Love You Till The End (Robert Zussman x Reader)

43 - Y/N L/N

November 15, 1944
Battalion Headquarters, Hürtgen Forest,
Germany

We had somehow managed to outrun the Kraut reinforcements even as we carried an injured Aiello back to our camp. He asked us to leave him, but there was no way we were going to leave another one of our men. It wasn't until we slowed down our pace that Aiello asked us where Turner was. When we told him what happened, he stayed silent the rest of the way.

When we arrived at our camp, the men were already packing it up as quickly as they could, so we started helping them. We ended up retreating to the outskirts of Hürtgen Forest where we were allowed to set up camp since our Battalion Headquarters were located in a nearby village.

"I...I just...I just can't believe he's gone," Aiello said as I was bandaging up his leg with fresh bandages.

"Me neither. Now we're stuck with Pierson leading the way."

"That son of a bitch. If it wasn't for him, I'd still have a healthy leg...I'd still have my best friend! Maybe we'd still have Turner if he would've just called in the damn reinforcements!" Aiello slammed his fist into his cot, startling me. He then buried his face into his hands and quietly cried; Turner's death had made him reach his limit.

"We gotta stay strong for Turner, Aiello." I rubbed his back as he wept. "He'd want us to."

"Yeah, you're right," he said, wiping his eyes. "I've made it this far, there's no point in stoppin' now."

"That's the spirit," I told him as I started putting my medical supplies away.

"Thanks for bandagin' up my leg. I know I can be an ass towards you, but I'm glad you're in our squad." He gave me a small smile.

"To be fair, I can be an ass too sometimes." I chuckled and he joined me. "But it's no problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get myself a cup of Joe."

"Alright...but uh, L/N...just don't tell anyone about me...y'know...cryin'."

"I won't," I said, heading for the exit of the tent we were in.

"Oh! Wait! When you see your boyfriend, give him a smack on the head for me. I think he took my drum sticks while I was sleepin' and hid them somewhere, knowin' I can't get up to find 'em."

"Okay, but how do you know it was him?"

"He told me to 'get up and find 'em' myself this mornin'. He was havin' a hard time keepin' his face straight too so I know he has somethin' to do with it."

Yup, sounds like Zussman.

"Alright, well, I'll ask him about it. See ya, Aiello," I said before walking out of my squad's tent with my empty tin mug in my hand.

I went over to where a soldier was boiling a pot of coffee and he filled my mug to the rim. I sipped away as I went around the camp looking for the rest of my squad. I eventually found Zussman and Stiles sitting around a small fire.

"How's the New Yorker doin'?" Zussman asked as I sat down next to him.

"He's doing fine. He's pissed because he thinks you hid his drum sticks." I looked him in the eyes. "Did you?"

"Yeah, I hid 'em under his cot," Zussman said, laughing. I couldn't help but chuckle while shaking my head.

Daniels suddenly walked up and joined us by the fire with a pistol in his hands.

"He didn't want it," he said, looking irritated as he fiddled with the pistol. The pistol had belonged to Turner and I remember hearing Daniels say this morning that he was going to give it to Pierson.