"Off you three! Back of the line!"
When Tommy set foot onto the dock, he turned to see if the other soldier was following. Kris looked down below and saw him hiding in the architecture beneath the dock. Tommy glanced back at the lieutenant that ordered them off, and then to Kris before dropping below the mole.
Kris took one last look before following Tommy, because if she didn't stay with him, there was no chance at survival let alone a chance of finding her brother.
The ocean water lapped at their boots. Kris settled in between the two soldiers, and she looked up to the stranger to inspect him. He had hair similar to Tommy's and green eyes. His dog tag stated that his name was Gibson.
Kris stuck her hand out for Gibson to shake, "I'm Kris, and this is Tommy."
Even if they weren't ever going to see each other again after the war, or even if they ended up dying, Kris needed a sense of normalcy. Gibson looked at her before nodding his head and taking her hand. Tommy watched the interaction but said nothing.
Tommy and Gibson listened in on the higher ranked officers from above, but Kris was too busy staring off into the horizon. She could imagine home, even though it never was much of one. Her brother was all she had. Going back without him would be like going back to a whole new world. She couldn't pay attention to a single word the men above her were saying, all she could hear was her brother's voice telling her that it was okay.
Kris imagined that Flynn made a great soldier. He was brave and willing, and he loved his country. Kris was the opposite, and that was why she needed him. She had to get to him somehow. She couldn't let him die here with the rest of the soldiers. Kris was all that he had left, and even if he didn't know it, she did.
There was the sound of a plane nearing the beach. The distinct whining sound caused Kris to snap out of her thoughts and focus on the situation. Bomb after bomb was dropped onto the mole, but it was inescapable. The soldiers could only hope that they would make it out alive somehow. The dock shook with each bomb that landed, and Kris could feel her heart leap into her throat when a bomb hit the hospital ship adjacent to the three soldiers.
There were shouts and commands being thrown at the crew of the ship. Kris watched as men abandoned the ship by jumping overboard and into the water.
"Cut her loose and push her off! We can't let her sink at the mole!"
Tommy and Gibson took to helping the soldiers up the beams they were sitting on. Kris watched out for any men in danger and she kept her eyes on the boat. She knew that they left the wounded on the boat to die, but she understood that there was nothing any of them could do to save them anyway.
As the ship was being pushed off, the stern scraped against the wooden piers that the soldiers were climbing up. Kris saw that one man was in its path, incredibly close to being crushed by the ship. He struggled to keep his head above water, and Kris could tell that he wouldn't make it by himself.
"Take my hand!" Kris called out to him, throwing her hand out in front of him.
The soldier took hold of Kris's hand, and she used all of her strength to pull him up. With her other free hand, she grabbed his uniform to get better leverage. Once she pulled him up high enough, he grabbed ahold of one of the wooden beams that the three soldiers sat on. The drenched soldier gave her a nod of thanks, his green eyes full of fear from the near-death experience. She glanced at his dog tag. Alex.
Kris waited until the ship passed and then slipped by the soldier she saved and landed in the water. Her uniform immediately soaked up the water, weighing her down. She closed her eyes and dipped her head under, and not even a second later she popped back up to see the other three soldiers staring at her.
"Get in, hurry," she whispered to Tommy and Gibson. Tommy caught on to what she was doing and quickly fell into the water next to Kris.
She swam back to the wooden pier to climb back up. She took hold of the wood, about to pull herself up until she looked up and saw a hand hanging in front of her face. Kris glanced up at the new face, and took his hand. Alex pulled her up with ease, and a smirk on his face.
"Right, Highlanders," the Commander above the four soldiers said. "Let's find you another ship."
The four soldiers climbed up the architecture and back onto the dock. It was more crowded than it was before, but Kris knew that this time she wouldn't have to force her way through.
"Are you going to go find him?"
Kris looked to her right at Tommy. He was staring at her, waiting for an answer. She assumed that he was talking about her brother, but Kris didn't have an answer to that question.
"Find who?" Alex asked, coming up to Kris's left. Gibson listened in from in front of the three, but did not say a word.
"My brother, Flynn," Kris said, her voice quiet and shaking.
"What's his occupation?" Alex looked down at Kris with his eyebrows furrowed.
Kris realized then where she was. Her eyes widened and she immediately began to look around her. "He's a Highlander. He's got to be here."
Alex looked around them as a boat pulled up to the dock. Kris stood on her toes in order to see if she could spot her brother, but everyone looked the same.
"Flynn! Flynn!"
Tommy watched her call out desperately, and he caught Alex doing the same. The two men shared a look, as if they knew that there was a huge possibility of her brother being dead.
It came to be their turn to climb up the fish net and onto the ship. Kris could barely pay attention to where she was putting her feet as she continued to look for her brother. The toe of her boot got stuck and she jerked upward. She shook her leg to try and get herself untangled, but only accomplished getting soldiers below her angry.
Tommy bent down as far as he could and pulled on her leg. His hand wrapped around her entire calf, and when she finally got free, he realized that Kris was smaller than he thought.
One soldier was so exhausted that he fell from the net and in between the boat and the dock, crushing his legs in the process. His screams were all anyone could hear; it was louder than even the crashing waves.
Kris couldn't stop thinking about Flynn. When she boarded the boat, her eyes scanned the crowd of soldiers.
"Flynn!"
Alex, Tommy, and Gibson boarded the ship after Kris. Gibson walked off, away from the group. Alex and Tommy watched him go before their eyes settled on Kris.
"You think his brother's dead?" Alex asked Tommy, his green eyes trained on Kris.
Tommy sighed, "for Kris's sake, I hope that he isn't."
A nurse ushered the group to a door that would lead below deck. "Come on, boys. There's a nice cup of tea for you down there. This way, come on."
Kris was leading the group down the steps and into the holding room. Every corner was full of soldiers that she did not recognize. Tommy watched as she ignored the tea and bread being handed to her. She was too busy looking for her brother to bother eating, which was something Tommy didn't understand. He hadn't anything to eat in days, and neither has Kris.
The three stopped off to the side. Tommy and Alex happily ate their bread and drank their tea.
"What's wrong with your friend?" Alex asked, gesturing to where Gibson left them at the top deck.
Tommy looked around, and spared a glance at Kris, "looking for a quick way out, in case we go down."
Alex nodded, his eyebrows furrowed. Kris then sighed, turning to face the two men. She couldn't find her brother anywhere.
"No luck?" Alex asked. Kris could tell he was more talkative than Tommy, and a part of her was grateful for that.
Kris shook her head, "nowhere to be seen, unfortunately."
Tommy could see the hurt and panic in Kris's eyes. He didn't say anything, but examined her as she shuffled in her place.
A nurse passed by with a plate full of bread. Alex grabbed a few more pieces, and gestured for Kris to take it.
"You should eat," Alex told her. Kris nodded and took the crumbled bread from Alex's hands. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until the smell of the stale bread wafted up her nose.
Tommy motioned over to the door leading to the deck. The three soldiers shoved their way over to the steps.
There was then a massive explosion from outside the ship. Kris easily lost balance, dropping her bread to grab the closest thing to her. Alex grabbed her by the waist, his arms snaking around her torso in a way that felt like a lock and key. It fit. It fit in a way two men should not fit. Two different body types.
When Alex pulled Kris back up to her feet, the lights of the holding room went out. The men around began to shout and shove as water poured in through the walls of the ship. Kris couldn't breathe, and she couldn't see. All she could do was feel bodies push against her, and she feared that she was losing Tommy and Alex.
"Tommy!" she called out above the noise. "Alex!"
A hand grabbed her wrist. Kris couldn't see who it was until the door in front of them was thrown open. Kris's eyes stung terribly from the salt water, but she could make out a body behind the door. The man that had a hold of her – whether it was Tommy or Alex didn't matter to her – began to pull her up towards the dim light above them. The hand then let go of her wrist as they reached the steps, and Kris took to pulling herself from the sinking ship just as it went under.
Other soldiers managed to follow them, but Kris didn't dare take her eyes off of Tommy in front of her. They swam towards Gibson, desperate to get to the rowboats that would hopefully take them up.
Kris was without a life jacket. She was too busy looking for Flynn to get one from one of the nurses. Alex, Tommy, and Gibson appeared to have one, but she didn't say a word and let her arms and legs burn from swimming so hard.
Tommy reached a rowboat first. He attempted to climb in, but was thrown off by one of the occupants.
"Piss off! It's too crowded!" the soldier growled.
Alex swam passed Kris and grabbed at the railing, "you can't leave us. Make some room!"
"You men, get off," a second soldier ordered. "You'll capsize the boat; its gone over twice on the way out here."
Kris gasped for breath, making one last effort to getting to the boat. Her uniform got heavier each moment she spent in the water. Her hands grabbed at the boat, her arms and legs begging for a break.
"Oi!" the first soldier shouted, shoving her hands off the boat's side. "We said no more!"
"Hey!"
Kris huffed as she fell beneath the water, but she had no strength to pull herself back up. An arm wrapped under her shoulders, tugging her back to the surface. Kris gasped for air, completely limp in Gibson's hold.
"You have to stay calm," the second soldier said. "There are plenty of boats."
"Calm?!" Alex exclaimed, already glaring daggers at the soldier that shoved Kris off. "Wait till you get torpedoed, then tell us to be calm!"
"You have life jackets?" the soldier asked, but he could clearly see that one of them did not.
"Yeah, they do."
"Don't panic," the soldier advised, repeating the same caution as before. "The water's not too rough or too cold. We're heading back to the beach."
"Fuck off! Let's go to Dover!"
Kris felt Gibson's arm begin to get loose around her torso. Tommy shuffled in the water, trying to take his life jacket off. Kris had her eyes closed, trying to get her energy back.
She felt the jacket being placed over her shoulders, causing her eyes to open and see Tommy tying it on her.
"Tommy, I'm fine," Kris claimed, but Tommy ignored her. In that moment, she was reminded of Flynn.
"You in the water float here, save your strength," the soldier continued. "We'll come back for you."
As the men began rowing, Gibson leaned forward and snatched a rope from the stern. The quiet man passed it to Alex, and Alex gave it to Kris and Tommy.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked Kris quietly. She nodded, not saying a word as they were pulled by the rowboat.
Not only were her limbs throbbing, but she felt completely and utterly dejected at the thought that her brother was truly gone.
Alex didn't believe her, but he didn't say another word. Tommy stared at the back of Kris's head, listening to the waves hit against the boat's sides. All was quiet, and it seemed uncharacteristic for a war setting.