We Happy Few | Band of Brothers

Chapter 28: Medic Knows Best

Digging through her medic bag, Annie started pulling out her supplies so she could count what she had left and write down what she needed to restock. Going through the bandages, the medic was so in her own head that she didn't even notice the approaching footsteps. It wasn't until she felt a hand on her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her own skin that she was aware of the presence behind her.

"Holy-" Annie's hand moved to clutch her chest as she willed her racing heart to slow down. "You can't do that! Warn a girl first, why don't you?" She spun around and came face to face with Liebgott and his look of guilt. "Oh, it's you."

Liebgott nodded as he reached up to untie the blood-soaked bandage from his neck. "Winters said I should get it checked." He sat himself down on the table Annie had been using to do her inventory. 

Annie just crossed her arms over her chest and stared. For a few seconds, she was silent, allowing the tension to seep into Liebgott's bones. "So, now you want my help?" She grabbed his chin with her small hand and forcefully turned his head to the side. "Now, after the wound has opened up more and remained uncleaned for hours? Now, when it makes more work for me? Now, when I'm in the middle of doing my job?"

Liebgott swallowed hard, not saying a word but instead choosing to remember what Margot had told him. Annie had considered him a friend and by leaving when he did, he pretty much just told her that he didn't value her knowledge and skill over his own dumb ambition. 

"I'm sorry," he eventually spoke up as Annie ripped open a package of sulfa with her teeth. "I should have listened to you."

"Yes, you should have." Annie nodded, cleaning the wound with some water before sprinkling the sulfa into it. "I want to help you. I want to help everyone, but I can't help anyone if they don't let me."

As silence took over, Annie worked quickly and painlessly on Liebgott's injury. By the time she was done, his neck was cleaned of the dry blood and the wound was wrapped up tight in a fresh bandage. "You're gonna be fine," she told him as she stepped back to admire her work. "I do know what I'm doing here, y'know? I'm not just running around like a chicken with its head cut off. There is a method to my madness."

Annie's words dug deep into Liebgott, hurting worse than the bullet graze on his neck ever had. He had never meant to make Annie feel like she was bad at her job. Hell, she was one of the finest medics he had ever seen. The way she kept calm and collected in the scariest of moments was a skill he could only dream of possessing. 

Jumping down from the table, Liebgott looked down at the blonde and smiled. "Hey, I know I'm an idiot sometimes, but I've never, not once, thought you weren't the perfect person for this job. This whole company is beyond lucky to have you."

"Okay, now you're just kissing ass." Annie didn't skip a beat with her retort, a sly smirk forming on her face. "Now shut up and help me with this inventory as a way to prove just how sorry you are."

"Yes, ma'am." Liebgott laughed as he moved to the other side of the table and started counting sulfa packets.

Annie scrunched her face up in a way that made it look like she had just eaten a whole lemon. "Oh, don't call me ma'am. It makes me feel old, and I'm way too young to feel old."

"Yes, Corporal."

"Better."

●●● 

On October 17th, Easy Company completed the extraction of trapped British Forces in Schoonderlogt, Holland; a consequence of the fall of Market Garden. This mission was known as Operation Pegasus and was the first operation in which Easy Company was under the command of Moose Heyliger.

Winters, after his outstanding work in Holland and in the wake of Major Horton's death, had been promoted to Captain and Executive Officer of the 2nd Battalion; and while everyone in Easy couldn't agree more that he deserved the position, it was hard to see their beloved leader go. 

However, with the help of Colonel Dobie, the leader of the British Red Devils, Moose Heyliger orchestrated Operation Pegasus to the tee. With enough practice runs in the boats that the Canadian engineers had supplied, Easy was able to cross the water and retrieve the Brits without so much as a single hitch in the plan. 

To celebrate the successful mission, Easy Company and the Red Devils partied well into the night following their return. Operation Pegasus would mark the first of what many hoped to be numerous well-executed missions under the command of Moose Heyliger.

Sadly, Moose's command of Easy ended before it ever really began. Only thirteen days after the British rescue mission, in Driel, Holland, an accident occurred. 'Accident' was the only word Annie could use to describe the incident that wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings, but in reality, she thought of the series of events to be more of a colossal fuck-up that could have ended way worse than it had. 

Annie had been on the edge of sleep when her whole body was violently shaken. Fearing the worst, which was what she was trained to do, the blonde girl's eyes shot open and she jumped a little when Eugene's face was in hers.

"Heyliger," he breathed out, his eyes a little bleary, indicating that he might have been trying to get some sleep too. "Heyliger's been shot."

Without even a second to stretch and wake up fully, Annie jumped to her feet and followed her fellow medic out into the night. There was a commotion near one of the medical trucks, and as Annie and Eugene arrived, a jeep pulled up. Inside the jeep, Lieutenant Welsh was cradling Heyliger's slumped, bloodied body. 

Taking control, the two medics lifted Lieutenant Heyliger from the jeep and started to load him into the medical vehicle. "Did you give him morphine?" Annie asked as she reached into her bag, her hand tightening around a syrette just in case.

Welsh nodded as he moved to help move Moose. "Yeah."

"How many?" Eugene followed up as Annie released the syrette. 

Welsh shrugged, clearly overwhelmed by the situation. "Oh, I can't remember, two, three syrettes maybe."

The look on the medics' faces was one of shock and slight horror. "Three syrettes maybe?" Eugene glared at the two higher-ups. "Jesus Christ, were you trying to kill him?"

"I think it was two." Welsh changed his answer from a loose three to a solid two. 

"You don't think it might be important to let us know how much medication he's had?" Annie snapped, the words leaving her mouth in a fit of rage before her mind even had a chance to process them. "Because I don't see one syrette on the man's jacket."

Winters and Welsh apologized profusely for their lack of competency, but by then, Eugene had already lost his cool, much like Annie had. "Sure is a good thing he's a big man." Eugene huffed as he pushed the stretcher into the back of the truck. "Maybe he'll stand a chance."

"He was in a lot of pain, Doc." Welsh tried to justify their actions. "We didn't know what to do."

Those words drove Annie crazy. Didn't know what to do? Why did they think every man was forced to take at least the basics of first aid? It was so that everyone knew what to do! Annie, Eugene, and Spina had spent hours upon hours teaching Easy Company as much as they could about first aid, and now one of their Lieutenants was explaining away almost killing a man because he 'didn't know what to do?'

"Yeah, well, you outta!" Eugene hit his breaking point and turned to chew out the two men. "You are officers, you are grown-ups, you outta know!"

With that, the two medics jumped into the back of the truck and signalled for the driver to go. With wide eyes and a pale face, Winters slammed the back doors shut before giving the small window a few pats, leaving a bloodied handprint in the process.

Annie's eyes didn't leave that handprint for the entire drive. She couldn't believe she and Eugene had just spoken to superior officers like that, but then again, she also believed that they had a valid point. What was the point in teaching first aid if no one could use the knowledge when the time came? 

While Moose Heyliger was severely injured in the shoulders and thigh, he did manage to survive his wounds. However, this meant that Easy would be getting yet another leader, all because of a nervous private's happy trigger finger and the empty-headed decisions of a Lieutenant and a Captain.