TW: From here on out you can expect graphic descriptions of war and death etc.
Boarding the C-47 had been no easy feat given all the equipment they were carrying and wearing. It had involved a lot of pushing and shoving to get each other up the stairs and through the rather narrow doorway. Usually Floyd Talbert would have taken great delight in making some kind of filthy comment about being able to touch Evelyn's ass, but nobody was in the mood for jokes right now. Once everyone was seated, Evelyn began handing out the airsickness pills as the aircraft taxied down the runway, informing everyone that they were to take one immediately and then another after half an hour in the air. She took her seat between Tab and Shifty just as it began its ascent. Her stomach jolted when the plane finally lifted off the ground and her ears popped, leaving them feeling muffled, kind of like when someone is full of a cold.
They had been in the air for around fifteen minutes and the only sound that could be heard was that of the loud rumbling of the engine. Some of the guys were asleep, some were praying, and the rest were just sitting in quiet contemplation of what was to come. Evelyn was leaning back against the carriage, thinking about Bill. What was he doing alright? Was he praying? Was he sleeping? Was he as nervous as she was?
"Hey Ev," Talbert nudged her. "I don't think Lieb's feeling too good."
She leaned forward to look at Liebgott, who was sitting on Talbert's other side. He was deathly white, and he had his head in his hands. Ev motioned for Tab to swap places with her.
"Lieb, you ok?" she asked, having to speak loudly over the noise. She rubbed his back soothingly.
He glanced up and nodded wearily, his eyes out of focus as he looked at her.
"Uh huh, air sickness pills making me a little loopy," he answered.
Evelyn pulled out her canteen and urged him to take a sip of water. He sat up and leaned back against the carriage of the plane.
"Try and get some sleep," she told him. "Just close your eyes and whatever you do, don't take that other tablet."
"I wasn't planning on it, don't worry. What are you tryin' to do Guarnere? Poison me?" he smirked, and she was glad to see he wasn't ill enough to have lost his sense of humour.
... ... ...
When they heard the first explosion, they all glanced at one another nervously. Across from Evelyn, Buck Compton smiled at her reassuringly. Lieutenant Lynn 'Buck' Compton had joined Easy on the day they had arrived in Upottery. She liked Buck. Everyone liked Buck. He was easy to get along with, and since day one had made a huge effort to get to know the men and her. He wanted to be on their level, despite being their superior. He wanted them to view him as a friend. And so far, it was working. It also helped that he was about the only person who could equal Malarkey at craps which impressed the rest of the guys. She smiled back at him.
Another explosion went off and Evelyn jumped. She felt a gentle touch on her hand and she glanced beside her to Liebgott, who was now awake and watching her with a strange expression on his face. He squeezed her hand and she swore she could feel butterflies in her stomach that had nothing to do with anxious anticipation for what was about to happen. He gave her a small smile and continued to hold onto her hand as the sound of explosions became closer and more frequent.
"Stand up! Hook up!" Lipton suddenly shouted as the red light appeared by the door. "Equipment check! Sound off for equipment check!"
Evelyn patted herself down and then Liebgott in front of her. He turned around and gave her a cheeky wink. Despite the seriousness of the situation she found herself blushing.
"Six okay!" she shouted as the yells continued down the line to Buck and Lipton.
The green light flashed on. This was it. They were really going to do it. Suddenly an explosion tore through the window of the aircraft and Roy Cobb screamed in agony. Evelyn rushed over to him to find that he had been hit in the shoulder and was bleeding. Evelyn couldn't believe it. They weren't even out of the plane and already someone was injured. And what's more, it could have easily been George bleeding right now. For some reason, he had asked Cobb to swap seats with him about five minutes into the air. He was one lucky son of a gun.
"Keep still!" she shouted at Cobb, trying to get a better look at his wound. It didn't look to be too bad, but he definitely couldn't make the jump. She poured some sulfa on the wound and hastily wrapped a bandage around it tightly to stem the blood flow. There wasn't much else she could do. It was difficult enough just to stand upright as the plane jolted around.
"I want to jump, Sir," Cobb was adamant he was fine. Evelyn shook her head at Lipton.
"Don't listen to him. He's not jumping, he's staying on the plane!" Lipton agreed. "Is he ok Ev?"
"He will be once he gets back to England," she answered. "You can go, Sir. He'll be fine."
Satisfied that Roy would be alright, Lipton jumped and everyone else began to follow suit.
"Roy, I'm sorry," Ev apologised as it neared her turn. Cobb scowled, and Evelyn knew it wasn't just from the pain. "It's for your own good."
With one final glance at Cobb, she took a deep breath and jumped.
... ... ...
None of their training jumps could have prepared her for the real thing. There were shots and anti-aircraft explosions being fired left, right and centre. No matter how hard anyone tried to avoid them, it was horrifically clear that it was pure pot luck as to whether someone was spared or not. In the chaos, Evelyn didn't even think about counting down like she had been taught, but thankfully her chute opened, yanking her upwards. The sharp movement caused her leg bag to spring off her. Stupid Limey's and their stupid leg bags. She was just grateful that she had only put a few extra supplies in there, unlike Spina who had put all kinds in his. At least she had all of her main aid kit tucked safely in her satchel.
On every one of her practice jumps, Evelyn had enjoyed the leisurely feeling of gliding down to the ground. She had felt so weightless, like a bird, but this time she was itching to get to the safety of the ground. Well, perhaps safety wasn't the right word, but she was willing to believe it was safer to be on the ground where one could hide to avoid being shot at than it was to be a floating target in the sky. Finally, she was about to land and realised that if she didn't move over she was going to hit a tree. Trying her best to manoeuvre the chute, she closed her eyes as she realised she couldn't get further enough away. As she went down, her chute got caught in the tree branches that reached out for her like claws. With a growl, all she could do was reach down for the knife in her boot, the only weapon she was entitled to have being a medic, and with great difficulty cut through the strings. Of course, in doing so she fell through the rest of the tree branches and squealed as they scratched at her face and body until she hit the ground with a thud. With a curse she realised she had managed to cut her entire right sleeve and had a huge tear in the skin. It hurt like a bitch. God Ev, quit being such a baby. If a tree branch can make you hurt this bad, what's it gonna be like if you get shot? Let's just hope you never have to find out.
Suddenly she could hear voices coming from the other side of the trees to the left of her. Considering she couldn't understand a word of what was being said, she was going to take a wild guess that they were Germans. And she highly doubted that they were going to take too kindly to finding her there. Her heart thudding wildly and adrenaline surging through every inch of her body, she crawled as fast and as quietly as she could to a thicket of bushes not too far away. Luckily, she was small enough to hide inside them without being seen. Only a few seconds behind her, the Germans came through the trees and she tried to breath slowly in the hopes that they wouldn't hear her. She let out the smallest sigh of relief when they passed right past her.
... ... ...
Evelyn didn't know how long she hid in that thicket. All she knew was that she could hear Germans nearby and she had only her knife to defend herself with. Each time she thought about trying to move, the voices seemed to come closer and then would disappear for a while. She realised she had two choices; stay put and pray someone from the company came across her, or leave the safety of the thicket and find them herself. Mercifully, before she had to make the decision, she heard a rustle from directly behind her and mumbling that sounded like English.
"Flash," she whispered.
"Thunder," came the reply, and she breathed a sigh of relief when Lieutenant Winters crawled through the thicket followed by a younger man who she vaguely recognised but couldn't place him.
"Good to see you Corporal," Winter smiled, then frowned as he took in her ragged appearance. "What happened to you?"
"Oh, I got into a fight with a tree," she grinned. "The tree won."
"You don't say," Winters smirked. "This is Hall, from Able Company. Hall, this is Corporal Guarnere, one of our medics."
Hall gave her a small smile, and she realised where she recognised him from. She hadn't really spoken to him before, but he was on the basketball team with some of the others. From what they said of him, he was fairly quiet but pleasant enough. She returned the smile.
"So, do either of you two have any idea where we are?" she asked.
"Some," Winters answered vaguely. "But we need to try and locate some landmarks to get our bearings. Keep your eyes peeled for any buildings, farmhouses, bridges, roads, trees." Evelyn didn't miss the way his lips twitched when he said the last word.
"I wonder if the rest are as lost as we are," Hall mused out loud.
"We're not lost, Private," Winters answered. "We're in Normandy."
Evelyn smirked to herself. It gave her a small measure of comfort that Winters was able to joke at a time like this. He had the sort of dry humour that she really appreciated, and she didn't feel half as afraid now she wasn't alone. She and Hall passed each other an amused glance before following Winters' lead.
The sound of gunfire was all around them, but after a short time it seemed to be behind them. It was easy to differentiate between what was German gunfire and what was theirs. German guns made a brrrrrrrrrrrrp sound while American ones made more of a bap-bap-bap.
They had been walking for about half an hour when they heard a quiet clicking noise. It was Lipton with two guys who looked to be from another regiment. She had definitely never seen either of them before.
"Sir," he smiled warmly. "Ev. It's good to see you both."
"You too, Lip."
"Any weapon?" Winters asked him
"No Sir, I hit the prop blast. No more leg bag. All I got is this knife and some TNT," he shook his head. "But these 82nd boys got their M-1."
"Man, 82nd? Where the hell are we?" Hall exclaimed, and Evelyn shrugged trying to ignore the stares from the other two guys. Have they never seen a girl before? Either that or I've grown an extra head, maybe? When they realised she was onto them, they looked away hurriedly.
"Sir, I saw a sign back that way," Lipton pointed behind them. "It said Sainte Mere-Eglise."
Winters nodded and suddenly, without warning, started to unzip his trousers. The 82nd boys frowned at each other and Evelyn looked anywhere but there, wondering what on earth Winters was doing. She was more than a little relieved when it turned out the only thing he was getting out was a compass, that for some bizarre reason he had hidden there.
"Flashlight? Raincoat?" he asked.
Lipton handed him his flashlight and borrowed a raincoat from one of the 82nd boys.
"We're about seven kilometres from our objective, and only four hours from when we need to have it secured," Winters announced when he had finished studying his map under the cover of the raincoat, which completely blacked out the light from the torch so that they wouldn't be spotted. "So, we got a lot of walking ahead of us. You men will stick with us until we find your unit."
"Hey Sarge, where are we going?" one of the soldiers asked.
"Causeway number two," Lipton replied as they moved out. "Germans flooded the fields inlay. We don't clear those routes, our boys ain't going nowhere."
"The six of us ain't gonna secure a road!" the other soldier exclaimed quietly to his friend. But loud enough that Evelyn who was in front of them with Hall could hear what they were saying. "That looey don't even have a weapon. And to top it off we've got a fucking broad with us."
Hall turned around and glared at them and Evelyn gave him a grateful smile. If she was being honest though, she didn't give two hoots about the opinions of some idiots from another regiment. She didn't need to prove herself to them in any shape or form. After all, she had completed the exact same training as them to get here.
... ... ...
After an hour of walking, they had yet to come across any Germans. They had heard them a few times, but thankfully their paths hadn't crossed. They were headed up towards a railroad when they heard voices that sounded familiar.
"I don't remember hearing about any railroads near our objective," that was Malarkey. Evelyn was sure of it.
"I'm telling you this is the spur line that runs parallel to the river," and she would have bet money on that being Joe Toye. His raspy voice was distinctive to him.
"Yeah, how would you know?" Malarkey asked.
"Because I studied the sand tables, alright?" Joe answered impatiently. Yup, definitely Toye.
"Flash!" Winters chose that moment to interject.
"Thunder!" Malarkey answered and grinned widely when he saw them all.
Turns out Malarkey and Toye had Bill and Popeye with them too. Bill didn't spot his sister at first, but when he did he engulfed her in a hug so tight that she almost couldn't breathe. The intense relief that Evelyn felt at seeing her brother alive and well brought tears to her eyes, and she didn't even care. She had never been so happy to see him in her entire life.
"You look like shit, are you alright?" he frowned in concern, noting the scratches on her face and her torn sleeve.
"You sure know how to make a girl feel good," she answered dryly. "Landed in a tree and had a little trouble getting down."
"Ev," Malarkey smiled, giving her a hug, followed by Popeye and even Joe, which was a first.
"Guarnere," Winters said.
"Sir?" both Guarnere's replied at the same time.
"Sergeant Guarnere," Winters clarified. "You and Hall up front."
"Who the hell is Hall?" Bill frowned.
... ... ...
They hadn't been walking long when Hall held up his fist, signalling for them all to stop and Winters rushed forward towards the sound of the noise below. He looked over the bridge and quickly motioned for them all to go under it and wait for his signal. Only half of them had weapons, and as the clopping of hooves and the whinnying of horses came closer, Evelyn held her breath. The Germans were laughing and joking, and she found their complacency rather bizarre. They did realise hundreds of paratroopers had just fallen from the sky and could be lurking anywhere, didn't they? Either they were really cock sure of themselves or they were really dumb. She couldn't decide which. Winters held up his hand, silently commanding them all to continue to wait until he said otherwise, but the second that the two carts full of Germans came into view, Bill stood up and started shooting, leaving the others no choice but to join in as well. He was like a man possessed as he shot round after round until the Germans were all dead. Even then he carried on shooting.
"That's enough, Guarnere," Winters growled, grabbing him by the arm. He was fuming. Everyone could see it. Everyone could hear it in his voice. "Everyone ok?"
"Yes Sir," they all muttered, gathering weapons and ammo from the dead Germans.
"Next time I say wait for my command, you wait for my command Sergeant."
Bill had his jaw clenched angrily and for a moment, Evelyn really thought he was going to argue back. She couldn't believe him. What the hell was wrong with him? Everyone knew Bill could be a loose cannon and a hot head, but to disobey a direct order from a superior officer was reckless even for him. Especially when disobeying that direct order could have gotten them all killed.
"Yes Sir," he finally replied through gritted teeth just as Joe Toye shot one of the dying horses, giving them all a fright but silencing the animal immediately.
"Here you go, Sir. Kraut weapon."
Winters took the gun from Lipton, and with one last look at Bill continued on, leading the way for everybody else to follow.
"Fine Quaker," Bill muttered.
"What's that guy's problem?" Hall asked no one in particular.
"Gonorrhoea," Malarkey replied casually, searching the dead Krauts for weapons. Evelyn couldn't even bring herself to look at the bodies, let alone touch them. She felt sick to her stomach. She had never seen a dead body before. As a medic, she knew she would have to get used it, but her first experience wasn't proving to be an easy one.
"Really?" Hall questioned.
"His name, dummy. Guarnere sounds like Gonorrhoea, get it?" Malarkey explained.
"So besides having a shitty name what's his problem? His sister's got the same shitty name and she doesn't behave like that."
"None of your fucking business, cowboy," Bill turned around angrily.
"Alright, let's move out," Lipton said.
Evelyn caught up to her brother quickly. She needed to know what was going on with him.
"What the hell was that all about?" she whispered.
"Nothin', I just ain't havin' some snotty nosed kid talking about me like that. Dunno who he thinks he is," Bill answered.
"I wasn't talking about Hall," Evelyn clarified. "I was talking about you ignoring Winters' order and being a complete and utter asshole."
"Don't you start as well," Bill sighed. "I was just doing what needed to be done."
"No, you weren't," Evelyn frowned. "You blatantly ignored a direct order and you don't even seem the least bit remorseful."
"I'm not," Bill answered without any hesitation whatsoever. "And you know what? I don't need you getting on my fucking case for it. I'm a sergeant and you're a corporal, so it ain't for you to question me."
"Are you for fucking real?" Evelyn laughed without humour. "You actually just pulled rank on me? I'm your sister."
"Yeah, I'm aware of who you are, Corporal."
Evelyn watched Bill storm off ahead with Toye, who turned around and shrugged at her.
"Just ignore him," he mouthed, and Evelyn gave him a grateful smile. If anyone could get to the bottom of what was going on with Bill, it would be Joe Toye.
... ... ...
"You see him? He just sat there." Bill was still ranting about Winters back at the railroad.
"He didn't have a weapon. What's he gonna do, shout at them?" Toye answered, and Evelyn genuinely didn't know how he had remained so patient over the last few hours of listening to Bill go on and on about the same thing.
"Shouts at me for killing Krauts," Bill muttered angrily, reminding Evelyn of the way their Grandpa used to sit in his old rocking chair and murmur things under his breath.
"He just wanted you to wait for his command," Joe said.
"Joe, the man don't even drink," Bill exclaimed.
"What's that got to do with the price of bread?" Hall asked Evelyn quietly.
"A lot if you're from South Philly," she smirked.
Lipton had them all stop as they reached a farm, which at first glance looked rather run down, but the cattle in the field gave them the clue that it may still be inhabited. There were a few dead Germans lying about so Winters had Lipton and Popeye go forward first. Once they knew it was clear, the rest of them carried on.
"Anybody need supplies or ammo, now's the time to get it," Lipton ordered. "McDowell, you ok?"
Private McDowell, one of the guys from the 82nd had stopped at a tree and was staring up. Evelyn craned her head to follow the direction of his gaze and her stomach dropped. Bile rose in her throat when she realised it was a dead paratrooper hanging from the tree, but she swallowed it quickly. Saying a small prayer for him in her head, she hurriedly moved on to where Malarkey was searching the dead Germans. She thought back to herself getting tangled in that tree when she jumped and realised how lucky she had been. She could have easily ended up in the same sorry state as that paratrooper.
"Hey Ev, check that one, would you?" Malarkey said. "I promised my kid brother I'd bring him back a Luger, so I get first dibs ok?"
Evelyn grimaced and she tentatively began to rifle through the dead German's clothes. She was actually touching a dead body. It felt... odd. She knew she had better get used to it though and quickly. She tried to shut her mind off from what she was doing and tried to tell herself that he was just asleep. Plenty of people slept with their eyes open. Her Uncle Sal did, so it wasn't completely unbelievable to her. Luger-less she stood up and shook her head at Malarkey just as a huge explosion shook the entire ground.
"It's the Navy," Lipton said.
"The landings have started." Winters announced. "Let's go."
"Let's move it out!" Lipton shouted, and Evelyn was more than happy to leave the dead Germans alone as she hurried up along with Popeye and the 82nd guys.
"Started right on time," Hall commented, glancing at his watch. He stood after checking the last German for weapons.
"Yeah, tell that to him Cowboy," Bill snapped, motioning to one of the bodies on the ground.
"My name's Hall."
"That so?"
"Let's move out," Winters said, watching Guarnere walk off. There was something not right with him. He was even more angry and hot headed than usual.
"You just gotta learn to return his fire is all," Malarkey told Hall.
"You just gotta realise it ain't all about you," Toye added.
"He just heard that his brother-"
"-Malarkey, shut yer yap," Bill turned around and gave him a warning glare. One that Malarkey chose to ignore anyway.
"His brother got it at Cassino," Malarkey lowered his voice. "Found out just before we jumped."
Catching up after the others, Winters suddenly completely understood the reckless change in Bill's behaviour. Not that it was acceptable of course, but perhaps just this once he would allow it to go unpunished. He marvelled as well at how the two siblings could react so differently to the news. Bill was wound up like a clock whereas Evelyn had remained tightly in control of her emotions as though nothing had even happened. Grief did strange things to people sometimes. As he walked along, he failed to hear Malarkey's next words.
"Hey uh Hall, whatever you do don't mention it to Ev, okay?"
"I won't," he agreed. "I wouldn't want to upset her by talking about it. Especially seeing as I don't really know her."
"No, it's not that," Malarkey said. "It's just that she doesn't know."
"What?" Hall exclaimed. "How can she not know?"
"Her brother didn't want her to find out before the drop. He thought it might distract her too much." Malarkey explained. "So uh, don't mention anything alright?"
... ... ...
Liebgott saw Evelyn from where he stood with Petty and Ranney before she saw him. His heart jumped for joy when his gaze fell on her. He had made it to the farmhouse about two hours ago, and had been hoping and praying that she would make it here alright. And she had made it here. Although whether or not she was alright was debatable judging by the look of her. There were small scratches all over her face and the sleeve of her OD's were torn. She looked like a hot mess. A beautiful hot mess though. She saw them and her face broke into a wide smile.
"Hey," she said, giving them all hugs. She saved his hug for last and he genuinely felt like he never wanted to let her go. Even in the middle of a war zone, all he could think about was how soft she was as she pressed against him. Even in the middle of a war zone, it stirred something inside of him.
"What the hell happened to you?" he asked, hoping the others wouldn't notice his elation at having Evelyn in his arms.
"Yeah, look pretty awful," Petty interjected.
Taking off her helmet so that she could re-tie her bun, she raised an eyebrow.
"Gee, thanks guys," she commented. "I tell you, you fellas all need some kind of lesson in manners."
"Ignore these two," Ranney said. "I think you're still beautiful."
"Did I ever tell you you're my favourite, Myron?" Evelyn grinned at him as Liebgott and Petty muttered something about him being a creep. "So, who else is back?"
"Not many of us. Lieutenant Compton is over there somewhere, and Plesha and Hendrix are inside that barn." Lieb answered by lighting up a cigarette. "And so far, no one from Meehan's plane has shown up at all."
"No sign of Gene or Spina yet either?"
"Nope," Lieb shook his head. "Looks like we're stuck with you for now if something happens. God help us."
"Well just for that comment, Joseph Liebgott, if something happens to you I might fail to hear the call for a medic."
"Harsh," Lieb hissed like he'd been burnt and then smirked.
Before they could say anything else, Compton called them all into the barn where Winters wanted them for a briefing.
"Those 88's we've been hearing have been spotted in a field down the road a ways," he started once they had all gathered around him. "There are two guns that we know of, firing on Utah beach. Plan on a third and fourth being here and here..." he marked them with an x on his hastily drawn diagram. "The Germans are in the trenches with access to the entire battery. With machine gun fire covering their rear. We'll establish a base of fire and move under it hard and fast with two squads of three."
"How many Krauts do you think we're facing?" Bill asked, arms folded across his chest.
"No idea," Winters answered honestly.
"No idea?" Bill pondered that out loud.
"We'll take some TNT along with us to spike the guns. Lipton, your responsibility. Liebgott, you'll take the first machine gun with Petty A-gunner. Plesha, Hendrix, you take the other. Who does that leave?" he asked, glancing around them.
"Compton, Malarkey, Toye, Guarnere, okay. Sorry, Sergeant Guarnere," he clarified. "We'll be making the main assault. Understood? Corporal Guarnere, you'll stay here."
Everyone understood their role and was ready to move out.
"Shouldn't you be outside with the other Able Company guys?" Toye said to Hall, who looked like that was the last place he wanted to go.
"See you around, Hall," her brother said. Evelyn gave him a small smile before following the rest of the guys out of the barn.
"Bill," she said as they were getting ready to go. "Be careful, alright? No more reckless ideas, yeah?"
"You got it, kiddo," he winked and walked off, leaving Evelyn wondering how many times she was going to have to watch him go off to fight with her left behind wondering if he was going to come back, or if the shout for a medic was going to be for him.
There must be some kind of makeshift aid station somewhere, so she set off in search of it. Even if none of the guys from Easy had been injured on their way here, she would hazard a guess that some from the other companies might not have been so lucky.
... ... ...
They couldn't have been gone any longer than ten minutes when the call for a medic came. Evelyn raced outside and towards the sound of the shouting without so much as a second thought. Popeye was crawling along the ground, grimacing in pain.
"Pop, are you ok?" she knelt down beside him.
"Not really," he gritted his teeth. "I fucked up my ass."
"Your ass?" she wasn't sure she had heard him correctly, but a quick glance to that area confirmed she had. "Only you hey, Pop? And just as I was about to put my feet up and make a drink," she joked, trying to cover up her nerves. What if Popeye's injury turned out to be really bad and she couldn't remember what to do? What if he died because she couldn't remember what to do. Oh, for goodness sakes, Ev. Pull your bloody self together, woman. "Come on, let's get you into that barn over there. It's not exactly the Ritz but it ain't too shabby. Can you stand up?"
"I can try," he groaned. She put her hands under one of his arms and managed to get him up onto his feet. Once inside the aid station, she found a hay bale to lay him on and ripped open the back of his trousers to get a look at the wound.
"You know, Pop, if you wanted me to touch your ass you should have just asked. There was no need to get yourself shot in it," she joked, pouring sulfa over the wound. She could only see an entry wound but no exit wound, which meant that the bullet was still lodged in there somewhere. She took out a syrette of morphine and stuck it in the butt cheek that didn't have a gaping hole in it, and Popeye relaxed immediately.
"This is gonna hurt I'm afraid," she apologised.
"It's alright Ev," Popeye moaned. "You just do what you gotta."
Thankfully, the bullet was easy to dig out, not that poor Popeye thought so by the time she had finished. He would have to go back to the hospital in England, that was certain, but for now she had managed to stop any bleeding. She just needed to clean the wound and stitch it up. She was just finishing the final few sutures when she heard a familiar voice over her shoulder.
"Not too shabby."
"Gene!" she yelped excitedly, throwing her arms around him and almost knocking him off balance.
"Nice to see you too," he smirked, hugging her back. "You doing alright there, Robert?"
For a minute, Evelyn wondered who Eugene was talking to until she realised that Robert was Popeye's real name. For some reason, Eugene never called anyone by their nickname. Always by their first or last name.
"Not too bad, Doc," Popeye groaned. "Well, as good as I can be with a hole in my ass."
"We'll have you out of here soon enough, Pop," Evelyn patted his back. He was still very uncomfortable and in a lot of pain, so she gave him a little more pain relief in the hopes it would help. "Just rest now."
As soon as there was a truck available, and it was safe to do so, they would be able to get Popeye back over to England but right now, it was just a case of keeping him comfortable. Moving away a little, she sat down on a hay bale and listened to the sounds of gunfire in the not too far distance. She hoped Bill was alright, and the others.
"Ev, you're bleeding," Eugene interrupted her thoughts. She looked down. The cut on her arm was bleeding again. She must have knocked it while tending to Popeye.
"Oh yeah," she replied absentmindedly.
"Let me clean it up for you, ok?"
"Nah Gene, don't worry it's fine," she shook her head.
"I'll be the judge of that," he raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed and held out her arm. "What did you do anyway?"
"Landed in a tree," she offered no further explanation. She hissed as Eugene poured water over it and started wiping at it. He smirked, and she stuck her tongue out childishly at the top of his head.
"I saw that," he commented, head still bent over her arm.
"Can't get anything past, Doc," Popeye chuckled, watching them.
"You're supposed to be resting," she warned him.
"I am," he smirked. "But it's my ass that's injured, not my mouth."
"Not yet it's not," she muttered with a grin. "Anyway Gene, how was your jump?"
"Not too bad actually," Eugene answered. "But when I landed, there were Germans everywhere. I hid in a small barn for a while, but then the farmer found me. Once he realised I was American, he hid me in the cellar until all the German's in the area were gone. It took quite a while though for them to leave. Once I eventually got away, I was lucky enough to find quite a few road signs, so I knew I was headed in the right direction."
"Did you find anyone else on your way?"
"Not a soul," he shook his head, wrapping a bandage around her arm once he was satisfied it was clean enough.
They heard a gentle snore and both glanced over to see Popeye fast asleep, his head resting on his arms.
"That extra bit of morphine must have done the trick," Evelyn smirked. There was nothing left for them to do than wait. Wait for a vehicle to come and take Popeye. Wait for the others to return.
While they waited, Evelyn told Doc all about Bill and the German convoy, and the way he had been about Winters. Eugene had been just as surprised by Bill's behaviour as Evelyn was.
"We've all imagined this day in our heads for two years, all imagined how we're going to react," Eugene said. "But the truth is, none of us know how we are truly going to react in any given situation until we are there for real. As wrong as Bill was, and he really was, it was obviously just his way of dealing with this unknown situation we find ourselves in."
"You know what you are, Gene? An owl."
"What?" Eugene frowned at her. He was more than a little confused by the sudden change of direction her thoughts had gone in.
"You're an owl," she repeated. "You're always so wise, and owls are wise, aren't they? Well, at least people say they are. I mean, I don't know how anyone really knows because it's not like you can talk to an owl and have them answer you back. But you know, someone must have at some point to come up with the whole wise owl conclusion. Imagine that though? You're just walking along in some woods somewhere and then, all of a sudden, there in front of you is a talking owl. I don't know about you, but I think I would be more than a little unnerved."
"Ev, are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah why?"
"Just wondering," Eugene answered, eyeing her warily. "It's just well, we were talking about Bill and now we've suddenly moved onto talking owls. You see why I might be a bit confused?"
"Well, we don't have to just limit ourselves to owls if you don't want to? There are plenty of other animals we could talk about," she smirked. "There's elephants for example. People say elephants never forget, but how do they know?"
"Evelyn."
"Yes Gene."
"I worry about you sometimes," Gene chuckled. She giggled back, and for just for one second they weren't in a barn in the middle of war torn Normandy. They were just two friends together, enjoying one another's company. But that all changed when her brother burst into the barn a few seconds later. They had completed their objective, but it had come at a price.
"We lost Hall," her brother said, pulling off his helmet. His hair was all sweaty and sticking to his forehead. "And just when I was starting to like that kid, too. He had some spunk."
Evelyn could tell that was Bill's way of trying to pretend that he wasn't upset by losing Hall. She was a little upset too. In the few hours she had spent with him, he had proved himself to be a lovely young man and it seemed like such a waste of a young life. But war didn't care about who was young or who was kind. It was a cruel mistress. And it gnawed at Evelyn that there were going to be many more to follow Hall.
... ... ...
It was late and most of the company was still unaccounted for. They had been given orders to rest and eat. They were moving out to secure the town of Culoville in the next hour. Eugene had insisted that Evelyn go and get something to eat, and as head medic she couldn't argue with him. Not that she didn't try though, but Eugene was adamant. It didn't take her long to hear the others in the back of a truck. They were making enough noise to wake the dead.
"Come on what?" that was Malarkey, and she could just tell by the tone of his voice that he had an innocent smirk plastered on his face.
"I don't wanna die in the back of this damn truck, that's what!" Liebgott growled.
"Come on, you're stepping on my legs," Toye exclaimed in annoyance.
"Jesus! Let me outta here!" Liebgott pulled open the flap and leapt out of the back of the truck, just as she was about to climb in. "Ev, you're taking your own life in your hands if you go in there, trust me. And if the smell doesn't kill you, then Malarkey's cooking probably will."
"Meh, it's a risk I'll have to take," she shrugged. "Besides if I don't rest and eat something then Eugene'll kill me anyway. This is probably the lesser of two evils."
"True," he conceded. "But don't say I didn't warn ya."
With a chuckle, she climbed on up and squished herself in between Compton and Toye. Liebgott wasn't exaggerating; the smell was dire. But she couldn't have cared less. She was tired and hungry. So hungry that her stomach thought her head had been cut off.
"Guarnere, close that flap," Lipton ordered.
"Let the Krauts cook their own goddamned food," her brother muttered, pulling the flap down. "How we doing, Malark?"
"Doing good," Malarkey replied, tasting the concoction he had created with a satisfied smile.
"Yeah?" Buck questioned. "What do you know about cooking, you're Irish?"
Evelyn snorted and then quickly hid her grin when Malarkey glared at her.
"If you have a reservation someplace else, then I'd be happy to go with you," he answered, scooping out food into their metal bowls.
"Thank you," Toye said beside her.
What the hell is he saying thank you for? Thank you, Malarkey for creating something that looks like dog shit? Thank you, Malarkey, I pray you don't poison us?
"Thanks Don," she smiled, gingerly prodding at the food. Maybe if she just didn't breathe, it might taste alright. She looked over at Bill who was practically inhaling his. In fact, so was everyone else. With a shrug she took a small taste. It tasted pretty decent actually.
"So Evelyn, have you heard about what Malark here did today?" Buck asked her. She shook her head, unable to speak as her mouth was full.
"You mean nobody's told you about how this crazy mick decided to run out into German fire 'cause he thought one of the dead Krauts had a Luger?" her brother said as Malarkey let out a rather huge gust of wind from his rear end, causing them all to groan. Bill stuck his head out of the flap. "Christ, give me some air."
"You're officially the dumbest person I've ever met," she said when Buck had regaled her with a quick version of the story. And Malarkey at least had the decency to appear contrite. "You're also one lucky son of a gun, you know that? But try something like that ever again and it won't be the Germans you have to worry about killing you. Get my meaning?"
"Ev, that would be so much scarier if you weren't the size of a fourth grader," Toye snorted and she nudged him, sending the spoonful of food that was about to reach his mouth all over him instead. When he glared at her she just gave him her most innocent looking smile.
Suddenly the flap lifted open and Lieutenant Winters peeked his head underneath it.
"Evening."
"Hello sir."
"Did something die in here?" he grimaced.
"Yeah, Malarkey's ass," Petty snorted.
"Any word on Lieutenant Meehan yet, Sir?" Buck asked, and the mood dulled somewhat.
"No, not yet."
"Don't that make you our commanding officer, Sir?" Bill clarified, and Evelyn watched him carefully for any hint of the animosity that he had shown Winters the previous night.
"Yeah, it does," Winters answered, seemingly unsure as to Bill's manner.
Toye held out a bottle of French wine that they had found and offered it to Winters.
"Joe, the Lieutenant don't drink," Bill frowned at him.
He knows that, you idiot. He's just being polite, Bill. But then Winters did something that surprised them all. And judging by the looks on his face, surprised himself. He took the bottle and had a swig, grimacing at the taste.
"It's been a day of firsts. Don't you think, Guarnere?" he handed the bottle back to Bill.
"Yes Sir," her brother smiled warmly.
"Carry on," Winters nodded to them all.
"Good night, Sir."
"Oh, and Sergeant?" Winters ducked his head under the flap once more. "I'm not a Quaker."
They didn't even wait until Winters had walked away before they all burst out into raucous laughter. Evelyn actually had tears dribbling out of her eyes because she was laughing so hard. She snorted like a pig, which sent them all into even more fits of laughter.
"He's probably a Mennonite," Bill chuckled.
"What's a Mennonite?" Toye asked, but they were all still far too amused to answer him.
The merriment was just the thing they needed to forget about the horrors that the first day of war had brought them.