Jo knelt in front of the depressed woman. Her verdant eyes connected with honey brown ones.
"You should lead," she whispered.
Jo's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"
"I can't do it anymore."
"No, Donnie. I won't lead because you will. You can't give up. Remember why we agreed to this assignment?"
She nodded. "To go home," she paused, "I just-I can't-"
"You can," the dirty blonde chimed in, "And we can't go home without you. We need you to lead us. We won't leave you."
"You'd rather have a leader that led a friend to her death than-"
"That wasn't your fault, boss." The brunette looked up to see violet eyes. "That piece of shit is to blame."
Donnie's eyes moved to all four of their faces. She knew she couldn't leave them. The guilt had to subside, for now. She wasn't going to let her friend die for nothing. Gripping her cross, she stood up and nodded.
"Alright. But I get to kill that fucker."
The four smiled and nodded. Montie looked over to see Jackson nearby. Her eyes widened as she jogged over.
"You've been hit," she whispered worriedly.
"Just a graze, kinda like yours," he half smiled.
Their eyes connected. "Let me help you with it," she muttered.
He nodded in agreement. When she was done, the dirty blonde jogged back over to her squad. They stood by the sandbags, unsure of what to do. They were each in their own haze of reality. None of them realized time was passing. Their attention was turned to a returning Miller. He was angrily dragging the Nazi. The rest of the men followed him. Upham was closest.
"Tell him," Captain Miller spoke to the translator, "to march a thousand paces in that direction. Then he can take off the blindfold. We'll be gone, and he turns himself in to the first Allied patrol he comes across."
"You've gotta be kidding me," Reiben protested, "You're letting him go?"
"He's a P.O.W., Reiben. Can't take him with us. Our guys will pick him up sooner or later," the Captain explained.
Upham followed orders and translated to him. The man seemed sad and relieved. He started walking as Reiben continued to rant.
"Only if he doesn't get picked up by his own wermacht first, then thrown back into circulation," Reiben told him. He walked straight up to Miller. "Captain, you just let the enemy go."
"Need I remind you he killed two of us," Bo added as she threw her hands in the air, "This has FUBAR written all over it!"
An eerie, and tension-filled, silence covered them.
"This is such bullshit," Mellish complained.
"Ya'll got that right," the sniper growled.
"Mmhmm," Montie agreed while crossing her arms over her chest.
"Bullshit?" Upham asked surprised. "This is bullshit? But shooting a prisoner, that'd be okay?"
"Would you shut your mouth," Mellish retorted.
"It's against the goddamn rules!"
"Yeah, well the goddamn rules just walked off with your new friend," Reiben scoffed. "But I guess that was the, uh, decent thing to do, huh, Captain?"
"Look where decency got Carp," Jo muttered to herself.
Miller ignored all of them. "Grab your gear. Let's go," he said and began gathering his things.
"You heard him. Gear up," Horvath ordered. Absolutely no one moved. "The Captain just gave you an order," Horvath said to everyone.
Donnie shot him an icy stare.
"Yeah," Reiben replied, "Like the one he gave to take this machine gun. That was a real doozy, wasn't it, Sarge?"
"Soldier, you are way outta line," Horvath told him.
Reiben ignored him and walked back over to the Captain who was throwing on his bag.
"Yes, sir, that was one hell of a call, coming to take this nest. But, what the hell, we only lost one of ours guys going for it. Oh, and how could I forget, a woman too." They all watched as Reiben threw his arms down angrily on the sandbags in front of Miller. "I swear I hope Mama Ryan's real fuckin' happy knowing that little Jimmy's life is more important than two of our guys and one of Donnie's girls!" he yelled. "Then again we haven't found him yet, have we? Have we?!"
He was thrown to the ground by Horvath.
"Gear up, and fall in," he instructed him.
"I'm done with this mission," Reiben said.
He picked up his gun, and headed towards the direction they had first come in. Horvath chased after him.
"Don't you walk away from your captain. Reiben, get back in line," he ordered again. Reiben turned to face him.
"I'll spend the rest of my life in the stockade if I have to, but I'm done with this," he said.
"I'm not going to ask you again, soldier," Horvath said, drawing his pistol.
He aimed it right at Reiben as hell broke out. Every single person was yelling except for Captain Miller. Donnie quickly round up her girls and pulled them away from the stalemate. She wasn't about to let her girls get in the middle, no matter how badly they all wanted to intervene. Jack tapped her shoulder.
"I see him," she whispered while motioning in the distance.
The Nazi was walking back with two other men. Miller's men hadn't seen him yet.
"Come with me, Jack."
The two headed down the hill. In quick and swift movements, all three were dead. The two cursed as they realized they had mistaken the identities of the men. Donnie picked up their guns and ran back to her girls. She dropped the weapons onto the ground. The men were still yelling.
"That bastard dead?" Jo asked.
Donnie simply nodded. Jack gave her a questioning look and was curious as to why she lied. All of a sudden, Miller spoke.
"Hey Mike, what's the pool on me up to right now?" Everyone fell silent and stared at him. "What is it up to? 300, is that it?"
"Three oh five," Montie answered.
"I'm a schoolteacher," he told them. "I teach English Composition in this little town called Addley, Pennsylvania. The last eleven years, I've been at Thomas Alva Edison High School."
Horvath lowered his gun and they all listened carefully. Jack walked next to her brother. The two looked at each other with a bit of understanding.
"I was the coach of the baseball team in the springtime. Back home, when I'd tell people what I do for a living, they'd think 'Well, that figures.' But over here, it's a big mystery. So, I guess I've changed some," he paused, "Sometimes I wonder if I've changed so much, my wife is even going to recognize me whenever it is I get back to her. And how I'll ever be able to tell her about days like today." He shook his head. "Ah, Ryan, I don't know anything about Ryan. I don't care. That man means nothing to me. He's just a name. But if, you know. If going to Ramelle and finding him so he can go home, if that earns me the right to get back to my wife, well then that's my mission. You want to leave?" he asked Reiben. "You want to go off and fight the war? Alright. Alright, I won't stop you. I'll even put in the paperwork. I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel," Captain Miller said before walking away.
Reiben gazed at his back with questions rolling through his head. He slowly walked in the direction they had come. The sound of feet approaching slowed him even more.
"Hey, hot shot," Donnie's voice rang. He turned around to see her holding a Nazi's gun. She frowned. "I thought you'd wanna know…"
He sighed heavily. "Thanks."
She put a hand on the part of his shoulder and neck. She rubbed her thumb back and forth. She set down the rifle. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she hugged him. After whispering a thanks, she let go. Her verdant eyes glinted as she headed back to her girls. Reiben groaned and followed her. Donnie walked over to Horvath. He glanced at her.
"Hey Donnie." When she didn't answer, he looked up to see her icy stare. "Something wrong?"
"Let's get one thing straight. My girls are my girls, and we do not have to follow Miller's orders. Our ranks supersede those of yours."
He straightened his back and nodded. "Understood."
Her stare melted into a smile. "Good. No hard feelings, okay?"
Horvath smirked. "Okay kid."
Donnie turned to see her girls with their gear on. The men also had their gear on. She jogged over to Miller. He didn't even look at her.
"The burial?" she whispered.
He nodded in response. "My men are taking care of it."
"Don't mark Tom-Tom's. It's part of our contract." She lowered her head. "I want to apologize for the way I acted."
"You don't have to-"
"But I do. That bastard reminded me why I hate them so much," she paused and sighed, "Let's just say I had a father and brother before the war." Miller turned his gaze to her. "Ya know, you kinda remind me of my father."
He sighed heavily. When she walked away, Horvath went to his side.
"What's the plan," he asked.
Miller sighed. "Walk until we find a safer area. Then we'll rest."