Three days after she learned of the Warsaw massacre, Alice found herself crawling around in a remote area near Camp Mackall with Harry Welsh and First Platoon. For the first time since arriving in North Carolina, Easy Company had engaged in a large scale, multi day jump and set of maneuvers. Colonel Sink had Dog, Easy, and Fox Companies drop into three separate drop zones, their goal to capture a flag from one of the rival companies. Easy was going after Fox, Fox after Dog, and Dog after Easy. 

The jump had been in the evening, at dusk. It had gone well for Easy at least, and First Platoon quickly spent the night reaching their safe house and deploying their flag. Defending the position took equal attention as capturing Fox's flag.

Second and Third Platoons took responsibility for finding F Company. Sobel led both Dick and Second Lieutenant Moore in the field. Honestly, she figured they would've been better off without their CO. But, she and Harry got the good fortune of being with out Sobel for the remainder of the two days in the wilds of North Carolina so she didn't complain.

By the night after the drop, First Platoon had set up a decent defense perimeter around their tent and flag. Alice did her best to advise Harry, as the Lieutenant had only been around the men for a few weeks. Still, he knew exactly what he was doing, and everything went smoothly.

They had dug foxholes that afternoon, four feet deep, two people per. Alice thanked God that the rain they'd been rumored to encounter had passed without a drop. As Johnny Martin took charge for the next handful of hours, she sank down next to Harry.

"I will never live it down if Dog gets our flag," she muttered. With a yawn, she settled against the corner of the foxhole and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, why's that? Besides you not wanting to lose."

Alice smirked, her eyes still shut. "Lieutenant Speirs leads their Second Platoon. Unless their CO is as stupid as Sobel, he'll be leading the assault on our position. I can't lose to him."

Harry chuckled on the other side of the foxhole. "I haven't met him yet."

"He's quite a talking point among Easy," she said, voice low. "Back in Toccoa, a couple members of his platoon got drunk and caught me with a knife one night. Rumor is, Ron Speirs shot them." 

"That must've hurt."

"Hm." She hummed in agreement. "It wasn't pleasant, I'll tell you that much."

"Grab some sleep," Harry told her. "I'll wake you for your shift. We can't let Lieutenant Speirs take us by surprise because you're too exhausted."

Alice half chuckled. Thankful for the warm air of a night in early May, she tried to get as comfortable as possible in the foxhole. Around her, sounds of the forest lulled her to sleep.

Sticky blood against her hands, raging flames, and Bernadette's shrieking woke her up, gasping. Alice struggled to breathe, confused. The darkness around her did nothing for comfort. She threw her head back against the foxhole, helmet bouncing off a tree root. The fact that Harry Welsh watched her carefully didn't even register with Alice. She struggled to calm herself.

"Bad dream?" He broached the topic a few minutes later, once she'd calmed down a bit. Harry had settled back across from her in the foxhole, taking a drink from his canteen. He trusted Johnny Martin to be on guard with the others.

She shuffled uncomfortably, well aware that her hands shook as she unscrewed her own canteen. The water felt good on her parched throat. "Sorry." Alice hesitated, unsure of how much else to elaborate on. But the reminder she'd given herself nearly a year prior at Camp Toccoa rang in her ears. To earn trust you had to show trust. "I get them, occasionally. It's been awhile, though."

"Scared to go to war?"

Alice laughed. The noise cut through the relatively silent early morning. She shook her head. "I mean, sure. But that's not giving me nightmares. It's Europe that gives me nightmares. Home. All the reports out of the Western Front do is remind me how Hitler has stolen everything from my people."

She clambered up with her gun filled with blanks. Looking out into the forest, she tensed. The pine forests in Mackall felt a bit like the area of France she'd hid with the Maquis. She scanned the darkness around her.

Harry watched her carefully.  "The French?" He joined her taking watching.

"The Jews."

They settled into silence. Alice didn't explain further, and to his credit, Harry let the obviously uncomfortable subject drop. No birds or even bugs made any noise as they stood surveying the forest. After a few minutes, Alice finally broke the tension.

"It's too quiet."

"You're right."

Alice readied her weapon. They each only had three blanks, to simulate running low on ammo and to avoid damaging the guns with too much gunk. Harry pulled himself out of the foxhole.

The forest didn't do much but tremble in the occasional breeze. She knew that to her left, Johnny Martin and Private Hoobler had dug in, and to her right, Bull Randleman with Private Blithe. 

Suddenly a shot rang out. Someone had fired a blank, and all her focus remained on locating the enemy that approached. She would not lose to D Company. Moments later, all hell broke loose as at least a platoon and a half of Dog Company crashed through the forest.

It didn't take long for them all to run out of fake bullets. About a dozen D company men lay on the ground, having been struck with the blanks, and were now out of the battle.

Suddenly, Alice heard movement behind her, near the tent with the flag. She hoisted herself out of the foxhole. Around her, she registered her men of First Platoon fighting hand to hand. She skidded to a halt right outside the blue tent and almost grinned when she realized who had been trying to steal their flag.

"Going somewhere?" She pushed herself into Ron's body, knocking him off balance.

But he reacted quickly and threw his own punch. Alice barely managed to dodge it. For a moment they tussled without either managing to get the upper hand. 

Alice swung. With practiced ease, Ron Speirs grabbed her throw and twisted her arm, holding it behind her back as she grunted in pain. Still, she had never been one to fight fair. Alice drove her heel into his groin, causing him to drop her. She scurried away from his grip. Her shoulder stung.

Ron recovered, and readjusted his stance. As they closed the distance again, he blocked a swing to his face. With a quick movement, as she managed to catch his jaw, he grabbed her and slammed her into the ground. Alice groaned in pain.

"Stay down," Ron insisted.

But she glared up at him. "No way am I losing to Dog."

Ron smirked back. He moved past her. Spinning onto her stomach, Alice grabbed his leg and pulled. He tripped briefly, giving her enough time to scramble up and tackle him. Her shoulder stung from Ron's attack earlier, though, and she couldn't do much more to him.

Ron spun and tackled her back. She heaved in deep breaths as he slammed her on her back again and held her down with a knee on her sternum. With a smirk, he made a pistol with his fingers and, ripping off her helmet, put it against her forehead.

He mimed pulling the trigger. "Now you're dead."

Alice glared but stayed down. As Ron stood off her body, he went to move towards the tent with the flag. But Harry's voice interrupted him.

"Bang. Now you're dead too, Lieutenant." 

Alice smiled in satisfaction up at the trees above her. A bit of light from the dawning sun cut across the sky. She could imagine how put out Ron looked. Moments later, Harry stood over her with his gap-toothed grin. 

"Now you've met Lieutenant Speirs," Alice said. Suddenly she heaved out a deep cough. Her chest still hurt from the full weight of Ron Speirs. Then she pushed herself up onto her side, leaning on one arm. The other Lieutenant in question had sunk to the ground nearby. "Hey, Ron."

"What," he snapped back. 

Alice did her best to suppress a smirk. "Second Lieutenant Ronald Speirs of D Company, Second Platoon, meet Second Lieutenant Harry Welsh of E Company, First Platoon."

Harry stood, helmet on a bit crooked and rifle in his hand. He turned to Ron and nodded. Ron huffed but nodded back.

"You took over for Nixon, then?" Ron looked him up and down. 

"Yep." Harry looked around. The battle had ended, with Easy Company coming out on top, successfully defending their flag. Then he turned back to them. "Right, you two dead weights need to get to the rally point." He held out a hand for Alice. As she took it, he heaved her up. 

Ron stood up from the ground too, grabbing his gun off the forest floor from where he'd dropped it when she'd first attacked him. As Alice strapped on her helmet, they walked with the other "dead" away from E Company's base. It didn't take long to find one of Major Strayer's runners, who then directed them to the rally point. Alice started organizing the Easy Company casualties, and Ron took over the ones from Dog Company.

They reached the rally point, a large field outside the forests, by just before lunch. Alice had walked most of the way keeping to herself after organizing First Platoon's dead. When they reached the large tent of Base Camp, she went to check in with Major Strayer, along with Ron Speirs.

They found the Major in the main tent, chatting with one of his aids. When they walked in, he glanced up. He dismissed the private. When they both saluted him, he returned it.

"Lieutenant Speirs, Lieutenant Klein." He walked over, grabbing a clipboard and pencil off a small table. "How many did you two lose?"

Ron gave the casualty numbers for Dog Company's two platoon assault team, first. He explained their plan, what they'd executed correctly, and what they'd done wrong. "Lieutenant Klein was able to delay me long enough for Lieutenant Welsh to shoot me."

Strayer looked over at her. "But he did kill you?"

"Yes sir, definitely."

He nodded, and continued making a few notes. After a moment, he glanced up at her again. "What were the casualty numbers for Easy's First Platoon?"

"We lost nine, including myself and Sergeant Martin." 

"Right." He scribbled a last note. "You're both dismissed."

They saluted, and then ducked out the tent flap. About seventy people roamed around the field. She recognized quite a few from Fox Company. Picking her way around the various lounging groups, Alice tried to locate anyone from Easy Company.

Eventually she saw some men of Second and Third Platoons. Talbert sat smoking on the ground, back against what looked like Luz. Near them, Liebgott, Alley, and Sisk played cards. Johnny Martin had found them as well.

"Ey, Lieutenant!" Talbert saluted her. He dug around in his pocket. Pulling out a cigarette, he held it out to her. "What took you out of the fight?"

Johnny answered for her. "She stopped Speirs from taking the flag." Sitting down with the ground, he pulled out a k ration.

"You fought Lieutenant Speirs?" Skinny looked up at her in surprise.

Alice chuckled. Before she could respond, George jumped in. "Remember, this is the woman who calls him by his first name! She has no fear."

Easing herself to the ground, Alice tried to massage her shoulder where Ron had twisted it. She smiled at them. Lighting the cigarette that Talbert had given her, she closed her eyes and let the smoke circulate through her.

For the next hour or so, Alice listened to the men of Second and Third talk about how Sobel's directions were doing. Apparently only Dick Winters fantastic knack for tactics managed to salvage Sobel's ineptitude at navigation and, well, everything else. Alice hadn't suspected much more.