charlotte tarvers is only 14 when the war breaks out, but 17 when she signs up. she's heard the stories from her parents, lovers who found each other by chance on the front lines in world war one in the country of france, now passing down the storie...
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" Give your stress wings and let it fly away."
- Terri Gullietmets
***
It was early May, after Easy had left Thalem, and were now traveling through Bavaria towards Obersalzburg in Berchtesgaden. Charlotte thought Bavaria was a beautiful place. The Alps were breathtaking, and all the different flowers, and animals, and little villages Easy passed through were just as beautiful. It helped take her mind away from the war that raged around them at the current moment. Charlotte's mind had been changed dramatically after the unsettling news of the past few weeks.
From finding the camp, to the news of Hitler shooting himself, her nerves remained riled up, and her features misty, and offset it seemed to many of the men. No one could get anything out of the girl really, but she'd been through so much in the past year of actively being in war, they weren't at all surprised they weren't able to get anything out of her. Ever since day one of jumping into Normandy for the paratroopers' entrance and the turning point for the war, Charlotte had been put through hell. She often thought about Leroy, and wondering how her family back home was. She worried everyday for them and she consistently thought about Louis who was somewhere in France by now, praying he was ok. The prolonged sickness that had stayed with her for so long through Bastogne up until just about Haguneua had taken a toll on her, and then the sight of the concentration camp, and what she had to go through to ensure that human beings were ok, had altered her views. Knowing now that Hitler was dead set in stone for the young girl, that there was a reprieve for her and the men, and that hopefully, some time soon, victory would be reached and they could all go home. Charlotte remained strong, she knew she had to, though, it was the only thing keeping her going.
Everyone, officer and soldier alike wanted to capture Berchtesgaden. Charlotte sat, her tattered Grey's Anatomy book in her hands as she continued reading from where she'd left off. Everyone walked around, moving from truck to truck, trying to make conversation as they waited for the engineers, who have yet to make an appearance, to blast through the wall of rock rubble that the Krauts had put in their way. The sun warmed Charlotte's skin and she sucked in a deep breath, thankful in a way for the warmth she finally felt. She thought of the bitterness of Bastogne and hoped she'd never have to experience a winter as cold as that ever again. She was next to Skinny in the truck, her book leaned on top of the railing as she occasionally glanced up to watch someone walk by, or here if the news of the engineers were there had arrived. Charlotte noticed Chuck and Christenson making their way towards the pile of rock with grenades and a Bazooka and she wondered how their little plan would be working out for them. She looked up and saw that Speirs was walking past.
" Hi, sir." she called up from her book. Speirs looked up, a small smile running over his lips as he tipped his helmet to the girl and continued walking over to Winters and Nixon. Skinny looked over at the girl with a raised brow and a smirk and she only innocently smiled back. Speirs had a huge weight off his shoulders now, after they'd left Landsberg. He'd become more relaxed, like the normal soldiers, and he seemed calmer in general. Sure, he was tough when needed, but he had talked to Charlotte privately one night about the ordeal at Landsberg and Charlotte had immediately accepted his apology, dubbing that the Captain didn't have to apologize to her about occurrences like that. He had a right to worry. The two ended up talking late into the night after that, about their general stress of what they were doing before just talking about life back home and it calmed Charlotte down a lot. Chuck shot the Bazooka and it barely made a dent in the huge mass of fallen rocks. Charlotte scrunched her nose and sighed to herself.
