'Boyd... Boyd it's time to get up.' Bible blinked a couple of times as his feet started moving nervously under the chair he was sitting on, but he refused to look at Don. Tears welled up in his eyes once more. 'Boyd.' Grady now put his hand on his shoulder. Initially, Bible wanted to shake himself loose, but he didn't. All he could think of, and all he could look at was Agnes.

The surgery had been performed, and according to the surgeon and two nurses who had performed it they had been able to remove all of the shattered pieces of bullet that had spread through her chest. But despite what they originally thought, tiny pieces had superficially hit her heart. Whether she was going to make it was up to God, for all they cared, the doctor claimed it was a 50/50 chance. For now, they had put her in a bed in a somewhat private ward of the hospital, reserved for any military above the rank of a private... Now that the war was over she could finally reclaim the rank that the British, and not the Americans had given her: Corporal Towler. Up in this ward it wasn't as filthy and crowded, actually, it was quite clean, white and bright. In here, as long as the white sheets covered the bloody bandages around Agnes' chest, it seemed like she was peacefully asleep. As if she was in her own bed. Ready to wake up at any minute. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't... For now, she had been asleep ever since she got out of surgery, six hours ago.

'Boyd. You have got to get up and you have got to come with us, the nurses prepared us food in the messing hall, you gotta eat.' Don spoke loud and clear. Boyd simply shook his head.

'I can't do that, Top,' he muttered softly. 'Someone's gotta stay with her, someone's gotta be there when she wakes up, I can't leave her alone.' Don kneeled down next to him.

'Boyd, now you listen to me very carefully. You did what you could. You just donated over a litre of blood to save her, now you need to save yourself, if you don't eat and rest now you're gonna end up in a hospital bed next to her, is that what you want?' Boyd closed his eyes, trying not to cry.

'She can't be alone.'

'We know. Gordo's gonna stay with her.' Boyd looked up to Gordo, who nodded, comforting him. 'Now all you gotta do is eat and sleep a couple of hours and then you can come back. She won't be alone.' Boyd sniffed and then nodded. Getting up was a challenge. He immediately grabbed Norman's hand, who happened to be the person closest to him. Dizziness took him over for a small moment, but he remained upright.

'See, there you go, you lost a lot of blood, you gotta eat.' Grady explained. Bible followed him, Don and Norman to the messing hall, while Gordo took his seat next to Agnes' bed. The hall was just two corridors away, and at this moment, it was mostly empty, except for a nurse who had started filling up four plates with chicken broth and bread.

'You can take place here, sir, I've put some sugar in your water, if you don't mind. It'll do you good,' she spoke to Bible as the men took place around the table. Bible managed to pull off the tiniest smile and thanked her. Before supper, of course, Bible said grace.

'Our Father, Lord in heaven, we thank you for preserving our lives another day on earth so we may execute your will. Thank you for this meal and wonderful company. May you find it in your heart to save our loved one from an end to her life on earth. May you find it in your heart to let Aggie live. For I love her as much as I love you, dear Lord. Amen.'

'Amen,' Norman repeated, simultaneously with Grady. He noticed Collier flexing his jaw in an attempt to control his emotions as well, before he said Amen and started eating together with them. However, after a few bites, Grady seemed to find trouble to continue eating. He sniffed and then looked up to the men. He wasn't crying, but his eyes were gloomy.

'Top.' Collier looked at him. 'We can't let her die.'

'I know that,' Don answered sternly.

'No, you don't understand. If she dies what do we deserve living for anymore?' A small silence settled before he continued. 'She saves us, we save her.' That was something Norman heard before, but had never gotten an explanation for.

'What does that mean?' Don, Grady and Boyd all paused eating, then Grady and Boyd looked at their sergeant. Don sighed.

'He's got a right to know by now,' Grady claimed. 'He's got a right to know why she's here.' Don nodded reluctantly.

'Bible, you're a preaching man, why don't you tell him the story...' Don suggested. Boyd nodded. Perhaps talking about her in a non-grieving way would make him feel better.

'We hit the beaches right after D-Day. Me, Grady, Gordo, Don and Red. Everything seemed deserted. For hours we drove into the mainland, and nothing. The Americans, and The British and The Canadians that had come before us had cleaned up almost every Kraut for us. So we were off-guard, but we didn't know what was still coming for us. Two Kraut machine-gun squads had gone unnoticed. We'd gotten out of the tank to scavenge for food... and then they caught us.'

JUNE 1944

'Gordo, halt here,' Don spoke over the intercom. It didn't take him long to drop his mic and open the hatch after that, and it was immediately necessary to grab his sunglasses. The summer heat had properly dampened up the inside of the tank, so he ordered his men to open all hatches as he got out. His feet landed in the sand after he jumped, and he had a quick look around. Nothing. As always. Nobody. Only dunes.

'We'll have a quick rest here,' he said to the other men. Red was the first to jump out of his hatch.

'Whooh, goddamn, it is hot in there,' he laughed.

'Grady see if you can fix that damage on the canon, just in case we encounter some Krauts I don't wanna be out of weaponry,' Don muttered to Grady who had only just popped his head outside.

'Roger.'

Red laid down in the sand, and Gordo sat down next to him. Both of them were just trying to catch the fresh air that the slight breeze on them provided, but their calm didn't stand for long. It only took minutes for them to hear bullets coming their way.

'Ambush!' Bible was the first to shout it, as Don already dropped to the ground. Gordo and Red immediately covered their heads, and Grady got back inside the tank. But they weren't being fired at, or at least... they weren't being hit.

'Hands in the air!' The German accent was so distinguishable that nobody questioned that statement for a second. Too slow to draw any handgun that they had on them, and completely caught off-guard, everyone put their hands in the air.

'You! In the tank! Hands up, and get outside!' Grady's hands slowly rose from the hatch of the tank, then his face, and his shoulders. He climbed out trying to keep his hands up, struggling not to fall. It was only then that the Krauts truly showed them. Two machine gun squads, ten Krauts fully armed, and they had completely trapped the American tankers in a dune ditch. They all approached, as they ordered everybody to stand up and line up on their knees with their hands on the back of their heads.

'Who's the informant?' It was a very calm question that the leader German officer asked. Everybody immediately looked at Collier hoping that he had any idea what this Kraut was talking about. He remained quiet.

'Who's the informant?!' The officer shot a bullet into the ground right in front of Bible, who flinched heavily.

'I don't know what the fuck you're talking about man!' he cried.

'The informant. We know you have put an American spy amongst our soldiers who feeds through information to smoothen the landing on France.'

'What?' Don spat out. He had no idea what this man was talking about, but toned down his voice when the officer pointed a gun at his forehead.

'Please,' he said calmly. 'I'm just a tank sergeant I don't know nothing about no informants we're just here to follow our battalion.'

'So you're their leader?' The officer pointed at the others. 'Very well.' He paced a few steps to the right, and ended up in front of Red. 'Then you must be the one who knows,' he smirked, looking at Collier, and then turned back to his soldiers.

'Töte die anderen, wir bringen ihn ins Lager.' Colliers eyes suddenly flashed extremely big.

'No!' he shouted. But it was too late for his bow-gunner. Without hesitation, the officer pulled his handgun, and shot Red through the forehead. Bible, who was kneeled down next to him screamed as his face was covered in brain and blood spatters. Then the Kraut moved on to him.

'BITTE!' Collier's voice had immediately turned louder and more desperate. He struggled not to cry out about the fact that one of his best friends just got shot in the head right in front of his eyes. The officer was not even interested in listening to him. In a smooth motion, he put the gun to Bible's head. The gunshot was loud. The following gunshots even louder.

The Krauts were silent as they watched their officer drop to the ground. They were permanently silenced when they got gunned down as well. The gunshots were followed by more silence. Bible opened his eyes that he had very stiffly closed when the gun touched his forehead. He saw nothing but a dead officer in front of him, and his dead friend beside him. His breath quivered as he looked to his other side, where Grady gave him the exact same shocked look, his hands still behind his head.

'What the fuck just happened...' he muttered. Gordo looked around as he put his hands back down and tried to get on his feet. All Krauts were dead. Gordo didn't get very far.

'Get back on your knees!' The voice in the distance was so loud and stern that Gordo didn't hesitate for a second to obey its commands.

'Hands behind your heads! Keep them there!' Everyone did what they were told, trying to look into the direction of the voice, searching for a source. It was found quickly. The source had decided to get up from the dunes they had been hiding in. Perhaps the reveal shocked the crew even more than their sudden rescue from death. It was a woman.

She walked downhill in the sand slowly, pointing a machine-gun at them, carrying a sniper rifle on her back. She looked like she was ready to shoot any of them when they moved. She stopped about 5 meters away from them.

'Who are you?' Her accent was British, Collier now recognised. He sighed.

'I'm sergeant Collier. This is my crew. Private Swan, Travis, Garcia and...' His glance fell down on Red's dead body. He didn't say anything. 'We're Americans, you can put your gun down now.' She did not put her gun down.

'I'm Corporal Towler. British army,' she stated.

'Will you put your gun down now please?' Boyd now asked her. She looked at him with squinted eyes.

'I can't. Not until you thrown all of your guns on the ground in front of me.' The crew exchanged some hesitant looks, but since they all had a machine-gun pointed at their face they had little choice. While the men reached into their pockets for their guns, and dropped them down, the woman reached into her pocket and got out a handkerchief. When everyone was done she handed it to Bible, so he could wipe all the blood off his face.

'Thank you,' Boyd said as she collected the weapons and then lowered her gun. She sighed as the men got up.

'I need your help.' Sergeant Collier was quiet for a second as he looked at her.

'Well since you just saved our lives I feel as though I owe it to at least listen to your request,' he answered a bit sarcastically.

'Listen. I cannot go back to my battalion. I cannot face them. All of my men, they are dead. The Krauts killed them and I didn't do anything to save them. That's the hard and only truth, I have nowhere to go.' She sighed after she was done talking. The crew remained quiet for a while.

'And you saving us is supposed to show that you're not just some deserter?' Bible's words were sharp, but the look she gave him in return was sharper.

'I was a nurse in Africa. I saved hundreds of lives like yours without a single hesitation. That was before the army caught word of what the people were saying about me. That I could read blockade signs from a mile away. That I was a fearless shot. That's when they started making me take lives, but I wasn't fearless enough to sacrifice myself to save the people under my command.'

'Why are you telling us all this?' Collier asked. She sighed.

'I couldn't save my men. There was no way. I saved you. Please...' She said no more than that. Collier looked her in the eyes as he noticed a change in the way she was looking. Behind the strong woman that she just introduced herself to be, he saw something else. Exhaustion. Desperation. He wondered how long she had been out here on her own. He decided to step towards her, and put out his arm. They grabbed each other firmly by the wrist, as if closing a non-spoken deal. He just nodded at her. In response she sighed, and slowly leaned the tip of her forehead onto his shoulder.

'Thank you.' Collier gently pushed her away.

'Make yourself useful. We'll need a new bow gunner.'

A/N: Yooooo, I know it's been over a year since I posted but I swear I'm still not dead. Still got an ending to this story and it's still not here! As always I don't know when I will be posting next, but until next time anyways! Let me know what you thought of the chapter, I love reading reviews! 3