The price of a mile (Second story in the world war series)

Chapter 12 - Italian shores we near

"Hold him still damn it!" The ships surgeon orders fiercely as Karl, with nothing to do and wanting to help has volunteered to help the Doctor.

With the screams of the sailor that Karl is holding down while the Doctor is operating on the inner thigh to remove shrapnel. Karl is applying weight to the mans upper body to hold in him place whilst a 2nd pair of hands are holding the leg still as best as possible.

"Trying doctor!" Karl says stressed as he's worn out both mentally and emotional from the bombing and seeing what he saw in the AA battery it drained him. Seeing this the Doctor orders someone over and looks up at Karl saying.

"You're relieved of your volunteering duty Herr, go get some sleep. God you need it more then most of these men on board." The Doctor says as the bigger man comes over and replacing Karl, holding the struggling man down.

Slowly standing up from his kneeling stature Karl opens his mouth to protest but thinks better and he sighs heading off to find a quieter place. Karl looking around finds a spot in the shade of the ships masts/tower where the bridge is located and moving there he lies down getting comfortable.

Getting comfortable now he sighs shakily removing his officers hat and he sets it down next to him, then he pulls one of the bags full of sand that is being shipped in front of him. Then he lies on down on his back silently looking up at the passing clouds using the sandbag as a pillow he slowly drifts off to much needed sleep.

8 hours have passed as it's nearing 7:23 pm and Karl is peacefully asleep, then he's jolted awake as someone is touching his neck. With his fist clenched he's about to slug the person for waking him then he quickly stops seeing who it is and quickly apologies.

Looking at the young Nurse that was seeing if he was alive Karl quickly apologies "Tut mir leid Fräulein..." he says lowering his fist with a frustrated sigh.

The young woman had flinched with her head turned and eyes closed prepared to take the slug that would've got her if she was a male.

With the adrenaline of almost getting nailed she snaps her head back with a frown saying "This is how you thank someone for checking up on you to see if you were dead?" She asks with a angered expression to her person.

"I've been awake for nearly 43 hours with barely any sleep, most of it was spent in battle as the Americans made their push, my biggest apologies Fräulein." Karl says sitting up sorely as he slept on his neck wrong, and there he rubs the side of his neck.

"Wo sind wir?" Karl asks looking around as the Nurse stands up, and looking around herself. Then quickly seeing the harbor and the big city. She looks back down and says "We're docking at Rome, why do you ask herr?" she asks.

"I got a train to catch in 2 hours, as I'm heading to Germany." He says standing up as the Nurse nods a little and. She makes her way checking up on more of the sailors laid out on the deck wounded or to see if any are dead.

"I'd get your uniform washed first herr, there's a nasty blood stain on it" she says kneeling down unknowingly of how it got there which has caused Karl to wince.

Then looking down to notice he is caked in dried blood from the sailors that died earlier from the bombing raid.

His trousers and dress shirt is stained so he sighs shaking his head, then he walks over to a nearby sailor and asks if there's a shipboard laundry room.

Nodding the Seamen gives Karl directions to the laundry room that's within the ships bowels, nodding Karl walks on heading into the ships interior.

After about 10 minutes of getting lost then finding his way again and finds the room, the air inside the ship is stuffy and uncomfortable due to all the air trapped within the corridor.