Humanity of the Broken [ Band of Brothers ] 2

FIFTEEN

January 9, 1945

Five days of Lieutenant Dike and Alice had just about  hadenough. How the enlisted put up with his issues day in and day out, she had no idea. She barely had to take orders from him and still it drove her insane. The one benefit of Dike was that E Company once more had a common enemy closer to home than the Germans.

It had taken a few days, but some sense of normalcy had returned to everyone, Second Platoon included. Alice had come to terms with the absence of Bill and Joe by reminding herself that they at least were finished; no more fighting in foxholes or clearing buildings for them. Bill could go home to Frannie, and Joe to his family. Buck would be helped as much as they could, but he too had earned his trip home. So focus turned back to the matter at hand: taking Foy.

And with their return to the forests right outside Foy, a hesitant confidence had spread through the company again. Their final target lay within arm's reach. Foy would be theirs soon. And yet, even with that thought, the mutilated forest with it's splintered trunks and half-caved in foxholes, reminded all of them what lay before their victory.

Still, the world spun on. George fell back on his humor to try to keep himself and the company in high spirits. Muck and Penkala did their best to spend time with Malarkey as they could, as all of them missed Buck, but knew it had hit their friend hardest. When she could, Alice floated between the various Staff Sergeants from Toccoa. At what point Johnny had become one of her greatest sources of strength, Alice didn't know. But he had a level head and she valued his opinions.

That afternoon, Alice found him chopping branches from downed pine trees for foxhole cover. Good cover could keep you alive, stopping shrapnel pieces, especially splinters from tree bursts. Nearby, Kenneth Webb did the same, watching Johnny out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, Johnny." She moved over to him, leaning against what was left of a tree trunk, still standing until about six feet up.

He straightened up, letting the small hatchet fall to his side. Sweat glistened against his bare skin. He sighed. "What's the news?"

"No news." She shrugged. "Thought I'd see how everyone on this side of Easy was fairing." When he just shrugged right back, Alice smiled. She looked past him. "Hey Webb, how're you?"

"Fine, Lieutenant sir, ma'am."

Alice laughed. She folded her arms across her chest. Nodding his way, she waved him off. "You can drop the extra formalities."

"Yeah, Peanut. She don't deserve them," Johnny added. He gestured to her. "Now are you gonna stand there lookin' pretty or help?"

"Is that any way to talk to a superior officer," she teased. But she unhooked a hatchet from her belt and winked. Before long she had started breaking down branches. "The nerve."

Johnny just scoffed. As they worked, Alice could feel the curiosity coming from Webb's direction. He kept glancing between her, and Johnny, and his work. Finally she laughed and turned back to him. "What do you want to know?"

He hesitated. But the private decided to take advantage of the opportunity. "Well, Lieutenant. It's just that, you don't act like the other officers." He paused as Johnny eyed him closer. "You seem to like the enlisted more. Sir. Ma'am."

Alice couldn't stop her smile. She turned from Webb to Johnny. The other man just shrugged. She turned back. "Well, multiple reasons. I started training with the Toccoa men when everybody else started. So I've been around for awhile. And though I'm a Lieutenant in rank, back then, before the war, I was treated more like an enlisted. Being a woman and all."