Under Fire

by bosoxboy521

Chapter XI

All was quiet along the trail that lead into the town of Carentan. Nothing but a slight breeze that rocked the rusty fences back and forth. This wasn't just any ordinary position. Carentan linked Omaha and Utah beaches, where German armor can advance through the town and out flank the soldiers by the beaches. The importance of Carentan meant that the entire 101st Airborne division was sent into attack. Captain Kelly took a look over the ridge line, now as acting commander of the attack. In result, Finn was promoted to Lieutenant. Twilight was introduced to the 101st as somewhat of an outsider, until she showed them her shooting skills with fully automatic weapons. By then, Twilight became a welcomed face across the division.

"Move up the middle fast, strike quickly. I'll be behind you with the rest of the company," said Kelly to a man. He looked over one more time and every second felt like an eternity. Twilight crouched down with her Thompson at the ready, James right beside her. The two exchanged a look and both nodded their heads. Within seconds, the assault began. "Go!" said Kelly. The man got up and the assault began. Kelly went down the line, giving the troops the all clear to go. As soon as the men got up close, the terrifying sound of machine guns drowned out all the sounds before the assault.

"Get down! Get down!" shouted men ducking down in the ditch. The bullets ricocheted off the ground and whizzed by over the air. Twilight hugged the ground with James, as they held their heads down to avoid the barrage of bullets. It wasn't long before the two heard the voice of Captain Kelly.

"I want third platoon to flank to the right, second platoon to the left. I want machine gun fire from the right flank hitting that MG! Go!" he shouted.

"Let's go third platoon, on me. Lozano, Jordan, get that 30 firing on that machine gun. Move up to the wall and flank them, get moving!" shouted Finn. James and Twilight ran across the field, trying to quickly as possible to get out of the way of machine gun fire. They smacked against the wall blocked from machine gun fire. As one soldier moved around, the soldier fell down and the crack of a rifle echoed across the battlefield.

"Sniper, second story on the floor. Matthews, you're up," said Finn. James nodded and peaked around the corner, eyes attached to the scope. Crosshairs to the head, James fired at the German sniper. Direct hit. He then ran across the roadway and into a chicken coup. Once again, he aimed his rifle down the scope and fired. The Springfield's bullet penetrated the assistant gunner's head and he fell down. However, the gunner was now aimed in on James, and he fired. The wave of bullets that crashed down on James' position was overwhelming, he was stuck in place.

"Ah! Jesus Christ!" he shouted, luckily adverting away from the MG fire.

"JAMES!" shouted Twilight.

"I'm fine Twi, just stay where you are," he replied. Twilight then knew she had to do something. She sprinted towards the roadway leading into the town and straight towards the machine gun emplacement.

"Twilight! What the fuck!" shouted Finn. But, Twilight didn't care, she pulled out a grenade and lobbed it at the machine gunner. Only seconds past until an explosion destroyed the machine gun, along with the gunner. She got up to the surprise that she survived all of that.

"First platoon move out!" shouted Kelly, now running down the hill too and into the town, along with an entire wave of paratroopers. She then ran back towards the building wall where Finn's platoon ran into the town.

"Let's go third platoon, clear out these houses. Two a house. Matthews, Twilight, clear that two story house and provide overwatch," said Finn. Twilight and James ran up to the building overlooking part of the town. Twilight smashed the door down while James entered inside, and searched around the house.

"Bottom floor cleared, let's move upstairs," said James. Twilight got up and lead the way up the stairs, as she trotted up she saw a German soldier, aiming an MP40 at her. She quickly pulled the trigger on the Thompson and sprayed the enemy down with a hail of bullets. The German was pushed back with great force from the bullets hitting him. The wall behind him was now covered in blood as his body now laid lifeless on the floor. Twilight moved on and kicked down the next door, two more Germans inside. She coated the room with bullets, killing everyone inside the room.

"Top floor clear!" she said. James walked in and stared at the bodies covered with bullet holes from head to toe. He looked over at Twilight, who was looking over the ledge, watching the assault unfold. He was now paralyzed in pure shock, just looking down at the floorboard, completely dazed by the fact that someone as innocent as Twilight could turn into a vicious, ruthless killer like the rest of them. "James, you all right?" James' head began to clear and he realized where he was now.

"Yeah I'm fine, go find Finn and help with the rest of the assault," he said. Twilight nodded and ran down the stairs to continue the fight. Twilight ran down the sidewalk of the street, stepping over the mass amounts of dead bodies that laid on the ground. She found Finn, who was taking cover from a heavily defended house.

"I want a bazooka up here now, put a hole in that house," he said. Twilight leaned against the wall next to Finn.

"Sir, we took the two story house back there," she said.

"Nice job Twi, go with Benning and Arroyo. As soon as that bazooka blows through that wall, the three of you, clear it out." Twilight nodded and met up with Benning and Arroyo around the corner. The two stood behind the wall, waiting for the bazooka to fire.

"Nice to see you Twilight, how you liking it so far?" asked Benning.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

"All of this Twi, how you liking war?" Twilight didn't know how to respond, she tried to gather an answer, until a bullet ricocheted off the corner near Benning's head, he ducked down and avoided the chunk of wall that shot off. 'Ain't it great?" He had a bright smile across his face and cocked his BAR. He turned the corner and fired onto the building. Twilight peaked around and fired her weapon too. All of a sudden, the wall exploded. A giant hole opened up inside the building.

"Move up," said Arroyo, running towards the building. As he was halfway across the street, three rounds flew through the air and hit Arroyo's body. He fell to the ground, still conscious, but bleeding out.

"Fuck, Lou!" said Benning, looking for the German rifleman. Another rifle shot out sounded around the area and went through Benning's head. He fell down instantly, dead on the ground. Twilight looked at Benning's dead body in pure shock. Someone who seconds ago was smiling and laughing was now dead on the ground. She looked over and saw a small squad of Germans held up inside another building, who had a clear line of sight where Twilight was.

"Germans held up in that building at one o clock!" she shouted. She aimed her Thompson and fired off a short burst, but was interrupted with the barrage of rifle and machine gun fire.

"Stay back," said Finn, pulling a grenade out. He threw it towards the house and it exploded in front of it. Twilight ran across the street, firing her Thompson simultaneously. She went inside the destroyed building she was supposed to clear and examined all the dead bodies inside. She trotted up the stairs, only to find nothing but more dead Germans. At the corner of her eye, she spotted a massive weapon on the table. She remembered Arroyo's weapon training, where he described the enemy weapons, such as the Kar98k and MG42. But, this was an entirely different weapon, an RPzB rocket launcher, also known as a Panzerschreck. Two 88 mm rockets were laying down against the wall, undisturbed and capable of firing. Twilight picked up the launcher, along with one rocket, and went to the adjacent room. She looked out and saw the building where the squad of Germans were held up in. Twilight took one deep breathe and aimed the rocket launcher out of the window. She pulled the trigger and watched the rocket completely demolish the building. The massive explosion inside caused the building to collapse on top of the remaining Germans. She put down the rocket and looked down the alleyway farther. She saw German infantry running away from the wave of American forces coming around the corner. Twilight then ran out of the building and joined the rest of her platoon.

"Good thinking Twilight," said Finn, "let's drive these bastards out of the area." Twilight nodded and ran down the street once more, watching the vast amounts of paratroopers clearing out each building. She looked over and saw a squad of Germans running down an alleyway and out of the town. Determined to get revenge, Twilight chased them down, running at a full sprint to catch up to them. As she rounded the corner of the alley, she noticed that they were about to enter an embankment towards the woods that were on the outskirts of the town.

"Stop! Don't move or I'll shoot!" she shouted. The Germans turned around, all of them looking confused as they were being held at gunpoint by a purple pony. Some of them rubbed their eyes in shock, while others looked at the one next to them. All of a sudden, they all burst out laughing at what they were seeing. Twilight didn't take to kind to that. She loaded up another magazine in her Thompson, so it was fully loaded. As the Germans continued to laugh, Twilight held her weapon up and aimed it at them. The Germans were no longer laughing as they now were face to face with the business end of Twilight's weapon. She had an evil smile across her face as she raised her weapon up higher. "Always leave them laughing," she said as she put more pressure on the trigger. All of a sudden, she felt something push her aim out of the way. She looked up to see the one person she never expected to see. James.

Comments

[Truly Luminous]

I feel as if it is way too soon for Twilight to start killing people just yet. You had her in the very beginning being completely against the very idea of war and now, a short period of time later, she's about to execute a number of German soldiers?!?!?! This just feels way to out of character and completely rushed. We are given no transition and epiphany from Twilight. It's just feels like a switch was flipped and we were given no reasoning for it. It makes little to no sense and feels rushed.

[bosoxboy521]

4956256 it's not really that short of a time. Twilight arrives on June 6th, 1944. The battle of Carentan for the real 506th was six days later. It may seemed rushed, but, being surrounded by people that kill, and after her explanation on why the war is necessary in a six day span, it seems rather realistic.

[Truly Luminous]

4956292 To the audience it feels rushed. Remember that the audience has a different perception of time then the characters in the story. In the story it may have been six days, but to the audience, or at least to me, it felt way to soon. Twilight just jumps right into killing. Even with the explanation of war I highly doubt that someone raised in a world without violence (on the level that humans are familiar with) could, in the span of a few days, be completely prepared to gun down a group of unarmed men.

Even with the explanation of war, it still wouldn't be enough for Twilight to be completely prepared to actually kill a sentient being. I've watched a lot of people "die". In film, games, books and so forth. But watching/reading someone die or killing someone in a game is far from being able to kill in real life. I'm pretty sure I would never be able to actual kill someone in real life in cold or even room temperature blood. You can explain for hours why a man has to die, but if given the gun to shot him with, very few people would have the ability to kill someone. Maybe if Twilight was confronted by the horrors of war, maybe if she saw the cruelty in which the Germans treated people and realized that they could not be reasoned with and negotiated with, then it would be more believable to me if she was ready to kill. As it is, I just can't see Twilight possessing the intent to execute captives in cold blood. I dunno, maybe it's just me.

[Harry_Jones]

4954170 No prob man, but now you have two chapter 8's...

[Johndye]

Twilight = Lt. Speirs

[TOECUTTER]

the shipping will commence

[bosoxboy521]

4956364 think about how fluttershy changed in putting your hoof down. One seminar of Iron Will totally changed who she was in a short time frame. The same is done with Twilight, albeit on a more darker scale

[Truly Luminous]

4957169 That's because that scene was the transition that changed Fluttershy. We have no transition scene for Twilight. All that happens (to my knowledge) is that Twilight was told that the Germans were "Bad men" and is taught how to shoot, and next she is about to execute captives. There is no reason for Twilight to suddenly be so willing to kill! It just feels forcefully rushed which screws that pacing.

[bosoxboy521]

4957942 Twilight's explanation of the war and seeing Kelly's story was her transition point on how evil the Germans were that executed Kelly's men before. That was her transition. I know, probably not the strongest, but, it's there.

[FinalFan]

4958267 The thing is, this is just about the quickest "becoming the evil you fight" transformation I've ever seen, and the fact that it's Twilight just makes it that much more unbelievable.

[FinalFan]

luckily adverting away from the MG fire.

"advert" makes no sense here. Possibly you meant "avert", but that barely makes sense and also makes "away from" redundant or nonsense. Possibly "avoiding the MG fire" or "ducking away from" or some such thing might work better?

Only seconds past until

passed