Alive and Injured

15) Bethany Hart

Bethany woke up from a nightmare. Michael had his hand on her arm.

"Bethany, sweetheart,you're alright." Bethany trembled for a little while as the shock from the nightmare. She always had nightmares.

"What time is it?"She whispered.

"Must be around eight in the morning? I'm not too sure. I was never much of a watch man."Bethany smiled slightly at the limp joke. She sat up to see that a few others were also waking up and some were already awake. Cups of tea were being passed around. Not a lot of cups though and some were sharing.

"Are we already running out of rations?" Bethany asked. She couldn't help but feel a tiny bit panicked by that fact. Michael patted her hand gently.

"Stop panicking. We've got enough."

"How much is enough?"

"Enough. Stop worrying about it." Bethany bit her lip. Michael really was not going to tell her. He smiled at her suddenly.

"Hey we found something in one of the suitcases," And Michael held up a football. "Want a game?" She hesitated. She really wanted to but surely there was work to be done? Finding more rations, finding clothes for people,finding a place to get water as well was a big priority now, finding more natural food such as berries, nuts and if push comes to shove maybe animals as well but that really did have to be a-

"It's okay to have fun you know." Michael told her softly. She looked at him. He stood up and held out his hand, tucking the ball under his free arm. Bethany hesitated then nodded and took his hand. Michael pulled her up and they played a game.

Other young children joined in as they woke up and it seemed such a normal thing, to play a game of football whilst the train burnt up another two carriages.Five down, three more to go. Bethany tried to get involved and she found she really could, enjoying playing against Michael and other children. Michael's own children got involved once they had awoken.Bethany found that she really got on with them all. The game was so much fun and Michael's team won but they continued play.