Chapter 19

“It’s from Nick!” Elena exclaimed excitedly as she ripped open a letter she’d been hoping for since the day he’d left for France.

“What does he say?” Juliet asked, trying to look over her sister’s shoulder. She’d received a letter from her husband Alex the previous day, and reading his words only made her miss him more. Although he’d said he was fine in the letter, Juliet knew he was only saying that to prevent her worrying too much. Of course he wasn’t fine.

“Hold on; let me read it first and then I’ll tell you” Elena replied as a big smile spread across her face. Nick hadn’t forgotten about her after all.

She cast her eyes back to the slightly crumpled piece of paper and began to read. Her eyes began to fill with tears as she read his beautiful words. He still wanted her and was coming back for her. Her tear streaked face lit up at the thought of seeing him again.

“He’s written me a poem, look” Elena handed the letter to her sister. “I hope he receives my letters, especially the photo”

“He will, it just takes a bit of time to reach them” Juliet placed her arm around her sister and they sat thinking of their men, so far away.

~*~

After a couple more days of walking, the men were anxious to get to their meeting point. Sleeping in dug out little trenches at night wasn’t ideal, but it helped conceal them from enemy attacks like artillery and mortar fire. Kevin, being the more experienced solider amongst them, had shown them what to do to create a place to sleep. They all hoped there would be something a little more comfortable when they eventually reached their destination. If they reached it.

On the fourth day, after confirming the map co-ordinates, they reached the point where they were supposed to meet up, or what was left of it.

The village of Neuville had been all but destroyed; most of the buildings had been bombed so badly that they were now just empty shells with no visible forms of life left.

“Where did everyone go?” Brian muttered more to himself than anyone else. He was tired, thirsty, hungry and pissed off. He wished he was home.

The men were all worn out due to very little food, drink or sleep. They’d all been hopeful that when they reached Neuville, they’d not only find more of their men, but also a little bit of civilization, but it was not to be.

“What the fuck? There’s nothing here!” Nick exclaimed, clutching at his hair in desperation “just what the fuck are we doing here? Walking endlessly for what…for this!” He dropped to the ground and pulled his knees up to his chin, resting his head there. He wondered what he would’ve been doing right now if he were still in England. He thought of Elena and wondered what she was doing. Was she missing him as much as he was missing her? He told himself to stop thinking so negatively; she wasn’t Emily who had run off with the first guy who‘d shown an interest once he was out of the picture. He knew she was genuinely the girl for him and he was going to prove it when he returned to her.

“I wish I knew why we’re here” said Alex, sitting down in the road and resting his head on his backpack. He would’ve given anything for a decent meal, a hot bath, a cigarette and more importantly, his wife. He closed his eyes and thought about her, remembering their wedding night. Why hadn’t he run away at the port when he had the chance? Surely no one would’ve notice one solitary man out of the thousands.

“Come on, let’s see if we can scrounge up some food, there’s got to be something edible somewhere” suggested Howie, walking over to the remains of a shop.

“Wait” Kevin commanded, “we don’t know whether this is some kind of trap”

The men were suddenly alert again, but realised that if this had been some kind of trap, they would’ve all been dead men by now. So they began searching for food and drink, not caring what they found, they weren‘t choosy and anything would do. Much to their surprise, they unearthed a few bottles of wine, some tinned food without labels, cigarettes and some very stale and mouldy bread.

“It’s gonna have to do, I’m starved” said Nick getting out his knife to hack one of the tins open.

A couple of hours later and they were all feeling quite merry from the wine and their stomachs were full after the mixture of tinned meat and fruit, which had been surprisingly satisfying. They sat around an open fire, talking about life and what they were going to do if they ever got home, then much later on; they found shelter and crashed for the night.