Hope at Dunkirk

8.

It didn't take long for water to start trickling through the bullet holes in the side of the ship, making the soldiers panic at the thought of the boat over flowing and sinking to it's watery grave. But it did mean one thing, that the tide was now far enough in to take the boat out to sea. Olivia tore the bottom of her dress and scrunched up the material in her hands, before passing it to another soldier who was urged to start plugging the holes.

Just as he crawled over to the bullet wounds, another gunshot was fired and planted a bullet right through the soldier's eye. Olivia jumped back into Harry's chest that was conveniently behind her, eyes wide as the young soldier was still alive from the bullet wound to his face. He cried and groaned in agony that would haunt her ears forever, the water continuing to pour into the lower deck.

Harry shuffled back in shock from the soldier who now only had one eye and blood covering the rest of his face, unintentionally grabbing a hold of Olivia in front of him and pulling her back with his frightened figure. As the soldier continued to cry, some boys snapped out of their trance and ran to the weeping boy.

"Shhhhh shhh you're gonna get us shot!", whispered another soldier who tried to ease the injured boy. But how could he keep quiet? A hole was now in his face with a bullet stuck in his flesh.

Two more bullets were shot through the boat, causing everyone to duck down and cover their heads from the gunfire. Without their helmets, everyone used their arms including the old man who was  going to drive the boat back out to sea. Harry kept an arm around the back of Olivia's waist as they laid face down on the floor, keeping each other close with their heads down.

More and more water was pouring into the boat, soon filling until about waist height to the 6'0 ft soldiers, making it near torso height for Olivia. The gunshots stopped and the boys rushed to plug the holes, screaming at each other to stop the boat from sinking like the others they had experienced.

"Plug the holes! Hurry!", the soldiers yelled, before turning to the old man who floated helplessly. "Get the boat started! Get us out to sea!".

The man rushed up the steps to the deck and started the engine that luckily worked. It seemed to be the only thing that's gone right in these endless hours. Olivia used her fingers and more of her dress's material to plug the holes in the side of the boat, the water rising more rapidly as they were going further and further out to sea.

"Come on, come on...", she could hear Harry mumbling through gritted teeth next to her. She turned her head to see a concentrated/worried look on his face, using his fingers to plug the holes. His now wet hair was flopping on to his forehead, eyes filled with fire and worry for his own safety and Olivia's especially.

The water soon had reached up to Olivia's neck, leaving her struggling to breath at trying to swim and plug the holes at the same time. She gasped as she was being sucked under water and up to the surface again and again. Harry heard gasping to his right, seeing how much the girl he had grown a desire for was struggling to breathe.

"Hey! Olivia hey!", he shouted and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her up to his height and letting her head come back up to the surface fully. She coughed and latched her hands on to his uniform covering his biceps, once again being saved by the boy she had come to love in such a short time.

"We're going home remember?", Harry reminded her, looking deep into her blue eyes that were filled with tears. "You need to swim for me okay? We need to go home".

Olivia sniffled but none the less nodded to him, looking over his whole face that still seemed immaculate, before she heard a soldier yell 'abandon ship!'. She looked at Harry and clutched tightly on to his arm, nodding at him once again to show she was ready to follow him to the end. Harry and her ducked under the water and swam towards the steps that would lead to the upper deck, where'd they finally escape the boat that was bound to sink by now.

The two helped each other out of the lower deck and watched as the soldiers and the old man driving the boat, jump over the side towards a huge destroyer ship that held more soldiers heading for home. A wave of relief swept over the two, but it wasn't over yet. The couple held hands tightly, not daring to be separated at a time like this and leaped over the side and into the sea.

Olivia's ears were filled with silence once she was plunged deep into the ocean, seeming like there was no world above it was at war. She was yanked up to the surface once again by Harry's hand, who was sternly swimming towards the ship that he saw Tommy and the others swimming to.

"Home.... we need to.... get home", Harry said to himself between pants, using the last of his energy to swim towards the salvation ship.

The dreaded sound of an enemy plane filled the air once again, reaching everyone's ears with it's threatening impending sound from the back wing. The soldiers on the destroyer ship looked up to see the plane was flying dangerously low, opening up it's lower hatch which would hold their end. Olivia looked up and saw the plane, just as the bomb was released and planted itself on to the ship.

"Harry get down!", she screamed as she ducked underwater, tugging Harry along with her to avoid getting either of them hit by the bomb's explosion. She made the mistake of unlatching her hand from Harry's to cover her ears underwater, still able to hear the explosion and the cries of soldiers. She heard it all.

She heard the screams of the soldiers and Nurses from the first ship wreck she was on.

She heard the screams of the soldiers and Nurses from the second ship wreck she was on.

She heard the waves take soldiers bodies out to sea, before bringing them back towards the beach when the tide came in.

She heard it all.

And underwater, she waited for it to end.