The Only One(COD WW2)

Operation Cobra

  *Before you read this chapter here are some reminders: I will shorten some unnecessary fighting scenes and add more relationship bonding scenes or the story will be too long. Hope you don't mind;)
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   As the tank started moving, I could feel my hands shaking and sweating. I shouldn't be worried right? I mean, I've already survived from D-Day and killed a bunch of men. I think I can survive through this...right?
Then suddenly I felt someone put his hand on mine, it suddenly gave me a shiver. When I looked up, he gave me a warm smile.
"Hey, you're shaking." Aiello said as he squeezed my hand. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm totally fine." I bit my lower lip and looked to the front. Why did I like this feeling? Since when did I feel the need to be protected by someone? Probably because I'm all alone and have nobody. I actually like this kind of feeling.
But just when I was about to wish his hand to stay longer on mine, he let go of it.
"Looks like you're holding up alright." Zussman suddenly spoke up and turned his head.
"Yeah, how about yourself?" I asked.
"Couldn't let you guys have all the fun."
Perez nodded and gestured at Zussman. "Eh fun's not allowed under Pierson. You know why he's always riding you?" Then Perez turned to me. "Kasserine Pass."
"Yeah, I've told Anderson about this before," Aiello gestured at me. "Lost my best friends there."
"Yeah, earned him an Article 15 and a demotion." Perez replied.
"He had to be a hard ass and his men paid the price. Mission was FUBAR, a massacre." He shook his head. "Nazi has no mercy. Hell, we only survived cause they didn't have time to seal the Western exit." He grudged. "Almost lost everything thanks to that son of a bitch. And Turner still ain't over it."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"He was the one who wrote him up, Pierson figures if he makes us model platoon, he'll get it scrubbed."
"Only we are doing the scrubbing." Aiello added.
Perez chuckled. "Heh yeah. Now you're getting it. It's why he's never gonna give up, he'd kill to have it removed."
Hearing Perez said those things about Pierson made me second thought about him. I knew Pierson was a strict, distant person but I had never thought that he was that selfish... I mean, we are doing the scrubbing only for him to wipe his slate clean? Such an asshole. I thought he had his soft side, I guess I'll never get to see it.
"Anderson, look." Aiello broke my thought by calling my name. I followed his eyes to the right. There were some abandoned tanks on fire, the sight of it looked pretty haunting, and then I saw the symbol— It were belonged to the German.
"They never stood a chance." Stiles commented.
"I'm guessing 'no' to the open casket." Aiello once again used his sarcastic tone, which somehow annoyed me a little.
"That's somebody's son." I spoke up without second thoughts. I had never thought I would say something like that.
Perez shook his head. "Nah, it's a Kraut." His words just annoyed me more, yeah they were Krauts, but they were still human after all.
Zussman turned his head. "Anderson's right. They are not all bad." Hearing Zussman's comment made me feel so much better, finally someone who's on my side.
"They did give us Kepler, Mozart..." Stiles stated.
"Alright, college." Aiello cut him off by giving him an impatient look.
"Marlene Dietrich." Zussman added as Aiello let out a light chuckle. "See that's more like it."
I sighed and shook my head. "Boys."
Aiello patted me on the shoulder and smirked. "Come on Anderson, she's still not as pretty as you."
My eyes widened as I heard those words coming from his mouth. But of course I knew he was just kidding. Still surprised tho.
"What?" I giggled and looked squarely at him.
"Real funny Aiello." Zussman turned and grinned at him.
"Shut up." Aiello gestured at Zussman and rolled his eyes.
Then all of a sudden I heard a strange sound from the sky as we all lifted our head up and searched for the specific target.
"You guys hear that?" Stiles asked.
If what I thought was right— It's airplanes, probably German's.
"It's heading this way!" Aiello shouted and gestured at the sky as the planes started hovered above us and headed our way.
Perez gestured at the planes and yelled. "Stukas! Inbound!"
We all crouched down as I heard a loud explosion coming from the front. When I opened my eyes, the tank in the front was on fire.
"Mierda!" Perez cried out. "Clear the tank!"
I tried to get my shit together and breathed in and out as I heard Zussman shouted my name. I jumped out of the tank and met with him as the plane flew past us, firing bullets at us. I kept my head down and ran behind Zussman.
"Watch out!" Zussman cried out and ran to rally with Turner and others as I followed from behind.
"Get off the road! We'll circle around! Move!" Turner yelled as Zussman and I crouched down beside him.
"We have to protect our Shermans. That's flak Fire in the distance. We're gonna capture one of their AA guns to bring down those Stukas!" Turner added as he scanned over each of us and kept running. After hearing Turner's speech, we all got to our feet and went out separate ways to the AA gun. I followed behind Zussman as I shot a guy who hid behind a carriage.
"MGs in the barn!" Pierson yelled.
"Watch out!" Zussman yelled and fell back as a grenade landed. I ran to hide behind a rock and covered my ears as the grenade exploded.
The sight of it was frightening, there were two of our men gotten blew up by the grenade. I stared at the front in a daze, I couldn't bare to see our men die like that.
"Let's move Anderson, what the fuck are you doing?" I heard a harsh voice behind me, it was Pierson. He ran past me and killed two guys in the front with his M1928. I sighed and moved with Pierson.
The rest of the battle was the same routine as usual, throwing grenades, firing, hiding. Then after a few while, we finally made our way to the AA guns.
"Get on that flak gun and take out those Stukas!" Turner yelled as I saw Zussman walking toward the AA guns but I stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"Let me." I said in a firm tone.
Zussman raised his eyebrows. "You sure?"
"It's not a game Anderson, let Zussman handle it." Pierson protested.
I ignored his comment and walked toward the AA guns and sat on it.
"Alright, 2 o'clock!" Turner yelled as I scanned over the sky through the lens. I moved the muzzle to where Turner had indicated. Within a few seconds, I started firing as the planes flew past. Breathing in and out, letting my rage out.
"Nice shot!" Zussman praised.
After a few while, I shot all the planes that flew by and took them down. I almost couldn't believe what I just did... I actually did shoot the planes and I'm not afraid of the gun at all. At least I've made some progress by now.
I jumped down the AA gun and walked to stand beside Zussman.
"You did a great job Anderson." Zussman flashed me a smile.
"Thanks, I never thought I could make it tho."
Then I saw some tanks moving forward as Turner took a step closer. "Hey Perez, you okay?"
"They got my buddy Mills in the ambush, but we hit them back hard." Perez said from the front seat of the tank. "The holdouts are dug in with Paks up ahead. Gotta clean them out."
Turner turned to face Pierson. "All right, Pierson, take a fire team through the orchard and find an over-watch position. After you soften up the Paks. I'll lead the main assault with Perez."
Pierson nodded and walked toward the fence. "Zussman, Anderson. You're with me. Come on!"
Zussman and I followed him while Stiles and Aiello with us.
Then we pushed ourselves to run faster, running through woods and woods.
"Over here! We've got a vantage point!" Pierson gestured at the front while running, I turned to where he had indicated and followed his pace.
We stopped, scanning over the place, I could see clearly from here. A lot of krauts were there opening fire.
"Get out your binoculars." Pierson barked orders. I took out my binoculars and kneeled down, raking the place. I saw Perez and others driving tanks, emerging from the left side of the woods. They soon started launching grenades once they saw the krauts. A flurry of firing weapons filled the air.
"We gotta hit those Pak operators hard." Pierson said as I moved the binoculars to the right and saw three red Pak on each sides.
"Everyone open fire!" Pierson shouted which made me jumped. I put away the binoculars and took out my rifle. But as I aimed my rifle I realized one thing— I couldn't aim straight to the krauts. Through my glance I saw Pierson taking a few steps closer and handed me a sniper rifle.
"You'll need this."
"Thanks." I reached out my hand to take the rifle and turned to aim at a red Pak which was on the left side. If I can say one thing that I good at, I would probably say sniping people. Since I'm suck at combat, at least I still have one thing I'm good at.
I took a long deep breath then pulled the trigger, the red Pak soon exploded, causing the krauts near it to stumble backward and collapsed to their knees.
"Alright, let's go!" Pierson gestured us to follow as he jumped down and firing at the krauts.
A few moments later, we finally killed all of them then we followed our tanks to take out others.
During the mission, just when I was about to pull the trigger, the kraut raised his hands, murmuring some words in his mouth.
I heard someone coming near us and ready to pull the trigger.
"Wait, don't kill him." I gestured to tell Zussman.
"You're kidding me, right?" Zussman said. "If we don't kill him, he'll kill us."
"He's surrendering." I told him.
I took a step closer to the kraut and pointed the weapon at his head.
"Anderson, what are you doing?"
I ignored Zussman as I stared squarely at the kraut. "Get down on your knees." I said firmly as the kraut started to do the exact same thing, but his body was trembling so hard, so was my hand.
I snatched the gun out of his pocket and put it in mine then looked back at Zussman. "Let's go."
We ran as I saw Pierson running ahead of us.
"Come on, rally on Turner." He yelled.
We saw a few jeeps of ours, I stopped my pace and scanned the place, Turner was right over there with his back at us.
I walked toward him and stood beside him.
"Lieutenant."
Turner glanced at me for a few seconds before looking away, we heard another Jeep approaching.
"Hold on, CO approaching!" Turner gestured me to wait and walked to stand beside Pierson.
I saw Davis on the Jeep.
He gave them a salute, in return Pierson and Turner did the same thing.
"Alright, listen up." Davis said. "Charlie Company's under assault near the church. They need ammo and fire support, send a squad immediately."
"Sir, we're already stretched pretty thin." Turner said.
"Then stretch thinner!"
Turner nodded and gave Davis a salute. "Yes sir!"
Within a few seconds, Davis took off.
"We can take the Jeeps. But we are gonna need armored support." Pierson said to Turner.
"Alright, that's the plan." Turner agreed. "Perez!" He looked up to Perez, who was sitting in the tank in front of us. "Pierson will follow you with the squad."
Perez shook his head. "Can't do it. Just got orders from Collins. We're heading west with the 11th."
Pierson looked back at us. "Those boys are running out of time."
"You're on your own. Take the Jeeps and head out. Move!" Turner said to Pierson.
We tightened our helmets and took a few steps closer to Pierson.
He took a step closer to us and looked squarely at us. "All right, snap to it. Charlie's up shit creek and we're the paddle. Let's go!" He turned and got into the Jeep as I heard someone got on the Jeep behind me.
"Anderson, come on." Zussman gestured me to get in the Jeep.
I turned and jumped in the driver seat. "What? I drive?" I frowned.
"Yeah, because I don't know how to drive to be honest." He smirked.
I cocked my head. "I don't know how to drive either!" I could feel my adrenaline started rising up.
"Then good luck."
I took a deep breath, recalling of how the hell did my dad drive his car. I think I should step on the gas right? But where the hell is it?
"Anderson!" Zussman's sudden bawl made me jump and panic.
"Alright!" I stepped on the gas hard and the Jeep started moving, but it was too fast—way too fast.
I held the wheel tighter and tighter.
"Slow the fuck down!" Zussman kept yelling as rage filled my whole body. "Just shut your mouth okay? You're not the one who's driving!" I snapped as I focused at the front.
"Which way to Marigny?" I asked.
"Follow this road, it's the next village over."
The road was very uneven, making me want to puke.
"Big turn coming! Go easy!"
I slowed down the speed and turned, heading for the smoke and bullets chaos.
After a few minutes, I saw two krauts at the front shooting at us.
"Krauts, watch out!" Zussman yelled as I picked up my speed again, heading straight to them.
"Holy shit!" Zussman flinched as I heard them groaning painfully. I think I just run them over.
We kept going as the grenades started detonating over and over.
We went through woods and woods, then we saw a couple of jeeps at the front, looked like the krauts'.
"Zussman, get on the gun! I'll drive." I yelled.
"I'm on it!" Zussman jumped to the back of the seat and started shooting at the jeeps.
I drove while giving him the hint to kill the krauts, there were so many—in the houses, on the roads... everywhere.
"Straight ahead, take him out!" I yelled.
Then finally we arrived at the destination where Charlie Company was so I stopped the Jeep.
"Charlie Company's in that house!" I said. "Continue shooting Zuss!"
"All right!"
I stepped on the gas and headed straight to clear the rest of the place. "Circling left!" I said to Zussman. Then I saw Pierson on the Jeep beside us.
"Set up a perimeter by the road!" He commanded.
After a few more minutes, everyone stopped firing.
"All clear!" Pierson said. "Rally up!"
We got off the Jeep and I was really happy to stand on the floor again, that was way too intense than I thought. Then I scanned over the place and saw Aiello walking toward me. "Hey, you alright?" I asked.
He took off his helmet and I saw some mud on his face. "I'm okay, you?"
"Same here."
I saw the squad leader sitting against the bean bag.
"We gotta stop meeting like this." He said while gasping. Then Stiles ran to grab his arm, helping him to stand up. Pierson ran to stand beside him. "Don't you be going soft on me. Murphy." Pierson said.
"Well, thanks for showing up when you did."
"Thank Captain Davis. It was his orders." Pierson replied coldly. Again he's going full Pierson mode.
"Ok. It's too late to press on. Looks like you boys got a reprieve." He turned and walked toward us.
Stiles raised his hand, as if he were a student and ask the teacher for permission.
"Excuse me, Sergeant."
Pierson stared at him with his piercing eyes. "Yeah?"
"Isn't half the kraut army on the other side of those buildings? Shouldn't we find a better place to set up a perimeter?"
Silence filled the air for a few seconds before Pierson spoke up. "Sure Private. Why don't you book us a room at the Ritz?" Pierson used his sarcastic tone and walked toward Stiles.
Then Zussman walked toward Pierson. "Sir."
Pierson turned to Zussman.
Zussman took off his helmet and cleared his throat before saying anything. "He's scared is all."
Pierson never changed his expression as he gestured at Zussman. "Why don't you worry about your own problems? Like how that side's gonna hold up tomorrow."
"I'm right as rain, Sergeant."
Pierson then turned to look at me. "Anderson, why don't you watch him. Only thing more dangerous than the enemy is pride." He rested his eyes on me for a few more seconds before looking away. "Rest up, boys." He turned and looked at others. "We take Marigny
at first light."  Then he took off.

————the following night———
We took turns to stand guard. Right now is Zussman's turn, the two of us sat next to each other in the abandoned room. I stood up and faced him. "I'm gonna talk to Pierson."
He frowned. "What? Why?"
I shrugged. "Just want to talk to him y know? Prove I can be his friend too."
Zussman bursted out laughing, I giggled. "You guys are like family to me, I don't want to shut Pierson out."
"He's already shutting people out, Anderson." He said. "Talk to him won't help."
I gave him a smirk and spun around to leave.
It was so dark that I had to take out my flashlight, as I entered a tent, I spotted a guy with his back at me, sitting on a chair drinking.
"Hi Sergeant." My sudden word seemed to startle Pierson as he shivered with fear. "Jesus."
"Sorry to scare you."
Pierson turned and looked surprised. "What the hell are you doing here?"
I took a step closer. "I just want to ask something about tomorrow."
"Then talk." He said unemotionally and his expression never changed.
"Why are you like that?" I cut straight to the point.
"Like what? I thought you want to ask about tomorrow." He sighed and drank the whiskey.
"Shutting people out, I want to be your friend Pierson." I took another step closer.
"Call me Sergeant, please."
"Do you hate me?" I asked while tucking hair behind my ear.
He looked up at me and stood up.
"I don't." He took another sip.
"Then why are you always seem so annoyed toward me?"
"Listen," He put the bottle of whiskey down and stared squarely at me. For a second his eyes seemed to soften, but when I blinked, he was back with his distant and strict expression. "You're the only girl in my squad and I tried so hard to forget about the fact that you're a girl." He paused for a few seconds. "But I can't."
My eyes widened. "What do you mean you can't?"
He sighed, I could smell alcohol from his breath. "Your dad and I had an agreement that I should—We should all protect you—"
"Protect me?" I cut him off.
"But Turner doesn't give a fuck, he thinks that you can take care of yourself and that we should let you fight." He folded his arms.
"But that's true, I can take care of myself! When will you realize that?" I raised my voice.
"You're just a girl!"
"So what? A girl can't fight? Come on! I saved Zussman and dragged him to the CCP, I killed a man with my bare hand, I used the MG and I used the AA guns! I can take care of myself!"
Pierson stared incredulously at me. "Well, you dad doesn't think so and my job is to protect you—"
"You did a pretty good job so far, thanks." I gave him a fake smile then turned and left without a word.
To be continued....
Here's another long chapter, I hope you like it! So Casey finally had some private moment with Pierson, but things didn't turn out well. Wanna find out what happens next, stay tuned for the next chapter!