charlotte tarvers is only 14 when the war breaks out, but 17 when she signs up. she's heard the stories from her parents, lovers who found each other by chance on the front lines in world war one in the country of france, now passing down the storie...
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" This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it remains the home of the brave."
- Elmer Davis
***
She woke up about an hour later, probably 3 in the morning, Bull fast asleep. She felt this itching that something wasn't right. She glanced at Bull, who didn't shift as she stood up, rather dizzily, and clumsily, as she leaned on the barn for support as she got to her feet. She slowly adjusted her helmet on top of the blood soaked bandage, before grabbing her satchel and crouching, making way towards the entrance of the barn. She stopped as she grabbed the handle, glancing back towards Bull who silently remained sleeping the entire time.
" I can do this." Charlotte whispered softly to herself, as she pushed open the gate to the barn and stepped outside into the very late night. She shut the door behind her person and immediately scrambled to hide behind another building. She glanced past it and saw the town of Nuenun in flames, small bits and pieces crumbled to mere ash as she watched buildings go up in strong-smelling fires. But she knew her men were out there, injured or alive or dead. But they deserved to be brought back either way, and their families deserved to be known and given the dog tags. Charlotte made work of sneaking around the buildings, staying close to the ground and walls, creeping through the darkness. She reached a dip in the land, where a mortar probably tore half the earthy land from the dirt, and quickly jumped into it. She feared the Germans were still here, and prayed to god they weren't.
" God if you get me through this night, I will do anything in your favor." she whispered, softly brushing her lips over her dog tags. She pushed away her dog tags, and continued her slow movements through the underbrush. She scampered up a small dike, before laying down at the edge and watching the sight in front of her. Some Krauts, simply sitting around a fire, a few Privates if she were to guess, smoking and being rather loud at the same time, were there. And she saw a soldier, down on the other side of the dike, lying there, and she couldn't figure if they were dead or not. She slowly muttered a curse to herself and pushed up, running across the road, and collapsing on the other side. She glanced over at the Krauts again, before tumbling down the dike towards the fallen soldier. She arrived at his side, and placed her fingers near his throat, checking for a pulse. It was low, faint, but there. She heard the Krauts laugh louder this time again, and glanced over her shoulder, too quickly, her head giving a gentle pound at the same time. She squeezed her eyes shut, before letting out a breath and looking back at the soldier. She checked for wounds, finding a bullet in his leg, thank god it missed the artery, and quickly plunged some sulfa to hopefully stop the bleeding that seemed to have gone on for quite sometime. She then glanced over her shoulder again, before using all the strength she could muster and adjusted the man over her shoulders.
He wasn't too heavy, probably a close weight to hers, but she went to stand, and almost fell over again. She gritted her teeth, hearing the loud Kraut voices laugh again. She pushed up from the ground and pushed up from the dike, low, before collapsing on the other side, with a loud huff. She grimaced at the pound in her head, but walked slowly, crouched, back towards the barn, and placed the man right up beside the barn in the darkness. She knew he couldn't stay here. She glanced at the entrance to where the company had entered the town and pushed towards there with the man on her shoulders. She passed a few more Americans, that she presumed were dead, before reaching the edge of the town and laying the American up on a building carefully. She remained crouched in front of the barely alive soldier, brushing dirt and hair from his eyes, before checking for a pulse again, sighing in relief when she found the pulse was still there. She glanced back the way she came, and hurried crouched again down the road. She passed a smaller dike, noticing another soldier. She slid inside and noticed it was Miller, the one from the pub before they jumped with Garcia and Hashey. She stepped forward, and waited for a pulse to come but nothing came. She sighed to herself pulling her hand back, and glancing around again. She reached forward and pulled the dog tag from his neck and slid it into her front breast pocket. She then pulled the boy's body over her shoulders and hurried up the dike before placing the body right next to the live one. She continued to return to the town throughout the night, finding bodies. Sometimes as she crouched in the moonlit darkness, feeling for a pulse, she wasn't sure if she could feel one or not, yet most of the time, after sitting for a long while, a pulse would appear, and she'd sigh in relief. She'd pick up the live body over her shoulders and hurry it back to the area she designated for all other live, injured soldiers. She went about then lying their bodies neatly and respectfully side by side. At the moment she had managed to save 15 people.
One was dead, but the other 14 were still alive and breathing and she hoped to keep it that way. However, as she went back into the town, she found a dead body, next to another dead body. She felt for pulses, and sighed when none came. She pulled the dog tag from the first person's neck, shoving it into her breast pocket, before she went to grab the second. She felt for another pulse, knowing it was worth another shot, and almost pulled her hand away when she suddenly felt a pulse bubble to life. She stumbled back and bit, pushing her fingers to the neck again and felt the pulse continue. She hauled the first body back, lying it down gently, before sprinting crouched through the town back to the last body which she presumed was there, and gently hauled the live one over her shoulder. She was about to stand to her feet when she heard Kraut voices. She froze in her place, hearing the voices come closer. She immediately pulled the live man from her shoulder, smeared the blood from the wound in his arm all over her face, and OD's, before lying face sideways under him, and loosely shutting her eyes, mouth slightly parted. She listened. The footsteps slowly approached where she was and she held her breath. The voices began speaking jumping into the little dike she and the live soldier were in. She felt the butt end of a gun nudge her cheek, where she grimaced in the pain she felt, and she felt one of them step on her toes, but she bit her tongue tightly. They were talking about her and the soldier on top of her. Obviously, she thought, but that couldn't keep her from having her mind freak out. Then she heard paws, dog paws to be exact, and her heart just about leapt out of her throat.
" God, please." she mumbled. She felt the dog's tongue on her face, and it's wet nose sniffing her body as she remained absolutely still the entire time. She held her breath.
" Please." she mumbled to herself, almost a nonexistent whisper. She heard a whistle and the footsteps and the dog paws disappeared and she was left in silence once again. She sucked in a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding in, before pushing up from the ground and lugging the soldier over her shoulders again, with a pained groan. Her head was swimming, and the thought of lugging this solider back across the town again pained her. She struggled to stand, tiny tears filling her eyes as she struggled to stand up. Her foot slipped and she crashed to the ground, with the soldier as well, lying there for a moment as she caught her breath. She was out here doing this because she wanted to make sure that those parents that lost their son out there would get a notice, a dog tag, something to remember them when that letter was sent home. Or if they were alive, a notice that they're son would ok, that he'd make it. So that they were remembered for what they did. Because she wouldn't want to die out here, and then be left behind because no one could get to her. So she stood, on her own two feet, and slowly started forward.
A few frustrated tears fell from her eyes, but she pushed forward, that only a mere motivation to get this live soldier to the others. Her knees were jello as she hobbled forward, shaking and about to pass out. She turned the corner and arrived at the sight of the other soldiers and fell to her knees. She slid the soldier off her, laying the live one next to the other live ones. She glanced at the sky, seeing the moon closer to the horizon, hoping the sun would rise soon and these past 24 hours would soon be over. She slowly sat down with the rest of the soldiers and began dressing their wounds. She worked into the early hours of the morning, where the bright sun slowly filtered over the land, warming the sunshine soldier's skin softly, pushing a small smile through all the horror onto her face. Her head was pounding by this point and she knew it must be a concussion. There were 17 soldiers here in front of her, 15 alive, barely at this point, and 2 dead. She had 2 dog tags as well that deserved to be sent with the letter home. She felt bile in her throat, and she stumbled over to bush and promptly threw up. She felt around for her canteen, and pulled it out, sipping immediately from it. Dots flashed in front of her eyes as she spun in circles it felt. She steadied herself and waited for the dizziness to vanish. She slowly walked back over to the soldiers, and crouched between two of them again. She focused on the one with the head wound. She used a cloth to brush some blood from his head wound, which she had removed shrapnel from earlier, and pulled out a smaller packet of sulpha. She gently brushed a little onto his forehead for extra protection and then brought out a bandage and began slowly wrapping it around his head.
" Hey." she heard a voice say and she turned to see it was the very first person she'd managed to bring here.
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