Warriors (Band of Brothers - Joseph Liebgott)

Chapter 21: Entering Hell

A/N: This is shorter chapter, next will be longer. :)

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Easy and Fox company were having a movie night, they were watching Seven Sinners.

Mariah took a seat beside Joe; he wasn't having this however and put her on his lap. "How adorable!" Luz's voice came from behind the two. "So, when's the wedding?"

"Shut up Luz," both yelled.

A few minutes later the movie started, and of course Luz was being annoying. He was making jokes and imitating the characters in the movie.

"The costume department set me up with these great navy whites."

"Shut up," Toye whispered through gritted teeth.

Lipton joined in. "I'm trying to watch this,"

"I've seen this movie thirty times already,"

"Well, I haven't so shut up," Toye said.

"Watch the movie, it's fine." Luz said.

Mariah saw something move out of the corner of her eye; It was Malarkey, he had won a game of makeshift craps and was dolling out his winnings to Muck. This pissed off Toye and Lipton, both turned around and whispered shut up to the three men. This didn't stop the men however.

As quickly as the movie started, it ended. The lights turned on and two soldiers stood at the front of the room.

"Elements of the 1st and the 6th SS Panzer division have broken through in the Ardennes Forest. Now they've overrun the 28th Infantry and elements of the 4th. All officers report to respective HQ's, all weekend passes are cancelled."

Nobody was happy about this; everyone was groaning and yelling. "REPORT TO YOUR BARRACKS AND PLATOON LEADER!" The soldiers yelled again as they made their way out of the hall.

"Fuck," Joe said from behind her.

"My thought's exactly."

40 minutes later everyone had gotten their gear together and were heading for trucks that were going to take them to the Ardennes. As Mariah climbed into the truck Joe opened his legs and motioned for her to sit between them. He lit a cigarette above her. "Don't ash on my head," Mariah said looking up at him.

"I would never!"

"Oh yeah right, I felt you brushing something off my head the other night, I also heard you saying 'oh shit' before you brushed my head." Mariah looked up and saw Joe's hand in front of his face.

He kissed the top of her head. "Sorry about that," Mariah shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine,"

"I just wanna know where they're sending us, what the hell we're supposed to do with no ammo," Heffron said with clear agitation in his voice.

"That is the million-dollar question," Mariah said as she lit a cigarette.

Guarnere turned to the young solider sitting across from him. "Hey kid, what's your name again?"

"Stewart, uh Stewart Jr."

"You got any ammo Jr?" Babe asked.

"Uh, just what I'm carrying,"

"What about socks junior. You got any socks?" Muck asked.

"A pair," Stewart responded.

"You need four minimum; Feet, hands, neck, balls, and-"

"Extra socks warm's em' all," Everyone in the truck said, finishing his sentence.

"We all remember that one!"

"You say it almost everyday, of course we remember it." Mariah laughed.

After a few more minutes the truck turns, there are screams coming from outside. "KEEP IT MOVING! ALL THE WAY DOWN!" The truck stopped and everyone jumped out.

"Alright everyone 15 minutes; smoke em' if you got em'," Buck yelled.

"Where the hell are we?" Talbert asked.

"Pretty sure we aren't in hell, it's too damn cold." Mariah said.

Mariah grabbed a shovel and began to dig three small holes, Toye then filled the holes with gasoline, lit a pack of matches then threw them into the hole. The holes quickly filled with fire. Everyone began to gather around, warming their fingers and freezing faces.

"Hey guys, look at this!" Babe yelled to the group. Everyone turned around and saw a strange sight; a large crowd of soldiers making their way past them. That in itself wasn't odd; it was the fact they were walking AWAY from the forest.

"Hey you're going the wrong way!" Guarnere yelled out to them. "Hey, hey pal, what happened?"

"They came out of nowhere, they slaughtered us. You gotta get out of here."

"We just got here!" Babe yelled.

"Give me your ammo,"

The solider took his shoulder bag off and handed it to Babe and Guarnere, "Take it, you'll need it."

The rest of the company saw this and began asking the soldiers walking by if they had any spare ammo. Luckily, they did.

The horn and lights of a truck came through the crowd. "MAKE A HOLE! I GOT AMMO! GET IT IF YOU NEED IT!" Everyone made their way to the truck and grabbed the supplies they needed.

"I don't have a good feeling about this, Joe." Mariah said, running her hands through her hair.

"I know, I don't have a good feeling either. But hey, we'll get through this, we've got each other." He put his hand on her shoulder and flashed her a smile.

Mariah smiled back at him.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, TIME TO MOVE OUT!" A voice boomed from behind them. Mariah's eyes shot to Joe's, he put her hand on her back and gently led her forward.