Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ９３ － Ｒｉｓｅｒｓ】

Sing along if you know the words

Chapter 93 - Risers

That morning, a window was being boarded up and Peggy couldn't remember having heard it shatter last night. It was weird.

The morning was alive, and very very busy.

But 300,000 German soldiers had just surrendered! Of course it was busy! Everyone was preparing to move out, Peggy had no clue where to, but progress was progress. She just hoped it would be as relaxed as Sturzelburg.

She waited by one of the trucks, planning to sit with Floyd, or George, or both of them. They were like her rainbows and she'd be damned if she didn't let them shine through her gloomy clouds.

Bouncing on the soles of her feet, she waited, anxious to move on.

A clatter drew her attention.

"It's my dog! She's taking my dog!!"

Uh oh. That was what Lewis needed. More going wrong. Though Peggy didn't know what had happened, she made a mental note to check in on him once they were out of the trucks again.

And then the call sounded and everyone was loading their stuff into the trucks.

"Jesus Sarge, what you got in here? Germans?"

Peggy couldn't help the laugh that escaped, she felt almost light. Certainly lighter than she had in months. Then she hopped up, and sat next to her favourite Floyd, opposite George, she kicked his knee to get his attention. His grin was like the sun and so, so infectious.

"Where we headed?"

"The Alps, let me see that lighter."

Luz tapped her leg and mouthed mountains, and she rolled her eyes. She knew what the Alps were, she had to know her geography, because hello spy. Then she kicked him and stuck her tongue out whilst Floyd put his arm around her.

"I'm not stupid George, I know what mountains are."

"Coulda fooled me," he shrugged and the indignant cry she let out made him laugh and then try and scramble back away from her as Peggy went for him. Only for Floyd to keep her at his side.

"He's not worth your time Gorgeous."

He gasped and clutched at his chest feigning both hurt and offence as Peggy and Floyd laughed away. George threw the glove at her and she threw it back, and suddenly everyone was in the truck.

"Wafen SS, huh? Hey, looks like you'll get your wish anyway, O'Flannery. Those guys, they're crazy."

"It's O'Keefe." The look on his face suggested this happened often, and so Peggy tried to give a reassuring smile. "Hey, Watkins, how'd you end up here anyways?"

They were waiting on everyone else to be ready to go, and suddenly it seemed all the men in that truck were pissed off.

"Don't be like that, he's got a right to know, he's a part of the company. I jumped into Holland with the guys, for Market Garden. Before that, Easy was sent to pick me up from Deep Cover in Normandy and I guess I liked how badly they treated me in Normandy so decided to stick around." Oh the protests at that! "Hey, no, don't be like that, your manners were shocking in Normandy. Now I will freely admit that I did not help but you guys were vile."

"Only 'cause you were a bitch to us!"

"What are you? 9? Anyway, shut up Frank, I'm schooling O'Keefe in the history of Easy's best kept secret – until I got piss drunk after Pegasus and the entire company found out about it being my birthday." O'Keefe smiled at her, and she guessed he was glad at least she got his name right. "Anyway, you've probably heard I was a spy for Britain, which is true. After Normandy I got orders to stay with them, then I told my whore of a mother to fuck off before she could give me new ones when...when we were in Mourmelon the first time..." Floyd gave her knee a reassuring squeeze as everyone had heard her voice catch a little. "I think the word's AWOL, but yeah I went AWOL then I guess. And here I am. The story was for a while that I was trying to get to Germany, bollocks by the way, but yeah, that's the extremely short version of my extremely sad life. Welcome to Easy Company, O'Keefe."