Evelyn's good mood that night and her accomplishment with the fight against trench foot disappeared quickly. After only getting a few hours of sleep, it was too cold to rest. Luz was again on the front line, so instead of sitting and watching the snow fall, she moved.
From foxhole to foxhole, she checked on the men, offering them treatment when needed, but most often just a smile. There wasn't much she could do to stop the cold from engulfing all of them. Many of the soldiers began to develop respiratory illnesses, coughing deeply and painfully. The best she could do was try and find old, but hot coffee to help them.
The Germans across the field didn't want Easy to forget that they're around. Every day held some sort of attack, but the Americans could only hold the line. Their ammo was scarce; they were on the defensive.
Evelyn made it a point to get Roe and Spina to rotate going into town at least daily to try and scrounge up supplies. Not only did they need it, but she knew their time from the line would help them immensely.
The next day, they turned on her. Forcing her to go to the hospital for a supply run instead of one of them, Evelyn finally gave in, promising herself it would be a quick trip. After a jeep was called and with a sharp look in their direction, she climbed in.
The town of Bastogne laid in ruins. What little buildings remained in tact acted as battalion headquarters and the hospital. The townspeople fled long ago.
Hopping from the jeep while it pulled in, Evelyn gave the driver a look. "Fifteen minutes." He nodded obediently.
Walking into the former church, now hospital, Evelyn took in what laid in front of her. Every bed was filled with bloodied and moaning soldiers. The ones that were quiet were some of the most gruesome she had ever seen.
"Bonjour."
Evelyn looked up and saw a blonde nurse approach her. "Bonjour," she replied, butchering the beautiful language. The nurse smiled. "I'm with Easy company, 506th. I was looking to see if you can spare any supplies."
The nurse's look turned sour. "You medics come by every day and every day I tell you no."
Evelyn grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I sent them. Ralph and Eugene?"
The nurse's cheeks seemed to pinken slightly. Evelyn looked at them curiously. "Oui. The one you call Ralph is very persistent."
Evelyn smiled. "That's him. I'm sorry in advance, I'm probably worse. My name is Evelyn."
The nurse shook her outstretched hand. "Renee. Anna in the corner is the other nurse here."
Evelyn's eyes scanned to the African woman treating a moaning soldier. She nodded. "It's quite the hospital for you both to run on your own."
Renee shrugged. "The doctors help when they can." She waved to her to follow. "I might have something for you."
Evelyn followed her to the back room. "And Eugene?"
Renee paused her search inside a box. "I'm sorry?"
"Eugene. How was he when he comes for supplies? I imagine his southern manners make him kinder than Ralph or me."
That blush appeared on Renee's cheeks again. "Oui. Eugene is kind. He also helps when he can."
Evelyn took in her sudden shyness and made a mental note to heckle Roe later about it. She decided to leave the nurse alone at the moment and focus on her other statement. "Help? I can do that too. What do you need?"
Renee looked up. "Can you stitch?" Evelyn nodded. With a deep breath out, Renee smiled. "I'm backed up at the moment. The first line of men all need them."
Evelyn gave her a smile. "How about a trade? I'll stitch them up and you give me whatever you can. After you take a break, of course. I'm sorry if it's rude to say, but you look like you need it."
"How long can you stay? If Anna can have a break first, it is a deal, Evelyn."
From that point on, Evelyn would take her turn to go into town. Helping Renee and Anna with the men there, even for a brief period of time, made her days go by quicker. Waiting for the next strike and for the next man to be hit was slowly driving her mad. The last barrage got Penkala pinged in the arm, but thankfully it wasn't serious.
The cold air only seemed to get colder. The thin fabric of the ODs started getting stiff with frost, dirt and blood. Evelyn got into the habit of wearing both of her bras in an effort to save her tits from falling off. Her extra pair of socks didn't do anything to help in that regard. She gave them away long ago anyhow.
It was the middle of the night when Evelyn moved to the next foxhole to check on the men. After making sure everyone was as OK as they could be, she started to move on before Toye grabbed her hand. "Evie," he rasped in his gravelly voice. "Slow down before you drop."
She gave him a smile. "I'm nice and toasty when on I'm my feet, Joe. You should try it."
Guarnere scowled. "You ain't gonna have no more feet, doll, if you don't rest. Come here."
With a sigh, she slid in between them. With a bit of arguing between them, they finally settled. Evelyn leaned against Toye's chest and Guarnere wrapped himself around her back. "Ain't that better?"
Evelyn snorted. "As if I have a choice." But she sighed when she began to feel her arms again.
Before she could fall asleep, a call for a medic was heard.
"Come back when you can!" called Toye when she ran away towards the noise.
Evelyn slid into the foxhole that held Penkala and Randleman. She looked to see the blood on Penkala's sleeve. "Christ, Alex, again?"
He winced as Randleman chuckled. "I was tryin' to open me a can of beans, Evie and the knife slipped. Went right through the bandage Doc put on earlier!"
Evelyn shook her head, but grinned. She dug into her pack for a clean bandage and wrapped it around his forearm. "Try and be more careful, huh? That's twice you've missed the artery."
Penkala grimaced. "Not lookin' to make third time's a charm, believe me." With a wink, she was off again.
Evelyn wasn't the only one that didn't stop moving. Roe also refused to rest, especially at night when the men could be accounted for in relative quiet. Spina, being the medic assigned to stay on the front lines, didn't have that luxury. But he also could rest when he could.
Evelyn would see Roe in passing often, but not for more than a few seconds at a time. She hadn't even had a chance to tease him about Renee, but to be honest she was thrilled he had a nice distraction. Anything to make her friend smile, something that was increasingly hard to do in this forest.
As the night went on, the silence remained. With silence meant there was no help needed, and that meant she could rest. Sliding into an empty foxhole, she tried to wrap her arms around herself and sleep.
Evelyn woke with a start. It took her a moment to figure out why the tree nearby was exploding and where the hell she was. And then a cry for a medic. She got up and ran towards the voice without pause.
It was Perconte. Skinny had been hit in the leg. Roe was already there, ordering Perconte to call for a jeep on the radio. Evelyn stopped beside them. "What do you need, Eugene?"
He had already begun to work and she didn't want to get into his way. He held the same respect for her when the roles were reversed. "Morphine, sulfa, and a bandage," he replied as he cut open Skinny's pants leg.
Skinny waved her down. "Christ - no, Evie. Save the morphine. I'll be OK."
Evelyn nodded before watching Roe pull out the chucks of wood in the leg with his bare hands. "Are you sure, Skin?" Her hands played with the bandage, ready.
He winced, but nodded. "Christ, yeah. It's OK. Right, Doc?"
Roe pulled out the last piece and nodded. "Right." He watched as Evelyn sprinkled on the sulfa before wrapping the bandage. "Perconte, help me bring Sisk to the jeep. Evie, you'll be OK while I'm gone?"
She nodded. "Go." She slid into the empty foxhole with a sigh. It didn't occur to her until just then that the attack had ended.
Just as she closed her eyes, Martin walked up to her. "Evie, we need ya."
The sharp tingle up her spine had began plaguing her head. It pounded. Kraut hunting? Christ.
To make matters worse, the patrol was being led by Peacock, a lieutenant with a good heart, but as Luz put it, couldn't find a snowball in a goddamn blizzard. He got nervous during battle as well, sometimes abandoning his men. Martin, who was acting as backup, asked her to come along, just close enough if they needed her.
Luz threw an arm around her shoulders, although it was hard with the radio on his back. "How you doing, sweetheart?"
She gave him a smile, something she tried to keep on her face as often as possible. "Just fine, George. How are you? Staying toasty?"
He grinned. "I'd be warmer if you stopped long enough to cuddle with me."
She swatted at his head. "What if I wanted to cuddle elsewhere?"
He scoffed but was cut off by several of the others. "Like with me," piped up Heffron.
"And me!" added Julian, a young replacement, who was eager to prove himself. Heffron constantly bitched about sharing a foxhole with him, seeing as they couldn't share life stories of women they've bedded, but Evelyn wasn't fooled. Heffron cared for Julian like a big brother.
She held up her hands. "Now, now gentlemen. Don't fight over little, old me."
Peacock shushed them. They were getting close. With a look and a signal, Martin had her stay behind, about twenty yards and behind the safety of a hill, as they moved closer to the enemy.
After a few minutes, as if in slow motion, the ground began erupting in snow and dirt again.
Evelyn cursed, trying to see what was happening. She heard shouts from the men, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. Artillery was hammering everywhere. A figure appeared. It was Peacock. "What has happened, sir?"
"We've made contact. We're pulling back." He kept on walking.
She gaped after him before turning back to the fight. Roe ran up to her side. "What's going on?"
She shook her head. "They're pulling back, but I haven't seen anyone except for fucking Peacock so far." She pushed forward. "I'm going in there."
"Evie, no!" Roe cried. Just then, more figures of the men appeared, running towards them, one falling. Roe ran up to him.
Dike suddenly appeared, behind the safety of a blockade. "Martin! What happened?"
"They got Julian, sir!"
Heffron yelled, "He's still alive! We've gotta go get him!"
Dike shook his head. "No, fall back." The men began to move again.
Evelyn met Heffron's eyes. "Where's John?"
His eyes were pleading. "He's covered in artillery, but he's still alive, Evie. I saw him. He's still alive."
Martin came up to them and shook his head. "We don't know that!"
Evelyn turned to him. "Johnny, we have got to try. Maybe if they see the medic armband, they'll honor it and stop firing. We've got to try."
Martin stared at her a moment while the others continued to fall back. Heffron heaved next to them, waiting. Martin nodded. "OK, we'll try. But you are to get out of there immediately if it's bad, got me, Evie?"
She nodded. "Let's go then."
The three of them silently headed back into the fog, towards the enemy and where Julian was last seen. They got back to the stack of logs easily, but artillery fired sporatically every now and then. Her eyes locked on Julian on the ground. He was still writhing in a pool of blood that was slowly trickling from a huge wound on his throat. She bit the inside of her cheek before nodding to Martin and Heffron. They began their covering fire.
Evelyn tried to ignore the spray of snow and dirt that burst around her. She focused solely on Julian, but made sure her medic sleeve faced the enemy. Not even sure if they could see it through the snow and fog, let alone honor it, she got to the fallen young man.
Quickly, she wrapped a bandage around his throat so that he could be moved. "That's it, John. We're going to get you out of here." His huge eyes locked on her in a silent plea. Once she was done, she grabbed the strap at his shoulder and began to haul him towards the others.
She was almost there when the gun fire got worse. She heard bullets thud hard into flesh, and expected to feel pain. It took her a moment to realize Julian was hit repeatedly instead. With a final tug, they were behind the logs and protected from the artillery.
Evelyn's eyes widened at the new wounds, littered across his chest. She pressed her hands into the biggest one; it alarmed her that not much blood was coming out of a hole so large. He was bleeding out and almost out of time. "Babe!" she cried. "I need a bandage!" She moved one of her hands to another wound, trying to staunch the blood there as well. "Now!"
As Martin continued to fire, Heffron dug into her pack with supplies. When he looked up again, his eyes locked on Julian's face first. It was still. "Evie," he croaked.
She glared at him. "The bandage! Give me that!" She ripped it from his hands before pressing it into the one in the chest. "Another one! By his collarbone!"
"Evelyn," murmured Martin. She didn't realize he had stopped shooting.
His tone and Heffron's sobs hit her all at once. She looked up at Julian's babyish face and stared into his blank eyes, his plea for help still etched there. The fight inside her went out at once.
It took them awhile, but eventually the three of them were able to drag his body back without much trouble. The krauts seemed to realize they weren't going to get attacked again.
As soon as they came up and over the hill, they found the majority of the others. Roe was nowhere to be found, and Evelyn figured he left with the wounded soldier from before. She wordlessly started walking towards her foxhole.
She didn't get far. Luz crushed her against him. "Christ, Evelyn." He pulled back to hold her face between both hands. "What the fuck were you thinking?"
Evelyn gave him a sad look. "John was out there," she whispered.
Luz sighed before hugging her close again. "Call me selfish, but I can't stand thinkin' of you out there too, sweetheart." She had no reply to this. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."
Evelyn lost track with the amount of times she had to scrub blood off her hands with snow. This time, it was an exceptionally long and tedious process. Flashes of Julian's eyes haunted her, not allowing her to sleep. Instead of resting, she decided to try and find Heffron.
She happened upon him in a covered foxhole. Roe was already there, trying to tempt him with some chocolate. She decided it was worth the risk of two medics together. She slid in. "Hey Babe."
Heffron didn't answer, only continued to chew on the cold treat. She looked at Roe who grimaced.
Placing her arm around Heffron, she pulled him close until he could loll his cheek onto her shoulder. "That's it. I need you to keep me warm."
Heffron responded slightly, leaning into her touch. Roe turned to leave, but Evelyn placed her free hand on his arm. "Don't go, Eugene. Dike will live for a night. It's covered here, and you could use a rest."
"You're one to talk, Evie," whispered Heffron, surprising both Roe and Evelyn. He swallowed hard. "Thanks for coming back with me to get him."
Evelyn brushed her lips across his forehead as tears began to course down his face again. It pained her to see him like this, but it was better than the shell he was just a moment ago. She squeezed his shoulder. "If you need me, Babe, I'll always go with you. Just say the word."
The next morning, the soldiers woke up to the first sunshine since entering Belgium. With it came the most welcomed sight any of them had seen in days - C-47s making an air drop. Supplies were in.
"Eugene," called Evelyn. "Grab a few men and go into town. Get as much as you can. Ralph, get an inventory from the rest on what they need in their aid kits. We'll finally be able to fill them. And both of you, get something hot to eat. I'll watch the line."
The men nodded and disbursed. She hunkered down and made her way to the front, usually where Spina sat. She slid into the large trench with the machine gun. Luz, Liebgott, and Guarnere were inside.
"Hi, sweetheart," grinned Luz around a cigarette. "This is a nice surprise."
Evelyn grinned back. "I forced Ralph to take a break before the supplies come in and take all of our time."
"And who forces you to take a break, Ev?" Liebgott and Guarnere murmured in agreement.
She stuck her tongue out at them, causing them to chuckle. "Just because women have more stamina than the average man…"
"Who you callin' average, sweet cheeks?"
She winked to Guarnere and watched him light up two cigarettes before passing one to Liebgott. They sighed in relief when the nicotine hit their systems. She eyed the pack in his hand. "Do you have another one of those?"
Guarnere's eyebrows shot up. "You don't smoke, Evie."
She shrugged. "You do it to keep warm, right? I want to see what the fuss is about."
The men snickered, but he lit another one. Handing it to her, she tentatively took a drag before coughing violently. They laughed again at her expense. "Shut up," she murmured before trying again. Her lungs burned, but this time it was a nice pain. It warmed her chest.
Liebgott gave her a look before taking a drag of his own cigarette. "You shouldn't smoke, Cassidy. Dirty habit."
She pointedly took another puff. "Nothing about me is clean anymore, Joe." His eyes took in the red tint still on her hands and between her fingernails before nodding.
Luz nudged her in the ribs. "I could do with more of a dirty mind from ya."
She grinned and rolled her eyes before puffing on the cigarette again. "Your mind is dirty enough for both of us, George. No need to contaminate my delicate, feminine charm."
All three men snorted at this and she chuckled, stubbing the smoke out. And before she could say anything more, she closed her eyes for just a moment, and almost instantly fell asleep against the nearest shoulder.