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TOMMY WAS QUITE TAKEN back with Evelyn's words. He never knew that he, simple Tommy, would ever be considered great to anyone.
-"You- I-I make you feel s-safe?" He stutters in disbelief.
Evelyn nods in response. Not wanting to ruin the moment. Tommy bites the inside of his cheek. He wasn't worthy enough to her hero.
"But, I-I'm only me," he tries to explain.
-"I know, and that's the exact reason I feel safe." Evelyn smiles lightly.
Tommy looks over at Alex and Gibson who're doing something else. The Highlanders seem to be in their own little world.
Out of all the men in the world, she feels the safest with me......
( • • • )
It had been (or at least it felt like) three hours had passed. Tommy and Evelyn sit up, wide awake, with their backs against the wall. There was no conversation, there was nothing to talk about. Some of the men felt their throats dry up from a lack of water.
Alex turns to Gibson who was sitting beside him.
-"Poke your head out, see if the water comes in." He instructs.
Gibson shakes his head firmly and wraps his arms around himself tightly. Alex sends him a hateful glare. Evelyn's jaw drops at the sign of immaturity.
"Talkative sod." Alex mutters.
Tommy stands up, climbs up to the door, and cracks it. He crawls up into the well and peeks over the rail- the boat is in inches of water. All hold their breath.
-"Bugger. Barley come in at all." He says while climbing back down. Evelyn lets out a frustrated sigh and others moan.
-"For goodness sakes." Alex gets upset.
-"Calm down. What goes out comes back in, right?" A Highlander tires to ease up an angry Alex.
-"Yeah but how long?" Alex asks irritated with desperation lancing in his voice.
Silence is the only response he gets. This signifying that there are indeed no sailors aboard.
-"Will we ever leave?" Evelyn mumbles softly. Her eyes that were once filled with hope now felt like shedding a couple tears. But she pushed them back. Now was not the time, or place to cry.
She did it so well that one would not guess that she was almost on the verge of tears. Tommy sits down next to her.
-"I'm going to get some sleep." He says quietly.
"You should too."
The young lady nods and turns her body away from his. He does the same and the two drift off to a very much needed nap.
( • • • )
Tommy jolts awake. Evelyn does the same and others shush them. There are steps outside. He moves up to the door. In panic, Evelyn grabs his pant leg and tugs on it. She shakes her head vigorously, fear etched in her face. Tommy puts his hand out and mouths "it'll be alright."
Evelyn lets go and watches him stand there next to it. She moves up closer to him.
-"Nee, nee!" A voice is heard from above.
The leader of the Highlanders face is written with confusion on it. Tommy signals for Evelyn to move back, which she does without questioning him. He then grabs the man from above, pulling him into the hold. A Highlander holds a gun to his throat.
-"Kraut?" Alex questions the man.
The seaman looks up uncomprehendingly.
"Are you German?!" Alex pushes.
-"Dutch! Dutch! Merchant navy! Here to pick you up. To help you."
The men looks amongst themselves. They then sit the seaman up. Evelyn hands him her handkerchief and the seaman thanks her profusely before wiping his forehead.
-"Why'd you leave your boat?" Evelyn asks calmly.
-"In case German come. We wait up the beach with the soldiers. Wait for the tide." The seaman explains.
-"You came back, the tide must be in." A Highlander concludes.
-"Coming yes. But more hours till we float." The seaman says sadly.
-"Hours?! Why'd you come back?!" An angry Alex practically yells.
Evelyn turns away from the seen in front of her. She covers her mouth with her hand and then places it on her chest. How were they ever going to leave now?
Before anyone can do anything, a gunshot penetrates the hull. Everyone lies flat on there stomachs. Evelyn's breathing quickens due to fear. She does the counting method a couple times to calm herself down.
This is not how she or anyone else on here was going to die.
Tommy stares at the bullet hole which lets in light. Everyone by now is in full safety mood, meaning no one dares to make a sound. All hold their breath, for fear not they might make more noise.
Another shot is fired creating a second hole about two feet from the leader of the Highlanders. All look among themselves and then stare at the two holes.
BANG!
A third shot, directly above the first makes another hole. Two Highlanders grabs their rifle's and head towards the stairs.
-"No! Then they'll know we're in here." Tommy whisper shouts.
Evelyn looks at him with confusion.
-"What do you....." she's cutoff by a Highlander.
-"Why else are they shooting at us?!"
-"Look at the grouping...."
Everybody studies the grouping closely. Nothing clicks in their minds.
"Target practice." He explains just as a fourth hole is made near the others.
-"We have to plug it." Alex says hurriedly.
-"After you mate!" The leader speaks. They all stand back from the bullet holes, wary. Watching as water starts to pour in.
-"Someone......."
A burst of machine guns fire opens a new group of holes beside the first. Alex watches the water spray in, he then turns to the seaman.
-"How do we get off?! Do we need to ditch some ballast?!" He cries.
The Dutch seaman looks at Alex with confusion.
-"He doesn't understand!" Evelyn speaks for the seaman.
-"I can see that! Weight! Do we need to lose weight!" Alex speaks loudly and clearly.
The seaman shrugs.
-"Weight, yes," he nods.
Alex turns to face the group. An uneasy feeling starts to settle in Evelyn's stomach.
-"Somebody needs to get off," he tells everyone what they already know.
-"Well volunteered." Says the leader of the Highlanders.
-"We don't need a volunteer. I know someone who ought to get off....." Alex pauses before turning to Tommy, Gibson, and Evelyn.
Evelyn's heartbeat quickens as she realizes that she might have to be the one....
"This one! He's a German spy." He points at Gibson.
-"Don't be daft." Says Tommy quickly.
-"How do you know?! He doesn't even look German!" Evelyn comes to Gibson's aid.
Alex stares the said, German spy, down. Gibson shifts uncontrollably in his sitting position.
-"He's blood Jerry. You may not've noticed that he hasn't said a word, but I have. He doesn't speak English -or if he does, it's with an accent thicker than sauerkraut sauce!"
Alex concludes as he stares hatefully at poor Gibson.
-"You're daft. Tell him." Insists Tommy.
Gibson just stares at Alex in silence.
-"Come on!" Evelyn encourages. She was not going to stand in the way of justice.
-"Yeah, tell me." Alex says sarcastically.
Gibson says nothing. The only sound of water jetting into the trawler through the bullet holes.
Alex turns to the leader of the Highlanders, and holds out his hand for his gun. Evelyn suddenly felt the urge to leap forward and smack the weapon out of Alex's hands. If Tommy hadn't been there to send her a "stay still" look, then she would've done it.
The Highlander hands him his gun, he then points it at Gibson. He hooks the barrel on to Gibson's tags, pulling them closer to read.
"Tell me...... Gibson!"
Tommy sends "Gibson" a panicked look. Evelyn bites the inside of her cheek.
-"Tell him! For crying out loud!" Tommy pushes. Alex pushes the rifle against Gibson's cheek. He then finally gives in.
-"FRANÇAIS! JE SUIS FRANÇAIS!"
Tommy stares in shock. Evelyn's mouth goes a gap, and Alex moves back slightly, taking the whole scene in.
A burst of machine gun fires. Everyone ducks from ricochets.
-"A frog. A dirty frog. A cowardly, little queue-jumping frog....."
Alex grabs with the end of his rifle, Gibson's tags.
"Who's Gibson, eh? A naked dead Englishman lying out on that sand? Or did you at least have some decency to bury him?"
The said, "Gibson", just stares.
Tension starts to build up, and each man, and lady, shift uncomfortably in their sitting positions.
-"He did. I helped him. I thought it was his mate." Tommy confess. Still completely baffled by the whole situation.
-"Maybe he killed him." Alex suggests.
-"He didn't kill anyone!" Scoffs Evelyn.
-"And how do you know that?" Alex sends her a sarcastic look.
-"Just look at him!" Evelyn realizes that she won't win this one. She doesn't have any facts.
-"Oh I'm looking at him alright, and besides, how do we know what if he did or not?!" Alex asks aloud.
Tommy's blood starts to boil with anger. How could Alex be so unjustifiable?
-"How hard is it to find a dead Englishman in Dunkirk beach?! He didn't kill anyone he was looking for a way off the blasted sand like the rest of us!"
Evelyn looks over and sees more water start to fill the boat. Another burst of machine gun fire happens just as Alex points the gun at Gibson again.
-"Hadn't they enough practice by now?!" A Highlander asks aloud in fear.
-"Apparently not," Evelyn mumbles under her breath in response.
-"They're making sure she won't float." Says the leader.
The first Highlander who spoke watches as the water as it sprays into the holes. He turns to the seaman.
-"Will she still float?!" He asks rapidly.
-"Float, yes. With less weight, yes." The seaman answers.
-"And we know who's getting off." Alex suggests his proposal of having Gibson leave.
-"You can't do that!" Evelyn cries.
-"She's right. We're on the same side." Tommy adds.
Alex nudges Gibson with his rifle. Evelyn feels helpless, the only thing she can do right now is use her voice.
-"Go on. Up you go."
-"As soon as he pokes his head out, they'll slaughter him." Tommy tries to speak sense into Alex.
-"Better him than me." Alex says with not a care in the world.
-"That's not fair!" Evelyn cries, completely done with Alex.
-"Survival's not fair." Alex answers back.
-"No, it's crap. It's fear and greed. Fate squeezes through the bowels of men. Crap." The leader of the Highlanders explains.
-"He saved our lives." Tommy reminds Alex of the time when Gibson opened the door for them on the torpedoed ship.
-"And he's about to do it again. Go on." The leader speaks.
Alex nudges Gibson up again. Evelyn holds her breath as he starts shoving the poor man up the stairs.
-"No! Just stop!" Tommy yells.
-"We need someone to get off so that the rest of us can live. You want to volunteer?" Alex asks Tommy.
Alright, that's it.
-"He's not volunteering!" Evelyn shouts in response for him.
-"You wanna go next? You could join your boyfriend." Alex asks her tilting his head slightly towards the right.
-"I......"
Evelyn pauses to think. Maybe she could jump into the water quickly and then swim back to the beach. That way these men could get home quicker.....
Tommy turns to Evelyn with a dead serious face.
-"Don't even think about it."
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Yay! Chapter Six!
I'm really happy with the way I'm writing this book. It's not cheesy, and it doesn't really focus on the romantic side of the story. I mean, it kind of does, in a way. But it's more of survival and not losing people.
Don't forget to vote and comment!
Thanks for reading!
<3 Catherine💫