Chapter 12: Trouble on the Horizon

Previously: Anna volunteered to be the medic to go to the front lines. Bucky teaches her how to use a gun and he asks Colonel Phillips to let him return to the front lines early so he can be there to protect her.

The truck left for the front lines in the middle of the night. It was smart and strategical, but made going even more intimidating. Darkness distorted the world. No one knew what laid in wait in the dark, and the not knowing caused anxiety and fear when the lights went out and the world went black.

Anna had never been afraid of the dark growing up, but she couldn't help feeling the night shadows pressing in on her and reminding her of the unknown terror that awaited her on the battlefield as she made her way towards the rendezvous point at the edge of camp after saying her goodbyes. Logically, she knew what to expect at the front lines, but imagining or being told what goes on there and witnessing it were two very different things. She only hoped she was strong enough to make it through: emotionally and physically.

Releasing a long breath, Anna stepped one foot up on the back of the truck. As she looked for some place to hold on before hoisting herself up, a hand appeared from the back flap to offer her assistance. Glancing up she saw James leaning out of the truck. With a hesitant smile, she accepted his outstretched hand and allowed him to pull her up and in.

"Thanks," she said once they were in the truck. He still had a hold of her hand as they stood toe to toe.

The truck puttered to life, the floorboard rumbling beneath their feet. Without warning, it jolted forward, and Anna started stumbling backwards. Releasing her hand, James rested his hands on her waist to steady her.

"Maybe we should take a seat," he suggested.

"But it was just getting interesting," one of the soldiers from the benches on the side said. He had a large mustache and wore a bowler hat. For the few moments before the truck moved, Anna had forgotten they had a troop of soldiers as an audience.

Back ramrod straight at the attention, she let James lead her to an empty spot on the bench a little further down from the man with the bowler hat. Despite the looks, she kept her hand wrapped up with James'. Let them make rude comments, it didn't matter what they thought.

"Name's Dugan," the bowler hat guy introduced as him and a couple others moved further down the bench to sit by her and James. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I was only trying to lighten the mood. Everyone here is either depressed or scared shitless about going back to the front."

"Anna," she said, shaking his hand with her free one.

"I know. You're the doc. Heard you volunteered to come with us. Makes you a right side braver than some of the men here."

His words had her smiling. Encouraged by her not immediately rejecting conversation he introduced the rest of his unit: Falsworth, Jones, Dernier, and Morita. They kept up a steady conversation, distracting her from reality until the truck came rolling to a bumpy stop. The soldiers filed out of the truck. James squeezed her hand before helping her to her feet. She followed him out, forced to release his hand as they walked single file to the end of the truck. But he offered it right back up to help her down from the truck, steadying her until her boots hit mud.

Glancing around, they stood at the edge of a tree line. The truck sputtered to life behind them, turning back the way they came, leaving them.

"Stay close," James said, releasing her hand in favor of holding his rifle at the ready. "We'll be walking the rest of the way to the front line, but that doesn't mean danger isn't lurking between here and there."

Her heart beat fast, tap dancing against her rib cage, as her eyes shifted across the shadow covered land around them. Out here, anything went. There were no rules in war, just attempting not to die. Kill before you're killed. No enemy would think twice about shooting her anymore than the men around her. A shiver traced a line down her spine that had nothing to do with the chill in the air. Out here, she was their enemy too.

She stayed as close to James as she could. Without a word, Dugan and his unit slowly fell back until they framed either side of her. Meeting Dugan's eyes, he gave her a brief nod before his eyes returned to surveying the area. It was a silent agreement. They had her back, just like she had theirs if they got injured. They'd treat her like a fellow soldier, protect her like a fellow soldier.

She expected the ground to shake as they neared the front lines, for the air to be filled with smoke and echoing the shots from guns, but it was eerily silent. She slid into the foxhole after James, leaning against the mud wall across from him as she tried to control her breathing. The silence was almost worse than the sound of war raging around them.

"I should make rounds while it's quiet. See if anyone needs medical attention," she whispered in the air between them, her breath coming out in a small puff.

James nodded, watching her walk away and wishing he could go with her. But he couldn't leave his men when he was supposed to be in command. Still, his stomach sank when she disappeared from his sight-line.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," a soldier greeted as she approached the group. "You must've been a real bad girl to be sent out here."

"Do any of you need medical treatment," Anna asked, ignoring the soldier's lewd stare.

"That depends, you gonna take us back to camp to see the doc?"

"I'll take that as a no," Anna said, sidestepping the soldier when he moved to grab her arm and moving on to the next group.

The next group of soldiers were cordial, to Anna's pleasant surprise. She cleaned and mended their cuts and sprained muscles, minor injuries that hadn't warranted leaving the fields. When they thanked her for helping them, her heart swelled. This was why she'd become a doctor. To help those in need.

After making the rounds, Anna headed back towards James' regiment just as the sound of gunshots cut through the night. Heart hammering, she crouched down and dove for the closest foxhole, praying she didn't get shot. The soldiers paid no attention to her once they saw she wasn't an enemy soldier. Their attention was kept on the field before them, shrouded in darkness and gun smoke. When the echoes of gunshots hit a momentary lull, she flung herself out of the hole and sprinted as fast as she could back towards James regiment. Though she was certain the soldiers she'd left were competent, she'd still feel safe with James and the semi-familiar faces of his group.

The shooting picked right back up as she slid down into the foxhole to be met with the business end of a gun. Dugan's wide smile was behind it, already lowering his weapon having recognized her.

"See Barnes, your girl's safe. Now you can focus on shooting the Nazis," Dugan called over his shoulder.

"You hurt?" Bucky asked, his eyes scanning over her. He'd been uneasy when she left his sight, and that was before the shooting started. He'd almost left his men to search for her, make sure she was okay. Being on the front lines was even scarier when Ace was there.

"No, but even if I was, your job is shooting and my job's healing," Anna said, moving to the other side of the foxhole until she stood beside him. She sent a pointed stare at his gun.

"Right, shooting," He said, quirking a smile as he returned his attention to spotting enemy soldiers through his viewfinder.

When another momentary stall in fighting fell over the field, a few men from another foxhole uneasily advanced towards the enemy line in the darkness. They didn't get more than fifteen feet before assaulted by gunfire. Turning and fleeing, most made it back to their foxholes, but a few men fell to the field when they were struck by enemy fire.

"Reckless," Bucky said just before Anna flung herself over the edge of their foxhole, bag in hand.

"Ace!" he hissed, lunging to grab a hold of her, but she was out of his reach. Crouching low, she made her way towards the injured soldiers. "Damn it."

Reloading his gun, he set his sight on any asshole who might fire at her. He shot down a couple enemy soldiers who as much as flinched in her direction, his heart pounding louder than his firing gun. He tightened his grip on his rifle with every second that passed. Letting his scope move across the field, waiting for another soldier to make a move, he swore again when he noticed Anna struggling to drag one of the surviving soldiers back to the hole. She wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings. She was a sitting duck and he didn't trust the red cross on her helmet to avert any Axis powers from shooting her.

"Cover us," he ordered Dugan, hoisting himself over the dirt wall.

It took excruciatingly long to reach Anna. His gaze swept over her surroundings as he approached, his heart leaping every time his mind created menacing shadows in the dark where there was nothing. Shots were fired, and he swore he could hear the bullets whistling past his ears, but none of them hit him or Anna.

"I've got him," he said when he finally reached her. Shouldering the soldier, freeing her buckling knees from his weight, he pressed his gun in her hands. "Shoot anything that moves without hesitation."

Hoisting the soldier higher, he carried him back to the fox hole, keeping Ace in his peripheral vision until they were back.

"The other soldiers," Anna protested when he motioned for her to slide back down into the hole.

"I'll get them." He'd get them to safety faster without him hesitating for fear she'd get shot. Besides, she had one patient to work on while he got the others. "Focus on helping the soldier you have here."

As soon as Anna slid back down into the hole, Dugan steadying her, he set back out for the other two soldiers. Making himself into a smaller target, he dropped to his belly and used his elbows to crawl towards the injured. Of course, he had to stand up once he reached the soldiers, and on the way back with the last one a stinging pain flashed across his left arm. His steps faltered and he almost dropped the man he carried, but he managed to adjust his hold. Gritting his teeth, he made it the last few feet, he eased the injured soldier down before following him.

"You're hurt," Anna said, her brow furrowing when she glanced up from the soldier she worked on to find the arm of his uniform stained red.

"It's just a graze wound," he said, turning to go back to his sniper position. With an authoritative 'sit' from Anna, he sunk down beside the third soldier to wait until she finished with the others so she could get a closer look at his injury.

She gently helped him ease his arm out of his shirt, letting out a sigh when she found he was right. The bullet had only grazed him. Washing the blood away with water, she applied a light layer of penicillin powder to prevent an infection before tying a clean bandage around it.

"Thank you," she said as he slipped his arm back into his sleeve. "For helping me get my patients back here for me to treat them."

"You're welcome," he said. "Just give a little warning next time before flinging yourself into the middle of a war-zone, okay?"

"I'll do my best," she said.

When it came time to take shifts sleeping, he let Anna take the first shift. To be honest, he wasn't looking forward to his turn because it meant he wouldn't be able to watch her back. She curled up beside him, falling asleep with her back against the dirt wall. When she shivered in her sleep, he slipped off his jacket, laying it over her like a blanket. As much as he hated the war, he couldn't begrudge it completely. If it wasn't for the war, he never would have met Anna.

…

Two weeks in and Anna still hadn't grown accustomed to the front lines. But then, she supposed war wasn't something anyone was supposed to get used to. And as terrifying as the chaos was, she knew her presence there saved lives. Some of the soldiers she sent back to camp when she'd done all she could in the field were already back on the front lines, practically as good as new. Whereas before they might have been out of commission for months had they waited for any medical attention till they made it to camp.

She followed where the troops went, which meant she was right there with them when they pressed forward to gain more ground on the enemy. The only thing more frightening than feeling exposed to enemy fire, was knowing James and his platoon were too. Not only that, but they would willingly take a hit to save her. She knew she'd have to take care and make sure that was never necessary. Not the easiest thing to do when the tables turned and they were the ones retreating from the Axis.

Bucky's nerves were fried as they struggled to defend their gain after more Axis companies replenished those they'd been fighting. It seemed they wouldn't be able to hold them off much longer, and he was terrified of what would happen if they couldn't. In the scramble to retreat, he momentarily lost track of Anna. He didn't realize she wasn't beside him until he'd slid into the nearest foxhole.

"Where's Anna?" He asked Dugan who slid in right after him.

"I thought she was behind me," Dugan said, turning to look for both enemy soldiers and the doc.

"Red cross helmet Ten o'clock," Dugan called out before shooting down the few soldiers gaining ground on her.

Peering through his scope, Bucky made sure to cover them while Dugan covered Anna. It soon became apparent they couldn't hold them off by themselves.

"Radio B-company. Tell them we need cover," he ordered when Jones joined them. There were half a dozen other companies out there. Organizing with one another was the only way they could pull through this.

"That might be tough," Jones said, holding up his radio, broken from a blast.

"Bucky, there's more converging on your girl," Dugan interrupted, making Bucky turn his full attention on Anna. She'd stopped running to help one of the fallen soldiers who'd called out to her.

Taking aim, the soldiers were gone in a flash of blue laser light before he could shoot. In a few more flashes all the enemy soldiers had disappeared as the night went from erupting chaos to silence. Pushing himself out of the hole, his fellow soldiers followed him as they attempted to comprehend what just happened.

That's when a rumbling interrupted the silence, shaking the ground as the biggest, oddest, tank he'd ever seen came to a stop on the hill above them. For a moment it sat there, its lights illuminating the field before them. Then, with a large mechanical groan, the muzzle of the gun turned down towards them.

"Ace!" he shouted, too far away to do anything. Dugan pulled him down into the foxhole just before the weapon fired. Dirt and rubble flew everywhere, piling over them and pinning them down. As he waited for death to come for him, he could only think of Anna. She'd been out in the open when the weapon went off and every horrible possibility of what could have happened to her flitted through his head.

A/N: Hello again! I hope I didn't lose any of you with the long break between chapters, but for those I did I understand. For those who are still reading, thank you. I hope you enjoy the update!

Onto Guest Review Responses:

Jo: I'm glad you enjoyed the fluff between Bucky and Anna :)

To the guest who took a whole two chapters to decide what they wanted to happen to Anna this time around: No it's not weird you waited a little to decide. I agree, I'd love to explore Anna interacting with Tony as his aunt. I think she'd be good for him. Someone he turned to when he felt like a disappointment to his dad. I hope you enjoyed the update.

Pam: I'm sorry this took so long. And I promise I'll work on getting the next Relentless chapter up ASAP as well. But one Anna/Bucky story updating is better than none, right? I'm glad you're enjoying all my stories and I hope you continue to enjoy them. And thanks, I'm glad you love my yoga videos on Instagram, though I know I've been slacking on posting those as well. Anyways, I always enjoy hearing from you so thanks for always leaving a review and chatting with me on Insta.

Kam: It's finally updated! Hope you enjoyed.

To the guest who wants me to continue writing this story: here you go! Hope it was worth the wait.

Rach

xoxo