War of the Damned (Relic Hunters)

by Martin Ferguson

  We advance as a unit, staying together and keeping watch in all directions. The lights flicker overhead still, providing only a dim light, but our torches and the night-vision of the headset guide the way. As we approach the chambers of the testing facility, we hear the colonel’s voice crackle over the loudspeakers.

  ‘It seems we have some rebels amongst you,’ he says with laughter. ‘It matters not, for you will all see in time that my vision is the true future for mankind.’

  Ahead of us, all the chamber doors open, releasing dozens of reapers, and beyond them, the undead Nazis.

  ‘Hello,’ Matt says cheerfully, before he, Emma, and Dave open fire with their assault rifles.

  They down a dozen of the creatures before I loose an arrow overhead, its tip loaded with an explosive charge. The arrow explodes and does a lot of damage in the close proximity of the corridor, but still the reapers and undead come at us. We fight as a unit, calling out targets and covering for each other whenever anyone needs to reload.

  The undead Nazi fire back and rounds from their World War Two weaponry ricochet around us. Thankfully, being dead has greatly affected their accuracy and we use any cover we can. I see Matt take careful aim at each target, not wasting a single round. He switches to his handgun when the reapers are too close, kicking one down when it was nearly upon him. I had no idea my brother was such a badass.

  ‘Two to the left!’ Emma shouts and I quickly draw an arrow for each, aiming and sending them soaring quickly one after the other. Both strike true, one tearing through the eye socket of an undead and the other rebounding off an iron replacement.

  ‘Damn enhancements,’ I state, drawing an incendiary arrow and letting it fly. The arrowhead bursts into flame upon contact, engulfing the soldier and any nearby.

  ‘Behind us!’ warns Dave as he draws his shotgun and lets loose with the rounds as reapers begin to close in. One reaches him, tearing its claws across the body armour and ripping off the shoulder plate. Cecylia comes to his aid, shooting the creature three times before Dave can slam its grotesque head into a wall.

  ‘You have to keep pushing forward!’ Abbey tells us, but the undeads’ gunfire is growing. Emma’s body armour is hit twice in the chest, the impact throwing her back.

  ‘You okay?’ I ask as I help her up.

  ‘Just knocked the air out of me,’ she pants, but I can see the scorch marks across her body armour.

  From the mass of undead ahead of us, one of the giants emerges. The brute crashes forward, knocking aside the undead soldiers in its path to get at us. Matt and Emma take aim, but their rounds do little damage. It knocks Matt aside and sends Emma crashing back into one of the chambers occupied by the colonel’s scientists, their faces still covered with those twisted gas masks. They attack her with their surgical instruments, scalpels and drills, forcing her farther into the chamber. I try to reach her but the giant stands in my path.

  I duck below the swinging arm of the giant, loosing an arrow into its chest but it doesn’t even slow. Diving aside from another of the brute’s lunges, I draw an incendiary arrow and ready it to launch. Before I can fire, the giant charges me and knocks me to the ground, beating down on my chest twice. The body armour takes most of the impact but I’m pretty sure a few ribs break from the sheer agony in my chest.

  The giant grabs hold of my neck and lifts me off my feet. My bow is wrenched from my grasp and I feel the giant begin to squeeze. I hear Matt try to reach me but the undead horde force him back. I barely hear Abbey calling out to me. All my senses are focussed on staying conscious.

  With my one free arm, I reach back and pull an arrow from my quiver. I stab it down into the giant’s arm but it digs into the flesh and does nothing. The giant does not even flinch but squeezes tighter around my neck. Stars appear before my eyes, unable to breathe, and I reach out for one last arrow from my quiver. I draw it, and as my eyes begin to close I stab it down into the giant’s chest with the last of my breath. Though barely aware of it, I feel the blast throw me back, the arrowhead exploding upon impact with the giant.

  I fall to the ground hard, and though dazed and deaf for a moment, my senses quickly return.

  ‘Nice shot,’ Matt tells me as he helps me to stand and we both see Emma clamber over the smoking remains of the giant’s blown apart body. Her body armour shows dents and scratches but she is unharmed, unlike me.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Matt asks.

  ‘Got any painkillers?’ I laugh, though instantly regret it from the pain in my chest and neck. I check the body armour, and though it is cracked across the chest, it is still intact.

  ‘We’ve got to keep going,’ Dave warns as Emma hands me my bow. ‘God knows how many more of them are going to come down on us.’

  We advance forward, concentrating our fire to force the undead back. More of them emerge from the rooms around us, threatening to surround us several times before we can escape. A mechanical hand reaches out and grabs Matt, trying to drag him into the horde before Dave blasts the iron limb off with his shotgun. Emma takes a slash from another rotten Nazi’s bayonet arm, cutting her own arm deep. The jaws of one corpse clamp down on my shoulder, barely missing my neck before I can throw it off.

  The five of us, Echo Team and Cecylia, fight back to back. Abbey calls out targets and advises us on progress, giving all the aid she can. We inch farther and farther through the facility, fighting for our lives with every step. There are Winterbourne uniforms among the undead, the recon team, and maybe members of the group we entered the tunnels with. They use their modern weaponry, but again, the aim is wild and uncontrolled. Their humanity is gone, their eyes glazed and soulless. Veins have darkened and any wounds have already begun to rot and fester.

  Scott and Tessa are in one of the chambers. Tessa is on a bed as deranged scientists operate on her, electrocuting and injecting her whilst Scott is literally torn apart by one of the giants. We can do nothing for them but keep moving.

  ‘The cavern isn’t much farther,’ I yell to the others, but just as I see the opening, I hear Cecylia cry out.

  ‘Help, help me!’ she screams.

  A Reaper has her and drags her back amongst the undead horde, deeper into the facility.

  ‘Cover me,’ I tell the others, the pain in my chest disappearing as I charge after her.

  ‘Go, Adam! Go!’ Abbey urges through the headset.

  I don’t need the encouragement as I loose arrow after arrow, striking down corpse after corpse as I pursue my target. An incendiary arrow engulfs two of the undead and I barge them aside, stabbing a fallen Reaper with an arrow before loosing the same arrow at a charging Nazi soldier. I see Cecylia and sprint after her, eliminating anything in my path with arrows and entangling others with the wire bolas.

  I see red. All that anger and fury I had to retain as Winterbourne and then Colonel Steinhardt took me captive returns. I use it, roaring as I fight foe after foe, almost possessed until I reach Cecylia.

  I strike Cecylia’s captor across the head with my bow, and when it roars, I force a smoke grenade down its throat. It coughs and splutters, releasing Cecylia.

  ‘Keep your head down!’ I warn as I draw an incendiary and an explosive arrow, firing both into the advancing horde of undead. The explosion rocks the facility, followed by the flames that provide a precious few seconds to escape.

  ‘Can you stand?’ I ask Cecylia.

  ‘No,’ she cries as she fails at the attempt. The Reaper has torn through the flesh of her leg just above the ankle and the bone is visible.

  ‘Sorry about this,’ I tell her, grabbing the back of her overalls and dragging her across the floor. She doesn’t fight or protest. Instead, she grabs a fallen handgun and fires back at the horde chasing us. I don’t stop until I reach the others. Dave picks Cecylia up in his arms and carries her out of the facility.

  We hurry out of the base and into the cavern, towards the waiting trains.

  ‘Get me into the locomotive,’ Cecylia instructs.

&nb
sp; ‘What’s the plan?’ Matt asks as we all run for the trains.

  ‘Your explosives,’ she says. ‘A locomotive typically needs eight hours of prep to heat up the twenty thousand litres of water in the boiler and bring it to pressure.’

  ‘We don’t have eight hours,’ Dave warns.

  ‘Or twenty thousand litres of water,’ Emma adds, firing her rifle three times to put down an undead Nazi soldier.

  ‘The water is already there,’ she replies. ‘I checked the levels when I was forced to stay with the trains under guard. The colonel has been keeping his prized possession ready to move.’

  ‘And the heat?’ I ask. ‘I’m guessing that’s where the explosives come in.’

  ‘Correct,’ Cecylia says. ‘My bet is your explosives are thermite based. If you break the thermite down into a fine powder it becomes useful. It can create brief bursts of heat and high temperature in a small area and mixing with water...’

  ‘Will generate the steam to get the train moving,’ I surmise. ‘This all check out, Abbey?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ she replies. ‘Cee sure knows her stuff.’

  ‘The trick is not to use too much,’ Cecylia says. ‘That can lead to…’

  ‘The train blowing up?’ Dave guesses.

  ‘Correct,’ Cecylia replies.

  ‘How do you know all this?’ Dave asks.

  ‘Engineer,’ she replies.

  ‘And train geek,’ I add. Cecylia nods in agreement.

  ‘Cecylia, get the train working,’ Matt says, giving his orders as the team’s leader. ‘Our lives are in your hands. Dave, we need to secure charges to bring the mountain down on this place.’

  ‘I’ve already got an idea for a location,’ he says, pointing to where the rivers flow down and through the mountain to the water of the U-boat dock. ‘The water flows will have weakened the structure. A sizeable explosion should weaken it further.’

  ‘A large enough explosion will ignite all the ammunition and chemicals the colonel has stockpiled,’ I state.

  ‘That’s the failsafe,’ Dave replies.

  As we reach the trains, Dave lifts Cecylia up and into the locomotive’s cabin. He climbs in after her, handing over his pack containing the explosives, and his shotgun in case needed. He returns as we hear a voice calling out to us.

  ‘You are not trying to leave us already, are you?’ Colonel Steinhardt calls to us from the entrance of the facility. He approaches.

  ‘Cecylia, stay in the cabin and keep working,’ Matt says. ‘We’ll cover you.’

  ‘I do not understand why this is so difficult for you to understand,’ the colonel states as he slowly paces towards us. Matt, Emma, and I raise our weapons but let him speak. We don’t want to hasten the delay he is giving us; every second is needed for Cecylia to ready the train.

  ‘I merely want the best for us,’ Colonel Steinhardt says, ‘to make us as strong and as adaptable as the world needs.’

  ‘You are creating monsters,’ Matt replies.

  ‘The secrets of the demon’s blood have revealed so many advancements. My reapers were once uncontrollable animals, but now they obey my every command. From them, I have learnt much about the mind and how it can be manipulated. A person’s will can be broken and controlled, as can their very soul.’

  At his command, his horde gathers behind him. At their lead is Follia and Leon, their eyes glazed and their skin pale like the rest of the colonel’s undead army. A single giant is among them too, larger than all the others we have seen. It is the brute who was Bishop.

  ‘We cannot let you leave this place,’ Colonel Steinhardt states.

  ‘He’s mine,’ I say, eager to stop the madman.

  ‘I’ll take my wife,’ Dave says, facing Follia.

  ‘I guess I’m stuck with Bishop,’ Matt says as he looks up at the towering juggernaut. ‘Should’ve brought a bigger gun.’

  ‘That leaves Leon and the rest for me,’ Emma says. She reloads her rifle with a wicked smile of excitement upon her lips.

  ‘We need to buy Cecylia as much time as we can,’ Matt says. ‘We need to stop them here.’

  ‘Good luck, guys,’ Abbey says.

  ‘We make our own luck in this business,’ I reply, drawing a smile from the entire team.

  ‘Anybody want to kick us off?’ Emma asks, eager to begin.

  ‘Figure these would be a good start,’ Dave says. He is concealing German Second World War stick grenades from the colonel’s stockpile behind his back. He passes one to Matt and one to Emma as I draw one of my last explosive arrows.

  ‘Adam, aim for the ceiling,’ my brother advises. ‘Distract and act.’

  ‘The roof caving in is a pretty big distraction,’ I reply.

  ‘Good luck, guys,’ Matt says. ‘It’s been an honour. Three, two, one.’

  At his command, the grenades are thrown and I draw and loose the explosive arrow. Everything detonates together in a chaos of fire, smoke, and falling rock.

  47

  MATT—Facing a juggernaut, Germany

  I lose the others in the dust of the explosion. My focus is only on the looming giant that was Bishop. He staggers clear of the falling rock, the debris barely slowing him down. Three shots from my rifle draws his attention away from the train. I regret it instantly as Bishop turns, roars, and stampedes towards me.

  I empty the clip of my assault rifle. The bullets penetrate but barely do any damage, forcing me to take cover behind a German half-track as I reload. He does not even go around the vehicle. He picks it up and throws it out of his way. I try to evade him but he is too quick, striking me hard across my back and sending me flying. I crash into the side of one of the King Tiger tanks, and fall to the ground. Everything hurts but I have to keep moving as Bishop charges at me again. The rifle lies in pieces, useless. All I have left is my handgun, but that won’t even leave a scratch on the giant.

  The hangar is filled with German tanks and jet planes, and I use them to my advantage, dodging between the vehicles and putting some distance between us whilst I come up with a plan. Bishop roars in frustration, smashing through the planes and barging the tanks away. I clamber over one tank, hoping to use the machine gun on top of its turret, but find the weapon unloaded. Bishop reaches the tank and hauls it over, sending me flying and landing hard on the hanger floor.

  I spot a fuel truck ahead of me and, drawing my handgun, fire every round into the truck’s fuel tank. I know a bullet will not ignite the fuel and I do not mean to, not yet anyway. Jet fuel pours from a handful of bullet holes and I quickly circle around to the far side of the truck.

  Bishop does as expected, charging into the truck and knocking it aside. In the process, he is covered in the fuel. I try to outrun him but he leaps forward, crashing through a jet and cornering me. I swear I see him grin with anticipation of my death.

  With no other option, I reach into my jacket pocket and pull out and ignite a flare.

  ‘You know what this is?’ I ask. ‘You know what you are covered in?’

  He does not reply, grabbing me with both hands, crushing my chest. My body armour cracks and breaks beneath the pressure, my entire torso and the organs within squeezed tight. I am overwhelmed by the fumes of fuel as his soaked hands now cover me in the fluid. It takes all my focus to keep hold of the flare and lower it to his body.

  The flames ignite instantly, covering him and setting light to the armour over my torso. In panic, Bishop throws me to the hangar floor as he screams and flees, engulfed in the flames. Darkness takes me as soon as I hit the ground and I’m barely aware of the flames spreading across my chest.

  48

  EMMA—Facing an army of undead, Germany

  As my vision clears, I see rotten corpses given life fused with iron and steel machinery coming straight for me. I take a knee, lining up the assault rifle and taking careful aim. I only have two magazines of ammunition remaining, including the one already loaded in the rifle. I cannot waste a single shot. Aiming for the heads, I wait until my
targets are a little closer before pulling the trigger.

  As the ammunition magazine clicks empty, I quickly reload, backing away towards the train and what will be my final stand. I throw smoke grenades behind me, trying to disorientate the soldiers but it does nothing. I wish I had more of Dave’s stick grenades or maybe a few more magazines of ammunition, or hell, if we’re wishing for things, I wish I was on a beach soaking up rays. Who am I kidding? Of course I’d rather be here amongst the action. I’d be bored stupid on a beach anyway.

  Taking a knee in front of the trains, I pull the trigger slowly and carefully, but the undead seem to be moving quicker now, as if given a greater purpose. I see Winterbourne uniforms amongst them, carrying their own weapons, and am forced back farther by their gunfire. I switch the rifle into automatic mode as they close in, unleashing a torrent of bullets, but the masses of undead surround me. Before they can finally close in, I launch my final assault. I charge one of the corpses, striking it down with a swift boot to the chest. Turning, I hammer the butt of the rifle across the head of another and then fire a burst from the rifle at the approaching soldier behind me.

  A bayonet sweeps down as I move to strike another of the undead, knocking the rifle from my grasp. I raise a fist but the fiend’s arm catches mine and strikes me hard across the face. A metal claw wrapped in barbed wire grabs me by my body armour and I see the face of my foe, Leon Bransby, eyes glazed and skin pale. Steam pours from his mechanical arm and an eye glows red with machinery. His biker goggles hang loosely around his neck, one lens smashed and the other cracked.

  ‘What have they done to you?’ I ask before he strikes hard enough to dent my armour, driving the air from my lungs.

  ‘You’re Leon Bransby,’ I tell him. ‘You’re Leon Bransby.’

  He shows no emotion nor makes any reaction to his name. Instead, he strikes me again, leaving an even bigger dent in the armour.

  ‘You’re…Leon…oh to hell…with this,’ I gasp as I leap up and kick out with my legs, tearing free of his hold.