Humanity of the Broken [ Band of Brothers ] 2

EIGHT

The sun hitting her face woke Alice up the next morning. It took several minutes before she willingly blinked open her eyes, and another minute before she moved any other part of her body. A fresh dusting of snow had settled everywhere, on the ground, in the foxhole, even over her fatigues. As she moved to sit up straighter, the snow fell from her olive drab.

"Hey cherie," Gene said with a nod. He cracked a small smile at her surprise. "Spina and I switched a couple hours ago."

"What's the time?" she muttered. The scratchiness in her voice surprised her. As she readjusted, Alice pulled out her canteen. The freezing cold water made her shiver.

Gene looked at his watch. "0920. You slept like the dead."

"If only," she muttered. 

Alice maneuvered herself to look out over the Ardennes. The medics' foxhole sat a little ways back from the front of the line. Peering through the trees, even in the sunlight, Alice couldn't see anyone else. She groaned and closed her eyes, sinking further into herself.

"You good, Alice?"

She sighed. "It's just been a helluva few days, Gene. As you know. I even forgot about my own damn birthday."

A pause followed. But then Gene spoke up again. "Guess we all kinda forgot, did'n we."

"It's fine. Nix remembered," she said. A tiny smile broke through her pouting. "How could I get mad at anyone forgetting when I forgot about it myself."

Gene just nodded. After watching her for a moment, he pushed himself out of the foxhole. "I have t' go check for more morphine."

"Right. Be safe," she added.

After watching him disappear through the trees, Alice sighed. The beating of her heart calmed as she focused on her breathing. Each breath hurt a bit more than the one before. The cold air had gone from a wet cold to an extremely dry cold. Somehow that was worse.

Finally, after counting back from ten, Alice pushed herself to her feet. The regret was instantaneous. A groan escaped her before she could react any other way. Pain shot through her legs. Alice stumbled a bit. Fuck foxholes.

Muttering curses under her breath, Alice stalked forward through the snow. She buried her hands beneath her arms across her chest. With each step, the snow crunched louder. 

"Hey, Lieutenant, you're gonna walk by without even sayin' good morning?" Talbert said. He winked at her when she turned to look at him. He and Shifty sat in a foxhole, the latter yawning between looking at a letter. "I don't know what your muttering in German, but my guess is it isn't pretty."

Alice sighed but flashed them both a quick smile. Squatting next to their foxhole she laughed. "Didn't realize I was muttering in German, to be honest."

"You were," Talbert said.

"I believe it. Hey Shifty, doesn't it get annoying, having to sleep with this guy?"

Shifty cracked a smile and laughed under his breath. Even as Talbert protested, Shifty just shook his head. "He ain't too bad, Lieutenant."

"Well good. You two watch yourselves, ok?" 

When they had both nodded at her, Shifty much more seriously than Floyd Talbert, Alice left them. Her feet kept going even when Alice lost track of what exactly she wanted to do on the line. She said hello to Perconte and Christenson, then ran into Mampre and McClung as they came back to their foxhole from a late breakfast. When she finally reached the Easy CP around lunch.

"There she is." Buck Compton stood with Bill Guarnere, George Luz, and Joe Toye around a coffee pot. As they all turned to look, he waved her over. "Come here."