Safe in front of a Cannon [Open]

[2nd Lt. John P. McCreary]

John chuckled a little. “Yes, I’m not very patient either. But I don’t think I’ll ever hunt again.” he answered after some thought. Never again. I’ve had enough of killing. he concluded mentally. More than enough. He’d serve out the rest of his time in the Army. He felt honored to protect his country, but he didn’t know how much more of this he could take. But after he was finished, he was going to live out the rest of his life simply in peace. Fishing sometimes felt like the most peaceful thing in the world. It was just you, nature, and God. No Krauts shooting at you, no men on the ground screaming for you to save them, you were completely alone.

John’s hand flew to his pistol belt when he heard something drop outside. A few seconds later, he could discern the sound of drunken voices. He didn’t recognize them, but he knew that they were American soldiers. One referred to Nico as the ‘little German’. He glanced over at the man, assuming that these were the soldiers he’d been hiding from. John leapt off of the tank, preparing for the men’s entrance.

He stepped in front of Nico, putting himself between him and the soldiers. One of the men started to stumble towards Nico, but he stopped when he saw John. Another one of the drunkards stepped up to the plate and addressed the officer. He asked him if he wanted to join in the beating they’d inevitably attempt to do. John looked over the man for a few seconds. His eyes were glazed over with inebriation, and his black hair was disheveled. His chin was scruffy, and his OD uniform was messy and dinghy. He looked like he was from another company.

Alcohol certainly does cloud the brain, he noted before walking towards the unshaven G.I. “Are you drunk, Private?” he snapped, his steely blue eyes glaring at the enlisted man. He’d almost said ‘trooper’, but caught himself when he realized he was no longer a member of the 101st. “Neither you nor I will lay a hand on this soldier. He is an American soldier and as long as I’m in this Army I will not allow you to beat any of my soldiers—do you understand, Private?” His voice was both stern and coarse, conveying the fury he possessed at that moment.

He still kept his hand on his belt, ready to use his weapon should they choose to retaliate. He wouldn’t shoot them, but he wasn’t about to allow them to attack Nico while he was there. If he needed to, he’d escort the Private back to base for his own safety. The situation angered him—they were fighting the Germans, not their own men. Just because Nico had been a German soldier didn’t mean that he was a traitor. John figured that if he was brave enough to leave the German army and fight for the Americans, he had no love for the enemy.

Though they may have been enemies once, now they were comrades. And the intoxicated G.I.s needed to accept him as such. If they resorted to violence, John would defend his new friend. And he’d also arrange those men’s court martials.

[nico]

Nico could scarcely believe his eyes when the Lieutenant jumped in front of him, he had only been talking to the man for a few minutes and suddenly he was placing himself in danger in order to protect Nico. He got over his disbelief quickly as McCreary turned down the drunken soldiers offer to join in with the beating they had planned and Nico readied himself to move, looking around at the other men that had surrounded himself and his new friend.

The Lieutenant even had his hand ready to draw his pistol, Nico looked at the gun and wished he had one himself, he noticed a ring on McCreary's finger, but was drawn back to the conflict.

“Yes sir I am drunk sir!” The tall soldier said, mocking a salute.
“But its not all that bad sir, makes us all feel much better.” He smiled around at his boys, three of them looked a little uneasy, Nico guessed they hadn’t been counting on the Lieutenant being here.
”Jeff, lets just go man.” One of them said quietly, “He’s not worth the effort.” The man who spoke started backing away, two of the other uneasy men started following.

“What are you talking about? Clearly the Lieutenant has been conspiring with this little German spy.” He turned back to McCreary with a violent look in his eyes and launched forward, grabbing at the Lieutenant’s arms. Nico dashed forward to the side of McCreary and gave a sharp kick to Jeff’s knee, it wasn’t much but hopefully it would put the taller man off balance enough for the Lieutenant to counter, Nico was grabbed on the shoulders and yanked back from behind straight after he landed the kick. He looked back over his shoulder just as the three uneasy men ran off, and just in time to catch a punch in the cheek from the other man who had stayed.

Nico went limp with the force of the punch, his vision blurred but he quickly found his legs again and twisted in the mans grip, slipping out of his shirt as the buttons ripped. He slid across the ground and got to his feet but was tackled before he could get his balance by the man who had punched him. Nico tried to kick and punch his way out from under the man but he was pinned.

[2nd Lt. John P. McCreary]

Now John was ticked. He took note of the man’s disrespectful, sarcastic, and slurred tone as he saluted him mockingly. One of his buddies tried to discourage him from violence, but the other man paid him no mind. When the man called Jeff accused him of ‘conspiring with the German spy,’ John tensed, readying himself for the man’s attack. The drunkard dashed forward in a running tackle, grabbing John’s arms. The force of the attack caught him off guard for only a second. He kneed him in the stomach and sidestepped, throwing the private to the ground. At the same time, Nico had kicked the man in the knee.

A split second later, Nico was grabbed by one of the other men from behind. There were only two drunkards there, the other three had fled. John threw an uppercut to Jeff’s jaw, sending him stumbling back down to the warehouse floor. He could see Nico pinned down on the ground by the second man. John sprinted up behind the soldier, seized him by the collar, spun him around and punched him right in the kisser.

Meanwhile, Jeff had gotten up, and started running towards John. John spun around in time to counter the man’s punch with his forearm, but didn’t react in time to avoid the second punch to the stomach. John doubled over, but was able to punch the man in the cheek again. As Jeff fell back, the Lieutenant backhanded him on the bridge of the nose, drawing blood. He hammered the man in the rib, and kicked his knee. The exhausted drunkard fell to the ground once more.

John grabbed him by the collar, and punched him again. After kicking him in the ribs again with his paratrooper boots, he lifted the drunkard to his feet. He drew his pistol, holding it against the terrified man's brow. “Do not accuse me of espionage. I’ve seen things you could not even begin to imagine, boy. I’ve seen my friends struck down by the Germans before they even got a chance to fire their rifles. I’ll be damned if you call me a conspirator again.” He shoved the man again before delivering another punch with his free hand to his bloodied face. He replaced the Colt 1911 on his belt, deciding against ending the man's life.

Jeff’s pal was not unconscious as John had previously thought, and had gotten up. The man decided to rush John from behind. The Lieutenant was knocked over by the force of the blow, and he twisted around as he grappled with the lower-ranking soldier on the ground. The drunk man punched John in the side of the face, and John began to see stars. Nevertheless, he summoned the energy to return the favor. The drunk man looked slightly stunned, and John seized this opportunity to throw the man off of him. As he stood up though, John had his back to Jeff, who had woken up.

Jeff took advantage of John’s position, grabbing him by the neck from behind. John’s hands instantly flew up to Jeff’s, trying to pry them from his neck. The other man stood up and started throwing punches at John’s face and stomach. John kicked the man in the leg, but this only made him angry. He struck John in the face again. This isn’t good.

[nico]

Nico felt the weight of on top of him rise up as John pulled the drunken soldier off him and he struggled to his feet, the third soldier who still held Nico’s ripped shirt dropped it and charged forward as Nico rose, without thinking Nico grabbed his issue knife from its sheath in his boot and brought it up, he didn’t want to kill the man but wanted to disable him from the fight. The soldier reacted quickly to the sight of the knife and grabbed Nico on the wrists, trying to twist the blade from his hand.

While Nico wrestled with the drunken soldier John was busy giving Jeff a good beating, knocking him to the ground only to drag him to his feet once more. Nico heard John shouting something about Germans but was preoccupied with the third soldier. Nico broke the mans grip on his free hand and drove a punch into his assailants face, not wanting to miss the opportunity Nico grabbed the man by the collar and took a step back before driving his knee into the soldiers stomach. Nico quickly followed the knee with a head butt to the soldiers nose just as the man John had thought was unconscious rose to his feet.

The head butt seemed to disorientate the man Nico was fighting enough for him to break the mans hold on his knife wrist, with the bade free Nico swung his arm around over his head and drove the tip of the knife into the mans left shoulder, the force of the swing sinking the blade in up to the hilt and with a scream of agony he fell to the dirty floor, clutching his shoulder.

Nico snapped his head around to the other two enemy soldiers just as Jeff grabbed John by the neck. Nico charged forward as the other soldier started to land hits on John, bringing his arm back before launching a power punch into the soldiers jaw. He didn’t land the hit properly and only knocked the soldier to the ground a little dazed, if the punch had been spot on he would also have a broken jaw. Nico delivered a spinning kick to the side of the mans head as he tried to rise before he turned his attention to Jeff, who seemed to be strangling John from behind and dashed to his side. He slammed three punches into Jeff’s ribs in order to make him let go before trying to pry the mans hands from around Johns throat.

The man Nico kicked had gotten to his feet again. Curse the alcohol that dulled the pain these men felt, at least the solider with the knife in his shoulder was still whimpering and the other three had run off or else this fight would have been over much quicker. Nico gave Jeff one last punch in the side of the head before turning to defend himself from the other man who seemed to launch himself, roaring like an animal and swinging wild punches towards Nico.

Nico let out a roar of his own and stepped forward, catching the mans arms and they began wrestling, both trying to overthrow the other in order to gain an advantage.

[2nd Lt. John P. McCreary]

John struggled against Jeff’s grip, kicking out at the soldier who was relentlessly beating him. He managed to land a few kicks, but that wasn’t deterring him from continuing to punch John. Luckily for him, Nico grabbed the guy from behind and punched him in the face. He then pulled Jeff off of him and knocked him down with a punch. John nodded gratefully and dragged Jeff to his feet again. He backhanded his already bloody nose, hearing a sickening crack indicating that he had broken it, and threw another punch at the side of his face. The man fell forward and lay still, unconscious.

John then turned to face the other man, who was wrestling with Nico. But his attention was diverted by a third man in the corner, who had a knife in his shoulder. To his surprise, the man slowly began to pull the knife out of his arm with his good hand. John rushed past the struggling soldiers and tackled the wounded man. The two fell to the ground in a heap, and John reached for the hand holding the knife. The man resisted, awfully strong for having gotten stabbed a few minutes before. The officer used his other hand to punch the man in the jaw. This enraged the soldier, who threw John to the side and got on top of him, raising his knife. John kept his grip on the hilt, fighting against the man’s strength and trying desperately to turn the weapon around. He reached for his own knife of his belt, and blocked the private’s strike. He countered by shoving the man’s knife away with his own, and kicked the soldier away from him.

He stood up, his knife at the ready, his eyes on the soldier the whole time. The drunkard decided to charge him with his knife. John evaded his attack, slashed the man’s arm, and caught the knife as it fell. He then grabbed the man’s shoulders and kneed him in the belly. He sent a swift punch towards the side of his head, and his opponent fell to the ground with a grunt.

John approached the wrestling soldiers casually, and seized the drunken private’s shoulder, trying to pry him away from Nico. However, John failed to notice that Jeff had risen once again, and was starting to limp towards the young Lieutenant. He again felt the intoxicated G.I’s hands around his throat, but this time, he elbowed him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He kicked out at him with his left leg, sending the man toppling backwards. He kicked the soldier Nico was fighting a few times for good measure, and then whirled around to face Jeff.

“You’re dead, Lieutenant.” Jeff slurred, his eyes violent and murderous.

John didn’t reply, instead getting into a boxer’s stance. He’d done some boxing at West Point, which had served him well during the fight. It also helped that he remembered the unarmed drills they had to do in basic training. Jeff ran at John with a cry, swinging his right arm at his head. John ducked, delivering two punches, one with each hand, to his gut. The man began to fall forward a little, and John grasped his shoulders and kneed him.

John got back into his stance, alert and ready for whatever Jeff would throw at him. This time, Jeff decided to try and kick him. John blocked the kick and gave Jeff an uppercut to the chin in return. The man stumbled backward as if he were going to fall, but John pulled him up and punched him again. And again. And again. Until finally, he fell to the ground with a crack as his head hit the floor.

John watched in satisfaction, but then the door to the warehouse opened. He turned, but to his relief, the men who had entered were MPs.

“What in the blazes is going on here?” one of them demanded.

[nico]

Nico was losing the strength battle with the soldier he was wrestling with, out the corner of his eye he could see John knocking Jeff down yet again and hoped that it was the last time the drunken man would have to go down. Nico got a little distracted as John charged at the knifed man, unable to fully believe that he was pulling the blade from his shoulder, maybe he should have twisted the blade instead of just giving him a straight cut wound.

The distraction cost Nico dearly as he lost his footing and was forced back against the side of the Sherman. Nico’s strength was failing under the weight of the larger and stronger man. Nico tried to knee him in the gut but his attacker stepped in closer, unable to put enough force behind his knee he had to try another way to push out from under the soldier.

He couldn’t hold on much longer, it was only a minute or so but to Nico it felt like an hour. His arms where sore and the weight of the brute pressing down on him was wearing him out even more. He could feel tough hands grabbing at this throat, just before Nico’s strength failed completely the man grunted from Johns kicks. With a scream of pain and with the aid of an adrenaline rush Nico pushed off the tank, overbalancing the man and driving him to the ground. Nico pinned the soldier’s hands above his head and kneeled on his stomach as he started delivering head butt after head butt.

Nico was vaguely aware of the door opening, he heard a shouted voice but his full concentration was on the man under him. It wasn’t until strong, fresh hands gripped him and dragged him off, twisting his arms around behind his back and pinning him against the tank again. Nico struggled against the hands and tried to see who had him, he didn’t recognise the mans face as one of Jeff’s mates, but the stencilled white MP letters on the helmet gave away just whose side the man was on. Nico stopped struggling, unsure of what would happen next.

[2nd Lt. John P. McCreary]

John could see that Nico had overpowered the other man, and was head-butting him continuously. One of the other MPs soon separated the men, and pinned Nico’s hands behind his back. John shot him a look that clearly said, ‘Let me do the talking.’ He then turned and faced the lead MP. “Hello, Horace.” he said with a nod, recognizing the Sergeant. “As you can see, these soldiers are drunk.”

Actually, two of them were passed out on the ground. Jeff’s face was covered in blood, and the other man’s arm was bleeding profusely. He had no doubt that the MPs had noticed their injuries. “They attacked Private Lenion and myself when I ordered them to return to base. The man with the beard tackled me, and I told him to stand down or else I’d shoot him. He refused, so I knocked him unconscious. We were both forced to defend ourselves.”

The MP was silent for a while. Finally, he made eye contact with John and nodded. “If I were you, Lieutenant McCreary, I would’ve shot him. Take these bastards back to the brig.” he ordered, grabbing the man that Nico had fought. The rest of the MPs dragged the wounded soldiers out of the warehouse. The door of the warehouse opened once more, the cold winter air rushing in. The MPs marched out, and the door slammed shut.

John exhaled and sat on the hood of a stationary jeep. “Are you alright, Lenion?” he asked, looking over the soldier. His jacket had been torn off in the struggle, and he looked exhausted, but he wasn’t in terrible shape like the men they had just fought. John himself could feel his left eye swelling, and he figured that it’d turn black within the hour. He rubbed the area around his eye gently, and winced as his fingers stung the already forming bruise. Other than that, he was tired, but he would be alright. This was nothing compared to a real battle, he concluded.

As he rested on the jeep, he wondered why he hadn’t decided to kill the insubordinate soldier. Maybe he’d just had enough of killing, after all the men he’d killed in France and Holland. He had a gut feeling that they’d go back into combat any day now, and he wanted to make the most of his time off. He didn’t know if he’d survive this conflict. In a war engulfing the whole world, the chances of him living to see the end of it were slim. Nevertheless, he wanted to enjoy his time away from the field. And killing one of his own soldiers would surely haunt him for the rest of his days.

[nico]

Nico rolled his shoulders and rubbed his wrist when the MP let him go, the man had quiet a strong grip. He stumbled a little and slid to the ground leaning against the Sherman, looking up at it. He was glad that the Lieutenant knew the MP’s, Nico didn’t like the idea of spending time behind bars. Of course if the Lieutenant wasn’t there Nico probably wouldn’t still be here either.
“I am alright sir.” Nico coughed out, he checked himself over quickly and was surprised at how little damage was actually done. He smiled a little and looked over McCreary, scanning him for wounds. The worst damage it seemed was on his eye, he could already see it going black. He let out a little laugh at the stupidity of the situation they had just survived.

“I’m glad you where around sir. How bad does your face hurt?” He said as he climbed to his feet, thinking that the best thing for them both was a nice hot shower and a warm bed, and maybe a trip to the medic. He wondered about the man he stabbed, surly the wound Nico had given him would give him a one way ticket back home, or maybe not after seeing him get back up and continue fighting, there where some tough men out there.

Nico coughed again and leant against the tank for support, too tired and sore to support his own weight.
“Well sir, thank you for your help and company, but with your permission I would like to head back to the barracks and clean myself up.” It was the end of a long night and the more Nico thought about sleep the more tired he seemed to get. He didn’t even hear if the Lieutenant spoke, assuming that he had been dismissed Nico saluted and turned to head out into the cold wind.

[2nd Lt. John P. McCreary]

John nodded at the private when he replied that he was okay. Guess we really did give them quite a beating, he realized, since he and Nico were virtually unscathed. Better them than us. The officer rarely resorted to violence, being a rational and sensitive man, but defending himself was a whole different matter. The soldiers had been way out of line, and he hoped that they were punished accordingly. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were court-martialed. That would be a good move on the MP’s part. He didn’t want that sort of irresponsible rabble serving with or under him. Yes, he knew that men got drunk from time to time, but their sheer disregard for authority was inexcusable. So was their obvious hatred of the German man standing in front of him. The private would be on the front line with the rest of the American soldiers, fighting the Germans, maybe even dying.

John’s thoughts were interrupted by Nico’s question if his face hurt. The Lieutenant shrugged. “I’ll be alright. I’ve had worse scratches than this, believe me.” He’d only been wounded once–in Normandy. It wasn’t anything serious, just a flesh wound to the leg, but at the time it had hurt like hell. Nevertheless, he had gathered his gumption and finished the battle. When the medic asked to have a look at him, he ordered him to treat his men first. An officer’s first and foremost concern was not the welfare of himself, but that of his men. John took that very seriously.

The Queens native inclined his head at the private after he thanked him and asked to return to the barracks. He said nothing, and the soldier exited the warehouse and shut the door. John jumped off of the jeep and examined himself on the windshield. He laughed a little, like Nico had done. I look a hot mess. His jacket was torn, and it probably needed replacing, his hair was disheveled, the area around his left baby blue had blackened, just as he’d predicted. The CO’s gonna have a lot of questions in the morning. He smirked and buttoned his jacket before exiting the warehouse.

“What a night.” he muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair and sitting down in the front seat of his jeep, still parked outside. Please start, please start... he prayed silently, sticking the key back in the ignition and turning it. The engine roared back to life to his delight. All he wanted to do was go back to his billet and get a good night’s sleep. By God, he needed it. He stepped down on the gas pedal and began the seemingly endless journey back to base.

Finally, he parked his jeep in the company garage and opened the door, stepping out onto the cold floor. Locking the door and withdrawing the key, his boots crunched in the snow as he walked back to the officer’s mess. It was frigid, but being a New Yorker he had twenty-four years of experience. Europe’s winters were just as brutal, maybe even worse. He’d always get up early with his father and brother to shovel the driveway after a heavy snowfall.

Reaching his room, he kicked off his boots and set them in a corner, took off his jacket, and unloosened his tie. Not even bothering to change out of his wrinkled uniform, he lay on his bunk, staring at the ceiling, before quickly drifting off to sleep.

[nico]

Thread Closed...

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Moderation Post:

The following CP has been issued:

McCreary - 9CP

Lenion - 8CP

-JT