EPISODE: Day of Days [episode 2]

CHARACTERS: Lieutenant Winters, Lieutenant Compton, Private Malarkey, Private Hoobler, Private Guarnere

TW: death, blood

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Richard Winters' Perspective-

Despite the loud engine being near my ears, I could only hear my heartbeat.

I glanced around at my soldiers, who were all mumbling together if not trying to stay awake.

Some lit cigarettes while others fidgeted with their bags, counting down the seconds til we have to jump.

Suddenly, there was a loud blast heard in the distance.

"Thunder?" A man asked, but I knew what it really was.

"GET DOWN!" I shouted and the others grabbed the sides of the plane as we shook violently.

I glanced outside the open window and saw German cannons firing huge missiles at us.

They knew we were coming.

A plane lit on fire and flew to the ground, killing everyone inside.

"GET READY!" My voice boomed as we clicked our straps onto the pole above. I stood near the door, watching the red light and waiting for it to turn green.

The other planes were being fired at, some getting shot to the ground.

"CAN'T WE JUST JUMP ALREADY COD DAMMIT!" Private Malarkey shouted from the back, wanting to get this over with.

"NOT YET! THE LIGHT ISN'T GREEN!" I shouted back, hearing the other soldiers mumble.

Another plane went down and then we got hit. The engine went ablaze and I commanded the others to check each other.

They slapped the bag of the soldier in front of them to make sure it was secure and shouted their number in line.

"FIVE GOOD!"

"FOUR GOOD!"

"THREE GOOD!"

"TWO GOOD!"

"ONE GOOD!" I shouted and saw the light turn to green. "ALRIGHT LETS GO!"

I jumped out and my parachute popped out of my bag. I felt my stuff get yanked off of me since the plane was going too fast for us to jump off safely.

While I survived and landed in the forest, I was without any weapon besides my blade.

I quickly freed myself from my parachute and crouched down, trying to find the others or any familiar tree or landmark.

My friend, Nixon, was the intelligence officer and he provided us pictures of what we should be looking for to find our base in case we got lost.

The light had turned green, though. That means we were above our jump spot.

I looked up and noticed the other planes dropping people, some planes on fire and crashing.

He must've let us go to try and save us.

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and crouched along the trail.

I found Easy Company and we followed a long railroad into town. I had borrowed one of the soldier's pistols, and luckily most everyone else still had everything.

We found a ranch as morning dawned upon us, and it was lit ablaze. Some of our soldiers were fallen on the ground, their blood dripping from their forehead and neck.

The troopers stopped behind me as they watched me walk up to the sagging body.

Hung.

His parachute got caught in the tree and he was hung.

I stared at him for a long time before yanking off his dog tags to send to his family.

"Alright, let's grab supplies from the soldiers and regroup. We gotta move fast, daytime's upon us." I said and the troopers behind me jogged off.

I started taking some of the dog tags and supplies from the fallen men, and I noticed Private Hoobler staring at the soldier caught in the parachute.

I sighed and shook my head, snapping on a backpack.

Just comes with the hardships of war. I stood up and dusted off my pants, glancing at my men. Watching your brothers die.