I See Fire // Victoria

[Genevieve Mae Willis]

Location: Normandy Beach, France
Date: D-Day (June 6, 1944)
Time: 1200

---

The stench of smoke and embers filled Genny's nostrils as she wiped away the tiny beads of sweat that was collecting on her brow. Throughout her deployment as a field medic she has seen so much carnage and destruction from both sides. 'Just breathe, check for pulse, tend to the wounds and get out of there....' She had to rehearse her steps in a robotic manner. 'Don't let the excitement scare you, you signed up for this!'. When she was not huddled in a makeshift foxhole, she was out dodging bullets and carrying the wounded to safety.

"Man down we need a medic here!"

That familiar call. Genny knew that she and a few others would have to leave from their embrace of safety towards the injured solider. It was always important to move quickly- always move quickly, 'don't blink... don't slow down for anyone or anything'. This particular cry for help was what nearly caused the medic to double over. The poor guy's intestines were nearly spilling from his wound. With quivering hands, Genny moved methodically to patch up the wound and to get the man to safer ground. With each moment she could hear her heart beat in her chest, the bile threatening to lurch forth as she had to put her mind elsewhere. Her eyes stung with the emotion of sadness and slight fear.

"Let's get him to the base."

She swallowed her emotions down as she spoke orders to the other medics as they scrambled to save another life.

---

The hot noonday sun bled into an ominous overcast sky.

She was now at the makeshift medic base further down the beaches. She was busy making her rounds when she heard a loud sound. Perhaps it was from a tank- but then it hit her, there were no tanks deployed at the moment and the noise seemed to be from the air. Stepping out from the tent, she looked up at the sky to see a fighter plane free-fall. 'Shit'. She couldn't help but to think out loud. Genny looked back to see if anyone else heard the noise and checked it out, but it seemed as if each person was suspended in their own worlds, oblivious to the chaos that was occurring outside of the tent. She glanced back outside towards the direction where the plane crashed and took a deep breath.

The air was stiff as the wind began to pick up. The gale felt nice on her skin but it did nothing to calm her nerves. Was this the enemy? An ally? So far the firefight was some paces away and no Nazi was in sight. Still, Genny was not stupid- sure she was a wildcard and ambitious but not foolish. She took slow careful steps as she hid among the tall grasses. God she was a long ways away from base... and way in over her head. The smell of burning fuel, grass and metal was strong as the wind currents carried it towards her area. 'Move swiftly... don't blink.'. With a hard gulp, Genny moved closer towards the crash site, it was a friendly.... She has seen those planes before, what where they... 33rd American Volunteer Wing. Did they know that one of their members were down? Did the person call in before they crashed? Keeping those thoughts to herself she quickly moved towards the smoldering mess.

She tried to see if there were any survivors through the windows but they were smoked up. Wasting no time, the medic went to the door to pry it open. It took awhile but eventually it flew open and nearly sent her flying back on her butt. Heat and some smoke escaped as she heard groanings. A smile swept across her lips as her heart had leaped for joy that they were not dead.

With swift movements, Genny carefully pulled the two out and dragged them a few feet away from the wreckage.

"Don't worry I will save you guys... just... hang in there."

Her voice barely reached from over a whisper as she put her medic bag beside her and pulled out the canteen, alcohol and bandages. She went to the first victim... seemed like a young man to inspect for any wounds or burns. He held a third-degree burn on the side of his face and neck and a couple of gashes on his left forearm and right elbow. After she patched the male up she moved on to the next person. A female, young woman with second to third degree burns on her left shoulder and part of her torso and some cuts. Genny worked as the realization hit her heavy... She was a ways away from base and it would be difficult to carry two people without help. Yeah she was in over her head with this one. It would be unethical to get them to walk with their injuries, would it be?

---

ooc; whew this is a long one, let me know if you want me to change anything involving the injuries. i kinda left the plot open in way so anything could happen to these souls. haha

[Victoria Adaline Clarke]

   Everything seemed to come back to the flight officer at once, the feeling of falling was actually hard to describe. It was like getting hit by a ton of bricks or punched in the stomach before completely blacking out. For a time, the world came to a standstill---debris, broken glass and the smell of burning gasoline filled the flight officer's lungs as she tried to keep the cargo plane in flight. Her copilot was unfortunately struck and knocked unconscious upon impact of the explosives from below. Who's bright bloody idea was to send a damned CARGO plane into battle?

   Just before takeoff she had already ranted to her copilot about sending an Air Transport Auxiliary plane into the fray...no one should or they should have had their supplies on them. That's what she was after all, an Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) of the British air force. This was stupid and ultimately a bad plan on her commanding officer's part. As much as she wanted to find her brother...this wasn't the way to go at it. At least not driving a damned cargo plane. However, now wasn't the time to think about that, her co pilot was unconscious and they were approximately spiraling down to the earth from about 100 miles per hour. Recalling what she learned in flight school, she pulled up on the yoke to steady the plane---praying to god she could at least land the thing or die trying.

   If anything...at least she wanted her copilot to live through this ordeal. Land----dammit! she thought as they made a rough landing. Though she was able to land the cargo plane, due to the heat of the fire the equipment began to break. Glass went flying cutting the flight officer's face with small gashes as she struggled to get out of the seat. Stretching out her hand as far as she could, she reached over and unbuckled her unconscious copilot from his seat. The flames licking at her shoulder as her fingers fumbled with her partner's seat belt, "Dammit Collin!" she yelled as she tried to free him. Cursing under her breath the smell of gasoline and smoke began to fill her lungs exhaling a fit of coughs. Her head began spinning feeling her strength slowly leave her.

Can't black out...

Not now!

   Groaning, she heard the door of the plane suddenly open. Alert though her vision blurred someone quickly took Collin out of his seat. The smoke, quickly dispensing out of the open door. As the smoke slightly cleared, Victoria regained some strength as she took a deep breath of sea air before the smoke quickly began to build again. However, just as she was about to get herself out someone grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her out of the wrecked plane.

   "Jesus H Roosevelt Christ!" yelled the flight officer in response. The pain from her wounds slowly sinking in as her adrenaline began to diminish.

   Taking in uneven breaths, her chest heaved as air began to fill her lungs...oh god...it seemed as though God had shown mercy on her today. Swallowing dryly, Victoria quickly turned her head. Her bistre gaze falling on Collin who was still unconscious next to her.

   Victoria felt her stomach drop, her eyes widened slightly at the thought of her partner dying. "Shit---" slamming her fist into the sand before stating who she was for the medic, "I am flight Officer Clarke of the Air Transport Auxiliary under the command of the British Common wealth, that is my copilot---..." Victoria proceeded to try and sit up, "I need to get to a radio and as far away from this plane! I was carrying explosives, if that goes off we will be blown to bits. And I don't know about you but...I do not wish to eat shrapnel today..."

[Genevieve Mae Willis]

The only thoughts that ran through the medic's mind was to get these two crash victims to safety. It was completely hazardous, near suicide even, to save two bodies in the middle of a battlefield.

"Jesus H Roosevelt Christ!"

The pilot of the plane yelped as Genny pulled her from the wreckage. 'Nice to see that you're alive.' She couldn't help but to think as she pulled the pilot out of the plane and a bit away from the flaming hull. 'Just save lives spitfire, get these two to safety.' The medic mentally rehearsed this line in order to stay in check. From the distant firefight and the liability of saving two lives she was close to being consumed. The second person was clearly unconscious as he felt like a deadweight to Genny. She quickly tended wounds as the relief of carrying one less person settled in, but she was still a ways away from the Allied base.

"I am flight Officer Clarke of the Air Transport Auxiliary under the command of the British Common wealth, that is my copilot---..."

Genny paused and listened as the woman explained who she was but stopped cold as she sat up. This action kind of startled the medic as it was a brisk change of tone. Sitting back on her heels, Genny opened her ear up for what Officer Clarke had to say.

"I need to get to a radio and as far away from this plane! I was carrying explosives, if that goes off we will be blown to bits. And I don't know about you but...I do not wish to eat shrapnel today..."

A plane full of explosives? Who sends out a cargo plane full of explosives during a heavy firefight? Running a dirty hand through her curly hair, Genny looked back at the flaming plane, a small 'pop' was heard as the realization settled.

"Okay y'right eating shrapnel is not on today's menu, but we have one issue- well two. I do not have a radio and to save you two I venture a bit far from the Allied side and now I think we're in No Man's Land."

Wasting no time, Genny went over to the unconscious male and lifted his head a bit to grip the back of his uniform collar.

"Since this Joe is down I will drag him away even more, will you be able to move or-"

Just before she could finish her sentence a louder 'pop' seemingly exploded from inside the hull. 'Fuck this.' Not wasting anymore time, Genny silently cursed and grabbed both Officer Clarke's and the man's collars and dragged them even further away from the plane. As soon as the medic let them go the fireworks began to happen. Well this was more than she ever expected when she signed up.

"Sorry 'bout that. Field Medic Willis.. or you can call me Genny."

Looking around she noticed a few bodies come running towards the direction of the plane. At first the medic thought that they were friendly's who came to assess the situation but upon a clearer view there were figures of a few Wehrmacht soldiers holding their guns.

"Shit. Does your partner have a gun on him?"

Through the haze of panic, Genny turned to view the pilot; she knew that it would be plain stupid to try to move even more and draw attention- even more so to allow Officer Clarke to handle this issue herself. From the looks of it only three searched around the 'was' Allied aircraft prodding for survivors. This was not an ideal situation. Genny kept her voice low as she watched carefully through the grass and rocks as the soldiers began to search their way. Becoming impatient, the medic search the male for any firearm and found a pistol. Working out of pure panic, Genny aimed at one of the enemies and pulled the trigger- the bullet caught one of the men's throat as he slumped onto the ground motionless. Louder calls were heard as the remaining two got into a more defensive stance and searched even more diligently. Eh maybe she should have not acted so hastily.