Eugene turned his head to look at me when we finally got to the section with the guns. I felt awkward but as I turned my head, he was looking at me with confusion. What a great way to make someone feel even more uncomfortable. I waved my hand and he broke out of his trance. 'This is the most cliché situation I've ever been in,' I thought to myself. I asked him why he looked confused while looking at me and he shrugged. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're pretending to be a guy so you can kill the Japs?" He questioned. I nodded with a slight smile that showed how proud I was that it was all coming together.
Before Eugene could ask another question, Snafu handed me a Thompson Submachine Gun. That was one of the most popular guns at the moment and I eagerly started examining every inch of it.
Snafu smiled softly and so did Eugene. Snafu stopped me and told me where the ammunition was supposed to go and he even demonstrated it on his Thompson. He then told me to try it a few times, which I did. I was fairly slow at reloading and it took me a few times before getting faster. I told Snafu I understood that now and he nodded before telling me to take the ammunition out. I sighed and took the ammo out. That was a lot easier than putting it in.
Snafu told me to put my finger on the trigger and I did. He told me to keep my finger on the trigger when we were fighting. He then told me that keeping my finger on the trigger at all times would make the gun go off because my fingers were twitch and I should avoid keeping my finger there unless i was ready to shoot. I nodded and he reached into his pocket and pulled out yet another cigarette. It was insane how quick this guy smoked. "That's all ya need to know. We'll see how well ya shoot when we're on Peleliu," he said as he sat up on the crate.
I placed the gun down and gave a thank you to Snafu. Snafu looked over at Eugene. "What's your name," he said as he took a puff of his cigarette. "Uh, Eugene. Eugene Sledge." He spoke somewhat confidently. "I like your last name," I said with a smile. Eugene smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. He was blushing. "Yeah, it has a good ring to it. Sledge," Snafu piped in. "I'm gonna call you Sledge from now on," I said before sitting next to Snafu on the crate. I motioned for Sledge to sit next to me and he hesitantly did.
We sat there listening to the waves and seagulls for a minute before Sledges' soft voice spoke up.
"You're a nurse, yeah?" I turned my head to look at him. "Yeah, why," i said turning my head to look back at the upcoming island with LCVP boats. "They're gonna know you're gone. How many nurses came with you?"
'Shit, he's right,' I thought to myself. I only came on this boat with two other nurses, I was bound to get noticed. "Two," I said while deep in thought. Sledge nodded and a small laugh crept out of his mouth. "What're you laughing at?" Snafu said with a smile forming. "We're gonna have to be the first to get on Peleliu if you don't want to get caught," he said, still smiling. I tilted my head confusingly. "And what's so funny about that? We'll be the first to kill," I said with a slight smile while turning my body towards him.
He smiled at me concerningly and Snafu took another puff from his cigarette. "Hell fucking yeah," Snafu laughed out. I laughed, but after awhile I realize Sledge seemed nervous. "Hey? You good?" I said as I reached a hand out to touch his shoulder. "Ah, yeah. I'm just thinking," he said quickly. I could tell something was wrong but I didn't want to push it so I let him be. Before we knew it, the boat was on shore. The lieutenant was yelling for everyone to get out and onto those LCVP boats. Sledge, Snafu and I stayed together and we all put our helmets on; as did everyone else.
I got nervous walking off the boat. I normally wasn't scared of death, but I might die today. Sledge noticed and gave a reassuring smile. I barely knew this kid but he was making me feel safe. We waited in line at the dock to get on a LCVP boat. We waited about three minutes until they finally started putting us in a boat. Before the boat was about to take off, the soldier stopped and put a hand on my shoulder ushering me to get out. I looked at him with a broken look and shook my head. He looked at me and I could tell he was deep in thought.
He leaned closer to my ear. "I'm not supposed to do this, but go get 'em, miss," he said before patting the side of the boat, indicating to the driver they could go. I was in disbelieve - yet another cliche thing happened to me. This one hit me harder than the first because I was finally going to fight instead of being in a tent all day sweating my ass off. I turned to look at Sledge and let out a relieved laugh.
"You best come out alive, y/n. You'll be known as the first female fucking marine if you do," Snafu said, making the other soldier turn their heads and the boat go silent. The soldiers started to whisper to each other and I was getting annoyed. I was about to let it go but one looked at me and then whispered to the soldier next to him.
"Hey," I nodded my head towards him. "I'm right here, don't need to hide things from me," I said once he looked at me. He seemed panicked and quickly said "no, no, it wasn't anything bad. We just respect your determination." A smile softly crept onto my face and the soldiers softly smiled too. I was respected in a whole different way now and I loved it.
As I turned around, bombs started exploding around us. Our boat tipped a little bit, causing all of us to lean to one side. I let out a small yelp as my side hit the metal wall of the boat. Water splashed on all of us and the boat finally leveled back out a few seconds later. Bullets started to fly by, failing to hit any of us and the sound of bombs hitting the water became more threatening. I looked over at Sledge and he seemed scared.
I inched closer to him and gave him a reassuring nod. He seemed to calm down but a bullet ended up hitting the soldier in front of us, spurting blood all over us. "Get down!" The driver said before also getting shot in right between the eyes. We all ducked down and I looked at Snafu and then Sledge. We all looked panicked. This LCVP boat plan was going to shit and everyone knew it. The boat finally landed on shore and the other soldier in front ushered everyone to jump out.
Everyone complied and started jumping out but before Sledge did, a bullet killed the soldier in front of him once again, causing him to fall back. A soldier yanked him up and i watched as Sledge anxiously lean himself over. I jumped over after him. Sledge was already a quarter up the beach and I crawled to catch up. Bullets hit the sand in front and beside me and I whimpered at the thought of one hitting me. I finally made it to the small trench the Japanese built and we all leaned against the wall, peeking over and shooting every them every few seconds.
The captain of this small platoon came over yelling at us to move away from this area. We were all confused but quickly scattered up the trenches wall. It took a lot of strength and my arms felt as if they were dying but I did it. I turned around and saw Sledge struggling to get up. I ran back and held out my hand and told him to grab on. He did fearfully and I yanked him up with all the strength I had left. He thanked me and we both ran while bullets flew by us, threatening to end our lives.
Hi! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! I think I'm gonna continue writing this story to be honest. It's fun. Also! Some part of this story are gonna be based on the movie, while others are completely made up for obvious reasons. Okay byeeee ♡
