" Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes."

- George Orwell

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After their meal, Easy had to move back to their old positions. And of course, they'd just dug out new foxholes, but they had to push the Germans back through the forest.

Hazel pulled her sniper over her shoulder, as she rubbed at her numb nose, that was constantly running from the cold. She followed in line after Luz who had his radio strapped to his back towards their old position and old foxholes. As they walked away, they saw a few members of Easy Company, strung on the ends, attached to that of Dog Company. When Hazel walked past them, she gave a small smile their way, towards Webb, Christenson and Perconte, before turning and following after Luz again. Her feet felt frozen as she walked, and her entire body was numb to the biting cold that moved through her uniform. She heard the men behind her saying things, to not drink too much, or be careful if he offers you a cigarette.

Hazel knew they were all talking about Lieutenant Ronald Speirs, a platoon leader in Dog Company. She remembered the stories from D-Day, but like most of the girls chose not to listen to them. He was an officer after all; she assumed that if he needed to do something he'd do it. She had met the man a few times, like back on Christmas in 1942, or just run ins when she had a massive amount of supplies she needed to get somewhere. She had offered a smile though, like she did with everyone and kept moving.

Hazel continued by Luz for a majority of the afternoon, her eyes trailing over the snow in the tracts his footprints made, weary and tired as she attempted to keep herself somewhat awake. Her ears were cold, but with the helmet on her head, they felt numb to the touch; the helmet did nothing when it came to keeping out any sort of freezing cold. Easy Company eventually reached their foxholes by the late afternoon, when the wind had picked up and she was just walking past Joe Toye, when he started yelling about his foxhole.

" Ah, you gotta be fucking kiddin' me." she had heard him yell, as she glanced over her shoulder toward him, " Someone's gonna die. Someone's gonna fucking die." She had smirked to herself, she had already seen the shit in the foxholes and was just trying to find Shifty again. She couldn't keep her eyes from the trees. When they were gone, their positions must've been taking quite the shelling.

Many of the trees were cut right through the center, the tops gone, and insides split open, waiting to splinter someone, as the leftover debris that didn't impale someone lay on the ground, in the rubble of trees, branches and leaves covered in snow. She gulped to herself.

Treebursts.

The thought was terrifying, but she tried to put that out of her mind for the time being. With Foy so close by, now, it seemed to send a constant tremor through her body when she thought of who could've died here. There were men, German down in Foy who had killed American soldiers with their tree bursts and shellings. It made her heart pound.

" Oh, looks like the Krauts have been pounding this area with pretty big stuff, 88s. I'd say they got this whole stretch of the line targeted." Lip said to the group of Lieutenants.

" Well, they're not shelling now." Shames said, " Maybe they've got a new target-"

" No, they're just waiting." Lip told him.

" For what?" Shames asked him.

" For us to reoccupy the position." Buck told him.

" Maybe we should fall back to a different location, dig in." Shames, said and Catherine glanced up at him.

" We're not falling back, Shames." Catherine said, and Lip looked at her.

" I've done plenty of recon, we fall back, we're still dead men." Catherine told him, as Shames watched her. He sighed.

" It's out job to hold the line here. We've got pretty good foxholes. We just need to fortify the covers." Lip stated.

" If they've got us targeted, maybe -" Buck stopped Foley from continuing.

" We hold the line here." Buck said firmly, as Catherine glanced at Foley.

" Sergeant Lipton's right, Lieutenant McCown is also right." Buck said, a bit sarcastically.

" We're gonna strengthen our covers and we're gonna hang in. We're not gonna fall back." Buck said, looking at the group. Then he snickered.

" Right, Lieutenant?" he called out to Lieutenant Dike who stood farther away from them, against a tree, looking out and not really focused on anything. Catherine glanced over her shoulder from where she stood next to Foley, and raised a brow towards where the man stood. Dike looked over at them.

" Hmm?" he asked.

" Jesus." muttered Catherine.

" Right, Lieutenant?" Buck called again.

" Fine." Dike said, " You all take care of it. I gotta go talk to Regiment." Catherine looked at the group. Catherine grumbled to herself. Lip sighed.

" We'd better get moving." Lip told them, and Catherine nodded, glancing back to where Dike was slowly disappearing. Catherine was now partnered with Foley for foxholes, and so the two had to fortify theirs better now, since it was her old one with Peacock's.

" I'm this close, Foley," Catherine said holding up her fingers for emphasis, to less than an inch apart, " I'm this close to losing my shit with this guy."

" You're not the only one." Foley grumbled, " He's gonna get us killed." Catherine grumbled. Hazel and Shifty were working side by side to cut off branches to cover up the top of their foxhole together. Hazel was hacking away at the branches, attempting to remove the wood to the best of her ability. It was taking longer than she wanted, and her arm was beginning to hurt as she continued hacking away at it. But it was keeping her warmed up. Shifty was doing the same next to her but having more luck it seemed, as he began placing some of the branches on top.

Hazel heard what seemed to be a distant explosion somewhere, and she slowly glanced up to see a puff of smoke and snow coming from Foy.

" Incoming!" she suddenly heard Lip yell his voice raw as he called over the men and women of Easy Company.

" Hazel come on!" Shifty called to her and the two quickly jumped down into their foxhole as a whistle flew overhead and exploded shaking the Earth. Hazel wrapped her arms around Shifty as he wrapped his arms around her as the two held each other close as explosions rained down on top of them.

Hazel was breathing quickly and her heart was racing, and tears were slowly filling her eyes as she tried to keep her head and ears away from the sound. She was grateful Shifty was there, and that they were holding each other. The two heard yells and screams coming from outside their foxhole, but they couldn't move. They had to stay under in cover.

" Take cover!" Catherine began calling, as she risked herself, to move along the line and tell people to get inside their foxholes. She felt an explosion go off nearby and she shoved a replacement in the nearby foxhole.

" Stay there!" she yelled at him, her voice straining in a plea that he wouldn't move.

" Get inside your fucking foxhole!" she yelled at people milling about. That's when she heard Lip behind her, running.

" Mack get in a foxhole!" Lip yelled at her.

" I'm fine! You go!" Catherine yelled. Sprinting through the onslaught of explosions made her fingers shake, and her heart tremble with each gasping explosions that went off behind her, shaking her entire being.

" Lizzie!" a voice yelled, as Lizzie avoided an explosion coming at her from her right. She watched as Babe fell into her and the two went flying to the ground.

" Come on, get up!" Babe said as he stood and stumbled, pulling the girl to her feet.

" Find some cover!"

" Get in your foxhole!"

" Come on, Lizzie." Babe said, before pushing her into the foxhole and falling in after her only to hear a crack and a tree quickly fall down on top of them.

" Babe?" Lizzie asked hoarsely in the darkness, trying to find him. She felt his hand on her shoulder and grabbed it, searching for his body. They continued to hear muffled screams and yells of panic outside, but could doing nothing.

Finally Catherine could do nothing but slide into the foxhole with George, head in her knees, praying for it to be over.

" Where's Toye?!" she yelled to George.

" I didn't see him!" George called back to her, as an explosion went off near them, and the two huddled close together as the world shook and their ears rang. Another explosion hit them nearby to their foxhole, and George jumped on top of Catherine to shield her from the onslaught. Catherine could feel herself shaking as she clutched her Thompson to her chest. And she had no clue where the girls were.

The world shook with such force, like God held it and was shaking it, so forcefully that Catherine thought she might lose her balance under George. But then everything settled for a moment and George pulled from on top of Catherine, and moved towards the quiet light. Catherine followed him out. People began sticking their heads out of the foxholes and looking around, waiting to hear the call or if there were medic calls as well.

" Stay in your foxholes!" she heard Lip begin to yell.

" I need help!" a faint call came. Catherine perked up for a second, as the snow gently fell down. She strained to hear the voice again.

" Do you hear that?" she whispered softly as George looked at her.

" I need help!" the pained cry called again. Her heart rate picked up.

" Help!" the cry called again. Catherine's heart shattered. And she began to feel tears filter into her eyes. It was Joe.

" George, it's Joe." Catherine said as a tear trickled down her cheek suddenly, her eyes and ears straining to just see or hear him call out again. She heard a gargled cry of pain.

" It's Joe." Catherine whispered, as she slumped back in the foxhole suddenly, her heart racing, her bottom lip trembling, her eyes flooding with tears.

" It's Joe!" Catherine cried, jumping up suddenly, but George's arms were around her waist yanking her back quickly. His arms held her close to him as she stared up towards the grey sky.

" You'll get killed." George told her as he pulled her back.

" It's Joe, George!" Catherine protested, shoving against him to get closer to Joe, but it was no use. She heard his cries of pain and it suddenly felt so loud in her head. Catherine collapsed against George after struggling, breathing heavy as she squeezed her eyes shut. George didn't let her go.

" Help!" Babe yelled, moving his hand through the tree branches to a dim bit of light.

" Help, anyone there?" Babe yelled again as Lizzie shifted to move towards the light.

" Anyone there! Help!" Babe yelled.

" Please!" Lizzie yelled.

" Hang on!" Lip suddenly yelled, like the voice of an angel.

" Who's that?" Lip asked quickly.

" It's Heff, Babe!" Babe yelled, " And Lizzie, the Doc, she's here with me."

" Come on, get us out of here, Lip!" Babe called. Lip and some other began yanking away at the trees. Lizzie began to see people, and the franticness that composed the three pulling pulling the branches of the fallen tree on them away.

" Hang on!' they heard Skip call.

" Are you ok?" Lip suddenly called sticking his head in.

" Yeah." Babe called, " Take her first."

" Come on, come on." Lip said as he grabbed Lizzie's hand and pulled her out of the foxhole and into his arms. Lip gently passed her to Penkala, who helped her to her feet and her shaking legs which she a bit weak at the moment and she smiled gratefully up at him.

" Come on." Lip called to Babe as he pulled him out of the foxhole.

" Ah, jeez, think I overdid it on the cover for my foxhole?" Babe muttered sarcastically. Then suddenly, another loud whistle echoed from the sky above.

" Incoming!" yelled Lip, and Penkala grabbed Lizzie and ran her to a nearby foxhole where Skip and Babe joined the two all crouched together in the foxhole. Catherine began to hear more bombings and shellings and her heart raced.

" Joe!" Catherine suddenly yelled, her voice filled with pain as tears raced down her cheeks.

" Joe!" Catherine yelled again as the bombings got louder. George pulled her down into the foxhole again as her body grew weak from trying to get out. She grabbed a fistful of dirt and squeezed it so hard in her hands, as a quiet cry escaped her lips, her worry overloading. She didn't even know if he was ok.

" Medic!" a cry suddenly came and Catherine's bloodshot eyes opened wide. Explosion after and explosion followed, like someone was just dropping the bombs one after another down onto the ground. And each explosion created more debris pushed up in the air.

Catherine began to see tree branches falling in the explosions crashing to the ground as dirt was kicked up and tree splinters shot out everywhere. The sky was lit up by the explosions and it was like fireworks or thunder rolling in. As the explosions slowly drew farther away George crawled out of the foxhole again looking out, as Catherine, weak and emotionally distraught followed with tear filled eyes.

" Lip?!" George yelled, as Catherine felt more tears fall down her cheeks. Catherine could see Lip not too far away crawl out of where he was.

" Are you okay?" Lip asked. George gave the thumbs up. Lip nodded, and noticed Catherine looking a mess, crying. His worry spiked.

" Stay down!" Lip yelled as a figured appeared behind him, " You stay down!"

" 1st Sergeant Lipton!" a voice called, it was Dike. Catherine narrowed her tear filled eyes.

" You get things organized here." Dike said, " I'm gonna go for help."

" What the fuck?" hissed George, as Catherine watched Dike go.

What type of CO?

The two watched as Lip climbed out of his foxhole.

" Lip, where the fuck's he going?" George asked the man.

" I don't know, listen, get Battalion on the line, tell them to notify BAS, " Lip said quickly, before glancing at Catherine who looked up as she tried to wipe her tears, and try not to be weak.

She had to tell herself Joe was fine.

Because where ever Joe was, Bill usually was there too.

" Battalion's up, Lip!" George called, as he hauled out his radio and began calling Battalion CP. Nixon would hopefully be on the other side.

" MEDIC!" an ear piercing scream suddenly yelled.

Lizzie was up and out of the foxhole she was with Babe, Skip and Penkala and was running towards the sound. Lizzie dodged through the trees, getting closer to where the cry had come from. When she arrived at the sight, she stopped cold. Her heart began racing and she looked up to see Gene was standing in front of her.

Bill and Joe Toye were on the ground in front of them, and they were injured, badly, limbs missing for both of them.

Lizzie spiraled into dread.

They couldn't continue to fight this war, they needed the aid station, too much blood loss and they'd die.

She couldn't even think of Catherine or Hazel's reaction.

" You work on Bill, Lizzie, I'll work on Joe." Gene told her as she walked up to him. She nodded and turned to Bill. She slowly crouched down in front of him, eyes filled with sadness.

" It's ok, kid." Bill told her softly.

" Bill..." she whispered, as she slowly pulled a bandage from her bag.

" It's ok, Lizzie, it'll all be ok." he told her, and her heart fell. She had to focus. She had to focus for Bill, to clean him up and make it easier for him.

" Doc, what can I do?" she heard a voice ask and glanced over her shoulder. It was Malarkey. She made eye-contact with him and her heart shattered. She had to focus back on Bill, to keep from her emotion getting the better of herself.

" Jesus, what's a guy gotta do to get killed around here?" Joe managed out. Lizzie squeezed her eyes shut, she couldn't focus or comprehend a thing.

" No." a cry came from above her and Lizzie and Bill looked over to see it was Catherine, standing there with tears running down her face.

Catherine collapsed to her knees.

Lizzie couldn't help but let a cry escape her own mouth, seeing how desperate Catherine was. It was so raw and emotional and true.

There was so much pain.

Bill sighed to himself as Lizzie worked cautiously on his wound. She bit her lip and looked back at Joe. He was her friend, they both were. She couldn't believe this was happening.

" Bill, you're going first." Catherine head Gene say, as she looked back at Joe, who was looking at his leg.

" Hey, Lip, they got old Guarnere this time." Lizzie watched Guarnere say as she prepared to help move his body to a stretcher.

" We got you, soldier." the stretcher bearer told him.

" Wait, Bill." Catherine stammered, as she crawled forward and looked at him.

" I'm sorry, about this all, I wish you can stay," Catherine managed, " You've become one of my best friends, I...I should've, uh, never-"

" Catherine," Bill said stopping her. She looked at him with tear filled eyes.

" Thank you." Bill said. Catherine felt a cry pass her lips and she nodded. Then Bill was lifted up and away from Catherine. Catherine shut her eyes, and forced cries down her throat. Lip watched as Lizzie sat motionless on the ground where Bill had once sat, trembling. He saw Gene and Malarkey doing their best for Joe. He saw Buck in the distance.

" Hey, Joe, I told you I'd beat you back to the states." Bill said as he passed by them, making a sob escape Catherine's trembling, pink lips. Catherine looked at Joe Toye with utter despair.

" Joe-" Catherine started but Joe stopped her.

" What he said." Joe said through a grimace and Catherine let out a whimper.

" Hey, Lip." a new voice called. George. Lip looked up from what had just happened and stepped towards George. George entered the scene and saw Catherine first. She was motionless with tears running down her face, unmoving.

Lip stepped in front of him before he could ask questions. Lizzie was slowly moving over to Joe's side and holding him up with Malarkey quietly. Catherine was quiet. But George then saw Joe, lying there with Malarkey by his side as Gene tried to fix him up.

" How's Buck?" Lip asked him.

" Luz, how's Buck?" Lip asked again, as George focused on the 1st Sergeant.

" He's fine." George said quietly. His voice trembled. Little did they know that George tried to pull Buck from his trance, but he was left on his knees.

" You sure?"

" Yes, he's fine." George answered, " I think you should probably go talk to him now, huh?" Buck was a distraught mess as well.

" Alright." Lip said. And then Lip walked away. George had to look away from Joe. George slowly crouched by Catherine's side. Catherine was motionless, her eyes staring forward, the trace of tears having disappeared from her face.

" Cath," George whispered as she looked towards him. George and Catherine met eyes in the frozen wasteland.

Her's were cold as his tried to rekindle a flame there.

It barely made a mark.

" Let's go." George whispered. Catherine softly licked her lips, before grasping onto George and letting him help her stand to her feet. Then with one final look at Joe Toye, George lead Catherine away from the spot where blood colored the ground and emotions ran at a steady incline.

George and Catherine sat quietly side by side in the foxhole. No words left their mouths and Catherine was surprised. They were talkative, especially together, but now they were silenced by war and pain.

" You okay Catherine?" George said, softly glancing towards her. Catherine met his eyes. there were tears, fresh tears in his eyes. Her heart fell, and her face scrunched up, as she watched his youthful eyes shine. Her heart broke, as she began to feel her bottom lip trembling, uncontrollably.

Catherine's heart raced. She never thought she'd see George cry, George upset emotionally, George with tears that weren't happy tears in his eyes.

" George." she whispered, scooting closer as a tear trailed down his cheek, " Don't cry, please." George watched her, taking in a shaky breath, as he wiped at his eyes. Catherine watched him, squeeze his eyes shut, and let out a shaky breath. Catherine sucked in a cry. This hurt. This hurt more than so many other things.

" George," she whispered, gently placing a hand on his shoulder as he met her eyes, " look at me, please." George met her eyes. Two tear filled pairs of eyes watched each other. Two hearts broken, yet only repaired slightly. They were still wounded, bearing too much pain, too much heart ache.

" Can I hug you?" George whispered, " Please?" Catherine nodded softly, her lip trembling as George's arms wrapped around her.

Catherine was frozen with George's arms around, frozen with the man's arms, who was happiest person she'd ever met, who seemed to have no bad day, who seemed to never let anyone get to him.

Who now was trembling in her grasp.

Catherine then felt her throat tighten and she squeezed her eyes shut. In that moment, her arms wrapped tightly around George and full, quiet, innocent cries, left her mouth one after the other. Her hand went up into his hair, pushing against his head to hold him there in her arms, as a sob shook her entire being. George tightened his grip on her and the two souls connected, sobbing for one thing, crying, their hearts aching in agony and pain.

They held each other when they needed to be held, right now was one of those moments.

Bill Guarnere and Joe Toye, made Easy Company, Easy Company, and with them gone, everyone had to fill those holes.

They'd always cared so much, for everyone.

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hey, so yes, this chapter finally made its sad appearance and this scene breaks my heart. and i feel just adding an emotional george and catherine was poignant because if you look at their characters, they don't seem like the people most affected by it, but in reality they are. an emotional george isn't written enough and i figured it was time for it here!! :) more chapters will be updated tomorrow, thanks for reading!!