The Girl In The War (Under Editing)

Part Six

Rose and Toye had only made it a little way with Toye still mumbling "i gotta get up! i need my helmet!" Rose stopped pulling and moved so Toye could see her "come on Joe you have to help me ok?" Rose's voice was full of pleading "come on! come on" her voice got louder and louder as she began to pull Toye towards cover. Meanwhile, in a foxhole Bill Guarnere and Donald Malarkey sat waiting but Malarkey's ears picked up when he heard voices "is that Joe?" he asked Bill who answered "yeah i think it is" another voice met their ears which caused both of their faces to fall "is that..." Malarkey didn't even need to finish his question before Bill jumped out of the foxhole "that's Tiny, stay here" Bill started to run in the direction of the voices. Rose turned when she heard footsteps behind her and she saw that it was Bill "oh god" he said as he slowed down near the pair "help me pull him to cover" Bill jumped into action and grabbed one shoulder while Rose grabbed the other and they both began to pull. Rose slipped and twisted her ankle which caused her to wince, she got back up and began to pull Toye again fighting through the pain. Bill looked at the medic and saw her face conform into pain as they heard Buck begin to shout "come on! come on!" Bill looked back at Toye before he grabbed both of his shoulders and nudged Rose "Go, clear a path for us" Rose looked wide eyed before she turned and began to move the branches and twigs ut of the way while she limped, she heard Buck jump out of his foxhole and shout before an explosion blew her backwards into him and away from Bill and Toye.

Rose felt Buck wrap his arms around her and cover her, protecting her from the explosions and debri that could harm her. Trees fell down and branches flew everywhere and then the artillery finally stopped. Rose took a breath before she pushed herself up and jumped out of the foxhole but she almost burst into tears when she saw both Bill and Toye laying on the floor in a heap and from she could see they were both missing a leg. Rose shot forward and checked Toye's bandage that she had put on earlier before turning to Bill and pulled out another bandage to wrap his leg, she looked up at Buck who was stood staring before he dropped his helmet to the ground and screamed "medic!" Rose looked up to see Eugene come running around the corner "i've wrapped it but not very well" she nodded towards Toye and then looked back down at Bill's leg, she pulled out some morphine and looked at Bill who nodded, Rose injected the morphine into Bill's other leg and didn't look up when she heard a pair of feet approaching them. Rose heard Malarkey ask "what can i do, doc?" the next thing that Rose listened to was Toye saying "what's a guy gotta do to get killed around here?" which caused Rose to pick up a small stick and through it at Toye without even looking up, Bill let out a loud laugh when he saw the stick hit Toye in the head and Toye looked at the female medic with a shocked expression but she didn't say anything. Rose heard Eugene order the medics with the stretcher to take Bill first and then she saw boots next to her, "here you go Bill" she said as she helped him onto the stretcher and watched as he was carried away but not before he said to Toye "hey Joe i told you i'd beat you back to the states" Rose stayed leaning against a tree before she heard Luz walking towards them "hey Lip" Luz froze and stared at Toye but was brought out of his stare when Lip asked for the second time "how's buck?" Rose began to stand but when she but pressure on her foot she began to fall on the floor again but was stopped by Luz catching her, Lip had walked off to see Buck, Luz looked down at the medic "you alright?" he asked and set Rose back on the ground kneeling next to her "yeah i just went over on my ankle" Luz looked down at the ankle that Rose pointed to and moved towards it, he gently unlaced and pulled her boot off and then pulled her socks off to see that her ankle had turned a dark purple, "you need to see if the bone's broken, just feel the ankle for a bone in the wrong place" Rose ordered.

It had been a couple of days, Rose's ankle was only sprained so she was not taken off the front line but Buck was, Buck had been different and Rose knew that he could not stay on the front line so she spoke to Lip and Eugene and they agreed that he would be taken of the line for 'trench foot' and they would be the only three people to know, for definite, otherwise. Rose knew that other soldiers could see Buck change and Malarkey often visited Buck in the aid station with Rose when she went for supplies. Rose was collecting some supplies while Malarkey read Buck his recent letter from home, Rose walked around the back of Malarkey and watched at Buck reached out his hand and crunched the paper, Rose placed her hand on Malarkey's shoulder in comfort and began to head to the door of the tent.