Saving Private Ryan

A Jackson/OC/Reiben

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In memory of the soldiers who have fallen.

Chapter 7 – Losing Wade

Captain Miller finished folding the map after he'd uselessly tried to explain to us where we were and where we had to go. We'd all done Map and Compass, but it wasn't exactly an interesting subject. 5 minutes and a few "We're here, and we need to be there"'s later, and we were on our way to Ramelle.

We'd been walking for roughly an hour when we reached an open field, and Reiben decided it was time to start the chit-chat.

"So, Angel...Who won again?" He looked back at me with a smirk, "Because I certainly think that I deserve a night with you after this war."

"Reiben," I let out a frustrated sigh, continuing "every man deserves a woman in bed after this war - you're no exception."

"But I obviously won."

"Reiben, nobody won- it was a fucking tie, so get over it." Jackson shouted at him. I was half tempted to jump both of them right then and there.

We were coming up to a crossing when Captain Miller told us to stay back, while he and Horvath went ahead to visually scout the area. Jackson, Reiben, Mellish and I stood guard.

"Keep by Wade, Upchuck." Reiben whispered harshly when he saw the scrawny soldier inching closer to our formation and further away from the medic.

After a couple of minutes, Miller and Horvath came back with less-than-thrilled expressions on their faces.

"What is it?" Upham asked tentatively as we formed a poor excuse for a circle around the Sergeant and Captain,

"Machine gun, probably MG42" Horvath spoke.

"Geez, is that what got those guys?"

"No, Mellish, a giant cow came flying out of the air and shot a shit-load of milk-bullets at them. That, Mellish, is what killed them." I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Mellish glared at me briefly, before looking back to Miller.

"Maybe one of them is our guy?" Reiben suggested.

"No. Their patches were 82nd, so your luck's not that good." Miller responded, barely missing a beat.

"Yeah, well I don't know how fast the rest of you Bettys are, but I'm thinking we detour this way, quick and quiet, the krauts will never even know we were here."

After a few seconds of silence, Reiben spoke again, almost hesitantly.

"Well, Captain, what I'm trying to say is...Why don't we just go around the thing?"

Miller was struggling to get his vest off, not bothering to look at Reiben as he answered, "I hear what you're saying, but we can't go around it."

Jackson spoke up "I'm with Reiben on this one, sir. We left them 88's."

"The Air Force ain't gonna spend our money on one machine gun."

"Uh, Captain," Mellish spoke, "we can still skip it and accomplish our mission. I mean, this ain't our mission, right sir?" He was right; this wasn't our mission. And, frankly, I agree with Reiben.

"That's what you wanna do Mellish?" I could see the Captain getting pissed off with everybody questioning what he was doing. "You just wanna leave it here so they can ambush the next company that comes along?"

"No, sir, that's not what I'm saying. I'm simply saying it seems like an unnecessary risk given our objective."

"Our objective is to win the war." He had a point there.

"Sir I just...I don't have a good feeling about this one." Reiben threw in, a last ditch attempt to convince Miller this was a terrible idea.

'When was the last time any of us had a good feeling?' I thought to myself. Captain Miller spoke my thoughts aloud, "Well, when was the last time you felt good about anything?" He secured his helmet and moved to the hedgrow, peering into the field. We all fell right behind him. "Alright. Three runners are suppressing fire, Mellish you hook to the right, I'll go up the middle. Who's going left?" Miller asked.

We each exchanged quick glances but averted our gazes hastily. Complete silence enveloped our small group. I started taking off my vest and pack.

"Who's going left?" Miller repeatedly indignantly, voice laced with surprise. "I will sir." I said. Handing my pack to Upham, who was right next to me, I put my helmet back on and put my gun around my shoulders. "Sir, I think I should go left." Reiben said, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Reiben, shut the fuck up, I'm going left. You were quite happy to puff on your nic-stick until someone else volunteered. Plus, I can run a hell of a lot faster than you."

Reiben gave me an icy look, but refrained from responding.

"We advance and keep pressure on him till he changes out his barrels. I think we should be able to hit him from grenade range." Miller said, effectively interrupting any arguments that were about to take place.

"Reiben, base of fire," Reiben started handing me grenades and I stuffed them in my webbing. My heartbeat had never been more pronounced. Was I actually going to run toward a machine with a poxy grenade?

"Be careful out there Angel," Reiben said as he handed me the last grenade.

"Always am" I replied, smirking at him.

"Jackson, I want you behind Anderson, you hear me?" Miller shouted.

"Yes sir." He said, smirking over at me. Captain Miller got up and started running and so did we. There was no warning there was just a do. I started running as fast I could to the left. My heart was pounding hard; I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins just from dodging bullets. All I could think was 'Damn, they never taught you this in base camp' the entire time.

Flinging myself into a small ditch, I unclipped the grenade from my webbing and pulled the pin, waited 3 seconds and tossed it at the Radar Station. It exploded right in front of the German. 'One down, 3 to go' I thought to myself.

Within record time we had the place taken under our control. I saw Captain Miller on the ground kneeling next to somebody and it quickly dawned on me what had happened. "Wade!" I shouted, running to the injured medic . I cradled his head in my lap, rapidly looking him up and down, trying to assess the situation.

"Upham! Grab the gear and get up here! We need water and extra dressing now!" Miller shouted to him.

"Get the morphine from the extra medical kit!" Horvath shouted, the same phrase being repeated by Mellish soon after.

"Shh, Wade, you're going to be okay. I know a little First Aid," I said, attempting to reassure the medic who was unconsciously whimpering.

"They teach us this shit in basic, you got nothin' to worry about" Mellish threw in. Upham appeared looking like a ghost.

"What, did you walk?" I shouted, glaring at the scrawny soldier as he dropped the medical supplies by Horvath. Captain Miller ripped Wade's shirt open, revealing three separate wounds.

"Jackson, come take his head," I said "And make sure he doesn't see anything!"

"Water!" I shouted, water was given to me. I poured a little bit and rubbed my jacket over his bloody body. "Put some sulpha on that," I instructed Jackson, handing Mellish the canteen.

"Am- am I shot in the spine?" Wade spluttered, repeating himself more forcefully when nobody took notice.

"Wade, I'm gonna to turn you over, okay?" I asked in a smooth voice. "Ye-yeah" he said shakily "Ready, one, two, three." We turned his body over and I felt for an exit wound. There wasn't one, which meant the bullets were still in Wades body.

"Put pressure on it!" Miller said, Mellish and Jackson applying only light pressure to the wounds on Wades torso, effectively rolling him onto his back again. "More pressure!" Miller instructed, harshly pressing down on a wound spurting blood like there was no tomorrow.

"Give him a dose of morphine," I said. Horvath fumbled in the medical kit and pulled out a small vial, hastily handing me the medical kit when he saw my outstretched hand. I began looking through the kit for anything that might help. I might know a bit about First Aid, but Mellish was right. It was taught at a basic level unless you enlisted as a medic.

I found more sulpha and rags, but nothing that stood out. Everything started to go in slow motion, everybody was panicking around me. I felt helpless; my attempts were in vain. I already lost Caparzo and now I was about to lose Wade, as well.

"Wade," I grabbed his hand, squeezing firmly. He turned his over head to me, pools of fear and pain in his eyes.

"I love you bud. Don't ever forget that." I told him, giving a final squeeze on his hand as I got up, angry. I couldn't watch him die- not like this. I turned toward the machine guns and saw a soldier hobbling about. I ran toward him, sIamming straight into him, sandwiching him between the sand-bags and myself. I saw a fist collide with his head and noticed Reiben had followed me. He began slamming the butt of his rifle into the soldiers head, torso, arms, legs- anything he could reach.

All the while we listened to the German plead to be let go. Stepping back slightly, I grabbed his shirt collar and hoisted him up off the floor. Reiben grabbed his throat and landed a punch into the soldiers face at the same time as Jackson and Mellish appeared. The poor guy must have been in so much pain, having four pissed off soldiers beating the Hitler out of him.

"You fucking killed Wade you asshole!" I shouted at him, continuing to kick and punch him over and over again.

We all stepped back, cocking our weapons and taking aim.

"Not yet. First make him mark and cover Wades body for detail. Strip him for intelligence." Miller told us. Mellish eased the springs in his weapon and let it hang limply across his chest. Grabbing Upham by the collar, he shouted "Ask this piece of shit if he's the one who shot Wade!" Mellish shouted at him. "Ask him!"

"It's doesn't matter-!" Upham started, getting interrupted by Mellish.

"It does matter!"

Upham started talking to him in German and the son of a bitch spoke back. Jackson grabbed him by the collar and slammed him down "Shut up with that filthy pig-Latin" He snarled, continuing to search him. "Jackson, you've been hit." Miller told him. Jackson looked down at his arm "Shit, just grazed me in the arm sir."

"Get it cleaned and dressed." Miller told him.

"I'll help." I said, smiling up at him. He smiled back at me. Jackson started taking off his jacket.

"Come on, Southern Boy" I said, walking away from the group and toward Wade. I grabbed both the medical packs and moved up to a more secluded area, Jackson following behind. It was quiet and peaceful, Jackson only had t-shirt on.

"Take it off." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Trying to see me with no shirt on, Angel?"

"Maybe." I smirked. I pulled out a disinfectant, roll of gauze and tape. "Well, in that case," Jackson started, continuing "Here's a little taste." I turned around to find him bear chested. I stopped breathing all together. He chuckled "Come on, Angel, breathe." he teased as he settled himself on the ground.

I dragged my brain from the gutter and got to work cleaning the wound. "We-well, there you go" I stuttered slightly. I could feel my face flame red. I have never stuttered before in front of a boy, and here I am doing it!

I was making such a fool out of myself. He chuckled again, and I smiled at him shyly. I looked down to the ground trying not embarrass myself further. Jackson grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him and had me straddle him. He took his hand and cupped it under my chin, making me look at him. He was handsome, tan skin, blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes that came to life whenever a joke was told, lean muscles, southern accent. Jackson was the whole package and I was falling hard for him. As we inched closer my eyes started closing slowly.

I felt his lips on mine. It was a short and sweet kiss. As we pulled apart, nothing could tear our eyes off each other.

Except Reiben.

"Jackson! Angel! Where the hell are you two?"