The Way Back

- 20 -

The choirs' voices echoed softly throughout the small church residing in Rachamps. Their voices filled the room and calmed the soldiers in the room. The men were exhausted, but thankful to be spending a night indoors and away from the harsh weather they persisted through the last month. 

Lia canvassed the men. There were so little compared to the day she and Piper met them. Sixty-three out of one-hundred fourty-five men were leaving Belgium. 

Piper, just like her, had chosen to stay on enemy grounds instead of being evacuated. She had ridden along for Noville and Rachamps with the medics, healing up the best she could. The young blonde soldier would not leave the war without her older companion. 

The room became hard to sit in, remembering which men they lost. She felt as though they were still sitting in the pews beside her, but as she went to turn, those men were nowhere in sight. Lia stood, climbing out of the seats and making her way for the door. 

The cold welcomed her. As long as she had been outside with snow and frosty air creeping up her uniform, something about the cold always kept her grounded. She always believed the little bit of pain from that cold bite reminded her of who she was. 

"Azrael." George Luz greeted her from behind. 

Lia let out a small laugh at the old nickname, one she hadn't heard in a very long time. 

"Hey, I mean, I think it's pretty fitting." He leaned up against one of the pillars, taking a drag from his smoke. "Think we'll be getting out of here soon?" 

The lieutenant looked back down to the ground, sliding her boot over the gravel. "I sure as hell hope so." 

Luz nodded absentmindedly. "I think the whole war is almost over. We'll be on a boat ride all the way home soon."

Lia liked his optimism after everything he'd gone through; everything the company had gone through. The word 'home' struck her. She never thought about where she would go once the war was said and done. Never thought she'd even make it through to see the end. 

Luz noticed her silence, and chose to leave the lieutenant alone. He turned to head back into the church but stopped short. "Listen, Lieutenant." He fought for the right words to say. "I want you to know that every single man in there has outrageous amounts of respect for you, for everything  you've done for us." 

Lia turned to face the soldier, and he smiled. 

"So what I'm trying to say, from all of us, is thank you." 

The lieutenant didn't know that was something she needed to hear. Something that would keep her fighting to be okay until her very last breath. She was doing it for the men around her. 

------

The CP building was set up quickly. Lia helped settle Lipton on the couch who had come down with a rough illness that was beating him up. There were two other soldiers in the room. One she recognized, but couldn't pin him for his name. The other was just a kid who looked like he was barely out of high school. 

Winters and Nixon entered the room, gaining everyones attention. "Regiment wants a patrol for prisoners. This one comes straight from Colonel Sink, so it's not my idea."

Lia wanted to protest the idea. The men needed a long awaited break form gunfire and battles. There was no way of knowing if a patrol would go smoothly, especially when acquiring prisoners. She glanced around the room, stopping to look at the young kid. He stood straight up, hands at his side. 

She wanted to laugh at the freshness of this soldier, but knew he was only doing what he was taught. Lia could tell he had never seen a lick of combat his entire life.