Annexe

Annexe

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns all characters mentioned with the exception of Cat who is my own invention. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement is intended. My muse loves reviews, so please help her. Explanation for the setting at the end of the story.

Annexe level, Secret Wartime tunnels, Dover 1943

"Here you can't do that now."

"I was told to mop up this area."
"Well not now you can't. There's an ambulance arriving in a few minutes and if you start sloping water about we'll have more casualties than we bargained for."
"Oh alright. Here you got a cigarette?"

The voices came to him distantly as though they belonged to someone else's ears, above the wail of the siren. The hands that bore him, those too felt distant. Like they belonged to another world, piecing this one only briefly.

"..Fighter pilot is he?"
"Unknown sir. He was found in the channel. Shot down and almost made it back."

"Is he conscious?"
"Was when we found him sir."

"Get him down to clearing post. Bay 2."

"Yes sir."
"he been given anything?"

"No sir."

"Alright. Now you can start cleaning."
"'Ere." The cleaner's voice was full of ghoulish enjoyment. "He's a right mess ain't he?"

The blackness claimed him.

Dr Millar sighed. He'd been on shift for nearly 12 hours. Most of the victims were pilots, just move them on to surgery, if they were still alive. There were also the civilians, some bomb victims, some more ordinary injuries. But he had never had a night like tonight.

They had brought in a guy, just as his shift was starting, and a child, perhaps ten or eleven. Didn't seem to speak much English.

He'd been Dead upon arrival. A real mess according to the guy on shift before him. The body had yet to be moved to the morgue; instead it lay still on the stretcher it had been brought in on. Someone had covered it with a blanket, but the child would not leave it alone. She kept attempting to wander over to. Protesting in her own language. He knew enough Russian to understand that she was claiming he wasn't dead.

Sighing again, he shook his head.

Maybe if she saw the body she'd accept it. Gently he pulled back the blanket, to check how bad it was, and blinked.

The chest was rising and falling, shallowly, sure but still.

Slowly he thought about it.

The guy had been fished out of the Channel. There had been reports of pilots been fished out without a mark on them, who simply froze to death, but first their breathing and pulse slowed down. In some cases stopped.

If he'd come in with other casualties, he'd have left him. Gone to someone who had a chance.

He was suddenly grateful for his Canadian upbringing.
"Get me some more blankets!" he bellowed at an orderly.

He glanced back at the man again, grabbing the ambulances' notes. They mentioned horrific injuries. Open facture of the right arm, shrapnel embedded in his left leg, a long cut above his right eye.

There was no evidence of these.

He shook his head. In the confusion, someone must have got the wrong notes for this guy.

It was happening all the time.

It was the war.

Fin

Author's notes: at the outbreak of war in 1939, the Napoleonic Tunnels under Dover Castle, England were converted first into an air-raid shelter and then later into a military command centre and underground hospital. The levels were codenamed Annexe, which was the underground hospital, Casemate, where both the excavation of Dunkirk and D day were co-Ordinate from, DUMPY and Esplanade, which were later converted to serve a regional seat of government in the event of Nuclear war, and Bastion, which access to is still being sort.

English Heritage, which Manages Dover Castle, has opened Annexe and case mate, with a remarkable display. Through sight, sound and smells relive the wartime drama of the underground hospital as a wounded Battle of Britain pilot is taken to the operating theatre in a bid to save his life. The dialogue at the beginning, is actually based on the dialogue you will hear as you go around. You can also discover how life would have been during the planning days of the Dunkirk evacuation and Operation Dynamo as you are led around the network of tunnels and casements housing the communications centre. I have personally seen it at least 7 times and always discover something new. I strongly recommend anyone who has the opportunity to visit. There are also many other fabulous exhibitions at the castle. English Heritage is not paying me to push this, it's genuinely what I think. Anyone wanting more details should consult either Wikipedia or English Heritage's website.

Treatment for Hypothermia as we now know it, was actually concieved by the Nazis in the Concentration camps. for more details see the See Also section at the end of the Wikipedia Article on Hypothermia.

This chapter is dedicated to the staff of the Underground hospital, those involved in Operation Dynamo and D-Day. Thank you for our Freedom.