A/N:

Thank you drovingallday96 for the review! I know, he really frustrated me in the series. And I'm sooo glad you think I'm doing okay writing the Bastogne and The Breaking Point episodes! They aren't easy, so it's nice to know that I'm doing all right with them :) Lol "Dike's witch hunt", that's a good way of putting it!

Thank you Rachel for the review! You read this whole story in one day?! Holy cow, thank you for your dedication! I'm very flattered by your kind words! :')

Thank you BobtheFrog for the review! Yes, Dike and the cameramen are annoying, not to mention their audacity. I'm glad you appreciated that, one thing that has always bugged me is when movies, TV shows, books, etc. never say anything about how women handled their periods during times like these (or during war).

Dialogue from the TV series and book. There's some strong language in this chapter, just a head's up. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this story! These are tough chapters to get through, but the encouragement really does help! Enjoy! And yes, I suck at chapter names.

Foy, Belgium

January 3rd, 1945

Lipton had been right about Easy Company moving out again. No sooner then when the exhausted company got settled, they had to pack up and move back to the previous formation looking over Foy. As Easy Company sluggishly hiked back, a few Easy Company men had to stay behind to hold the line. The guys snickered, pouncing at the opportunity to rile up the unlucky soldiers. Perconte, Christenson, and the replacement Web were some of the few elected to hold the perimeter.

"Good luck, ladies." Guarnere chimed as he strolled by.

"It was nice knowin' ya!" Toye interjected.

Marie didn't join in, feeling bad for those who drew the short stick. She acknowledged them with a nod and managed to muster a smile to set them at ease.

"Hey, be careful if he offers you a cigarette." Malarkey warned in a teasing manner, referring to Speirs. Marie shuddered at the memory of her and Malarkey encountering Speirs and those POWs back in Normandy. She still worried for Barbara being under the mysterious Lieutenant's command, and she often wondered if her friend was all right. She hadn't seen or heard word from her in ages.

As Easy Company neared, their old foxholes came into view. Men started to throw their gear inside and hop in to get comfortable. She watched Toye jump into his old foxhole and immediately exclaim in rage.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me! Someone's gonna die, someone's gonna fuckin' die!" Toye fumed, his face contorted in aggression. "Guano, look at this shit! One of those 1st battalion fuckers took a dump in my foxhole!" He furiously gestured to the bottom of his foxhole where his now soiled boots stood. Malarkey and Guarnere burst out laughing, making a smile tug helplessly at the ends of Marie's lips. She didn't want to laugh at Toye's bad luck and agitation, but there was something quite comedic about unexpectedly leaping into a pile of shit.

"I think they shit in everyone's foxhole, Joe. I don't think they wanted to spend much time above ground." Guarnere stated, passing his friend. While cursing under his breath, Toye climbed out of his foxhole and followed the rest of the company. Guarnere was right, there was evidence of tree bursts and battles everywhere; it became even more noticeable was the town of Foy came into view. Easy Company's orders were to hold the line and absolutely, positively not fall back under any circumstances. Dike as usual showed total apathy toward everything, acting as if invading Foy was going to be as simple as waking up and reading the morning paper.

Marie found her old foxhole and started to reinforce it by hammering branches of trees together, and covering the top. Babe assisted, the two of them talking casually as they created a huge roof over their foxhole. Part of her thought it was almost too strong of cover, but she shrugged it off. When the shellings started falling, it was better to be protected under more mass than having no cover overhead.

"So, Lieutenant Dike asked me a weird question this morning." Babe brought up, keeping himself focused on his work. Marie groaned, already having an idea what was coming. Babe raised his eyebrows in surprise, seeing that she had an inkling of what he was about to say. "He wanted to know if you and Malarkey were… you know…" His voice ventured off as blush spread across his face.

Marie sighed. "Yeah, he asked me that yesterday. Stupid prick, it's really none of his business."

"Are you two…?" Babe questioned, stopping himself before he finished his sentence.

Before Marie could answer the piercing whistle of a bomb roared. The two of them frantically looked up at the sky to see artillery from 170s and 88s starting to rain down on Easy Company's position. The force of the nearby shellings knocked Marie backwards, sending her rolling a few feet away from her foxhole, as Babe tumbled in the opposite direction. Babe had already scrambled underneath the foxhole as Marie started to come to.

"INCOMING! TAKE COVER!" Lipton's voice boomed over the chaos.

"Take cover!" Buck's voice followed.

"Marie!" Babe bellowed after her. She hastily got to her feet, fear gripping her throat and breathing the longer she remained out in the open. A nearby tree was hit and splintered above her, sending bark falling down on her head. She covered her head with her arms, hearing the pangs of wood that hit the top of her helmet. The tree started to creak and lean, she knew it was about to come down. The tree fell down in front of Babe and her foxhole, blocking her path and ability of a quick escape. She turned and ran in the opposite direction, not wanting to waste any more time in this dangerous position. The artillery sounded like thunder and freight trains mixed together, pounding relentlessly against her ears. It was difficult to focus with all this noise that surrounded her. It was almost to the point where it felt like she was suffocating.

"Marie!" Someone else called her name, but she could hardly hear the voice amongst the bombs. Before she knew it someone snatched her around the waist and pulled her forcefully into a nearby foxhole. She fell on her back, catching a glimpse of Bain pile in next to her. Malarkey fell on top of her, his eyes staring into hers, looking beyond terrified.

The Germans had them zeroed, and there was nothing they could do about it but scramble for cover and wait.

Mixtures of bombings, people screaming, and trees exploding echoed across the once silent forest. The trees getting hit was the worst since the bursts sent sharp knifelike splinters of wood shooting in all directions; a perfect spear for unfortunate soldiers. The ground would explode, sending dirty snow up toward the sky like a geyser. Marie desperately clung to Malarkey as he remained above her, practically shielding her from the horror above. Her body quaked with fear and adrenaline, while her senses seemed to slowly become disillusioned. She felt like a small child again, helpless in the middle of a massacre.

"Get down! Find some cover!" Buck screamed from somewhere, but Marie wasn't sure where exactly. Everyone was lost in this chaotic shelling. She wasn't even sure there'd be an Easy Company any longer after this subsided.

"Shit, they got the bazooka team from the 10th Armored!" Bain exclaimed, his head just barely peeking over the tip of the foxhole. Marie craned her neck, though Malarkey was blocking most of her view. Sure enough she saw some bodies get flung into the air like rag dolls, twisting and becoming horrifically disfigured before they hit the ground with a harsh 'thud'. The sight was far too gruesome for Marie to fully comprehend – nothing felt real. This couldn't be real.

Malarkey's hand suddenly covered Marie's eyes. "Don't look at it!" He yelled, his voice shaky and fearfully pitched. She could feel his hand trembling as he shielded her eyes from the violence and death. Easy Company had never experienced anything this intense before since landing in Normandy. The whole experience was so disorienting that Marie felt like she was fading away into nothing, just like how she felt after she killed the unsuspecting German. Everything started to happen in slow motion, even as she gripped Malarkey's wrist and moved his hand away from her eyes. She could see Bain sitting in a fetal position in the foxhole as bursts lit up the horizon. She could faintly make out voices of people screaming, but she couldn't form the words in her brain. She could feel her bones rattle under her skin and her heart skip a beat with each ka-boom that sounded. She felt so there but she also felt like she was slipping into a dreamlike state. Then suddenly it stopped and everything was quiet and peaceful again in almost an instant. It took a moment for Marie to come-to, her ears ringing from all the bursts of artillery. She started to sit up, gently pushing Malarkey upward along with her. Bain slowly sat up, digging his fingers in his ears, also hearing the silence being replaced by faint ringing in his eardrum. Malarkey peeked his head up over the foxhole, squinting to see any movement in the distance.

"Maybe we should see if anybody's hit." He suggested, his voice still had a slight tremor to it.

"Eh, Malark, that's what they want. Krauts'll try to draw us out in the open." Guarnere answered. Marie hadn't even noticed that he was also huddled in the foxhole with them.

"Stay in your foxholes!" Lipton started to yell, running around and repeating his message.

Marie placed her hand over her heart, feeling it hammer in her chest as her lungs rapidly demanded oxygen. She made herself take deep breaths, telling herself that it was over. They had survived.

Malarkey suddenly perked up, glancing over the foxhole again as if he heard something. "You hear that?"

"I don't hear anything." Bain dismissed, unwilling to peer over the foxhole again.

Marie listened carefully, trying her best to drown out all the background noise around her. Sure enough she heard a voice moaning in the distance like a ghost. Gotta get up… gotta get up… the anguished voice carried on.

"That Joe?" Guarnere questioned.

"Yeah, I think that's Joe." Malarkey agreed, furrowing his brow in concern.

Guarnere didn't hesitate knowing his best friend was out there. "Stay." He ordered, scrambling out of his foxhole. Marie reached out and gripped his forearm, halting him. He shot her a dangerous look as she continued to clutch onto him.

"Wait, I'm coming with you! He sounds wounded, he most likely needs a medic!" Marie explained.

"No. I need to see if it's safe first." Guarnere started to leave again, but Marie kept her grip tight against his forearm. She stood her ground, looking defiantly into her squad leader's eyes. Guarnere sighed in annoyance as the two stubborn forces collided. He physically shoved her back into the foxhole, making her practically fall into it. He darted off before she could reach out for him again. She was too perplexed to reach out again; she didn't expect him to actually push her into the foxhole to keep her from leaving with him.

Marie tried to follow him, but Malarkey grabbed onto her forearm this time. He simply shook his head at her, his dark eyes pleading for her to stay. Marie turned back around to focus on Guarnere, only to see him dragging Toye to a foxhole. A streak of crimson followed Toye; the sight of the blood made Marie instinctively try to climb out of the foxhole again, but Malarkey didn't let her go. Many were observing the scene and were urging Guarnere to return to his foxhole, but he wasn't going to leave Toye out there on his own to fend for himself.

"Find cover!" Buck roared, but Guarnere kept dragging Toye from under the arms at the same slow pace.

"Incoming!" Lipton suddenly screamed, but the dreaded whistling of falling artillery was heard before his words. In mere seconds Guarnere and Toye disappeared behind explosions, debris, and overturned snow. Marie clasped her hand over her mouth, suppressing a cry of panic. She heard Buck yell 'no' in horror, but the barrage debris hadn't cleared yet; she couldn't see where they were. She prepared herself for the worst as the few agonizing seconds dragged on to what felt like hours. The quick aftermath barrage ended quickly, enough for the silence to take over the forest again.

"Medic! Medic!" Buck's voice cried again, but this time it sounded unraveled and broken. Marie didn't hesitate this time, she hopped out of the foxhole as Malarkey slowly let go of her arm. She plunged herself forward, only to see Buck staring straight ahead, his helmet on the ground. She followed his unsettling gaze in mounting anxiety. Her eyes landed on the tangled and bloody figures that had become Guarnere and Toye. Both of them were missing legs as they lay alive, but motionless in the discolored snow. Their detached limbs lay below them, leaving a trail of blood back to the source. Marie's breath hitched from the sight, but she forced herself to step forward and assist them as a medic.

Buck let out another animalistic cry from behind. She whipped her head around to see him running around like a madman. A few soldiers leapt from their foxholes and tackled him to the ground, forcing him into cover and away from the gruesome sight. Cries from the wounded started to rise, while the bleeding and dying immerged from the snow like some zombies from a scary movie. She peeled her eyes away, knowing that she had to make Guarnere and Toye the main priority. She knelt in between her two wounded friends, but she still froze up like a replacement for the first time since she could recall. Her hands violently shook as she reached into her medical pack. She felt around inside, but she only had bandages. She'd need a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, and possibly some morphine when they awoke.

"I need some help!" Marie called out.

Roe and Marie patched them up as they waited for men with gurneys to come and take Guarnere and Toye away. They were lucky that Roe had tourniquets and morphine on him, without them they would've surely bled. Roe secured the tourniquet just below Toye's knee, while he gave him a shot of morphine in the thigh to numb the severe amount of pain he was experiencing.

Malarkey hovered around the scene, sitting beside Toye as he watched Roe fully wrap up his leg. "Doc, what can I do?" He asked, he hated feeling his hopeless. But Roe just kept working, trying not to listen to Malarkey's nervous banter.

"Jesus, what's a guy gotta do to get killed around here?" Toye groaned.

Marie finished bandaged around Guarnere's tourniquet, tightly securing it in place before the jeeps came. Marie gazed down at what remained of Guarnere's leg, which now looked like a mummified stump. Her hands were soaked with his blood, and with snow that had started to turn to red slush, and had coated the bandage. Blood didn't bother Marie at all, but in this case it made her flinch.

"Hey, don't gimme that look." Guarnere said. Marie couldn't bear to look at him in the eye. Guarnere tilted her chin up with this fingers so he could fully see her face. "Hey, I'm gonna be all right. I get ta go home now and get out of this freezing hell, huh?" Guarnere grinned, taking Marie aback. The man was really tough as nails, he got his leg blown off but barely even whimpered one bit from the excruciating pain she was positive he was in.

"Bill…" She managed to say, her voice coming out in a breathless whisper. Her lip was quivering far too much to fully speak.

"Hey, you need to take care of Malark. Got it? He needs you, not to mention Skip. Those boys need your guidance." Guarnere's told her in his usual brisk leadership-set tone. "These men are countin' on you."

Marie nodded, biting her lip. He was going home, but before that he'd have to face months of rehabilitation in a hospital in England or somewhere, then he'd be a cripple for the rest of his life. Knowing that Guarnere and Toye would never walk the same again was enough to make more tears well up in her already puffy eyes.

"Bill, you're goin' first." Roe suddenly cut in as the jeeps pulled up. Soldiers hopped out to get gurneys out of the back.

"Whateva you say, Doc."

More members of Easy Company gathered around to watch the departure. Guarnere and Toye are Toccoa men and were always held in high regard, seeing them go was a wound all in itself. Marie assisted in lifting Guarnere onto the gurney, though her bloodied hands were trembling so badly she could barely help hold him up. A forced smile spread on Guarnere's face as he spotted Lipton amongst the morose faces from the crowd.

"Hey, Lip, they got 'ol Guarnere this time." He chimed, trying to make light of the grim situation. He turned his attention to Toye, whom was still sitting on the snowy ground, his face still racked with pain. "Hey, Joe, I told ya I'd beat ya back to the States." He added as the soldiers took him away on the gurney and lifted him into the truck.

Marie watched the soldiers pile into the jeep and take Guarnere away. Her legs almost jolted forward, wanting to run after the jeep and tell the soldiers that it was all a big mistake, Guarnere and Toye's legs weren't really gone. She was just dreaming. Before she knew it Toye was also loaded on the jeep, but not without Malarkey giving him a cigarette, as Toye bit down on it between his heavy breathing. She heard him mutter to Toye over and over again that 'it was going to be okay', but she saw in Malarkey's eyes that he didn't believe his own words. She tore her eyes away from the jeeps and proceeded to walk away, but she couldn't escape the lost stares of the men of Easy Company.

She wiped her hands on her BDU pants, not caring anymore about the state of her uniform. That went away a long time ago, way before coming to Belgium. As Marie hastily wiped her palms on her sides, she could see Luz giving that same strange, distant stare off into nowhere. It felt so wrong seeing someone like Luz looking so disturbed, it just didn't seem natural.

"Hey, Lip." Luz mumbled, as he noticed Lipton hesitantly walking up to him. Marie knew that Lipton was very concerned about everyone's mental health, which was getting worse as the days dragged on.

"How's Buck?" Lipton asked.

Luz didn't answer, he just held that same dormant stare that wandered off into the distance. Marie observed the scene, her stomach bunched into a knot.

"Luz! How's Buck?" Lipton demanded, this time with more intensity.

"He's fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes, he's fine. You should probably go talk to him now, huh?" Luz answered, cocking his head in Buck's direction. Buck was sitting on a snow bank, his face buried in his hands. He didn't look fine.

"Hun." Lipton called, seeing Marie standing close by.

"Huh?"

"Maybe you should talk to Buck. You and Malark know him well." He suggested. Seeing Marie's equally devoid expression made him instantly regret his words. Marie only nodded and went to see if she could talk some sense into him, but Buck wasn't really hearing anything. He was too far-gone for anyone to help him now.

Malarkey, Bain, and Marie stared silently into the fire. The embers from the flame offered little assistance against the cold, but Marie didn't really care, she felt far too numb anyway. Malarkey stretched out his hands to warm them, balling them slowly into fists then opening them. She could tell he was itching to say something, but he continued to contemplate whether he should speak or not. She sat with her legs drawn up to chest, as her arms rested on her knees; uncaring and quiet among the cackling flames and restless sergeant. Bain didn't utter a peep, his face also wearing an unreadable emotion.

"One shot." Malarkey suddenly mumbled aloud. Bain glanced over at him in mild curiosity. "That's all it takes. It happens all the time, these 'accidents.' Why not now? Why not me?" He sighed heavily in frustration. "Hoobler and Ranney, both shot in the leg, but only one dies. They both got their get-out-of-jail-free cards. Joe and Bill get their legs blown to bits. Buck also got blown to bits, but in a different way. He's emotionally damaged now."

"Malark-" Bain started.

"No! I should've paid more attention! Buck was like the ghost the past few days. I should've listened…" He paused, giving Marie a fleeting look of guilt. "That man busted his ass for us, and now he is a freakin' ghost. But you know he'll be free soon, branded unfit for service."

Marie saw Malarkey make a subtle movement toward his side holster. He wrapped his hand around the stock of his P38. He was thinking about a way out again, just like he did when Easy Company was still on Hell's Highway when Ranney had shot himself by mistake. Seeing his right hand gripping the gun made Marie's heart pound against her chest. Seeing Malarkey drift into that darkness made her breathing constrict in terror.

"No." Marie breathed, reaching her hand out to stop him. She placed her hand on top of his, keeping it firmly in place from lifting the gun out of the holster. Bain remained mute, watching the entire scene with worried eyes. "Please, Don, don't." She pleaded.

Malarkey ripped his hand away from hers. He abruptly stood up, brushing past the two soldiers as he stalked away from the fire. Marie and Bain watched him with reluctance, both feeling uneasy by Malarkey's odd behavior.

"He'll come around." Bain assured her, focusing his attention back on the dying fire.

Marie didn't answer. It was clear now that everyone were experiencing things that were too hard for them to handle. Easy Company just needed to get the hell out of Foy.