The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

27: Something Beginning With F

Charlie spent the entire journey from Utah Beach to the town where Easy Company, along with the rest of Second Battalion, were set up in silence. She didn't know when she fell asleep. The first she knew of her own unconsciousness was when Boo gently nudged her awake to let her know they'd arrived.

Charlie remained silent as they set about getting settled into the field hospital the other companies' nurses had already set up. Easy Company were supposed to be launching an attack on the next town over, Carentan, the following day to get it back from the Germans. This meant the nurses were spared from having to work out of a tent like the aid station on Utah Beach and instead were set up in what used to be a restaurant.

When the jeep driver that had driven them over pulled up outside, all of the girls departed the vehicle immediately. The jeep sped off, the driver seeing to other duties, but while the other girls went in, Charlie remained outside. Staring up at the chipped paint on the faded sign, she tried to make out what the restaurant's name had used to be. The first two words she couldn't figure out, but the last one was 'rouge'. Red. She thought that was fitting, for if the field hospital ended up seeing even half as much blood as the aid station from yesterday had then it was certainly going to be red within a matter of time.

In the late morning the town was quiet. Soldiers milled about, officers and orderlies alike, but most of the enlisted were likely resting after their long journey on foot to get there. Charlie blinked up into the sunlight, tilting her head back to look into the grey of the sky. Overcast, just like yesterday. But the clouds were white today instead of charcoal.

"Charlie," Mabs called.

When she looked over she found Mabs leaning in the doorframe of the restaurant, her features drawn in concern.

"You comin'?"

Charlie nodded and followed her inside, lugging along her carpet bag with two hands in front of her.

"We saved you a spot," Mabs said, leading her over to a table in the corner. It was circular and pushed against the wall, with two chairs tucked beneath it. One of the chairs sat against the northern wall of the restaurant, the other against the eastern, and both of them were angled towards each other. "You can leave all your stuff here. There's a room in the back we're usin' to sleep. Beds for the wounded are over there." She gestured to the other side of the room.

Wordlessly, Charlie set her carpet bag down on the table and sat down in the northernmost chair. She paused for a moment, staring ahead of her out of the restaurant's front window, then pulled the bag towards her on the table and unzipped it, rifling through to extract and organise her medical equipment. It would save her time in the event someone came in wounded and she needed to see to them.

After everything had been set out on the table, Charlie settled back into the chair.

Still standing beside her, Mabs sighed. "Come on, Charlie. Let's take a walk."

She didn't have the energy to object.

As Charlie rose from her chair, Mabs called through a door to the back rooms that they would be back soon. She led Charlie outside, glancing behind her every few steps to make sure she was still following after her.

Machine gun fire carried over on the breeze, sounding from somewhere far away. Charlie focused on the sound of her footsteps and Mabs' as they walked quiet streets, not the only people around but not bothered by the soldiers who went about their business.

"Here we go," Mabs said, bringing them to a stop at the edge of the town. She'd brought them around the back of a destroyed house, its windows shattered with tattered curtains fluttering in the wind, and threw herself down in the grass at the edge of a field.