Take Me Home. - Dunkirk - Alex - Harry Styles

Eight.

"Where do we go?" Alex called over the roar of the planes as they flew overhead again, "The minesweeper?"

"No," she spluttered, "It's going down. We need to get to one of the smaller ones."

Alex nodded and looked over his shoulder toward the beach, there were dozens of boats scattered all over the place but there was one that stuck out. And it was the closest. Moonstone.

"Come on," he said, lifting her into the water, where he pointed to the boat he had his eyes on, "That one, yeah? We swim towards that one."

Elizabeth was sure that she was never going to get used to the temperature of the sea. Like it always did, the coldness took the breath straight for her lungs. The young woman nodded and attempted to swim, trying to not let him see how much her arm was bothering her. The bullet was still in there. She knew it when she couldn't find an exit wound and she knew that she was going to have to try and find someone to take it out for her.

Alex was doing most of the work; one arm wrapped around Elizabeth's waist as his other dragged them through the water.

"Alex," she whispered but he heard her, "Alex, I'm just slowing you down. You should just leave me."

They came to a stop when they heard the gun on the ship gearing up to take a shot and she had to appreciate the determined efforts of the men aboard to bring the German aircraft down.

Alex wordlessly tugged her under the water and even though everything was muted, the two of them could still hear the loud booms of explosions and bullets hitting metal.

When it all got too much, feeling the burn of her lungs, she tapped his arm gently and he nodded, knowing that they couldn't stay under much longer or they'd drown and he quickly brought them back up to the surface. Except now, they were both covered in a thick, black, sticky substance.

Oil.

"Alex," Elizabeth tried again, "Just go!"

"No," he shook his head adamantly, finally replying to her comment, "'m not leaving you, Love. We're in this together."

"Bu-"

"No buts," he murmured, smiling when he saw that the boat, The Moonstone was heading toward them and he glanced down at her, "See? Look, we're gonna be fine."

Elizabeth gave him a weak smile as the boat rumbled to a stop beside them, a young blonde boy leaning over the edge to help get them in.

"Her first," Alex mumbled and the boy wordlessly nodded, calling for someone to help haul her on board, "Watch her arm, please."

A blonde man wearing a life jacket and blue suit appeared at the teen's side, reaching down to grab her other arm, hastily apologising when she let out a small yelp.

"Oi!" Alex snapped, "Be careful."

She landed on the deck with a loud thud, breathing heavily as she tried to get her breath back and she opened her eyes to see the two of them staring down at her.

"Yeh alright, lass?" the older man, a Scot, asked helping her sit up and she wordlessly nodded.

"Yes, thank you," she whispered, crawling over to the edge of the small boat, where she peered over the edge to see Alex still bobbing up and down in the water, "Alex."

"Woah," the younger of the two blondes said softly when she reached over to grab him, "We'll get him. Just...stay there, okay?"

Elizabeth nodded and moved back, watching with worried eyes as the two men haul Alex on board and he wordlessly crossed the small space between them to pull her into his arms.