An Expensive Solitude: A Band of Brothers Fanfiction

The Artillery Attack

Clods of earth spilled over them. Shells sunk into the frozen ground before imploding and spitting shards of sod into the smoky air. They collided into the trees, ripping them in half. Some uprooted completely, thudding into the snow. Edith sensed one just miss their foxhole.

Every nerve was raw. Every ounce of sense tore into her flesh, urging her to throw Dick off of her back and run. Run until her lungs burst. Anything to get away from that helpless hole. A sitting target for Germany artillery to blast off the face of the earth.

The attack only lasted five minutes at most, but it felt like twenty.

"That was too close," Dick muttered by her ear as the shells abated.

Tight in the fetal position with her face pressed into her gloves and helmet digging into the ground, she didn't move. She couldn't bring herself to sit up.

"Edith," Dick breathed, pulling her upright.

He lifted her chin, inspecting her neck. His hands trembled down her torso in search of unseen wounds. She was healthy and whole, but unable to tell him so. As he met her wide eyes, she realized he was as scared as she felt.

A simple revelation dawned on her. Men never got used to combat. It wasn't something they adjusted to like water temperature. Edith had assumed that the men she worked with were battle hardened. Their fear made their bravery all the more astounding.

The quiet only lasted seconds before the cries of wounded men rose into the thick air. Somewhere out in the drifting smog, a soldier moaned. It snapped Edith out of her trance. Pulling herself up from the ground, she peered over the edge of the foxhole. A good fifty yards from them was a man writhing in pain. She braced her hands on the sides to lift herself onto ground level. Dick grabbed her.

"Wait- wait, that man-" she blurted as she struggled against him.

Dick wrapped an arm around her shoulders from behind and sat them both hard on the ground. A strangled cry rose for the medic and a man with a red cross on his helmet rushed past their hole.

"Wait- there are more wounded, I can hear them-"

"Edith, it's a tactic. The Germans send in the first attack and wait for us to help the wounded. Then send another to cause more casualties," Dick explained, Edith resisting him where she sat between his knees. "Stop- there isn't anything you could do."

He braced her back against his chest as the snow picked up, coming down in clumps as thick as cotton blossoms. Her breathing evened, syncing with the rise and fall of Dick's chest. She swallowed hard and shut her eyes.

"They were right on top of us, weren't they?"

Dick's grip around her middle and shoulders tightened. He rested his face into the upturned collar of her coat at the back of her neck.

"Yes," he murmured huskily.

She peered up into the trees. Like comets from the books in her father's study, the shells left a tail of light. Another barrage filled the sky.

Edith flew forward into the ground, covering her face as Dick's body dropped over her.

Dick couldn't have been more right. She had been stupid. Lying in the dirt, she knew she was nothing, but a stupid girl playing soldier. Awash with shame, she recalled the times she had scoffed at the men that she called desk jockeys. She had fancied herself capable of handling battle should she ever see it, just like her father.

Edith bit her lip till she drew blood as her confidence shattered. She couldn't have been more wrong.

They didn't sit up straight away when the shells ceased falling the second time. After five minutes, the Germans backed off. Without waiting, Dick bounded from the ground.