Take Me Home. - Dunkirk - Alex - Harry Styles

Three.

There was panic on the pier as well. She could hear someone directing the men to push the boat away from the Mole to stop it sinking by the docking area.

"Elizabeth!"

Her terrified eyes met Tommy's. He was still sitting with his new friend on the rafters, watching the whole thing unfold and although he was trying to tell her something, she couldn't hear due to the pandemonium going on behind her, "What?"

"Jump!" he yelled, this time louder and she just managed to hear this time and she immediately shook her head.

The young man groaned in frustration, shimmying along the beam as if it was going to help her in any way.

She watched, seeing that many of the men on deck were doing as he was trying to encourage her to do, jumping into the choppy waters.

"Elizabeth!" Dorothy cried, grabbing onto her hand, Rachel holding onto her other one.

"What do we do?"

Elizabeth looked down at the water then up at Tommy when she realised that he was right, "We jump."

The two women looked at her as if she'd gone mad, protesting loudly as she took a step onto the first level of railing.

"We have to!" she yelled, "Or we die."

Rachel was the first to move, following her lead in climbing onto the railing. The two of them threw their legs over to get onto the other side and Rachel held her hand out, "Dorothy."

"No!"

"Dorothy, please!" Elizabeth begged, ducking low as another explosion went off, "Come on!"

Elizabeth stared down at the water until Dorothy was also standing on the railing, looking past the older woman to Rachel, who was whimpering and gripping the rail so tight that her knuckles were turning white.

"Are you ready?" she asked and they both quickly shook their heads.

"Why can't we-" Dorothy tried to say but the young brunette didn't hear her over the third explosion.

"Now!" she had yelled and after taking in the biggest breath that she could, she leapt from the railing, hearing the other two nurses scream her name.

Things seemed to slow down, stand still even and at first, it felt as if she was suspended in mid air.

And then she was falling.

Tommy was still watching from his place on the supports of the piers, watching as Elizabeth plunged into the freezing cold water and he was instinctively leaning forward to try and find the young girl in the crowd of men.

His eyes flitted up onto the destroyer, where he could see that her two friends hadn't jumped and were still gripping the sinking boat tightly.

He looked at his new friend when he smacked him on the shoulder, seeing him pointing out to a spot on the water and he could just see her struggling to keep her head above the water.

The water was cold. So cold that it has knocked the breath from her the moment she was submerged but underneath the water, all was calm.

There was no screaming, no explosions. Nothing.

She only emerged again when she felt her lungs burn with the need for oxygen, pushing her wet hair from her eyes as she tried desperately to work out what direction she was to swim in.

It was hard though. Every couple of seconds she'd be bumped into, jostled and even pushed back under by those who were trying to do the same as her. Survive.