Timeline | Bucky Barnes x OC | (1)

Chapter 24- Life and Death

Not long after the rest of the 107th came back, Steve formed the Howling Commandos, which was just a fancy name for a bunch of idiots who are handy with a gun. Of course Bucky had been asked to join and had practically leapt at the opportunity, after a couple of drinks. They'd all gone out on various occasions to beat the crap out of Nazi's and all, somehow, managed to come back in one piece. They'd taken out countless HYDRA bases and changed the course of action for the entire war. If they kept it up, the war would be over in a couple of months. A couple of months before it should...

Thanks to them, the nurses didn't have an awful lot to do. There had been talk that Colonel Phillips would send them elsewhere but as of yet, nothing had happened. So Clara, Holly and Maggie took pleasure in their many breaks. Harry would come and see Holly whenever he got back, and Bucky would do the same with Clara, which didn't sit well with Maggie. These Howling Commandos had really made a name for themselves.

The three girls once again found themselves with nothing to do. The Howling Commandos had gone off to yet another HYDRA base and the remaining soldiers were either drinking, gambling or, in Harry's case, spending time with their fiancees.

Clara and Maggie were in the medical tent when the siren went off. Everyone, including herself, thought it had been some sort of mistake. With how well everything had been going lately, no expected a bomb attack. The nurses were quickly informed that they had to pack up and escort all injured men onto a convoy of tanks and lorries ready to depart. Clara and Maggie began packing things up, all the while the sireen was blaring in the background.

"Clear the bed. Quickly! There's not much time." Holly yelled as she came running into the medical tent with an injured soldier.

"I thought you were with Harry." Maggie inquired as she rushed around packing up the unneeded medical supplies. Clara came to Holly's aid in attending to the soldier so they could have him patched up quickly and get them all on a lorry and out of there. He had suffered a head injury. It was bleeding profusely but was easy enough to tend to.

"Maggie, you go. We'll be along soon." Clara ordered. Maggie nodded and made her way as quickly as she could to the convoy, struggling with the medical supplies crammed under her arms.

Clara and Holly had the soldier patched up in a matter of minutes. They slung his arms around each of their shoulders and hobbled across the mud to the last lorry of the convoy that hadn't already left. There were a number of soldiers on the lorry waving them forward cheering, 'hurry up!', some of them calling out, 'bloody women!' but they carried on going as best as they could.

The lorry was still so far away and the bombs were dropping closer and closer to them every second. The medical tent they were in just seconds before was now a smoking crater in the ground.

Holly's ankle became wedged in the mud. The soldier's weight was too much for Clara and she stumbled, the soldier fell to lay on the ground, groaning and clutching at his head. Clara was a couple of meters away from Holly, who had managed to drag herself up and was hobbling over to her as quickly as she could on her undoubtedly twisted ankle.

"Holly, please hurry. We need to leave." Clara said, hauling the soldier to his feet. A whistling sounded from the sky. A deafening whistling, growing closer and closer. Clara looked up instinctively, so did Holly. The bomb was directly on top of them, there was no way they would all make it out.

"Holly, how fast can you run?"

"I can't." She cried, tears streaming down her face as the bomb fell. The impact from the bomb threw her off the ground, blowing her over, slamming her head against a jagged rock. Her vision was strained, everything was moving. The ground next to her was smoking. The soldier was at her feet, one of his legs had been blown clean off. The space next to her, where Holly had been, was now a hole in the ground. Not even a scrap of her clothing remained.

"Holly?" Clara whimpered, stunned. "Holly!" Clara screamed, her voice breaking with the tears flowing down her cheeks. "Holly!"

"Miss, we can't stay here." The soldier urged. He was standing, just about. Clara shook her head, sending tears spilling over her shoulders. "Miss. I can't walk on my own." Clara took one final look over her shoulder at the crater where her friend had been and rushed to the soldier's side, just as his legs gave way.

"What's your name, soldier?" She asked, trying to distract herself.

"Sam, Miss. Sam Turner."

"Alright Turner, we're going to get you home safe. I promise."

Somehow, the two of them struggled onto the lorry which drove off at an alarming rate. They needed to get as far away from the bombs as quickly as possible. Even if it meant never seeing Holly again.

"Clara!" A voice from the front of the lorry called out to her. "You're covered in blood! Thank god you're alive but are you okay?"

It was Harry. He wriggled his way to the back of the lorry to join her.

"What's wrong? Clara? Why are you crying?"

He must know. He must know. Clara was with Holly the last he knew. And now she's not.

"Holly. I couldn't. I couldn't save her. It landed on top of her. I couldn't do anything." Clara sobbed. Harry's face fell. Before anyone could stop him, Harry had clambered over the lorry's rim and was running across the field.

"No!" Clara shouted. She wanted to run after him. She needed to run after him, to save him. For Holly's sake she had to.

"Harry!" She blared. A number of soldiers held her waste, held her back. "No!" She cried. The bombs were close but farther away than they had been. She could still see Harry when the bomb fell. He stood with his arms out wide, shouting up at the sky to take him, to kill him. Then he was no longer there, replaced with a crater and an explosion. How easily two people's future could be obliterated. How could it be Holly? Not to Holly. It could so easily have been her, she who had already lived a life in the future. Why did it have to be Holly?

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