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Burning buildings, exploding bombs falling on the houses, fire burning them to ashes. Soldiers running around the town, covering their heads with their sleeved arms. The sound of guns firing around everyone, coming from both sides of the lines. It was almost impossible to see through the flashes of the guns and the bright light of the burning places.
Riley kept on driving through the town, avoiding all the glass scattered on the ground and grenades fallen next to the road. As she was making her way to the church, the large religious building exploded from the inside. A bomb must have fallen through the holes of the roof. She pressed her foot on the brake and stopped the car in the middle of the lane. It was too dangerous for her to keep on driving, the smoke blinded everything around her. Eugene jumped out of the car and ran to the destroyed church, watching out while running for a burning car passing him fastly.
"Eugene, come back!," Riley screamed out while crawling out of her seat and motioning to waiting medics to help her with the wounded Harry. Eugene didn't listen to her, he was too set on getting inside the church, to see more who had survived and mostly, who didn't.
"Get him to Renee." She didn't say anything anymore about the medic crawling inside the church, she had other things to think about and there was at that moment no time for her to be unprofessional.
"Renee's death, Riley."
"Well, then find Irene instead." Riley had to swallow away the pain she felt in her heart. She had lost Renee, probably to the bombing happening around her. She had lost another friend, somebody she always had believed would be safe. But, no one was safe, not in the war. Their race against death was a grenade threatening to explode or a bullet piercing through their hearts.
More and more bombs started to fall in Bastogne, destroying the town even worse. Riley knew that after the attack, nothing would be left of the place where she had found many new friendships. It would be gone, as would she be.
"Thank god you're alright," Irene mumbled in the top of Riley's head.
"Renee isn't."
"I know, I know." The light of the fire burning in the houses reflected in Irene's eyes. The nurse was quick to wipe them away, but the sadness she experienced didn't go with her tears. The lump in her throat made her stumble over the words she was whispering. But there wasn't much time for them to grieve, they had to start aiding the wound in Harry's leg, no distraction stopping them anymore.
Eugene and Riley wandered through the woods of Bastogne, in complete silence. He didn't know where to start, she was just afraid that she would ask the wrong thing. In a short amount of time, he and Renee had built a strong bond. Renee had told Riley that, also asking more questions about the young medic of Easy Company. But now, that strong bond was broken by death and Eugene was dealing with it very badly. He said no words, nothing on his mind came out of his mouth. He kept it in his heart, where the pain could grow through time.
"You want to talk?" Riley questioned, even though she already knew to answer. She wanted him to understand that she was there for him and that every single person in Easy was as well. Everyone liked Eugene and were so thankful for the help he brought to the needing people. Without him, not a lot of them would still be alive. So returning that favor of help, they would that as fast as they could.
"No, sorry."
"That's alright, Gene."
After a long time of walking, Riley spotted the foxhole where Winters was resting in. Blankets were pulled up to his nose, his hands were stuffed inside some warm gloves. The tip of his nose had turned into a bright pink color because of the extreme cold. Winters held his gun between his shivering arms, always ready for the next big fight. The officer looked very ill, very different from what she was used to. The bags underneath his eyes were so large that it appeared as if his eyes had sunken down. His skin was almost as white as the snow surrounding him. Riley felt much pity towards the men of Easy, she had it much easier than them in the hospital. She could stay inside, find an extra jacket if she ever needed. These men were fighting without enough ammunition and without the right clothes.
"Riley, what are you doing here?" Winters asked her. She stopped by his foxhole, Eugene kept on walking towards the place where he hoped Babe would be.
"They've completely destroyed Bastogne. There is no reason from me to stay there anymore. So, the head nurse, Irene, told me to get back to Easy and wait for orders." Riley went down on her knees, so that the height difference between her and the officer wouldn't be too much.
"It would be great if you'd stay with us. Most of the men missed your company, some more than others of course."
"Well, then I guess I have to say hello to everyone."
"Wait, before you go," he started, stopping Riley from walking to the next fox hole. "Is everything alright with Doc? He'd been really absent lately."
"I think he's feeling a bit guilty because of Smokey being paralyzed, but I'm not sure. He's also lost someone today, a very friendly nurse called Renee. Gene is grieving right now, so might want to keep an eye on him for a while," Riley explained the situation very simply and when she was talking about the death of Renee, she started fiddling with the fabric of her white arm band. Winters noticed that, especially because he pieced together that Riley must've known that nurse as well, since she was around them all the time. He wanted to know if she was alright about the situation, but considering he started to understand her character more and more, Winters knew that she wouldn't easily admit to her pains.
