The Way Back

- 11 -

A/N - so this is kind of just a little idea I had to show how Lia will never leave a soldier behind! I know there were two towns that Easy had taken after Nunen. I read it somewhere but I cannot find that same website for the life of me so the name will be left out. I know nothing about these towns so I completely just made all of this up. 

For the men included in this scene, I literally just picked out some names and threw them in there so bare with me. This was just some idea that popped into my head :) 

"Creed, you will head off to the right flank." Winters spoke, designating a group of men she would be leading to take the town. She glanced out towards the small village that stood in the companies way. They would run a box maneuver and attack from three sides of the town. 

Lia lead her platoon around the village, keeping under the cover of the dense forest around them. The soldiers footfalls were kept silent as they snuck around the right flank. The field that surrounded the town was small, keeping them in close proximity to the German soldiers residing within. 

Being quiet was the key to this mission. 

And a solider behind her just broke that rule.

"I see them!" His voice carried, echoing against the trees around them. It bounced and without a doubt hit the German soldiers ears residing inside the town. Lia spun on her heel quickly, her eyes widening. She wanted to yell out to tell him to keep it down, but the soldier fired off a round into the village before she could. 

From that moment on, the mission went completely sideways. Easy company would not be able to take the town at the numbers they had, not without the element of surprise and they had just been forced to lose that. 

Quickened breaths fell from Lia's mouth. The world around her fell into a brief utter silence.

"Fall back! Fall back now!" Lia's voice ripped through the tense air. 

A chorus of gunfire sounded off, over powering Lia's voice. Bullets shredded the small inches of leaves that separated Lia's makeshift platoon from the field. 

The platoon made to move back through the forest they had come from. The German army within the town opened up their entire artillery onto their section of the forest. The heaviest part of it blocked their bath back to Easy Company. 

"Move back! Follow me!" Lia cried out over the incessant mortar fire hammering the trees around them. She began running in the opposite direction of the town; moving further into the forest. Once the group was out of range, they could maneuver back to Easy. 

The Germans didn't make that plan simple for them. 

The barrage was persistent, and heavy. So heavy that no one could hear anything around them besides the exploding trees. It seemed as though the Germans unleashed everything they had in their arsenal on this section of the forest. 

Lia's platoon was scattered quickly in between the blasts. She stopped amidst the exploding trees and flying dirt, yelling out to the soldiers to move even if she couldn't hear her own voice. As the soldiers ran past, Lia counted each one to make sure every soldier brought on the right flank was still up and running. 

As Lia turned to fall back into the group of running soldiers, the mortar shells grew impossibly heavier. They rained down on every inch of soil around them. Dirt and sticks were thrown around them, ripping into skin and clothing.

One mortar hit directly next to her, sending her flying across the forest. Pain ricocheted out of her left shoulder as she landed  Her head ached intently, causing a moment of blurred vision. Sounds of explosions rattled around her. Dirt flew up, ripping into her face.