" Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the 'hero' within us is revealed."

- Bob Riley

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Hazel stayed close to Toye, crouching low behind him as they moved around a small farm with vineyards and bushes everywhere. The group moved in two different levels up both sides of orchard area and Hazel moved with rapid pace, her eyes narrowed in silent death, looking for the perfect tree to climb up and make the first kill.

Her emotions had exhausted her first few hours of combat and she hated that it had done what it did to her, but it was in the past now. The light switch had been flipped, and the deathly motives that Hazel now pursued were ready to be put to use. She had trained for over 2 years for this moment, to finally put a dent in the war.

Hazel looked across the way and nodded to Bill who signaled to Winters that she'd found the tree, and he nodded back to her. The tree was not the tallest or the smallest tree, but it sat in the perfect position for seemingly clear shots of Kraut heads. Hazel signaled to Toye in front of her and directed him to the tree. As Lipton and Winters went and watched from a broken down car, Toye gave her a foot up to a branch, before passing up her sniper.

" Thanks." she whispered, and he nodded, mouthing a quick good luck before hurrying off. As she slowly climbed up the tree, she heard distant explosions going off. She cursed at her tiny self as she pushed up branch after branch to the mid range.

The rifle hung off her shoulder as she pulled her body up with strength, tree after tree branch, determined to remain as close to the top as possible, but still within range of shooting. She glanced down after she got about half way up, and noticed the MG-42s that each gun came equipped with on the side, and the multitude of Krauts there as well.

" Each gun has about 2 MG-42s set up." Hazel whispered to herself, " 2 guys on the MG, 2 bullets. 2 MGs per gun, 4 bullets per gun, 16 bullets total, if needed." The process came out in a hushed whisper past her lips, calculating each and every motive she were to end up taking. Hazel pushed up from a branch, to another, that gave for a perfect area to lay against and set up the sniper perfectly, giving a clear view of any man that got in her way.

Hazel reached forward and gave the sniper a few clicks into focus. Her eye caught a German on the MG-42 at the first gun. With one shot, she could lodge a bullet into the main artery in his neck and kill him before he even thought of calling out to the man firing the weapon.

Her attitude had drastically changed from that morning when she killed the German with the bright green eyes. But it was the way a soldier were to operate. Some were effected by that first kill; other merely said it were an obstacle in the way. Hazel focused on what she had to do and it was capture the guns, even if death were involved. It was war and she was ready for it. Suddenly, one of the guns fired toward Utah beach, and Hazel narrowed her blue eyes, leaning back from the sniper in her grasp.

" There's no way those are 88s." she whispered to herself. Her eyes found Winters down below and a bit in front of her. He found her in the trees, by simply her bright eyes and gave her a nod. She nodded back in readiness. Winters moved his hand and she automatically heard the machine-gun start firing.

The Germans called out in protest suddenly, ensuing a power struggle on their side as the attempted to get their gun set. Hazel licked her lips and adjusted her scope. She squinted her eyes and focused on a German right in her line of sight. Her eye followed him through the scope as he reached forward to get more ammo into the MG-42.

" By God, rule me and guide me, ever this day, be at my side, to light and to guard." she whispered, as her finger lay against the trigger. A loud crackling shot wrapped out of the gun and struck the German right in the head.

Where was her silencer?

" Shit." she muttered. She glanced around for the silencer, but figured it had possibly even been lost after the chaos of getting everything together and climbing up the tree. So, risking it, she got back on the sniper, and took careful shots at unsuspecting Germans one after the other, tiny prayers leaving her lips with each shot she took.

----

" Gene, we have to stop." Catherine groaned out as she began to feel light headed and sick slightly. Gene carefully found a group of trees gathered in a forest area, and gently helped her lay down against a tree, un-looping her arm from over his shoulder.

" How are you feeling?" he asked her, noticing cold sweat appear on her forehead suddenly. He reached up and quickly wiped it from her brow and she sucked down a shaky gulp.

" If I can't even move without being in pain, how am I going to make it to the assembly area?" Catherine managed out through a shaky voice. Fear. It was fear settling into her bones. She was in the middle of France, injured and praying she wouldn't lose anymore blood.

" McCown, just keep your eyes open." he said with a nod, attempting to pull more morphine out. Catherine's hand stopped him suddenly.

" Save it." she whispered.

" But you're in pain." he said quietly.

" I'm fine." she said, and let out a tiny cry at the pain that shot through her arm.

" I'm not leaving you." Gene said quickly, with a firm look in his eyes. Catherine looked down at her arm and bit her lip. She met Gene's determined eyes. This was the most they had even talked to each other, and he was telling her that he wouldn't leave her behind. But he was also a medic, a medic who cared.

" I feel sick," she whimpered out suddenly, and before either could react, Catherine was launching herself to the side and throwing up. She wasn't sure if it was from the fear that she had allowed to be riled up inside her stomach, or if it were the dehydration, or lack of food in her stomach from the pill, but she knew she felt terrible. Gene was there though, he'd dealt with sick members of Easy, like back in Toccoa when they were all spewing their guts up during the run up Currahee on a full stomach of army noodles and ketchup.

When Catherine finished, she leaned back, her arm shocking her with pain, as her hand reached for it. Her face scrunched up in pain. Gene watched the woman, she was more concerned about the arm than the fact she had just thrown up.

" Catherine, you need to drink some water." Gene said to her.

" I'm fine, Gene." she managed out through broken words.

" Lieutenant." Gene said sharply and Catherine met his eyes quickly. He was staring at her, his brown orbs not leaving her own. Catherine didn't like other people taking care of her. She could take care of herself. But with the look in Gene's eye she figured she'd have to let him do his job.

" You need to drink some water." Gene repeated to her and she slowly nodded, biting back her lip.

" Ok," she said quietly nodding and sitting up, " ok." Gene nodded to her and then reached to the canteen by his side and pulled it from its flap. He slowly unscrew the top and then brought it near Catherine's lips. She stared at him. He nodded.

Gene slowly tipped it forward and let her drink the water in tiny, gradual sips. He knew exactly when to bring it from her lips to allow her to drink the water and he knew when to start again. It was quiet as they sat there in the quiet of the morning.

By now, the assault on the garrison would've begun, but she didn't know who was performing it, depending on who had gotten to the assembly point. It could be Winters, Meehan, Harry, Nixon, Lip, any of them could've lead it as well as any of the NCOs, along with any of the other guys or women who had shown up as well. She thought of little Hazel and wondered if she'd made it to the assembly point. She thought of Lizzie, wondering if she'd already gotten the first call for a medic yet. Catherine watched as Gene slowly pulled down the canteen from her face.

" You're dehydrated." Gene told her, " But we don't want you throwing up again." Catherine watched him with cautious eyes and nodded. Her shoulder was throbbing still in the quiet morning, and the slight sickness feeling in the pit of her stomach had yet to drop away. Catherine watched as he slowly slid the canteen back into the flap where medic canteens usually went and then proceeded to adjust his ODs a bit before turning his attention back to her.

" How're you feeling?" he asked, and Catherine noticed his eyes on her throbbing shoulder.

" Not to well." she said and her voice broke at the end. But when Gene looked her way quickly she averted her gaze. She was so ungodly happy with herself in this moment. Letting down her guard, remaining weak, especially in front of a medic like Gene, and not getting her act together. It was D-day and her she was injured and crippled, all from a stupid parachute malfunction.

" I should change your bandage, your bleeding through again." Gene said and Catherine glanced over in the morning light and saw in fact blood coming through.

" Go ahead." she said, in a grimace as she adjusted herself a bit. Gene slowly crouched forward, and began unwrapping the bandage around her shoulder. Catherine looked away in pain as Gene slowly unwrapped each part of it before removing the dirtied bandage. He prodded her shoulder a bit before beginning to wrap a clean bandage. Catherine hissed and grimaced and groaned each time Gene gave a tight tug on the bandage but she bit back her lip and shut her eyes, until she tasted blood. Finally Gene finished it off before glancing at Catherine.

" We gotta get you moving." Gene said as Catherine nodded. They'd taken more stops than they probably needed but Catherine got light-headed and dizzy and her shoulder injury was making her hand and arm numb. Catherine nodded, as Gene stepped over her and held out his hand for her to take. She grasped it, as he placed another hand on her back to stand her up. She let out a pained groan as she finally got to her feet and let out a quiet sigh.

" You need a minute?" Gene asked her.

" No, let's go, thank you." Catherine said and she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder as they began walking again through the French forest, grasping onto him to keep her balance as they moved in the direction of where the most frequent amount of bombs rang out.

----

Loud shouting in German continued to ring out in panicked strings, as the MG-42 continued to fire off, and the others continued firing their M1's and Thompsons. The Germans had yet to detect the sniper in the trees hanging overhead like a cat watching its prey.

Hazel looked over and watched as Ranney and Lip positioned themselves in smaller trees, farther away towards the first gun, that were easy and accessible. Hazel continued firing the single, ear-piercing shots, one after another, taking out German after German. Each kill hit the German right through their helmet and into the side of their face, making them die instantly.

And each shot was answered with a tiny prayer from Hazel's lips.

Lip and Ranney started firing their weapons and immediately got attention drawn to them, but Hazel was quick to aid. She slowly adjusted her scope, increasing visibility in depth, and laying comfortably on her chest as she sucked in a breath. She took a quick shot, and another, before two of the ones closer to her were dead. Then she continued, her process of sitting and waiting for the next prey to come upon her.

A machine gunner opened up on Winters, Liebgott and Plesha, and immediately Hazel turned and took aim at the machine gunner, shooting him dead and receiving a thankful look from Winters. To really set off the finishing touch, the Germans fully exploded afterwards thanks to Buck, Malarkey and Bill, who threw grenades in to finish them off. The three ran forward and Hazel watched as they jumped straight down into the German trench line.

" Let's go! Let's go!" Winters called. Hazel watched as the men quickly got to their feet.

" Follow me!" the remaining soldiers who would assist in the main attack followed diligently. The group of soldiers ran forward, preparing for the main assault on the 88s, that she suspected were 105s. Hazel would join in a minute; she had a clear shot of the second gun, and opted to take each shot where she could. Hazel lined up her scope, following a frantic German who was loading more ammo into the 105.

" Guide me lord, give me strength, guide me through light and guard me through." she whispered softly, licking her lips, before cracking off a single shot that killed the man attempting to load up the weapon. She watched through her scope as the ammo fell to the ground, and spilled.

The other Germans weren't even watching.

Hazel took the opportunity, to point her aim at the ammo, the 3 big pieces laying out in the open on the ground. If she set it off, those Germans would die. Hazel's finger placed on the trigger, and she cracked out a shot on the 1st large piece of ammo. It blew up, the 2 others following like a chain reaction. She watched Germans in the 2nd gun, fall to the side, crying out, pointing at each other, in a complete mess.

Chaos brought that on.

Hazel, satisfied that the men had made it to the main area of the 1st gun and the 2nd was already in dismay, slowly dropped down branch after branch to the ground, before letting her boots softly hit the Earth. She then trekked after them, without the mascaraed of bombs and explosions, towards another tree, that was closer. Her feet brought her through the orchard again, before she pushed through the cover of the bushes to the other side again, to the war. An explosion went off right beside her and she dropped to the ground quickly. She looked up and saw Popeye crawling forward.

" Pop?" Hazel called.

" They shot me in my ass!" Popeye yelled back.

" Here, I'll cover you." Hazel said, as she moved quickly in front of where Popeye had to crawl to insure his safety back behind the lines. Hazel pulled up her gun, before satisfied knowing Popeye was in coverage again. She continued to crawl forward before making it to the pieces of wood that eventually dropped into the trench than ran between the 4, anticipated guns. She collapsed like a sack of potatoes on the cold, soil ground, her weapon clattering after her, but she forced herself to stand up, remaining crouched behind the trench coverage. Once Hazel got her footage again, a frantic scream overwhelmed her ears.

" Winters, Parker, 1:00!" Buck yelled, pulling out a grenade. Hazel looked over in horror, as the grenade bounced in his hands and to the ground right by Buck's feet.

" Grenade!" he called out, and Hazel had to turn and attempt to get herself over the ledge. Hazel launched the rifle over and then pulled herself up, before rolling straight into Winters with a groan.

" Toye! Let's go! Get out of there!" Buck managed to yell out, as everyone else made it over in time, except Joe.

" Toye!" Buck yelled.

" Joe!" Winters called.

" Joe!" Hazel called, as she flipped inside and saw the man inside, lying on his back in the dirt, with debris sprinkled on top of him. Buck quickly moved over to him as Hazel scrambled over as well.

" Jesus Christ." muttered Joe, eyes screwed shut as he grasped for something. He found Hazel's hand.

" Fucking twice." Joe said, as he slowly moved around with Buck's help. Twice? She must've missed the first. Buck shoved the helmet on Joe's head and got him moving again as Hazel moved a bit to get a new position for sniping as to not draw attention to herself and former position. The first gun had to be detonated and it seemed Bill and Malarkey were making some sort of attempt at that as she scurried over and heard an angry Jesus Christ come from Bill's mouth, a common phrase he liked to throw around by this point.

" Lorraine, through, go!" Bill yelled to the man sending him off somewhere.

" Malark!" Bill called and pointed over towards the side of the 1st gun that would provide some coverage. Hazel fell to the ground behind the gun, where a small opening was available for firing range. She stayed low to the ground, staying quiet and alert, her gun aimed straight towards the Germans across the way, as Bill and Malarkey crashed down on the side, where some coverage was given.

" I think one of those dead Krauts has a luger." Malarkey said as he quickly attempted to load his weapon. Hazel quirked a brow, still peering into the scope and quickly firing off a deadly shot, killing the German across the way, aided by a small prayer.

" So what?" Bill called.

" Keep your head low, Petty!" the trio suddenly heard a Liebgott's voice arrived in their ears.

" C'mon move it!"

" Have a little suppressing fire, why don't you!" Liebgott yelled as he slammed nearby her, barely seeing the girl there.

" Jesus Christ!" Petty yelled landing next to Liebgott with the machine gun. Hazel took off another perfectly calculated shot and that's when Liebgott looked over and noticed the girl. Then they were distracted as a figure ran out into the fire. It was Malarkey. Hazel's heart plummeted as she watched him.

" Malarkey!" Bill yelled.

" Now you stop firing?" Liebgott called, " Beautiful." Hazel, smooshed between Liebgott and Bill, finally pulled from her scope and pushed the cap up from her eyes and narrowed them seeing Malarkey's figure fumbling around out in the open.

" Christ, they must think he's a medic or something." Petty called.

" He's gonna need a goddamn medic!" Bill called as Liebgott fumbled next to her a bit to stand with his own M-1.

" Malarkey!" Liebgott yelled to the man who lay still out there. Hazel peered out again and her heart began pounding. Was he still alive? Suddenly the firing picked up and so did Malarkey's senses as he stood and turned making a beeline back to the first gun, slipping and sliding and falling, tripping over his own feet.

" Get low!" Bill yelled, as the bullets missed Malarkey narrowly.

" What the hell are you doin', c'mon!" Bill called again, as Malarkey stumbled about and pushed himself back to his feet. Finally Malarkey jumped back into the chaotic gun set up, to the screaming trio and the silent sniper, and crashed against the dirt.

" Forgot your friggin' luger?" Bill snapped at Malarkey who lay panting under fire behind him.

" If you want I should go get it for you, you stupid mick?" Bill yelled, going back to shooting.

" Where's Lipton with that TNT?" Winters voice asked suddenly appearing.

" Don't know, sir!" Bill called back reaching for another magazine. Hazel pulled up her gun again, and slowly clicked her scope a few times, before finding a German head.

" Guide me lord to light, guide me through strength, guide me and guard me." she whispered, before pulling the trigger. The German was dead instantly. Hazel pushed to her side, as she pulled ammo from her belt and reloaded quickly, pushing each piece of ammo in, one after the other, before pulling the bolt and locking the ammo into place immediately after. All the sudden, Hester and Hall appeared, slamming across the other side from Bill and Malarkey.

" Hiya, cowboy!" Bill called to the younger soldier.

" Shut your fucking guinea trap, Gonorrhea." Hall said back and Hazel chuckled at the comment, her scope out of focus for a moment.

" He's alright that kid." Bill said to Malarkey.

" Jesus, you got a whole Kraut platoon out there." Hester called out, just frozen as he stared out in front of him.

" Probably more, Captain." Winters said back.

" You need help?" Hester called back as Hazel shot her weapon, a loud crack echoing out over the field, making Hall looked toward her in surprise seeing that girl was even there. He hadn't noticed. She blended in so well, with her camouflage that covered herself.

" I need ammo, sir, lots of it!" Winters called back, glancing towards the girl who was visibly sweating and slowly running out of ammo as well from what he could tell.

" And TNT!" Winters called. Hall had a realization moment, as he grabbed for his bag.

" I've got TNT, sir!" Hall yelled.

" Good job, private!" Winters yelled. Winters signaled to him to move behind the main gun. Winters and Hall scrambled to get the TNT in the main gun, as Liebgott moved down to lie next to Hazel.

" Hall, ready!" Winters called.

" Sir, I don't have any way to set it off, sir!" Hall yelled, as Winters moved around the base of the gun in the chaos towards Hall. Hazel turned slightly from her dead set site position and watched as the two searched frantically for something to set it off. Winters found something to detonate it with and yanked it from a metal box to shove it up into the main gun.

" Fire in the hole!" Winters yelled and Hazel's eyes widened. Liebgott moved himself to protect the girl from the side of the blast and she squeezed her eyes shut as the explosions blew up the gun. She slowly opened her eyes, as Liebgott pealed away from her, pushing his helmet from his eyes. Hazel's eyes went to the smoking barrel of the gun.

" Plesha, covering fire!" Winters called to the man nearby. " Third gun, here! Parker, you stay on those Germans."

" Lorraine, grab some more of those potato mashers and follow me!" Winters called, " Malarkey, Hall you two go!" Plesha's covering fire began quickly as Winters took off with Malarkey, Hall and Lorraine. She sent Hall a hopeful smile, before she turned back to the weapon. Hazel stayed focus on her goal, and stared back again through the scoop. She got in the zone quickly and began to scope out her next prey. She watched, pushing every other bit of noise out of her mind to focus on right now. She shot her weapon again as she heard the 2nd gun explode and the 3rd follow.

" TNT! TNT!" a voice yelled, that of Lipton's. Hazel looked up with surprise.

" Don't need it!" Bill called back.

" What?" Lip called back.

" Don't need it! Hall!" Bill called pointing to the already blown up gun.

" Hall?" Lip yelled back, confused. " Where'd he come from?" Lip couldn't help but watched defeated at the gun. Hazel felt a bullet zip by her and she flipped back, out of her zone straight into Liebgott.

" You good?" Liebgott yelled.

" Fine!" she yelled back, checking for a wound. Her voice came out choked and gravely and she had to cough a bit to get it through again to speaking level. She started choking on debris and dirt and gravel before getting it out of her throat. She flopped back onto her stomach and pulled her weapon up in front of her, and rested her cheek on the pad again. She looked through the scope again and zeroed in on her focus mode, and zoned in on another German. She shot the weapon, and continued to do so. As she reloaded, she realized how close she was to running out of ammo.

She figured she'd put it to good use.

She thanked Sergeant Coleman for the help he'd given her.

She hadn't wasted a single bullet yet.

" Guide me through this God, guide me and guard me, through light and dark." she whispered, before another bullet left her weapon and found its home. The battle strained on, with a struggle on both sides of the battle, firing their weapons, discovering death, restocking with ammo from both of their lines. Hazel finally flopped to the side, out of breath. She'd been holding it for so long. She was out of ammo, she'd used it all up. Then she watched someone come running up from the trench, bags of ammo swinging in their hands.

It was Lieutenant Speirs.

" Sniper!" Speirs called as he spotted her, " Ammo!" He came crashing in beside her and pushed more ammo into her grasp. She took it gratefully.

Thank God for him; the chaotic lunatic Lieutenant that she appreciated.

" Thank you, sir!" Hazel called and he nodded before moving back through the trenches. Hazel loaded up her weapon, and got herself back in action. It must've been hours before Hazel finally began to hear Winters voice.

" Move out! Move out!" Winters yelled, " Move out."

" MGs first!" Winters called, " Fall back to your original positions!" Liebgott began to move from next to her and she felt WInters' hand on her shoulder.

" Move out, Hazel!" he called to her ear. Hazel quickly stood to her feet, and turned finding a path straight out of the trenches. She hurried back, following behind the MGs, back towards the barn and assembly area. The rest of the group was behind her, following diligently as the group left, with their completed duty behind them. The group arrived back through the main entrance of the assembly area. The group was basically a mess by that point.

Hazel came stumbling into the area, light-headed and exhausted and hungry. They had done it though, the garrison had been taken.

Over 3 hours of fighting and they had taken the garrison, exhausted, weary and out of ammo. But the garrison had been taken and supplies could arrive on Utah.

And that was all that mattered in that moment.

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hey! so YES! we finally got hazel in action which i hope you all enjoyed!! her way of shooting her sniper if very similar to that of private jackson from saving private ryan who i took some inspiration from, with the prayers he says before shooting his weapon, which i like and feel it is special to hazel. and catherine, sis is struggling :( at least she has gene there though!!

thank you for all your love and support!! :)