The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

76: Be So Lucky

There were mostly bullet wounds to see to. The men who'd been hit by artillery had died on sight. A lot of men had died from gunshot wounds during the battle. But those who had survived and were waiting on further treatment before being delivered to the aid station were generally not doing so badly. Charlie tended to wounds in legs and arms, mostly - that was, until Bull carried Frank in.

"They got me in my fuckin' ass, Charlie," he told her as Bull laid him down in front of her. "Fuck, it hurts like a bitch."

"You had morphine?"

"Yeah."

"Then you'll just have to suffer, I'm afraid."

Frank grumbled as he lay on his front but he let Charlie clean him up anyway. By now she was immune to even blushing at having to touch a man's behind; it seemed the men of Easy Company had adopted a tradition of sorts for being shot in their backside, and she'd had to tend to so many wounds there she no longer batted an eye.

Frank finally settled when she finished tying the bandage. He was out of the way enough that she let him lie there to wait to be taken to the aid station. So, now finished with all of her wounded, Charlie pushed herself to her feet and went to stand with Henry and Autumn, who had both also finished.

"Will we be setting up in one of the buildings?" she asked, wiping the blood on her hands off on the trousers of her fatigues. They were already so filthy that the colour didn't change for being covered in yet more blood.

"I'm still waiting to find out," Henry replied. "Not sure how long we'll be staying."

Charlie didn't bother hoping to be sent back to Mourmelon for R&R. She didn't trust the Army to care enough about them to go to the effort. Instead, she nodded and accepted that wherever they moved to next it would probably be just as bad as this, but found some small shred of comfort in knowing it couldn't be any worse.

Autumn didn't say anything. She'd been talking more but still not a lot since Hoobler's death. Now, Charlie understood well enough not to try to cheer her up. She herself was sick of people trying to make her smile, trying to take her mind off of things, and tended not to speak unless it was necessary, so she wouldn't push any of those things on Autumn, either. Not anymore.

Over by the entrance to the town a group of men had hoisted themselves up to sit on a German panzer. Charlie watched idly as they began to sing and clap, playing up their mirth for the camera that had been following the company around as of late. Charlie had made sure to avoid the camera and its owner at all costs - she knew it was there for the purpose of raising morale back home and she had no place in trying to raise anyone's spirits anymore - but some of the men had found enjoyment in playing up for the people back home. Now, the men in front of the camera were grinning at each other as they sang, swaying and flinging arms around each other and making the most of being aboveground.

One of them had a sling wrapped around his arm and was swinging it a little too enthusiastically. Charlie was about to call out to him when she caught sight of Mabs stalking towards him, a scowl on her face.

"Mellet!" she shouted. "Put your arm down 'fore you -"

The sound of gunfire.

Mellet fell, and so did Mabs.

"Sniper!" someone shouted.

"Take cover!"

"Mabs!" Charlie cried.

"Take cover!"

Charlie shook off Henry's grip on her shoulder and sprinted towards Mabs, then dragged her around to the other side of the panzer.