By the Blood of Heroes

by Joseph Nassise

  Charlie pulled the truck to a stop in front of the production facility. Two guards watched them from either side of the door, and Burke half expected them to open fire the minute he climbed down from the cab. When they didn’t, he could only assume it was because no one had discovered their trussed-up prisoner yet. He waited until Graves had slid out of the truck behind him and then headed for the door, looking for all the world like a senior officer’s escort. Or so he hoped.

  When the guards snapped to attention at the sight of Graves’s uniform, he knew they had them. He headed right for the door, ignoring the guards on either side, but when he drew even with them, he didn’t hesitate, lashing out at the one on the left with the stock of the Tommy gun, knowing that Williams would do the same on the opposite side. Freeman and Williams were close behind.

  The guard didn’t have time to do more than utter a surprised squawk before the impact knocked him into unconsciousness. Williams was equally successful on the right. They grabbed the guards about the ankles and dragged them inside where they wouldn’t be stumbled upon by a casual passerby. Freeman used one of the guards’ rifles to jam the door behind them and then led the team deeper into the facility, past the room where he’d seen the Frenchmen converted into the hideous undead creatures they’d become as a result of the gas, and finally to the office that overlooked the production facility where the gas was actually produced.

  Burke knocked on the door and then entered the room without waiting for an answer, his pistol already in hand. A man wearing a captain’s uniform looked up from where he was trying to enjoy his evening meal seated behind Eisenberg’s desk. His eyes went wide at the sight of the gun in Burke’s fist, and he made the mistake of going for his own weapon.

  It was the last mistake he ever made.

  Burke pulled the trigger and his bullet struck the captain in the center of the forehead, splattering the wall behind him with a thick shower of blood, brains, and bone. With the shot still ringing in their ears, the four men quickly moved to the door leading onto the production floor. Burke counted down to three with the fingers of his mechanical hand, then grabbed the knob and threw the door open. He went through it in a rush, with Williams on his heels.

  After dropping Burke and the others off in front of the laboratory, Charlie turned the truck around and headed back toward the airfield. It wasn’t hard to find, for the long gleaming body of the Megaera could be seen from halfway across the camp. A line of trucks similar to his own were moving in that direction, no doubt carrying supplies and other cargo to be loaded aboard the vessel for her forthcoming voyage.

  Figuring that hiding in plain sight might be his best option, Charlie got into line behind a couple of other trucks and followed them up to a gate in the fence that separated the airfield from the rest of the base. A guard was on duty there, but once he’d waved the lead vehicle through he barely looked up at the rest of the trucks in the miniconvoy. Charlie tried to look as bored as he imagined the guard must feel as he drove past, and minutes later he was within range of his target.

  There was a lot of activity close to the airship. Lights were set up close by, shining upward across the massive hull, allowing both those on the ground as well as those in the cargo bays above to see what they were doing. Men were working steadily, transferring crates from the backs of the trucks over to the cargo nets, which were then hauled skyward into the belly of the beast through the open maw of the cargo doors above.

  Charlie drove through the edge of the turmoil, passing the other vehicles until he found a dark patch of ground a few hundred yards farther on, away from the lights and activity. He parked the truck so the tailgate was facing the airship and then slipped between the seats to join the others in the rear.

  Compton was standing by the tailgate, peering out at all the activity through a small slit in the tarp that covered the rear of the truck. “There are German troops everywhere, Sergeant. How are we supposed to get to the airship and back out again without being caught?”

  “We’re not,” Charlie said. He turned to Jones. “Are you still carrying that mortar tube?”

  “Yes, Sergeant.”

  “Good. Here’s what we’re going to do.”

  Ten minutes later Charlie climbed out of the truck’s cab and wandered back toward the tailgate, fishing in his pockets as if looking for a smoke. He glanced around, noted that no one was paying them the slightest attention, and then rapped twice on the tailgate.

  At the signal, the men inside the truck jumped into action. Manning flipped the tarp up, revealing the squat frame of the mortar pointed in the direction of the airship. Jones bent over the sight reticle, made a final adjustment, then nodded at Charlie.

  “Fire!” the sergeant said.

  Compton dropped the mortar round into the tube.

  Foomp!

  The shell raced skyward with a sharp whistling sound, trailing a stream of dull-colored smoke. It had barely passed the top of its arc when it slammed into the airship’s side, about a third of the way from the nose.

  For a moment nothing happened, and in the stillness Charlie was sure he could have heard a pin drop, but then a sharp crack split the night air, like a hundred lightning bolts striking the same place all at once, and bright blue tendrils of electricity danced out across the Megaera’s hull.

  Jones made a minor adjustment to the targeting.

  “Again!” Moore ordered.

  There was another dull thump followed by a shell arcing skyward to explode against the airship’s hull.

  Webs of electrical power were slowly spreading out from the impact points, dancing across the surface of the airship now, popping and buzzing with unsuppressed power. When they collided with each other, there was another flash of brilliance and then it was moving faster, sweeping down along the length of the airship until it reached the engines. There was a thunderous crash, a loud explosion, and then flames could be seen spreading out across the tail section of the zeppelin.

  Foomp! Foomp!

  Compton didn’t wait for the order this time around, firing twice more in rapid succession, his eyes alight with glee as more explosions lit the night sky and the first of the screams of the injured reach their ears.

  “Time to get out of here!”

  The attack had only taken moments, but Charlie was worried about those last two shells. All eyes had been on the Megaera after that first, unexpected strike, and if someone had seen the second shell strike the airship, they probably wouldn’t have been able to trace it back to its source. But by the time those last two shots had been fired, it would have been clear that the airship was under attack from outside forces and heads would have started turning in their direction.

  It was time to leave before someone put two and two together.

  Jones and Compton were working to dismantle the mortar. It was of no use to them now that they were out of ammunition for it, but they didn’t want to leave it behind for fear the Germans might be able to turn it to their own ends. Manning pulled the tarp back into place over the rear of the vehicle and Charlie helped him tied it down, hiding the other men from sight. As soon as they were finished, he climbed into the driver’s seat and got ready to leave.

  Charlie was reaching for the ignition switch when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. In the next instant his door was thrown violently open and he found himself flying through the air as if hurled from a cannon. He hit the ground hard, rolling over several times from the force of the throw before coming to rest on his back several yards away.

  Get up! his mind screamed. Get up now!

  He staggered to his feet.

  A figure was stalking toward him out of the darkness, and there was no mistaking the stranger’s intent, for a sense of murderous rage was coming off him in waves.

  He not only means to kill me, Charlie thought, but rend me limb from limb.

  Before he could give it too much rational thought, Charlie reached inside his shirt and flipped the switch on the leather vest he�
��d been wearing ever since the moments before they’d jumped out of what he considered to be a perfectly good airship.

  The Hercules vest hummed and shook and came to life as the stored battery charge superheated the water running through the device’s power system and fired up the servos. For a moment Charlie felt the rubber sleeves squeeze his arms, and then the sensation was swept away as a flood of energy passed through his system.

  It was just in time.

  No sooner had the vest come to life than his pursuer was upon him. Charlie recognized him immediately; the Baron’s skeletal grin had graced the front pages of enough French and German newspapers over the years for him to know it on sight. There was a murderous look in the revenant’s eyes as he reached out, intent on snatching Charlie up a second time.

  Except this time Charlie was ready for him.

  The suit was aptly named, for it more than doubled his strength. As Richthofen grabbed him about the shoulders, Charlie brought his arms up inside Richthofen’s and broke free of his grip. He planted his feet, twisted at the waist, and sent a staggering right into the German pilot’s face. He followed it up with a left to the body and felt something inside Richthofen’s resurrected form crunch with the impact.

  The damage didn’t seem to do any harm to the other man but only served to enrage him further. He bellowed in defiance and backhanded Charlie across the chest, picking him up and dumping him to the ground several feet away.

  If the blow had struck Charlie in the face, it likely would have taken his head off. As it was, it damaged the vest, sending a blast of superheated water across his left abdomen, burning his flesh and causing him to scream in pain. He could feel the strength ebbing out of him as the power generated through the servos was reduced by the damage, and as he watched Richthofen stalk toward him he knew he was in serious trouble.

  He scrambled backward, trying to figure out what to do, as Richthofen rushed toward him.

  The night was suddenly filled with lights and the sound of a body being struck at high speed, followed by the squeal of brakes, and the roar of a truck’s engine being slammed into reverse. He looked up to see Jones leaning down out of the cab of their lorry, his hand extended and an anxious look on his face.

  “Come on!” he shouted. “Before he gets up again!”

  Charlie let him pull him up and then climbed into the cab behind the wheel as the other man scooted over to the passenger side. A glance out the windshield showed the Baron’s body lying several yards away in the glare of the headlights.

  Even as Charlie stared in fascinated horror, Richthofen began to stir.

  “Drive!” Jones shouted.

  Charlie thought that was a pretty good idea.

  He stomped on the accelerator and sent the truck rocketing backward, then slammed on the brakes and swung it around in a 180-degree turn. The Megaera swept into view, fully ablaze now, and the scene was utter chaos as men rushed everywhere, either trying to save what they could or get themselves as far away as possible from the inferno before it exploded.

  No one was paying them any attention.

  He heard Manning firing out the back of the truck and decided that he was going to look to see what he was aiming at. The idea that Richthofen might have gotten back up after being run down by a two-ton lorry was a reality he just didn’t want to face right now. Instead, he threw the truck into drive and went to look for Captain Burke.

  The guards in the next room had been warned by the previous gunshot, so they were already rushing toward the steps leading to the door even as Burke came through it. At the sight of him, they skidded to a halt on the wooden floor, raised their guns, and opened fire.

  Bullets were whipping through the air and plinging off the metal steps around him, but none found their mark. Even as he fired back he knew he couldn’t stay there; eventually one of those shots would find its target. Unable to move forward due to the enemy soldiers in front of him and unable to move back due to having Williams immediately behind, Burke did the only thing he could think of.

  He vaulted over the railing and disappeared over the side.

  It was a good fifteen-foot drop to the floor, but it felt like nothing after the experiences he’d endured lately, including leaping out of an airship that was plunging to the ground from twenty thousand feet.

  He hit the ground, rolled, and came up shooting. With Williams using the door frame at the top of the steps for cover as he fired downward and Burke firing from the side where he was partially shielded by the staircase, the German soldiers didn’t last long at all.

  But it was the sight that met Burke’s eyes when he looked up from the bodies of the men he’d just killed and over to the floor of the assembly line that made him swear aloud.

  “Sonofabitch! What’s wrong with these people?” he asked no one in particular.

  The assembly-line workers hadn’t left their posts, not when the bullets starting flying nor when two of their numbers were struck and knocked to the ground by errant shots. They were still standing there, carrying out their tasks, without even looking in the direction of the firefight.

  Burke’s companions joined him on the assembly-line floor and cautiously moved closer, weapons at the ready.

  It was Graves who figured it out first.

  “They’re shamblers!” he whispered suddenly, bringing the whole group up short. He pointed at their faces. “Look at their eyes! And their mouths!”

  A glance was all it took.

  The eyes, like their mouths, had been sewn shut.

  “Sweet Jesus!” Freeman said, and that about summed it up for Burke too.

  Now that Graves had pointed it out, it was clear that the things working the machines in front of them were no longer human. Their bodies were in different stages of decomposition and they were chained to the tables at which they worked tirelessly to create the gas-filled shells that the German army used all along the front.

  Burke felt only revulsion for the creatures before him. Things like that didn’t deserve to walk the earth, and he intended to take as many of them with him as he could. He turned to Williams and said, “Let’s set the charges and get the hell out of here.”

  Freeman stood guard while Williams and Burke moved through the room, carefully placing the twelve charges where they thought they would do the most good.

  After placing the explosives, Burke moved back through the room twisting the dials on all the timers, setting them for five minutes. Freeman and Williams were already waiting at the stairs when Burke gave the setup one last glance and then hurried to join them.

  Professor Graves, however, was nowhere to be found.

  “You have got to be fuckin’ kidding me!” Burke said and began to run back along the assembly line, looking for Graves. He found him examining one of the shamblers up close, way too close, and Burke kept waiting for the thing to spin around and attack. He grabbed Graves by the arm and started to pull him across the room.

  “No! You don’t understand,” he cried. “We can learn so much this way!”

  Burke was as unrelenting as the clock that was ticking its way down. “There are twelve explosives about to blow this place sky-high, and if it’s all right with you, I’d rather not be here when that happens.”

  The word explosives was what did it. Graves suddenly snapped out of his dazed fascination with the creatures around him and rushed toward where the others were waiting.

  “Let’s get out of here!” he said, racing past Freeman and taking the steps two at a time.

  The rest of them followed rapidly on his heels.

  They burst through the door at the end of the hall and slammed to a halt.

  The massive airship they’d seen on entering the building still loomed over the horizon, but now it was completely ablaze. Lurid red and yellow flames danced about its frame, casting back the darkness and lighting up the night sky like a beacon. Even as they watched, small explosions enveloped parts of the vessel where the flames had eaten their way through the skin and r
eached the gas bags inside.

  They were so caught up in the horrid beauty of the sight that they didn’t notice the oncoming truck until it squealed to a halt in front of them. Burke instinctively stepped in front of Freeman, though how he would have protected him if the truck turned out to be full of enemy soldiers he didn’t know.

  “Get in!” Charlie shouted from his place behind the wheel. “They’re right behind us!”

  The four men scrambled to comply. Freeman, Graves, and Williams rushed to the rear of the truck, where the rest of the men pulled them inside, while Burke scrambled up into the front passenger seat next to Charlie.

  “Go! Go!” he cried, but Charlie needed no urging. He slammed the truck into gear and mashed his foot down on the accelerator. The tires spun for a second in the loose gravel that served as the base’s roads and then they caught, sending them speeding away from the laboratory.

  Burke stuck his head out the window, looking back, and was just in time to see part of the building’s roof blow off as the explosives they’d set went off with a bang. The shock wave caught up with them a second later, pushing them along in a blast of superheated air.

  “No hiding from them now!” Charlie shouted, as several more explosions rocked the night.

  The scene around them was chaos. Men were running in several directions, responding to the shouted commands of their officers. Many probably didn’t even know what was going on but were simply reacting to the need to do something, anything, in the wake of what looked like an attack by Allied or partisan forces. Trucks raced by, headed in the opposite direction. Burke knew it wouldn’t be long before someone noticed that they were racing away from the commotion.

  Charlie smoothly maneuvered the lorry through the chaos, headed back toward the residence where they had left the staff car, hoping to pick it up again before heading on. Their plans were disrupted, however, when they turned the corner and saw a group of individuals gathered together outside the manor house.