A Soldier of No Importance [ Band of Brothers ] 1

SIXTY TWO

October 4, 1944

Nijmegen, Gelderland, the Netherlands

Busting out of the field hospital with Eugene Roe maybe hadn't been her smartest move, but after two weeks of off and on panic attacks, her body had somehow managed to convince her brain that if she stayed in the hospital any longer, she'd never, ever get out. So though Gene had protested at her going with him, she hadn't listened.

That wasn't to say her arm didn't hurt. Too much movement too quickly still made her cringe back in pain. But Gene had looked at it and agreed it wasn't infected. The stitches looked good, the drainage almost nonexistent. Alice knew that would be as close to approval of leaving as she would get from the medic. The muscles would take months, but the skin looked good, so with that in mind she got into the jeep heading for Nijmegen.

When the jeep pulled up to the base set up in Nijmegen, the daylight had faded to night. Alice couldn't stop herself from smiling though. Finally, finally after days and days of cloud cover, she could see the stars. She could see the Moon. While Gene moved off, she stood looking at the sky.

"Boy oh boy, is that who I think it is?"

Alice looked to the right. Her smile widened when she saw Floyd Talbert walking over with an arm full of what looked to be a crate of K Rations. At his side, a beautiful Shepherd dog had what could only be described as a smile on its face.

"Holy shit it is." Talbert laughed and walked over to her. He dropped the crate to the side. "Welcome back, Lieutenant," he said, falling back on his go to tease.

Alice laughed at him and pulled him into a hug. When she pulled away, her attention fell on the dog at his side. "Hey there, baby. How are you?" Alice held out her fist for the dog to smell. It did so without fuss. Confident it wouldn't bite, Alice ran a hand through its fur. "Aren't you a cutie."

"Thanks," Talbert said.

With another laugh, she stood back up. "You don't look too bad yourself, Tab. Could use a shower though."

Something between a laugh and a scoff escaped him. He shook his head. "Come on, girl. The others might kill me if you spend all your time with me."

"You flatter yourself."

He just shrugged. "Come on. You seen the officers yet?"

"No. I just got here. Gene wandered off somewhere before you showed up."

"Well, Dick- Lieutenant Winters- has the company housed in and around a barn outside of town," he said. Talbert picked his crate of rations back up. Setting off in the direction he'd pointed to, he just grinned. "He's probably there with Welsh, at least."

Alice walked alongside him. "What's the puppy's name?"

"He's not a puppy. He's a dog." Talbert just smirked when Alice sent him a dissatisfied frown. "I don't have a name for him yet. Any ideas?"

"Not off the top of my head."

He shrugged. "I'm sure I'll think of something."

They continued walking through the dark, around the edge of town. Nijmegen wasn't particularly huge, but it wasn't small either. Alice remembered reading that Nijmegen was the oldest city in the Netherlands. Hopefully the war would be kind to it. After crossing to the far side of the Waal River, they saw their base camp.

A large, dark wooden barn stood not far from the city walls. Large trees grew up around it. Their leaves fluttered in the gentle wind. Light flooded out below the doors at the entrance and the few windows along the sides. It looked oddly cozy. Certainly better than the field hospital. Alice shivered when she thought about it.