Chapter 8 already and we're still in Aldbourne? Well, I'll have to do something about it... :)

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Disclaimer: I do not own Band of Brothers. This is purely of entertainment. It is based on the HBO miniseries and no disrespect is meant towards the real men of Easy Company.

Chapter Eight: Come Hell Or High Water

None of us moved.

None of us even blinked.

Winters was so stunned, as if someone had given him a hard smack on the head. With his jaw slack and utter disbelief in his eyes, he kept staring at me. But, there wasn't a single word coming out of his mouth. If we hadn't been on an airfield, hours away from reaching France, I would have laughed at his expression. However, I remained serious instead. Swallowing a lump in my throat, I tried to say something, but all that came to my mind was this:

Oh, shit.

Seconds rolled one after the other, when the lieutenant suddenly regained his ability to speak. He blinked a couple of times before he said that one word I dreaded the most:

"Miss…"

"Mister Prichard", I cut him off as quickly as I could. In case that he hadn't got the message, I grasped his hand and gave it a shake. "Mister… uh… Jim Prichard, co-pilot, at your service, sir."

He stared at me for one more moment. "You're serious."

Unfortunately. "Aye. I got my orders yesterday."

Lowering my gaze to the tarmac, hoping to avoid his eyes, I rushed past him. Perhaps this was the best moment to make myself disappear, and so I went for it. The door of the C-47 wasn't too far. I might get there in less than ten steps and, hopefully, stay away from trouble. However, no sooner did I manage to touch it than someone said:

"Oh, you gotta be fuckin' kidding me! That's the co-pilot?"

I instantly froze.

Damn it. Although Liebgott was sitting far behind me, I recognised his voice. My heart sank, while my thoughts started feverously rushing. He must have put two and two together and figured out how I actually was. There was no other explanation. Biting down my lip, I looked over my shoulder, just in time to see someone asking:

"What's the matter?", Liebgott repeated in a low voice and pointed a finger at me, "Just look at him. We'll be in the air with a goddamn kid!"

"Well, he ain't much older than you, Joe", a private said beside him.

Liebgott scoffed in return. "At least I shave, you mick! If that kid has ever shaved in his fuckin' life, I'm Rita Hayworth!"

That earned a few chuckles from the other lads. In the meantime, I did my best not to sigh in relief. I might have not been discovered, but that didn't mean I should let my guard down. Holding my breath just in case, I turned around again and scrambled through the door. As soon as I got inside, I made a quick turn to the right, where the cockpit was.

Close. That was too bloody close.

Letting that sigh whoosh between my lips, I made a few more steps and plonked myself in the co-pilot's seat. However, my relief didn't last for long. The second I noticed the control board in front of me, I felt something slowly twisting inside my stomach. Each of those switches and dials was trying to tell me the same thing – the invasion was coming closer and waking up wasn't an option for me. There was only flying up.

"'Evening."

Whirling around, I saw the pilot entering the cockpit. Actually, that wasn't only the pilot. My eyebrows began quivering as I recognised the grumpiest man from Aldbourne. It seemed like it was yesterday when he told me that I belonged in the kitchen, and not in a plane.

"Rob?", I whispered.

He soon recognised me as well. He gawped at me, furrowing his brow, as if he had never seen a lass in his life.

"What… what the hell do you think you're doing?", he asked, "Get out of here before the co-pilot finds you in his spot!"

My lips parted in bewilderment. Obviously nobody had told him.

"Well, about that…" I eventually shrugged. Raising a finger, I slightly tilted my cap to one side. "I think she is already in her spot."

"Excuse me?", he exclaimed.

"Shhh!", I hissed, quickly bringing a finger to my lips. He didn't seem that he would shout again, so I added: "I'm appointed to this bird. Listen, if you don't believe me, you can ask the blokes down at the airfield."

Rob chuckled, probably thinking that this was a huge mistake. But, it wasn't. After he realised that, his laughter died away and his smile faltered.

"You mean…" If that was possible, even more creases emerged on his forehead. "You're going to…"

"Aye."

"But, the Yanks don't know that you're a…"

I shook my head. "No."

"Oh, crap."

As I glared at him, a series of deep, dull sounds came from the back of the plane. It seemed as if something heavy was finding its way inside. Judging by the rough accents that followed, the lads had begun climbing through the plane door. Perhaps the time for leaving wasn't so far.

"You'd better sit down, Rob, or they might get suspicious", I muttered under my breath.

Rob let out an irritated sigh. But, he listened to me and went to his seat.

"I can't believe they put me here with you, out of all people", he bickered, looking somewhere through the windscreen, "I thought I'd get an experienced co-pilot, but no… I got a girl. And, on top of that, a silly red-head!"

"You know, I can't believe it, too", I said, "Assigning you to the pilot's seat must have been someone's idea for a good joke."

He narrowed his brown eyes at me, returning a glare. But, before he could say anything, another red-head silently joined us. Placing his hand on the metal surface beside him, lieutenant Winters looked both at Rob and me. However, his gaze was focused a little bit longer on me.

"Is everything okay?", he asked.

"Aye", I replied, "It is."

To my surprise, the look on his face was completely unreadable now. If I hadn't seen him shocked a few minutes ago, I would have thought that he wasn't capable of being surprised.

"We're ready when you are", he said.

Not knowing how else to reply, I pursed my lips tightly and nodded. Winters moved away soon after. He joined his men in the back of the C-47 and sat near the plane door, not so far from the rest of the lads. In the meantime, they were sitting on two benches, welded to the hull of the plane and waiting for the take-off. Some of them were muttering something to their buddies, but most of them were quiet, staring somewhere at blank space.

The silence around them didn't last for long. I was still peering behind my seat when a loud rumble blasted out from outside. Turning my head to the windscreen, I realised that the plane in front of us had turned on its engines. Before I managed to count to twenty, the entire bird began moving down the tarmac, roaring even louder and accelerating by the second. Shortly after, as it reached the proper speed, its wheels separated from the ground, leaving the whole bird floating in the air. It quickly and almost gracefully soared in the sky, while the runway below announced vacancy.

"I almost forgot…"

I blinked in surprise when Rob pulled out something from his pocket. He handed it to me, with a mix of bewilderment and annoyance on his face. The thing he had taken out looked like a piece of paper, torn from an old, yellowish notebook.

"One of the Yanks told me to give you this."

My brow started to furrow. "What for?"

"Do I look like a bloody messenger to you?" He waved the paper in front of my face. "Come on, take it, already!"

"Alright, alright…"

I took the thing from it and unfolded it. As soon as I straightened the creases on the message with my hand, Eugene's neat handwriting came into sight. His note consisted of only six words:

Try not to faint this time.

I spite of everything, a corner of my lips curved into a faint smile.

I'll do my best, Gene. I folded the paper again and tucked it inside my sleeve. It should be safe there, hopefully. But, I stopped thinking about it when I looked up again. For some reason, Rob's frown became even deeper.

"Let's get this over with", he muttered in his hoarse voice. Glancing at me, he quickly added: "Hold on to your knickers, Geordie girl."

What? You bastard…! I was about to retort, but I didn't have the chance for it. Just a moment later, Rob turned on the engines and a sudden rumble tore through my ears. The entire plane vibrated almost violently, making my teeth chatter. I had to clench my jaw hard in order to stop them.

I was amazed by the sheer power this bird had. However, I was also terrified – and that feeling was swiftly extinguishing any excitement I still had. I felt the last ounce of it evaporating as I gazed through the windscreen, at the empty runway in front of us.

My heart skipped a couple of beats.

And so it begins.

XXX

I thought that we would be alone up there, with nothing except a few clouds. But, in a matter of minutes, I found out how wrong I was.

Two planes soon appeared in front of mine. Their silhouettes, which used to be greenish, now seemed almost black against the darkening sky. Although I could see only them, the deep, constant hum in the air told me that there were much more birds around. There were dozens and dozens of them, actually. It was still a bit strange to me that each of them was carrying the same thing. A group of twelve lads was inside them, sitting still, waiting for their mark to plunge into the night.

And, in one of those planes, Bill was waiting as well.

I hadn't seen him since that day in Upottery and, frankly, I was worried. After he found out the news about his brother, Bill wasn't only in pain. He was angry. I remembered how that anger burnt in his eyes and I felt shivers crawling up my spine. If I knew one thing about fighting, it was this – being angry would always get you into trouble. But, in Bill's case, longing for revenge in a middle of a battle would lead to something much worse.

"We're getting closer."

Rob's voice made me snap out of it. Shoving my thoughts aside, I focused on assisting him. As we slowly levelled the plane in the air, I took a moment to glance at the control board. Our speed was alright so far and our fuel level was fine. There were no problems at all. The only thing left for us was to guide the bird across the Channel, while the night was carefully engulfing the world around us.

After some time, the entire sky became covered in darkness. Somewhere in the same time, I realised that the water had disappeared below us. Its glistening surface was suddenly replaced by solid ground. The moon was now shedding pale light on seas of grass and clusters of high trees.

"Is this it?", I asked.

"It looks like it. Welcome to Normandy." That was when Rob chuckled, taking me aback. "Are you scared?"

"No", I lied.

"You sound that way."

"Maybe you should get your hearing checked."

He didn't say anything in return. And he had a good reason for it. Some sort of lights appeared in the distance, accompanied by strange booming sounds.

The explosion happened soon after.

With an ear-splitting bang and a flash of light, one C-47 in front of us went up in flames. Its silhouette hung in the air for a second, enveloped in fire, before it plummeted towards the ground.

I didn't say anything. I just sat there, staring with my mouth half-open. This couldn't happen. It had to be a hallucination. But, as more bangs came from below and flashes lit up the sky like eerie fireworks, I had to change my mind.

Holy shit, someone's shooting at us!

As the night descended into chaos, Rob fumbled with the controls and made the engines roar in response. The bird tilted in the air and headed up, separating from the rest of the group. Scarcely did it move when a flickering thing, as bright orange as flames, zipped past the plane's nose. Before I knew it, a large crack spread over the windscreen and I screamed.

Oh my God, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die… My heart was thumping, as if it was trying to break out of my chest somehow. Swallowing hard, struggling to pull myself together, I wrapped the fingers of my left hand around the controls. And then I tried to reach a switch above me with my right. However, I barely managed to touch it. All of a sudden, another blast resonated from our left, making the entire plane shake like mad. My blood ran instantly cold, while Rob swore under his breath.

I raised my hand, hoping to wipe away the sweat from my forehead. But, I stopped as I felt something strange in my hand. Looking down, I found out that I was holding one of the switches… or what was left of it.

Shit. The bloody thing had been clearly broken off. I swore under my breath and looked up, searching for its old place on the control board. That was when it hit me.

I swallowed hard. "Oh, fuck."

The broken switch was connected with the red and green light at the plane door. In fact, being broken wasn't its only problem. It was permanently on.

"What?", Robert barked from his seat, "What?"

"We might have a problem…"

I didn't manage to tell him the rest, because I was cut off by a shout.

"STAND UP! HOOK UP!"

Good God. I glanced behind me, biting my lip harder than ever. I wanted to shout and stop Winters, but nobody would hear me from all the noise outside. Unfortunately, there was no chance for me to get up and out of the cockpit, either. All I could do was try to concentrate on avoiding fire while the lieutenant bellowed:

"SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK!"

I cringed when more shouts came this way, each louder than the previous one:

"TEN, OKAY!"

"NINE, OKAY…!"

"Blimey…", Rob shouted beside me, "They're miles away from their drop zone!"

I couldn't say a word. My throat was too constricted for that. Instead, I clenched the controls harder, trying to block out the shouts behind.

"TWO, OKAY!"

"ONE, OKAY!"

Eugene. As soon as I recognised his voice, horror filled me up like a cold tide. Now I realised how much I had messed up. He had no idea that he would land on unfamiliar soil. And he didn't have a clue what would be waiting for him down there. I closed my eyes shut for a second, struggling not to whimper out loud.

In the next moment, the red light switched to green.

"Go!", Winters bellowed, "GO!"

Everything was quiet after that. When I eventually got a chance to look over my shoulder, they were already gone. The entire hull was empty and dark, resembling a huge cave.

I could only hope that they would make it down there, come hell or high water.

"You bloody idiot!", Rob snarled at me. He led the plane into a wide turn, towards the Channel. "You just scattered them across the middle of nowhere!"

"Shut it, Robert!"

"If they get killed out there, it'll be on your conscious! I…!"

He stopped mid-sentence when another whizzing sound came from underneath us. I didn't see anything outside, but the noise was definitely there. It was loud and incredibly deep… almost as if it was coming from inside my head.

And then we got hit.

The left wing was gone. I knew it the second I heard that deafening crack. While the remaining engine belted out, the whole plane tilted to one side. Without a warning, the sky moved away from the windscreen, revealing the dark and unforgiving earth. It took me a moment to realise that we were plummeting towards it.

Someone screamed. That was when it all happened.

The plane met the ground and ploughed itself straight into it.

All the lights went out.

But, silence decided to stay for good.

XXX

The hangar was colder than I remembered. I wished to wrap my jacket tighter around me, but there was a chance for my curves to come into sight. Perhaps I should do it, anyway. I was sitting all the way in the back row with Mike – and doubted that the lads in front would suddenly turn around and look at me.

"Listen up. I said, listen up!"

Everyone went quiet when an intelligence officer came from the shadows. Sending us a brief glare, he moved to a large blackboard in the middle of the hangar. Most of the blackboard surface was covered with a map of northern France. But, that wasn't the thing that surprised me. The entire map was riddle with small red and black arrows, which seemed to be pointing in every possible direction.

"The Douve River estuary divides the coast into two beach heads. The first one, code name Utah, is here…" He pointed at a part of the map. "…while Omaha is here." His finger slid further to the east. "The Seaborne Infantry will hit these beaches at a specified date and time. Your task is to get to Normandy way before them."

While he moved on, I found out that my right knee was shaking. I quickly placed my hand over it, forcing it to be still.

"Until you receive the date and time, gentlemen, I suggest that you study the maps you have", the officer added, strolling to the other side of the map. However, he stopped after a few steps and turned to us again. "That means you'll have to learn every single spot on them. Hell, if I wake you up in the middle if the night, I'll expect you to draw them by memory!"

He must have been joking. Or at least I thought so. But, his stern look shattered my hope. I took a worried glance at Mike, who was sitting beside me, just as the officer added:

"This will be your mission. You'll have to fly behind this Atlantic Wall and reach the assembly area here." He knocked a part of the map with his knuckle. "It's located here, near the town of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. You have to make sure that the men get to their drop zone five hours before the 4-th Infantry lands at Utah. Any questions?"

He waited for some time, but nobody said anything. That was when he curtly nodded and moved away from the blackboard. Placing his hands behind his back, he gave every pilot a long and thoughtful look

"They'll tell you that this mission depends on the men in your plane", he said, this time in a bit quieter voice, "But, up in the air, those man will depend on YOU. Remember that. In the end, it will all boil down to the moves you make, so stay focused. As long as you keep your eyes open..."

A pilot sitting in front of me quietly snorted.

"Aye, and what if someone in France decides to shoot us down?", he whispered.

The officer didn't hear that, so he continued talking. In the meantime, I felt a lump growing in my throat. A step away, Mike frowned at the stranger.

"Hey, nobody's gonna shoot us", he whispered.

"That's what you think." The bloke sent him a dark look over his shoulder. And then he turned around, concentrating on the officer's briefing.

I struggled not to shiver. "Mike?"

He looked in my direction. "Yeah?"

"If you get shot down…"

He smirked. "You'll be very angry, won't you?"

"I'll never speak to you again."

He clutched his heart with a mock-painful look on his face. "Oh, that's so harsh."

I tried to stay serious. But, the grin that tugged the corner of his lips made me snigger. Turning away from him, I returned my gaze to the map and the arrows on it.

But, all of a sudden, the map and the arrows disappeared. The next thing I was aware of was a searing pain in my forehead and an ache in my neck. But, that wasn't the thing that worried me the most. I was now staring through a crack windscreen of a C-47. On the other side of the glass, I could see a vast, dark field with a forest on its end and the black sky above it.

Holy Christ.

This had to be a dream. A nightmare. But, in that case, I should wake up at any moment, right? I clenched my fists hard, expecting to find myself in my squeaky bed in Aldbourne, with Neve snoring next to me.

I never woke up.

"Shit", I muttered under my breath. I had already started feeling dizzy. "Oh, shit, Rob… are you okay?" I slowly turned around, wincing when my head throbbed. "Robert?"

He didn't answer. Actually, he kept staring somewhere in the distance, with his head awkwardly tilted to one side. But, although he kept gazing, the look in his eye was more than strange. It seemed somehow blank, as if he couldn't see me. Reaching out, I placed two shaking fingers on his neck, just as Eugene had taught me.

There should be a pulse somewhere. But, I felt nothing except silence.

Oh, God.

I had no idea how I got myself out of my seat. All I knew was that I was back on my feet, trying to stagger away, while my stomach was viciously churning. I barely made it out of the cockpit when bile rose in my throat. I tried to lean my hand against the door, but it slid, so I collapsed on my knees and threw up on the floor. Gasping for breath, I leaned my head against one of the metal benches.

I was scared. I was so scared that my hands were shaking, while my heart seemed to be beating inside my ears. I wished to simply curl on the cold floor and cry.

Taking deep, shuddering breaths to calm down my heartbeats, I slowly raised my head. I soon found out that the plane door was right beside me. The field outside was so faintly lit by moonlight, that I could hardly see anything. But, it was obvious that the wind wasn't blowing. The things I did see were so still that they looked like a part of a painting.

That was when something flashed in the distance.

I had seen that light often enough to recognise a torch. Whoever was holding it, that person was carefully coming closer. It rustling steps were the only sound in this place. I clutched the edge of the plane door, hoping that was some Yank who had seen my plane falling. But, then a louder rustle reached my ears, followed by a sharp:

"Scheisse…" (Shit.)

That didn't sound like English. Before I was aware of what was happening, my heart rate was taking off again. Feeling the plane spinning around me again, I scooted backwards until I hit my back against the bench on the other side of the plane. Meanwhile, the light on the other side of the door was quickly becoming brighter. That meant only one thing.

The Germans were on their way here.

I wasn't convinced that they would help me.

I had to get out.

I had to get out NOW.

With that on my mind, I tried to get back to my feet. I couldn't get back through the door, but there was a wide crack near the place where I was standing. Maybe, if I was quick enough, I might squeeze myself through it and get outside. Hoping not to get sick again, I pushed myself off the floor and crawled to the crack as fast as I could.

I was just about to reach it when something made me turn around. Through the narrow passage that led to the cockpit, I could still see the silhouette of Rob's seat. My jaw clenched from the sheer sight of it. There was no choice for me but to leave Rob there. As the light of the torch came even closer, I gritted my teeth, grasped the crack in the hull and pulled myself through it.

The second I got to the other side, gravity decided to take over and I dropped down like a stone. I let out a gasp when my head collided with the ground. I wanted to shout in pain, but I knew that the Germans would hear me. Instead, with quiet whimpers and blinking away tears, I pushed myself up to my hands and knees. But, then I felt something thicker and warmer than tears, trickling down my face. I tried to reach that spot with my fingers when it dawned on me.

Holy shit... I'm bleeding. I shuddered, realising that my left sleeve was soaked with the same thing. Somewhere under it, my arm felt as if it was burning. But, I didn't dare to look down. And I didn't dare to stop. Even though I was only crawling through the grass, I forced myself to keep going, as far from the plane wreck as possible.

And I also prayed that the next face I see wouldn't try to kill me.