Here is the edited and revised chapter one! Thanks to reviews from Starscream and Spyder and even SmokyCity Sky. (at least he reviewed.) xD review answers are at the end of the chappy, so ya. review. :)
Summary: 1944. Eastern Europe. After suffering a great loss, Lieutenant Haruka Tenoh and her small group of men retreat to a town nearby the mission area looking for a doctor. Upon arriving she bumps into a woman with Aqua blue locks. But when June 6th arrives and Haruka is needed in her fated battle, a choice must be made.
Where are you doc?
Running. She was running for her life. What could she do? She was trapped. Trapped like a rat in a cage. Running as fast as her legs could take her, she hopped fences. A dead end was coming. She knew it. But still, she didn't stop. Her legs moved mechanically. Not even stopping once for breath, she kept running and running. She was drenched in sweat, her vision almost blurred by the amount of water streaming out of her perspiring body. Her legs ached. She wanted to stop. She wanted to just stand there and be caught. But she didn't. Haruka Tenoh was far too proud to fall over like a dead dog. So she ran.
Pleading, she hoped someone would call her. Someone would call out to her and radio her in. Someone reachable would be near by. Cursing herself as she kept running, she saw the woods in front of her. A chance. Quickening her pace, she used most of whatever energy she had left and pushed her way through branches and leaves into the safe-haven of the forest. As she continued, she felt the tiredness of her days coming back to her. She had made it a good 200 meters into the forest, but her legs couldn't take her any farther, feeling fatigue from almost 1hr. of sprinting. Her radio crackled, "Lieutenant Uranus, this is Beaver, do you copy?" She fell to her knees, "I repeat" the voice grew frantic, "Lieutenant, Beaver speaking, do you copy?" A scoff left her lips as she fell face first on the cold ground, "Haruka, it's Riley, talk to me! Haruka!"
Annoyed by the voice yelling at her as her efforts to fall asleep proved to be in vain, she slowly unlatched the large handheld radio from her belt and brought it up to her face, using as little energy as possible, "Took you guys long enough…" her breathing labored, she struggled to stay awake.
"Haruka! Where are you?"
"Somewhere in the woods by point…what was it…oh yeah…somewhere by Charlie…"
"Ok, hang on Lieutenant! We're sending Spidey and Rock to come and get you! Don't die on us sir! We'll receive an unsatisfactory grade from the Colonel if you do!"
She couldn't help but laugh, causing her sides to throb with pain, "Then you'd better hurry up…"
Static, "This is Private Langley speaking, codename Spidey, sir. Private Whittaker, codename Rock, and I are en route to your position sir. Hang on Lieutenant, please."
"Roger that…don't worry, I'll stay alive, what would you guys do without me after all?"
There was silence. All she wanted to do was fall asleep. She wanted to forget everything, her soldiers, her pains, and her life. She just wanted to fall asleep. Was that so much? She was about to succumb to wants when the thick accent of agitated Germans reached her ears, "Dammit, where did he go?"
Haruka's eyes shot open. Slowly and quietly lifting herself little by little, she tried to focus on the direction the voices were coming from, "Search the parameter, we don't want this bastard getting away." Listening to the shuffling of the feet, Haruka made out that there were three men, each carrying standard German MP40s with an average of 15 rounds left out of the beginning 32, and one extra magazine attached to their belts. Considering the sound made from the stomping of their boots, they were merely privates, the leader nothing but a corporal sent out by his Sergeant to clear the surrounding area with his two underlings. Their lack of knowledge for the battlefield didn't help them any either as they rushed about.
Haruka found them. They were about 100 meters west of her position. She peeked from a nearby bush and watched as they 'scouted' if anyone could even call it that, the area for her. Pulling out a worn Walther P38 she 'confiscated' from one of the enemy soldiers, she closed her left eye and looked dead ahead. Right in front of her was the most brutish of the three. Trying to keep her breathing and hand steady, she aimed. She waited until the other two parted from him, and he was left to keep watch. As she heard the rustling leaves to her left and right, she fired. The bullet went straight through the back of the burly man's head. He let out a choked sound and fell to the ground, knees first.
She took a deep breath and sighed, calming her nerves. Hearing the two other men come back, she had to quickly move her position. She quickly and silently made her way to her left, making sure to get a good look at the spot of where she last stood. Suddenly, she heard the voice of, who she thought was, the leader yelling, "Ivan! What happened?!"
Haruka listened closely as they continued their conversation, and as the man named Ivan spoke, "Evans sir! He's been shot! The enemy's near by and well enough to shoot, we shouldn't take him lightly."
"Look that way, the bullet came from that direction." His voice was low and menacing as he pointed to Haruka's old position. Amateur indeed. She held her right arm as she tried to calm it. The small recoil had been too much for it. She believed there to be a fracture here and there. There was a grunt in agreement as footsteps neared her.
Taking a deep breath, she lifted the pistol up with both hands once more and took aim straight in front of her, trying to keep it as simple as possible. As soon as the somewhat overweight form of the sluggish 'soldier' stepped through, Haruka sucked in a breath and pulled her trigger, sending the bullet through the soldier's jaw. Hearing the gunshot, Haruka could hear the leader's sharp intake of breath. She heard him curse, and heard as his breathing grew slow and fearful, "All right, where are you?! Show yourself! Fight like a man!"
Haruka watched as the man turned and turned, fear and nervousness etched deeply into his facial expressions. She smirked. She moved once more, to an opening to her left. From the bushes, she could see clearly the form of the almost skinny, almost fat man as he panicked. For the third time in less than 5 minutes, she lifted her pistol up yet again and aimed. A shot was fired.
Haruka felt limp. Her eyes were dazed. She could feel the darkness beginning to surround her. She watched as her now bleeding right arm trailed blood, and the sight of a rifle-man re-loading from her peripheral vision. Shit. But, more gunshots were heard as familiar voices reached her ears. She looked around for a while and found Langley and Whittaker taking out the enemy at a quick pace. That was the last she saw, before the long overdue sleep overtook her fatigued body, and the darkness filled her eyes.
--
Awaking to the mutters and whispers of the soldiers in her brigade, Haruka reluctantly opened her eyes. She found herself being carried on a man-made stretcher. She groaned as she tried to get up. The man known as Whittaker turned to face her. He was a burly man. He had a goatee and short cropped hair. His muscles were big and he looked menacing enough, if only there wasn't that twinkle in his copper eyes. He was kind gentle, yet strong and firm. He was a good soldier, and a good friend, "Lieutenant, glad you're awake. We thought for sure those damn Germans had gotten you!"
Another man, lanky, bony, and overall small walked called out to her from behind the stretcher his fellow soldiers carried, "Yes sir, we thought for sure you were dead!" Langley, small and weak, but smart and agile. His movements were swift and pre-planned. He smiled that goofy smile as he propped his glasses back up with his middle and forefinger.
"Yeah, me too…" was the weak answer Haruka gave.
The surrounding 6 men around her all gave a hearty laugh as their Lieutenant sighed out loud and placed an arm over her face. That's when she noticed it. 6 men. 6 men were left in her company, she knew she started with 25. She sat up startled, causing the four men, including Whittaker, to almost drop her by the action, "Whoa Lieutenant, watch out, or we might be the death of you." Haruka looked at the soldier. He was about Whittaker's age. He was a man of tall stature, even a bit taller than herself, ten years older than her, being at the age of 33. He had medium length curly hair and eyes the color of the sky, his name, James Harbory, and Englishman who turned to America in hopes of finding a dream to pursue.
"What happened to everyone else?" She asked the question frantically, hoping not to hear what she thought she would. Everyone turned away from her and sighed, "Hey, what happened?!" She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was the hand of Yuu Ji Cho, or Yuji, as they liked to call him. He came to America from Korea, wanting to escape his family for reasons he had not enclosed. He was a few years older than Haruka, short and messed black hair, those common slanted eyes and a strong stature. The built man sighed. He carried his canteen in his left hand as his right squeezed Haruka's shoulder.
"They were lost. Teams D, B, and E did not respond, and our team, Team C, lost three in an ambush. Whittaker and I were the only survivors, luckily we were able to flank the enemy and attack from their blind spot. Unfortunately, Bear, Rowdy, and Snake didn't make it."
Haruka looked down, but grabbed her right arm as she realized it was pulsing uncontrollably. She rolled up her dark blue sleeve and found gauze atop of where her wound was. Blood was seeping through. A sixth man spoke up, "Ah shit, look what you've done Lieutenant! We warned you not to move so much, we could only patch it up with gauze until we got you to the nearest doctor, which won't be for another day or so if we walk!" Haruka weakly turned to face the man. He was short for his age of 30 and had a buzz cut. He frowned at her, his short forehead wrinkling into worry. Peter Kayman, the medic of the group.
Haruka smiled a faint smile, "Sorry, but really, I can walk on my own." The procession stopped and looked at each other, then at the smiling Haruka. Sighing, Whittaker, Riley, Cho, and Harbory lowered the self-made stretcher and let Haruka off. She slowly got off and bent her legs. All the fatigue she had felt from the last fight had gone away. She was fully refreshed, "Hey, how long was I out for?" The men all looked at each other, until Cho came out.
"Well sir, you were out for around a day or so, we even made camp as you slept."
Haruka grabbed her head. She walked around for a bit, wobbly at first. Then she stood straight up and finally took a gander at her surroundings. They were somewhere on field. The dust blowing in the wind nearly made Haruka choke from the dryness. The few plants and scarce amount of trees bordering the Mountains were the only sort of sanction Haruka and her team could find. Mountains were to the West of them, and the scent of the forest to their East. Haruka couldn't help but feel a little lost, the vastness of the land before her making her blink several times, "Hey Pete, how long did you say it would take to get to a town?"
"Hmm? You should ask Langley sir, he's the one who filled me in."
"Langley?"
"Well, I estimated the length of time it took us to get here from the base, and I specifically remember looking at the map before leaving. I believe there should be a rather small town about North West from here, if I calculated correctly, about a day's walk away. Not too far sir."
Haruka absently nodded as she looked into the direction of the tall mountains standing to her West, "Whittaker."
Whittaker walked to his commanding officer, "Yes?"
"What happened to your team's mission?"
"Fortunately sir, we completed our mission and diminished the Krauts' explosives quarry. Unfortunately, upon arriving to the extraction point, our transportation was ambushed and disposed of by a team of stragglers that we failed to pin point."
Deep in thought, Haruka closed her eyes and sighed, "All right, if Langley is right, then we should get a move-on, we all don't look so good." As she said that, she took a look at her men, bedraggled and weary. A few injuries were present also, mostly from running through bushes and trees. Though one particular sight caught her eye, she faced Cayman and inspected the splint she had failed to notice earlier, "Pete, what happened?"
Pete looked to where she was referring to, "Oh, this? This happened shortly after you parted from us to secure the outer perimeter of the warehouse. We were clearing the weapons cache like you commanded, but there were some guys that gave us some trouble. I ended up having to dodge out of the way of some bullets, but as you can see, I landed on my arm. I'm fine though, I shouldn't have any problems as long as I treat it properly. I don't even think I need a doctor's help. I'm fine."
Haruka faced the rest of her men, some stretching their shoulders, others taking off jackets to cool off, "Ok men, here's the deal. Once we get into town, we're gonna look for a doctor. You're all going to see him, understand? That's an order by the way."
The men looked at her skeptically before relenting and relaying a strong, "yes sir!" her direction. Haruka smiled proudly and looked to the North West.
"Well then, we shouldn't wait here for too long, we've got a long day to go."
Indeed they did. For most of the day, they walked, a few breaks here and there when they were lucky enough to find some shade. Their water ration ran out halfway into the day, each man already drinking up both their canteens full of water from the last river about a day ago. Night came slowly to them, and it was all so dreadful. They set up camp at the edge of the mountains, a few trees here and there, creating a decent place to sleep while outside.
Loud thumps were made as each man set down their small packs and curled up by the fire Haruka had made procured. Sighs of relief and groans were heard here and there as the men sat back and relaxed. Sure, it was cold as hell, but at least they were alive, "No dinner tonight men, we used the last of our rations at lunch, but don't worry, if we make good time in the morning, we just might be able to make it into town by mid-afternoon, where we can get some real food in our stomachs."
The night was quiet. Overcome by fatigue they passed out almost immediately after Haruka stopped talking. She herself felt the tiredness of the day getting to her. She yawned and laid back on her packs as she let the stars guide her to sleep.
--
Haruka woke up. The surroundings were still dark, the sun still set. Barely being able to see she stretched and rubbed her eyes. The fire had gone dead, and the cool breeze was giving her a joyous feeling. Wanting to make it into town before late afternoon, she woke her men, "All right guys! Time to get up, if we make good time, it'll be good weather on our way."
Slowly, the men got up and grumbled a bit here and there. Then, they heard them. Gunshots. Each man stopped what they were doing and looked at each other, grim looks matching those of the man opposite of them. They turned to Haruka, who gave them the sign to hush. She signaled them to follow her and swiftly she grabbed her pack and moved to a closed area behind some tress and bushes. They hid well, lying on their stomachs, guns in hand. Haruka watched cautiously through the top of the bush, being careful to hide her blonde hair with a spare shirt she had in her pack, blending her in with the tress and bushes nearby. She slowly and carefully re-loaded the P38 and blinked as a small group of Soviet soldiers made their way past her small brigade. There had to be no less than 15 soldiers in the group, more than twice her numbers. She perked up her ears as voices reached them.
"Those Americans are idiots! They should just roll over and die already!" Laughter was followed soon after as the men cheered their obvious victory over some unlucky brigade. Haruka looked over to her men who were injured and weary, yet ready to fight. Smiling sympathetically, she shook her head and pointed the direction to her backs, the direction to the nearest town.
One by one, they clenched their teeth, but relented, knowing their Lieutenant knew what was best. They crept along the dirt path on their stomachs and followed the wall of the mountain past a corner. As Haruka was about to round the corner, the German's voice made her ears perk up, "What was that?" the group turned the direction Haruka and her small group was going. Haruka's men looked back at her. She simply waved them away, a sign saying everything would be fine and to go on without her. They once more relented and went downwards to the wall and towards the town. Sighing, Haruka quietly slipped out of her jacket and into her black shirt. She did the most dangerous thing anyone could do. She stood up and faced the enemy. The soldiers turned to face her and pulled their firearms up, "Who's there?" the same man from before shouted, his handgun held to the direction of her head.
Haruka took a deep breath, "It's just me, Alfred, my commanding officer told me to come here if we were separated." the soldier looked at her seemingly nonchalant eyes and squinted. He tensed for a second, but nodded to the rest of his troop to drop their guard.
"I see. Who's your commanding officer?"
Haruka's trained mind quickly registered the name of a Captain she was told to watch out for in the battlefield, "Lieutenant Alois Alexander."
"I understand. You're free to join us if you wish. We're heading up to the base camp up past the next town."
Haruka was a damn good actor, she scratched the back of her head and placed her other hand on her waist, giving the ground a quizzical look, "I think I'll wait a day more for some people to join me here. Might I get your name? You know, if I need clearance or something."
"Suit yourself, and just ask for Anton. They'll know."
With those words, he walked off, the rest of his brigade in tow. Haruka saluted him and waited for his silhouette to disappear in the morning darkness. Sighing with relief, she headed the direction her men had gone, expecting them to be long gone by now. Instead, she was crowded by her men, who said nothing, for which she was thankful for. The rest of the trip was uneventful, thankfully, and as Haruka promised, they arrived at the town about mid-afternoon.
"Finally! Civilization!" Whittaker yelled as he neared the town.
The seven soldiers all cheered and hooted as they made their way into town. The first place the men went was the bar, of course. Haruka, though, had decided on another course of action, "I'll meet you all here later, I'll bring you for your check-up once I find the doctor." They all waved her off, something they close to never did, as they watched the bar keep pour them drinks. Haruka shook her head and walked out. When they entered, Haruka noticed the eyes on them. She shrugged them off and kept on walking. She closed her eyes, her left arm supporting her right. Suddenly, a squeal and bump made her eyes open.
Upon opening her eyes, she could only catch a glimpse of aquamarine locks. Confused, she looked down to find she had accidentally knocked down a young woman around her age. Realizing how rude she had just been, Haruka knelt down, "I'm sorry miss, are you ok?" She reached her left hand out to the fallen woman and a sorry smile graced her features. The smaller woman, dressed in a simple white and blue dress with floral patterns here and there took the hand gently and lifted herself up with the help of Haruka.
"Oh please, don't worry about it, I should watch where I'm going sometimes." She looked up at Haruka a smile on her face. She was beautiful. Her wavy hair hugged her face nicely as the feminine, soft, and definitely tantalizing features of her face was accentuated by the rays of the sun. She displaced her hair behind her left ear and held out her hand to Haruka, "Thank you."
Lost in a daze, Haruka was slow to answer, "Oh, of course." She gently landed a kiss on the back of the woman's hand. She giggled.
"I hope you well, especially with being a soldier and all."
Haruka knew that she should ask where the doctor's was, but she was too busy looking at this girl, no, angel in front of her that she was speechless. Haruka could only nod as the girl walked down the street, her movements graceful, yet firm. She was delicate, but somewhere in there, a woman just as strong as Haruka herself lay. Her name…damn…ah well, Haruka kept on walking aimlessly down the street, a few pedestrians here and there, now, to find that doctor…
Spyder – Hey, thanks a bunch for your review. I really appreciate what you said. I didn't realize how half-assed I'd been writing this story until you reviewed. I read it and I felt disgust churning in the pit of my stomach. xD I edited the writing and changed the setting, and the story to match up with WWII more. Thanks for your review and It'd be super awesome if you kept reviewing. 8) (and your right, the russian was stupid. I realized it was just a waste of my time. --")
Starscream – I also want to thank you. Thanks to you, I've decided to match things up with WWII's timeline. I'm trying to get my hands on a copy of "Saving Private Ryan" but so far, I've got no time to go anywhere, which is why I'm writing. xD I've done a little research and gotten a little more background, hopefully along the course of the story, I'll be able to do it correctly. Thanks for your review and you too! Review again and reprimand me for bad writing xD
Huuuuuuuuuuuuge thanks to Spyder and Starscream again xD couldn't have done it without you guys, though I'm sure you'll catch grammatical and historical errors all over the place. Sorry. I tried my best.