Timeless

Chapter 21

It's short, I promise!!

August 1944

80 miles was the difference between life and death. 80 miles of coastline was the difference between pushing forward in the war and potentially losing it all. By all accounts, D-Day was the biggest military undertaking that Kathryn had ever heard of. There had been significant losses on all sides, but the point was that the Allies now had a foothold.

And a foothold was more than they had ever had before. Kathryn Egan arrived on the beaches of Normandy four days after the initial assault, one of hundreds of nurses that were participating in the field hospitals there. To date, this was still the bloodiest thing she had ever seen in her life and nothing would ever compare to her feet hitting that sand.

Because how did you begin to describe to anyone how it felt? How it felt to step on the sand that had been won through bloodshed and loss of life—there were boys that were still being identified, and those that probably never would.

Kathryn knew that her brother would have likely killed her himself if he knew that she had been assigned to be on the frontlines like this. But within the first ten days of holding France, they were pressing forward into Germany and that's where Kathryn Egan found herself. Those first ten days were just a blur, following after her squadmates and fellow nurses, taking orders from Doctor Tennet. She just did her duties and stuck closely to everyone else and tried to be on guard as much as she possibly could.

There were nine nurses assigned alongside her. Annika had been left to stay in the small portion of France that they had taken—so they had been separated. With her traveled Inez and Rhoda, both of whom Kathryn had already established that she could work with. It was the others that were equally as interesting.

Maggie O'Connell was from Ireland and had already been a nurse for a year before the war in Europe even broke out. She had placed her engagement on hold to go and serve as much as she could. At first, Kathryn found it hard to understand her humor, but now that they had been working together for a bit, she found herself following. Although her references to fairies and elves wasn't something Kathryn was all that familiar with.

Then there was Charity and Evelyn Penhallow. Both the only daughters of a Duke, Evelyn had signed up for nursing against her parents' wishes. Charity, being the older sister, had followed suit and hadn't left her sister's side a single time. They'd been all over London and only been local up to this point. Both were rather proper, and Charity tended to hum songs to help them all sleep at night.

Dorothea Potter was from the English Countryside and had a tender heart. She reminded Kathryn of Becky and Annika in a lot of ways, mostly due to her naivete and generosity. It wasn't a bad thing, she just didn't know her all that well yet. Beatrice Hughes was her neighbor from down the street—and she always had a dreamy smile and a kind word for those around.

Annie was a Scottish girl with a heart of gold. She tended to be very blunt—before all of this, she had been a midwife and due to her extensive knowledge of the medical field, she had been chosen and selected to join them on the front lines.

Tina Partridge was the only other American in the group—and Kathryn thanked God for her every single day. Tina was from Oklahoma and had an extensive knowledge of gardening, the sense of humor that her brother would have appreciated, and an honest word that tended to bite those that snapped at her.

Between the other nurses, Kathryn found herself not wanting for company. They were all vastly interesting and wildly different. And in some ways, she was grateful that they had all come together to be on the frontlines and serve together. They all served a purpose, like cogs in a greater machine. No one was more important than another and they all watched out for one another—because in a place like this, it was hard to find anyone that you could trust.

They had all been loaded into a truck and were heading into Germany now though. Each of the nurses had been given an option to turn back—to leave this task to someone else. None of them had taken the out. They knew the weight of what they were signing up for. Because going into Germany during one of the greatest sieges of all time—going into Germany just after D-Day was going to be dangerous.

It was likely to get someone killed.

But they had faith in their mission. In one another. They even had faith in Doctor Tennet. Although a bit sexist at times—as most men were in the field—he was a damn good doctor and he had kept them all on track and protected them in difficult circumstances. He was their compass that kept them pointed in the correct direction.

And it was on a fateful day in late September that everything had escalated to a point that was uncontrollable. An act of fate, an act of God, really—because the fact of the matter was that none of those nurses should have reached the checkpoint. Not a single one should have gotten to their destination.

No, when they were driving through a forest, heads down and tucked into their knees and Doctor Tennet had ordered them to be quiet as they drove to the field to set up the hospital, they knew the stakes. But what none of them had been expecting was what happened next.

It was a bit chilly. Kathryn would remember that. Would remember that it was her sitting in the passenger's seat, eyes carefully training over the rest of the forest as they passed. Remembered the fact that Doctor Tennet had said five minutes to location.

And then it had happened.

A sound shot outwards and everyone screamed as bullets whizzed through the truck—and something splattered onto the side of Kathryn's face. She couldn't even react for a minute—just stared at the sudden hole in Doctor Tennet's head. It was miraculous that the bullet had missed her, really—

But then the truck was spinning out of control and Kathryn didn't have time to hesitate. Didn't have time to process the fact that she had just seen and felt a man die in front of her, quite literally. She shoved him over and took the wheel, unwilling to just sit there and take the bullets that were coming.

She didn't stop driving until they were far from the site of the battle and until they had reached the field hospital. And it wasn't until she was climbing out of the truck and staring at the Allied Soldiers that she realized she was probably covered in blood. It was sticky all over her face and coated the left side.

"We—we have to go back—" Dorothea's voice cut against the silence of it all.

But Kathryn's features had steeled. "We can't drive back through that! We're here and we have a mission to complete! We are not going anywhere!"

And looking at those nurses, all of whom just looked shaken and scared, Kathryn Egan did not feel fear. She just felt nothing but courage in her bones. "Kathryn, we don't have a doctor anymore," Rhoda said in a firm and stern tone.

"Yes we do," Kathryn's voice sounded foreign in her own ears.

"What do you mean—" Charity started.

"I am a doctor. We don't have time to try and find a man to do the job. I have the degree—and I know what I'm doing. We have a doctor." Kathryn squared her shoulders and she looked at all of them seriously.

"You're mad," Annie murmured, shaking her head.

"Well—"

"I dinnae say it was a bad thing," Annie cut in pointedly.

"So you're going to be our leader?" Tina questioned, crossing her arms.

Looking around at the field—the field that was already piling up with stretchers and men who needed help—Kathryn knew the answer to that. It was complicated and a difficult question, but she knew that this is why she was here. Maybe this was the reason that she had come to Europe in the first place. She felt as though she were exactly where she was supposed to be.

"I am," Kathryn said. "Can you take orders from me?"

And when all of them agreed, Kathryn Egan should have known how this was going to end. Should have known that if they were going to sit there and take it—if they were going to press on and continue doing their jobs in the face of potential death, something was bound to happen.

But she didn't.

And so in September of 1944, Nurse Kathryn Egan became Doctor Kathryn Egan in the field. The necessity of the time had bred a situation like this. And the situation was about to take a grim turn.