August came and went, Easy Company spending most of their time doing physical training. Hatred for Sobel continued to fester. Alice found herself not taking Nixon's advice. She found the prospect of talking about her childhood and early adulthood too difficult. Still, she noticed the men all tolerated her. Part of her wanted to share stories as they would each night.

As the grueling Georgia heat slowly began to subside, the Company still had their weekend passes. Friday meant the twelve mile march. As Alice stood outside the barracks by herself, decked out in her gear, she watched the men grumbling around in amusement.

When Dick called out for them to fall into formation, she meandered to her usual spot. She liked to run towards the front half, where she could hear everyone. With the sun setting, they started off down the road. The frustration building in the Company boiled over in their second hour. She had expected something, but not from Bull Randleman.

"Lieutenant Winters!"

"What is it?"

"Permission to speak, sir?"

"Permission granted.

Alice wondered what he was going to say. She just swallowed down her own saliva in the absence of water. The night, though cooler than the day, still felt hot. Their gear didn't help.

"Sir, we've got nine companies, sir."

"We do."

Bull paused. The whole company was silent as he continued. "Why are we the only one marching every Friday night, twelve miles, in the pitch dark."

Alice grimaced at the question. How Dick would answer that, she didn't know. He couldn't come out and insult Sobel.

"Why do you think, Private Randleman?"

"Lieutenant Sobel hates us, sir."

With a bite of her cheek, Alice tried to suppress a laugh at the statement. As much as she in fact hated Sobel, he did his job. Easy Company was the finest company in the 506th. She waited to see how Dick would respond.

"Lieutenant Sobel does not hate Easy Company, Private Randleman. He just hates you."

"Thank you, sir."

The whole platoon cracked up. Alice couldn't stop herself from joining them. As they all muttered varying degrees of agreement, her eyes met Dick's and he sent her a ghost of a smile. She returned it.

"Yeah but he hates Alice the most."

Alice chuckled, trying to figure out who had said it. Probably George. The others shouted in support of the statement. After their little bout of humor, the walk became less stressful. Sure, they still hated Sobel, but at least they all knew it and got it out of their systems.

Her body ached by the time they returned to Camp. As usual, Sobel stood waiting for them. In the dark they could still see the fury behind his eyes. They stood at attention as best they could. Alice looked to her right and saw Christenson, paler than usual and wobbling.

"Are you sick?" she kept her voice low.

Christenson didn't respond. He just looked at her, fear etched on his face. Her heart ached as they prepared to pour out their water. She had a feeling she knew why Pat Christenson looked scared.

As the water poured to the ground, his canteen ran dry. Her heart sank. Sobel would make him do the march again, no matter how sick he was.

"Who is this?" Sobel all but ran towards them at the back. He glared down. "Christenson? Why is there no water in your canteen? You drank from your canteen!" With a shout, he turned back. "Lieutenant Winters! Was this man ordered not to drink from his canteen?"

"He was, sir."

"You disobeyed a direct order. You will refill your canteen and repeat the twelve mile march again!"

Alice cringed. He looked about ready to fall over. Still, Christenson nodded. As Sobel barked at him to start, he hurried away, stumbling. With Dick occupied by a furious Sobel, Alice decided she'd find Nixon. They'd made it a habit to let her shower first. After grabbing her shower stuff and stripping off excess gear, she went back outside.

Nixon stood smoking a cigarette near the door. Beside him, Dick seemed glum. He crossed his arms and looked over his shoulder.

"Ready?" Nixon gestured towards the Officers' showers.

Alice hummed. Dick trailed next to them as they made their slow way across camp. Sounds of the showers and disgruntled enlisted followed them the whole way.

Speirs walked out of the showers as they came up. He ran a small towel over his hair. "Easy Company certainly made a lot of noise tonight. Sobel was pissed at something."

"When's he not," muttered Nixon.

With a small grin, Speirs gestured to the showers. "All yours, Klein."

"Thank you."

They watched her duck inside. Speirs took a cigarette that Nixon offered him and took a deep breath. He turned to the Easy Company officers. "How's Klein doing?"

"With training?" Nixon shrugged. "She's quick. Not as strong as a lot of the men, but she's holding her own."

Dick agreed. "I thought the obstacle course would be the hardest for her. But she's good at it."

"Yeah. She's good."

Speirs raised an eyebrow. "But?"

Nixon shrugged again. He took a deep breath of his smoke and let it out. "She needs to involve herself more with them."

"They don't like her?"

"It's not that they dislike her," Dick corrected. "They just don't know what to do with her. Private Luz does a good job of trying to get her to join them."

"Liebgott doesn't want to murder her anymore either," Nixon added. At Speirs' questioning look, he tried to explain. "Something about him being Austrian and her being German. He didn't like it."

Speirs nodded. "I notice she hasn't broken your nose in awhile."

Nixon laughed at his comment. Without even thinking, his hand went to his face. "Yeah, well. I totally pissed her off that time."

"What'd you do?"

Dick looked at Nixon and then cracked a smile. "Yeah, Lew, what did you do?"

With a grimace, he took the cigarette out of his mouth. "Look, I found out she'd gotten a letter. I was curious. I didn't know the letter said her whole family had all been killed."

"Shit," Speirs muttered through his cigarette. Around them, the smoke filled the air. In the light of the nearby lamppost, it had a white tint.

The shower stopped. The men stopped their gossiping and stood quietly. When she came out, she looked less smiley than she usually did after a warm shower.

"What's up?" Nixon asked her.

As she wrung out her hair a little more, she shook her head. She bit her lip. "I'm worried about Christenson." A brief moment of hesitation passed. "He looked quite sick. I think I'll stay up for him to get back."

Dick shrugged. "No bed check tonight. You'll be fine." He turned and went in to take his own shower.

Alice didn't budge. Lost in thought, she stood with Nixon and Speirs as they finished their cigarettes. The former handed her a cigarette and a light.

"Thanks," she mumbled. The white cigarette bounced as she talked.

"Didn't know you cared about the men," Nixon joked.

But Alice glared and turned to face him. She took the cigarette out of her mouth and blew the smoke out slowly. "You talk too much." With a scoff, and a quick shake of her head, she continued. "I apologize if I've seen one too many people I care about get killed. It makes me a little hesitant to make myself best friends with people who will someday be heading into combat. But that doesn't mean I don't care about them."

Speirs looked from Alice to Nixon. Then he spoke up without any humor. "Nixon, I won't turn her in if she punches you again."

"It was a joke."

"Right." Alice rolled her eyes. With a yawn, she decided to head back to her E Company barracks. "Thank you for the cigarette, Lieutenant."

"Call me Ron."

Nixon looked at him like he was crazy. "You don't like when I call you Ron."

Speirs cracked a smile. He blew out a puff of smoke. "I like Klein more than you, Nixon."

Alice laughed. "Call me Alice."

"Hey, do we get the friend kisses Luz brags about?"

"Unbelievable, Nix. That's what you are." But she walked back the few steps and gave them each two innocent kisses on alternating cheeks. "But, I would be remiss in my duty as the only French friend. À demain."

She walked back to her barracks. The camp had quieted down. As she walked through D Company's barracks, though, she heard laughter and then two men stumbled out of one. They positively reeked of alcohol.

Before she could even react, one of them had grabbed arm. She tried to rip herself from his grasp.

"Hey come on, you stupid broad." His words slurred from the drinks. "Just one little drinkin' game."

"You've had quite enough, Private. Let me go."

The other just laughed and stumbled, catching himself on a poll. The first, still gripping her arm, smiled. Finally Alice had had enough. With her left arm, she swung and punched him straight in the nose.

"Son of a bitch!" He stumbled back, clutching his face. "What the fuck? You fuckin'..."

Alice continued on her way quickly. But the second man had sobered up a bit and grabbed her by the arm as well. She tried to punch him too, but as she lunged, he ducked. Suddenly she felt a horrible pain on her stomach.

She half screamed, half shouted. Tears filled her eyes as she stumbled back. Grabbing at her side, she felt ripped fabric and blood on her hands. The man still held the knife.

Hunching over, Alice almost threw up. The warm sticky blood seeped from the wound. Trying to keep pressure on it, she stumbled back. Several people had appeared at her pained scream.

"Scheisse." The wound burned as she pressed her shirt against it.

Suddenly she felt someone put their arms around her shoulders. She was pulled back. Without meaning to she gasped as her pain increased with the movement.

The two who had attacked her weren't laughing for very long. In the dark, she thought she saw someone rush them. But her tears blurred her vision.

Someone was talking to her. She tried to focus on him, and not the pain. Alice felt someone pick her up. She realized it was Dick. "I can walk, I can walk."

"You couldn't even recognize me a moment ago," he argued.

He didn't put her down despite her protests. Before too long, they were at the medical station. Eugene Roe stood cataloging supplies. He looked over in surprise when Dick entered.

"What happened?"

"Someone caught her with a knife."

Roe nodded. "Doc's sleeping, sir. I'll look at her if you'll go get him?"

Dick nodded and headed to find the ranking medical doctor. The table he'd put Alice on was made of metal and felt cold to the touch. Roe moved to her side and shifted the shirt free so he could see her stomach. At seven weeks, he'd almost finished his medical training. He grimaced at the wound.

"Vais-je bien?" She tried to force the involuntary tears away.

"Je sais pas." Then he forced a smile. "I think so, though."

Roe grabbed gauze and put pressure on the six inch long cut. It didn't appear to be too deep, but enough to bleed more than he liked. Once the bandages were in place, he got the supplies he figured the doctor would need.

It didn't take long before Dick and the doctor came in. Roe brought him up to speed on his observations and then assisted in cleaning and treating the wound. Moving aside, Dick watched. Speirs and Nixon joined him a little while later.

"They're with the MPs," Nixon told him. "How's it look?"

"They haven't said anything," replied Dick.

Speirs narrowed his eyes. The men had been from his company, in second platoon. "I told Sink what happened. He's not happy. He wants all the officers to speak to their men."

"Sobel's gonna be pissed," muttered Nixon.

Dick hummed in agreement. "How'd Guarnere and Liebgott get off?"

The two other officers had to suppress their smirks. Speirs shrugged. "Took a little while for the MPs to come. They seized their opportunity."

"Why am I not surprised you two didn't stop them," he muttered.

As if on cue, Bill Guarnere and Joe Liebgott all but limped into the tiny medical building. Roe and the officers glanced over to them. Liebgott held his jaw, massaging it. Gaunere had a few bruises forming on his face as well.

"You two don't look good."

"Better than the other guys," Nixon told Dick. He gave them a quick wink.

Guarnere grinned. "Just need some ice, sirs."

They stood to the side, waiting for Roe to finish assisting the doctor with Alice. Her eyes were closed. Finally, as Roe washed his hands, he produced two sacks of ice for Liebgott and Guarnere. As the doctor spoke to the officers, he let them know what they'd done.

"Gave her some morphine and stitched up the worst bit. It looked worse than it was. Probably hurt pretty bad though." He looked at them curiously. "What happened?"

"We ain't sure." Guarnere shrugged. He placed the ice on his jaw. "We were waitin' up for Christenson, and Alice cause she hadn't gotten back like she normally does after showering with the officers. Then she shouted."

"Sounded fucking painful," Liebgott added.

"Yeah. Some bastards from Dog Company had pulled a knife on her."

Leibgott nodded. "Lieutenant Speirs took 'em to the MPs."

They all straightened up as the officers came over. Dick told them to head back to the barracks. They still had weekend passes, he reminded them, and they'd do their best not to get in any more trouble. Roe stayed behind to finish his overnight duties, but Guarnere and Liebgott followed the Lieutenants back to barracks. The rest of the night stayed relatively calm despite the commotion.