" The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it."
- Lion King
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Easy Company and the rest of 506th arrived at their designated positions. Hazel felt numb by the time they had reached the portion of the Ardennes forest they would be in. The darkness blanketed the entire forest, as an equally thick layer of snow covered the Earth. The trees were massive it seemed, as Hazel stopped to look up towards them. She could faintly see the stairs through the tops and the dark, black sky. She looked around where they were positioned, snow lightly falling.
Hazel began to see people digging their foxholes. She heard distant bombs going off in the background, a cold reminder that there were in a war, right on the frontlines, and there was an even higher risk of death now. Hazel stood alone in the cold, thinking about how quickly war truly changed on them and how fast they could be warm, happy, anticipating Christmas, to now, digging in in a frozen tundra where the warmest thing was the man next to you. The thing you would relish most.
Paris was far from her mind as she stared out at the pitch black forest.
" Hey, Hazel." she heard a voice say as an icy blast hit her nose. She turned, her helmet swinging on her head as she looked up. She felt a smile on her face, even if her skin felt numb to the touch.
" Hey Shifty." she said as she looked up at him.
" Foxhole partners?" he asked her, and she nodded.
" Yeah, definitely." she said and the two walked toward a spot nearby to that of other foxholes. Her and Shifty began working together in the numbing cold to dig a foxhole. But it made Hazel feel warmer, working her muscles, pitching snow out of the dark pit of dirt. Each breath let out an icy puff of air into the night and made Hazel shiver even as she sweat.
" Hey Shifty?" she asked him in the quiet of the night, the snow falling gently, covering up any general noise that was made.
" Yeah?" he asked her, slightly breathless as he hefted another shovel of dirt out.
" Why do you think we're here?" she asked, still confused on why they were sent here.
" Supposedly," Shifty started, " the Germans broke through here, in the Ardennes Forest, and the guys who were leaving dumped the problem on us. I don't know, that seems like something Dike would've said." Hazel left out a tiny huff for a laugh as she pulled more soil out, rock hard soil.
" I remember Catherine," Hazel said, " talking about the Ardennes Forest, of Belgium, back before we made the jump into Normandy."
" Yeah, yeah I remember that." Shifty said as he pulled out another shovel of snow and placed it outside of the foxhole. Hazel smiled softly. Once they finished their foxhole, she was freezing again, the sweat now frozen, her cheeks white as her nose remained red. The two finally settled down at about 2 in the morning. Hazel's teeth chattered as her and Shifty threw both their blankets overtop of themselves for more warmth. She cuddled into Shifty's side, trying to find more warmth, as Shifty did the same. It was barely a few hours out in this terrible cold, and they were already freezing.
How long would this nightmare last?
When Hazel woke up the next morning, everything above the foxhole seemed grey. Hazel looked towards Shifty and noticed his nose was bright red, as he let out quiet snores. Hazel slowly sat up as her muscles ached a bit, and moved the blankets to Shifty's body, as he moved around a bit and yawned and cuddled into them again. Hazel peaked her head out again over the edge of the foxhole, and looked around. There were people moving around quietly it seemed.
Catherine was moving around, crouching beside foxholes as she picked up her duty of splitting her time between Battalion and the company. Hazel sat in the snow with a small smile on her face, as the cold bit in at her fingertips and at her toes; Catherine was always there for the company and she balanced the stress of Battalion and her mapping assistance and her ability to stay with the company very well, Hazel thought. But she'd always been like that, ever since Athene.
Everyone loved Catherine, that's just how she was, and she always could rally a group and take a force head on, and she was reliable. A couple charges that Winters had her lead back on The Island, were successful simply because of her leadership skills.
Hazel always admired Catherine.
" Hey, kid." she heard a voice say and she turned to see it was Bill.
" Hey, Bill." she said, glancing back at Shifty before jumping up and out of the foxhole.
" How you holding up?" he asked her, already noticing her bright red nose which stuck out against the grey background. Hazel gave him a small smile.
" Okay, it's just really cold." she said quietly, and Bill nodded.
" I know," Bill said, " they're sending runners into Bastogne, that town nearby, to try and find anything really, blankets, food, meds."
" Oh." Hazel said, and looked up at him as a shiver went down her spine.
" Doc's been telling people to keep moving, get blood circulation around, stuff like that, especially you," Bill said pointing at her, " we ain't calling you Tiny for nothing, Tiny, you need to move so we don't see you frozen one morning." Hazel smiled looking up at him.
" I think I can do that for you." she said with a small laugh.
" I gotta get moving, but I'll see you around, kid." he said, before gently rubbing her shoulder and heading out again. Hazel sucked in a cold breath, the air hurting her lungs a bit, as she cuddled up the scarf around her neck a bit more to keep the sensitive skin from hurting more than it already was as it the cold blasts hit her.
Breakfast that morning was dreary.
Winters and the rest of the officers were nearby and Hazel could see Catherine talking quietly with Peacock by a tree. She looked angry about something. Haze glanced at Chuck, who had followed her gaze in the white wilderness. Chuck was on his way to breakfast when he'd seen the women heading towards it and decided to take her up on the offer of going there with her. But Winters was watching both Chuck and Hazel, so the two just nodded with a small smile before turning and walking away, eating their food.
" What is going on?" Hazel asked, as she glanced back at Catherine.
" Maybe she'll stop by in a bit, she probably will to check on everyone." Chuck said.
" You're right." Hazel said, biting her lip worriedly. This situation felt unfamiliar. Of course, back at Athene, Thermes had led plenty of missions in the snow, they'd slept in it, eaten in it, stuff like that, but they hadn't fought a war in it. They were all freezing their asses off, with barely any food or winter supplies or coats and blankets, with the enemy from what it seemed not to far away. The cold, the winter cold, in America was different from that of Belgium; Belgium was blistering cold that blasted you it seemed.
Hazel watched as Catherine then went over to Nixon, as he pulled out a map and began pointing to different locations. She nodded a few times as they spoke softly. Then Catherine was off again, doing what could only be thought of as rounds. Hazel looked over towards Gene and Lizzie who stood side by side, talking quietly, eating their K-ration as they stood there. She managed to catch the small smile that covered Gene's lips as Lizzie sat something and it settled Hazel's nerves for the moment. The medics without fail were a constant worry, she always said that though.
" I'll be back, Chuck." she said softly and began to approach the medics. Both their noses were bright red like cherries, and their eyes were already sunken in from the lack of sleep they had been provided last night, but they had each other and it seemed that's all that mattered in that moment as they stood huddled side by side.
" Hey, guys." Hazel said as she slowly approached the two. The two medics looked up as Hazel approached.
" Hazel!" Lizzie said, her eyes lightening up a bit from the evident stress and worry that was inserted deep down on the inside.
" I don't mean to interrupt but I was just going to ask if you checked on Catherine last night? She seemed sorta stressed." Hazel said. Gene and Lizzie glanced at each other and then looked back towards Hazel.
" It's Lieutenant Dike, again." Lizzie said with a sad smile, " He tried telling her off again even though she's studied the geography of the land. She's just upset that he's not trusting the intell she has." Hazel sighed softly.
" I'll probably talk to her later," Hazel said scratching her neck and sighing, " how are you two though?"
" Best as we can be," Gene said with a small smile.
" Especially in all this damn cold." Lizzie said with a tiny grin.
" Yeah, me too." Hazel said with a tiny grin. And the two medics genuinely smiled.
" Stay warm for us, and get some sleep." Hazel said softly to the two and they grinned wider, even in the chill of the night.
" Stay warm, Hazel." Gene said with a smile and Lizzie grinned at her with a nod. Hazel smiled softly and then turned and trekked back towards Chuck, her nose running as she did so, but it always did that whenever it was cold. After breakfast, Hazel moved back to her foxhole, where she knew Shifty would be sat.
" Hey, Parker!" a voice called, and Hazel stopped and turned to see Liebgott coming towards her, his nose equally as bright and equally as red.
" Joe!" Hazel said as he approached her. She hadn't seen him since the truck ride over really to their start off point for the march into the Ardennes. The second Joe had seen the tiny person walking through the snow, with the bright red nose, he knew it was Hazel. Even just one night in the blistering cold of Bastogne had given her nose the bright red tint, and redness around her blue eyes. He thought her eyes were still bright and her 2 dimples had appeared in the smile she offered him.
" Was wondering where you went, I haven't seen you since yesterday." he said, as he reached forward to tip her huge helmet up from her eyes. She smirked.
" Shifty and I were digging out along the line and then I was out like a light, then I went to breakfast to ask Lizzie and Gene how Catherine was. She looked stressed, supposedly just something with Dike." Hazel told him and Joe sighed to himself.
" Reoccurring theme here seems to be Dike." Joe muttered, clearly annoyed.
" Hey," Hazel said, rubbing his arm, " it'll be fine. We have Catherine, we have Winters and we have the NCOs, and Lip."
" Yeah, but Winters is stuck in Battalion, he can't do shit when Dike starts wandering off." Joe said.
" Wandering off?" Hazel asked him.
" Yeah, supposedly Dike woke up and was on his way to Regiment." Joe said, " You ask my he was just sent here to get experience, turns out he needed experience before he even decided to show up here." Hazel smirked slightly, as they walked through the snowed in forest.
" And don't even get me fucking started on when he didn't thing you were a sniper." Joe said as Hazel just shook her head with a tiny smile.
" Put him in his place though, when I cleaned that dummy's head straight off." Hazel said with a tiny grin. She heard Joe snort from beside her.
" That showed him." Joe said, with a snicker.
" Hazel Parker!" a voice called as Joe and Hazel froze and turned to see it was none other than Lieutenant Dike stalking towards them, wide eyes frantic with unwanted concern.
" Yes, sir?" Hazel asked, as Joe glanced at her.
" Sergeant Lipton, he told me you had to go on OP duty. Supposedly one's been dug out." he said.
" Sir, what OP, there's multiple." Hazel asked him quickly, confused.
" He said there's one around here." Dike said looking past her and Joe, " I'm not sure, he just told me to find you and that you and Powers I believe are on duty first."
" Yes, sir." Hazel said as Dike nodded and then walked right past them. Hazel and Joe watched side by side as Dike walked away, with the audacity to be whistling as he did so.
" We are in the middle of a fucking war, right?" Joe muttered. Hazel glanced at Joe.
" I don't think he cares." Hazel said. And that wasn't in any way going to be beneficial to the men and women of Easy Company.
" You sure you're staying warm?" Joe asked Hazel as they approached the foxhole where Shifty sat, cleaning his weapon.
" Yeah, of course I am." Hazel said.
" Well, you're tiny, Hazel, and tiny and cold don't exactly mesh if you think of it." Joe said as Hazel smirked. She watched Joe's eyes search hers softly. Joe wished he could do something more to make her warmer, but he could barely maintain 98.6 for himself. She looked like she was freezing.
" Right, well I'll be sure to wrap up extra tight at night." Hazel said, as she grinned at him. Joe smiled softly.
" See ya." he called as he turned and headed off into the woods again. Hazel turned to Shifty and sat down beside him in the foxhole, pulling her own weapon into her lap and sighing.
" Dike wants us on OP." Hazel told him, as she glanced his way. Shifty looked at her and sighed.
" Supposedly he wandered off again." Shifty said, shaking his head, " At least that's what Lip said." Hazel sighed.
" We haven't even been here 24 hours and all he does is wander off." Hazel said with a sigh.
" Are we surprised?" Shifty asked, eyes looking rather exhausted in the faint, dreary light.
" Not entirely. He screwed up big time back at Mourmelon, and got on Catherine's bad side quicker than he should've." Hazel said as Shifty chuckled.
" Some people never learn." Shifty said as Hazel grinned.
The two sharpshooters made way to the frozen OP, or at least the one they had thought they had to go to because Dike had never specified, and climbed in. The area was easy to slide into, and had a little window to look out of towards the German lines. Shifty and Hazel sat quietly, as they looked out on the German lines for the first time, in a long time. It was an odd feeling, they were right over there, eating, and living just as they were.
It was weird.
Lizzie walked through the white forest, her arms across her chest, cold, shuddering breaths escaping her lungs as she felt her toes growing slightly numb with each step. Her medic satchel felt frozen shut at her side, and each time she moved, she felt it become heavier. Her shoulder ached. Her face was cold to the touch, it stung each time her face, hit the fabric of her collar. She was out on her daily rounds she did, something she was loving to do more because then she could usually scrounge up some supplies from the men, something she was in need of more often now.
Gene had managed a few bandages from Skip that morning after breakfast and had given her two of them, before he was off, searching for more. It's all the medics could do, like passing the time, waiting for the fateful call for a medic. Lizzie approached a group of foxholes as her tired eyes searched for someone. Her eyes went to Babe Heffron who sat in his foxhole with Private John Julian who she had walked a majority of the way here beside.
" Hey, Babe." Lizzie called as she approached the foxhole from behind, crouching down by his side with a small smile.
" Hey, Doc, how's it going?" Babe asked her as he turned to her, offering a boyish smile her way.
" Hi Doc!" Julian called as Lizzie sent a smile his way.
" You got any morphine by chance, or bandages, or your aid kit?" she asked him, " I don't mean to interrupt you two, I just, I'm low on everything really and was hoping some of the guys had stuff from Holland."
" Yeah, yeah, I have a few bandages." Babe said as he dug into his pocket and pulled out a few tiny rolls.
" Thanks so much, Babe." Lizzie said as she took the tiny rolls and placed them in her medic satchel, before looking at Julian who had outstretched hand with a med-kit.
" All of us were given these when we arrived, but you could use it more." Julian said, and Lizzie smiled gratefully as she took the tiny kit in her hands.
" Thank you two, thank you so much." Lizzie said as she pushed that into her medic satchel and closed the latch shut.
" Are you doing ok, Doc?" Julian asked her as she whipped her running nose.
" Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine, but I should be asking you two that." Lizzie said with a forced smile.
" Oh c'mon Doc, you're still human. You ok?" Babe asked her.
" Just a sore throat." Lizzie said, " But it's fine, I promise." Babe gave her a look.
" What?"
" Has Gene checked it out, with one of those popsicle stick things?" Babe asked her.
" No, but it's fine. Cold air and a throat aren't exactly best friends." Lizzie said as Babe chuckled. Julian snickered.
" Well, I gotta get moving, stay warm boys." Lizzie said as she stood up, and scurried away. She wasn't lying about the sort throat, but she was lying about how much it did hurt. It was aching and each time she spoke it hurt, and she tried to show it didn't hurt, but she didn't want anyone to stress and worry and become worried for her when that was here job.
" Hey Joe." Lizzie said as she approached Joe Toye who sat in his foxhole.
" Lizzie, thought that was you." Joe said as he sat up, looking towards her as she smiled, crouching beside the foxhole, " What's up?"
" I'm just looking for some supplies, we're low." Lizzie said.
" Well, here, I got a few things." Joe said as he stood, and leaned against the edge of the foxhole as he pulled things out of belt and pockets.
" Morphine." Joe said, placing it down in front of her, before digging back into his pocket. Lizzie took the morphine with a smile before glancing back at Joe who was pulling out another thing from his pocket.
" Bandages," Joe said, holding it in front of her face with a smile. She grinned and took it from him.
" And this, whatever it is, figured you could use it." Joe said and brought it out.
" Gauze." Lizzie confirmed as she picked it up and twirled it in her fingers, looking at it.
" Yeah, yeah, that." Joe said, as he patted his pockets again.
" You and Gene cleaned me out." he said, " It'll be a wonder if I ever take a hit, what I'll use to patch myself up." Lizzie glanced at him.
" I'll be there." Lizzie said as Joe smiled softly at her.
" I know you will." Joe said. Lizzie grinned.
" I gotta get moving, but I'll see ya around." she said and gave a tiny mock salute to him, before jumping up and hurrying off again.
That was her constant worry.
Joe Toye was her friend, like many of the other men of the company, and it was something she beat herself up everyday for. By getting attached, you always ended up in pain afterwards because then something went wrong. Like death or injury. Gene had told her before that in training in Aldbourne, they always had preached not to get attached, because you were either watching the soldier take their last breath or watching them cry in utter pain. But she couldn't help it, she was a people-person. And she knew she would be screwed over in some way in the end.
But she would risk anything for any one of those men or women.
Lizzie continued trekking through the wilderness, her eyes peeled for others, when suddenly there was a loud whistle above her, skyrocketing through the sky, and sounded like it were just above her.
Something landed in the ground not too far from Lizzie, causing a force to push her onto her back on the ground and the air to escape her lungs. There were explosions and shards and shrapnel flying everywhere suddenly, and it left Lizzie's ears ringing. Lizzie struggled to get to her feet as she ran through the explosions searching for a foxhole to get into.
" Get in your foxholes!" she heard Lip's voice yelling, as snow and dirt exploded in front of Lizzie, causing her to stumble backwards.
What was going on?
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hello, so bastogne :( an amazing episode, with such beautiful meanings, and undertones and deep connections, but such a sad episode with the harsh reality of the war in the battle of the bulge. i hope to do it justice and i hope to really showcase the medics here as they were portrayed in the episode. i know this is hazel's story mainly, but there will be a heavy medic focus this episode just because i feel the right to do medics justice as well as gene and lizzie and the dynamic i found very important there!! thanks :)