The hand that rested on her sniper rifle started to sweat just thinking about her past. Harper hadn't talked about her childhood to anyone since the doctor that found out what was happening to her when she was 6. No one seemed to notice how uncomfortable she was so she said, "What do you want to know?"
"Oh where you grew up, why you decided to sneak into the army, why you picked a fight with a soldier 3 times your size. The normal stuff," said Caparzo laughing.
"Flagstaff, to get away from my family, he looked like he was in need an ass kicking," she said answering all 3 questions at the same time.
Caparzo looked lost for words. He thought that would keep her talking longer.
"Care to elaborate on any of those points?" asked Mellish.
"Nope," she said staring off into the tree line.
"Come on," persisted Caparzo. "What about your childhood? How was that?"
Harper shot him an icy glare. "Fine," she lied.
"Come on," said Reiben who had been listening carefully. "We are going to be your new squad and everything. That pretty much makes us family doesn't it?"
Harper could tell the difference between heartfelt curiosity, and mockery.
"So far you've been pretty good compared to my real family. At least you haven't-," she said under her breath. Wade and Jackson both heard her and turned. They had both heard the last part of her sentence as 'at least you haven't raped me.'
They looked at her, concern written on their faces. Harper realized she had been too loud and her face turned red again. She pulled her helmet down over her eyes and looked back to the open field, away from their worried faces. She knew, as a doctor, Wade should be worried, but Jackson had no reason to be concerned, unless he was a normal human being, unlike the rest of the men in her squad.
Wade and Jackson glanced at each other. It was easy to see what the other was thinking. 'We will talk to her later.'
As they kept walking, Reiben persisted.
"Lewis, you don't really expect us to protect your ass if you can't tell us anything about yourself. You need to-"
"Reiben, shut up."
Everyone looked up surprised to see Wade speaking. He never got into confrontations with anyone, especially the young B.A.R gunner. Reiben stared at him confused.
"I was just-" Reiben started, but Wade interrupted.
"Just shut up."
So Reiben did, and that ended the conversation about Harper's past; something she was glad for. She knew the topic would defiantly come up again, but hopefully not for a while.
As the rain continued to pour, and the ground got slippery, they began to hear the 'pop' of shots in the distance. The Captain signaled for them to run. They were moving to fast to be cautious of where they were stepping, and Upham tripped several times. By the time they reached the village, they were all covered in thick mud and branches that caught on them as they were running.
Shots were ringing out everywhere and people were yelling in German. Miller motioned for the squad to get behind a wall a safe distance from the fighting. He got in front and yelled, "Thunder!"
They all held their breath waiting for the response from the American troops.
"Flash!" someone yelled from across the open square.
"Upham follow Horvath. Reiben, Jackson, Caparzo, Lewis, Wade, go," said Miller quickly.
They ran out into the square in that order. They stayed low as to not attract the German's attention. As they crouched behind the corner of a building for a few seconds, Caparzo turned to Harper and asked, "How's the view?"
Harper glared at him then shoved him making him run into Jackson, then him in turn run into Reiben. They both glared back at Caparzo thinking he had done it. Harper smiled evilly when he turned and glared at her.
"Go," whispered Wade. He sounded annoyed, but when Harper turned, he was smiling.
They darted out from behind the building and to safe places to stand guard while Harper accompanied Wade to the wounded men lying on the side. The Captain turned his attention to the Sergeant in command.
"Well aren't you guys a sight for sore eyes," said Sgt. Hill smiling at Miler happily. "How many of you are there?"
"There are 9 of us, but we aren't your relief," said Miller, hunkering down next to him behind a broken wagon.
"Oh great," said Hill rolling his eyes.
"Sorry," said Miller. "We are on a mission. We are looking for a Private Ryan. Have you seen him?"
"Yeah maybe on the other side of town, but we cant get over there," said Hill visibly annoyed that the relief wasn't there. "What's his name again?"
"Ryan. Private James Ryan. He dropped in with 101st ," said Miller slowly so the Sgt. would be sure to get the name right.
"Get me a runner!" Hill yelled to a young soldier. "Come on," he said to Miller.
He dashed out from behind the wagon and to the wall Wade and Harper were behind. They were in the process of setting a soldier's dislocated shoulder. Hill, Miller and the rest of the squad dove in behind them. The squad crowded close to Miller and Hill to catch everything they were saying.
"We've been stopped by some intense rifle action from the east side. The Germans have been re-enforcing all day. The streets have been quiet for about 45 minutes. Most of the German fire is concentrated to the west now," said Hill talking so fast it was hard to understand him between the man on the loudspeaker, the pouring rain, and the gunfire.
Miller signaled Reiben, Harper, and Caparzo to advance to the forward wall saying, "We are sending two runners out there. You three provide covering fire."
The forward wall was the only thing that lay between the Americans and the German sharpshooters. As Harper ran up, Caparzo stepped on her heel making her trip and fall on Reiben. Luckily they weren't in the open or they would have been shot. When they were safely behind the wall, Reiben rounded on Harper.
"Are you trying to kill me?!" he yelled.
"Don't be overdramatic," said Harper rolling her eyes. "We weren't even out in the open. Besides it was Caparzo who tripped me."
"I don't care!" Reiben yelled. "Just stay away from me and do you're job!"
Unfortunately during their argument, they had missed the signal from Miller that the runners were going, and before they could even finish their discussion, both runners were laying dead in the middle of the square. To Miller's annoyance, Reiben and Harper hadn't even noticed that both runners were dead. He advanced to their position and smacked Reiben on the shoulder hard enough for it to bruise and grabbed Harper by the vest.
"Pay attention!" he snapped. "Your stupid, childish fight just cost 2 men their lives!"
Reiben and Harper glanced at one another then out into the open square, where the Germans were filling the dead bodies with bullets to make sure their message would never get through. He let go of Harper roughly then said, "fall in. we are going around."
Harper and Reiben shot venomous glances at each other but fell in behind the Captain. Hill led Miller and his squad around to the side of a building and started rambling off shortcuts and different ways to get around the Germans in the middle of town. Miller finally decided on a rout and then turned to Harper and Reiben.
"Reiben, take point. Lewis, bring up the rear."
"Yes sir," they responded simultaneously, but when he looked away, Reiben turned and smiled triumphantly at Harper. She just shot him an icy glare. The squad quickly and quietly made their way through the destroyed streets. Suddenly he signaled for his squad to stop. He continued on with Hill to the corner of a building.
Upham chose this moment to try to start a conversation.
"Reiben, where is the Captain from?"
Harper expected a rude comment or at least Reiben's middle finger on display in front of Upham, but he actually gave the Corporal a straight-ish answer.
"You figure that out, you'll get yourself a nice prize," he said glancing back at Upham.
"300 bucks last I heard," said Jackson going past Jackson up to the Captain.
"The company's got a pool. Five bucks gets you in…" said Mellish following Jackson.
Harper followed Mellish, and Reiben and Upham followed her. They came and knelt next to the Captain listening to the technical jargon he and Hill were spouting off. Not that any of them really cared. It was their job to be good at firing their weapon and staying alive, not the technical crap. When they were finished, Miller moved out in front with Hill leaving the privates to follow at a distance. That's when Upham spoke up again.
"But someone must know where he is from."
"I've been with him the longest," said Horvath crouching low next to Harper. "And I don't have a clue."
Upham looked frustrated and Harper could tell he wasn't going to stop without an answer. She came up to him as they were walking and said, "Tim, I don't know if you should be sticking your nose were it doesn't belong."
"Do you know were he is from?" he asked not dissuaded at all.
"No," she admitted. "But I don't really want to know."
"Why?" he asked as if it was the oddest thing in the world that she didn't want to know all she could about her squad.
"Well I-" but she was interrupted by Horvath.
"Upham, Lewis, move it!"
They hurried to catch up and Harper caught Reiben giving her a ridged stare. They moved in a quick line with Hill and Miller in front. As Harper predicted, Upham was not content with the answer he had gotten about the Captain, so he came up behind Reiben and asked, "Reiben. So you don't even know where he went to school?"
Harper glanced at Reiben, curious now, but Reiben seemed to be feeling like his old self again and said, "the Captain didn't go to school. They assembled him at OCS out of spare body parts and dead GIs."
Harper surprised herself then by laughing. Though Reiben was a HUGE smart ass, and never shut his mouth, he provided a lot of the comic relief for everyone.
