Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ４８ － Ｉｎｋ】

Chapter 48 - Ink

Her ankle had twinged on landing. But she wasn't focused on that. She was focused on how exhilarating parachuting was. Yes she was now in occupied Holland. Yes they could've been shot out the sky. But they weren't.

Everyone was scrambling to detach from their chutes, and then they were running across the fields, towards Eindhoven. It felt so odd to be in the field with them now, i.e. in active combat zones, especially since the last time she fought beside them everyone hated her. Now only most of them didn't hate her.

But here she was, crammed into a ditch with them whilst they waited.

"I do believe these belong to you."

Muck presented her with her wings, before pinning them on her himself.

"You diamond, thank you."

She kissed his cheek. Weirdly she was fairly comfortable with that now. She knew it just meant a thanks to the guys. Nothing more.

Hoobler came careering past with booze, claiming he found them just laying out by a farmhouse. He certainly seemed happy.

"Hey, Watkins? If we can, I'll see if I can't organise a little celebration tonight or soon, afterall, you're one of us now."

Margaret beamed at Muck just as planes zoomed overhead. Almost everyone's eyes turned skywards, all wondering if the planes had been successful, if they would be.

A little while after the sky had gone quiet, a message came down the line. It was time, they were moving again, through the field behind them. Margaret felt too exposed, it was a wide open field, and then another field before Eindhoven, anyone could be hiding behind the curtains, just behind the windows. They were sitting, or rather walking, ducks.

Movement.

It was in a window and it caught her eye immediately, she brought her rifle up.

A woman stood, opening the window.

In her hand, cloth.

Orange.

Margaret breathed a sigh of relief. It was ok.

And then she could hear the singing in the streets. The anxiety didn't go away though. It didn't leave. Left its vile talons clawed in her chest. Breath didn't come easy.

She didn't remember the walking into Eindhoven, because suddenly she was in the streets surrounded by people. Hands still clutched her rifle too tight, someone told her to put it down but she couldn't hear who. She couldn't believe that this was real. Nazis had to be in the windows, in the houses. Snipers, machine gunners, grenades. And then when she heard a gunshot, she flinched so much that people noticed. But no one else seemed to hear the shots. She could hear them. People were dying somewhere. But she couldn't see where. She couldn't tell where they were coming from.

A woman she didn't know gently unwrapped her hands from the rifle and held them as she was dragged away into the celebration. Women kept trying to press kisses all over her face, it was all so wrong. Something was so wrong and she felt like she was going to throw up. When...Had she been in a situation like this before?

All thoughts of the matter left her head for a while, as she saw Tab with a lady on his lap, so she whistled at him. His wolfish grin made her laugh.

Maybe it was ok, and this was just all good fun.

She was just imagining the gunfire. She had to be. Why else would no one else be hearing it? It was probably just her trying to find a reason to not trust her eyes.