We Happy Few | Band of Brothers

Chapter 44: Temporary Pain

The still, black water was more than ominous. As Margot stared out at it, its dark form separating her from the Germans, she felt a wave of dread rush over her. She wasn't sure why she felt this way but a nagging thought at the back of her mind told her that if she fell into that water, she would disappear into the darkness, never to be seen again.

Beside the woman, the men were securing the rope that stretched from the far side of the river to a large tree and getting the small boats ready. Martin was checking in with all of the troopers, his eyes glancing toward Margot every few seconds or so, taking note of how her green irises never left the water.

"Hey." Martin walked over and placed a hand on the machine-gunner's shoulder. His voice was soft and comforting, which was a welcomed change to what was his usual bitter, short-tempered remarks. "You ready?"

Margot blinked a few times at the touch and nodded, hoping she hadn't set off too many alarm bells in his head with her mental disappearing act. "Yeah, yeah, good to go." She snapped out of whatever trance the river had pulled her into and helped push the rubber boats into the cold water. 

Margot and Martin helped the men into the boats one by one before carefully stepping into one themselves. Once the four small vessels were full, hands reached up to grasp the rope and begin pulling the group across the water.

"Keep it steady," Martin instructed. "Keep it steady."

Hearing a series of hushed cursing, Margot looked behind herself just in time to see the last boat—the one that Cobb, Garcia, and Skinny were in—tip over and send the men into the freezing liquid. "I can't swim!" Garcia called out, drawing even more attention to himself than he and the others already had by taking an unplanned dip. 

"Eyes forward!" Margot ordered the remaining men. "Keep going."

Martin nodded as he tightened his grip on the rope with his gloved hands and continued to assist in pulling his boat across the river. The three men who had fallen out eventually made it back to shore, no doubt freezing, but no more worse for wear than they had started out as. In fact, Margot sort of thought of them as lucky. Sure, they had to take an unpleasant bath, but now they got to go inside, warm up, and not have to worry about the prisoner snatch in the slightest.

Cobb sure had a way of always getting out of things in the weirdest way; first Normandy, now this. He sort of reminded Margot of Webster, only Webster's excuses were a lot less convincing and usually required a lot less discomfort than say, for example, getting pegged with plane shrapnel. 

As soon as the first boat reached the opposite side, the men and Margot jumped out as fast and as quietly as they could, making sure to tie the boats down to prevent them from floating away before their return trip.

Dropping onto their stomachs, Margot and Martin led the way, crawling through the thin layer of snow that covered the ground and approaching the first trap, a barbed trip-wire attached to cans that would rattle if anything was disturbed.

Grabbing the two strands of wire that stretched low to the ground, Martin held them still while Margot reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of wire cutters. With a quick snip, both wires snapped back a little, wanting to recoil once the tension was gone.

Grabbing a side each, Margot and Martin scooted out of the way and directed the rest of the group through. Two at a time, the men crawled past the trap before jumping to their feet and dashing for the nearest area of cover. The men spread out a little, some ducking behind half-standing brick walls and others behind piles of debris. 

Once everyone was through, Margot and Martin joined the rest of the team. Margot's hands wrapped tight around her rifle as she kept her head on a swivel, her eyes peeled for even the slightest sign of movement.