Humanity of the Broken [ Band of Brothers ] 2

FIVE

December 21, 1944

Nixon's expression told them everything they needed to know when he returned to the CP a few hours after lunch. He'd gone for a walk up to Easy's First Platoon. Not ten minutes later, frantic calls for a jeep to the Easy CP had jolted the Battalion radio op from his musings. Alice felt like her heart was going to explode, not knowing who had been hit or how bad.

"What happened?" Dick demanded.

Nixon shook his head. He looked furious. "Peacock's patrol ran into the German line. Private Julian got hit and they couldn't reach him. Then Smith got hit. They called a Jeep and Doc Roe sent him into Bastogne." He shook his head. After taking a drink of his flask, he gestured in the general direction he'd come from. "They all looked... like hell. Sergeant Martin took over, pulled them back. Heffron didn't take it well."

It took all her strength for Alice not to insist on going up to Easy. That made three casualties for First Platoon in one day: Skinny, Julian, Smith. Two wounded, one Killed in Action. So Alice just turned to Dick, silent. He stood thinking and then met her gaze.

"You want to go up." He didn't ask it, he knew. "I'll go, too. I'll get the full report from Martin."

"Right," Nixon said.

It didn't take long for her and Dick to both get their gear together. They traveled with sidearms and rifles, and they traveled in silence. Soon they were approaching Easy's CP, which seemed now to be full of First Platoon's men.

The first thing to stick out to Alice was how quiet they were. First Platoon usually had plenty of noisemakers, between George and Skip, Malarkey, and Alex. Even the quieter guys in First were never silent. But now, now they were silent. They'd been outside Bastogne for less than a week, and her friends had already been reduced to painful silence.

As Dick went straight over to Johnny, who stood on the outside of the circle of seated men, watching them, Alice stayed away. Her gaze darted over the men, trying to figure out where to begin picking up the pieces. And there were a lot of pieces.

Gene sat outside the group, watching them all the same way she did. Except she noticed he lingered on Babe. She followed his gaze and understood why immediately. The usually untroubled young man had his legs near his chest, his face buried in his hands over his knees. Her mind took her to the previous day, when she'd sat with him and Julian. Tears filled her eyes, but she forced them down. She couldn't grieve. Not yet, at least.

Dick moved to sit in the circle, setting up next to Bull. He didn't say anything, just sat with them. Alice figured this whole thing hurt Dick deeply, as he couldn't afford to be as close to the men he'd trained as he could've as their CO.

She found George smoking, sitting quietly against a tree with his forty pound radio next to him. Not even a hint of a smile graced his features. Skip had taken up a spot perpendicular to him on the same tree. He didn't smoke, just closed his eyes and lay his head back. Malarkey and Alex sat in the circle. Pat Christenson smoked next to Hoobler.

The decision to walk away tore her apart, but she knew they all needed time to just process the patrol before she could try to help. So Alice backed away. Instead, she decided to check on the men not involved in the patrol. She started with Third Platoon, and ignoring the ache in her stomach from missing dinner, she eventually wrapped around to Second.

Walking up to Toye as he muttered a frustrated and somewhat defeated "fuck" into the darkness of the Ardennes trees pretty much summed up how she felt. He didn't notice her at first.

"Hey, Joe," she whispered.

He swiveled around to look at her. With a sigh he shook his head. "You here to harass me, too?"