Love Like Ghosts - Band of Brothers

Chapter 5

NORMANDY, FRANCE
June, 1944

The persistent noise of gunfire covered the land like a weighted blanket. Jo held her helmet close to her head as she ducked behind the dirt trench - bullets whizzing all around.

"Oh fuck!" Popeye yelled, hauling his weight over the edge of the trench, landing in it with a thud. "I got hit in my ass."

"Lambert!" Winters called over the chaos of gunfire.

"Sorry sir! I screwed up!" The injured trooper wailed.

Jo jumped from her spot and rushed over to where the injured man was.

"You'll be just fine, Popeye." She assured him, assessing the wound. "You'll be okay, I just need to take the bullet out."

"Can you do that here?" Winters asked then turned back to shoot at the Germans.

"Yes, that's why you brought me along." Jo simply stated. She began to work on the bullet hole, applying pressure and using a sulpha packet after she removed the shell.

"Jesus, Jo." Popeye hissed from the pain.

"I know, I know." She said, patting his shoulder.

"We're going to have to keep moving." Compton told the two.

Jo nodded.

"You think you can make it back to camp?" She asked Popeye.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Grenade!" Winters warned.

Jo looked up to see a small object thrown into the trench. She dragged Popeye in the opposite direction, with a struggle.

"Toye, look out!"

Joe Toye flew back from the grenade blast with wide eyes.

"You are one lucky bastard, Joe." Guarnere stated as he watched Josephine check Toye over in case for any wounds.

"I'm fine?" He asked.

"Yep!" She nodded and went back to Popeye. "Try to lift yourself over the-"

"Got it." He grunted as he hoisted himself over the trench.

Suddenly, an influx of bullets rained down in their area.

"Okay, keep your head down and crawl!" She yelled throwing him his gun.

Ducking back down, the heavy gunfire halted Jo from making sure Popeye was able to move back to the aid station.

"Grenade!"

Speckles of soil fell on her as another grenade blasted a few feet beside her. Her eyes went wide but then she realized that only luck kept her alive.

"Lambert!" Compton yelled.

"I'm okay!" Jo wiped the dirt off her face. That was the second damn grenade.

"We got the first gun, let's move!" He nodded to her.

The girl inhaled deeply before following the squad of troopers - ducking to miss the gunfire. The walls of the trenches were narrow but they soon widened once she got to where Malarkey, Liebgott, and a few others were.

"Get behind me!" Liebgott told Jo, he moved her quickly against the back of a wall then went to fire his gun at the Germans.

She grimaced internally at the noise level, it was overwhelming and Jo was sure that she would have ringing in her ears the rest of the day.

"I think one of those dead Krauts has a luger!" Malarkey pointed out.

Then, Jo watched in horror as he got up and sprinted through the field to the bodies of the dead soldiers.