Fortunately, Reiben’s fears did not come to fruition; our night of rest atop the hill passed by quietly. We had set up a night watch rotation again but, just like the first time, nothing eventful happened. Sergeant Horvath got us all up at the crack of dawn, since we’d turned in early the night before. We quietly had a quick meal, then moved out. Captain Miller had Reiben take point, so Miles and I fell in with Zach and Cora in the back of the group as we trekked across the countryside.

“We’re almost done with this, right Lee?” Miles asked in a hushed voice, after a few hours of travel.

“Done with what? The Mission?” I asked back, Zach and Cora looking on curiously. Miles just nodded and looked at me expectantly. “Tomorrow should be the deadline,” I stated, checking the black watch stuck around my left wrist. “Yeah, today’s the twelfth. Only one more day, and we can leave. As long as we rescue Ryan, and survive the last battle, we should be fine.” I smiled weakly, lowering my arm.

“But the battle in Ramelle… It’s the worst battle in the movie, isn’t it?” Zach asked next, as he examined the screen on his watch. “Besides D-Day, I mean.”

“Yeah…” I admitted, shrugging. “The Germans outnumber the Americans and have a few tanks. Keith said there were four, right?” I asked, to which Miles and Cora just shrugged.

“That’s right,” Zach replied, the teen scratching his head. “I just hope we can get through that.” He sighed, and the rest of us shared the sentiment.

“Hey, what do you guys think the ‘Island’ is really-” Miles started, but was cut off by Cora.

“Stop,” the medic ordered, looking ahead with a slight nod towards Captain Miller. The captain had his hand up, displaying the universal signal to halt, and was crouching with a knee to the ground. We were about to pass by a small copse of trees, but the others matched Miller’s position, staying low and leaning into the trees. Horvath slinked back to us, hopefully to explain what was going on.

“Why are we stopping?” Miles asked with a whisper, once the sergeant was in earshot.

“Dead paratroopers,” Horvath whispered back. “Three of them, shot to pieces and just lying there on the other side of those trees.” He motioned for the line of trees at that.

“Jesus. What now?” I asked, my voice as hushed as the others’.

“Captain’s gonna check it out. He wants you to come with us, Quinn, if your arm’s alright,”

“Got it. Arm’s fine,” I whispered back confidently, flexing the ‘wounded’ left arm then shaking it out. “Barely hit me.”

“Good. The rest of you, just get to the trees and stay out of sight. Quinn, let’s go.” We slinked up to the treeline, and Horvath took me off to the side, where Miller now knelt. The captain had a pair of binoculars over his eyes, staring at a small structure a ways off. Three small towers with panels connecting them. By the look of those panels, there used to be a few more of them.

“Is that an old radar site, Sir?” I asked, taking a knee behind him and to the left, Horvath doing the same thing on the right.

“I think it is, Quinn,” Captain Miller stated, Horvath agreeing as well. “There’s a sandbag bunker at the base. Looks like a machine gun encampment,” Miller grunted. “Come on.” He slowly crept backwards, returning to the rest of our squad. I looked to Horvath, who simply nodded, and we followed the captain.

“Did you find anything?” Miles asked me nervously, when we returned.

“Captain says it looks like a machine gun,” I replied, as the ten of us knelt in a circle.

“Probably an MG-42,” Sergeant Horvath agreed.

“I guess that’s what got those guys, then,” Maxley said softly, looking towards the dead paratroopers just on the other side of the thicket. I saw them for the first time then as well. They looked like they’d been dead for at least a day or too, and all the blood had dried. I just shook my head and focused my attention back to our group.

“Think one of them’s Ryan?” Mellish asked, looking at the captain hopefully.

“No, their patches are 82nd, so your luck’s not that good. Ryan’s 101st,” Miller answered, as he began to fiddle with his belt. He dropped his pack and a few other unnecessary items, then removed his outer jacket.

“Captain?” Reiben asked, removing his helmet. “If we move out quick and quiet, we can get away before they’ll even know we were here. Captain, what I’m trying to say is, can’t we just go around them?”

“I hear what you’re saying, but we can’t go around it,” Captain Miller said solemnly.

“Captain, I agree with Reiben here,” I stated, looking between my friend and the captain. “We left the artillery that took out the jeep, right?”

“For the Air Force. Even if we could tell them about this, they wouldn’t send anything to take out one damn machine gun.

“Captain…” Mellish started. “This isn’t part of our mission, Sir. Can’t we- We don’t need to go for them, we can just skip it.”

“Mellish? You want to just leave it here? Let them ambush the next squad that comes along?” Miller asked back, frowning.

“No, Sir, that’s… I mean, it seems like an unnecessary risk given our objective, Sir…” Mellish replied, deflating a bit. I agreed with him completely, nodding when he was done.

“Our objective is to win the war,” Miller said simply, and that was the end of that. He led us a bit closer to the radar site, and we got ready to engage. “Alright, here’s how we’re doing this: three runners with suppressing fire. We’ve got three guys on BAR, so… Reiben, you go right, Quinn will go up the middle, and Porter, you go left.” Reiben and I simply nodded and readied our weapons, dropping our extra gear.

“Y-Yes, Sir,” Miles replied weakly, looking nervously over at the radar site.

“Okay, everyone else… Jackson, Siskou, you stay back. Jackson, hit them if you get a good shot. Siskou, be ready,” he said simply, his eyes resting on our medic for a few seconds. “Mike, Mellish, Michaels, Maxley, the five of us will follow just behind. Use whatever cover you can and try to get in grenade range.” There were a few impact craters in the field leading up to the radar site and machine gun , along with some dead livestock, mostly cows. Not as much cover as I would have liked, to be sure. Everyone got ready quickly, so we got in position right away; we knelt in the grass just at the edge of the treeline. “Quinn, whenever you’re ready.” I just nodded and glanced to the men on either side of me. Reiben held his weapon at the ready, stone-faced and looking forward. Miles still had a slight tremble, but he gulped and nodded to me when we made eye contact, then looked ahead. I mentally mapped out the route I would take up the field, hitting whatever cover I could along the way. With one final deep breath in and out, it was time to go.

“Let’s go!” I shouted, and shot to my feet, charging forward. Reiben and Miles ran off on either side, the three of us staying about even with each other. I started to zig-zag randomly when the German machine gunners opened fire on us. I raised my BAR and squeezed the trigger, aiming for the sandbag bunker as best I could. I didn’t believe I would hit anyone, but we were just meant to provide suppressing fire anyway. I heard the gunfire begin both to my left and right, though the din of battle soon overtook any one sound, all of the sounds blending together.

A stream of bullets trailed me for a few seconds, so I sped up then slid into a blast crater about halfway up the field. I poked my head out of the hole and fired on the machine gun again, several of my shots piercing into the sandbag. That made the enemy keep their heads down, so I popped all the way out of the hole and advanced, still keeping up the stream of fire. I saw Reiben, a few dozen feet to the right, doing the same thing. The machine gun started up again soon, and this time I was right in its line of fire!

Seeing my best chance, I dove behind a dead cow, staying as close to the ground as I could. I gagged at the stench of the animal’s rotting flesh, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. They lit up the cow for a few seconds, then apparently focused their fire elsewhere. After they had moved on, I counted to five then shot back up, heading for my final target, a ditch within grenade range of the enemy position.

I was able to slide into the ditch safely; the storm of bullets had not returned to me during my final sprint. I shot at the Germans again, this time with much greater accuracy, and the gunner slinked back quickly. Captain Miller slid in next to me soon after that, followed by Zach. They each lobbed a grenade through the air, both of them dropping behind the sandbags. The three of us went prone in the ditch, waiting for the explosions. First one of them was thrown back, blasting apart the ground ahead of us and spraying us with dirt and gravel, but the second grenade struck true.

I went up to check, and grinned at the sight of the sandbag barricade in shambles; most of the bags had been knocked over from the inside. I could see three Germans in the bunker, though one of them was clearly dead already. I simply opened fire on the other two. They fired back, though luckily I was not hit that time, and they both went down quickly.

“Let’s go,” Captain Miller said, and I climbed out of the ditch. I still held my rifle at the ready, and stepped into their bunker. As I thought, the first one of them had been killed by a grenade, both of his hands blown off and his torso riddled with shrapnel. Had he caught the grenade? Maybe he was just too slow to throw it back? Then there were the two I had mowed down. I kicked each of them once in the side, but they neither moved nor made any sound, so I believed that they really were dead. I heard a faint whimpering sound then, and turned to find a fourth soldier lying on his back on the ground and covered in sand. His hands were empty and held in front of him, so I just shrugged and turned to the captain.

“Three dead, Sir. One more in here,” I stated, looking back at the last man. “Is Maxley up here?” I asked.

“Maxley, font and center!” Captain Miller called out, turning back, as Reiben and Mellish climbed out of another blast crater to our right.

“Captain!” We heard Maxley call out in distress, a dozen yards behind us. “Come here! Quick!”

“Alright, Mellish, you watch him,” Miller stated, pointing out the prisoner. “No, Reiben, you do it,” the captain corrected himself. “The rest of you, with me.” We followed him back to see what was going on.

“Hurry!” Maxley called out again, his voice more frantic than ever. He quickly came into view, Sergeant Horvath, Jackson and Cora with him. The four seemed to be surrounding something, with Cora moving frantically. My stomach lurched when I saw what it was. Rather, who it was.

Miles lay on his back, three new gunshot wounds visible on his torso. His uniform had been ripped open and Cora tried desperately to stop the bleeding, her hands already drenched. Jackson sprinkled sulfa powder over the smaller wounds and tried to bandage them, but the blood just kept soaking through. Maxley tried to apply pressure to another of the wounds, his hand as red as Cora’s. His whole body was trembling and his face went paler by the second

“Miles?!” I shouted, then knelt by his head. I set my rifle down and grabbed the side of his face. “Hey, Miles, talk to me, man!”

“L-Lee?” He sputtered, gasping for air. He coughed and spit up blood. “Oh, God,” he cried out, “I don’t wanna die!”

“You’re not gonna die, Miles!” I proclaimed, wiping the blood off his mouth. “You’re gonna be fine, just don’t look at it…” I lied, tears beginning to stream down my face.

“Lee, it hurts…” He stared at me, wheezing and coughing up blood.

“Cora! Give him… Give him some morphine!” I shouted back, not taking my eyes off of my dying friend.

“Lee… I already did…” Cora said, her voice trembling.

“Then give him more! Do it again!” I yelled back, turning to her this time. She was crying as well, and pressing bandages into his torso. Zach held onto Miles’ hand now, most of the other soldiers helping to apply pressure to the wounds.

“Lee, he is not-” Cora started.

“I know!” I interrupted her, and looked back to Miles. “Just one shot. Please,” I finished, somberly. Cora said something else at that, and I think Captain Miller replied to her, but after a few seconds my friend’s breathing began to calm down.

“I want to go home,” Miles muttered, breaking into another round of coughing. “Lee, I need you to- Oh, God…” He trembled more, and he coughed up blood again. “Lee if you ever go back take care of-” He spluttered at that, then took a deep breath. “My girlfriend, find her, okay?” He asked weakly, his voice fading.

“Okay, Miles,” I said, my hands shaking. “Her… Her name, what’s her name?” I leaned in close, my ear just by his face. “Tell me,” I cried out, my eyes squeezed shut.

“Daphne…” He hissed, barely audible. “Fields.” He went quiet after that and just breathed, in and out, fighting for every breath. I grasped his hand and watched the light fade from his eyes, as the tears ran down my face. His grip had long since gone slack, and I just stared at my departed friend in silence while the others began to stand up. Eventually I let go and reached for his dog tag, yanking it off the chain. I shoved it into a pocket and stood up, reclaiming my discarded rifle. I slung it over my shoulder and slowly walked back to the machine gunner position, drawing my sidearm. I turned off the safety and marched to the captured Nazi soldier.

“Nein!” He shouted, wide-eyed, when I aimed the pistol at his head. That’s about the only German word I know, so I didn’t understand anything he said after that. Well, I didn’t really care what he was saying anyway.

“Lee, you don’t have to-” Maxley began to say, a pained look in his eye. I just pulled the trigger, blowing the Nazi bastard’s brains out. He crumpled to the ground with barely a whimper, dead. I fired two more times, just for good measure, before I switched the safety back on and stepped back, my arms hanging limply at my sides. Killing him hadn’t really made me feel any better, but I thought it was a damn good start.

I turned around and trudged back to Miles’ body, reholstering my sidearm on the way. Cora and Zach still knelt around Miles, Cora just staring at her hands and Zach removing Miles’ own pistol. I cringed at that sight, but understood that an infinite-ammo gun is just far too valuable to pass up. Really it seemed invaluable to us, at the time.

I knelt next to him and broke down again, leaning forward and pounding my fist into the grass beside me, my body trembling. An undetermined amount of time passed while I knelt there, but eventually I was able to break myself out of my stupor. Cora and Zach were still nearby, but they seemed ready to move on. Just waiting for me, apparently. Sergeant Horvath approached us then, and held out a shovel towards me.

“We’re burying the paratroopers, over there,” Horvath pointed backwards, where the Rangers and Maxley were hard at work, digging three holes. We only had three shovels between us, so some of them were digging with their helmets. “Captain figured you would want to do Porter’s yourself.” I nodded and accepted the shovel, then followed him back to the impromptu grave site.

“Thank you,” I muttered, the first words I’d said since Miles had taken his last breath. Horvath led me to a small plot of land, a dozen or so feet away from where the others dug the graves for the paratroopers. Zach and Cora followed me, Zach taking off his helmet to help me get started on the grave.

“Lee, did you really have to shoot him?” Zach asked eventually, looking back towards the encampment. “I mean, he surrendered, right?”

“Zach… Did you forget? Keith told us about that guy. They let him go in the movie, and he ends up killing someone in Ramelle. I don’t remember who. But it doesn’t matter now, anyway.” That wasn’t really why I’d shot him; I hadn’t even really thought about that in the heat of the moment, but earlier today I had been considering what I’d do if the guy survived the initial attack like he did in the movie. Killing him was my first choice anyway.

“Ah… That was him? I guess you’re right,” Zach admitted, shrugging. After that we continued digging in silence, until we judged that the hole was large enough. We wrapped Miles up in his blanket, since that was about the best we could do. Zach and I carried him together, while Cora held his rifle and helmet. We carefully lowered him into the ground, and just stared down at him for a minute or so. Eventually, I grabbed the shovel again and and started to fill the hole back in. We buried him in silence and, once he was firmly in the ground, Cora jammed his rifle into the dirt just above his head. We left his helmet atop the rifle, as a makeshift tombstone, and stood around the grave to say our last goodbyes.

We stayed there until the others had finished the graves for the three paratroopers. Once they were done we finally moved out, though it was already starting to get dark. Because we had lost so much daylight attacking the machine gun bunker and sealing with its aftermath, we marched well into the night before the captain finally let us rest. We ended up out in the middle of a huge field, with no defenses to speak of, and slid back into the routine of setting up camp. I volunteered for the first watch, and Sergeant Horvath took it with me.

We tried to talk a little, but we didn’t discuss anything particularly memorable that night. Eventually our watch was over, and we woke the next pair up. I lay down exhausted, yet dreading the dreams I might see that night. Eventually, though, I just crashed.