All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

57: Cromwells

Just as she went to lift her rifle, ready to look at the world through the magnified view of her scope once more, a figure on the side of the road caught her eye. A bald woman wrapped in a grey blanket with a baby in her arms was stood watching the tanks go by, unmistakably one of the victims of the Eindhoven festivities the day before. Posey frowned, her jaw setting.

"It's horrible what happened to them," she said to no one in particular, looking away to offer the woman some privacy. "So horrible."

"Mellet," called out Hashey suddenly. Posey turned just in time to see him toss one of his K-Rations to Mellet, who was walking beside their tank. Her heart softened when the woman smiled just slightly as she received it.

"That was really kind of you, Hashey," Posey said, hoping he'd detect the sincerity in her voice. She glanced around at the others and huffed a sigh. "Stop staring at her, please. Give her some privacy."

"She's standing on the side of the road!" Cobb protested.

"Where else is she supposed to go?" Posey shot back. "Do you not think she's been shamed enough without having to bear the scrutiny of an entire company of soldiers who have no idea what she's been through?"

"Oh, we got a good enough idea of what she's been through, alright," Cobb began, his smirk audible in his voice. "And that's what she gets for -"

"Shut your fucking mouth, Cobb, before I shut it for you. Alright? I'm sick of listening to you," Johnny snapped.

Cobb grumbled something under his breath but didn't speak up again. Posey smiled smugly to herself as she lifted her gun and peered back through the scope.

The tanks began to slow and ease out of their line formation, the tank behind them coming up on their right. One of the company's new officers, however, didn't seem to realise. Lieutenant Brewer, a replacement lieutenant who'd been brought in after D-Day, carried on walking forwards with a purpose.

"Hey, get a load of General Patton!" Hoobler shouted, obviously referring to the oblivious lieutenant. Brewer had wandered so far ahead of the tanks by now that he was completely exposed. Posey became certain he had no idea how far out in the open he was when he slung his rifle over his shoulder.

"What the hell is he doin'?" Bull groaned. The movement of his feet behind her told Posey he was getting ready to dismount the tank and follow after Brewer.

"Makes quite a target, don't he?" Hoobler went on.

Posey shifted to the side to allow Bull room to get down and focused on scanning the landscape ahead of her. They were coming up for a bend in the road which didn't make things easy, and right ahead of them was a church with five large windows giving way to total darkness. A sniper could have been hiding in any of those openings.

Bull came to sit beside Posey just as she was attempting to zero in on the first of the windows. "See anythin'?" he asked quickly.

"Not yet," she replied. By this point, Brewer had his binoculars up and was scanning the area himself. Such a block in her sights as he was, if there really was a sniper hiding up ahead he would have caught them before she did.

Bull muttered a curse before drawing in a large breath, ready to cry out, "Lieutenant!" as loud as he could.

Lieutenant Brewer turned upon the call of his rank and went down a second later. The bang of a gunshot pierced the air.

"Fuck!" Posey shouted, shocked.

"Sarge!" belted Miller from her other side. She didn't turn to look at what he was pointing at, instead keeping her eyes trained through her scope, searching desperately for the sniper. Her first trial as a sharpshooter and she was already failing.