There were men everywhere; some were running with their rifles raised, some were sitting on the ground rocking as if in disbelief, and then there were the dead, littered like rubbish, strewn here and there. But it was the rumble of approaching tanks that scared the life out of her; who knew what would happen if they were still there when the Germans arrived en masse?

“Let’s go!” The command was loud and Cate leapt into action, searching for Lilly and finding her within seconds. Her friend’s blonde hair had escaped from its pins and was wisping around her in the wind, and her eyes caught Cate’s. Months earlier, Cate would have received a wide smile the moment their eyes locked, but now Lilly’s face was drawn, no doubt a reflection of the way Cate looked, too.

“We’re to go on foot for part of the way,” Lilly said when she caught up with her.

“On foot? That’s ridiculous.”

“Try telling them that.”

Cate wasn’t even sure who she meant by them, but she knew Lilly was right. They were expected to take orders, not question them.

“Do you think it’s true that some of the nurses have already been evacuated? One of those soldiers back there said an entire group were evacuated from the port here days ago.”

Cate looked back at her and replied with a shrug. “Why would they evacuate some and not others?”

“Honestly, none of this makes sense to me,” Lilly muttered. “No one tells us anything, do they?”

A whir above them sent them both diving for the ground, and Cate tucked tight to Lilly as a German plane flew low, the ground rumbling beneath them. A bomb tore through a nearby building. It was like an earthquake, everything shaking, and Cate grabbed for Lilly’s hand as smoke curled into the air around them. The dust choked her almost instantly, burning her eyes, and as she looked back at the broken town behind them, someone yelled, “Get in!”

“Finally,” Lilly murmured, keeping a tight hold of Cate’s hand as they ran to a lorry, climbing up as it slowly rolled forward.

“Where are we headed?” Cate asked one of the soldiers on board.

“Dunkirk,” he said.

Cate smiled, remembering the village they’d spent time in when they’d first arrived in France. She turned to Lilly, about to speak, when loud shelling sounded out nearby and the screams of men scolded her ears. Instead she just clutched Lilly’s hand and folded it into her lap, thankful she still had her friend beside her.

Please let Dunkirk be better than this.

CHAPTER TWO CATE

CHAPTER TWO

CATE
DUNKIRK, FRANCE, MAY 1940