The nurse and the sailor|| Peter Dawson•Dunkirk

•Chapter 2•

The soldiers began to rush onto the ship desperate to get away from this place that had caused so much pain. You could just sense the desperation. They had probably been waiting for days, praying.

Anne handed out the life jackets out and directed the men down the stairs and into the main part of the ship. Each man thanked her in turn and went down the stairs.

One of the men went down the other stairs onto the outside deck of the ship. She didn't say anything, as she felt bad, but mentally noted where he had gone to so she could bring him tea and jam on toast.

She went down the stairs carefully and into the main room. It bustled with laughter, as the soldiers tried to feel normal after finally getting of the beach. It was a little glimmer of hope for them.

Anne picked up tea and jam on toast and began handing it out. Once she and the other nurses were sure everyone had something, Anne took some tea and some toast. She went out the door onto the deck where she had seen the soldier go.

She opened the door carefully and stepped out into the brisk cold. It was dark now, and stars actually lit up the sky.

A shivering man crouched by one of the walls of the ship caught her attention.

"Hello? Are you ok?" She asked warily, unsure if he had shell shock or something.

He didn't answer.

"I brought you tea and toast." She said, mreaching her arms out and giving them to him. She then proceeded to sit next to him.

"Thank you" He replied. He said it with an accent which he would probably only had if he was from another country. More specifically, he had a French accent.

"Are you French?" Anne asked him, peering at him.
He nodded, and seemed to understand some English.

Anne stood up and waved for him to come inside. He also stood up but he refused to go inside. Anne was careful with him as she knew that he probably had shell shock and she didn't want to scare him.

A 'whoosh' could suddenly be heard from beside them. They both looked into the pitch black sea. A torpedo was heading straight for the boat.

"Torpedo!" Anne shouted as loud as she could, while the man next to her stood frozen in fear.

The boat was hit and it shook violently. Both Anne and the man were thrown into the side of the boat and then fell on to the floor.

Anne was dizzy from the force of her head hitting the boat but when she heard the screams of the people inside the boat, her nurse instincts kicked in.

She pulled herself up on the railing and then grabbed the French man up and onto the railing. She then grabbed his hands and put them on top of each other in front of them. Anne then put her foot on his hand and pushed herself up to the door.

The man wobbled and Anne nearly fell into the sea, but he quickly propped himself up and pushed Anne up.

Anne grabbed onto the next railing and pulled herself up to one of the doors of the boat. She grabbed the handle and began to twist it quickly while the boat was tipping over.

Finally the door flung open, and Anne quickly put her hand in to help people get out. Only about 7 soldiers came out of the boat. Anne then jumped into the black water, the dark abyss scaring her greatly.

She swam towards the life boats that were rowing around the wreckage. One of the men who was with her tried to get onto the crowded lifeboat, but was told to get off immediately.

"There's too many people, you'll have to hold on." They passed ropes to the 3 of them who were still in the water. Anne and 2 other men, who she learned later on were called Tommy and Alex.

As they were pulled back to shore, she pushed the thoughts of the other nurses to the back of her head. She hadn't seen any of them get out, but some could have got off another way. Possibly.

She tried not to think about it for now.