Love You Till The End (Robert Zussman x Reader)

56 - Ronald "Red" Daniels

March 6, 1945
Near Remagen, Germany

Colonel Davis was very surprised when I asked him if I could rejoin my squad and I don't blame him. After all, it's not every day that a soldier who has the chance to go home requests to be put back on the frontlines.

I had left the Field Hospital I had been healin' up at for the past two months this morning expectin' the trip to my squad's location to be a long one. Turns out they hadn't gone past Remagen yet since they had been given time to rest up so it took only a two-hour drive to get to their location.

As soon as I unloaded my belongings off the vehicle that had brought me into Germany, I was greeted by quite a few soldiers. Some of the faces looked new to me and I figured that could only mean that the platoon had gotten recruitments while I was gone.

Now that I was finally where I wanted to be, I had no intentions of letting my first task be to get settled. I needed to find Pierson right away.

"Daniels?" I heard a familiar voice say. I looked to my right to see Private Finley walkin' towards me.

"Hey there, Private. How ya doin'?" I grinned at him.

"Oh, I'm holding up alright, but what about yourself? How's the wound doing?"

"Still a bit sore, but much better than what it felt like a few weeks ago."

"Good to hear, sir. I'm glad you're back," he said. "Does your squad know you're here?"

"Nope, they have no idea. Know where I can find 'em?"

"Yeah, they should be somewhere over by that tent." He turned around and pointed at a tent in the distance straight ahead. I could see two men loadin' up supplies into a jeep parked right next to it. "If you're curious, you should find Pierson inside the tent."

"Thanks, Finley. If it's not too much to ask, mind watchin' over my pack and helmet for me?" I held up my belongings in front of me.

"Not a problem," he said as he grabbed them. He began to walk towards a small group of soldiers sitting on the floor to the right of me. "They'll be over here when you need them."

As I quickly began to walk towards the tent, I touched the Honorable Discharge papers tucked in my waistbelt. I know it's not going to be easy to convince Pierson that we have to try to find Zussman, especially after what I did to him, but I can only hope that me givin' up my chance to leave will show him I'm being serious.

When I arrived at the tent, I paid no mind to the men loadin' up crates into the jeep. I took my hand off the papers and headed towards the tent entrance.

"Woah, woah, what are you doin' here?" Aiello suddenly came towards me and stopped me from goin' inside. He was speakin' low, most likely to avoid catching the attention of Pierson.

"What's it look like?" I asked calmly as Stiles walked up to us with a confused look on his face.

"Suicide," Aiello said bluntly.

"Hey, I wouldn't go in there," Stiles chimed in. "Pierson's been hittin' the sauce."

"Thanks for the warnin'," I said before placin' my hand on Aiello's shoulder and moving him outta my way. He moved aside without puttin' up a fight and I went inside the tent.

I walked in only to see Pierson sitting down and using some stacked wooden crates as a table. There was a flask, filled with who knows what choice of drink, sitting on top of the wooden crates with his hand around it. He had his attention fixed on the floor until I walked closer to him. When he finally looked up at me, he let out a scoff and glanced at the flask.