Author's Note:
Thank you Straight Edge Queen for two other reviews! I really appreciate all the support that you give this story! I love keeping up with the timeline and making it as accurate as I can :)
And thank you theadventurer for following the story!
Thank you BriaMercedes for the follow and the favorite!
It was now D-Day plus six, and the actions toward taking Carentan were still underway. Marie lay on the ground, next to the dirt path as she stared up at the small town ahead. It seemed eerily quiet as they all waited in their positions. Marie stared at the large Café building, feeling the usual anxious butterflies in her stomach. She was getting tired of this assignment, they'd been going nonstop for days now, and it was really starting to wear on her and the rest of the men. She'd patched up so many bloody soldiers that she was afraid they wouldn't have any left by the time this whole thing was over.
Easy Company was explained that the Germans wanted this small town because they needed to bridge their troops from Omaha and Utah beach. Easy Company, along with some of the other companies that followed, spent the days camped out on the roadway by 'Douve River' as Malarkey called it. She hated staying there, early in the morning horrible, piercing sounds of sirens would wake them all up, followed by the sounds of Stuka's bombing Carentan. They all took cover in ditches, waiting for it to pass.
'Never relax.' Malarkey told her, as they waited, huddled together in a ditch the first morning. Now everyone was gathered for the big attack. F Company was on the left flank, and D Company was in reserve. Marie saw Barbara again before they'd gotten into position, looking worried but eager to get this started. Over the past few days Muck had reunited with Easy, much to Malarkey and Marie's relief. But Diana was still missing.
Harry Welsh went ahead and moved 1st platoon up. Marie caught sight of Muck and Emilia, praying that they'd be okay. All four of them were finally back together again, she didn't want that to be taken away after they had just reunited. Before she knew it, the Germans started firing their machine guns down the middle of the path. Much to Marie's horror, mortar fire mixed in with the rest of the bullets. Everyone sprang for the trenches, trying to shield themselves from the oncoming fire.
Everyone was now in a panicked frenzy. The Germans had split up the platoons right down the middle and now had them all in a perfect position to we wiped out. Marie joined the rest with digging their foxholes deeper with her hands, trying to get deeper to protect their heads from getting hit. It was the heaviest gunfire Marie had ever experienced, and Easy hadn't even had a chance to fire back.
"Get those MG's moving, will ya?" Strayer shouted over all the gunfire. The MG's were right out in the open. Marie watched as no one moved, everyone stayed down in the ditches, digging deeper in a panic.
"Move out! I said move out! Let's go!" Winters started hollering. Buck joined in trying to get everyone moving up to take cover in Carentan, but still everyone remained still. Marie couldn't bring herself to stand up in the middle of the gunfire and mortar fire. Her legs felt too weak to support her body.
Winters continued to yell, looking angrier than Marie had ever seen him since she'd met him. Finally, Marie forced herself up and scrambled forward, her heart stuck in her throat the whole time. She felt like she was going to die at any moment as she ran forward. She took cover behind a building, almost slamming into it full force from not wanting to slow down. Marie frantically looked around, she realized that her and Malarkey had gotten split up in the whole barrage. She felt horribly alone without him being with her in this heavy fire. Marie glanced across the building, next to her cover she saw Lipton and Perconte taking cover behind a building parallel to hers. A soldier standing by them had gotten shot and now was laying on the ground, motionless.
Marie went to check on the solider, but Lipton held his hands out, signaling her to stop. The man was already dead. Marie felt sick to her stomach as she waited until it was safe to cross over. Lipton gave her the all clear and she quickly dashed over to her side. Marie's knees gave out on her, her fear overcoming the objective. Bile raised in her throat, but she swallowed it down. She felt Lipton lift her up, he held onto her shoulders tightly, studying her eyes with a gentle approach like a doting father.
"Are you okay? We can't stay here, Marie." He told her softly. "These men are depending on you. You need to get your act together."
Marie nodded, ignoring her fear and trying her best to focus on the objective. Perconte tapped her on the back affectionately before taking off out of cover. Marie peeked out from behind the building, enough to see Welsh throw a grenade in a window, taking out some of the German artillery. She glanced around and noticed Shifty pinned against the wall, soldiers dropping like flies all around him. She felt her heart tug for him, his life was at risk from his current position.
"Guarnere! Clear that sector on the right!" She heard Lipton yell, making his way over to a set of stairs that would help give him a better view of Carentan. She watched as he made his way down the road, tripping slightly as he tried to duck after the sounds of bullets and mortar fire roared overhead. "You okay, Shifty?" He called.
Shifty gave him a nervous thumbs up, his hand trembling as he held it up. A bullet whizzed past Marie's head, missing her only by a few feet. She jumped, and moved out, knowing that if she stayed at that position any longer she'd most likely be shot. She ended up running and joining Shifty; not the safest place to be, but she didn't want to be out there by herself.
"How you holdin' up, Hun?" Shifty asked her, raising his voice over the gunfire.
"So far so good! I can't find my platoon anywhere, though! The Germans split us right down the middle!" Marie replied, her voice straining over the thundering sound of exploding mortar rounds.
"Medic!" Someone screamed in the distance. Marie squinted, trying to see who was screaming. She started forward, but she felt Shifty grab her elbow with his free hand.
"You can't run out there!" He exclaimed, giving her a bewildered look.
"Let me do my job!" Marie riposted, yanking her elbow out of his grip. She was at her wits end with men from her company holding her back from fulfilling her duty. She felt bad being short with someone as kind and somewhat shy as Shifty, but her patience had worn too thin. She dashed out from cover, trying to pinpoint where the screams were coming from.
"MARIE, LOOK OUT!" She heard Shifty shrilly scream from behind her. She turned her head toward him, but before she could see him, an explosion hit nearby.
She was sent flying backwards, her feet knocked out from under her; her vision blurred and her hearing deafened. Everything happened too fast for her to comprehend. Dust and debris kicked up over her as she felt herself land and skid to a stop. Bright lights flooded her vision. Her ears could only hear high-pitched ringing that drowned out everything else. She rasped for breath, as her lungs burned and her abdomen and back screamed in protest as she drew in breath. Her muscles convulsed as she tried to move.
Oh my God, I'm hit, I'm hit! Am I dead? She screamed over and over again in her head.
Her vision adjusted again, she could see the clear blue-sky overhead along with the tops of some buildings that surrounded her. The ringing slowly began to cease, she could hear muffled screams and mortar fire around her. She sat up, feeling her heavy head spin with agitation. She started to cough, noticing that she was covered with dust and dirt. Her head throbbed as she touched it gingerly, noticing a trickle of blood running from her forehead. Her helmet had been knocked off during the whole barrage.
Shifty was kneeling in front of her, looking dreadfully concerned, his mouth was moving but Marie couldn't fully make out the words. She felt her senses slowly come back, along with the fear of being out in the open. She started to struggle toward her helmet. Shifty clutched her hand and shook it, trying to get her attention. She looked into his young face, blankly.
I need to check if I have a concussion. She thought mildly to herself.
"Marie! Marie! Please say something! Are you all right? Marie!" Shifty pleaded over and over again. Marie's muffled hearing subsided. She shook her head as she felt herself regaining her clarity.
"Y-Yes… I'm okay! I'm okay!" She responded at last, shakily standing up with Shifty's help. "I need to find the person who was screaming medic."
"You're in no condition for that! I need to get you out of here!" He said, still holding onto her. She reached down and retrieved her helmet and placed it back on her head, ignoring his warnings. "Marie!"
"I'm not wounded! You need to take cover, and I have to do my job!" She replied, starting to turn on her heel but he stopped her.
"You were just almost hit by a mortar round! And besides, Bull already took care of the wounded man!" Shifty explained. Another round hit close to them, making them both lose their balance and fall to the ground. "We can't stay here!" He grabbed her and dragged her back to cover.
"What happened?" Marie demanded.
"Some poor soul got his leg blown off." Shifty answered.
"They got us zeroed! Spread out!" Marie heard Lipton bellow out to everyone. She saw him on top of the staircase, waving his arms in the air. She felt her stomach drop. This was bad, very bad. She wondered how long she'd been out of it, she hadn't even noticed that Lip had been yelling the entire time.
Lipton started to run down the stairs, waving everyone off, screaming loud enough for all of Carentan to hear him. Marie and Shifty started to make their way out of the area, listening to his orders. She turned her head to see Lipton standing out in the open, still calling to everyone to get off the street.
"Get the hell out of there! Get the hell off the street!"
Marie saw a group of Germans loading up an 88mm. They were aiming it right at Lipton. She felt her heart freeze. She stopped following Shifty, and ran into Lipton's view.
"INCOMING!" She shouted at Lip, pointing at the 88, but it was too late. The round was fired only a few feet away from him. He was sent sailing backwards as if someone had hooked him with a fishing rod and was reeling him in. She watched as he flew against a building wall and slumped to the ground.
"Carwood!" She cried, dashing over to him as fast as her legs could carry her. She came sliding to a stop beside him. She saw that he was staring at her, panting heavily, his eyes wide and alert. That was a good sign.
"Lip!" She heard someone else yell. She turned to see Talbert making his way over to them. She turned her attention back to Lip, whom looked like he was in shock. She saw that a piece of shrapnel had left a large gash across his cheek.
She saw him look down at his lap, she followed his gaze and saw that he had a puddle of blood pooling in between his legs. Marie felt her face reddening, she glanced over at Tab whom looked back at her tentatively, biting his lip. She couldn't spare Lip his modesty with this one. She started to tear open his pants, but she felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her. She had to look away, her face hot. She never felt like this toward other male patients, but because she knew Lip so well it felt too awkward to stare where the sun don't shine. Tal peered inside, and nodded at her for the all clear.
"You're going to be okay, Lip. Everything is right where it should be." Talbert assured him. Lipton nodded, relived, but still too shocked to speak. Marie mouthed "thank you" to Tal whom nodded at her in response.
She took out a cloth from her pack and wiped off Lip's face, his gash was deeper than she thought. She knew that it would scar. She cleaned up the cut the best she could with the supplies that she had then bandaged it quickly.
"You're doing just fine, Lip." She cooed softly as she patched him up and checked his body for other injuries. She gave a thumbs up to Tab.
"I'll take him back to battalion." Talbert told her, helping Lipton up.
Marie nodded. "Take good care of him, Tal!" She called after him.
Marie ran back deeper into the town, spotting Emilia and Tipper about to enter what looked like a shop. She was relived to see Emilia unharmed, and knew that her friend would give her hell once she found out that she, herself, had almost gotten hit by a round.
"Em!" Marie called. Emilia whirled her head around.
"Marie!" Emilia aspirated, jogging up to her friend.
"Any wounded here?" Marie asked, scanning the area.
"No, but what the hell happened to your head?" Emilia exclaimed.
Marie touched the side of her forehead, still feeling the wet warmness of blood. It didn't feel painful, but it must've looked worse than she thought. She was about to explain when the building that Tipper went into exploded, sending both Emilia and Marie to the ground.
"Jesus!" Emilia cried, getting right to her feet to stare at the now ruined shop. Marie sat up slowly. She noticed movement from within the shop, and saw Tipper come out, running on pure adrenaline.
The sight of him made Marie's stomach drop, but she fought not to make a face and scare him. His face was covered in blood, and half of his left side now looked slightly disfigured. It was a miracle that he was standing, his legs looked torn up and so did his feet. Marie glanced over at Emilia, whom gaped at him in horror. Tipper had been a good friend of hers since Toccoa, seeing him like this wasn't easy.
Joe Liebgott was standing by, he was the first to approach Tipper. Marie watched as Lieb expertly put on a relaxed face, soothing Tipper. Marie marveled at him, thinking that he should've been the medic, not her. She shook herself back to reality and crouched beside the both of them. Lieb cradled Tipper in his hands, softly telling him that he 'looked good', 'was doing fine.'
Lieb and Marie both locked glances. He knew that Tipper's condition didn't look good. Marie started going through her pack, forcing herself to smile for Tipper's benefit.
"Hang in there, Tip. I've got some morphine for you. It'll take all the pain right away." She took out a syrette and gave it to him. His wounds were beyond her limited supplies. He'd have to be taken back to battalion, and would most likely be shipped home.
Lieb watched her, his eyes neutral and tired. Carentan was taking its toll, and Marie had been almost unconscious during most of it. She took out some gauze and started wrapping up Tipper's bleeding wounds, applying pressure to stop the bleeding before he was taken away.
Marie watched as Tipper was escorted off, Liebgott following. She walked over to Emilia, whose eyes were following her wounded friend. They stood side by side, not looking at each other.
"I was going to follow him in there. I told him it was too risky to check." Emilia said in a hollow voice. Her lip trembled as she spoke to Marie.
"It's not your fault, Em." Marie replied, softly. She placed a hand on Emilia's shoulder, whom jumped at her touch. Marie motioned for the both of them to keep moving, it wasn't safe to stand out in the open.
Marie ran around a corner, and saw Easy's chaplain, Maloney, saying prayers to a group of wounded men on the ground. Gunfire surrounded him, but he looked so casual in the middle of the chaos. Marie was about to make her way over to them, when she heard some familiar voices call her name.
"Hun!" Muck signaled her over. Malarkey was standing by him, staring over at Maloney in wonder. Marie ran over to join them, bringing Emilia with her.
"How you ladies holding up?" Muck asked, smiling nervously at them. His smile faded when he saw the look on Emilia's face. "What happened?"
"Tipper was hit. It's bad." Emilia replied, her voice low.
Malarkey stared over at Marie, she gave him a weak smile. His eyes fixed on her forehead, the part that the helmet didn't cover up. He reached up and ran his thumb gently down her temple. She cringed at the slight pain that shot across her head from his gentle touch. He studied her BDU, it was covered with debris and dust from head to toe.
"What happened to you?" Malarkey asked, almost demanding.
Marie didn't want to tell him, she knew he'd chew her out for what she'd done: running out in the open and letting her guard down. She tried to brush off his question, pretending not to know what he was talking about, but he could always see right through her.
"Nothing happened." She lied.
"We need to keep going. It looks like we're finally pushing these bastards back a little bit." Muck said, peering out of cover. "I need to find 1st platoon anyways."
"Marie-" Malarkey started. He gripped both her forearms, not letting her leave. She struggled, knowing that they needed to move out. She hated it when Malarkey did things like this at the worst times.
"Let's not do this now. We have to go." Marie said through gritted teeth.
"Go on ahead, we'll catch up, Skip." Malarkey told his friend. Muck nodded, and brought Emilia along with him. She wished that they would've stayed behind, but she knew that Emilia was too dazed after what happened to Tipper to do anything to help her anyway.
Marie avoided his gaze, not wanting a lecture. It was just a little scrape, not a big deal at all. Malarkey was just being over-protective. He released one of her arms and tilted her helmet up.
"Damn, Marie…" He whispered, studying her forehead. Marie felt her heart speed up, she hadn't seen her head yet, she was afraid that it was worse off than she thought. "You need to patch this up right now."
"How does it look?" Marie asked him in a scared voice.
Malarkey didn't answer, he released her helmet then gripped her arms again. His worried eyes made Marie feel guilty. If the same had happened to him, she'd have felt the same way.
"A mortar almost got me. I was thrown a few feet, but I'm fine. The same thing happened to Lip." Marie explained quickly, trying to make it out not to be a big deal.
Malarkey didn't respond, he worked his jaw in thought, his eyes laced with concern. She stared back at him, hoping she looked confident enough for him to drop the issue.
"I'm taking you back to battalion to get that checked." He finally said, pulling her along.
Back inside the battalion med station, Marie was checked by Doc Roe. To her relief she didn't have a concussion, just a bad cut on her forehead. She was able to go around and help patch up wounded soldiers. She went around and made sure some of their legs were elevated, made them proper tourniquets, and disinfected wounds. She was happy to finally be of use, she felt since the war started she hadn't done much for the effort.
She noticed Albert Blithe sitting on the floor, his back leaning up against the wall. She gazed at him quizzically as he stared into nothing. She thought to herself that maybe Emilia was right about him. She saw Roe nearby and tapped him on the shoulder.
"What's wrong with Blithe?" She whispered.
"I dunno, he came in here claiming that he couldn't see anything." Roe shrugged.
"Out of nowhere?" Marie was skeptical of Roe's words.
"Just like that." Roe said, snapping his fingers.
Marie thought it over for a minute. She remembered hearing about something like that called hysterical blindness. Roe didn't look like he believed Blithe at all, but hysterical blindness could be a possibility.
"Maybe it's hysterical blindness. Enough psychological and emotional trauma could've triggered it. It was pretty hectic out there." Marie suggested.
Roe nodded, agreeing with her. "I thought that too." Before they could go on, Winters came gimping in.
"Are you okay Lieutenant?" Marie asked, coming over to his side to help him stand. She feared that their CO had been shot in the leg or worse.
"Yeah, I took a ricochet near my ankle." He said, gritting his teeth as he walked. Roe helped him sit down so he could examine his leg. Marie saw the pieces of shelling sticking out of his skin. It looked deep, but not bad enough to where he'd have to be shipped back to England.
"What happened to your head?" Winters asked Marie. She automatically brought her hand to her forehead. Roe had cleaned it up and slapped a big band aid on it. She felt self conscious of how noticeable it was.
"Uh, nothing, sir. A mortar round just knocked me for a loop." She answered.
"That's not nothing." Winters retorted. He grimaced as Roe started to carefully remove the shelling from his leg. "You need to be more careful out there, Marie."
"Yes, sir." She felt herself become irritated again. The same thing happened to Lip, and she's sure to other soldiers out there fighting. They were welcomed with sympathetic words, while Marie was just scolded and babied for being careless. "I'm going to check on Blithe." She said, dismissing herself.
She kneeled in front of Blithe. His eyes didn't seem to catch her presence at all. She went through her medical pack and found a small flashlight.
"How are you doing, Albert? I'm Marie Docherty, I'm gonna take a look at you, okay?" She told him in a soft voice. It was the voice she used all the time when she was an RN.
Some tears rolled down Blithe's face. "Okay…" He muttered.
She shined the flashlight at his pupils, waiting for them to dilate. His pupils reflexed to the light, but Marie was already expecting that since his retina and optic nerve wasn't damaged. She brought up her pointer finger, and moved it back and forth in front of his eyes, but he didn't react to it this time. His eyes didn't follow her finger, he just kept staring straight ahead, into nothing.
"Am I going to be okay?" He whispered.
Marie didn't know what to say. There was no cure or treatment for hysterical blindness. It was usually temporary and all that could be done was to wait it out.
"I'm sure you'll be just fine, Private. All you need to do is relax." Marie cooed, gently running her hand through his bangs. He flinched when she first touched him, but seemed to calm down after a few moments.
Buck entered then, and went over to see Winters. Marie and Buck both nodded at each other in greeting, before she turned her attention back to her blind patient.
"Battalion wants us to hit east and head up to high ground the set up a defensive position." Winters told Buck. Marie listened in, turning her head to see Roe doing the same thing. They'd been in Carentan for days, all she wanted to do was leave.
She stopped listening to their conversation and focused on Blithe. He was still blind, no matter how much she tried to relax him he didn't seem to snap out of it. She overheard Winters say to Roe 'magic treats him?' She knew he was talking about Blithe.
Winters sat up, Roe finished treating his wound. Winters limped over to Marie, and patted her on the shoulder. She looked up at her CO's kind face.
"May I have a minute with him?" He asked her in a hushed voice. She nodded, standing up and letting Winters kneel beside him.
"You can take a break, Hun." Roe spoke up from behind her.
"If anyone needs a break it's you." She told him. He'd been working for hours nonstop, Marie had only been here for about two hours.
"I'm right behind you." He assured her. "Spina is taking over in a minute, along with another medic from Fox Company. She nodded, and decided it would be a good idea to get some fresh air and check up on Emilia.
She left the med station and went to find her friend.