Charade (Band of Brothers)

" PARATROOPERS "

The persistent drone of the engines and the fuselage's violent shaking made Kate's stomach churn. Heart beating in her throat, she clasped at her pack with sweaty palms, paranoid that her chute wasn't on properly. After many seemingly endless days of training, today Easy Company would finally join the ranks of some of the first paratroopers in history. All of the training she had received would amount to this moment - if she couldn't make it out that door, it would all have been for nothing. And this time, the door was a whole lot more than a mold propped up over a sandpit. With the men, Kate had practiced jump techniques until they came as naturally as breathing, as well as ground combat tactics, basic first aid, and of course, plenty of physical training. Though she found herself particularly excelling in the classroom and theoretical lessons, she was also rapidly gaining muscle under her uniform. It wasn't the masculine lines that the rest of the company had, but she was feeling stronger day by day, and no longer lagged in the runs up Currahee.

The Dakota lurched, shaking Kate out of her thoughts as she fought the urge to retch. She must have turned green, as she felt a hand clasp her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Jim, they said something about getting airsickness pills for the real jump," Luz yelled into her ear, barely audible over the engines. 

"Just pray you're never the one standing in front of me!" Kate yelled back, forcing a smile. George held up his crossed fingers in response. She was secretly real glad that George was behind her - he had taken her under his wing since she got there. He was nice to everyone, but he could probably tell that she needed a friend more than anyone else, and had stuck up for her accordingly. Now, sitting in this tin can hundreds of feet above the ground, the knowledge that he was there was almost as good as hearing him crack some of his signature jokes to lift the company's spirits. 

"Stand up, hook up!"

Kate barely heard the instructor's call, and instead took her cue from the men in front of her carrying out the order. A deep feeling of dread was creeping up from through her body, but she forced it down by focusing on everything that had been drilled into her. Straight legs, one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, pull on the risers, roll to your side. Don't strangle yourself in the suspension lines. She was doing everything she could to avoid panicking - her fight or flight instinct was taking hold of her, and 'flight' was currently winning. Unfortunately for her, the only escape from here was down. The light by the exit switched to green, and without a moment of hesitation, Lieutenant Winters was out the door. Kate's feet moved with a life of their own as she gave everything a final tug to ensure it was secure. 

Don't hesitate, don't hesitate, don't hesitate, don't hesitate.

Sooner than she had anticipated, her toes were shuffling against the edge of the plane, and she found herself looking straight down on the fields rushing past right under her feet. Again, it felt as though someone else was making her decisions for her as Kate suddenly felt the ground drop from beneath her feet - or maybe she was the one doing the dropping. Hazarding a glance downwards, the fields of southern countryside unfolded beneath her, and to her surprise she was awestruck by the simple beauty of the different-colored squares of rice, fallow, grazing and tobacco fields littering the landscape. 

Shit! She had forgotten to count.

Onethousandtwothousandthreethousandfourthousand- 

Nothing happened. The moments that followed were some of the longest and most excruciating Kate would ever experience as she waited for her canopy to deploy. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she was violently jarred back as her chute opened, bringing her from freefall to a slow, ungraceful downwards drift. Slightly dazed from the shock, Kate grasped at the risers, scanning the ground for the drop zone. The familiar feeling of panic swept over her again as she didn't see any other paratroopers. Had she been blown off course while she was overwhelmed with her chute? Once she had calmed down a bit, Kate located the distant hum of the C-47 behind her back. Gently plucking at the risers stretched over her head, she tried to maneuver towards the sound. A wave of relief washed over her as she noticed the taupe domes of Easy's parachutes descending on the Georgia countryside. She was a little off course, and not too far from the ground, but with some quick action she could still correct her landing. A sharp tug on the risers sent her listing to the right. After she had gotten control of the steering, everything she had learnt back at camp came naturally, and even if she looked a bit messy in her execution, Kate felt her fear slipping away. Of course, the hardest was yet to come - she positioned herself over an empty portion the field strewn with parachutes and braced herself for impact. As she neared the landing, she didn't expect how fast the ground would rush at her in the final moments. She hastily angled herself back, legs straight, eyes squeezed shut. There was a scuffle as Kate barreled into the earth, flipping onto her back in the dirt. What she wasn't prepared for was the wind and momentum dragging her still flared chute (and consequently, herself) for a dozen yards across the grass. A bit disheveled, she picked herself shakily off the ground and tried to untangle herself from the parachute cords. Kate looked up as a friendly face approached her.