Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ４ － Ｆｌｏｒｅｎｃｅ】

Chapter 4 - Florence

After an early lunch, and yet another power nap, Genesis found herself fidgeting a little before the men of Easy Company. She was being introduced-

"Florence."

It was the first name that came to mind, and she recoiled internally as her French accent was back.

No one believed her, that much was clear. There was no last name. She had no time to conjure one. No time to flesh Florence out. But she had plenty of time to do that, as they were moving out right after she was asked if she knew how to use a rifle. One was thrust into her hands, along with bullets. There were more than a few whispers and surprised faces, but she paid them no heed.

Florence didn't know where they were going, but she did not dare to ask.

The general view seemed to be that she was not welcome, or wanted. Which was fine. Some got quite vocal about it. Also fine. Florence didn't really care, Genesis certainly didn't. And it did not matter to her that the vocal ones then started trying to get a response out of her, being deliberately antagonistic. Florence marched with the rest of them, surprising all of them that she kept up (even herself, but only a little), and she was glad she could keep pace, it would have been humiliating to be left behind/have to ask them to slow.

What was really tiring was the people. No, not tiring, draining is a better word. It might have seemed trivial, but Florence had been alone, or had minimal contact with people, for 4...8 years. Oh, wow. That's the...first time she'd ever really thought about it.

"You okay, princess? Your mask slipped there for a li'l bit."

She looked around to find a few expectant pairs of eyes looking at her, with nasty smirks on their faces. Upon doing so, she just caught who was speaking, someone she believed to be called Toye? She was sure she heard someone calling him that earlier.

"Of course. I didn't mean to startle you," she almost said, 'by being human', but refrained and went back to staring straight ahead of her. "Just realised I spent the last 8 years of my life almost entirely alone."

Stunned into silence, they left her alone for a while. Had Genesis been in the front seat, she'd have smirked.

If they hadn't been going out of their way to be dicks to her, she would've found how she'd ended up walking in the middle of the group quite sweet and thoughtful. But alas, it wasn't. In fact, Florence was sure they'd done it so they could keep a close eye on her – which would, again, be sweet if they weren't trying to be arseholes – like how Toye had been. They wanted to find something to use against her. Fair enough. A part of her was doing the same. It was part of her training. Lie, cheat, steal, kill if you have to – just get the information, and report back. Florence had to learn to become a lie, to become so wrapped up in the facade that she even fooled herself if she didn't stop to think too long or look too hard. And she was good at that.

The company moved quietly, and met no trouble. They rested in an abandoned farm when they finally came across it in the dark. It was checked thoroughly for Krauts first.

In the early hours of the morning (in two hours or so), they would move to take the large town of Carentan. They got what rest they could, and ate something. Florence did not sleep. She sat in a corner, guns easily accessible. Just because the Germans couldn't drag her out into the streets to shoot her in the face in the middle of the day for all to see did not for a second mean she was safe. She was in a barn, with 3 platoons of men she did not know, all of which (those that had had the pleasure of meeting her anyway) liked her and trusted her just about as much as she liked and trusted them.

As she looked around the barn, listening to the sounds of others sleeping and far off gunfire, she realised the barn she was in was a lot like the one at home. But home was a long way away, in fact it may not be home anymore. It might've sold, because she was nowhere to be found, and neither were her Mother or Brother.

She wondered where he was, if he'd enlisted by choice or been made to, and she prayed he wasn't face down in a ditch, blood long since run cold.

Her eyes shined in the dark, glinting just a little in what little moonbeams managed to get into the barn.

In that corner, no one could get behind her, and she could easily see all. 

When had it come to this? 

When had Men forsaken peace for war? When had she...?

The thought died in her head. She was not ready to unpack that. And besides, somebody moved. Whoever was on watch had turned to look at her, but could only see her eyes. She didn't know who it was, but she was sure they locked eyes.

He looked away first.

In the quiet, she returned to an earlier thought. It would have been mercifully stupid of the Germans to shoot her out in the street for being a "spy". If anything, she would've been dragged off to Paris, perhaps further, to be tortured for information. Her odds were definitely better with the Paratroopers, but she could still be captured, and then dragged off and tortured.

She was in deep shit.

Why did she become an intelligence officer again?