we're on each other's team [band of brothers / hbo war]

11: operation market garden, part two

Updated 05/06/2022.

* * * * *

"Cap, we got four dead and eleven injured," Lipton reported. This seemed to satisfy Winters.

"Okay, let's move them out." He and Nixon started to get up, but Lipton sprung his hand out against Winters's chest, stopping him.

"Oh, and sir? Randleman and Klein are missing."

* * * * *

They had to leave Randleman and Klein behind. Winters didn't want to do it, but there was no choice in the matter. They had to retreat.

Retreat.

The men had never retreated before. It was evident in their wide range of expressions that they weren't used to it. Usually, the men were shaken up post battle but this time, it was different.

Some looked back to the tiny town that they failed, as the jeeps were taking them away. It was clear to anyone that a battle had taken over. The thick, black smoke rising in the sky and buildings destroyed, half or whole.

But what really shook the men to the core was hearing that Bull and Madison weren't anywhere to be seen. They were worried for them.

* * * * *

Bull had watched the entire scene.

Bull was crawling in the trench. He had been separated from everyone else, or at least he thought so.

"MOVE IT! COME ON, WE'RE LEAVING!"

Bull's ears perked up to the screams of Madison Klein. As quick and subtle as he could, he raised his head just high enough to see what was happening. Men from Easy were all running to leave this hell of a town, and Madison was right behind them. She seemed to be trailing off. She had jumped behind one of the walls and was pulling somebody up.

"Cobb, get up! We're getting out of here, let's go!"

In astonishment, Bull watched as the small woman pulled up Roy Cobb and helped him over the edge and pushed him forward, causing him to run. Bull couldn't help but be shocked by these actions. Two people who were not getting along...

Before he could finish his thought, there was a sudden BOOM! and there was fire and shrapnel erupted. Bull watched in horror as Madison got hit by the shrapnel, and fell to the ground. She had hit the ground so hard that Bull was able to hear her head hit the pavement from where he was positioned. It did not look nor sound good. Bull could only stare at his friend's unconscious body for a few moments before he was able to spring into action.

In a quick manner, Bull checked his surroundings before jumping up from his hiding spot, running to his knocked out medic, picking her up and running back to the trenches. When he got to the slope, he had slipped and both he and Klein went down. Bull had almost crushed Madison but luckily, he was able to prop his arms up on either side of her, so he was just hovering over her. That was good.

Now that Bull had gotten step one done, he now needed to check to make sure Madison was still alive and look over any possible injuries she would have.

First: heartbeat. Bull ghosted his hands over any and all pulse points. He couldn't feel it in her wrists but was able to find one on her neck. Bull gave a sigh of relief. If she had died, he wasn't sure how he, or anyone else, could handle it.

Second: injuries. The big man from Arkansas didn't know too much about medical help, but he knew how to spy for wounds. He found evidence that her head took a great load of impact. There was a dent near the temple of her head and there was a visible bump, along with bruising. There was a cut that intercepted one of her eyebrows, and Bull figured that there was going to be a scar there. He looked over the rest of her body and found that blood was starting to stain her uniform in her right shoulder, her side, and there was some bleeding in her thighs. He wasn't sure what to do about that until they were someplace safe, which led to the next step: getting them both out.