Red Smoke

At 6 am they got the call through the radio that Gene and Flo were needed.

They stumbled out the CP still dreary and made their way to the trench where Winters was issuing orders down the line.

Flo slapped herself to wake herself up and gazed up and down the line. Gene put a comforting hand on her arm and said "Stop worrying about the boys, they will be fine, we'll do everything we can". Flo nodded but still looked dubious, she heard Winters say "Fix bayonets". She could see Lieb still dazed from his injury and fixing his bayonet. It was funny she was thinking of when Sobel had busted him for having a rusty bayonet that wasn't rusty and now Sobel hadn't stood the test of character to continue fighting in the army and Winters was one of the best CO's in the whole army. 'How the tables have turned' she thought.

Winters then passed them and said "Doc, Fizz I need you two to follow the charge when the red smoke goes off"

"Yes sir" they replied

There was a tense few minutes while Winters made his way back down the line to Luz and Lip. Then he threw the smoke grenade over the wall and started running, Joe went to follow him but Bill said to "Wait for the signal".

The smoke still wasn't blowing red, Flo was looking at the boys incredulously, they couldn't even see Winters anymore!

She moved closer to Lip and Bill, "Lads come on we've got to follow him"

"He said to wait for the signal Floss" Lip answered

"I don't think he intended for the smoke grenade to misfire!" She replied

"We wait for the signal" Bill whispered again

She crouch walked back to Gene, "This is ridiculous, Winters is gonna get killed"

But then the red smoke finally appeared and they all ran to catch up to Winters. Flo could hear shots in the distance and when they came through the smoke, they saw Winters shooting at what looked like a whole company of jerrys.

Flo and Gene fell to their stomachs and watched as Winters shouted "Come on, pour it on!

Shoot your targets!"

They watched as the machine guns mowed down the Germans and her boys aimed perfectly. It was going well but then another German company came over the ridge and panic settled into the pit of her stomach.

She heard Luz's voice calling down the radio "Easy Beaver to Easy Minor! Reinforce Easy at phase one yellow!" and then she heard artillery start raining down on the Germans. Dirt was covering her and her boys. But as it lessoned she went on all 4's and moved forwards asking the boys she passed on her way whether they were okay. She was still out in the open as she noticed the Germans retreating, she observed her surroundings and noticed Luz and Winters sliding into a trench. She took a chance and ran to the trench when suddenly a German airstrike started to retaliate on them. She dived onto her stomach as Winters shouted "Easy Company, take cover!".

Luz then noticed Flo out in the middle of the field with artillery dropping around her, his and Winter's faces betrayed the fear they felt. "Fizz come on, grab my hand" Winters yelled as he leaned over the bank to drag her to relative safety. She reached out and managed to touch his fingertips as he leaned further and pulled her between Luz and himself.

Flo then heard a voice yell "Boyle's hit!", she peaked over the trench and looked out into the road. Sure enough, Boyle was lying on the ground clutching his stomach, he was wriggling and shouting in pain. "Damn it" she muttered to herself. Before anyone could stop her, she hurled herself over the bank and ran to Boyle, she tried pulling back by his shoulders but she couldn't move him much. "Help me!" she called and Luz came tumbling ver the side and they quickly pulled him back to Winters. "You good here Florence?" Winters asked, she nodded her head and set to work. Boyle didn't look too bad, a little shell shocked but it was mostly shrapnel and didn't look like there were any serious wounds.

She looked up as a shell landed near them, Winters was on the other side of the road and was yelling for Luz to follow with the radio. "Georgie what are you waiting for, Go!" she shouted at him, while he gave her an agonizing look but he sprinted to Winters and she continued assessing Boyle and treating him. "Fizz, it hurts! God, it hurts so much!" he was shouting. "It's alright Boyle, I'm here we're gonna fix you up and now I'm gonna give you a shot of morphine okay," she said calmly administering it into his leg to which he immediately relaxed. She quickly wrote an M on his forehead in the blood that hadn't dried and dragged him back to the aid truck that had been hastily sent up.

"He's gonna be fine I think, one shot of morphine in the left thigh and just shrapnel wounds. Just a watch for an infection I think" she said and smiled at Neavles who was the medic at the truck.

"Thanks, Private," he said smiling back.

Flo then wandered over to where there was a group of unhappy voices sounding, as she walked over she noticed Skinny tying a bandage to Web's foot. She ran over asking "Web you okay what's happened" scanning him she just saw a foot wound, 'shouldn't take too long to heal' she thought to herself. "Skinny your doing a good job there make sure you take him to an aid station" she said and continued walking.

"You got it Fizz" Skinny replied.

As she walked further down the trench she saw Johnny and Lieb discussing what to do with some prisoners. "What's going on lads?" she asked looking a the prisoners. "They said not to shoot cause their polish, but they have SS insignias on their uniform," Johnny said lighting a cigarette. "Their fascist bastards, you think I don't know what you've been doing" Lieb exclaimed and started poking his rifle into them. Flo put a comforting hand on Lieb's shoulder "Lieb I know the SS are disgusting but we need to make sure before we go killing people willy nilly, otherwise, we're no better than them" she said confidently. Lieb looked at her, he still looked determined to kill them. Thank goodness Winters decided to come over at that moment. He observed the blood-caked hand Flo had on Liebgott and saw the anger on the man's face. He knew he couldn't trust Lieb not to kill the prisoners when out of sight. "What's going on here?" he asked, and Johnny quickly explained the situation. "Florence, you don't speak polish by any chance?" Winters asked.

Flo shrugged "I speak a little, but these men will probably have been learning it their whole lives and i wouldn't be able to spot a bad accent," she said apologetically. Winters nodded and said, "Joe take these prisoners back to Battalion CP, there they can be questioned". Lieb started roughly pulling them up and poking his rifle into them, just as they were about to move off Winters stopped him and took all the ammunition but 1 out of Lieb's gun. "You have one round.

Johnny, how many prisoners are there?"

"Got 11 right now, sir."

"Drop a prisoner, the rest will jump you. I want all prisoners alive."

"Yes, sir." Lieb replied with a snappy voice.

Flo gave him a look as he passed her, "What?" he asked in the same snappy voice. She raised her eyebrow and said "If you wanna talk you know where I am" she said, patted his shoulder and followed Winters.

Winters then walked over to where Skinny was still bandaging Web, it made Flo smile at how Skinny was determined to get it perfect like she had trained him to do.

Web was speaking to Winters "They got me. Do you believe that? Do you believe I said that?"

Winters smiled at him while Flo started laughing "Can you make it back to CP?"

"Yeah. I will see you someplace else." Web replied hobbling along.

Winters walked off and sat in a foxhole looking a dead German. She went and sat next to him, "You okay sir?" she asked, concern lacing her voice.

"22 wounded," he said. "I know" she replied quietly, "But facing a whole company of SS soldiers on your own surely deserves a medal sir and we defeated them, 2 full companies of elite German soldiers, remember that when you get promoted sir" she smiled, gave him a knowing look and patted his shoulder. "I'll bring you a coffee," she said and walked past Nix who was on his way to Winters with a flask of VAT 69 probably.

As she passed she saw the men piling the dead jerrys so they could burn them. She stood for a moment thinking about Dukeman who had given his life so they could accomplish what they accomplished today. She also heard Major Horton had died, she couldn't believe that just a year ago they had been egging George on to impesonate him to Sobel. It seemed like a different life. Then the 22 wounded including Boyle and Web, she sighed. Her boys would need her now more than ever, they had lost a lot of people, Perco and Johnny would especially need her she thought. Their best friend who had kept all of them in stitches, she felt herself choke up, but no, she would not let the tears fall.

At least not yet.