Many apologies for the delay. With multiple writing projects for uni on hand and finishing up my old job in anticipation of the new one, I simply haven't had the drive to write this. But today I had a few hours to myself and watched a war documentary where Messines featured and it made me want to push on.
So here it is!
The cold hand of fear crushed Maura's lungs in a vice-grip. Where was Jane? She scrambled to her feet, throwing caution to the wind and thrusting her head above the parapet, scanning the gloom for movement.
"Jane!" she yelled. "Jane!"
There was no answer. None that she could hear, at any rate, as the Australians continued firing. A few stray German bullets thwacked into the sandbags near Maura's head and she ducked back, her heart leaping into her throat.
"Jane!" she called again, this time keeping down. "JANE!"
There was no answer. The soldiers quit firing as an officer came running up the sap.
"What's going on here?" he asked, eyes widening when he noticed Maura pressed against the parapet.
"Rescue party, sir," said one of the privates. "We was layin' down some cov'rin' fire."
"My partner is still out there!" Maura interjected, voice cracking in panic. "She was right behind me. Jane!" she shouted, moving to look above the sandbags again. But the officer caught her by the shoulder and pulled her back. Just in time, it turned out, as another round of machine gun fire stitched the earth above their heads.
Together she and the soldiers waited, straining to hear an answer to Maura's repeated cries. No sound came. Soon even the machine gun quit its chattering. A strange, eerie calm settled over the battlefield. There were no more Verys now. Weak sunlight was struggling to pierce the clouds, casting a pale dawn over the broken, charred landscape. The officer sent a man to find a periscope, and when he returned Maura was allowed to cautiously poke it over the parapet and scan the ground before them. She saw nothing.
A sense of abject disbelief enveloped her. Was that it? She had known other nurses to die before, but always out of sight, always somewhere away from her with hours between their last words together. Maura had never been with a person one minute only to have them suddenly gone the next. It was a terrifying and overwhelming experience, and left her feeling lost. She couldn't imagine being a soldier and having to deal with this sort of occurrence on a regular basis. Was this why some came back from the trenches not wounded in the flesh, but in the mind?
Distraught, Maura finally let her trembling knees give way and sank down to the bottom of the shallow sap. Charles, the injured man, caught her attention and brought her a little ways out of her numb reverie. He was clutching his leg, which was still bleeding although the flow had ebbed to a slow ooze. Maura whipped off her apron and made a makeshift tourniquet. "Keep pressure on it," she advised him on autopilot.
Maura looked despairingly up at the sandbags above her. She had to get Charles back to the aid station, without immediate care he was in danger of bleeding to death. She had no idea how long he'd been trapped on the wire.
"I need help to carry this man to the ambulance," she said to nobody in particular. The officer nodded and ordered two men to link arms and form a sort of chair into which several others, with much groaning on Charles' part, lifted the wounded man.
Just as Maura made ready to turn and head back down the trench there was a sudden shout and a burst of gunfire in the distance.
"Friendly coming in!" someone called. The men nearby opened up with their own rifles, laying down a covering fire. Uncaring of the danger, Maura scrambled to the parapet in time to reach up and catch a falling body. They crashed together to the bottom of the trench, wild black hair suddenly in Maura's mouth.
It was Jane.
Maura's joy only lasted as long as a heartbeat when she saw the vast red stain of blood pooling across Jane's abdomen. The Boston nurse was pale as a sheet, her last few yards of exertion had exacted a terrible toll on her energy. She was barely able to muster a weak smile, eyelids fluttering like a hummingbird's wings as she tried to focus on Maura.
"Missed by that much," she whispered, her lips a shocking shade of purple. Maura didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she did both, throwing herself on Jane and drawing the woman up into her arms.
"Ow," Jane protested half-heartedly.
"Sorry," Maura said, sniffling a little and swiping at the tears on her cheeks with dirty hands.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to drive home."
"That's alright. I can drive."
"I've seen what you call driving. There'll be more wounded to add to the roster by the time we get back."
Maura laughed again, but it was short. She was alarmed at how weak Jane's voice was getting. Quickly she stood and organised a few more men to gently take up the wounded woman. With her leading they made their way out of the sap and across the desolate waste behind the new frontline in good time, dodging a few errant shells as they did. The soldiers loaded Jane onto the ambulance first. By now she was unconscious. Fraught with worry Maura checked Charles' tourniquet and had him sit alongside Jane's stretcher and apply pressure to her wound. Then she ran around the side to the driver's seat and began the longest drive of her life.
It was only a few short kilometres to Armentieres, but the newly shelled landscape and congested roads made for slow going. More men were being moved up to the new front in preparation for a fresh attack. Most looked like fresh faced boys, smiling gaily and bouncing their helmets on the ends of their rifles. They ignored the crawling ambulance.
It took an hour to reach the station, by which time the sun was well up and Maura's nerves were thoroughly frayed. Jane was whisked inside, but before Maura could follow she was blocked by a grim-faced Korsak. He recognised her drawn, wan expression and ordered her to rest. Maura wanted to object, but the trials of the last few hours and the day before had drained her of strength. She didn't even bother returning to the schoolhouse. Instead she settled herself on the smooth dirt in the shade of the tent and lay down. Within seconds she was dead to the world.