We Happy Few | Band of Brothers

Chapter 27: Crossroads

Walking through the threshold of the barn that Easy Company would be staying in for the night, Margot spotted Winters and Luz sitting quietly, doing their own thing, while Talbert and Dukeman were hashing out the plans for the upcoming mission across the river. 

A few others were milling about and some of the replacements were busy climbing up to the hayloft to catch some shut-eye, but all-in-all the barn was pretty low-energy. Just as Margot went to join Winters and Luz, a flash of fur darted in front of her legs. 

"What the heck?" Margot turned to see a dog jogging over to Talbert with a stick in its mouth. "Where'd you get the dog?" she inquired as she sat down beside Luz and Muck, careful not to get in the dog's way again as Talbert tossed the small branch.

"Found 'em." Talbert shrugged as a noise from the hayloft caught his attention. "New guys giving the replacements the what for, and why is," he commented. "I swear one of them's never shaved." 

Winters nodded absentmindedly as he fiddled with the radio parts in his hands. "Yeah, kids."

Just then, the dog ran back over and dropped the branch at Luz's feet. Luz, the child at heart that he was, immediately reached forward to scratch the dog behind the ear and fawn over it. "This is a hell of a dog, Tab," he complimented the friendly animal. 

"Thank you." Talbert reached down to grab the makeshift toy before throwing it across the barn once more.

"I always wanted a dog." Margot watched as the German Shepherd cross happily bounded around the legs of the other troopers. "Dad never let us. Too much work."

Winters scoffed slightly at that. He had heard the brief tales of Margot's father here and there and was quite sure the man didn't do enough work to even know what 'hard work' was. "What'd you call it, Tab?" he kept the conversation light.

"Trigger."

Luz popped a cracker into his mouth and nodded in approval. "That's good, I like that, Trigger."

Just then, the barn doors burst open, turning the heads of every trooper in the room. "We've got penetration!" a voice yelled as a group of men started carrying an injured Alley over to the nearest table. "Alley's hurt, we need the doc."

Annie, who had been sleeping in the corner with her back against the wall and her helmet over her eyes, jumped at the sound of commotion. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she took a moment to take in the situation before standing up and running over. "I'm here." She plopped her medic bag down on the table beside Alley and noticed the wounds on his lower abdomen. "I'm here, Alley. Don't you worry. Someone get Eugene just in case!"

Within seconds the table was surrounded by Easy Company men, all of whom were worried about their friend and wanted to show their support. "Where am I?" Alley's dark eyes peered up at Annie. "Something happened. What happened?"

"I don't know," Annie told him simply before looking up at the rest of the men, hoping one of them who had been there could tell her what had gone down. 

When no one spoke up, Winters posed the question. "Where was it?"

"Crossroads, where the road crosses the dike," Liebgott answered as he reached into Annie's bag to grab a bandage. He had been in that situation many times before and had watched Annie repeat the same steps over and over again. Morphine, sulfa, bandage, pressure. However, the bandage wasn't for Alley, it was for him. He had been grazed on the neck.

"If it wasn't for your loud mouth, they'd have never known we was there." Lesniewski blamed Liebgott for the condition Alley was in. 

Not appreciating the accusation of fault, Liebgott turned to the man beside him and rolled his eyes. "Hey, you know what, Joe, back off."