Benedict Cumberbatch Imagines

The War (11)

"When I say!" The lieutenant screamed at the men in the boat. Gunshots were heard outside and the planes flying over them. The boat rocked with the waves crashing on the side. Everything was dark, Ben couldn't see anything.

Everything stood still for a moment. For the slightest second, Ben only heard his pulse. Almost as if it were slow motion, the lieutenant rammed his hand to the side of the metal boat, "Now! Now! Now!"

Light from outside began to illuminate the inside. The men in the front began to run onto the water. One fell facedown the second he was outside, another shot a few bullets before going down into the water.

Guy after guy jumped to the water and began making their way to shore, shooting for their life. Ben was one of the last ones. The Funnies, armored vehicles, were clearing the mine fields on shore. A few Germans were left.

Ben was shooting and moving clear from the water. The salt water jumped into his eyes, blinding him for a few seconds then recovering back his sight. Someone from his camp saw he wasn't in the best shape.

He jogged to him and aided him to shore. They hid behind a wooden stake. "Cumberbatch! Listen up, whatever is in your mind for–" a grenade exploded nearby. "–forget about it! We're young we've got a life to look after!" His buddy screamed encouraging words but Ben felt nothing.

"What's the point! I have nothing left once I get out of here," Ben pivoted to go out in the open but his friend stopped him. "You told me about your parents, your son, about the woman you love! Don't you want to go back to them?" He screamed so Ben could hear him.

"Of course I do! But when I went back home.. I saw Kit and the woman I was going to ask to be my wife fooling around, I don't want to go back to that," Ben released his grip from him.

He relocated his gun in hand and jogged to the other wooden stake, right behind was the friend. Ben located his gun and aimed at the enemy. His world went black before he could shoot a single bullet.

**

"It's like when Ben left her the first time, she was completely devastated. I reckon this time it's for real," Amanda informed Sarah and Brendon. "We should've known what was going on, it was happening right under our noses," Sarah sighed. "I should've helped Ben beat that son of a bitch," Brendon gritted his teeth.

"Is she still in bed?" Martin questioned as he went upstairs. Amanda nodded her head, "She's completely shattered." The older James was taking care of the younger James. "Hey! Come see this!" James yelled from downstairs.

Everyone promptly sped to the front door to see what was going on. Various vehicles were on the road honking and waving their country's flag. "What the hell is going on?" Brendon went further out. Martin jogged to the road and a vehicle stopped beside him.

He approached everyone again with the brightest smile. "What?" Amanda anxiously asked. "America, Canada and the U.K. had a battle in Normandy.. we won and that means the Germans are moving back," Martin couldn't believe the news himself.

Brendon excitedly hugged Sarah. James began jumping around with little James. "That's amazing," Amanda wrapped her arms around Martin. "That's why Ben came to say goodbye, because of this battle. It was huge with thousands injured," the mood became darker.

"Ben.. is he alright?" Sarah indirectly questioned. "I can go visit, I'm a nurse I can aid soldiers and check for Ben," Amanda piped in. "No I won't let you do that," concern washed over Martin.

**

"Welcome nurse Abbington," another lady said. Amanda walked through the busy corridors of the hospital the base provided. Dirty, sweaty, injured men were on beds. There was barely any space to squeeze through the place.

"You'll be assigned these men and these rooms, there'll be help if you need it," a nurse walked her to her designated place. "Excuse me, I have a question. What if I'm looking for someone, where can I find them?" Amanda enquired.

"We all have organized by last name, this is just the emergency room. If you know the man you are looking for and he's been here for a while then he's most likely stable. If not he's.." the lady trailed off. "..dead," Amanda finished for her.

The lady was needed elsewhere and finally left Amanda on herself. Once she entered the room she got to work, attending and aiding the injured men. It wasn't until hours later that she got to take a break. Instead of catching up on her sleep she visited another part of the hospital where they kept the stable men.

It was saturated, but not as much, like the emergency room. A few nurses walked and checked the IV's of the men. "Excuse me, do you have a man here by the name Cumberbatch?" She timidly enquired. Instead of getting an answer she got a list of men who were in the room and who their last name began with a C. 

She huffed and searched through the tiny print. "I'm sorry mate," Amanda heard a man say to one of the guys on the bed. She turned around and saw a guy take off his cap and silently stand. "It wasn't supposed to be that hard of a hit," he whispered. "Oh my god," Amanda breathed out starling the guy.

"Shit," the guy hid his face and exited the room. Amanda didn't care about the guy, she ran to the man on the bed. "Ben," she held onto his chilly hand. There was no response. She went to the foot of his bed and got his records. While she was at that, Amanda changed his on-call nurse to her name.

From that day on she went every single day to check up on Ben. She gathered information to see what happened to him. Many of the nurses explained he arrived with the back of his skull open, they concluded that an explosion sent him flying back causing him to hit his head on a wooden stake. They gathered no other information but Amanda knew that wasn't exactly what happened.

She was finally on break after a few weeks of being there, in the meantime she searched for the man that was talking to Ben the night she arrived. It took sometime but she finally extorted the truth out of him. "Ok yes I hit him in the back of his head! But it was because he was a dead man walking if I let him actually get to the battlefield," he informed.

"Why?" Amanda question hardly. "Because he said something about his girlfriend cheating and him not having anything else to look forward to, I don't know, that day is one I really wish not to remember. So to save his life I might have hit him a wee bit hard in the head to knock him out. I never meant for him to be in a coma," the guy took a sip of his beer.

"Good fucking job, that's what you caused," Amanda got up from the table and left the guy speechless. She wrote a letter to everyone back home informing them of Ben's condition and how it actually happened.

***

"Fuck," a nurse heard a hoarse voice croak out. She turned around and immediately called for Amanda. "He's what?" She questioned as she jogged to her patient in the stable room. Amanda entered the room and witnessed the moment Ben gained back a sense of life.

"Ben, oh my god. You're ok," she sighed out in relief. Ben turned to gaze at her, "Who are you?" She nervously chuckled, "Okay Ben, I know you're irritated about what happened with Y/n but I'm here to help." Ben knitted his brows, "Who?" Amanda nervously gulped and took out a picture of their whole group, including Ben in the there, "Can you name any of these people?"

He eyed the picture but nothing came to him, "No. what's going on?" Amanda had fear in her eyes, "Ben.. what's the last thing you remember?" He held his head in pain, "Nothing, I don't remember anything. Why do you keep calling me Ben?"