Chapter Seven: Behind Enemy Lines

*Their tiny group of four had been traveling together for just over forty-eight hours, and already it seemed as if it had been years. Both Serena and Hiiro had managed to keep their contact, both with their other two companions and with each other, to a bare minimum. Unfortunately, the Americans were a lot louder and more rambunctious than either of them had previously bargained for. Still, they had been making good time through the backcountry of northern France—only having to stop once to prevent an encounter with German patrol troops.

All in all, Serena was still in a state of shock and disbelief. Mostly it was over the fact that she couldn’t make up her mind about how to feel about their situation. On the one hand, she knew in her mind that she should feel excited, thrilled, and privileged. It was not every day that some one received the gift of traveling time. In fact, she knew with all her mind that she should be appreciating every step she took, that she should be taking time to savor every glance she had at the Americans, every time she heard planes she should be racing to see them instead of ducking and hiding. She knew it.

But her heart… her heart told her she was afraid, that this was not good. Some how it would end up with them getting captured by German Nazi forces, being tortured, or killed, or worse, being thrown into a death camp… And even if it didn’t, she was still being forced to suffer with the company of people! She could be at home, safe and sound without any worries, head buried deep in a book right now if she hadn’t let her curiosity get the better of her and coming to see the time machine. But she had, and now she was forced to talk, communicate, and, most unusual of all, navigate their tactical movements as a group. What she wouldn’t give to be alone, safe from these people and from their judgmental gazes of her and all that she did. Shaking her head numbly, she continued walking on.

Hiiro took a split second to glance back at the three people he was leading through the countryside. The two Americans had been doing a fair job keeping up, but he had expected as much. If they had been given ranking in the army, then it at least meant they had undergone and passed certain physical examinations that said they were capable of surviving in any situation, including one like their own current circumstances.

He was more surprised at the historian. It had been obvious to him from day one that she had been reluctant to come, and quite frankly, he thought she had made a bad decision in coming. If she had held any hesitation about throwing herself into the past fully; than she didn’t belong on the experimental journey in the first place. Still, she was here, and most surprising of all, she wasn’t complaining. How many women, no. How many people in general had he come into contact with that hadn’t complained, no matter the situation they had been thrown into? Maybe he could count his comrades from the war, and maybe he could count their girlfriends, but no one else had ever come even close. And still that dumpy little old maid had managed to trek through woods, hide from armed forces, stint on food and water, and do what he ordered without so much as a groan. Very unusual. But then, he reflected, their circumstances were very unusual. Besides, she had been more than helpful on occasion when he needed advice on what moves to make tactically speaking.

In fact, Hiiro was quite amazed that she could remember exactly what date the Germans had been in a certain village, or what dates they had been rumored to have been in a certain area. She had alerted him to possible German action three times already, and had been their saving grace in that she had given them time enough to hide before the Germans had arrived. All in all, she wasn’t bad to have around. Not to mention, she was quiet. The opposite of Duo…

“Hey, it’s nearly noon. Can we stop and take a lunch break Iceman?” One of the Americans piped up. Hiiro looked back to seem Jim had stopped and was taking off the small pack he had been carrying.

More than anything he wanted to glare and say: “No! And don’t call me that!” like Wufei did when Duo bothered him. But Hiiro was above that. Besides, he had pushed them harder this morning than he had yesterday, and he didn’t want to tire them so much incase of an attack or ambush. He needed them alert.

“Hnn.” Serena looked up when Hiiro grunted and sighed in relief silently. Her feet were killing her, but she would never say anything to anyone about it. Instantly she dropped her canvas bag and sat on the pine needles and dirt, hoping that she wouldn’t spot any spiders or ants, or else she would never want to sit again.

“So where are we headed again? Isn’t north a little vague?” Kerry asked as he stole a sip of water from a canteen Jim had been taking swigs of water from.

“No.” Hiiro grunted. In all honesty he wasn’t sure what was north that they could be headed to, but he wasn’t about to admit that weakness to the two soldiers before him.

“Well, if you’re going to head all the way up to the coast, that’s fine, but those beaches are even more heavily guarded than the rest of Europe right now. I’m telling you, that psycho Hitler thinks he can invade England. It’ll never happen, not with the 1^st and 2^nd, and all those bombing raids.”

“What about the blitz Kerry?” Jim looked skeptical. “He’s got London and the rest of England under siege constantly these days.”

“There’s no one that sucker’s going to get England. And even if he does, America’s going to teach him a lesson or two about what belongs to who!” The two Americans laughed good-naturedly. Hiiro looked at Serena, who shrugged. He then narrowed his eyes, and Serena felt compelled to say something to ease his concern.

“Germany won’t attempt an invasion of London. They’re having too much trouble as it is fighting on two fronts.” She whispered. The Americans became silent with her prophecy.

“Say doll, what do you know about Germany’s plans?” Jim asked, smile slightly wavering.

“It’s obvious Jim! That’s something anyone with half a brain could see.” Kerry nodded. “Them Russians’ll put up a decent fight.”

“And Normandy?” Hiiro asked blankly, staring at Serena. Instantly the tiny blonde wanted to crawl into her shell and keel over dead. But she had a sneaking suspicion that even if she were dead, Hiiro would still come after her and glare until he received his answer.

“It is under heavy guard. But there’s a village on a peninsula straight north of us that’s said to have been holding out with a small group of resistant Frenchmen. Cherbourg.”

“Cherbourg? Honey, you two are heading towards Cherbourg?” Kerry sat up instantly. “America’s been trying to put a base there for nearly two months now!”

“Kerry, shut it! That’s classified!” Jim smacked his comrade on the shoulder.

“Well, it’s true, ain’t it? And then our division was going to set up shop there. We’re part of the 4^th, Ivy.” Serena, seeing an argument was about to break out between the two soldiers, leaned over closer to Hiiro and began to whisper. He should know this.

“They won’t have any hold over Cherbourg until after June.”

“Invasion of Normandy, you mentioned it when we first arrived.” Serena nodded, then settled back down. She didn’t like this. It was too risky. But there really wasn’t anything else they could do… Unless they could cross the English Channel, they would be trapped behind enemy lines for four more months.

“Let’s move.” Hiiro grunted, standing. Without thinking about it, he reached down and grabbed Serena’s shirt. Yanking on it, he pulled her to her feet, then turned and began walking.

“That guy really is made out of ice.” Jim said, shaking his head. He had apparently won whatever argument the two men had had.

“You okay doll face?” Kerry grinned at Serena, who was standing in shock and shaking.

“Fine.” She whispered; her cheeks flaming with red and her eyes glazed over dull. Too close, far too close! Then she shook her head and ran to catch up with Hiiro. All be damned if she let him leave her with these soldiers! At least he had a concept of where she was from, what she had known. And at least, though he still frightened her, Hiiro understood about talking.

Another three hours, and Hiiro stopped them abruptly. Serena, who had been walking very close to him, put her tiny hand on his shoulder and peeped up around him, hoping to spy what he was looking for before it spied them.

“Get down.” He whispered very low. She nodded in agreement, and slid her hand off his shoulder. Then she let her knees unlock and dropped to the ground behind a tree that stood beside them. She watched Hiiro signal the other two soldiers up to him, and sign that they should take the left and right as he advanced into the clearing that was up ahead of them.

The three men moved slowly and silently through the foliage, guns cocked and readied for a split-second reaction if it was needed. A good half an hour later Hiiro finally signaled to the other two to let their guards down a little.

“Find the woman.” He ordered them. The men looked at him dubiously, but his glare squelched any and all of their arguments before they arose. Though they were not supposed to take orders from any one but their superior, their superior was not currently anywhere within a two hundred miles range, and somehow Hiiro seemed as though he knew what he was doing.

“What about you?” Jim asked as they turned back but realized he wasn’t following.

“I’ll be back.” Then he disappeared, and the two men could do nothing more than shrug and return to where they had left Serena hiding.

“What was it?” She whispered, still not sure whether it was all right to be speaking.

“False alarm. Or at least, we think it was. Iceman’s still out there searching for something, but we didn’t find anything.” Kerry told her. Serena did not like the news, but there was little she could do about it now that Hiiro wasn’t within her range. They sat for what seemed like hours in the darkening woods waiting for Hiiro to return.

“You sure he’s going to come back Serena?” Kerry finally asked. Serena could do no more than nod.

“What if he doesn’t? He abandon us—all three of us. Well, don’t worry Serena. In the morning we’ll all set out for Cherbourg together. We’ll take you with us, don’t worry doll.”

“I’ll wait for Preventer Zero.” Serena told them, head bowed and eyes glued to the spider she had just spotted crawling towards her.

“Who? You mean Hiiro? Look hon, chances of him coming back are slim to none, even if he didn’t abandon us on purpose.”

“He’ll come.”

“Man, you two are a pair of something else. It’s like you’re from a different time zone or something. Look, he’s only a man. Just because we haven’t heard any gun fire doesn’t mean he didn’t run into any Germans, and just because we didn’t hear any screaming doesn’t mean he isn’t dead or wounded.”

“No…” Serena shook her head.
“What, you in love with the Iceman or something?” She just continued to shake her head. “Doesn’t matter. Look, he isn’t—”

“Shh!” Jim instantly hushed his comrade. “Someone’s coming.” Serena stayed as still as she could while Jim and Kerry slipped behind trees nearby, guns cocked and ready. Serena’s ears could pick up traces of German echoing through the trees. Holding her breath, she prayed. Where was Preventer Zero? Where was Hiiro? *

~~~What do you all think? Good, bad, mediocre? I had a few comments asking how I know so much about the war… believe it or not, I’m sitting here with three encyclopedias, two notebooks full of history notes, and the history channel playing in the background! I’m researching for this! Much love, Vixen~~~