She was the light in the darkness.
He was the anchor in the storm.
•••
It's spring of 1940 and Europe has been thrown into possibly the worst war the world has ever known. A young French girl named Rayna has enlisted as a combat medic. With the Nazi...
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•••
Tommy jolted awake from beside Rayna. Feeling the sudden movement of his body force her awake. She was about to ask him what was going one, when they heard footsteps from above.
Tommy and Rayna looked at each other before getting up form their spots on the floor quietly. Multiple other Highlanders jolted awake due to the sound of footsteps overhead as well.
Rayna and a Highlander picked up their rifles, standing behind Tommy at the ready. Tommy climbed up the later to the hatch, staring down at them. The Highlander nodded at Tommy, signaling for him to open the hatch.
Tommy throws open the door to reveal a seaman standing there. "Nee, nee!" He yells.
Confused, Tommy pulls the seaman down into the hold. Rayna lets her gun up, seeing no threat in this old man. But the Highlander next to her continues to point his rifle at the man.
"He's Dutch," Rayna told the Highlander. "There's no need to point your gun at him"
Within a moments notice, Alex was up an gripping the old man's collar in a threatening way, completely ignoring what Rayna said to the Highlander. "Are you German?"
"Dutch! Dutch!" The man yelled, desperately. He now had multiple guns aimed at him. "Merchant navy. Here to pick you up. To help you."
Alex relaxes slightly and lets the man sit up from his place on the hard floor of the ship, but the guns are still aimed at him.
"Why'd you leave your ship?" Alex interrogated the man.
"In case German come," the man spoke. "We wait up the beach with the soldiers. We wait for tide."
"You came back," a Highlander said and began to get excited. "The tide must be in!"
"Coming, yes," the Dutchman ruined all optimism on the ship. "Still hours till we float."
"Hours?" Alex yelled. "Why'd you come in then?"
The seaman gestured around the ship. "Not so heavy when I left."
The boat falls silent as Alex and the Highlanders think about what the man has said. Their thoughts are distracted, however, when a bullet flies into the side of the ship. Everyone went deadly still as they looked at the freshly made bullet hole in the wall of the boat.
The Highlanders and Alex quickly grab their rifles, about to walk up the stairs and out of the trap door.
"No!" Tommy whisper yelled at them. "They'll know we're in here." A second shot came into the wall. And then a third only a few inches away.
A Highlander stared at Tommy as if he was out of his mind. "Why else are they shooting at us?"
"Look at the grouping," Tommy explained, but they still didn't get it.
A fourth shot came in, forcing the boys on that side of the boat to squeeze themselves against the opposite walls.
Water begins to trickle through the lowest billet holes until it becomes a full on stream of water. A Highlander walks up to the hole, staring through it. He begins to try and plug the holes when a fifth shot comes in.
The Highlander screams in agony and is immediately jumped on top of by four of his comrades. One of them Smithers his screams while the others hold his writhing body down.
"We have to plug it!" Alex speaks with haste.
One of the Highlanders snickers, throwing his hands in the air. "After you, mate!"
Everyone in the chamber backs away from the holes, staring at the water that was beginning to fill up the floor of the cabin.
A round of machine gun billets fire at the cabin, creating an entire new series of holes that opened up to water spilling out.
Alex turned to the Dutch seaman in desperation. "How do we get off? Do we need to ditch some ballast?"
The seaman and Rayna looked at Alex in confusion, both of them unfamiliar with this term.
"Weight!" Alex spoke loudly. "Do we need to loose weight?"
The Dutch man thought for a second, his face obviously showing he did not understand the actual danger that everyone was in.
"Weight," he rubbed his chin. "Yes. Loose weight."
Alex turned and faced the group. "Somebody needs to get off."
Rayna's breath hitched in her throat. Tommy grabbed her hand, both do them knowing where this entire conversation was going. And knowing that they'd be he first victims.
"Well volunteered," a Highlander spoke.
Alex shook his head. "We don't need a volunteer. I know someone who ought to get off," he spoke. Alex turned on his head and faced Rayna, Tommy, and Gibson. Alex's eyes scanned over Tommy, but they stopped on Rayna. They lingered on her for a moment before passing her by onto Gibson. Alex extended his arm, pointing a finger at Gibson. "This one. He's a German spy."
"Don't be daft," Tommy began to argue. Rayna's lips parted as she glanced from Gibson to Alex.
"He's bloody jerry," Alex spoke. Rayna could hear only one thing in his voice, fear. "Have you noticed he hasn't said a word? Cause I have." Tommy clenched his jaw. "He doesn't speak English. Or if he does it's with an accent thicker than sourkraut."
Tommy shook his head. "You're daft," he spoke to Alex before looking at Gibson. "Tell him."
"Yeah," Alex spoke. He stepped up to Gibson, only leaving a small amount of space between the two of them. Alex pointed his rifle at Gibson's chest. "Tell me."
Rayna acted on impulse, letting go of Tommy's hand and pushing herself in between Gibson and Alex. Alex looked down at her with confusion and anger. "He's not German," Rayna spoke. "He's French."
