The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

03: What A Team

Charlie and Autumn stuck together for the remainder of their time on the ship. When it docked, Charlie found herself especially grateful that she hadn't been left alone to try to find the right train to get on to take her to London. The crowd of people departing the ship contained chaos, people pushing and shoving in an attempt to find friends or head in an opposing direction. Charlie felt herself drowning in the confusion and found comfort in Autumn's hand clasped tightly in hers, guiding her through the crowd.

The heat of the crowd made the morning deceptively warm, but when Charlie and Autumn finally made it to the other side they found the air bitterly cold. Charlie hugged her arms around herself the second Autumn let go of her hand to check the directions she'd written to the train station. While Autumn was occupied Charlie took a look around her; people fled the hubbub of the dock in all directions, some attempting to hail cabs but most others beginning their journeys on foot.

The sky overhead was grey and overcast, the clouds thick, and yet scattered rays of sunshine managed to find their ways through in the limited gaps between them. Charlie lifted a hand to shield her eyes as she looked as far as she could in each direction, as though expecting to be able to see the train station from here.

"It's this way," Autumn declared suddenly, drawing Charlie out of her thoughts. She looked toward Autumn to find her gesturing over her shoulder. "Ready?"

Charlie nodded and switched her carpet bag over to her other hand before following after her.

The crowd got denser the closer they got to the station. It wasn't long before Charlie felt Autumn grasping for her hand again, though she knew it was more for her sake than for Autumn's.

"Keeping up alright?" Autumn asked. She dropped a glance to the directions clasped in the same hand as her own carpet bag before looking across her shoulder at Charlie.

Charlie nodded and smiled tightly. "How far are we, do you think?"

Autumn shrugged one shoulder. "Shouldn't be far now." She squinted at the people around them, all seeming to head in the same direction. "I think we're all heading the same way so it can't be too far away."

It was indeed only a few minutes later that they found the train station, and only a few minutes later than that that they found themselves seated on a train that would take them to London.

"After this we'll only have one train journey left," Charlie said optimistically, shifting in her seat to get more comfortable. There was something about the blacked out windows of the train that unsettled her. When she'd imagined getting the train into London she'd always imagined looking out of the window, watching as the passing countryside turned into the city. Life was a lot different on this side of the Atlantic though, she supposed. Something she would have to get used to.

"One train ride, then one walk, and then one car ride," Autumn said, a wry smile tugging at her lips. The long scar cutting across her face from her left temple to the edge of her top lip scrunched up slightly as she did, and her smile pulled up higher on that side in spite of the broken skin. Charlie wondered whether that had once been a conscious act of defiance on Autumn's part that had turned into a habit with time. She wouldn't have put it past her. "Nice of them to pick us up for some of the journey though, right?"

Charlie couldn't quite tell whether she was being sarcastic or not, so she laughed and changed the subject.

Their train car soon filled up with other nurses bound for London, none of whom (predictably) were headed to Aldbourne afterwards. Still, they were nice enough, and Charlie enjoyed the chatter of girls who seemed to be just as nervous as she was; Autumn, nerves of steel as she had, seemed like she made this trip everyday and that it was nothing at all new to her.