| Copyright 2004 by Cheryl Frederick. This story was written for love not money. I do not own the characters in this story or the song lyrics, The characters belong to Selmur and the lyrics belong to Led Zeppelin. Please read end credits. Stairway Caje walked over to where Saunders was napping under a large tree, he hated to wake the sergeant, four days of continuous patrolling had taken its toll on the squad and they were tired. “Sarge.” He put his hand on the sleeping sergeant’s shoulder and shook it gently. “The lieutenant wants to see you.” Saunders looked up to see the Cajun standing over him. “Okay.” He rubbed his eyes, stood up, stretched, his head was killing him and he wished Doc were around so he could get some aspirin. The sergeant walked over to the abandoned farmhouse, King Company was using for a temporary headquarters. “Lieutenant, you wanted to see me, sir.” “Yes.” Hanley unfolded the map. “I want you to take two men, check out sector C,” he said, pointing to the map, “S2 thinks the krauts are moving artillery in.” “Sir, why only two?” “Because, three men won’t be as easy to spot as a whole squad.S2 really needs this information.” “Yes sir, we’ll be ready to move out in twenty minutes.” Saunders folded the map and putting into his pocket. Saunders walked over to the old barn, where his men were lying around on piles of hay, the closest they have been to a bed in months. “What’s up sarge?” Caje said he knew rest time was over from the look on the sergeant’s face. “You and Kirby are coming with me on recon patrol. The rest of you stay here.” Saunders said. “Sarge are we the only outfit in this whole stinking war? Why can’t they send L Company, we’re bushed.” Kirby griped. “Shut Up Kirby!” the sergeant snapped. ”Doc, you got any aspirin?” Saunders looked over at the medic. “Sure sarge, what’s wrong?” “Just a headache, Doc that’s all.” “You sure?” Doc looked into the sergeant’s tired eyes as he handed him the aspirin. Saunders popped them in his mouth and took a long swallow from his canteen. “Thanks, Doc it’s really just a headache.” “Caje, Kirby get your gear we move out in ten minutes.” Caje looked over at Kirby. “You heard the Sarge; it’s going to be a piece of cake.” He said grinning. “Caje, you know as well as I do, it never works out that way.” Kirby grumbled. ****************************** They had been gone about three hours when, “Take five", while Saunders took the map out of his pocket. Caje reached for his cigarettes feeling the need for a smoke. "Sarge, it sure has been quiet, I don’t like it.” “I don’t either; krauts must be up to something big.” The sergeant pointed to the map, “We should be here” showing the Cajun the map. “There should be a hill about another half mile.” “Half mile we been walking all day, my feet are kill’n me.” Kirby griped. "Hey Caje you got another smoke?” “Where’s yours?” “I guess I left them back at camp.” Caje just shook his head and handed, Kirby a cigarette. “Let’s move out” Saunders said... When they reached the hill, Sarge said, “Let’s check it out” Keeping low, they crawled to the top. “Shit!” Kirby said. Saunders and Caje agreed on the man’s choice of words. Just then, all hell broke loose. The shells started exploding all around them, knocking over trees and sending the three men diving for what little cover they could find. “LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!” The sergeant yelled and they took off running as fast as they could. Kirby tripped and fell; Saunders grabbed him by the arm hauling the man back to his feet. When they reached a safe distance, both men fell to their knees panting to catch their breath. “Sarge, where’s Caje?” Kirby, panted. “I don’t know, he was behind us.” “Sarge, we can’t just leave him.” “Kirby, we can’t go back into that, we’d both get killed.” The thought of leaving Caje weighed heavily on both men. It was something they had done so many times before and each time it got harder and harder, losing so many men was more than they could stand. “We’ve got to get this information back to the lieutenant or hundreds of men could get killed. Let’s go,” Saunders said, putting his hand on Kirby’s shoulder. ************************* When they returned to the farm, Littlejohn was the first to see them. “They’re back!” Littlejohn shouted to the rest of the squad. “Sarge, where’s Caje?” he said, but the look on Saunders' face told him all he needed to know. “Hey, Sarge, you want me to go with you to see the lieutenant?” Kirby asked the sergeant. “No Kirby you get some rest you need it.” He knew the private's ankle still hurt, but right now he also knew, Kirby was not thinking about his ankle but of Caje. “Lieutenant, S2 was right.” Turning to the map on the table, Saunders pointed at the map. "The krauts are all along this line here. Lieutenant, we lost Caje.” Saunders, felt a lump growing in his throat. “What happened Saunders?” “The krauts hit us hard, we took off when the shelling started” Saunders paused to light a cigarette, “When Kirby and I stopped he wasn’t there.” “Saunders this information is going to save a lot of lives, S2 is going to call in an air strike, and I know you want to go back but not now.” Hanley placed his hand on the sergeant’s shoulder. “Saunders, I’ll let you know as soon as I can.” The sergeant turned and left the room. Hanley, just bowed his head and thought, so many good men lost in this war when will it ever end... ******************************** Twenty-four hours had passed when Caje, finally regained consciousness. His body burned as white-hot pain shot through it like fire. He opened his eyes and saw only shadows at first. As he reached for his canteen to quench his parched mouth, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his side, beads of sweat began to form on his face as he reached into his shirt to feel the warm sticky liquid and the large hole just above his hip. The bleeding seemed to have slowed but he knew he was in trouble, he reached for his sulfa and a bandage each movement sent a wave of nausea and dizziness over him. When he had finished patching himself he closed his eyes.Caje, was shocked when he reopened his eyes to see the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, her hair was golden and the flowing gown glittered in gold. He was frightened, struggeling through his pain he started to crawl away as a wave of fear spread over him. She followed but did not speak when he could go no farther, he came to a tree by a brook panting and coughing as he managed to pull himself into a seated position closing his eyes he heard a songbird sing overhead. All of his thoughts were misgiven, he opened his eyes and looked to the west where the American lines were but his spirit was crying for leaving. Suddenly he heard a bustle in the hedgerow next to him. The woman with the golden hair looked at him with soft eyes. He was no longer afraid. “There are two paths you can go by," her voice flowed over him like a warm breeze. Her words were so comforting to him, and he almost forgot his pain. "There’s still time to change the road you're on," she whispered. ************** Lieutenant Hanley walked over to where Saunders, was sitting alone by an old fence. “Saunders, S2 wants me to send a squad to make sure the air strike took out those guns. I knew your squad would want the job.” The lieutenant placed his hand on Saunders’ shoulder. “You can look for Caje, and at least bring back his tags.” “Thank you sir, we’ll be ready to move out in ten minutes.” *************** Caje looked into her soft eyes. "The piper's calling you to join him.” She said softly. “Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow?" Closing his eyes, he could feel his strength leaving. “Your stairway lies on the whispering wind,” She said to him with a warm smile. ************* They approached the area where the shelling had occurred two days before. Saunders and Kirby shuddered, fearing what they were going to find. “Sarge!” Littlejohn yelled, running over to the sergeant, carrying Caje’s M1 and helmet. “I found them over there,” he said, pointing to a fallen tree. "There's a lot of dried blood; looks like he crawled away, that way.” “Let’s go” Saunders said. “Spread out and keep your eyes open; we don’t want to miss him.” Saunders found the Cajun leaning against a large tree. As Cajereached out for the woman’s hand, he opened his eyes shocked it was not her but the sergeants. “DOC!” Saunders yelled. “He’s still ALIVE!” “Sarge,” Caje whispered. “Don’t you see her?” He looked around to see her fade away. For she knew the path he had chosen. ***************** Three days later, Caje opened his eyes to see Doc standing over him. “You had us all worried; thought we’d lost you for good,” Doc, smiled down at the Cajun. “Doc,” his voice was hoarse. “Did you see her?” “See who?” Giving Caje a puzzled look. “The woman with the golden hair; she was standing by the stairway to heaven,” as his voice trailed off and he passed out. “How’s he doing Doc?” Saunders said. “He’s out of it; you know he still has a high fever,”Doc said looking over at Caje. ”Keeps talk’n about some woman and a stairway to heaven.” THE END This story could not have been written without the help and support from several other of the fanfic writers, their guidance made this story possible. Thanks for all your help, I could not have done it without Ya’ll….. Sincerely Cheryl Frederick |
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