Entwined- Dunkirk fanfic

Chapter 9

Tommy stares in awe, had he heard her correctly. Wow, he really did have it bad for this girl. He follows her arse as it curves through the air and sits down next to the man.
"Sprichst du englisch" Isabelle asks, the mans frightened eyes narrow in confusion
"Parlez vous anglais" she asks again, he shakes his head slightly, she could tell he couldn't understand. What other languages could she speak?
"Lei parla inglese" again no, she was growing with frustration.
"Do you speak F-U-C-K-I-N-G English" she bellows.
"Eng-English yes" he replies stuttering
"Well thank fuck for that" Alex sighs rolling his eyes at isabelle.
"Oi, he's obviously not English, is he" she retaliates. Tommy meets Alex's eye and they both turn their heads to conceal a cheeky grin.
"Where are you from" Tommy asks the man softly.
" I Dutch, Dutch"
" how's your Dutch" a highlander asks Isabelle smirking
Isabelle bites back with
"Fine, hows your tongue." The man shuts up. She was clearly pissed of.
"Is this your boat" Tommy questions, wondering why the man would be here if it wasn't.
The Dutch sailor nods quickly.
"If you're back that must mean the tides in" Alex pipes excitedly, the men cheer and pump their fists. Isabelle had only been if the beach for a day and she was desperate to go home, these men had been in France for months. She glances back at the sailor, trying to contain her enthusiasm, his look says it all.
"The tides not in, is it?" She groans hoping she was wrong.
"It's coming in" he squeaks
"Slowly"
The men around her look crestfallen, home is so close its taunting them. No one speaks they just lie back against the wall eyes closed as if they'd given up. It's depressing to say the least. The men's spirits are broken, she knows she can't fix them. He gaze floats over to Tommy. His hazel eyes stare ahead, not seeing anything, she touches his hand softly, but he doesn't feel it, it breaks her heart.
The Dutch man ogles at the men, clearly confused at why they were all lying, as if dead, against the ship.
" they're tired" she explains, knowing she can't explain the truth, the horrors that these men have seen, even she didn't know how they felt. Tears well in her eyes, she blinks to get rid of them. That's when she hears it, a ringing roar that punches through the hull faster than her eardrum pounds.
"Arhh" she screams, pain flares through her shoulder, she can't move, the bullet was lodged deep. Grimacing she tries to sit up, it feels like she's been stabbed, the knife twists and twists as she moves. The sound of the bullet reawakens the men, there are cries of panic, their eyes wide, the fear of death re-emerges in their mind. Gradually the hysteria stops as they realize what's happened.
"Isabelle" Tommy shouts scrambling to her side. He examines her wound, his eyebrows furrowing, he tries to stop it but fear was creeping into his face.
"We have to get it out" he exclaims.
Her head felt oddly light, as if it were not attached to her body, but still bore the bulletwound.
"Crates, bandage, disinfectant" she mumbles, colour fly before her eyes, Tommy's voice becomes distant. No she thinks, concentrating hard she pulls herself back she wasn't willing to let death claim her, she was going home first.
Blood oozes out of her wound, staining her uniform. Tommy holds a rod of metal to her chest as Alex throughs medical supplies at him, the others hold their breath.
"No" she winces
"Let me" pushing the metal rod aside she gasps, forcing her left hand into the red sea. Tears well stinging her eyes, she barely notices from the agony in her shoulder, its all she can do to continue shoving her fingers deep, into her flesh and god knows what else, where is it, she can't find the bullet, pain is making her entire body tremble she can't stand it much longer. After seconds that feel like hours, her trembling fingers clasp around cold metal that doesn't belong there. Her hand shoots out, splattering blood all over the ship and the men.
"Arrrhh" screaming she clutches the closest bandage to the bulletwound , as blood spurts out, faster than the throb in her head, she had assumed that removing it would be the easy part, boy was she wrong, it was more than fire, it was incessant and violent like she was being torn apart by an animal.
Tommy gently wraps cloth and bandage around her shoulder. He can see her pain begin to subside, it comforts him. She had almost relaxed when two more shots rang out. The men duck desperately trying to avoid ending up like Isabelle.
No more shots come, silence fills the hull, everyone scared to get up just incase.
"That's it" a highlander snaps grabbing his gun.
"No" Tommy yells
"Then they'll know we're in here"
"Why are they shooting at us then" he hisses, his gun still pointing at the holes in the hull.
"Look at the grouping" tommy reasons.
Isabelle gazes at where the bullets had hit, thinking hard, it takes her a few seconds to realize.
"Target practice" she says triumphant. Tommy looks at her surprised.
"Exactly"
Dripping sounds echo through the crawler, Isabelle turns her head to the source of the noise, she watches, realization morphing into her face as water begins to trickle through the small bullet holes.
"Go, plug them, go" the leader prods one of the others. The man timidly shuffles over to the holes and starts to put his finger over them, Isabelle sees it before it happens, round and rounds rip through the mans chest, he falls back screaming, writhing on the floor. The highlanders spring onto him pinning his arms and muffling his cries, 3 bulletwounds to the chest, isabelle knew it was a lost cause. The other men back away from the wall riddled by gunshots, fearing for their lives
"Can you do anything" the leader asks Isabelle desperately
"I'm sorry" she whispers.
The water gushes like blood out of a wound, a puddle was begging to form at their feet, they had to plug the holes but Tommy didn't fancy a bullet in the chest and neither did anyone else. More shots ring out, Tommy ducks instinctively, but the damage is done 10 brand new holes spurt water, which fill the ship with dread.
"How do we get of"
" do we need to ditch some ballast" Alex quizzes the sailor
"Do we need to lose some weight" Isabelle frustratedly translates
"Weight, less weight, yes"
"Somebody needs to get of" Alex claims
Tommy stares at him in surprise, Alex's eyes were not his own, it was as if he had turned into a wild animal. His head rotates around his neck scanning the men around him as if he was picking people of.
"Well volunteered" the leader grunts
"we don't need a volunteer" he snorts
"I know who ought to get of"
Tommy's jaw tightens, Alex was going to choose Isabelle, he just knew it. And the men had a rifle, there'd be nothing he could do. Panicked Tommy considers volunteering, he doesn't get the chance.
"This one, he's a German spy"
Tommy follows Alex's gaze, Gibson, the poor man recoils behind the ladder. Tommy stares at Alex in confusion, it wasn't so much what Alex had said that confused Tommy, it was more, how anyone could be so stupid.
"Don't be daft" Tommy retaliates looking at Isabelle for support, he notices that she's staring right at Gibson, he holds her gaze, as if they were having some sort of silent agreement.
"He's a fucking jerry"
"Have you noticed he hasn't said a word, because I have"
"You don't speak English, and if he does it's with an accent thicker than sauerkraut sauce" Alex spits, advancing on Gibson. The man with the rifle points it to Gibson's chest and then in the direction of the ladder. Tommy glares at Alex's hungry eyes, a mixture of fear and disgust makes him want to spit in his face
"You're daft"
"Tell him" Tommy urges
"Yeah, tell me" alex jeers
He grasps Gibson by one of the dog tags that hang around his neck, his fiery stare burning into Gibson's terrorized sockets.
"Tell me, Gibson" he hisses
The other men stand flanking Alex, the soldier with the rifle, presses it menacingly into Gibson's chest. The gun cocks.
"Tell him for gods sake" Tommy was getting pretty frustrated, why wouldn't Gibson talk to save his life.
"Oh enough" Isabelle hollers, she holds her pistol to the side of Alex's head.
"He's French,happy?"
"Je suis française" Gibson admits nervously
It all clicks for Tommy, he had wondered why she spoke to him on the mole, and on the beach, she could tell he was French just by looking at him"
Alex's threatening expression morphs into a look of shock and disgust.
"A frog" alex splutters
"A bloody frog"
"A cowardly little queue jumping frog"
Tommy ogles Gibson in surprise, how was he going to defend him now. There was no way he could convince the others to spare him.
"Who's Gibson eh" Alex pushes the tags into his face, insultingly.
"Some naked dead Englishman laying in the sand, or did you have the decency to bury him"
"Why are you doing this alex, we're on the same side" Isabelle says sliding herself in between the two men. Alex decides to ignore her. Pressing his body closer to Gibson, as Gibson backed down aghast.
"Did you kill him eh" he whispers  dangerously
"He didn't kill anyone" Tommy groans not understanding why Alex was being so daft.
"How do we know that" Alex's voice was quavered with uncertainty, Tommy could see he was begging to lose the cause.
"how hard is it to find a dead Englishman on Dunkirk beach, he didn't kill anyone" Tommy urges.
"He was just looking for a way of the sand like the rest of us"
More bullets penetrate the sides of the ship. Isabelle ducks out of the way pulling Tommy down with her, her heart beating desperately, the water level had reached her mid calves and was rising rapidly, they needed to stop arguing or they'd all drown.
"You'd have thought they'd had enough target practice by now" Alex says sarcastically, Isabelle assumes that was directed at Tommy
"They're making sure she won't float" she defends him, her eyes darting around the crawler for inspiration.
"Will she still float" another highlander questions hopefully
"With less weight yes"
"And we know who's getting of" a highlander jeers surging towards Gibson, the rest shouting in agreement.
"No you can't do that, He's French, we're on the same side" Isabelle argues, all around her were once brave men, scarred  by war, turned into selfish cowards. Tommy was the only good man on this ship, it shocked her.
"Go on up you go" Alex nags, shoving Gibson hard into the rungs
"As soon as he pokes his head out they'll slaughter him" Tommy retaliates hopelessly
"Better him than me" Alex spits, gesturing sharply to himself and baring his teeth.
Isabelle is at a loss for words she couldn't believe she used to love this man, the way he was acting was terrifying.
"That's not fair" she eventually states
"Survivals not fair" he snaps back almost immediately.
"No it's shit, it's fear and it's greed, pushed through the bowels of men, shit" one of the soldiers recites
"He saved our lives" Tommy reasons
"And he's about to do it again" the highlander rams his gun into Gibson's chest, the men surge forward, pushing  and shoving trying to get Gibson up the ladder. Tommy fights back, almost helpless against the wave of soldiers.
Gibson hides behind the rungs, they begin to realize they weren't going to be able to lift him out.
Alex presses himself in front of Tommy and instantly towers over him
"Somebody's got to get of so the rest of us can live"
"If you want to volunteer..."
A large bang causes Alex to jump back startled, Isabelle had had it, Gibson going out there and dying she could live with, but Alex would not threaten Tommy she wouldn't allow it. The bullet from her gun had very deliberately skimmed his shoulder, unfortunately making another hole in the hull, but at this point it didn't really make a difference.
"Tommy's going home"
"Got any issues with that" she threatens holding her pistol towards Alex and stepping protectively in front of Tommy.
"Go on, save your little boyfriend" Alex spits, a hint of jealousy coating his words.
Isabelle face goes hot, pink cheeks tingling. Her pistol falls to her side.
"He's-he's going home" she repeats stubbornly
"And if this is the price" Alex hisses, stepping closer to her
She could feel Tommy's eyes on her, she bites her lip, and looks up into his confused concerned gaze
"We'll live with it" she reaches out and grasps Tommy's fingers
"But it's wrong" the looks down, Alex backs away giving her some space, for a moment everyone is quiet, everyone stares at their shoes, except Tommy.  His eyeballs continue to focus on her hunched over figure, her trembling lip, still confused over why she said that, why she defended him. He doesn't admit what he knows the answer must be, he doesn't want to be wrong.
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So longggg sorry 😂
I was tryna find a place to finish it
Fun fact: banging your head against a wall for an hour burns 150 calories (please don't try this tho 😂)