Hello! Another update!
Ok this chapter only featured the Easy company boys and Harper and Lenore, but the next chapter will feature the Charlie company boys too.
Review!
Speirs had told Toye and Guarnere to stay behind by the truck and move into position from there.
"How many girls you think those damn Krauts have?" Guarnere asked.
Toye checked his ammunition then said, "looks big enough to hold 200. Maybe more. But who knows how many they have stuffed in there."
Guarnere's breath caught as a woman's scream echoed across the valley followed closely by a gunshot.
"Damn we have to go now. What is taking them so long?" Guarnere growled.
Toye set his rifle on a pile of rocks and set the sight over the German man in the closest watchtower. Guarnere did the same. If they both shot at him, he would go down for sure. They waited impatiently until they heard the first shout. They both pulled the trigger at the same time and the terrified German fell out a window, two new holes in his chest.
Two of the other three guards fell too, but someone missed the third. He ducked out of sight. Instead of running straight down the hill, Toy and Guarnere concentrated their fire on the last watchtower, so the sniper wouldn't pick anyone off.
"Hang on," Toye said stopping Guarnere's fire.
Toye repositioned himself and his rifle and waited. The sniper slowly peered over the edge of the window. The last thing he saw was Toye's bullet flying toward him.
"Nice shootin' Tex," Guarnere said impersonating a southern accent.
"You should leave the impersonating to Luz," Toye said slapping his friend on the back. "Come on, lets go rescue some ladies."
Harper and Lenore
Weston had Lenore pinned against a wall as he grunted and panted. Harper's father had been there ten minutes before and had hit her over the head before he left. She was unconscious and bloody against the other wall. She had talked back to him, so he had beat her until Lenore was sure her friend was dead, but the uneven rise and fall of Harper's chest told her otherwise. That's when she heard it. Gunfire and yelling from above.
Weston had heard it too. He stopped what he was doing and ran to the door, leaving Lenore to pull her dress back on and scream, "Help! Help us! Down here!"
She didn't have to wait long for her please to be answered. The door suddenly splintered and blew in. Two men in American uniforms with rifles in hands burst in. Weston threw his hands up and started yelling in German. Lenore could see he was trying not to let the American's see that he was an American, and she was not going to let him get away with it.
"He is an American!" she shouted.
Both men turned to look at her, which gave Weston the chance to run for the door. The taller, better looking soldier dove on him and managed to subdue him long enough for the other man to tie his wrists. The first man pulled Weston to his feet and drugh him back toward the door. The other man was drenched which made his raven black hair stick to his forehead. He tried to push it out of his eyes with the back of his hand as he took his helmet off. He took a step forward then stopped when he saw Harper. He looked at Lenore.
"Is she-"
"She is alive," Lenore said hugging her exposed shoulders.
The man turned to his comrade who was still trying to drag a struggling Weston out of the building.
"Hey Web, get Doc Roe!" he yelled.
Web nodded and finally pulled Weston out into the rain. The still nameless man came forward and reached out slowly to Lenore.
"My name is Frank Perconte. Are you aright?"
Lenore stood and held her torn dress around her frail body. She watched him with large, scared eyes as he came closer to her, hand outstretched. When he was finally close enough to touch her, he gently touched her shoulder. She flinched away from him but didn't run away. Frank pulled his hand away and put them both in the air.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to see if you were ok," he said quietly.
Lenore looked at his long face, noting the growth of facial hair and the scar above his right eye causing his eyebrow to almost be cut in half.
"I have been here for almost a month. I have been raped more than one time a day every day. I have watched friends be killed because they weren't good enough, or they were fighting back. I have watched pregnant women get kicked or shot in the stomach to get rid of their unborn children. I have been known as nothing more than property. Nothing more than cattle to these men for so long I am beginning to believe it."
Perconte was staring at this woman who he didn't know, and he was afraid he had pulled the last straw. She might have gone crazy because he asked if she was ok, but then she continued talking.
"But the moment I saw the American flag on your vest, I knew we were going to be ok."
She took his face in her hands and kissed each cheek.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."
She leaned into his open arms and cried into his shoulder.
"Easy," he said putting his arms carefully around her small back.
Lenore knew she should have been scared to death in another man's arms, but as she breathed, taking in a musky odor mixed with sweat and dirt and blood, it was the most comforting thing she had smelled since she got there.
More people suddenly ran into the room and she pulled her head off his shoulder. She looked up into his chocolate brown eyes."I'm Lenore," she said smiling timidly.
This was the first time she had been close to a man because she wanted to be. She looked at the new arrivals and noticed the white armband of one. He had a square jaw and rather large ears that stuck out from his head. They made him oddly attractive. His dark, wet hair contrasted oddly with his darker green eyes.
"She alright, Frank?" he asked on his way to the unconscious woman in the corner of the room.
"Yeah I think she will be alright," he said glancing down to the woman who's arm was folded against his chest. "She is the one you have to worry about, Roe," Perconte said nodding to the girl in the corner.
Roe went without another seconds hesitation. He knelt by the woman's side.
"What is her name?" he asked the room in general.
"Harper," Lenore said quietly from Perconte's arms.
"Harper, can you hear me?" Roe asked touching the girl's face. "Damn someone get these chains off her."
Four men Lenore hadn't seen before came in. One had a chubby face, much like that of a child. His face had no real definition as most men got as they aged. He was short and Perconte referred to him as 'Hoob.' The second man was about the same height, but looked older. His jaw was clenched and he was looking on the scene in front of him with hard eyes. Hoob elbowed him in the ribs and said, "Come on Luz. Snap out of it."
Luz blinked a few times and went to help the Doc. The other two men were already on the ground by Harper trying to pry the shackles off her wrists. One was taller than the others, and he looked to be the oldest. He was very handsome with light brown almost tinted a light orange in places hair, and bright green eyes that shone with anger. The other man looked young also. He had a wide face and his mouth seemed to fall open on its own. He looked worried and kept glancing at Doc Roe.
"Liebgott its not going to help her any if you keep staring at me," Roe said not looking up from Harper's face. "Get those damn shackles off her."
Liebgott came back to reality and shook his head. He knelt next to Luz and helped him carefully slide one end of his knife between the shackles and Harper's wrist.
"Careful with that boys," Roe warned. "I don't want to have to stop her from bleeding out."
Liebgott held her wrist back so there was a space for the knife. They finally managed to pry the metal far enough that they could slip her hand out. Malarkey and Hoob were not far behind. Both wrists were raw and cut up.
"Is that from you two?" asked Roe.
"Its from the shackles i think," Malarkey answered.
"Well wrap them up," Roe said.
When they were finished they laid Harper flat on the ground so Roe could better assess her injuries. He felt her neck for a pulse, which he found, then moved on to look for head injuries. Those he also found a lot of.
"God damn, how many times has this girl been hit over the head?" Roe asked.
"36," Lenore said.
The men glanced at her, as confused looks crossed their faces.
"We counted," Lenore said innocently.
Roe shook his head and looked back to Harper.
"Hey. Wake up!" he said loudly and shook her shoulders.
"Um Doc do you think that is a good idea? I mean-"
But he was abruptly cut off by Harper moaning.
Review! Thaks guys!
