Women of War - A Band of Brothers Story

S.S. Samaria (Pt. I)

A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your feedback on the last chapter, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you like this one just as well. I apologise already for the rather abrupt ending, but there was no better place to separate this chapter from the next one...

The train took them to New York where the rumours were confirmed. Easy Company was going to Europe. At the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard, they boarded a troop ship, the S.S. Samaria – along with about 5000 other soldiers.

It took an entire day, but eventually, the ship was loaded and left port in the evening. The setting sun broke into rough angles and sharp lines on the skyline of the city, dipping everything into a glow of oranges and reds.

"It's beautiful", Irene spoke in a soft whisper, as if any loud noise would destroy the magic of the natural spectacle.

Ana María, who stood right at the railing, gave a low hum of agreement.

Slowly, they travelled past Liberty Island. A strange hush fell over the people on deck as the Statue of Liberty came into view, standing lone and proud in the bay, almost like a reminder of what they were setting off to fight for. Everyone knew that for many of them, this would be the last they would ever see of this country.

Nobody spoke. Thoughts travelled to family, friends and loved ones that were staying behind or to the future that was filled with danger and uncertainty.

***

While the officers had the privilege of being assigned cabins, the enlisted were all billeted in the huge belly of the ship. Rows and rows of bunks, two deep and at least five or six of them on top of each other, with only narrow passages between them.

Still, there weren't enough bunks for the thousands of soldiers, meaning almost everyone had to double up. Many decided to take turns sleeping, others preferred just sleeping on the floor or in the hallways.

Easy had automatically arranged itself so that the women's bunks were right in the middle of the company's allocated space.

"I'm not sleeping on any bunk higher than this one!", Helen declared with unrelenting finality, pointing at the bunk level with her head.

Jessica laughed and poking her head out from where she was lying on the fourth bunk from the bottom chirped down with feigned innocence: "Why not? The view is pretty neat up here."

"You know why!", the Arizonan shot back indignantly.

Elizabeth chuckled, but took pity on her friend. "C'mon", she offered, patting her cot. "You can share with me."

Helen nodded and smiled her thanks.

Catherine swiped some hair out of her face and blew out a breath. "Alright ladies, does everyone have a bunk?", she asked.

"Yeah, Mom!", half a dozen voices chorused with varying levels of amusement and annoyance in their tone.

***

Kathleen didn't bother suppressing a soft groan she stumbled against the railing, the unpredictable rocking motion of the waves still catching her off-guard. She hadn't found her sea legs yet since it was her first time on any type of ship.

Her stomach lurched upwards and some muscles in her chest seized. She retched, one hand tightly gripping the cool metal railing while the other tried to hold her hair out of her face.

A pair of hands appeared out of nowhere, rubbing her back and helping her keep her hair back as she threw up, the bile burning in her throat.