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HER HEART HAMMERED AGAINST HER RIB CAGE. If it could beat harder, it might have burst out of her chest. She leads him across the open field. Behind them, explosions from shells go off. Shrapnel flies everywhere. To their left, soldiers begin vaulting themselves over the wall of the trench. Both begin running faster. They pass them in every direction. Soldiers cut in front of them and shortly behind the two. "Keep going!" Schofield shouts from behind Mags.
German guns begin firing. Mags' legs pull her faster. Only a little bit more to go. All you need is to get back into the trench, she tells herself. Glancing back, she loses sight of Schofield. Her body skids to a stop. She stumbles over her own feet as she begins pushing herself back. Just as she nears him, she catches sight of him pulling himself free from the corpse of a British soldier. Holding her hand out, she quickly pulls him up. "I told you to keep going!" Schofield shouts over the gunfire.
"When have I ever listened to you before?!" She shouts back as she pulls them through the field. More and more soldiers fill the fields to their right. They need to hurry or more men will die. That blood will be on their hands. Her lungs burn with a new intensity. They hurt more than when she was drowning; they hurt more than when she fell from a tree and broke a rib; they hurt more than when her father died.
Her eyes catch sight of the open trench. "Here!" She shouts before ducking into the trench. Her limbs pull close to her body as she slams her body against the gravel. Pain fills her entire body as her back slams against the wall of the trench. Schofield falls in after her. "Are you alright?!" She manages to shout as she pushes herself off of the ground. He nods in response. His eyes widen at the sight of her head. Blood is seeping down her forehead, and down her cheek. Her hand reaches up to feel the warm, sticky substance. "Shit." She hisses as a sharp pain fills her head. "No time! Let's go find Colonel Mackenzie!"
Her hand tugs on his, pulling him up from the ground. The two begin sprinting down the trenches. She skids to a stop in front of a captain. "Where's Colonel Mackenzie?!" She frantically asks.
"He's in there!" He shouts before giving orders to his troops.
Both the nurse and the soldier make their way towards a small bunker room. Two soldiers stand guard, stopping them. "Let us in!" Schofield shouts with a newfound desperation. "Let us through now!" The soldiers pin Schofield up against the gravel wall.
With a deep breath, Mags manages to shove both men to the side. "Go inside!" She shouts to Schofield. With a moment of hesitance, he sprints into the bunker. Both soldiers shove the nurse to the side before rushing in after the soldier. Mags pushes herself off of the ground and enters the bunker. Her body slams into the backs of the soldiers. Glancing over, she watches as Schofield holds out the letter to the colonel. A moment of relief fills her. They've done it. They've finally done it. They're done.
