All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

71: Patrol

Posey sighed, adjusting the way she was crouched to get more comfortable. "Dike wants a patrol. He's making me pick who's on it, for some reason."

Toye scoffed a laugh. "Yeah, good luck with that."

"I'm not picking the squad," Posey said, rather redundantly. "Compton's picking the squad."

"Sure he is, Duckie," Toye agreed, still laughing. "Have fun."

"You too." Posey was laughing quietly as she rose to her feet and began to slump through the snow once more.

When she found Compton she found him with Bill and Heffron. "Sir!" she exclaimed, somewhat surprised to have finally found him. "I've been looking for you!"

Compton chuckled under his breath. "What's the matter, Duckie?"

Posey glanced between them, then once over her shoulder. She sighed as she turned back to face them. "Room for one more?" she questioned hopefully, squeezing her arms tighter around herself and hoping it would make them take pity on her.

"Get in here," Bill said, trying to mask the smile on his face with a scowl but not doing a very good job of it. Posey grinned as she watched them all shuffle around to make space and slipped in between Bill and Heffron the moment they'd stopped moving. It was a tight squeeze, four people in one foxhole, but at least it was somewhat warm.

"So what's going on, Duckie?" Compton prompted, leaning forwards over Heffron to look at her.

Posey nodded, chewing on her bottom lip a moment as she considered how to phrase her predicament. "Lieutenant Dike wants a patrol to go out and he told Tab that I'm to pick who goes on it. As I know you're aware, sir, that's not my job, so I thought I'd come to you."

"Dike wants you to pick a patrol," Compton repeated slowly, making sure he'd heard her correctly. "Really?"

"That's what Tab said," Posey replied with a shake of her head. "Apparently he was there when Lieutenant Dike was talking to Lip. Dike is said to have asked which sharpshooters he had to send on patrol, Lip said me or Shifty, so he picked me and then said that I could pick who went with me. That's all I know. It's hearsay, of course, but I trust Tab and I don't know why he'd lie."

Compton laughed lowly, nodding. "I believe you, Duckie." After a short pause, he sighed. "I'll pick the patrol. Do you know how many people he wants?"

"Not a clue, sir."

"I'll send five. Anyone in particular you want with you?"

"Can I have Bill?" she asked. She didn't dare glance at him as she said it, kept her eyes set firmly on Compton.

"Bill?" Compton asked, addressing the man in question.

"Yeah, I'll go," Bill agreed.

"You can take Luz, Hashey, and Garcia with you," Compton replied with a nod of confirmation. "When did Dike say to head out?"

"Right away, apparently."

Compton looked like he was taking great pains to keep from rolling his eyes. He checked his watch. "Head out at 1020, that's five minutes from now. I want you back by 1050 at the latest, alright?"

"Yes, sir," Posey said, letting her shoulders sag with relief in the face of an officer who wasn't afraid to take charge. She knew there was a reason Compton was her favourite officer.

"You got it, Buck," Bill added.

Posey let Bill climb out of the foxhole first and scrambled out after him with the help of his proffered arm. They huddled together like a pair of swans as they navigated their way back through the foxholes, their heads bowed together whether they realised it or otherwise.