A new medic

Chapter 11

Aldbourne, England - September 18, 1943

"Perconte?" Whispered Sisk as they all crouched behind the small clump of bushes. They had been in England for several days now completing weapons training and yet more field exercises. Jess had enjoyed being back in the country she had so dearly loved to visit as a child. Its climate was preferred to the sweltering Georgian sun; however the men around her complained about the constant rain and wind. To top it all off, Sobel had now managed to worsen his rivalry with Dick by screwing up even more drills and exercises including, it seemed, this one.

"Hey, Luz? Luz can you do Major Horton?" Perconte asked the soldier next to him. Jess' brow furrowed in confusion until Luz started to speak. "Does a wild bear crap in the woods, son?" He imitated the Major perfectly causing 1st platoon to laugh including Jess. She hated being stuck with Sobel just because she needed to 'bond with all the men,' (according to Sink) but moments like this made it a lot easier to deal with. "Maybe the Major can goose this schmuck, get us moving?" Perconte prompted Luz with a raised eyebrow. Luz looked horrified. "No way, I'm not gonna." He was met with protests and quickly gave in. "Alright, just this once." Jess grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "We owe you Luz," she joked and he slyly smiled back.

"Is there a problem, Captain Sobel?" Luz shouted in his flawless impression. Sobel spun around towards the hedges wildly but 1st platoon was hidden perfectly. "What is the goddamn hold up, Mr Sobel?" Luz carried on causing Sobel to panic about the real reason for their abrupt halt. "Oh, that dog just ain't gonna hunt." The men and Jess started to laugh even harder and struggled to contain themselves when Luz hissed at them to shut up. "Now, you cut that fence and get this goddamn platoon on the move!"

"Yes, sir!" Sobel yelled back and soon they were clambering through the broken wire fence and running to their rendezvous point with 2nd platoon. "That was brilliant Luz," Jess laughed as she ran alongside him. Luz smiled appreciatively at the young medic and noticed that the sparkle was back in her eyes after the sadness of the train ride weeks ago. "Well thanks J, glad to see that at least one of the Winters' has a sense of humour," he remarked dryly which caused Jess to laugh again.

"He can be a bit uptight, huh?" Jess commented which caused Luz and Perconte to grin and remark that she had no idea. Laughing, smiling and slightly out of breath, the trio slowed as they saw that Sobel had caught up with 2nd platoon who had moved on ahead and already 'captured' their objective.

"Good work, second platoon. We took the objective," Dick congratulated his men as Sobel came charging down the wet English lane, first platoon lagging behind him. Second platoon grinned at each other and walked out into the road from the bushes they had been hiding behind to watch as Sobel arrived with a puzzled look on his face. Dick noticed the anger in his CO's eyes and wondered exactly what had happened to delay him for so long.

Jess, Luz and Perconte walked over to Guarnere and Lipton who looked at them with confused expressions. "What's made y'all so happy?" Guarnere spoke as Luz and Perconte shared a knowing grin. Jess rolled her eyes and shook the water out of her plait. "Easy Company!" Sobel suddenly shouted with barely concealed rage behind his voice. The men turned violently towards their CO and stood to attention. "Get back to HQ now!" He thundered before shooting a loathing look over to his right and storming off ahead.

Guarnere, Luz and Perconte left to follow the rest of the men. Lip and Jess however, stayed where they were and looked over with concern at Dick who was standing silently watching after Sobel's retreating back. The pair wandered slowly over until they were standing side by side with their Lieutenant. "Dick?" Lip asked hesitantly. Dick turned to face him and gave a tight lipped smile. "I'm alright Lip. Come on, we don't want to be late back," and with that Dick turned away, completely ignoring Jess and began to follow the distant shapes of Easy Company.