A helping hand

[Liesl Von Stauffenberg]

Country:Germany
Current Time: about 9:00am, beginning of winter.
Weather Conditions: over cast, it rained the night before so its pretty muddy and its a bit windy.

All day and all night many wounded German soldiers were brought into the German field hospital. Some had minor injuries while others weren't so lucky. Liesl was running around most of the evening and early morning constantly attending to some of the injured soldiers. Her laced up brown boots were covered in a layer of mud as she ran about the tents. She exhaled briefly taking a short break. Sitting on a wooden crate she smoothed out the skirt of her nurse's uniform. She sighed in realization that it was stained with a mixture of mud and blood. Quietly she fixed her bandanna blowing a strand of her dark chocolate hair out of her face. She sniffled slightly rubbing her face with the back of her blood stained fingers. There's too many of them...i wonder how much supplies we have left to keep them sustained. she thought to herself.As she began to lose herself in thought, a nurse hollered for her. Liesl jerked her head towards the nurse.
She rose to her feet and walked quickly towards the tent,"Ja? I'm here." she said in German.
The nurse gave her a relieved look and handed her an armful of bloodstained linens. she quickly asked Liesl to clean them for her, so they can be reused if necessary. Liesl opened her mouth, but as she was about to reply a wounded German soldier was carried into the tent. Liesl closed her mouth, feeling a bit angered that she had to clean linens than help save a life.

"Just do what you're told...this is not a time to be stubborn..." she scolded herself.

She nodded a silent reply to the nurse, carrying the bloody linens out of the tent. Placing the bloody linens on a crate, she walked around till she found a metal tub. She filled it with water and dumped one of the linens into the tub. She quickly rolled up her sleeves and began scrubbing. The water in the tub made Liesl's fingers numb and stiff as she tried to get the linens clean. By the time she got to the 4th linen the water was a murky red, because of the blood.
Liesl peered into the water, seeing her reflection. Her teal-blue eyes were rimmed red with lack of sleep, her dark chocolate hair was spilling messily out of it's bun and into her face. Her pale Germanic features formed a slight scowl as she stared at her reflection. She knew she wasn't as pretty as other German girls, deep down she kinda wished she had golden blond locks and pristine blue eyes like them. She lightly bit her lower lip, shaking the thought out of her head and began scrubbing the linen again.
As she scrubbed a sudden gust of cold wind blew past her, blowing off her bandanna. Liesl dropped what she was doing and ran after it.

[Deleted]

The once strong roar of the trucks engine had been reduced to nothing more then an unhealthy rattle, the tires and been blown apart and it had been grinding rims for the past twenty minutes. The bed of the truck was packed full with crates of medical supplies and wounded soldiers who'd need them. They had been at the center of a supply convoy that was resupplying the forward fronts when the front lines shifted. The Americans had broken through and the road that was believed to be safe had become a death trap.

If it hadn't of been for a fresh company that had been sent out to reinforce the weakened line the convoy would have been obliterated. Even with that company's timely arrival only two trucks had survived the ambush, one of them was now heading towards a medical base further to the south, while the one Jace was on, was heading north. With a cheer from the men the medical base came into view and a few minutes after that the truck sputtered and with one last jerk gave up and slowly rattled off into its own, mechanical death. They were forced to leg it the rest of the way, the remaining able bodied men grabbed the worst of the wounded and stretchered them to the base. Jace jumped down from the bed and helped a soldier down who'd been hit in the shoulder.
"All walking wounded go to the base! If you can carry somthing take it with you." the man with the wounded shoulder waited for another soldier who had a wounded leg and they helped each other move off towards the medical base. Jace found himself with empty hands so he picked up a crate and followed the others down the road. As he neared the medical base a bandana blew towards him on a cold wind and wrapped around his ankle. Not noticing it he continued walking into the base, shouting out for someone to come collect the crate of medical supplies.

[Liesl Von Stauffenberg]

Liesl kept running after her bandanna; another gust of wind blew it farther causing her to loose sight of it.

"Scheiße!" she gasped

She scanned her parameter hoping to at least get a glimpse or hint to where it might have blown off to. She stood there shivering in an ankle deep puddle of mud, sighing she began to walk back to the blood stained linens. She stopped in mid stride hearing distant cheering. There's more? she thought and began calculating how much supplies they had left.
Another cold wind blew past her causing her to shiver a bit more. Her dark chocolate wavy hair spilled out of it's loose bun and on to her shoulders. She cursed lightly to herself in German, as she tried pinning her hair back up again. She gave up eventually flipping her hair on to her right shoulder and just it as was, no one was going to look at her anyway. What was the point? She shouldn't be worried about how she looked, she's a nurse and her priority was to take care of the wounded soldiers. In the back of her mind she could hear her mother's voice, telling her to remember to put others first before herself.
The memory of her mother's voice gave her a small flutter of warmth, calming her. Liesl inhaled the cool air deeply and noticed the wounded soldiers come into view. Liesl ran over with a group of nurses to start treating the wounded. One of the nurses heard a soldier say he was carrying supplies and immediately told Liesl to get it.

"But I want to help..." pleaded Liesl in a soft spoken voice

"You are."said the nurse and quickly left with one of the wounded soldiers.

Liesl felt taken back a bit, but did as she was told and went up to the soldier carrying a crate of medical supplies.

[Deleted]

Jace noticed a nurse come towards him, he hefted the crate and walked towards her. All around him he could hear the screams of wounded men and crud for help. This place was packed with people in new of help. The sites and sounds were nothing new to Jace, as a former Ustashi member he was accustom to scenes like this. The only reason he was even a little affected was because these men, some were lying in the mud trying to stop thief blood from drooling out of them, these men were his commrads.

"Nurse, the truck up the road has more supplies." he said as he got nearer, he could see her hands and arms had a tinge of blood covering them. She had probably been called away from a wounded soldier to sort out the supplies and had tried to wash up.
"Where do you need them?"
Already the men who had carried the wounded from the truck were heading back to grab the other boxes. They would need to unload the truck quickly and then strip it for useful parts. With the shift in the front lines this area could no longer be safe. That also meant they would have to move everyone from this medical base.

"Can you take me to whoever is in charge as well? It's urgent we start moving these people out of here." If the Americans took this place there would be no guarantee that the wounded would be cared for. They could just as easily execute everyone as they could inprison them.

[Liesl Von Stauffenberg]

Liesl made a feebly attempted to wipe as much blood off her hands and on to her white apron as she neared the soldier. She scanned him a bit with her eyes, trying to see if he was also in need of medical treatment. A bitter sweet smile crossed her soft pink lips when the soldier told her that there were more supplies in the truck.

"Danke..." she said in a relieved voice, "We're running quite low on medical supplies....it's a good thing you came at the right time." she smiled, "Please, follow me..." she said turning on the heel of her boot.

She walked hastily into the field hospital and directed the soldier to a stack of wooden crates, "You can set them down here...I'll sort through them later." she said calmly, watching a few soldiers run back to a truck.

Liesl looked at the soldier as a look of confusion washed over her pale Germanic features, "Urgent?" she repeated trying to comprehend what he just said, her teal-blue eyes shifted slightly, "Our head nurse and doctor are currently preforming surgeries...right now...isn't a good time to bother them." she said in a hurried tone and began to walk back to the linens she had been washing.

[Deleted]

The right time, it was down right bad timing. If they had of been earlier they could have dropped off the supplies and been on their way, or if they had of been late they wouldn't have been able to get through cause of the changing lines. Although, if they had of been late, this base would have been taken by surprise. So maybe it was good timing after all?

He followed the nurse to the stack of crates and placed his own on top, the other men were close enough to see where he'd put the supplies and he waved them over. He turned back to the nurse.
"Yes, it's very urgent that I see them."
Of course though, her responce to his request surprised and angered him. As a part of the SS Jace was not use to being told No. Put ontop of that the current situation with the shifting lines and her lack of urgency to this urgent matter was quite annoying. As the nurse turned and left Jace fought the urge to grab he by the hair and drag her to the commander of the base. He resisted though and decided that words might get the proper reaction.

"Nurse, Nurse! Don't walk away, we need to start getting these people out of the area right now!" he stroked after her, overtook her and blocked her path.
"The front lines have shifted! The Americans are breaking through and this area may no longer be safe. At the moment the only thing holding off god damn tank column is a company of infantry and they can't hold out for ever!" He had lied about the tank column but he needed her to understand the situation. They did have armor and that alone would be able to take out this place. There was no anti-armor weapons in the truck nor did he think a medical base would be armed to hold off any form of attack, let alone one lead by armor.

[Liesl Von Stauffenberg]

As Liesl began to walk away the soldier began to holler at her. She stopped in midstride as he cut her off. She looked at him hesitantly back tracking a little in her step. She swallowed a little feeling that she angered him, she bit her lip a little conjuring up some courage to speak.

"I'm sorry sir, I'd lead you to them, but they are currently trying to save the lives of your fellow soldiers." she said in a calm soft spoken voice. "I must return some linens to a tent....I can take you to them...but I doubt you'll be able to speak to him."

She swerved around him picking up the 'clean' linens and began walking towards a tent. She dropped the linens off at the tent and walked back to the soldier, her eyes hardened a bit. "Would you still like to speak to them?" she asked calmly

Without another word she began walking towards the 'surgical' tent.

"Please wait here..." she said gently

She walked hastily towards the head doctor, muttering what the soldier just told her to the doctor. The doctor seemed surprised, muttering something back to Liesl and continued his work on the soldier before him. Liesl sighed quietly going back to the soldier.

"The doctor said he will comply with your orders....but he asks how you are going to transfer all these wounded men to safety." she said relaying the message to the Soldier.

[Deleted]

The nurses calmness irritated Jace even more, he had just told her that imminent death was rolling towards her and she still took the time to casually drop off some linen. What the hell was wrong with her? His outburst hadn't done anything to speed her along and he guessed that continuing to try and press te urgency of the situation upon her would be waisted time. Gritting his teeth he followed the nurse and paced around outside while she spoke to her commander. During His pacing he noticed the bandana wrapped around his ankle and pulled it off, twisting it around in his hands.

When she finnaly came back out and told him they were going I evacuate he felt like a small battle had just been won. But her question as to how 'he' was going to evacuate them crushed that small feeling an filled him with even more irritation. He had done his job and delivered the supplies, they had been ambushed and now he had warned this base about the imminent danger they were in but now they wanted him to organize their escape? His rage bubbled up and he fought to suppress it.
"Doesn't this base have an evacuation plan?" he was sure that all forward based facilities had evacuation plans in the even of something like this happening.

He didn't wait for her answer before continuing pacing. If they didn't have an evacuation plan then their commander was seriously lacking in his knowledge of procedures and protocol. Not that Jace was a high ranking soldier, but every forward base he had been stationed at had run him through an evacuation drill.
First of all, they needed a safe rout out. A scouting unit would need to check the roads for ambushes and dangers.
Then they'd need vehicles too.
"Do you have any vehicles? Ambulances? Jeeps? Trucks? Anything at all?"

[Liesl Von Stauffenberg]

Liesl ignored the soldier's comment.

"Yes we have a few vehicles." she said quietly as she quickly touched a nurse's shoulder.

The nurse spun around in bewilderment, and told Liesl to quickly tell her what she needed so she could return to her patient. Liesl spoke quickly telling the nurse they had to evacuate and to spread the word to the others. The other nurse went pale for a moment, nodding and ran off to tell other nurses. Liesl sighed quietly, carefully deducting what medicine and other medical supplies she needed to pack carefully and quickly.

Within moments the field hospital came to life in a chaotic way. Many nurses ran around like headless chickens frantically packing valuable medical equipment. Liesl grabbed her medical kit, her boots sloshing in several muddy puddles as she went back to alert the Doctor. Liethe entered the surgical tent and told the doctor what was happening through out the field hospital. He nodded stitching up the soldier and quickly began to pack. Liesl nodded and stepped out of the tent. She stopped in her tracks when her eyes fell on what looked like to be her bandanna.

"W-where did you find that?"she asked hesitantly.

[Deleted]

They had vehicles. Well that was a start. As the nurse started rounding up other medical staff and packing her own gear, Jace called over a few of the soldiers he had rode in with. They were lacking an officer and Jace had been hoping to come under the command of who ever was running this place, but given the fact that an evacuation plan wasn't even set up maybe it would be better if Jace and his ragged group handled things.

They had no reason to obey him, but they listened all the same to what he said and with military speed and efficiency they had formed into a small scouting squad and where off. The remainder of the men sprinted off towards the vehicles, they would have to get them warmed up and in the cold wind that could take some time. He only wished he knew how much time they had. There was no communications from the company that was holding the American advance and since Jace and the busted truck full of busted up men had arrived there had been no others.

He found himself wondering if it would be worth ditching this camp and bailing out himself. He would be able to evade any advanced patrols the Americans sent out and make it back to the new German line. But as he looked around he found himself unable to just abandon them. Not out of sympathy, but because every person these medical men and women healed would be able to continue the fight another day. He had to help them, so they could continue to heal.

Jace meet back up with the nurse who seemed to be running the show. Even though she was not the head nurse everyone seemed to be obeying her.
"Impressive how quick everyone is moving." He commented to himself before the nurse caught his attention. She was looking at the bandanna that he had twisted around his hand.
"I found this on the ground." It was half true, and he held it out to her.
"Is this yours?"
He found this woman quite confusing, even after he had told her that a column of tanks was on its way she seemed calm, but at the sight of the bandanna she became hesitant, and that was the most amount of emotion he had seen from her yet.
"What's your name?"

[Liesl Von Stauffenberg]

Liesl stayed silent for a moment, "Ummm...yes it is. The wind blew it away." she said quietly taking the bandanna from his hand.

She looked at the soldier quizzically, arching her eyebrow slightly in curiosity. She cleared her throat lightly, averting her eyes from any more eye contact and gently brushed off the dirt from the white fabric of her bandanna.

"I suppose should thank you for finding it...." she paused for a moment pulling her dark chocolate hair away from her face.

As she tied the bandanna back into her hair, she heard him ask for her name. She flinched slightly, not really use to people asking who she is.

"Well...ummm..." she stammered and quickly closed her mouth. "Thank you again for finding my bandanna I was feeling rather incomplete without it." she said in a joking flat tone.

A hidden smile played across her soft pink lips but quickly disappeared, "Please excuse me..." she said hurriedly. " I-I need to help load the wounded..." she said quietly.
She turned on her heel of her boot and began to walk towards a tent, trying to avoid as much contact with the soldier.

[Deleted]

Have was practically glaring at the nurse by the time she took the bandanna. He didn't want a thanks, he didn't do anything other then find a rag and give it to her. Women are weird.
"You don't need to thank me." His opinion on women being weird only grew when she refused to share her name for fear of getting attached and he was a little grateful when she left to load the wounded.

He watched her walk away and shook his head before making his way towards the lead truck.
"As soon as we're full honk the horn twice and pull out."
The soldier nodded and looked back at the men and women loading the trucks with bloodied and batters soldiers and equipment. Jace continued checking the trucks when a boom echoed through the trees. Every soldier in the area immediately dropped to the ground as a shell screamed overhead and plowed into ground near one of the far tents. The explosion blew the tent over and launched dirt and rocks high into the air.

A roar of battle came through the tress as infantry opened up with their weapons. Bullets smacked into the ground and people began to panic. Jace brought his rifle up and opened fire on the tree line. All around the camp other soldiers who had been helping with the evacuation returned fire as well.
"We're out of time! Move out already!"

Jace got to his feet and sprinted to the first truck that was revving its engine and already pulling away. He waved at it to keep going. They had to get out of here but not everyone was loaded on yet. One soldier was crawling towards another truck and Jace hauled him too his feet, supporting him and half carrying him forwards until a round sunk into the base of the soldiers skull. Leaving the dead man on the ground he tried to round up any other stragglers.

[PuNk! ™]

Moderation Post:

[/b][/center]

The following thread has been closed and command points (CP) issued to all parties participating within the thread:

Jace Rosewic:[/b] 7CP

Liesl Von Stauffenberg [/b] 7CP

~Danny[/color]