The Medic by Anysia Eaton (recommended books to read txt) 📕

front of us turned around and said “Listen to me, Lady, you do exactly what I say. I don’t like the fact we have to have a lady medic so you better be better than what your life is worth”
“Hey, Max. Leave the poor girl alone. General wouldn’t have picked her had she not been good enough to do it, alright” said Billy sticking up for Amie.
Max (The leader) gave him a hard stare and Billy soon stood back. Max glared at me, then Amie and then back to Billy and then turned back to the front.
The journey over the channel was extremely intense. The only thing that kept me calm was Amie singing in French next to me. She was singing only loud enough for the ones that were close enough to reach out and touch her to hear. It was obvious that she was only singing to herself. Her voice was a soft and sweet as possibly can be.
“Yeliel, mon ange
Sachez que je vous entends
Et chaque mot que vous prononcez est saint
Vent me caresser
Yeliel, mon ange
Sachez que je vous vois” Sung Amie over the channel.
Ten minutes away from the beach we could tell we weren’t the first wave to hit the beach, we weren’t the last boat but the second out of eight. We could hear the firing guns as we approached.
“we have guns and ammo and that’s it, so straight across the beach” mentioned Max.
“I ‘ave medical zurplies” spoke up Amie.
“Yes, the lady has Medical zurplies” replied Max.
We all stood silent, Amie lowered her head. Max did not like her and that much was obvious, whether she liked him we were unsure but we all knew how he felt about her.
“’ow come we could not be dropped over Parie?” asked Amie.
“Because then they would know we are there. We are starting here so they do not think we’re there. And in English its Paris not Parie” replied Max in a flat but annoyed tone.
“Zorry, i’m just uzed to zaying Parie.” Said Amie back.
“Then I suggest you get used to saying Paris” replied Max.
“Au moins je suis gentil avec les gens d'autres” whispered Amie to herself. Max obviously heard it but he could understand as much French as I could. Amie later filled me that she had said ‘At least I am nice to other people’. So in a way it is lucky for her he couldn’t understand French.
Ten. The Explosions. Nine. The noise of firing guns. Eight. The pounding waves on the boat. Seven. The echoing screams of the wounded. Six. The bellowing shouts of the leaders. Five. More explosions. Four. More firing guns. Three. Whimpers of those around me. Two. The chattering teeth. One. The boat slowing. Ramp down.
“Go, go, go” shouted Max.
As each and every one of us on the boat went charging out and into the water, I could see some of the loss of life that war costs. Two or three men were flattened on the beach, if not already dead, dying. Everything around me went silent as all could hear was my own heartbeat. Dun Dun. Dun Dun. As soon as I could I got shelter from the small amount of firing guns. Still in the water were spikes of metal sticking up, obviously put there by the German to stop the boats from coming any further up the beach, but they provided us perfect shelter from the firing guns. Across to my left I could see Amie cowering behind another one along with Max and Billy.
“Get up the beach now” shouted Max as he lead the way further up the beach to the next shelter, closely followed by Billy and Amie. Two of the men in my battalion and myself followed suit and ran to the next shelter. These were out of the water but unfortunately these were also the last ones. The rest of the way was completely open, with no shelter from the firing at all. I watched as somebody across the beach to my left tried to make the run. He got the half way and then was shot down by a speeding bullet coming from the few German defences.
"All at once. On the count of Three. One.." Shouted Max.
I could see Billy take hand of Amie's hand, obviously to calm her. Even from here I could see she was petrified of the thought of running across the beach.
"Two..." Continued Max as we all got ready to make the sprint.
"Three, go, go, go" shouted Max as he started running followed by the whole of our battalion and others that decided to follow suit.
Out of the about twenty that ran, only two or three were shot down, luckily none from our battalion. At the other side of the beach was a mound of sand supplying a small amount of cover from the fire. Everyone that had made it across was now lay on this sand bank. Amie was lay next to me. I looked into her eyes, she still looked absolutely terrified. A bullet had only just missed her while she was running across the beach and I think the reality of working on the front line has hit her harder than what she was expecting.
"Still want to be a front line medic?" I asked her jokingly.
She just plainly smiled. She reached her hand out, I took it and held it tight. I could feel her shaking terribly.
"We need to get over this mound and knock out the last of their defences before the rest get here." shouted Max and he stood up and rushed over the mound jumping over the other side. The rest of us followed, I still had Amie's hand in mine as we jumped down the other side and backed up against a brick wall. The brick wall was a tower and at the top were the German defences. Billy was closest to the edge so he looked around the corner. When he turned back and said, "Door to the left sir"
"Right then. On three we go round and in the door. Trap them in the tower, no escape" replied Max.
"You think it will be that zimple." spoke up Amie.
"There are no guards if that’s what you are thinking" replied Max.
"I do not mean guardz. Watch" said Amie as she approached the edge. She got out of her bag her mirror.
"There's no time to check your makeup." said Max. Amie gave him a non-approving stare and then moved the mirror out on the side of the building. She changed the angle until she fixed it on a man in a tower not far behind with a long range rifle.
"You take on' step out der 'n' you will be shot down in zecondz." said Amie showing Max.
"Now what sir?" I asked.
"Get your rifles out and shoot them down" replied Max.
Billy went to the edge, he only went out as much as he needed to get a good shot. And in seconds a man came falling out of the tower.
"Girl, the mirror" said Max.
Amie passed him her mirror. He stuck it out and locked on to another just to the side of where the man had fallen out of.
"30 degrees to your left" said Max.
Again Billy locked on the man and fired. The man fell back into the tower.
Max tilted the mirror again. When he was satisfied. He handed the mirror back to Amie who put it back in her bag. He then started his original countdown.
"Richard, stay with the girl here. The rest of you, three, two, one. Go, go, go" said Max.
One by one they flooded into the building lead by Max. Amie and I just watched them go.
We stood there waiting. All around us we could hear fighting. On the beach more boats of men were arriving and more men heading across the beach. The amount of men lying on the beach had doubled. There were now more than twenty.
We heard shouting from above us, we knew that meant they were in. There was some firing when a German fell to the floor in front of us from the top of the tower.
Amie and I looked around the corner. A group of Germans were heading this way.
"They are going to go up de tower" whispered Amie.
I looked to see how many of them there were. There was more than what I could handle myself. They were still a few minutes of. I turned and looked around. I whistled and four heads popped over the mound of sand. I waved them over. They four jumped over followed by another four.
"Our fellow men are up that tower trying to get control. A group of Germans are heading this way. We need to stop them" I spoke quickly to them.
They lined up in the open and shot at the Germans. One Englishman for each German including me. A few shots each and the Germans had been mowed down. Amie had refused to watch. The men that had helped us retreated to the building on the other side of the open gap and waited.
A few minutes later, Max and the rest headed down. Obviously in victory.
"You two, come on." shouted Max running to the next set of shelter. A building that had only one wall and half another standing. It had obviously been hit by a bomb. This was a long building. We ran along the wall and waited.
"We have to start heading east" said Max. "Which way girl?"
"East iz dat way" replied Amie pointing the direction we had already come.
"We can't get that way" replied Billy.
"Den we hav' to go round" commented Amie.
We reached a gap.
"Girl. Mirror" ordered Max.
Amie got out her Mirror and passed it to Max. Again he used it to look around the corner. He pinpointed three Germans right in front, and then one on either side of the gap.
"000, 010, 022, 060 and 290" said Max.
By her face Amie had no idea what he was on about, but Billy went to the end and fired six shots, taking out all five Germans.
Max took another look in the mirror and shouted "Clear go"
Billy took the lead and ran across the gap followed by the rest of us.
This building had more of a wall. We now had a building on either side of us.
"Keep your eyes peeled for hidden Germans" said Max.
We continued along the wall. Two gaps were coming up, one on either side. Max knew they could have German on either side. So before he reached the edge he held out the mirror and looked around the corner opposite. He could see nothing.
Soon enough we were out of the buildings and on to the fields. We had to stick to the fields instead of going on the road in case Germans drive past. We knew which road we need to follow, following through the fields. And of course the precaution was proved to be good idea after a few hours a pack of German trucks came shunting down the road. We had to quickly dive to the floor and crawl to the closest hedge for cover. We lay there as over a hundred tanks drove past heading from east to west.
“There ‘eading for da beach” whispered Amie to me.
“The beach is that way” mentioned Max with a correctional tone.
“Da quickest route is dat way. It’s quicker to go ‘round. De Mached route is quicker, we uzed it when I waz littler.” Replied Amie.
“Then we better keep moving” said Max.
We