The Miracle {Dunkirk}

CH.4

"Oh for the love of God would you two stop!" I whisper yelled at Alex and Tommy.

"Maybe you should get off love." The Scottish soldier commented.

"Maybe I should." I replied. "I wanted to stay here anyways. My father wanted me to go home."

"No." Alex said. "Bailey Middleton you are not leaving this boat. Gibson is."

I let out an annoyed sigh. "Gibson, just tell him already, please."

There was an intense few moments of silence, everyone waiting for the next move.

Gibson then spoke up. "Français. Je suis Français."

"A frog!" Alex almost yelled. "A bloody frog!"

"Alex, calm down." I warned.

"I, I can't believe this." Tommy thought out loud.

"Shove him off then mate." One soldier hollered.

"Yeah, we have no use for a frog!" Another one joined in.

The men erupted in a bunch of shouts and hollering, all of them wanting Gibson to get off.

"Would all of you shut it?!" I finally yelled. "The only one who should be getting off is me. I'm supposed to be on the beach anyways."

I moved over to the ladder to climb up to the deck, but Alex grabbed my arm and stopped me from moving any further. "No. We need you."

"One man won't even make a difference anyways." Tommy spoke suddenly. "Gibson can't go."

"You best hope it does because you'll be volunteering next." The Scottish soldier said.

Shock spread over Tommy's face. "What?"

"You're all acting like ten year olds. Nobody needs to get off. Just start plugging the holes before too much water comes in." I ordered, hoping that would resolve the issue.

Nobody was doing anything. They all just stared at me blankly.

"Well, you heard the lady." The Dutch man said.

The soldiers then all went over to the holes in the side of the boat and began plugging them. Only seconds later, more shots were fired at the boat and there were more holes with water flowing into them. The tide was rising higher and higher with each passing minute and our situation began getting worse.

Eventually, there was too much water and I knew we wouldn't be able to float. I then did the most logical thing at that moment.

"Abandon ship!" I yelled. "Abandon ship!"

I swam over to the ladder and made it out. I stood on what was left of the deck and began helping the soldiers escape the sinking boat.

After a couple minutes, the boat had completely submerged in the water and that left myself and a few soldiers floating in the water. I then looked around, noticing that only about half of the group made it out of that boat, including myself, Tommy, and Alex. I did not see Gibson anywhere. He must have gotten trapped in the boat.

I did not realize I was in a trance until Tommy snapped me out of it. "Are you alright love?"

"I, I don't see Gibson anywhere. I think he went down with the boat." I replied.

"He's a bloody frog, he doesn't matter." Alex commented, swimming closer to me.

"I know he's French, but he was still a human being. He wanted to go home just as badly as you did Alex. He didn't deserve this. He probably had a family to return to, and the last thing that happened to him was being yelled at by allied soldiers and an attempt to put a target on his back." After this, I could feel myself tearing up.

Alex let out a sigh. "Look love, I'm sorry. But right now isn't the time to be floating around here. We need to get to another boat."

"Look! Over there!" Tommy called as he began swimming towards what looked like a brown sailboat. Alex and I quickly followed after him and eventually caught up to him.

Nearby, a large destroyer was on fire and sinking quickly. Oil was spilling into the water and there were soldiers jumping from the large ship right into it. They were all trying to swim over to the small brown sailboat, just like we were.

As we approached, I noticed that there was a young blond boy in a red sweater, who looked about my age, that was pulling soldiers out of the water and onto the boat. Beside him was a blond haired man, and judging from his outfit, he must have been from the Royal Air Force.

As Alex, Tommy, and I were waiting to be pulled up, I read the name on the back of the boat. Moonstone. I looked up to see the flag of Great Britain attached near the sail, waving in the wind.

It was finally our turn and the boy in the red sweater pulled me up. "You're a nurse?"

"Yes, yes I am." I replied to his sudden question.

"I'm Peter." He told me.

I nodded my head. "I'm Bailey. Bailey Middleton."

"And I'm Collins." The man from the Royal Air Force told me.

Tommy and Alex were pulled up by Collins and we grouped together and found a spot on the deck.

More and more soldiers were being pulled into the sailboat, all of them needing to head below deck because there was no room left on the deck. I noticed that the other soldiers sitting on the deck were all covered in a black substance. Oil.

As if reading my thoughts, Collins began to shout in his Scottish accent. "Oil, oil! You're getting into oil!"

I then noticed the captain of the boat, who was an older gentleman, was nodding and trying to look towards the big destroyer ship not too far from us.

He then started the engine up and was able to get us out of the oil filled water just as it all caught on fire. After a few moments, Peter approached me again.

"Could I ask you to help me for a second?" He inquired.

I looked between Tommy and Alex. "Of course."

I followed him below deck where I was met by several soldiers as well as a younger boy lying on the floor.

"My friend here, George, he hit his head. I tried wrapping cloth around it to stop the bleeding, but he's getting worse. He told me that he can't see." Peter explained.

"I'll try my best." I told him.

He smiled. "Thank you, Bailey."