Author's Note:
Wow! Thanks again Straight Edge Queen for another review! Your reviews are always so sweet :') Thanks for taking the time to review on every chapter.
Updating early because I'm going to be busy this week. Enjoy, and thank you for reading!
There's some strong language in this chapter because of the dialogue from the show. Just a heads up!
"Lipton, go!" Winters signaled Lip to go ahead and take some men to see where the noise was coming from. Marie was right on Malarkey's heels as the unit quickly made their way to a bush overlooking a street. Marie saw a group of Germans on a coach. Marie saw Winters give the signal to ready their guns out of the corner of her eye. She felt something in her stomach lurch at the thought of killing these men in cold blood when they were least expecting it. She knew they were the enemy, but how different were they from them really?
Marie listened to them casually speaking German to each other, not expecting that they were right under some paratroopers noses. She felt like she was going to be ill.
"Wait for my command." Winters whispered.
Without warning, Guarnere suddenly started shooting at the Germans, mowing them down and screaming with satisfaction. Marie watched him, stunned as he kept his finger on the trigger, pumping out round after round. Because of his impatience, everyone else had to start firing at the Germans. It was a massacre. The Germans bodies were falling over, horses were neighing in distress, and blood was getting everywhere. Marie could only watch, wide-eyed in horror at the sight of the group of men getting killed.
"That's enough, Guarnere!" Winters yelled, pushing Guarnere's rifle down. At this point shooting at the Germans was just overkill. Guarnere looked relentlessly back at Winters. Marie could feel the blood lust radiating off of Guarnere; it made chills run up her spin as he showed no remorse.
Marie's eyes were still on the dead bodies. She trembled as she watched blood seep from their bodies and stain the pavement. A wounded horse whinnied in pain as it struggled to stand up after being shot in the leg several times. The sound was torturous to the ears, not because it was loud, but because it was so heartbreaking.
"Everyone okay?" Winters asked, glancing around at the soldiers that were still huddled by the bushes. Some grunted 'sir' in reply, not sounding very convincing. Everyone went down to inspect the Germans bodies. Marie knelt beside one, studying his face. He looked so young, no older than eighteen or nineteen. She felt bile raise to her throat but she swallowed it down.
"Next time I say "you wait for my command", you wait for my command, sergeant!" Winters scolded Guarnere.
"Yes, sir." Guarnere answered testily.
A sudden gunshot made Marie jump. She whirled around to see that Toye had shot the injured horse, putting it out of its misery. Marie and Toye both locked eyes for a second. They both had a mute understanding on how grim they felt about the whole situation.
"Quaker." She heard Guarnere mutter as he continued to walk on. Marie didn't like seeing Bill this way – so angry and full of resentment. She had never seen anyone be so trigger-happy and kill a group of people without batting an eye before. Malarkey came up from behind, placing a hand on her shoulder. His touch startled her, making her whip her head around. He gave her a sad smile and motioned that they should keep moving.
"What's that guy's problem?" Hall asked them in a low voice. He stared at the back of Guarnere's head as they cleared the area.
"Gonorrhea?" Malarkey answered with Bill's nickname, questioning the young private if he was talking about him.
"Really?" Hall asked surprised. Marie couldn't help but suppress a laugh.
"His name, dummy. Guarnere/Gonorrhea, get it?" Malarkey replied impatiently.
"So besides having a shitty name, what's his problem?" Hall asked again.
Guarnere had heard him this time. He glared back at the young private. "None of your fucking business, Cowboy." He snapped.
Marie felt the atmosphere grow tense. Hall and Malarkey didn't say another word, and Marie didn't feel like she should open her mouth. Bill was really on edge after losing his brother, and Marie was afraid that if she added anything else to the conversation, he'd be pushed over the edge.
"All right, let's move out, quietly." Lipton ordered, trying to ease the tension.
"Sir." Everyone muttered in unison.
They trudged along for hours, stopping and taking breaks every once in awhile. Winters didn't want to stay idle for too long, so he kept the unit moving all the way until the sun started rising. Marie's head was buzzing with fatigue as her muscles pulled, aching from walking for too long. Marie saw that they were by a swampy area. It was peaceful, but the mosquitos and noseeums were a terrible nuisance. She swatted at her neck as they bit and stung her, attracted to her sweat.
Guarnere was griping about Winters the entire time, complaining to Toye who tried to debunk his theories on the lieutenant. Marie started to grow grouchy from the lack of sleep and from listening to Guarnere complain for hours. Malarkey and Hall walked in sullen silence next to her, their tense faces telling her that they felt the same way.
"You see him? He just sat there." Guarnere said to Toye, still talking about Winters.
"He didn't have a weapon, what's he gonna do, shout at them?" Toye retorted.
"Yells at me for killing Krauts."
"He just wanted you to wait for his command." Toye reminded his irritated friend.
"Joe, he don't even drink." Guarnere sneered.
Marie couldn't take anymore of the banter. "I don't drink either, Bill." She cut in. Guarnere and Toye looked back at the medic.
"They were Germans, we were gonna shoot them anyway." Guarnere muttered, blowing off her comment.
"Orders are orders. Besides, what you did was out of anger, not the objective." Marie said, knowing that she should watch herself, but she was too annoyed to care.
"I don't need you gettin' on my case, too, okay?" Guarnere warned. Marie only shrugged her shoulders, raising her eyebrows at him to test him if he'd go further. He grumbled and turned away from her, not wanting to deal with the moody soldier.
"Watch yourself." Malarkey whispered to her. "I don't agree with him either right now, but he's still our squad leader."
"Whatever. Watching him kill those Germans was horrible and scary. I don't care how upset he is, there was no need for that." Marie hissed back.
"I shot at them, too."
"But you weren't the first one to pull the trigger." Marie added.
"You can't rationalize like that, Hun. Krauts are krauts, they're bad, they're the enemy. I know what Bill did wasn't right, but we were going to kill them anyway. This is war, you'll get used to it." Malarkey explained to her in a low voice.
"I don't want to get used to it…" She mumbled. She hated herself for not being able to cope with combat as quickly as everyone else.
The unit came across an open area with an abandoned barn and what looked like the remains of soldiers, both American and German, and equipment scattered about. Winters signaled everyone to stop and sent Lipton ahead to check if everything was clear. Lipton and one of the soldiers that had joined Winters and Lip scouted on ahead. After waiting in silence for a moment, Lipton motioned to them that it was safe to proceed.
Marie looked up at the tree that towered above them on the vacant property. A dead paratrooper hung from the branches, slightly swaying side to side in the wind. She shuddered at the memory of Malarkey telling her that he'd almost gotten stuck in a tree during one of his practice jumps. This could've easily happened to him, although this poor soul had gotten trapped right above some Germans that had fired upon him while he was stuck in the tree.
"Anybody needs supplies or ammo, now's the time to get it." Lipton announced, kneeling by another dead paratrooper. The group started to turn over the bodies and search for supplies, taking anything they could salvage.
Marie decided she'd do the same. She searched one of the bodies for any medical supplies that she could add to her pack. Malarkey rolled a body over and started searching it over.
"I promised my kid brother I'd fetch him back a luger. So I got first dibs, okay?" Malarkey addressed the group." Malarkey looked over at Marie. "Check that one."
Marie nodded, rolling another body over, checking the pockets. "Sorry, Malark. No luck with this one." She felt like she was disrespecting these men, but it was important for their survival to take any supplies that they could get. She only wished that these paratroopers could get a proper burial.
The rumbling sound of a plane passing by made everyone flinch and instinctively duck for cover. Marie looked up at the sky as the plane zoomed by them.
"It's the Navy." Lipton reported, much to everyone's relief.
"The landings have started, let's go!" Winters ordered, already starting to move on ahead. D-Day for Utah beach was officially a-go.
"Right on time." Hall commented, checking his watch.
"Yeah, tell that to him, Cowboy." Guarnere said, blazing past him.
"My name's Hall."
"That so?" Guarnere sneered, still walking on ahead. Marie sighed, shaking her head. She wished that the old Bill would come back.
"You just gotta learn to return his fire, is all." Malarkey told the young private from Able Company.
"Just gotta realize it ain't about you." Toye added. They all started to follow Winters and Lipton. Marie walked behind Malarkey, feeling another wave of fatigue wash over her. She wanted nothing more than to curl up on the ground and go to sleep.
"He just heard his brother-" Malarkey started.
"Malarkey, shut your yap." Guarnere demanded from ahead of them.
Malarkey paused a moment, waiting for Guarnere to be out of earshot before continuing on. "His brother got it in Cassino, found out before he jumped." Malarkey informed Hall.
Hall pondered this for a moment, finally coming to understand Guarnere's attitude. Hall didn't say anything else, afraid that Bill would hear him if he asked anymore questions. Instead he looked back at Marie, whom was struggling to keep her heavy eyelids open.
"If you don't mind me asking, ma'am, what made you join the front?" Hall asked.
"I wanted to help." Marie answered simply.
"You couldn't help in the hospitals? Or stay over in England? There are a lot of positions in the States that you could've assisted with."
Marie was used to this question, but she could never fully explain why she wanted to so desperately be a part of the war. She was glad she was, if she stayed in England she'd be away from Easy.
"Well, to be honest working in hospitals is grueling and hellish work. Besides, jumping out of planes is way more fun." Marie told him in all honestly.
"Hospitals can't be any worse than this." Hall exclaimed.
Marie chuckled darkly. "Oh, they can. Trust me. And besides, I wouldn't want to be anywhere without these guys." Marie said, while patting Malarkey and Toye on the backs.
Malarkey and Toye chuckled at her, and returned the gesture. Hall smiled at their camaraderie.
"Aww, how sweet." Malarkey gushed, teasing her.
"What about your mother? I'm sure she's worried sick about you." Hall asked.
Marie's smile faded. It stung at the thought that her mother actually didn't give a damn about her. Hell, she didn't even know where the woman was. Marie's posture grew rigid at the mere mention of her mother. The boys watched her carefully as she grew tight-lipped.
"Pick up the slack, guys!" Lipton yelled from ahead of them. Marie was thankful for his interjection, she didn't feel like talking about her family issues at the time.
The unit made it to a forest and met up with some more Easy Company men, and some soldiers from other companies. They were getting close to the rallying point, but Muck and Emilia were still nowhere to be seen. Marie was growing less and less hopeful as the hours went on without a word from her dear friends. It was still quite early in the morning, but Marie was expecting the worst. Most of Easy Company was still MIA. As they reached battalion, the air was filled with the distant sounds of bombs and gun shellings from Utah Beach. Marie tried not to think about what the men on the beach were enduring.
As they walked on, a group of German POWs was sitting on the sidelines. A lot of the men snickered and teased them as they walked by, but Marie remained silent. Malarkey on the other hand was in a joking mood.
"Top of the mornin' to ya fellas, enjoying the war?" Malarkey jeered in a thick Irish accent. The passing soldiers laughed, but the POWs only stared at him with emotionless, devoid eyes. He leaned close to one of the POWs that was sitting closer to the path. "Where you from son?" Malarkey said with a laugh and continued to walk on.
"Eugene, Oregan." The POW responded in perfect English. Marie stopped in her tracks and looked back at the man. He didn't sound German.
"Eugene? You gotta be kiddin' me!" Malarkey exclaimed. Popeye Wynn walked by, Malarkey tapped him on the arm to get his attention. "Popeye, you hear this?" Popeye only shrugged at him, not really showing any interest in a captured POW. "I'm from Astoria." Malarkey turned his attention back to the captured German.
"You don't say." The soldier answered coolly.
"Yeah! Orange street. What gives, what're you doing in a kraut uniform?" Malarkey questioned. Marie stayed back with Malarkey as the rest went on ahead. She felt anxious to keep moving, but she was curious as to why an American was fighting with the Germans. For a second she thought he was some kind of spy, but that didn't seem very likely.
The soldier mumbled something in German.
"Come again?"
"My family answered the call. All Aryans should return to the fatherland." The soldier said.
"You're shitting me, right?" Malarkey replied.
"Hey, Malarkey, Docherty, stop fraternizing with the enemy, get over here!" Someone called from up ahead. Malarkey signaled him to go on without them, while Marie waved at him apologetically. They were starting to get peeved with them for staying behind.
"What got you to Eugene?" Malarkey asked.
"I was born in Eugene."
"For real?" Malarkey smiled.
Malarkey sat beside the POW, carrying on a conversation with him as soldiers passed by, eyeing them with distaste. Right up ahead was Le Grand Chemin, that's where everyone would be assembled to go over the next course of action. Marie fidgeted awkwardly, waiting for Malarkey to finish up chatting with the enemy. Malarkey looked back at Marie's anxious face and knew it was time to go.
"Well, I gotta run, see you around." Malarkey said, sitting up and joining Marie.
"See you around." The man echoed distantly. He gazed at Marie with a mild curiosity before she broke his stare by turning around and heading up to the rallying point.
"Small world, huh?" Malarkey said cheerily to Marie.
"Yeah…" Marie muttered. She noticed Lieutenant Ronald Speirs heading towards them. She wondered why Barbara's Company's CO was headed in the opposite direction, but Malarkey didn't pay him much mind when he stalked by. Marie's eyes fixed on his tanned and handsome face, streaked with dirt and paint from the jump. She continued to observe him over her shoulder, watching as he made his way to the POWs.
They began to climb the hill when the sound of rapid-fired gunshots came from behind them. Marie and Malarkey whirled their heads around, looking back into the forest. Marie's stomach dropped. She knew exactly where the shots were being fired.
"Shit…" Malarkey whispered.
That Lieutenant Speirs… is a mysterious man, and a dangerous one. Marie thought.
Marie and Malarkey headed to Le Grand Chemin without saying a word. They felt shaken after hearing the POWs get shot, and knowing that Speirs had done it. Those Germans surrendered, they shouldn't of been killed execution style like that.
As the rallying point came into sight, Marie spotted Toye sitting against a slope with a few other men. She made her way toward him, gently pulling her dazed Irish friend along.
"What took you so long?" Toye asked them, giving them a wry smile. Marie rolled her eyes at him, knowing what Toye was thinking her and Malarkey had been doing in the woods by themselves. Malarkey sat beside him, nervously taking out his canteen and fumbling with the cap. He took a drink, his hands trembling as he held the canteen. Toye frowned. "You okay?"
Marie bit her lip, trying to decide whether she should tell Toye what happened or not. She sat beside Malarkey, while Toye still waited for an answer.
"You're not gonna believe this, Joe." Marie started, gazing over at her curious friend.
Inside one of the tents, Winters met with the few members of Easy Company that were present, and was going over a battle plan with them. Marie was hoping for at least a day of rest before they sprang into action, but it couldn't be done. Marie stood next to Hall, whom she thought should be with Able Company, but he stuck around with them.
"The 88s we've been hearing were spotted in a field down the road a ways. Major Strayer wants us to take them out." Winters explained, drawing out the formation with a pencil on a paper. "There are two guns that we know of firing on Utah Beach. Plan on a third and fourth here and here." He pointed to his drawing. "The Germans are in the trenches with access to the entire battery with machine guns covering the rear. We'll establish a base of fire, and fast with two squads of three."
"How many krauts they think we're facing?" Guarnere asked.
"No idea." Winters sighed.
"No idea?" Guarnere repeated, not looking too happy with their odds.
"We'll take some TNT along with us to spike the guns. Lipton, your responsibility." Winters continued, nodding over to Lip.
"Yes, sir." Lipton answered.
"Liebgott, you take the first machine gun with Petty, Plesha, and Hendrix, you take the other." Winters scanned the group. "Who does that leave?"
Buck, Malarkey, Toye, Guarnere and Marie raised their hands. Hall did, too, but Winters seemed to blow over him.
"Okay, we'll be making the main assault. Understood?" Winters finished.
"Yes, sir." Everyone said in unison.
The main assault. The words played over and over in Marie's head. This was it, she was finally going to be getting real combat experience. She felt a little dizzy at the thought, but she knew that this is what she trained for.
"Marie." Winters voiced called her softly.
"Sir?"
"Do you have enough medical supplies?" He asked.
"Yes, sir. My pack is filled to its maximum."
"Good. You're the only medic present in Easy right now, so you need to be Johnny-on-the-spot when someone needs you to patch them up. It'll be a lot of running, and you need to expect wounds and casualties." He told her in a calm voice.
"Yes, sir."
Winters nodded at her. He looked to the rest of the men. "Pack up, boys."
Butterflies fluttered around her stomach in anticipation for Brécourt Manor. There were only twelve Easy Company soldiers present, thirteen if Marie was also counted. She bit her lip nervously, thinking about the how many Germans would be out in the field. They could easily, and mostly likely, be outnumbered. They were definitely outgunned.
"You all right?" She heard a voice ask her. She turned to see Lip standing beside her, putting his helmet on.
"Yes… I'm just scared." Marie told him.
"We all are. You need to get yourself ready. Brécourt Manor will be starting soon, it's already 0830, we need to hustle." Lipton said, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
Marie went to quickly make sure she had everything. She couldn't believe it wasn't even 9am yet and all of this was happening so quickly. She double-checked her supplies then uttered a quick prayer before joining the others outside of the tent. Outside she saw Barbara standing close by, talking with some D Company men, her M1 slung over her shoulder. Her platinum blonde hair tied back in a tight bun.
"Barb!" Marie called, waving at her.
"Marie!" Barbara jogged over to her friend and hugged her. "I'm glad that you've made it. Ready for Brécourt?" Barbara asked with a nervous smile.
"I guess. I'm the only medic so it should be fun." Marie deadpanned.
"Well, Dog Company will most likely be your reinforcements once we get word." Barbara paused a minute, something on her mind.
"What's up?" Marie asked her friend, puzzled.
"It's… Diana." Barbara muttered.
Marie went cold. She had a feeling that what Barbara was about to say was going to be bad news.
"Her plane went down. Her and a bunch of other Fox Company members are missing, but it's the same with everyone. She could still show up." Barbara tried to sound reassuring but her voice faltered. Marie thought of Lieutenant Meehan. He was missing, too, meaning Easy didn't have a CO. Marie couldn't stand the thought of Diana going down with the plane.
"Private Goode!" A D Company soldier barked.
"I have to go. Take care!" Barbara said, pulling Marie into another tight hug before running off.
Marie stood still, unable to move by the news she gave her. She knew that there was very little chance that Diana was going to show up. Marie just prayed that the same didn't happen to Emilia and Muck.