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The pilot, who introduced himself as Collins, stared down at the young boy. He was drying his hairs with a clean blanket while trying to help him with his large wound. He noticed George's shallow breathing and his now useless eyes slightly opened. He was alive, but his state was getting worse. The wounded boy didn't react to their voices anymore, he just laid there on his back, breathing felt very difficult and painful to him.
"I'm sorry son, but I really don't know. You were right not to move him," he says to the blonde man.
"You've done the best you can." Collins turns to Peter and rests a hand on his tense shoulder, trying to give him a bit of hope with a kind smile on his face.
"Is he alright, the boy?," the nameless soldier asks the youngest Dawson, the guilt ghosting in his mind.
"No, no he is not!"
"Pete, don't say that." Mary is sitting on the stairs to the front of the boat, her position allowing to see inside but also the sea and everything in it that surrounded them. Her white long dress got blown to multiple sides by the wind, her hairs started to fall out of the messy bun on her small head.
"It's not like I am lying."
The sound of the bombs fallen from the German airplane made them stop their conversation, preventing a small discussion between the siblings. They exploded on the big ship, soldier started jumping out and diving in the cold sea. The shivering man on the Moonstone covers his ears and starts to cry in his own arms. He rocked himself from side to side, calming his own mind but without success.
Collins follows Mister Dawson's gaze at the Heinkel, big splashes jumping next to the ship, created by the bombs coming from the enemy. Peter and Mary run up to the bow, getting a better view at the soldiers jumping out of the wreck that would crush and kill them if they stayed on it.
"There's men in the water!"
Mister Dawson looks at where his son is pointing to, pushed the throttle a bit further, making the motor go harder and boat go faster. These were the men they came for, these were the men they were rescuing and bringing home. Collins ran around on the boat, making sure he doesn't lose the two planes out of his sight.
"Come on, Farrier," he whispers.
Peter and Collins started fishing the soldiers out of the water, pushing them on the boat and towards Mary, where she then would show them where to go. She kept on repeating that they first had to go below deck, because that was the first place that needed to be filled by people.
Collins noticed what substance the men are floating in, black liquid laying on top of the water.
"Oil! You are getting into oil!," he screams, warning Mister Dawson who stopped the boat and talked to his daughter about the best positioning of these men. He told her how to get the most of them on this tiny boat and promised her she could do it, he believed in that. Peter and Collins receive some help from, with oil covered, soldiers. Together they pull all the men onto deck, trying to safe as many as they can.
"Below deck." The soldier that sat next to the captain started shaking with his head. He didn't want to get that far away from a possible exit, scared that the boat would sink and that he would drown with it.
"We need to get as many of you on this boat before that oil catches fire, so below deck or off my boat. That's your choice." But the man still didn't move, he was staying on the chair, close to the door and close to the sea.
"Alright, you will listen to my father and get below deck or you can swim back to England, understand?" Mary was done with this stupid soldier who brought others in danger by not doing what they told him to do. The man stared between her and the older captain, raised from his sitting area and followed where they were pointing to. His face was almost unrecognizable because of the black oil that covered his bruised skin, but she noticed how angry he got with them. Mary didn't really care what he thought of her, as long as he listened to what she demanded.
"Hey, careful down there!," Peter said to the soldiers, very worried about George who laid there on the ground.
"Careful!"
"He's dead, mate," a soldier answered, his voice soft and vulnerable, hating the fact that he had to bring this bad news that they clearly didn't know yet.
"So be bloody careful with him."
"Help Collins with bringing the men on deck. I'll make sure nothing happens to George." Mary patted her brother on his back and gave him a very fast hug. She then descended down the stairs, where they started to cover the boy's body with the blanket he already had around him. She opened the locked door to the small bedroom and pushed the orange vests from the mattress, freeing it for the boy to lay on. She motioned to the person who told them the news and a possible friend that they had to rest him on the sheets, so that he would be as comfortable as he could.
The German Heinkel got shot down by the Spitfire and was crashing down, getting closer and closer to the water filled with black oil. Collins looked from the plane to that oil and started screaming to the captain that he had to move the boat, else they would get stuck inside the enormous fire that was threatening to burst.
Mister Dawson pushed the throttle more to the front, making the boat go as fast as it possibly could and moved away from the soldier that were trying desperately to get to the Moonstone. He took quick glances back, wishing that he could've saved these men. They had to think about surviving, he knew that, but his heart felt broken for the lost lives he left behind.
Peter has hold onto the last soldier, both holding on for dear life. The soldier couldn't help himself on the boat, his arms were too tired to pull himself up and the waves kept hitting him in the face, he had to try very hard to catch a breath. But the water did wash away the oil that covered his face and arms, slowly breaking apart the black substance on his skin. The blonde that had a strong grip around his wrists, started screaming to others for help, telling them he couldn't lift him on his own. Collins also reached out to him and together they fished him out of the sea and laid the soldier on deck, giving him some space so that he could inhale and exhale on his own tempo. He quietly whispered a sentence, almost unable to hear, but Peter, as he started to recognize the man's face, heard it very clear.
