𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬; band of brothers ✔

PART TWENTY TWO

Word count; 2,013

Liebgott

— December 29th, 1944. Bastogne, Belgium.

"She can't be dead, Joe." I retorted, feeling the tiger key chain in my palm. "Maybe she just lost it again."

"Keep your voice down, shit head." Toye reprimanded. "I never said she was. Just that it's a possibility."

"Wouldn't they keep a tighter track on her?" Martin suggested.

Shifty answered, "You saw what happened in Holland."

"Word must've got to England by now," Luz supplied. "Y'know, by the fact she hadn't turned up? Wouldn't they send word, or something?"

"Or maybe they just don't give shit." Toye responded. "Threw her into this, not caring about the consequences."

"But you didn't see a body?"

Toye's head tilted, he looked to the man next to him, Guarnere. Bill looked over his shoulder, at Doc Roe who squatted by a tree, having a cigarette. He tutted; Spina once said not to interupt Eugene when he smoked, as his mind was always in some kind of deep shit when he did. I glanced at the key chain, trying not to fall into the same trap I did in Holland.

She can't be dead.

Johnny - more brave than any of us - cleared his throat, "Doc?"

Eugene eyed us cautiously. He stomped on his cigarette and stood up straight, sauntering over to our conversation.

"You didn't see a body, did you?"

The medic shook his head gently, chin buried in his collar.

"See, Joe?" I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. "If there ain't no body, she ain't dead."

"She could be out there." Shifty offered, eyes shining against the snow. "If there isn't a body, that means she could be out there."

"Or on her way to England." Guarnere counseled.

"Exactly. She could be there for all we know." Luz crossed his arms.

I examined the piece of metal in my hand, the conversation stunned to silence as we all considered the definition of reality. A knot began in my stomach, tightening as I contemplated what this all meant. I recollected back on the airfield in Aldbourne, when I first noticed the key chain on her holdall.

"No, she isn't dead," I said in an undertone. "They wouldn't put her here if she wasn't trained for it. She ain't dead."

"Someone care to tell me why you're all stood around, doing nothing?"

We all turned around, confronted with Lipton, arms tightly wrapped over his body.

"It's not nothin', Lippy." Bill answered. "We're questioning why the fuck no-one else gives a shit that the Lieutenant could be dead."

The First Sergeant rolled his eyes, stepping forward to become a part of the circle, "I already told you fellas, we've gotta hold the line. Winters can't do anything about it."

"That's bullshit, Lip, you know it is." Luz said calmly, softly.

"Winters can't-"

"Winters this and Winters that," I spat a lump of spit onto the ground. "Listen to me, Lip, I know you didn't know her like we did, not that we knew much, but let me tell you something," I poked my finger into the First Sergeant's chest. "If it was one of us, I know for a fact that you wouldn't sit around, guessing what could've happened. You would be out there in a heartbeat, looking for us. You wouldn't care that we may be in England. You're too smart." I looked between each of the other men. "I know for a fact that you all would too. The fact is, she ain't dead. But I'm not going to sit around, waiting for her to be. She's out there. I know it."