charlotte tarvers is only 14 when the war breaks out, but 17 when she signs up. she's heard the stories from her parents, lovers who found each other by chance on the front lines in world war one in the country of france, now passing down the storie...
" Here's some fresh OD's." Malarkey said handing her the pair, clean and dry. She barely smiled as she shut the door. Charlotte looked at herself in the mirror. With her mess of hair and sunken in blue dull eyes, she slowly undressed. She felt weak and her skin looked pale and somewhat sickly, even though it was only because of the sight's she'd witnessed. She slowly pulled the dog tags from her neck and the sunshine necklace placing them in a pile as she shoved her dirty ODs with the others. She stepped into the shower and felt the warm water cascade down her entire being, warming her and making her forget about what she'd seen for a few moments. She scrubbed her hair and her body, ridding the camp of its presence. The dirt and the blood washed off her hands, but the memories remained. They always did. She felt sick to her stomach at what she remembered, and so when she turned off the water, she fought the urge to throw up again. She dried her wet hair the best she could, and then pulled on her ODs, and dog tags and sunshine necklace. She stepped back out of the bathroom and walked over to her bed before lying underneath the covers with a sigh.
" Drink some more water, sunshine, you're dehydrated." Babe said handing her a bottle. She slowly sat up and carefully drank liquid from the bottle.
" Thanks Babe." she whispered and he nodded as she snuggled back under the covers.
" Get some rest, Charlotte." Malarkey said as he flicked out the light. The men went to bed that night on high alert for any signs of discomfort from their sunshine as she slowly fell asleep, their worry set on high enough alert already. She woke up the next morning, feeling a bit more like herself. They got word that the German citizens of Landsberg were cleaning up all the dead bodies after the prisoners had been relocated.
Easy Company, as well as the rest of 2nd Battalion, were moving out to Thalem. Charlotte had thrown up one more time that morning, but then she finally ate something, like the small crackers that Gene had found, and she was feeling much better. She climbed up onto the truck where most of her friends were and carefully settled in Babe and Shifty.
" You feeling better, Sunshine?" Babe asked the girl as he comfortably situated his arm around the young medic's shoulders and she laid her head on his shoulder.
" Yeah, thanks Babe." she said, and gently closed her eyes on his shoulder.
" It's no problem at all, Sunshine." he said as Shifty smiled at the young girl from her other side. They traveled for most of the day in their little trucks through Germany and arrived at the town of Thalem. It had been severely bombed from what the young girl could tell. It was May 2nd, the weather rather beautiful in the bombed out town, as she sat with some of her closest friends up in a bombed out portion of a house. The Germans old and young were attempting their best to clean out what was left of their bombed out town. Charlotte sat on the edge her feet dangling down as she looked up as the string group played String Quartet in C Sharp Minor. She sighed.
" Tell you one think about the Krauts." Luz spoke up from next to her where he stood with his leg propped up. " They sure clean up good." The group consisted of Perconte and Liebgott sharing a bench that was broken, with Bull and Webster on the other side of Luz and the young medic. Charlotte could only nod to what seemed like herself.
" Yeah, " Liebgott answered a bit quietly, " all you need's a little Mozart."
" Beethoven." came a voice of the group of 6 whirled around to see Nixon walked toward them with a solemn face.
" Sorry, sir?" Liebgott asked him.
" That's not Mozart," Nixon said as the group looked at him. " That's Beethoven." They listened for quite some time and Nixon seemed to daze out for a bit even. The string quartet continued to play the somber melody and Charlotte even swayed a bit to it.
" Hitler's dead." Nixon spoke suddenly, and every pair of eyes up there turned to look at him, Charlotte almost choking on the air in her throat.
" Holy shit." Liebgott said, looking with wide eyes at the intelligence officer.
" Shot himself in Berlin." Nixon said.
" Is the war over, sir?" Bull asked, and Charlotte's heart skipped a beat.
" No." Nixon answered, as Charlotte met eye's with Luz. " We have orders to Berchtesgaden. We're gonna move out in one hour."
" Why, the man's not home?" Webster asked. The group let out collective sighs, as they went and gathered all their stuff up. Nixon walked forward and patted Luz's shoulder and the young medic's. She turned and smiled rather softly up at the officer.
" Should've killed himself 3 years ago, saved us a lot of trouble." Webster said as Charlotte stuck her helmet to her head and grabbed her satchel.
" Yeah, he should've," Nixon answered, " but he didn't." He turned and followed the young girl out of the bombed building, leaving his solemn expression behind him as he did so. Charlotte thought back to Landsberg and the camp they had found. Supposedly other groups of the Allied Forces had discovered numerous POW, concentration and death camps. They'd later figure out it was part of Hitler and the Nazi's attempt to effect the 'Final Solution' to the 'Jewish Question'. Easy Company faced the issue in strides, and Charlotte felt she never came to terms with it. She forever felt guilt that she couldn't get to disappear.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
