"Incoming! Take cover!"
Lipton's shout barely made it to Bill's ears as the shelling started. The men ran for their foxholes as blasts went off around them. Dirt and smoke filled the air, trees burst apart, the ground shook, light blazed through the forest.
"Find some cover! Find a foxhole!Bill was already in one, had been busy fortifying it with
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His bag was gone, but if Bill was crying for a medic, Joe could only imagine a handful of reasons. There wasn't time to weigh the possibilities or compare the voice they heard to the one in the video, he assumed the worst and knew Gene wasn't going to fix that up on his own. He grabbed one of the new quilts from their bed and bundled it over his arm, checking the straps of his wooden leg before he followed Gene out into the snow. There wasn't enough of it to strand him at the house, just enough to give him a clear trail to follow.
He couldn't sprint after Gene, but he didn't have to amble along with the leg dragging behind--it hurt, and it took more effort than was good for him, but this was Bill, and he'd make the fucking effort. A good five or so minutes of pushing himself, swinging and dragging the leg, and he could see them, crouched figures and snow in shades of pink. One long, deep breath, and he went through the motions to get closer, wrap the quilt around Bill's shoulders and give him a hey, Bill, before he's even sure what he was doing. "Did you really need this grand of an entrance," he asked, swallowing and catching his breath before some kind of panic could hit.
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"What the fuck is goin' on here!?" he said in a burst, grabbing Joe's jacket in one gloved hand. He looked from Joe to Roe, eyebrows drawn in a mix of anger and confusion. "Doc? Why do you have a reindeer on your shirt?"
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I look to him now, over Guarnere's head, and I'm the picture of calm, but I know he can see the urgency in the slight lift of my eyebrows. "Go get Winters or Cain, somebody who can help lift." I hesitate and then add, "Not Buck if you can help it, but try to make it quick." Another beat. "Be careful, yeah?" If he ends up face-down cussin' a blue streak in the snow because he was rushin', it ain't gonna do anybody no good.
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There was a small moan and Bill's gaze lifted skyward, looking for Joe. "Yeah, think I could use those smokes, Joe."
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It just fuckin' figures that Guarnere'd have to show up from the worst possible moment.
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Blank slate means a second chance. This time, maybe I won't run.
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I catch Doc's eye for a long moment but instead of freezing, I move forward a step and my trembling fingers reach for the pack of smokes, drawing one out as I crouch down beside him and light it up, putting it right in his fingers. "Heard you wanted this," I say, the shaking out of my voice, thank god.
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The morphine was doing the trick pretty nicely, far as he was concerned, and when Buck showed up Bill was able to greet him with a warm, albeit slightly unsteady smile. Even if his presence, clean and unarmed, was just as baffling as everything else.
"You heard right, Buck," he said, grateful as he put the cigarette between his lips, taking a nice long drag. Christ, it'd been awhile. "Got myself into a bind here. Guess I won't be joinin' the Bruins with ya, huh?"
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It didn't help him right now, cold and sweating anyway under the jacket. Easier to just keep moving, watching Buck disappear and add to the tracks between him and Bill. If he stopped moving, he'd start thinking about what just happened, and he might not be able to start again.
By the time he made it back, Bill was smoking a cigarette and grinning stupidly at them all, and Buck wasn't losing his shit, so he spared a glance at Gene, wearing even less against the cold and wrapping a tourniquet around Bill's thigh. Uncomfortable enough in his own clothes, he pulled his jacket off and threw it down at Gene, swallowing the cold air and glaring, though he wasn't angry. He leaned over and arranged it over Gene's shoulders, knowing he was too busy to put it on yet. "Next time put on more than a sweater before you run off, Dasher." It didn't matter that he wasn't wearing much more now, or that Bill wouldn't understand his concern--he couldn't do anything for Bill right now; he could at least do something for Gene.
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This whole situation's got me on edge, for at least a dozen reasons, not the least of which is that Bill doesn't know what's goin' on, and tryin' to explain right now would be a really fuckin' bad idea. The air's heavy with tension, comin' from everybody but the one person who has the most right to be upset, but Bill's feelin' the morphine pretty good by now and smokin' away like half his leg isn't blown to hell.
"Buck," I say with a brief motion his way before continuing to pack up my shit as quickly as possible. "Get him on the blanket, will ya? We gotta get him up to the Compound without jostlin' the leg too much. How you feelin', Guarnere?" He looks half-loopy, but it's always good to check.
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