Page 5 of Sisters Under The Rising Sun

And then it is bedlam.

Passengers scramble as the machine gun fires on the deck from the air. The bullets strike hard, ricocheting off metal fixings in a second attempt to find their mark.

‘Run! Run!’ John screams, grabbing the arms of Norah and Ena. But, in the end, it is they who drag him away.

The nurses race to their allotted stations, ready for what the next moments will bring. The attack, however, is over, and the skies are once again clear. A collective sigh of relief is drawn. There are few injuries to the passengers, but the ship’s lifeboats have taken the brunt of the attack, rendering many of them useless.

‘We’re sitting ducks out here; the bombers will be on their way soon enough. We have to get into the Strait if we’re to stand a chance of outrunning what’s coming,’ Captain Borton tells his crew.

As the ship jerks into action, the captain scans the horizon and spies land ahead. Now, if they can just make it in one piece.

‘Sound the all-clear. For now,’ he tells an officer.

‘Let’s stay down here,’ John suggests. He looks exhausted and Norah feels his forehead to find his fever has returned. There will only be so many more times he can struggle up those stairs.

The nurses have heard the all-clear and immediately head back to the saloon from their different locations, for further orders. Thankfully, they are all able to report only minor injuries amongst the passengers, mainly from flying pieces of splintered wood where the bullets struck the ship. Now, the engines begin to scream at the task ahead, as the ship heads straight towards the Banka Strait. There will be no more zigzagging to avoid mines.

It isn’t long before the sirens sound again and calls of ‘Approaching aircraft!’ reach the ears of those below deck.

These passengers can’t see the planes coming, but they feel the effects of the first bomb exploding in the water all the same, rocking the waves and wildly pitching the ship to and fro.

‘One!’ someone calls out.

Captain Borton commences evasive manoeuvres as he attempts to avoid the bombs now raining down on them. Word has spread there is land ahead; now is the time to pray for a miracle.

‘Two, three … Fourteen, fifteen … Twenty-six, twenty-seven.’ Norah, John and Ena listen as another passenger counts the number of bombs falling around them; miraculously, not one seems to have struck the ship.

‘Twenty-eight, twenty-nine …’

And now an explosion rips through the ship, throwing passengers into the air, into the walls, into each other. Panic breaks out and everyone below deck scrambles for the passageways to head upstairs.

‘Are you all right? Are you injured?’ John shouts to Norah and Ena.

‘We’re fine, but we need to get on deck, it’s not safe down here,’ Norah yells.

‘I agree. You two go on ahead, I’ll follow you.’

‘Help him up, Ena; he goes where we go,’ she says, looking squarely at John. ‘That’s our pact.’

The women help John to his feet, sandwiching him between them.

Norah leads the way, pushing through the crowd, being pushed by the crowd, everyone now desperate to escape the sinking ship.

‘Off you go, girls, we’ll see you up top,’ Matron tells the nurses still in the saloon.

Nesta and her team head for the nearest staircase, towards the light of day, more than ready to carry out the work they are trained for. As she bursts onto the deck, another plane is approaching, firing madly from its guns, hitting those already wounded, further destroying the lifeboats. Nesta instructs her nurses to stay where they are until the plane is gone.

‘Look for injured, for those you can help. Come on!’ she shouts.

Norah is heading up too, still hanging on to John. It is a slow climb, made even slower by the girl in front, who is struggling to place one foot in front of the other. Norah gently touches her shoulder.

‘You’re injured,’ she tells her. ‘Badly injured. Your back …’

‘Am I?’ the girl says, oblivious of the wounds, her blood-soaked dress.

Finally, the injured girl staggers onto the deck, where she collapses.

‘Nurse! I need a nurse over here,’ Norah shouts. She sits down beside the girl, gently laying her head in her lap.