Strawberry Red

Chapter 23 Buck

Buck left the barrack and went out into the cold like he had been doing for the past week. Early in the mornings he waited by the fence for Bucky to arrive. He waited the whole day until the sun went down and it was time to sleep. Every waking he spent worrying about Bucky. He had seen his plane catching fire and chutes falling.

The whole week he had been praying that Bucky had made it out of the plane in time and that he was on his way to the Stalag. Buck needed his best friend, his best man with him right now. The past days had been hard without Ruby. He felt incredibly guilty for leaving her. He had promised her he'd come back and now it could take years until they saw each other again, if they got to see each other again. Buck didn't know what to expect of his future. The Germans could kill them at any time, or they'd eventually die because of diseases, infections or the cold. Buck set his mind onto surviving and making it back home to his wife.

The sirens began to blare, and soldiers came into sight. It was a rather large group which was surrounded by German officers. Buck's companions in Stalag III were shouting and screaming at the new arrivals who were trying to process what was going on.

"Bucky! Over here, Bucky! Over here," shouted Crank and waved his hand.

"Crank?" asked Bucky screaming through the masses.

"You made it," cheered Crank. Other members of the 100th started to cheer too.

"Hey, any of you know if Buck made it," was the first thing Bucky asked. The new arrivals were still walking through the fenced gateway.

"What?" questioned Crank confused. With all the cheering going on, almost nothing could be heard.

"I said if Buck-"

"John Egan, your two o'clock." Buck squeezed past his friends to stand right in front of the fence. He smirked at his best man. "What took you so long?"

Major Egan smiled back at his best friend and walked further into the camp. The shouting and cheering finally quietened down when all new arrivals got acquainted with their living situation. Buck had saved the bunk bead beneath his for his best man. Deep down he knew that sooner or later Bucky would arrive. And he was grateful for his arrival because he didn't know if he could stand being in Stalag III for months, hell even years alone.