Author's Note:
Thank you missavc34 for the review! I'm glad you think I'm descriptive enough! Thank you for your kind words!
Thank you xXFallenSakuraXx52 for the story favorite! I hope you're enjoying the story!
TW: Sexual Assault
The rustling of soldiers getting up stirred Marie awake. She opened her eyes to see that Easy was getting ready to move out to invade Eindhoven. Marie nudged Malarkey awake, whose head was resting on her shoulder. He rubbed his eyes as his fatigued body slowly started to regain focus. He put on his helmet and drowsily climbed out of their foxhole. Marie stood up, her muscles stiff from sleeping against a fence post all night. The sluggish pace of the soldiers only made Marie want to move slower; no one was optimistic about this objective, especially since the Germans had gained the upper hand.
Malarkey extended his hand to help Marie out of the foxhole. She took his hand and he hoisted her up. She felt her palms grow sweaty as she held onto his hand.
"Come on, we have to move out." She heard Winters call.
She let go of his hand, quickly wiping her palms on her pants. She looked bashfully away from Malarkey, feeling embarrassed of her sweaty palms. He smiled at her and went to join the rest of the platoon. Her body dragged itself to huddle up with her platoon and wait as everyone got situated. She saw Emilia standing with 1st platoon, along with Muck. She gave them both a tired wave and they returned it with equal exhaustion and little enthusiasm.
Soon enough Easy started to approach Eindhoven, the closer they got the stranger Marie felt. They waited on the hills and peered at the city as it came into sight. Marie squinted her eyes as she studied the city. She couldn't comprehend what she was witnessing. She could see the city was full of activity, which was already unusual. Usually in cities everyone that wasn't a solider either left, or was hiding out. She could see a hoard of people gathered and what sounded like the roar of a large crowd.
"Do you hear cheering?" Toye asked aloud.
"Looks like there's a celebration." Buck announced. "Be on your toes, everyone."
Celebrating? What on Earth are they celebrating? Marie thought as they crossed the grassy fields and drew closer to Eindhoven. The closer they got, the more clearly everything seemed. The hundreds of Dutch citizens crowded the streets. There was confetti, streamers, and people parading the streets as they cheered, waving flags around.
"Try to stay together!" She heard someone shout from behind her, but most of Easy Company had already been engulfed in the gathering. At least they weren't Germans.
Easy Company awkwardly made their way inside the celebration, and was greeted with a surprisingly warm welcome. They were all pulled into the festivities and were all split up from their platoons. Marie knew that the higher ups wanted them to stay together, but it was impossible in this crowd. Hands reached out and patted Marie on the head and shoulders as Marie pushed her way through the city, trying to find someone familiar that she could meet up with. Some children blocked her path; she halted and looked down at their curious faces. They looked confused as to why a woman was dressed up in an Army uniform. But she saw a few of the Dutch were giving her puzzled looks.
Marie smiled thinly at them, the crowd and noise becoming too overwhelming for her. The children were carrying followers in their tiny hands; they handed them to her.
"Thank you." Marie answered, feeling touched by the small gesture.
"Nice to see you!" The children greeted in broken English. They scurried off to find other soldiers to give flowers to. As Marie continued to make her way slowly down the path of the crowded streets, many other Dutch citizens were greeting her the same way. They shoved gifts of flowers, food, and drinks into her hands as they waved their flags and cheered. It was so chaotic.
"Thank you, but I can't carry all of this." Marie thanked, but she had to reject some of the gifts. Marie saw a break in the crowd and went through it. She found Lipton being pulled into a kiss from a random Dutch woman. He broke free and watched as some other Dutch women proceeded to kiss him on the cheek; they practically lunged themselves at him. Marie was a little shocked by what she was seeing, did they really love Americans that much? He spotted her and quickly made his way over to Marie before any more women sprang on him.
"We need to keep moving." He told her, wiping his mouth and smearing the smudges of lipstick on it. He looked overwhelmed by the attention.
"That's going to be difficult. I'm sure the boys are enjoying this attention." Marie smirked.
Lip smiled at her comment. "Just be careful in this crowd, okay?" He said to her before he went to move out and spread the word. Marie's eyes followed him until he was out of sight. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Malarkey, Toye, Muck, and Smokey being caught in the same trap as Lip did. She watched as a handful of Dutch women hugged and kissed them. Marie could see the obvious enjoyment they were getting out of it and she felt a sad pang in her heart. It was a similar feeling to when Marie had watched those English women flirt with Malarkey in the pub before they jumped into Holland. She wished she didn't have these feelings; they just made everything more complicated.
She forced her eyes away, feeling herself harden with irritation as her childish behavior got the better of her. She stomped her way through the crowd, no longer caring for their acknowledgments. A man suddenly reached his hands out and gripped the collar of her BDU. She was unable to react as he forcefully pulled her into a drunken kiss. His unshaven face scratched against her soft skin as his lips pressed against hers, hard and rough. She jerked away, wiping her mouth in disgust. She saw that he was a middle-aged Dutch man, and he looked offended by her reaction.
Marie turned to walk away, not caring if she was being rude, but the man reached for her again and pulled her back to him with enough force to knock off her helmet. She struggled against him as his hands groped for a better grip. His hands started to creep around her body, making the hairs on the back of Marie's neck stand up on end.
"Get the hell off me!" Marie demanded, ripping herself from his grasp, feeling violated. She turned to find some other men had joined him. Their faces looked smug and eager as they gazed at her. She felt cornered and panicked as she whirled her head around to find an escape. Lip had told her to be careful, and she ended up getting herself trapped.
She felt the middle-aged Dutch man wrap his arms around from behind her. Her skin crawled and her stomach bubbled with discomfort. She feared that these men would try take advantage of her right in the middle of the street. She couldn't see anyone from Easy Company that could help her, and everyone else seemed to be caught up in the celebration. If she screamed it would be drowned out by all the cheering.
"Be still, American girl." He slurred in her ear in broken English.
That did it. Marie clenched her fist and elbowed him harshly in the face, forcing him to let go of her. He grabbed his nose as he howled in pain. Before he could spring for her again, she struck him with the heel of her palm right on the cheek so he'd get out of her way. He was knocked over by the force of blow. Marie wished she had a gun as she watched his friends move toward her. She tried to reach for her knife, but the men were too fast. She turned to run but she didn't get far because on the other side was a brick wall of a building.
Dammit! She thought fearfully. She spun around to see them charging in her direction. They no longer looked jubilant from the celebration; instead they looked pissed that she had struck their friend. She saw the middle-aged Dutch man had blood pouring from his nose. She realized that she had broken his nose and bruised his cheek when she assaulted him. His eyes locked on her like a predator. Her heart sped up in her chest with the realization that she was most likely going to be attacked more aggressively than before. Her hand shot down to the side of her leg, where she kept her knife.
Before they could reach her, someone stepped in front of her and blocked her from the angry men. She glanced up to see Bull's towering figure loom over her attackers. The men saw how big Bull was and darted in the opposite direction, disappearing amongst the crowd. Marie watched them flee, wide-eyed as her breathing labored and her heart beat rapidly. Her body buzzed with the instinctive feeling of danger, still feeling shaken although she knew she was safe now.
"Ya all right?" Bull asked her.
Marie nodded, her throat too constricted with relief to speak right away. She trembled slightly as she nodded. "Y-Yeah… yeah… I'll be okay…" She finally said, trying to steady her shaking wrists.
"C'mon, let's get you out of here." Bull locked arms with her and led her away from the building. Marie's wobbly legs stumbled at first but she regained her footing again after taking a few steps. As they made it back to the main streets the celebration showed no signs of slowing down. "Keep yer eyes out, Welsh said there's snipers around." Bull told her, his eyes scanning the upper levels of the buildings.
Marie's heart skipped a beat at the word "snipers." She imagined the unsuspecting members of Easy Company getting gunned down in the streets of Eindhoven. Marie watched a group of Easy men taking a picture with the citizens of Eindhoven. Bull kept a protective arm around her, which she clutched in return as tight as she could, afraid to let go of him. A Dutch woman suddenly came up before them and snatched Cobb's helmet off.
"C'mon, lady!" He groaned. She ran off, giggling as he tried to chase her down. Marie couldn't help to giggle herself. Seeing his helmet suddenly made her realize that she never retrieved hers. She brought her free hand up to her head, and looked back in the direction where the men had cornered her.
Marie sighed, knowing that she was too afraid to head back and get it. She turned to see Tab passionately kissing a woman. He kissed her like she was some long, lost lover that he hadn't seen in years. Marie knew that Emilia wasn't going to be happy seeing that, and she was confused as to why Tab was kissing a stranger in the first place. Marie's eyes fell on Emilia; she was busy taking pictures with some of the men. She stood next to Martin, her smile pulled too tight to be natural. She knew that Emilia was internally cursing at Tab.
They were near the square; the main gathered of the celebration and parade was focuses mainly on this area. Marie spotted Winters and Nix getting kissed by Dutch women, which they hastily returned and went back to waiting for Easy Company to gather. Marie had had enough of this celebration and all the kissing, especially with most of it being not consented.
"What are we going to do? No one is moving in this crowd." Marie asked Bull.
He shrugged his large shoulders. "We'll just have to wait until everyone stops fraternizing and finally decides to meet up. There are a few spreading the message in the streets, but it's hard to keep these men away from booze and women."
"That's true." Marie replied in a flat voice. She thought of Malarkey and Tab kissing Dutch women they had just met. Her mind wandered back to that drunk, middle-aged Dutch man. He had stolen her first kiss, but she didn't want to admit that to anyone. Just thinking about him made her nauseous, and how close she was with something terrible happening to her.
Marie watched as the troops were finally gathering up around the square. Tab was taken away from the Dutch woman, much to his reluctance. Marie felt angry with him for doing that right in front of Emilia. She decided that she'd go talk to Em later to make sure she was all right. She felt Bull release his arm and give her a smile.
"You gonna be okay?" He asked to make sure.
"Yes. Thank you so much, Bull." Marie answered gratefully.
He looked skeptical, but nodded and left. Malarkey came up to stand beside her then, grinning from ear to ear. Lipstick marks covered his cheeks and around his lips. Marie turned her gaze away, feeling annoyed with him though she knew she was being ridiculous.
"Gotta love the Dutch! Where's your helmet?" He asked.
Marie didn't answer; she kept her lips pursed in seriousness as she kept her eyes looking straight ahead and her arms crossed. If she told him what almost happened to her, he'd freak out and lecture her like he always did. She would rather not talk about the incident, anyway. It was something that she wanted to put in the back of her mind and never think of again.
Marie watched as a group of men harshly grabbed the woman that Tab was making out with. They forced her in the middle of the square. The crowd started to chant and encourage whatever was happening to continue. Marie's eyes scanned the streets, seeing that more women were being pulled into the square. What on Earth was going on?
"What's happening?" Miller, one of the replacements, questioned next to her, looking bewildered.
"I don't know." Marie replied.
Marie watched as the woman was stripped down to her under clothes. Her heart lurched as they were forced to their knees. More women were pulled into the square and were forced to strip. Women and men started to furiously cut off their hair, as the victims wailed in grief. After the women were shaved, they kept the Swastika on their foreheads and were escorted out to be paraded around in shame. The public humiliation made Marie's stomach churn. One of the women getting shaved looked directly into her eyes. She pleaded Marie with her teary eyes to save her. Marie couldn't watch this injustice go on any longer. Marie started toward the square, wanting to stop this from happening. As was almost into the middle of the square when she felt a set of hands pull her back.
"What the hell are you doing?" She heard Nix's voice come from behind her.
"This is wrong!" Marie answered, her hand extending toward the scene.
"I know it is, but it's not safe for you to barge in like that."
"Stop it!" She cried at the people stripping and shaving the women's heads.
"Hun, that's enough!" Nix shushed her, pulling her back into the crowd. Marie's eyes fell on one of the men shaving the women's heads. It was the man that she had struck. His bloody nose and bruised face stuck out amongst the rest of the crowd. He noticed her and pointed the scissors he was using at her. Marie felt both anger and was also chilled to the bone by his action.
Emilia and Muck then went to help Nix pull Marie back as she continued to resist.
"You're causing a scene!" Emilia whispered in Marie's ear. Marie finally felt her body relax, but she was still enraged at what was happening to those poor women. Muck gently grasped Marie's arms to make sure she didn't charge back into the circle. Malarkey came jogging over to her and joined in the huddle. Marie could see the middle-aged man's eyes were still on her; she felt that uncomfortable feeling that she got when she was around Sobel. They all watched as a tank rolled by as part of the parade, and as everyone went about their business as if nothing had happened to those women. The tank had blocked the view of Marie's attacker, much to her relief.
"You know why they're doing this to them, right?" Malarkey mumbled to Marie. Her posture grew rigid as he spoke. She wasn't in the mood to hear excuses for this cruelty.
"Winters told me they slept with the Germans."
"So what? Who they sleep with is their business! Just because someone is German doesn't automatically make them evil!" She snapped.
"I know it's wrong, but-" Malarkey started.
"We've got to keep moving, come on!" Buck called to them, signaling them over.
Marie broke free from her friends' grasps and followed Buck without looking back. All her emotions of what happened to today had reached the boiling point, and the humiliated women had finally finished it off. All she knew was she wanted to get out of Eindhoven.