Red Devils

7

Gunderson was losing his patience. Forgetting himself. He was becoming increasingly aggressive towards von Boeselager who, in turn, was becoming increasingly frustrated. ‘Do you really think I care? Do you think I have any remaining allegiance to the Reich after this?’

‘I don’t know what I think. All I know is it don’t feel right you being up here with us.’

‘Von Boeselager’s all right. Leave him be,’ Coley said. He was becoming increasingly annoyed with Gunderson’s attitude, though he understood his frustration.

Gunderson stood in front of the German with his rifle primed. ‘One foot out of line and I’ll put a bullet between your eyes before you know it’s coming.’

‘Stand down, soldier,’ Coley ordered.

‘I can hit a dime at a hundred yards, ain’t nowhere here you’ll be safe.’

‘I said stand down!’ Coley yelled.

At that moment Lieutenant Parker returned, having taken the opportunity to relieve himself on the staircase. ‘What’s going on here?’ he demanded.

‘Just keeping an eye on the kraut,’ Gunderson answered quickly.

‘Good.’

‘I told you,’ Coley protested, ‘he’s all right. He saved my neck a couple a times out there.’

‘You buying any of this horse shit?’ Gunderson asked his commanding officer.

‘You know me, Gunderson. My golden rule when it comes to trusting a kraut is to never trust a kraut.’

‘Damn right,’ Escobedo said from across the way. ‘None of us would be in this damn mess if it wasn’t for him and his kind.’

‘We should kick him back out there right now,’ Gunderson said, like a dog with a bone. ‘Feed him to those monsters downstairs.’

‘And how exactly would that help your position?’ von Boeselager countered. The harshness of his accent made him sound more aggressive than he intended.

‘What’s he sayin’?’ Escobedo demanded, addressing his question to anyone but the German.

‘This gentleman wouldn’t be more than a mouthful to those creatures outside,’ said Wilkins. ‘And just for the record, I happen to think he’s right. Losing any one of us right now would be most wasteful.’

‘Least he’d be gone.’

‘Very true, but I think we’ve probably got far more to gain from working together than by using each other as bait, wouldn’t you agree?’

‘Don’t follow…’

‘Look, the one thing we know with any certainty here is that this horrific malady is German borne.’

‘All the more reason to be done with him.’

‘No,’ Wilkins said abruptly, looking in turn at Parker, Escobedo then Gunderson. ‘I believe quite the opposite, actually. Even if von Boeselager here doesn’t fully understand what’s happening, chances are he’ll lead us to someone who does. I also happen to think he’ll be more than willing to share whatever information he has with us, don’t you?’

‘And what if he tells us a crock of shit?’

‘And what if he doesn’t? Have any of you stopped to think about what’s actually happening here?’

‘Been too busy trying to stay alive and keep this place out of filthy Nazi hands,’ Gunderson said angrily, still holding his rifle ready.

‘And from what I’ve seen and heard, you fellows have done a commendable job in some pretty bloody awful circumstances. But I really would recommend looking a little further than the end of your nose.’

‘I ain’t sure I like your tone,’ Lieutenant Parker said, and Lieutenant Coley stood up and positioned himself at the centre of the conversation. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he’d seen the end of Gunderson’s rifle waver slightly, like the sniper thought he might be aiming at the wrong person.

‘Let’s dial things back a little, shall we?’ Coley said, doing his best to mediate. ‘We’re all at the end of our tethers. We’ve all had to see and do things we’d rather not have since we’ve been over here, and this kind of abrasive attitude won’t help none.’

‘If I’ve caused offence, then I apologise,’ Wilkins said.

‘Apology accepted,’ Coley said quickly, not affording the others any chance to prolong the argument. ‘Now as it happens, I have given a lot of thought to what’s happening here, and I know it ain’t good. I reckon there’s a storm coming.’

‘You’re right, Lieutenant.’

‘Care to explain, Coley?’ Lieutenant Parker said.

‘You had much hand-to-hand with those freakish things outside?’ He paused and looked around at the other men, all of them now intently staring at him. ‘When we first came across those damn things, they was just krauts. Now take a look into the crowds outside and tell me what you see. There’s marines out there. There’s Brits. There’s civilians. There’s kids… do I need to go on?’

‘Yeah, you do,’ Gunderson grunted. ‘What exactly are you sayin’?’

‘That things are getting more than a little out of hand.’

Coley looked at von Boeselager, who nodded. ‘He is right. I’d heard rumour that the intention was to create a serum which would lead to an army of super-soldiers. I knew nothing of the side-effects of which the lieutenant talks, though I suspect the likelihood of this happening was known at the highest levels of the Reich.’

‘It’s your fault, damn Nazi pig,’ Escobedo spat from the corner.

‘Hardly.’

‘You knew about this… you knew what was going to happen.’ He turned to face Parker. ‘We should kill him now, Lieutenant. Throw him out for feed.’

‘And what would that achieve?’ Wilkins asked. ‘Gentlemen, this is getting tedious. Look, I know I’ve not been here long, but it’s been long enough to be able to see that this chap is as concerned as the rest of us. If he still had the ideals of the Third Reich at heart, do you think he’d be fighting alongside you?’

‘Yeah, but—’

‘But nothing,’ Wilkins interrupted.

Coley was equally tired of the bickering. He raised his voice to make himself heard over the disgruntled hubbub. ‘Things are getting out of hand out there. The krauts have lost control of their weapon.’

‘Precisely the point I was going on to make,’ Wilkins agreed.

‘So if they’ve lost control, what happens next?’ Escobedo asked.

‘You have to understand that this is a weapon of such understated ferocity that its effects cannot be fully contained,’ von Boeselager answered.

‘You’ve hit the nail on the head, Jerry,’ Wilkins said. ‘I saw enough to confirm that in the short time I was out there among them. The creatures the germ has created are not just vicious soldiers, they’re also cannibals with an insatiable thirst for blood.’

‘You’ve been watching too many movies,’ Gunderson interrupted, and he laughed nervously because he knew this wasn’t fantasy, it was reality.

‘I don’t believe their cannibalistic intents are the most terrifying aspect of them.’

‘What then?’ Parker demanded.

‘I found a British chap out there. A colleague of mine, as it happens. He was hanging by his parachute from a tree, tangled up with no way of easily getting himself down, just left hanging. Several of those things had attacked him.’

‘And?’

‘And he’d become one of them. When I found him he was in such a terrible state that it would have been impossible for him to continue to function. And yet that’s exactly what he did. Still hanging from the tree, more blood spilled than was left in his body, and he still tried to attack me.’

‘What point are you making, soldier?’

‘That these creatures are infectious. That whatever this serum is the Nazis have developed, it remains in the infected person’s body and is passed on when they attack others.’

‘That’s what I’ve seen too,’ Coley said. ‘And that’s what scares me the most. Every single person one of those monsters out there kills goes on to become like them. And each one of them has the capacity and potential to kill more.’

‘It’s exponential,’ Wilkins said. ‘Their numbers will just keep increasing.’

‘Until we get rid of them all,’ Escobedo said.

‘Or until they’re all that’s left.’

‘You have to you take out the head,’ Gunderson said. ‘That seems to do the trick.’

‘The brain is the control centre,’ von Boeselager said. ‘To be sure of killing them – if you can kill something which is already dead – you have to destroy the brain.’

There came an unexpectedly polite-sounding cough from the far corner of the dusty room. Henri Mercel cleared his throat to speak. The first time he’d said anything in an age. ‘Monsieur… your friend in the tree, he… how you say? He was one of the monstres horribles?’

‘Yes, he was. He’d literally not set foot on Belgian soil, so he can only have been infected as a result of the vicious attack he was subjected to.’

‘Fits with everything we’ve seen,’ Coley said.

Mercel nodded meekly but remained quiet.

‘So what do we do?’ Escobedo asked.

‘Short of laying waste to the whole region, I’m all out of ideas,’ Parker said, slumping back against the wall.

‘Or getting out of here,’ Gunderson suggested. ‘Complete withdrawal. Let them things lay waste to each other. Tear themselves apart.’

‘I’m afraid I don’t think that will happen,’ Wilkins said. ‘From what I’ve observed, they’ll only fight with each other if they’re trying to get to one of us.’

‘One of us?’

‘Someone who’s still alive. No, I wish it was as simple as that. War very rarely is.’

‘Thanks for the words of wisdom, limey.’

‘Can it, Gunderson,’ Parker ordered.

Wilkins was unfazed. ‘There has to be a way to stop this undead scourge. Perhaps our German friend here can enlighten us?’

‘I’ll enlighten him if he don’t.’

‘Gunderson, quit,’ Lieutenant Parker warned him again.

Von Boeselager looked anxiously around the room. ‘I know nothing.’

‘We’ll have to beat it out of him.’

‘Did you not hear me? What is the point? You might as well kill me now. If I don’t have any information, you’ll kill me. If I did have anything, you’ll beat it from me then kill me. What choice do I have?’

‘None whatsoever.’

‘Come on, men,’ Coley said. ‘Don’t you get it? Those ugly bastards out there are the enemy now. So we can stop bickering and work together to try and make a difference here, or we can just beat each other to death. Whatever happens, none of us is getting out of here without the help of the others. And if you’re thinking of stopping in our little crow’s nest, then I reckon you’ll die alone up here, starving to death as you try to avoid being eaten. And all you’ll have running through your head is a whole load of questions about where this is going to end, because for what it’s worth I reckon Lieutenant Wilkins here is right. This won’t stop here. This is just the beginning of it. This plague of the undead will spread and it’ll keep spreading.’

‘My family, your family, King George, your president, your Fuhrer…’ Wilkins looked around the room at each man in turn. ‘A weapon has been unleashed here which respects no borders and shows no mercy. The Nazis have opened the gates of hell.’