Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ８ － Ｔａｎｋｓ】

Chapter 8 - Tanks

The sun rose, and the Germans hadn't attacked. Yet.

But they had no idea what they would be facing. They had nothing. Could be a weaker force, could be more paratroopers. There was no Intelligence and it made Florence nervous.

"Fire and manoeuvre. That's the name of the game, fire and manoeuvre. Dog and Fox will be on our left flank, moving with us. Any questions?"

None.

Florence was getting fidgety.

Then the cry went up about mortars, and the ground was shaking and exploding all around them.

So much for attacking first.

She had no idea what was happening, what the plan was, what she was meant to be doing. It was louder than Carentan and she couldn't hear a thing. Her head was pounding and she felt very very sick. This concussion was really doing her head in.

In the end, she decided to shoot at the flashes in the hedge across from them, hoping she hit them before they hit her. That was all she could do now. Hope that her bullets would hit the targets she couldn't see.

Winters was shouting about staying low when he went passed her, something that actually pissed her off. Had the men not already thought to not get hit by bullets?! Did they need to be told everything they needed to do? Could they not think for themselves?

Then she saw them.

Florence didn't know if she'd heard them too, as she was sure that tanks were loud, but there was just so much noise she couldn't discern what was what.

The first shell hit and that was when deep seated fear reared its head. Her first thought was oh fuck, and her second oh fuck I need the toilet. Her hands were starting to shake and her chest felt like it was being crushed. Every bone wobbled and vibrated.

The next shout just made everything worse.

"Holy shit! There goes our left flank!"

What the fuck were Dog and Fox doing?!

Tanks were rolling in towards them, bullets useless against the vehicles. Easy Company was in so much trouble.

And then Lieutenant Welsh was running towards the fucking tank with someone in tow! She was surrounded by idiots. The first shot the bazooka missed, and the trees started exploding. The second took out the tank.

Krauts were coming out of the hedges, and more and more of Easy were taking hits.

Genesis took the opportunity to take some of them out now they were in the open

Over the deafening wall of noise, a steady rumble.

Men around her were rejoicing, but all she saw were more tanks.

The Germans began retreating, so she shot at them.

And then, all too quickly, the gunfire stopped.

The men about her were cheering and smoking, but all she could think to do was breathe a sigh of relief and be grateful for the oversized helmet. The newcomers couldn't see her then.

Thankfully, she only got a few odd looks, and that may have been down to her not celebrating or getting up to run over to the tanks and kiss them. If she had the energy she might've, just for the sake of blending in.

But she was tired. And dizzy. Wait. Not again. Her head felt like it was spinning and pounding to the beat of a machine gun that had since fallen silent. A wave of nausea was finally allowed to hit and Florence sank to the ground. At least that wasn't spinning. It was still and it helped a little. She closed her eyes, and leant her head against a tree. Breathing as deeply as she could without causing herself pain – as her chest and back...well everything still hurt from the day before – Florence just listened to the chatter around her as if it were birdsong.

How she longed to hear the birdsong again.

Things should have stopped hurting.

They hadn't.

Maybe Compton was right. Maybe she should've gotten herself checked out. But now she wasn't sure she could move, and was quite content to stay until after the world had stopped swinging to and fro.

Florence began to open her eyes as she felt the world slow. It was calm. Nice even. Like people hadn't been killed just across the field.

Weirdly, she felt calmer than she had in a long time...

Peace.

At peace with her situation, not necessarily herself.

She closed her eyes again and sighed.

"You just gonna sit there?"

Florence hummed contentedly, but made no attempt to see who had spoken. It did not matter really.

"You can't just sit there, we're heading back to Carentan and your face is bleeding if you didn't know."

"Fuck."

She reached up and touched her face, opening her eyes to see her fingers smeared with sticky red. Her face stung. And she cursed again, but more quietly. The last thing she needed was to go to an aid station.

"It's fine. I got 'em yesterday, I think. They'll heal."

He raised an eyebrow at her, before offering his hand to pull her up. She took it, then grabbed at the tree as she wobbled. Up too fast and the world was swingin' again.

"You good?"

She winced as she nodded.

"I will be, once everything is no longer sideways."

He laughed and Florence frowned as she began to follow him. What she had said was true, the world had decided to spend most of its time sideways in this very dizzy spell. The pair walked for a while before the man broke silence again.

"Y'know, if those've been bleeding since yesterday, or have reopened, you really need to get looked at," he shook his head at her protests before continuing. "It's almost like you don't want to go to the aid station. You afraid of needles?"

She wasn't but nodded anyway – regretting it as the world lurched a bit more – anything to get him to shut up and leave her alone.

"I'll let Doc Roe know."

Florence groaned internally, and almost prayed that he was not talking about the medic that she'd slammed a door in his face. As it turned out, it was that very medic and Florence wanted to disappear into the floor.

Roe cleaned her cuts, much to her displeasure, practically scolding her, saying she should've been checked out yesterday so she wouldn't have spent the night with glass in her face. That would explain the constant re-opening. And made sense too, since a window exploded at her yesterday. He would have a fucking field day if he knew about all the bruising, the possible cracked ribs and the concussion. She decided to not mention it. And also decided that, even though Doc Roe looked like a fucking angel, she didn't want anyone feeling up her chest in search of broken ribs.

_

I have a great love for Doc Roe, and Shane Taylor.

I wanted to include a song by Stalker Miller in the playlist for Genesis: the Beginning and the End, the band Sheane Taylor is a part of, however none of them worked. Maybe one will make it into a future story. If you haven't heard of them, check out Stalker Miller on Spotify and let me know what you think of them.