the sniper, but I suppose that's just the medic part of me. I can't help take out a sniper, but I know how to treat bullet wounds.
"I didn't see it," his captain says.
"Four hundred fifty feet captain, maybe a shade under," Daniel tells him and adjusts his rifle, tightening and putting extra parts on it that he'll need. "I wouldn't venture out there fellas, this sniper's got talent!"
He reaches behind him to get something off his back but fumbles. I see what he's trying to get and grab his vest with one hand to hold it in place as I remove the piece he needs. I hold it over his shoulder and he takes it. He takes the scope he has on his rifle off and pushes it into my hand as he puts the new scope I gave him in place.
I see him start to get that intense focus he sometimes drifts into; which is a part of why he was always a good shot, he was always able to block everything out and just concentrate on shooting. He gets up and walks around the back of the car, staying low as he screws a piece to lock the scope into his rifle.
I shift over to where Daniel was kneeling before and peer ever so slightly around the car to see Caparzo.
"Hey captain, what's your name?" I ask.
I think I surprise him with my question seeing as how he does a double take and has to take a second before answering. "Miller, John Miller."
I nod, "And what's Caparzo's first name?"
"Adrian," Captain Miller answers.
"Caparzo?! Caparzo, can you hear me?" I shout, anxiously clutching Daniel's cope in my hands just to do something with them.
"Yeah-yeah I can-can hear you!" he shouts back.
"Good, now Wade and I can't come to you just yet, not until the sniper is taken care of, but there might be something you can do in the meantime," I say and wait for his answer.
"I-I think I can walk," he says.
"Caparzo stay still!" Wade yells.
"Caparzo- Adrian, I need you to listen to me. You said earlier when you had the girl that she reminded you of your niece, tell me about her," I instruct, trying to get him to talk about something else to calm him down.
"Her name is M-Mary," he says.
"That's a great name, when was the last time you saw her?" I ask.
"Two years… ago. We took her to-to her first ball game," he says.
"That must've been fun, did she like it?"
"The game, yeah, when the guy behind us spilled his soda all over her, no," he yells, laughing a little at the end.
"Adrian, I promise you that we're going to do everything we can to ensure you get to see her again, but right now I need your help with that. Can you do that?"
"Yeah," he yells.
"Good, okay, you were shot in the back, is there an exit wound?" I ask.
I see him straining to look at his chest and he pats him front before saying, "Yeah, oh god…"
"Adrian, I need you to focus, stay with me. Now, are you having any trouble breathing?"
"I-I feel like there's water in my lungs," he answers and I close my eyes, sighing.
"What? What does that mean?" Caparzo asks in a tone that means he knows it's not good but desperately wants someone to tell him otherwise.
I look at Miller, and his face is grim, and lie, "Nothing, it's not going to be a problem."
"Don't-don't lie doc," Caparzo says, "Fish. Fish!"
I get confused before another man answers. "Carpy put your head down! Put your head down!"
Caparzo takes something out of his jacket and says, "Copy it, copy it and send it for me!"
"Carpy, you're going to send it yourself. Carpy I see it, put it down," Fish says.
Another shot rings out and I tense, waiting to see what just happened.
"Got him!" Daniel yells and I don't hesitate to stand. I run over to Caparzo's side and skid on my knees next to him, putting Daniel's scope of the ground beside him.
I unzip his jacket and Wade gets down on his other side, ripping his under jacket open before his undershirt.
"How bad is it?"
"Chest," Wade answers.
"Probably through the lung," I add.
I put my hands on the wound, applying pressure as Wade gets something out of his vest.
"Wade," I say, noticing Carpy isn't breathing. Wade takes his pulse and closes his eyes, sitting back.
I remove my hands and gently pull his shirt to cover his chest. Someone kneels behind me, their knees brushing my back and side.
"He's gone darlin'," Daniel says softly in my ear. I just barely nod in response and he lays a hand on my shoulder, shifting closer.
Wade stands and unfolds a blanket. Daniel takes his hand off my shoulder and picks up his scope. He puts his other hand on my waist, gently pulling me up as he gets up. I snake an arm around him as we stand over Carpy's body as Wade puts the blanket over him.
Miller comes over and looks at Carpy. "That's why we can't take children."
He bends over and rips Carpy's dog tag off his neck and puts it in one of his pockets.
"Sergeant Horvath, do an ammo check. Upham, canteens, fill them up," Miller tosses his canteen at Upham, who barely catches it.
"Sergeant Hill, Captain Dunne, gather your men, we'll form up at the northwest corner of the square!" Miller yells.
"Jackson!"
"Sir!" Daniel and I both say at the same time.
"Private Jackson," Miller clarifies and Daniel squeezes my waist before going to stand in front of his captain. "Mellish, check the tower, hustle back here. Right now, go!"
I watch as Daniel and Mellish run for the tower and Dunne walks over to me. "Rough day, huh?"
I let out a bark of quiet laughter and he smiles before growing serious. "You should tell him."
My face turns dark. "Tell who what?"
"Your Daniel, you should tell him," Dunne says and looks at Carpy. "You never know when it may be your last chance to, and he deserves to know- and he deserves to hear it from you."
Dunne waves his men that are behind us and they follow Hill's men. Long grabs my shoulder on the way, pushing me forward. On the way past Carpy, I hear Reiben say, "Fuck Ryan."