A Hard Headed Woman

Bridget Von Hammersmark had informed the men that Hitler was attending the premiere. I sat finishing my job bandaging up Hugo. My thoughts were rampant and I didn’t know where this was headed.

“How‘s he holdin’ up?” Aldo asks gesturing to Hugo who was now sleeping.
“He should be okay for the moment, right now he‘s resting but we‘ve got to get these guys to a proper doctor. Have you made contact with base about their arrival?” I respond getting up and moving away from Hugo‘s sleeping frame.
“Yup, we just got to get them in a vehicle and send ‘em there. Yew girls are gonna go with them.”
“I‘m not leavin‘, no chance in hell that I‘m gonna let you and those boys do this alone.”
“Yew don‘ have a choice.”
“Aldo I‘m going to go to this premiere, Omar will be going back to base with the others. I can speak Spanish I‘ll be Donny‘s Spanish wife or something,” I rant.
“No.”

“You do not have a say in this! I told you a while ago that if something bad is gonna happen I‘d tell yew, and this is me telling‘ yew. If I don‘t go I can‘t stop this from becoming a suicide mission!”

“She‘d work better for the mission,” Hugo coughs.
“Think about it Aldo, are you more likely to think some strange Italian man is an imposter or some Spanish woman? I hate to break it to you Aldo but I don‘t think those officers will be dazzled by Omar,” I continue fiercely.

Aldo’s facial features construed obviously fighting a battle within himself.

“She‘s right, Nazis tend to be distracted by a woman‘s beauty, Amber can handle herself, I‘ve seen it and I know you‘ve seen it too, Sir,” Hugo states sitting up.
“There‘ll be dozens of those Nazis surroundin‘ ya, yew could hardly handle Hellstrom on yer own.”
“I‘d like to think that I handled him fairly well. I got him out of there to prevent him from killing everyone in that room,” I snap.

“Yer a real hard headed woman,” Aldo sighs.
“The worst kind,” I reply leaving the room to talk to the girls.

“Aldo said we‘re going to base with the guys,” Nora says.
“You guys are going, I‘ll met up with ya later,” I say with a small reassuring smile.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Paulie responds.
“What are ya a motor boat Paulie?” I counter with a raised eyebrow.
“Rose you can‘t do this its insane, just let things happen how they are supposed to go,” Gwen replies.
“Don‘t make this a big deal,” I say then bit my bottom lip slightly, “Besides if I don‘t do this, I feel like I‘ll regret forever.”

“Why do you have to be so stubborn and crazy?”
“Because I wouldn‘t be me if I wasn‘t,” I smile at Paulie.
“Aye pinche Amber if you don‘t come back I‘ll kick your ass,” she says hugging me tightly. Nora and Gwen joined in on hugging me.

“This is so after school special,” I mutter trying not to laugh.
“Quit ruining the moment bitch,” Paulie scolds whilst Nora and Gwen laughed.
“Its what she does best,” Nora smiles.

Once the lets all hug Amber moment passed we began to pile the injured men into the car. When it came time for them to leave, Paulie got off the truck.

“Alright bitch, I‘ll go with the second wave, you can‘t do makeup and hair like I can,” Paulie announces. I let out a soft chuckle.
“Fine but you are going with the second crew,” I state.

The others left and Paulie stood at my side. We went back to Bridget von Hammersmark’s apartment and stayed for the night. I got to have a little bit of rest and I did my best to avoid Aldo. Honestly I had my reasons, I mean he was acting so uptight about everything. I woke early around the time the sun was coming up and I went to the kitchen to start making coffee for Paulie as well as the rest of the inhabitants.

As I poured the coffee into a mug and turned taking a sip I saw Paulie standing in the doorway.

“I made some coffee,” I say with a slight smile, “There are more cups in the cupboard next to the sink.”
“Always know how to find your way around a stranger‘s kitchen,” she smiles as she grabbed herself a cup.
“You‘ve got to learn to when you find yourself in strange places.”
“I remember you said that very thing when we first met,” Paulie says sitting down next to me.

“I can‘t believe you remember those sort of things stoner,” I laugh.
“You know I do have my moments,” she replies then looked up, “Besides it was memorable because as we drank our coffee Nate burst into the house like a madman thinking that you were in jail. And he was collecting donations to get you out.”

“Yeah he said someone saw me getting into a patrol car,” I chuckle.
“Which was true but you talked your way into just getting a ride, Nate was so pissed at you. Made me think he was your boyfriend the way he acted. Both of you gave me a look that could kill for even suggesting such a thing.”
“Yeah sounds about right,” I say, “I‘m thinking about setting him and Gwen up.”

“Oh dios do it! Those two are mad for each other,” she laughs.
“We can always lock them in a room together. There‘s a chance they may kill each other but there‘s a chance something else would happen.”

We both chuckled and it was quiet for a while as we sipped on our coffee. My thoughts traveled to what was to happen tonight. As my mind fleeted I felt Paulie staring at me.

“Are you nervous about tonight?”
“A little,” I admit.
“This feels real,” Paulie comments.
“Its real, at first I was dubious about it but now, right now, I feel how real it is.”
“Me too,” she responds, “Go back to bed, you‘re going to need more rest.”
“A cup of coffee before bed,” I smile.
“So I dream fast.”

“Foxy Shazam.”
“Of course, your favorite,” Paulie smiles.

Getting up I went back towards the guest bedroom Paulie and I were sharing. I collapsed on the bed, pulling the covers up to my chin and snuggled more into the comfortable bed. My heavy eyelids closed and soon I found myself asleep once more.

I dreamt of being warm, standing in the middle of an empty field with the sun warming my cheek. The warmth left me though, and felt myself raise my hand to my cheek hitting something in the process.

My eyes fluttered open and thought I saw someone standing next to the bed. Focusing my eyes I saw the person was Aldo and he had his back to me, Donny was standing in front of him at the doorway.

“Ya really like her don‘t ya?”
“Let‘s just keep our heads clear to get this job done,” Aldo says monotone and walked out of the room. Donny lingered at the doorway and I closed my eyes hoping not be caught awake.

Just when I thought I was left alone someone jumped on the bed. It only took one guess who it was.

“Time to get up, I have to get you ready for today‘s festivities and you have to try on dresses that Bridget has,” Paulie announces.
“Just pick one out,” I mutter pulling the covers over my head.
“Pretend its prom and that you need to pick the perfect dress.”

“I bought my dress online, I didn‘t bother trying on a ton of dresses in stores.”
“Bah! You lucky bitch and the dress fit?”
“Corset backing, so it fit like a glove,” I answer as Paulie pulled the covers down to give me an incredulous look.
“Well now we are going to make up for your luck. Get up lazy,” she retorts ripping the covers from my body.
“I hate your face and everything it stands for,” I grumble as she pulled me out of bed.
“Love you too.”

The next two hours Paulie and Bridget had me trying on dresses. I wanted to punch them both and I’m sure Bridget was pissed because when a dress looked decent, it revealed my tattoo somehow. It was a little funny but then she finally pulled out a bright red dress. Hesitantly I pulled the dress on being that I wasn’t the biggest fans of red but my abuela always said I looked more Spaniard when I wore red. Being that I wore a lot of red in my youth until about middle school I wasn’t the biggest fan, since I was well ‘over’ the color.

I stepped into the dress and it managed to hug my body in a comfortable way. The dress was asymmetrical with a slit up the side revealing my right leg. It flowed very well and I thought it was fitted nicely.

“Let us zee how vooks,” Bridget says annoyed in her thick German accent.
“Yeah let us see,” Paulie adds. I rolled my eyes from behind the screen. “I can hear you rolling your eyes Missy!”

“Fine,” I grumble and stepped out from behind the screen.
“Damn you!” Bridget says throwing her hands up and started to go on a German tangent whilst she left the room. Paulie and I exchanged looks before bursting into laughter.

“She‘s mad that you look good, you‘re wearing that tonight,” Paulie smiles, “Now get into that robe, I need to cut your hair a little bit.”

“Let‘s not and say we did,” I respond as I changed into the robe.
“Amber Rose your bangs are too long and I wonder how you can see,” she scolds.
“I can see just fine.”
“You and I both know it‘ll take less than a month for you to grow them back out.”
“I‘m starting to think that I should have taken some morphine before all this,” I mutter darkly.
“Charming.”

I let out a grumble of annoyance and sat in a nearby chair. Looking up at Paulie I gave her a look that said go for it, I want this over with. She smiled at me wielding the scissors and I just leaned into the chair no longer giving a damn. There were battles in life and you had to pick and choose. Since tonight was a night of many challenges I decided to save my energy for it.

It seemed like the hours passed and I was pretty much kept quarantined in one room while Paulie had her fun. She finished my hair and makeup then I slipped into the dress. Now I was starting to get embarrassed.

“This is far too illustrious the way you fixed me up.”
“Illustrious,” Paulie repeats.
“Nevermind, I just always feel weird dressing up.”
“I know what you mean,” she says, “The only time we get dressed up is for-”

“Court dates and weddings,” we both say in unison.

“I think we go to more court dates than weddings.”
“I like court dates better, they tend to have better outcomes,” I smile.
“You‘re awful,” Paulie laughs. I put on the high heels chuckling a bit.

“Are ya ready?” Utivitch questions from the doorway. I turned around and gave him a small smile.
“Yeah,” I answer.
“Y-you look nice,” he stutters out.

“Thank you. Um shall I go get informed on how we are going to do this?”
“Yeah, yeah come on.”

I followed him to the other room where Aldo and Donny sat in their tuxedos. My eyes locked with Donny’s first because he was facing me. His eyes widened then he began to smile.

“Here I was worried my date wasn‘t goin’ to be good lookin’ enough,” Donny smirks.
“And here I was worried I‘d have to go as Donny‘s date, but it seems someone‘s replaced him with a monkey in a suit,” I respond. Hirschberg and Utivich as well as Paulie let out sniggers.
“Wow Amber wow,” Paulie laughs. I couldn’t help but let out a laugh of my own that I tried to stifle with the palm of my hand.
“Okay I‘m really sorry that mean, I apologize King Kong, you don‘t deserve that,” I say attempting not to laugh more.
“We‘re not even really married and I already want a divorce,” Donny states giving me a glare.
“I‘m only kidding Donny, you look very handsome,” I reply with a sincere smile as placed my hand on his shoulder looking down at him. He smiled brightly up at me.
“Call me Antonio.”
“Antonio Margariti, meet your Spanish wife Rosalinda,” I smile emphasizing on certain syllables to make things sound more Spanish.

“How are they going to believe you two are married when you speak Spanish and he speaks Italian?” Hirschberg questions.
“Rosalinda and Antonio will have met only three months ago in Barcelona when he was on location for a film he was a cameraman for. After meeting it was love at first sight although they do not understand one another they manage to make things work,” I romanticize, “People are into that shit. But lord knows with another month the two will probably kill each other.”
“And there she goes,” Paulie responds.
“I don‘t think I‘ll make Rosalinda out to be very smart, naïve and dim witted arm candy is all I need to be tonight.”
“So you‘ll be yourself then,” Donny adds.
“And he comes back swingin‘” I smile then add, “Proud to say my fake husband is not spineless.”

“And Amber has had quite a few fake husbands in her day,” Paulie laughs.
“I‘m sure you‘ve had more,” I comment, “But that‘s besides the point, you should go make sure Bridget is set to go with her gimp leg.”
“Alright.”
“Damn I forgot to do something first,” I say remembering I hadn’t strapped the gun to my thigh. I scampered off to go get my only protection. In the room I strapped the holster to my thigh. Slipping the gun in its proper place I then smoothed the dress down making sure the gun could not be seen and that I could walk like a normal person as well.

My eyes gazed at the mirror and I stared at the stranger looking back at me. Mirrors were something strange to me, I lived my life not really thinking about how I was perceived by others. To me I was just me, that’s it, nothing too crazy. Letting out a sigh I turned on my heal to head back out. Aldo stood there in his tuxedo looking handsome.

“All ready,” I say with a close lipped smile.
“Yew don‘ have to do this,” he responds.
“Yes I do. Don‘ be tryin‘ to talk me out of this.”
“I don‘ want yew to do this.”

“You may not want me to do this but we both know I have to do this,” I state trying to remain strong, “End of story.”

I didn’t say anything more just walked out of the room. My next stop would be Bridget’s room where I would warn her of Landa. Once everything was settled and I bid my adieus to Paulie. It was time to prove myself.

The car ride was quiet as well as uncomfortable. Bridget was being fidgety despite her so called confidence that made her glare at me because I was wearing her dress. She was being a pain in the ass to be frank. It was incredibly surreal when we got there. I felt my heart pounding against my ribcage and I slipped my arm in with Donny’s.

We walked along and I felt many eyes on us but I just smiled back at them. Occasionally I would grip Donny’s arm to get his attention briefly enough that we could smile at one another like a loving couple would do. He and Aldo both were very rigid acting as they were in the movie but I’d like to think I had Donny more at ease. Aldo was acting weird then as we stood amongst the masses of Nazi officers, Colonel Hans Landa came.

We stood there like idiots as Bridget and Landa had their conversation. I tried my best to give reassuring looks to Aldo and Donny as Bridget seemed to look uncomfortable. Then our introductions came. Enzo Gorlomi famous Italian stuntman then Antonio and Rosalinda Marghereti. It was crazy even hearing Hans Landa speak Italian with such ease. But when Aldo opened his mouth and spoke what little Italian he knew I did my best to keep it together.

You see when I watched Inglourious Basterds I’d always laugh at this part but fuck being there was different because I was freaking out and didn’t want to be shot. Then Landa’s attention went to me and Donny. He smiled at me and I smiled back he held his hand out obviously waiting for me to let mine out. So I did and he kissed my hand.

“Que bonita (How pretty),” he says in Spanish.
“Gracias Senor,” I respond then paused looking at him impressed, “Usted habla español también?”
“Sí, muy poco, pero si todas las mujeres de España parece que tal vez voy a aprender un poco mejor. (Yes very little but if all women from Spain look like you perhaps I‘ll learn a little better).”
“Tal vez debería (Perhaps you should),” I smile.
“Y Antonio le puede rezar saber si España tiene más bellezas como esta a tu lado? (And you Antonio can you pray tell if Spain holds more beauties like this one at your side?)”
“El mejor no (He better not),” I say giving him an adoring smile. Donny wasn’t doing the greatest job at playing husband, he seemed clueless which was expected when Landa was speaking Spanish.

“Se llena mi corazón de alegría ver a una pareja hermosa en el amor, ¿por qué no mostrar a todos lo mucho que ustedes dos se aman? (It fills my heart with joy seeing such a handsome couple in love, why don‘t you show everyone how much you two love each other?)”

It took me only a moment to realize what Hans Landa was suggesting. But Donny took a bit longer whilst Aldo seemed to catch Landa’s drift even if he wasn’t speaking the same language.

“Un beso mi amor (A kiss my love),” I say bringing my hand briefly to my lips while looking at Donny. It was a brief gesturing to my lips that made Donny understand. I smiled at him reassuringly.

“Perdone Antonio que es muy tímido (Forgive Antonio he is very shy),” I tell Landa with a small smile as I sensed Donny‘s slight hesitation. Bridget urged us with her eyes to go along with it and Aldo seemed to get even more uncomfortable. Giving Donny’s arm a light squeeze I raised my other hand up to his face then pulled him into a kiss. This kiss was different from last time because well I was the one to kiss him back. It wasn’t a bad kiss, and it certainly was good enough to convince Landa because when we pulled away we smiled at one another for a moment.

“Eso fue hermoso (That was lovely),” Landa claps. I was a bit flushed and Donny turned his face from mine which I noticed he was a bit red in the face. It caused me to smile and look down bashfully it was almost like two little kids kissing, strangely innocent. The time came for us to leave Aldo and Bridget to take our seats.

Before we left I locked eyes with Aldo and I gave one last smile but down in my gut I worried for his safety. I hoped we were convincing enough have Landa off our backs but by the way Landa looked at Bridget I felt as though our efforts were futile. As Donny and I made our way into the theatre I kept replaying anything that could have given Bridget away. I mean we didn’t forget her shoes did we? Did I remember to tell someone to do that? With all the injuries from that night I think I was too busy trying to stop Hugo’s bleeding than pick up the shoes. Besides that I didn’t remember the napkin with her autograph. Fuck, what do I do? My steps slowed and Donny tugged on my arm gently as he gave me a funny look. Perhaps I could go back, save her somehow but as I tried to stop completely to go back Donny kept a firm hold of me.

Once we sat in our seats, Donny fidgeted being so close to Nazis without being able to kill them. Also the fact he had two things of dynamite strapped to his legs didn’t help. The movie had started and I couldn’t remember how much time I had before Landa killed Bridget so I grasp his hand and pulled him towards me.

“Stop moving so much,” I whisper into his ear, “I‘m going to go use the washroom. Stay here.”

Donny pulled away giving me a warning look. I could tell he wanted to pull me back into my seat but I was to quick. As I brushed in front of the Gestapo officers they didn’t seem as irritated about my blocking their view but instead I felt a few brushing my bottom inappropriately. After I was to the aisle I swiftly made my way out of the theatre into the main room to see Aldo was gone. This only solidified my thoughts about what happened. No one seemed to be around anymore and I only worried. But what was I going to do? Aldo was gone, now I just had to make sure Donny could get back to base.

Still a part of me hoped Bridget escaped and I found myself heading towards the office. Opening the door my eyes fell upon the very lifeless corpse of Bridget Von Hammersmark. Quickly shutting the door quietly I headed upstairs towards the bathrooms.

I was the only one out, I stood alone in the women’s washroom worried that things weren’t going as they were in the movie for Aldo. That Landa killed him. No it couldn’t be, if Landa killed him Donny and I would have been taken out. My breathing was ragged as I thought of such things. Focus Amber focus, you can do this, you can help Donny kill Hitler and manage to get out alive. It seemed I was away longer than I thought because I soon saw Donny rushing past the bathroom. As if on cue he looked around the corner at the area where the entrance of the opera box was for Hitler. I stepped out of the bathroom and Donny turned around giving me a dirty look as if I did something terribly wrong then pulled me into the men‘s bathroom.

“Where have you been?” Donny demands.
“Bridget‘s dead, and Aldo is gone,” I say.
“Dead?”
“I think they just took Aldo hostage.”
“We still have to go through with this,” he states seriously, “There are two guards-”

“I‘ll distract them, just be ready to shoot them,” I respond before he could say his plan to pretend to be a waiter. Donny nodded and I left the bathroom with him following behind me. When I got to the stairs Donny lagged behind, and I continued down them. My hips swayed as I walked down the stairs and I felt the two guards’ eyes on me but then I stumbled. It was mostly on purpose as I fell forwards onto the ground halfway between the stairs and where the guards were standing. Unfortunately for the guards they fell into my trap and set down their guns to help a damsel in distress.

Donny took his cue to shoot both of them and he held his hand out to help me off the floor.

“Nice one,” he comments with a smirk. I merely shrugged and grabbed one of the guns.
“Ya ready?” Donny continues. I nodded and Donny kicked open the door. We started shooting and Donny was more trigger happy than ever before. The cinema was already burning whilst the people screamed trying to get out. Hitler was dead, along with the rest of the occupants of the opera box. Time was running out and Donny was shooting the crowd below. In his craze I just knelt on the ground by him and began carefully taking off the dynamite from his legs. He didn’t even notice because all his focus was on killing all the Nazis he laid eyes on.

I laid the dynamite to the side then started my procession of getting him out of his daze of fury.

“Donny we have to get out of here now!” I exclaim pulling at his arm.
“I‘m not done yet!” he growls.
“Donny look at me,” I order turning his face to mine, “That girl back home is waitin‘ for yew, yew two are going to have a son, and yer gonna teach him how to play ball.”

Donny’s eyes softened significantly.

“Ya really think she‘s waitin‘?”
“Yes, she‘d be stupid not to,” I say.
“Come on Lieutenant would be pissed at me if you didn‘t come back alive,” Donny says tugging my arm. We began running out of the area, running for out lives as the cinema got hotter and hotter. About as we were making it to the last step off the stairway I saw someone I never thought I’d see at this very moment.

“Am-” he started to say as he reached out to grab me but Donny was quick to shoot him in the shoulder.
“Donny no!” I exclaim throwing my body in front of Donny’s gun.

Then the loud bang and undeniable pain shot right through my left shoulder. I let out a moan of pure torture but then I turned to look at Darren. His dark brown eyes stared at me in horror, he looked so scared and innocent like he didn’t know what was going on.

“What in the hell are you doing? He‘s a Nazi!” Donny yells.
“He‘s not, I know him, he‘s undercover,” I respond unable to explain the situation, “Just help me, we‘re taking him with us. Trust me.”

Not having much leeway for thinking Donny just grabbed Darren roughly and we began running out of the cinema. We barely made it outside and across the street when the cinema blew up. Debris flew everywhere and pain resonated from my shoulder that was bleeding from the wound I had acquired.

“Amber what‘s going on? Why are we here?” Darren questions weakly.
“Because I made the wrong enemy, save your energy,” I respond hiking up my skirt to grab the gun from its holster. Donny seemed dazed with the cinema still, not believing we got out in time. But as they were distracted I walked up to a car that slowed to see the sight of the burning cinema. The man got out seeing that I was bleeding but I hid the gun behind my back as he proceeded to rant in French. I grabbed him by the shirt and put the gun to his head. He put his hands up terrified.

“Donny, Darren get in the fucking car now!” I yell. Donny scrambled to the driver’s seat and Darren feebly made his way to the back of the vehicle. After they were in I pushed the man away and ran to the passenger side. Once in the car Donny sped off. My shoulder hurt like a mother fucker and I was cursing as I ripped the fabric of the dress so that I could wrap the wound. I tied the red fabric on my shoulder then looked at Darren who was sinking low in his seat, the color of his skin paler than normal. Hopping into the back seat I took off the Nazi jacket off Darren to get a better look where he was shot.

Throwing the jacket out the window I proceeded to rip my dress more to cover the wound that seemed to be oozing out blood. My heart clenched in worry seeing that the shot that hit my shoulder went right through and into Darren’s side.

“You look great in red,” Darren says reaching up and touching the side of my face.
“Please don‘t start,” I respond moving his hand away.
“Why are you so angry at me?”
“I said don‘t start,” I snap finishing my job in blocking the wounds with fabric. Darren gave me a pleading look but I ignored it then proceeded to go back to the front with Donny.

Donny turned to me slightly seeing if I was okay.

“Lieutenant is going to fuckin‘ kill me,” he mutters.
“Forget the Lieutenant, asshole you shot me,” I retort.
“I know I‘m sorry, ya jumped in front of my gun. Fuck I didn‘t want to shoot ya Arizona,” Donny says, “Fuck do ya think he‘s gonna be pissed?”
“Relax, its my fault, he won‘ be pissed if it was my own fault,” I grumble as I leaned back into the chair wincing in pain.
“Trust me, he will be.”
“Just drive Bear Jew.”

I felt tired, tired of everything that had happened, tired because I lost a good amount of blood. Paranoid I’d keep tabs on Darren by asking if he was still alive in the back. Getting a reply every time I just kept my eyes on the desolate road we traveled through in the forest. It seemed like forever to get there even if Donny was driving exceedingly fast. My eyelids were growing heavy as we approached the base.

Almost as if they were waiting for us as soon as Donny stopped the car we were surrounded. Paulie, Nora, and Gwen flocked to me with worried eyes.

“Oh fuck Amber you were shot,” Nora exclaims.
“No shit genius.”
“Fuck is that?”
“Yes, I found him in the cinema, Donny shot him,” I breathe out, “He needs a doctor more than I do.”

I swatted the doctor away and gestured to Darren in the back as I stood swaying slightly. The doctors went to Darren and I saw Aldo running towards us.

“Does it hurt?” Paulie questions.
“You know how they say child birth is the worst pain in the world?” I reply.
“Yeah.”
“If its worse than this I‘m fucking getting fixed and adopting kids,” I retort.
“Maybe that‘s a good idea, I think one Amber is all I can handle,” Nora states.
“Fuck you bitch! I‘ll have twenty kids then die after making you the legal guardian for all of them in my will!”
“That‘d take years to accumulate that many pregnancies,” Gwen comments.
“Fuck it, I‘ll have two at a time,” I respond then groaned at the thought of twenty kids, “Ugh I feel a tug at my uterus I think it just killed itself at the thought of that many kids.”

Paulie, Gwen, and Nora all let out loud laughs. I couldn’t help but a smile a little even though I felt like utter shit. Aldo finally reached us and looked like he was going to flip his shit.
“What happened? Did a fuckin‘ Nazi shoot yew?”

“Relax, I just ran into Donny‘s bullet that‘s all,” I say feeling a little light headed.
“Yew shot her!” Aldo shouts glaring at Donny.
“Hey, did you listen at all?! I said I ran into his fuckin‘ bullet you idiot,” I shout at Aldo as I moved to stop him from attacking Donny but my legs buckled slightly. “Whoa.”
“Amber you‘re bleeding more,” Gwen says in a worried tone.
“Shock is settling in endorphins running out, fuck,” I say before my world went black.

I woke up in a hospital bed feeling pretty numb my arm snug against my body by a cloth that tied around me much like a hammock for my arm. Paulie and Nora were arguing about something.

“What‘s that album called that has that song Amber really likes called Gun Street Girl,” Paulie questions.
“Fuck, um, I don‘t even remember who its by,” Nora says.

“Tom Waits, the album is called Rain Dogs, released 1985,” I answer them as I pushed myself up in the bed with my good arm.

“Amber you‘re awake!”
“Yeah tends to happen when I open my eyes and start talking.”
“You passed out because you kept losing blood,” Nora says as if I needed to be filled in on what happened.
“So mind showing me to Darren?” I question moving my leg off to the edge of the bed. I noticed I was changed into a white nightgown which I was mildly thankful for.
“He‘s not doing too well Amber,” Gwen says meekly. I swallowed the lump in my throat and stood up.
“Just show me where he‘s at please,” I reply. The girls exchanged looks before nodding and walked with me to find Darren. We walked passed several injured soldiers making my heart break more for every one of them that we passed. My eyes finally reached Darren’s bed and I sped up. Once I reached his side I stopped to look down at his peaceful face. His breaths were shallow and I sat down on the side of the bed.

“Why do I even care still?” I whisper as my hand lightly touched his. Darren stirred in his sleep and his eyes fluttered open.
“Hey,” Darren says with a weak smile.
“How are you feeling?”
“Alright,” he answers.

“Sorry you got pulled into this mess.”
“What happened? I mean it doesn‘t make sense one night I fall asleep with you in my bed the next you‘re gone.”
“Don‘t even play that with me,” I retort.
“I thought it was just a bad dream, but then when I realized you were gone and you wouldn‘t even speak to me. I didn‘t know what to think,” Darren continues looking off.

“Bad dream or not, its over,” I state.
“But you still love me,” he argues.
“Of course I do damn it, Darren, I love you, I care about you enough to take a bullet for you but I realized that seeing you with that other girl didn‘t hurt as much as it should have.”
“Then why have you been so angry?”
“Because of the way you acted towards me when I was trying to get my things, because I didn‘t like how things were ending, I hate fighting and arguing and saying hurtful things, but I didn‘t want to be that girl who settles,” I ramble, “Don‘t act like it was the end of the world for you Darren, you weren‘t exactly chasing after me. I know I can‘t be the only one that thought it was a good thing we broke things off.”

“You‘ve thought a lot about this,” Darren comments, “You never really say these things unless you mean it.”

“Sorry if its not what you wanted to hear, you know I hate having bad blood with other people.”
“That‘s because you‘re sweet like that.”

“I‘ll try to figure out how to get us back home,” I say giving his hand a gentle squeeze and got up.
“Always trying to take care of everyone,” Darren smiles softly at me.
“I‘ll see you later.”

I walked off and saw the girls waiting for me in the hallway. They looked unsure how to react or what to say to me. Giving them reassuring smiles I just walked along feeling a little better about the whole Darren thing. But there was something that bugged me and that was Darren thinking it was a dream. Putting it in the back of my mind I focused on what lied ahead of me.

“Aldo came by when you were with Darren, he had a flower for you but he saw you and Darren then stalked off throwing the flower in the trash,” Gwen says.
“What do I do?” I question feeling my heart clench.
“We don‘t know,” Paulie responds apologetically.
“This is such a mess.”
“On a lighter note we can go to the dance they are having because the war is over,” Nora comments.
“I don‘t know you guys go I‘ll sit this one out,” I say not really feeling like going anywhere.

“Tough shit you‘re going,” Nora states forcefully. I didn’t have the energy to fight.

We got dressed, managing to borrow clothes from some of the nurses. They made me wear a scope neck leopard dress with sleeves that were a little longer than short sleeve length that was my style. A matching leopard print belt tied at the waist and I put on some black heels whilst the girls quickly pinned my hair in its proper place. We all looked nice but not too dressy like I had to be for the premiere. My arm was still in the sling and I honestly was just putting on a brave face to convince the girls I was having fun so that they wouldn’t feel bad.

The Basterds were all there looking spiffy in their proper uniforms. One by one Wilhelm, Hugo, and Archie all whisked the girls off to dance. I was left to walk myself to the bar and get a much needed drink. It seemed the bar had run out of whiskey which was a shame and I settled for rum on the rocks. Looking out at the crowd as I began to down the spiced rum I found myself trying to see if Aldo was there. It was stupid but I did feel something for him, even if I didn’t belong in this world.

“Come on,” Donny says appearing out of nowhere and grabbed my hand. Before I could protest he pulled me through the crowd and out of the hanger.
“What the fuck Donny?” I demand once he stopped.
“Lieutenant is drinkin‘ ova there and sulkin‘ because of you.”
“I‘m not good with words,” I sigh.
“Who cares get ova there,” he retorts shoving me in the direction of the bench Aldo was sitting at.

I took a deep breath and began walking towards Aldo. He wore his uniform slightly undone and he held a bottle of whiskey in his hand whilst his head hung low looking at the ground. My heels clicked on the pavement and Aldo raised his head to give me a piercing gaze.

“Looks like you‘re the one responsible for the missing whiskey,” I say lightly whilst I sat down on the bench next to him.
“What do yew want?” Aldo sneers.
“Nothing if yer gonna be acting like a jerk,” I retort as I stole the bottle of whiskey from his hands. I took a drink of the whiskey straight from the bottle without saying another thing then handed it back to him.

“I appreciate yew gettin‘ Donny outta there,” he mutters almost inaudible to my ears.
“No sense in him dying.”
“So yer not from this time.”
“I‘m not,” I answer.
“If yew had a choice between stayin‘ and goin‘ home would ya stay?” Aldo asks.
“I‘m not nearly selfish enough to stay,” I reply honestly then looked at him, “I couldn‘t bear breaking my mother and father‘s hearts like that. My brothers wouldn‘t have anyone to fight with, I wouldn‘t get to see my nephew grow up and go to college. My family has had enough sadness, they don‘t need me to add to it.”

“I understand.”
“If I couldn‘t go back, I‘d try to make the most of it,” I add.

Aldo turned and looked at me for a long time.
“So yew still think it ain‘t real?”
“I think its real, real enough to feel the pain in my left shoulder,” I say with a weak smile. Aldo reached up and touched the side of my face causing me to close my eyes and let out a ragged breath. Before our lips met we were interrupted by Archie.
“Sorry to interrupt but did you see where Paulina went?” he questions.
“No, wasn‘t she with you?” I counter looking at him.
“Well she was but then some red headed bloke came by and she went with him.”

“When?” I inquire standing up with my heart pounding.
“About 5 minutes ago, why you don‘t think she‘s in danger do you?”
“No, she should be okay probably just in the washroom, I‘ll go look for her just in case,” I answer then turned to Aldo, “I‘ll be back in a few moments.”

I went back into the hanger to make it look like I was just checking for Paulie in the bathroom but I rushed through the crowd and out the exit that was at the far end of the hanger. My thought were frantic at the thought of Chester hurting Paulie. Once back outside I ran out towards the dark forest. Standing in the middle I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness. I felt a stare on me.

“Chester stupid fucking ginger, where is she? Where is Paulie?” I demand.
“Watch how you speak to me bitch,” he says coming out of the shadows with Paulie gagged and tied up. He shoved Paulie down and she fell to the ground where I knelt to take the rope and gag out.
“You‘re pathetic and its taking every ounce of my being not to chop you up into pieces,” I snarl when Chester charged at me and knocked me onto the ground. I was breathless because the brute force was all aimed at my injured shoulder. Nonetheless I glared up at him menacingly.

“You don‘t have the strength,” Chester smirks having pinned me down, “You‘re dominant arm is injured so none of those left hooks anytime soon.”

He pressed his hand on my shoulder and I growled in intense pain. Tears welled up in my eyes that I could not control for the pain was too immense. Chester laughed manically but his laughter ended when a large log collided with the side of his head. Knocked unconscious he fell over to the side of me.

"You may be a ginger but you ain't no Weasley."

I looked up to see Paulie and she dropped the log to help me up. While doing so we were attacked from behind by Chester. We both hit a nearby tree but just as Chester was going to do worse there was a great light. A group of men in regular clothes from our time tackled Chester down. There was a leader amongst them who glared at Chester with much fury.

“You will be going straight to No Man‘s Land,” the old man growls.
“Amber,” John appears in front of us.
“What the fuck is going on?” I demand.
“Chester warped reality, he‘s being arrested,” he answers then catches sight of my arm in a sling, “I told you to not to get yourself hurt.”
“I believe it was don‘t myself killed.”

“Here I‘ll fix it.”

John took off the sling and worked his magic so to speak. Soon all pain left my body and I could move my arm freely. It was wonderful. But then a different kind of pain hit me, the pain of having to say good bye to Aldo.

“Darren is at the hospital, you have to go fix him,” I say.
“Alright um, you two go get the other two girls, I‘ll go find him,” John responds helping me onto my feet. John disappeared whilst Paulie looked at me.

“I‘ll get the girls you can go find Aldo and say goodbye,” Paulie says but I felt stuck there until she pushed me. “Go hurry!”

I began hurrying back through the hanger and rushed past dozens of people. Once I reached the outside I saw Aldo was still in the spot I left him only he was pacing back and forth. Out of breath from running I went to him. He didn’t say anything just rushed at me and pulled me into a kiss. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I kissed him back. But I had to break the kiss.

“I’ll always remember you Aldo Raine,” I say softly as I touched the side of his face, “Live yourself a good life.”

“I won‘ be forgettin‘ yew,” Aldo responds.
“Bye,” I whisper kissing him softly one last time then turned to leave.

The girls and John were waiting for me in the forest area. John began instructing us on how we were going to go back. We were all holding hands and counting down. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

On the last count all I saw was Aldo rushing towards us. The look on his face only broke my heart. But I had to get back home, it wasn’t right for me to stay.

Goodbye Basterds, goodbye Aldo Raine.

I’ll miss you.