UPDATED 05/11/2022. Didn't realize that the first sentence wasn't uploaded. My apologies! If you notice weird things like this in the book, let me know! Uploading content is not a perfect procedure.

* * * * *

Liebgott had told Madison about his own journey in Normandy, and Madison in return told him all the details that he didn't get from the others, which was a lot. He also informed Madison about how 90% of Easy Company was still missing. The two friends had also overheard Lieutenant Speirs saying that a majority of Dog Company was unaccounted for as well.

Where was everybody?

Madison didn't really have time to think about her comrades. She wouldn't allow herself to. She needed to think about the men that needed her help as now. So, as soon as Liebgott had dropped her off at the aid station they had set up, she set to work immediately. A lot of men needed help but there were hardly any medics around. Madison didn't see anyone else with the red cross around their bicep.

"Am I really the only medic here?" Madison asked one soldier. She was currently wrapping gauze around his temple. Many of the soldiers were bleeding from their temples, she noted. Many of them had concussions.

"You're one of the only few here, miss," the man replied. Madison paled. Fuck, she had to move around quick but make sure her treatments were effective for them.

Madison nodded. She excused herself as she went to the closest soldier to her, seeing what was wrong with him.

"Medic?" someone called out.

"I'm busy!" Madison called back. She started to assess the man in front of her. He had snapped his wrist somehow. There was nothing she could do but wrap up the broken wrist with a rod of sorts, gauze and medical tape. "This is the best I can do for now, I'm sorry. But take this, it could help." He handed her the pills that she had snatched from the dead German. She had realized it was a type of painkiller medication. Her grandparents had the same brand in their home.

"It's good enough for me. Thank you."

"Medic, please—"

"Maddie!" she heard Popeye call out. She turned around to see that a few other medics had come in, carrying Popeye on a stretcher.

"Holy shit," she breathed. "What the hell happened?"

"I got shot in the ass, ma'am," Popeye sounded like he was on the verge of tears. "I fucked up. I fucked up. I'm so sorry. I'm—"

"Do you have a place that we can set him down at? The bullet is still in him; no exit wound," one of the men told her.

"Yeah, of course," Madison scanned the place. She found an empty table. Perfect. '

"Over here," Madison waved them over, making her way to the flat surface. The men soon appeared with the wounded Popeye. "Set him down. I'll deal with him. Can you help out with everyone else? I got a lot of them in here, but there's more to come in soon."

"Of course," one of the men said. They left Madison with Popeye. She turned to him.

"Hey, Popeye, don't stress yourself out. It's okay," she tried to soothe him, but it was no use.

"I can't! I messed up the whole operation!"

"No, you didn't, Popeye. If you had, the world would probably have ended already," she assured him, patting his head with her hand. He seemed to calm down a little bit. "Now, I need to get this bullet out. Where did you say it was again?"

"In my ass, ma'am," Popeye answered. Madison couldn't help but laugh at his answer. She moved down a little bit, so she could get to his lower body area.

"It's not funny!" Popeye told Madison. This only made Madison giggle again.

"I know it isn't, I'm sorry. I promise I'll try not to laugh anymore," Madison's smile was rather huge for her promise of no more teasing. Even though she was about to dig a bullet out of a man's ass, his distress made it very amusing. Especially with his accent. "Now where is it...?" she whispered to herself.

She quickly found the wound, thanks to the blood that had seeped through Popeye's trousers. She had to cut through his trousers and boxers to get to the bullet wound. As soon as she saw it, she inwardly cringed. "Ah, Popeye..." she put sulfa on the wound, which made Popeye hiss. "I'm sorry, Pop."

"It's alright ma'am. You're just doing your job," Popeye said through gritted teeth.

Madison didn't have any tweezers or anything of the sort. She had to use a knife to get the bullet out.

"Are you ready?" Madison asked him. She could barely see Popeye nod his head feverishly. She could tell that he had stiffened up, ready to get it over with.

"Okay. One, two..."

And Popeye screamed.

* * * * *

After comforting Popeye, yet again, the men who brought him in told her that she needed to take a break.

"You've helped quite a lot," one of the men told her. "You need to take a break. You've been busting ass since you got here. Go outside." Madison had tried to protest, but he wouldn't listen. "No, you're worn out. I can tell you're exhausted. Take some time off. You can come back later."

Madison sighed. "Alright. Thanks."

So here she was now, sitting on one of the brick ledges that cut through the dirt. She hadn't fully realized how tired she was until she sat down. Her feet were aching. She wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn't. The boys that were already in the small village when she arrived were now doing an assault of some sorts. Many members of Easy were still missing.

"They'll be okay," she told herself, as she played with her switchblade. She wasn't really supposed to have it but Toye had snuck one to her. What a great friend he was.

"Who'll be okay?"

The sound of the voice made Madison look up from her entertainment immediately. She could see Luz, Perconte, and Roe standing in front of her.

Madison shot up from her spot and hugged Luz, the closest person in her reach.

"I see that someone had missed me," Luz smirked as he wrapped his arms around her. Madison pulled back and scowled at him.

"Most of Easy Company is missing, okay?" she explained as she greeted Perconte and Roe in a similar manner.

"You're kidding me," Perconte complained.

Madison shook her head. "Apparently, ninety percent of us are unaccounted for. Also, I heard that no one has heard from Lieutenant Meehan."

"Where did you hear that from?" Roe asked.

"I may have overheard Buck telling Winters," Madison answered innocently, shrugging. "Liebgott was taking me to the aid station. Popeye got shot in the ass, by the way."

Roe's eyebrows furrowed at the information. He was asking a silent question, which Madison had an answer for.

"I had to take the bullet out. He's going to be evacuated soon. I hope."

"So who's all here?" Perconte asked.

"Last I saw: Winters, Lipton, Compton, Malarkey, Gonorrhea, Toye, Popeye. That's all who I've seen, I think. Oh! Lieb and Cleveland, Petty, and Ranney are here too. They all went to do some sort of attack. I'm not really sure."

Luz whistled. "I guess the lot of us really are missing, huh?"

"All we can do is wait," Roe concluded.

* * * * *

Over the next three days, more members of Easy Company rejoined the unit. The only people who haven't returned yet were Floyd Talbert, Shifty Powers, and Skinny Sisk. Quite frankly, Madison was worried for them. Madison knew that they could stand their own ground, but still. Those were her friends, out there in the unknown with chances of being killed.

Since Easy had arrived in the town, there really wasn't much of anything to do. Madison was currently sitting behind Perconte and Dukeman. She was leaning outwards, currently carving something with her knife. Well, if you wanted to call it carving. Madison was just slicing off strips of wood to keep her hands busy.

"Well look who decided to show up, Floyd!" Madison heard Luz's cheerful boom, stopping with what she was doing. She looked up to see a new soldier had joined them, but she wouldn't have known that it was Tab if Luz hadn't said his name.

"Hey, Floyd, check this out," she saw Liebgott go over to him. He had some bright red fabric in his hands. Ugh. It was the Nazi Flag. Liebgott unfolded the red fabric and anyone could easily see the Nazi symbol that was smacked in the middle in the white circle.

Madison had noticed that a lot of the soldiers were picketing off of the Germans. She found herself disliking that. She thought it was disrespectful and not worth her time. The only time she would loot would be if the person had something that could be useful. She wasn't about to take any "prizes" of sorts. To her, it was a sickly move but to her comrades, it was something to take pride in.

"Yeah? Well, look at this!" Tab took something out, showing it to all around him. It was a German poncho. Madison's expression wavered.

"You're gonna get stabbed with that," Madison got up. She started to walk over to the group. "Mark my words, Tab: one day."

"Yeah, sure," Tab shrugged her off. "So how have you been?"

"Good, actually," Madison nodded. She was now in the surrounding group of soldiers. "Where have you been?"

"We've been fighting with the 502nd ever since we jumped," a new voice said. Madison's mouth dropped open with a silent gasp.

"Shifty!" Madison cried. Madison pretty much pushed Luz out of the way so she could hug her friend. "I've been worrying about you!"

"I've been worried about you, too, Maddie," Shifty responded. The two friends pulled away. "Where's Popeye at? I don't see him around."

"Oh, he had to be evacuated," Madison explained. She saw Shifty's expression turn into worry. She remembered that the two knew each other back in the states. They had signed up together. "Don't worry, he'll be fine! He just got shot in the ass. I was the one who had to get the bullet out." She soon saw Skinny and she greeted him too.

"Let's go! First Platoon!" Lieutenant Welsh yelled out. "Easy's moving out! Everyone on your feet!"

Madison yawned; one of her hands reaching up to her mouth to cover the action. This didn't go unnoticed by her friends.

"You tired?" Shifty asked her. Madison nodded.

"I've been working nonstop," she explained to him, as they walked over to join the others, who had joined Welsh.

"Listen up. It'll be dark soon, so I want light noise and discipline from here on," Welsh began. "No talking, no smoking and no playing "grab fanny" with the man in front of you, Luz."

Madison held in her groan. If Luz tried that on her again she was going to snap his wrist in half. She didn't have time for games.

"Where're we heading?" one man asked.

"We're taking Carentan. It's the only place where the army from Omaha Beach can link up from. While we take Carentan, they're stuck on the sand. General Taylor is sending in the whole Division."

"Remember boys, give me three days and three nights of rough fighting, and you will be relieved!" Everyone laughed at Luz's impersonation of General Taylor. He was somewhat of a laughing stock to the division.

"Lieutenant, I'll take point," Hoobler volunteered himself.

"Corporal Hoobler will be lead scout. And Blithe, glad you could join us."

"Thank you, sir."

"First Platoon: following behind Fox Company. You people from second and third, follow us. Shake a leg," Welsh concluded, before they all filed out.

Luz mimicked General Taylor one more time. "Another thing to remember boys, flies spread disease, so keep yours closed!"

Everyone laughed again, Madison included.

* * * * *

It had been a week since they'd dropped into France, and Easy Company reached the town of Carentan. Madison had a feeling that there was going to be a battle going through the town, and she was right.

Winters had ordered Welsh to lead First Platoon into town and then he would follow with Second and Third behind him. Welsh had agreed, and he had ran into town with a few men.

Things got ugly real fast.

As soon as First Platoon was in sight, shots were being fired right at them. Everyone had ducked to the side of the road and into the ditches that led them into Carentan. As soon as everyone took cover, however, they were forced to keep on moving on. After all, how the hell were they going to secure the town if they weren't even in it in the first place?

Madison heard Winters screaming at them to go, so being the good soldier that she and her fellow friends were, they all went. Many had to stop and take cover before they could clearly enter the town.

When Madison entered Carentan, it felt like hell was breaking loose. As she ran throughout the town, making sure she was there if she was needed, she had to duck and cover every other second. It was starting to get on her nerves. Why couldn't the opponents just let her do her job, damn it; her job description was literally on her uniform! She wasn't going to kill anybody!

As she ran past her fellow comrades, patting them on the back for support, she heard someone yell out for her.

"MADDIE!"

Madison stopped for a moment in the middle of a war zone to see that Tab had called out for her, and he wasn't alone. He was crouching near Lipton, who was bleeding.

Verdammte Scheiße!

Madison ran as fast she could (which was pretty fast, if you asked her herself) over to the two, crouching on the other side of Lipton. She took note that there was a bloody streak that ran across his cheek. He was probably going to have a scar there. There was dust and rubble covering Lipton and as she looked down at his body she noticed that there was blood coming from...that area.

"I am too young to see this," she muttered to herself. Only Lipton heard her say that and a look of puzzlement quickly appeared on his face before it disappeared.

Madison tore the fabric of the sergeant's pants near his crotch area.

"How does it look, Floyd?" she looked up to her friend who quickly studied their Sergeant before looking up to him. While I have seen diagrams, I've never seen a penis in person, Madison couldn't help but think. She thought the area was fine, but was it?

"Everything's right where it should be, Sarge," Tab informed Lipton. Lipton nodded. He felt Madison putting pressure onto the area where he was bleeding while simultaneously looking for something to help clean his wounds on his face.

"You may need stitches for both of your wounds, Lipton. I can get someone else to do the stitching for you, if you wish. Right now, we should get you out of here. Come on, Tab, we need to get him up."

"I'll make sure he'll get to safety. You go on," Tab told her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Lip will be fine. There's others who'll need your help," Tab nodded. "Go!"

Madison stared at him for a moment before standing back up and running off towards only God knew where.

Bullets flew by her. She could hear explosions coming from almost anywhere in the town. Every other second, it seemed like someone needed her. She was glad to help, though, and a lot of the wounds weren't as bad as she thought they would have been.

Then along came Liebgott and Tipper. Sweet, sweet Tipper.

Well, she had passed by them first, actually. Roe had found her and informed her that the wounded were getting evacuated to a bar of some sort, seeing as that was one of the only places that wasn't touched by the war and had plenty of space to get people in and out of there.

After the two medics went their separate ways, she heard Liebgott before she saw him.

"MADDIE!"

Everyone had seemed to be calling her that more and more now, she had subconsciously noted. She ignored that small bit of her mind and looked to her right, her jaw almost dropping in horror at what she saw.

It was Liebgott with Tipper, a man everyone got along with in the company. She could barely make them out, but she saw that Tipper was badly wounded with Lieb cradling him in his arms.

Holy Mary, mother of God.

"Verdammte Scheiße," Madison whispered to herself, as she quickly jogged over to Liebgott and Tipper, kneeling beside the two. She turned to Liebgott, who looked like a wreck himself. "What happened?"

Liebgott tried to speak, but there were no words coming out of his mouth. After a couple moments, Madison held her hand up, letting her friend know to stop talking.

"Never mind. Roe told me where the wounded are being taken to. Let's go there so I can check Tipper out, alright?"

* * * * *

A couple soldiers had escorted Madison, Liebgott, and Tipper to the bar that Roe had mentioned. He was right, there was plenty of space.

"Just set him down anywhere," Madison told Liebgott. He listened, laying his friend down on one of the tables. That was a start.

"Alright, let's see what I can do here," Madison softly pushed Liebgott to the side, appearing at Tipper's side.

"Hi, Tipper, how're you feeling?" Madison started as she softly began to clean the blood away from his face. By God, there was blood everywhere. It was all over the place. Tipper's body, the table, it was like he left a trail. Hopefully the Germans wouldn't find them here.

"I'm, I'm—" Tipper started to speak, but he couldn't. He was just shaking by this point.

"It's alright Tipper. Everything will be okay. I promise," she pushed his hair back in a soothing manner. She wanted Tipper to be as calm as possible and it appeared to be working. Helping Tipper reminded herself of when she took care of Mikey that one time he was sick. Their father and brother were working, their mother was out and about doing whatever mothers did while it was only Madison and Morgan home. They had ended up getting sick too. Children are wonderful, are they not?

As Madison cleaned up Tipper the best that she could, she was telling him all about herself. She had quickly figured out that talking to her patients somehow lessened the pain for them. It kept them distracted.

Madison knew that Tipper had to be evacuated, his injuries were too grave for him to keep moving forward. After she was finished with the man, she kissed his forehead in a motherly manner before leaving Spina to make sure he was fine.

Madison didn't want to leave Tipper, but she needed to find Liebgott. She needed to know if he was alright. He appeared to be shaken up over Tipper. It didn't take her long to find her much taller and much older friend outside of the makeshift aid station, smoking a cigarette.

"Joe?" Madison softly said. She wasn't sure if he had even heard her. It took a moment for Liebgott to turn and look down towards his much smaller and younger friend. "Hey, Joe. I saw that you were shaken up by what happened with Tipper and I wanted to make sure that you were alright."

"Well, I'm not," Liebgott quickly snapped at her. Then he recoiled. "Sorry, but I'm really not happy with myself right now. I was with him and I turned my back on him for one fucking second and then—"

"Joe," Madison interrupted. "Stop for a moment. Calm yourself and take it slowly."

Liebgott sighed, following Madison's orders. He hated that she could help him feel better. How the hell could she do that? No one could really tell him to shut up unless they were his mother.

After he was done arguing with his thoughts, Liebgott was silent for a couple moments before he spoke again.

"I was with him," Liebgott began quietly, lowering his arm with the cigarette down. "We were clearing out a shop, Tipper and I. He went in and I turned my back on him and the next thing I know the artillery hit the building and I ran over and