It was all fun and games, until she saw something that had disturbed her right to her core.
She had felt someone shove into her, but they ignored her as they ventured forward. It was a group of men, and they were dragging a woman, who was clearly upset, to somewhere.
Wondering what was happening, Madison made her way through the citizens of Eindhoven, following them. She had lost them, because they had disappeared into a crowd that was shouting, and it by the sounds of it they were being malicious. She wasn't sure what they were saying exactly, but she could make out slut and whore and traitor in their native tongue.
Madison couldn't see beyond the crowd, as they were packed tight and they were all taller than her. (Jesus Christ, why did she have to be so small?) Wanting to know what was happening, she looked around, seeing if she could stand on top of something. It was her lucky day, because she found a street lamp, that was on top of a block of concrete. Seeing as that was her only option, she shoved her way through the more joyful side of the crowd and hoisted herself up on the block, using the metal pole to help her balance. When Madison finally saw what was happening, she was horrified, and regretted her decision to wanting to know.
In the center of the bitter circle of Dutch citizens (mostly men, Madison noted), there were women. They were forced onto their knees. Members of the Dutch Resistance, identified by the orange band around their bicep, were holding them down. They were shaving the womens' hair off and drawing Swastikas in ash on their foreheads. They tore at their clothes. Madison noted blood on their heads, most likely due to the force of the blades that cut any girl's prize procession (their hair). The women were crying out in pain, shame, and humiliation as they were being called terrible things. Madison's heart ached for them, and she was in tears, covering her mouth in shock.
What did they do?
"They slept with the Nazis."
Madison looked down to see a member of the Dutch Resistance looking up to her. Madison could only stare at him.
"They what?"
"The women. They went to bed with the Nazis," the Dutch man repeated.
They slept with Nazis. Madison gulped, her throat felt like on fire. She looked back to the crowd, and then back away, not being able to see such a horrific thing happen. She just...couldn't comprehend it. So much was whirling in her head. Did they know? Did they not know? Did...were they forced upon? Madison knew that sometimes, everything is never what it seems. She gulped, feeling rather horrified at any possibility of what happened, and what will happen to the women.
Without proof, it just wasn't right.
* * * * *
Everyone could tell that Madison was disturbed by something.
It was late at night, and they were camping out, for the lack of terms. Some were out doing patrols, but most were hanging back.
Madison was leaning against a post fence. She had done various things as she stayed in that position. First, when she sat down, she checked to see if she had her supplies (including the food that the Dutch had given her). Next, she took out her journal and scribbled furiously in it. She wrote to her family and friends. And finally, after she was done, she had dropped her journal (with her letters tucked deep inside), onto her stretched out legs. Then she crossed her arms across her chest and began to pout. Doc and a few others, such as Skip, Don, Luz, Alex, and Toye watched her do all three of these actions. They could tell something was bothering and as a group, they traveled to where their small friend was, and either crouched or sat at her level.
"Why so glum, Small?" Muck asked, a crooked grin on his face. She didn't respond.
"Maddie, come on, talk to us! What's the matter with ya? The Dutch girl got your tongue?" Luz asked, laughing at the thought. He had witnessed that small act. He bet that was the first kiss she ever had (and it was, but Madison is going to deny it if he asked her).
"No."
"Are you going to elaborate any further?" Don asked her. She looked at him, and then glanced at the others. They noticed that her eyes were glistening.
"Klein, what's going on?" Toye asked in a concerned, yet gruff, manner.
"You're not...you know..." Alex had quite a few sisters and some of them would sometimes act like this when mother nature was coming around for a visit.
"NO!" Madison yelled. The men all became startled and others were glancing over her way, and that's when Madison realized she yelled. She paused, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
"It's about what I saw back in that town today. I...did any of you see what they were doing to the women? The ones they said that slept with Germans?"
And that's when it all clicked in their heads. Some of them had seen what had happened, while others did not.
"Oh, Maddie, you can't think about stuff like that," Don told her.
"I can't help it. It's just...how did they know who did that? What if they were forced to...be with them? What if—"
"That's all it is, a whole bunch of 'what ifs'. It doesn't matter. They had to pay what the others thought was the price."
To save a long story, Madison found herself having a debate with most of her friends that night.
* * * * *
Madison found herself marching the next day, as Easy continued their travels. Many of the men found themselves riding in the trucks or on top of the tanks, but Madison and a few others were marching. Madison didn't mind, she found that she needed the walk. It was helping her clear out her thoughts more. She found herself conversing with Alton More as they made their way to their next destination.
When the company made it to the Nuenen town sign, they all saw someone on the side of the road. It was a result of what happened to those women who were deemed traitors, Madison could tell, even with her poor eyesight.
On the side of the road was a woman. She appeared to be thin and dirty. She was bald, and she was holding a bundle in her arms. As they got closer, Madison realized she was holding a baby. A baby. Holy Mary, this woman had a child! A child born from a German father, Madison had no doubt. Was it a product of assault? Madison couldn't help but think yes, yes it was. Her numb, shaking body was telling her this. There was no way that...
People truly had no remorse in this world. At least, they did not think or ask of possibilities.
"Get a move on, Klein!" someone yelled at her. She hadn't realized that she had stopped in her tracks and that everyone was still marching on forward. Shaking her head out of her thoughts, she continued to walk, but began grabbing a few items out. Mainly it was just some of her rations and jarred food she had received, simple medical supplies like a couple of bandages, and her own sanitary pads. (The woman still had to have those, right?)
As Madison got closer to the woman, everyone had their eyes on her. She could feel them as she went up to the much taller woman, who was looking at her, unsure at what Madison was going to do. Gently, Madison placed the items in either or hand or on top of her child. When she was done, Madison gave the woman a small, warm smile, which almost made the woman burst into tears. Madison did not know it, but she was grateful for what was done.
"Danke! Danke!" the woman was crying. Madison could only nod again, before she was getting yelled at again.
"Move it, Klein! I won't ask again!"
Madison fought her urge to sigh and roll her eyes as she finally obeyed his command, but the woman had quickly shuffled the jar that was in her hand to a different place and was able to grab Madison's wrist, who jerked back at the sudden reaction and turned to look at the woman.
"Wat is jouw naam?"
The Dutch language, as Madison learned, was pretty easy to understand. What is your name? Madison answered immediately.
"Madison. Madison Elizabeth Klein."
"KLEIN!"
Madison gave the woman one last smile, before leaving her. The woman watched as Madison walked away, before looking back at her baby and smiled, kissing her child on the forehead.
"Madison. Mijn kleine Madison."
The men who were around to hear her mutter that couldn't help but smile. For what Madison had done for this woman earned her a namesake. They made note to tell her about it later.
* * * * *
Easy Company didn't get to continue their travels very far.
It was calm before the storm. Madison found herself walking still, when she suddenly heard Bull yell, "LIEUTENANT!"
Her head snapped up immediately and before she knew it, she saw the lieutenant crumble to the ground. Immediately afterwards, she could hear a tank surge forward. Fear struck her, knowing that it wasn't their allies. She turned her head to the left, seeing that she was right. It was a German tank.
Oh shit.
"Fallout!"
No one needed to be told twice. Madison ran off to the side where the rest of the men were, diving into the trenches.
"Medic! We need a medic!"
Madison started going forward, but Roe, who was ahead of her, yelled back to her. "I got it! Stay here!" she nodded, holding onto her helmet so it wouldn't fall off.
Time had passed by quickly, because they were yelling for a medic once more. That wasn't good.
Madison hurried down the line of men, who had the orders to keep moving. Before she ran out into the open, she peered over the hill. She saw the problem.
The lieutenant was still on the ground, his neck bloodied and so was Roe, who was clutching to his leg. He must have gotten shot as well.
Quickly glancing around, Madison finally crawled out of the trench, straight over to the lieutenant and Roe. Glancing between the two, she decided to work with the lieutenant first. He had been grazed in the neck by a bullet. Okay, she could work with this. Using Roe's supplies (his bag had fallen to the ground when he got shot, and it laid out in the open), she swiftly added the sulfa and bandaged his neck, making sure his bleeding would stop. After making sure the lieutenant was stable, Madison crawled over to Roe.
"Where'd you get hit?" she asked.
"In the thigh!"
"Damn it, Roe," Madison muttered. "Alright. I'm gonna pull the lieutenant here out of the way, then I'll come back for you, alright?"
"Got it."
"Alright, let's do this," Madison whispered once again to herself. All seemed calm where they were, as if the fire had traveled into the town, if the explosions, gunfire, and yelling in the background contributed to the war. She pushed herself off the ground and grabbed the wounded lieutenant by his straps, and dragged him over into the grass, where he'll be safe.
After making sure he was alright, she went back for Roe.
"Do you want me to get that bullet out for you now, or later?"
"Later! Keep moving!"
"But, Eugene—"
"Madison, go! I'll be fine!"
Knowing that her friend was as stubborn as her, maybe even more, Madison ran off into the town.
* * * *
Madison couldn't decide which was worse: Carentan or Nuenen. At least, in the beginning it was hard. As she continued to travel into the town, it was clear that Nuenen was going to be difficult. Each battle would be harder than the last.
For the Allies, the fight was difficult. There weren't too many injuries that needed immediate attention. Men were usually killed almost instantly. When she did find a wounded man, she would patch them up quickly and made sure they were evacuated. She usually had to leave fairly soon, as the calls for a medic were frequent.
Even though she wasn't patching up the men at the moment, that did not mean that she was having a difficult time. She still had to dodge bullets left and right. Specifically, one of the German snipers kept shooting at her, trying to hit her. When she got near one of the brick walls, she dived right behind it. Finally, it seemed that the sniper had given up.
"Seriously, I thought the medics weren't supposed to be shot at?" Madison said to herself, as she kept moving. Wasn't the Geneva Convention supposed to protect the medics? She was certain that they were, but then again, it was all fair game in war. If you shot a medic, you could possibly kill a whole platoon.
As Madison ran past a building, the enemy decided that it was a perfect moment to blow it up with an arterially hit. Huge chunks of debris rain upon Madison, causing her to trip and stumble with her helmet falling off. She landed on her knees, before she sprang back up and grabbed her helmet off the ground, as it had bounced off from the impact of the explosion. She was lucky this time.
The next hit she received, however, was not in her favor.
Madison was running in the line of fire. The young medic remembered that the German tanks were right behind her. She saw a few of her comrades around her, but she didn't look at them to really see who they were. It also didn't help that their backs were facing her, since they were falling back.
No one saw it coming. The next thing Madison could remember was that there was a huge sound of combustion, momentarily deafening her. She felt something hit her in her left shoulder and in one of her thighs. Then everything went to black.
* * * * *
The men were being ordered to fall back.
Winters watched as the men were running towards him, to the vehicles; away from the town of Nuenen.
"Come on, let's go, let's go! Keep moving!" Winters was commanding. "Hurry up, let's go!"
"How bad?" Winters' best friend Nixon appeared by his side.
"I don't know, yet," Winters answered. It seemed like he had jinxed it because just after he had said it, there was a loud sharp ping! and Nixon fell back to the ground. A bullet had hit his helmet.
"Nix!" Winters yelled, and immediately he went to his friend's side. He crouched down onto the pebbly road and helped his friend up.
"I'm alright, I'm alright!" Nixon was saying. And he was. Even if the bullet had hit him, he was miraculously fine. There wasn't a scratch on him.
"Am I alright?" Nixon found himself asking, seeing that Winters was giving him a concerned look.
"Yeah. Yeah, you feel alright?" Winters asked.
"Yeah, quit looking at me like that!" Came Nixon's reply, as he scrambled off to lean against a tire of one of the military jeeps, with Winters following close behind. Then Lipton appeared.
"Cap, we got four dead and eleven injured," Lipton reported. This seemed to satisfy Winters.
"Okay, let's move them out." He and Nixon started to get up, but Lipton sprung his hand out against Winters's chest, stopping him.
"Oh, and sir? Randleman and Klein are missing."
* * * * *
A/N: Yay, another update! Honestly, I wasn't expecting this chapter to come nearly four months later, but life is full of surprises I suppose. School and (finally) getting a new computer is some contributing factors to the delayed publishing date, but better late than never, am I right?
That's all for our A/N catch up, and can't wait to see you all in chapter eleven! (I mean, if you want to know what happened to Madison, you might want to read it lol.)
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