ORDNANCE. (DUNKIRK. Harry Styles, Fionn Whitehead)

Chapter Three.

The seconds, became minutes and the minutes became hours where we were looking around the house. The last time I had been here was months and months ago, and although my father, or my grandparents, did come to check in on the place once a month, it still looked less like a home than I remembered. Of course all the small sentimental items were not on the mantle piece like I remembered, they had littered the space and on certain occasions cards were placed in the tiny gaps in between. The lack of scent was something that hit me the most though... There had always been the sweet smell of cakes baking, but not anymore.

I glimpsed at Naila, who was unpacking her bag that she brought, mostly full of food. I still had my backpack on and it was starting to feel uncomfortable, so I pulled one of the chairs out from the table and shrugged the bag off of my shoulders. The small fastening that held the backpack together was still holding strong, although the wear and tear from the various times I had used the bag had caused it previously to open at the most unfavourable times.

I unclipped the fastening, pulling the food items I had packed out, I gathered them and took them to the kitchen. The pantry, where we stored all our food bar a few exceptions, still held a selection of tin cans. Luckily, everything seemed to be in date and therefore meant we had food to last us a few weeks. Outside the pantry, through the small window you could see overgrown vegetables, in my nan's previously well kept garden. They were sheltered from the outside world, although not covered a large wooden fence surrounded them meaning we could easily go out there without being spotted.

"Maybe we should just stick to downstairs, we can draw the curtains and keep everything dark." Naila's voice spoke up from out in the kitchen, I retraced my steps and looked at her, it would probably be the best option, no one knew that we were here and I would prefer for it to stay that way. The farm was visible from every direction and the amount of acreage we had provided plenty of safety to us. Fences ran around the farm itself, although it wouldn't stop a desperate soldier from getting in it meant that, we did in fact have a slim chance. I nodded at Naila, a grim look on my face, "You're right, giving out our location could mean someone may get suspicious and come in." I went back to the large dining table, "I will go upstairs and shut the curtains, I didn't see if they were shut when we walked in. If you do the same downstairs and then we'll go out to the vegetable garden and check what is growing." I instructed Naila, knowing that doing so would mean we could check for holes in the fencing and make sure the gate was, at least shut which led into the actual garden and out to the field.

The door to the stairs had always been heavy, and squeaky... Today was no exception. I opened the door, peeking through as even as a child I had been wary about this house, always thinking there would be ghosts or someone waiting around the corner to jump out at me. As soon as my foot hit the first step it cracked, one of the many cons of old houses. Going steadily up the stairs, taking them one at a time, I finally got to the top. I opened the door at the top of the stairs and looked around, nothing out of the ordinary. Every room had it's curtains open and so I began to shut them all, going through the three rather large bedrooms thinking of all the memories I had gathered here. I had been hearing the bangs that were being emitted from the outside getting increasingly louder, now they sounded even closer than before. Once I had shut all the curtains I returned downstairs. 

"Naila? Where are you?" 

I went in each of the rooms, no luck. She was somewhere, the pantry door was open a jar which caught my attention. Tip toeing over I grabbed a fork that was on top of the counter and held it in my hand, while reaching for the door knob. 

Swinging open the right hand door, I held the fork out in front of me. "I don't think that is going to be of any help, love" I jumped about ten feet, still holding out the fork at the man stood staring at me dressed in a muddy uniform. "My friend needs help, we got split from our unit and came across some of the enemy hiding in some shrubs. A bullet went straight through his leg, this was the only place around here." I followed the soldier out of the door and into the enclosed garden, another man, dressed in a British uniform as well was stretched out on the floor bleeding heavily from the leg. Naila was already applying pressure to his leg, we needed some sort of wrap or bandage. I turned around and sprinted into the house once again, going into the cupboard that my nan always used to go in when I had injured myself. Success, a box full of medical supplies. I pulled out some iodine, some tweezers and a long bandage before turning dumping all the supplies on the table, also taking a towel from the cupboard. I then hurried back outside, "We need him on the table inside, keep his leg elevated." My instinct was kicking in, the uninjured soldier grabbed the other in his arms, Naila was still applying pressure to his leg but the blood kept oozing.

I opened the other door of the pantry before they came charging in. The tweezers needed disinfecting before I used them to remove the bullet, so that's what I did. Once the soldier was on the table I got to work, removing the bullet and seeing it hadn't fragmented much to my luck. I then took the towel that was on the table and poured some iodine on it. "This is going to hurt" I took the bottle and poured a small amount into the small hole the bullet had left, the soldier writhed in agony. After I wiped the cut with what was on the towel and reached for the bandage which was already rolled. "Can we hold the leg a little higher?" And within a second the leg was held up. I wrapped the bandage around the wound, making sure that it was tight enough to aid in the healing process but loose enough to not stop the blood flow in the leg completely. "Right he should be alright for now, he needs rest and to stay off the leg." The soldier who I had almost rammed a knife into breathed a sigh of relief, "thank you so much, I know this is more than you should offer but would it be possible for us to stay, for the night. It's starting to get dark and our orders before we left were to head down to the beaches."

Naila looked at me and I at her, before we both nodded, they were helping protect our nation. "Of course, That wound needs to stay clean and there is no way that is happening on a beach." The soldier bowed his head at me and let out a loud sigh... 

"Thank you, you have no idea how much this means. I'm Harry and that's Fionn. We'll be out of your way before you know it."

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I finally managed to introduce them! I was going to leave it a little later on but I just couldn't wait and so voila there we go. 

I spent so long on this chapter, I even drew a map of the farm house because I had to get the plan in my mind before I could write any of it, I'm weird yes. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it, the next chapter should be good I've got plans for it already! Yay.

Until next time

R