Blood in the Water~Dunkirk|Book One|

Chapter Eleven

•••

The French man pulled off his gear as he walked towards the water. The three boys and Rayna say on the beach and stared at him, watching as he walked into the water and dove in, never coming back up to the surface again.

Rayna had wanted to convince the man to stop, but Tommy held her back. Rayna obliged. It was the soldier's choice, after all. Rayna only hoped his soul could find peace. A small part of Rayna wished she could go with the soldier.

The French had been waiting on this beach for weeks, which gave Rayna little hope that she, Tommy, Alex, or Gibson would be getting off anytime soon. The soldiers were becoming desperate, especially the French since Englishmen had priority on English ships. The problem is, the only boats that were coming to the rescue were English ships.

Rayna and Tommy sat side by side with their shoulders pressed against one another and Tommy's hand in Rayna's lap. She stared at his hand, fiddling with his fingers to distract herself. Rayna softly drew patterns on the palm of his hand. Tommy stared down at her with a small smile, watching as she was focused on tracing every line in his hand with her own finger.

Rayna only looked up to see Highlanders walking in a loose formation towards them. Each and everyone of them looked over at Rayna. Some had confusion and surprise in their eyes while others had lust. Ninety percent of the soldiers in this beach hadn't even seen a woman in over a month.

Now more than every Rayna wished she hadn't lost her hat to hide her hair after the destroyer sank. Although that wouldn't have done much for her. Rayna looked like a woman even with her hair hidden. She only got on the destroyer because she kept her head down and her eyes on her shoes or Tommy's back.

"Hey, Highlanders!" Alex spoke, hopping yo from his spread out position on the sand. They all stopped, a few of them with their attention still on Rayna. She straightened up her back and stared them each down with a cold glare, hoping she looked intimidating enough.

"What's in that direction?" Alex asked, nodding towards the direction that they were headed.

"A boat," one of them spoke before leading the group on again.

"She's grounded," Alex yelled at their backs.

"Not when the tide comes in!" One more yelled over his shoulder.

Alex looked back down at Tommy, Rayna, then Gibson. Without hesitation, he turned and started walking with the group of men towards the boat.

Rayna and Tommy looked at each other before also standing, motioning for Gibson to come along. They all grabbed their rifles and joined the group on their trudge across the sand.

"Stay next to me," Tommy whispered into Rayna's ear. "I don't like how they looked at you."

Rayna replies with a simple nod. She agreed and was going to stay close to him anyway. He was the only one on this beach she actually trusted.

•••

They walked for what felt like miles. The location do the boat was on a deserted area of the beach. There was nothing left accept for corpses and dead artillery vehicles. And the scrappy piece of metal that the boys called a boat.

Everyone climbed atop the boat, one of the Highlanders opening the hatch that lead to the cabin of the trawler. One by one, everyone climbed in.

The last three to go down we're Alex, Tommy, Rayna, then Gibson. In that order. Once they made it in, Rayna felt immediately uncomfortable and regretful of her decision to follow Alex to the boat. The Highlanders stared at her with mixed emotions on their faces. She stood up straighter and simply tightened her clasp in her gun.

"Where's the crew?" Alex asked.

"Probably got spooked once they grounded," a Highlander with a round face answered. "I'm sure they ran up the beach."

"Why would they be spooked?" Rayna asked, her voice surprising the Highlanders.

"We're outside the perimeter," one of them answered before pointing at the wall of the ship. "Could be in the other side of that wall."

"You're French," one of the Highlanders more stated than asked. Rayna nodded.

"Then how do you speak English?" Another asked.

"I learned it," Rayna scoffed. "My mother was British and she spoke French. She moved to France and married my father. She taught me."

"And you're a woman?" Another asked. One of his friends elbowed him in the side of the ribs. Rayna rolled her eyes and leaned against the latter.

•••

"Peak your head out and see if the tide has come in," Alex instructed Gibson.

Gibson shook his head, refusing. He pulled his arms tightly around his torso as if to try an comfort himself.

Tommy climbed up the stairs, volunteering himself to look. He opened up the hatch and stuck the top half of his body out of the boat. A moment later, his face appeared again as he climbed back down.

"Bugger," Tommy muttered, stepping all he way back down from the latter. "Its barely come in at all."

Alex threw his hands in the air in anger. "For fucks sake."

Rayna looked at Gibson. She just now noticed that Gibson looked like a native of France. The dark hair, dark eyes, and rounder face. The more east into Europe you go, the more sharp the jawline of a person tends to be and the higher their cheek bones. Gibson pretending to be an English soldier makes sense to Rayna. He hasn't spoken because he doesn't want people to know. Or because he doesn't know really any English. He's not mute. He's simply not British.

Rayna shuffled over to Gibson, inconspicuously and whispered in his ear. "Êtes-vous français?" She asked. Are you French?

"Oui," he whispered back. Yes.

Rayna let out a deep breath. "Est-ce que vous essayez juste de vous échapper?" Are you just trying to escape?

"Oui," he spoke once again. Yes.

"Vous vous appelez Gibson?" She asked him. Is your name Gibson?

The boy took in a sharp breath before answering. "Non." No.

Rayna nodded. She quickly grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly before letting go. She suddenly felt protective over Gibson. Like a big sister. This only made her miss her own sister desperately.

Rayna walked back over to Tommy, wondering what the hell this French boy had gotten himself into.