Monsters of the Reich

by Eric S. Brown

  No one opened up on them as they approached the cabin. There was no sign of anyone at all. Lance reached the door, and Kendal closed the gap between them. They stood on opposite sides of the wooden door, staring at each other. Lance signaled that he was going to try the door. Kendal held his breath as Lance reached for it. It wasn’t locked and swung inward at Lance’s touch.

  Lance bolted through the doorway into the cabin, his rifle ready to blast anyone inside waiting on them. Kendal followed Lance into the darkness of the cabin’s interior. The place was empty other than a fireplace, a table in its center, two chairs, and an unmade, rumpled bed against its far wall.

  Kendal heard Lance let out a sigh of relief. “Looks like this place is clear.”

  There was no rear door or window. Kendal figured that Derek was already in the process of doubling back around the cabin to meet up with them.

  “Let the others know and get them in here,” Lance ordered. “I’ll start looking around for anything we can use.”

  Kendal turned and headed back out the door to find Derek waiting on him there.

  “It’s clear around back,” Derek told him. “I guess it is in there too, right?”

  Nodding, Kendal waved at the rest of the group hidden in the woods to come out and join them.

  ****

  There was room in the cabin for the entire group to take shelter in, though it certainly made things crowded. Kendal was thankful to be out of the wind. The cabin was still icy cold, but the exposed flesh of his face felt better. He didn’t dare take off his gloves. At best, the cabin was going to buy them some more time, not keep them from freezing to death. The sun was gone outside and through the cabin’s window, there was only darkness.

  “We should get a fire going,” Chuck suggested.

  “Is that safe?” Kristen countered.

  “It’s a risk we’re going to have to take,” Lance told them. “If we don’t, we’ll be dead by the time the sun comes up.”

  “Are you seriously suggesting we spend the night in this place?” Payne complained. “It’s filthy.”

  “Would you rather be outside?” Lance asked her pointedly.

  Derek had moved to the cabin’s small fireplace. “Uh, anyone know how to start a fire?”

  Kendal stopped staring out the window and moved to join Derek. There was plenty of wood sitting near the fireplace, and he found a box of matches beside a metal rod he thought was called a poker opposite the pile of wood. There was also a container of what smelt like an accelerant of some kind.

  “Help me,” he said to Derek. The two of them loaded up the fireplace with wood and added just enough of the accelerant to get things burning. The accelerant whooshed ablaze as Kendal struck a match and lit it. Kendal jumped back from the fire, surprised by how fiercely the accelerant went up. In a matter of minutes, he and Derek had the fire burning steadily to where it could be kept going easily. The heat of the fire warmed the tight space of the cabin quickly. He and Derek moved away from the fireplace to let the others have a turn near it. Chuck and Payne took their places by the fire as they moved to sit at the table in the cabin’s center. Lance stood by the window, looking out into the night while Kristen took a seat on the bed positioned at its rear wall. Waves of dust leapt from the bed’s mattress as Kristen sat down. She coughed and promptly broke into a sneezing fit.

  “Well, if we needed proof that this place hasn’t been used in a while, I’d say that was it,” Derek commented before asking, “You okay?”

  Kristen nodded. “Yeah. Allergies. That’s all.”

  “Any sign of trouble out there?” Kendal asked Lance who continued to remain on watch at the window.

  “Not that I can see,” Lance answered.

  “Don’t get me wrong, guys, I’m glad not be turning into a human popsicle anymore, but aren’t we just wasting time here?” Chuck asked. “I mean, the only way out of this game is to beat it, right?”

  “We’re not ready to try for that,” Lance said, his expression grim.

  “You look like you have a plan,” Derek said, looking over at Lance.

  “I didn’t say that,” Lance replied. “But we’re bloody lucky to have lost those Germans and found this place. If we had been forced into an engagement with those soldiers, we’d all likely be dead already. They would have cut us to pieces.”

  “I’ve noticed that when we interfaced with the game and entered it, we were all given basic knowledge about this world, our weapons, etc.,” Kendal spoke up. “When I thought about how to use this M3 I’m carrying,” he lifted his gun for the others to see it, “it was like I just knew how.”

  “There’s a big difference between knowing how to use something and doing it effectively,” Kristen said.

  “Exactly,” Lance said, finally turning away from the window to face the others. “We need time to learn how to use the knowledge the game equipped us with, and thanks to finding this place, we might just have that time. All of us need to concentrate on our weapons and how to fight with them. If Kendal’s correct in what he’s saying, we should all be able to access skills that the game downloaded into us and bring them to the surface of our consciousness. I believe that’ll make a huge difference for us, not if but when we run into more of those Nazis waiting for us out there.”

  “We can take turns sleeping,” Kendal suggested. “Somebody’ll have to stay on watch too while the rest of us who aren’t sleeping are focused on accessing the skills the game has given us.”

  “All that sounds brilliant, but we’re going to need more than just to know how to fight when the time comes,” Derek pointed out. “The goal of this game is supposed to be locating and stopping some new super weapon program the Nazis are working on. You got any idea how we’re supposed to do that?”

  “One thing at a time,” Lance cautioned. “Let’s just focus on making it through the night and learning what we need to learn for right now.”

  “I’ll take the first watch,” Kendal offered. “I got a good feel for my weapon checking out this place when we arrived. I feel pretty confident I can use it if I have to.”

  “That’s fine by me,” Derek said, laughing. “I could really use some rest.”

  “All of us could,” Kristen reminded him. “As ratty as this bed is, don’t think you’re getting a turn in it before I do.”

  “The ladies can get the bed first if they need it,” Lance said firmly.

  Derek clearly wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t push the issue with Lance. Lance had always been the best gamer among them, but the hard manner he had settled into since they had entered the game was kind of disturbing. Kendal knew Lance was just trying to keep them all alive, but it didn’t make Lance seem any less scary at the moment. It was as if Lance had suddenly fully become the soldier the game intended him to play as.

  Kristen didn’t waste any time in stripping the bed and shaking out its covers before crawling under them and closing her eyes. Payne, however, refused to share it with her and opted to stay up to study her weapon. Chuck had no qualms about looking weak though. He leaped at the chance to take her place in the bed with Kristen. The two of them barely fit on it together, but with Kristen curled up into a ball, there was just enough room for Chuck to join her. He was snoring almost instantly after climbing in next to Kristen and getting the covers up over him.

  “It’s going to be a long night,” Derek said, watching Kristen and Chuck as they slept.

  “And an even longer day tomorrow,” Lance promised.

  ****

  While Kendal kept watch, Lance and Derek set in taking an inventory of all the gear the game had provided them with. Every member of the group had a pistol and two extra magazines for it. There were also three M1 rifles with additional ammo and two M3 submachine guns. Those weren’t the only weapons the game had given them, however. There were also two grenades and several knives among their gear. Lance made sure that everyone understood there was no trading out with the weapons. Whatever one had gotten upon entering
the game were the weapons that one had also received the skills to use.

  By the time Kristen and Chuck’s turn to sleep ended with Payne and Derek taking their places in the bed, Lance had moved on to looking through the rest of the gear the game had equipped them with. Sadly, there was no radio unit or comm. device of any kind, but there were two first-aid kits among the equipment the game had issued to Kendal and Kristen. Begrudgingly, Chuck took the next turn on watch so that the two of them could study the kits and access the knowledge the entrance into the game had downloaded into their minds.

  Everyone also had gotten a canteen and several tins of food. Lance opened one of the tins and made a face at the odor that came out of it.

  “Smells like dog food.” He grimaced, passing the opened tin to Kendal.

  “Better than nothing though. I’m starving,” Kendal said, scooping some of the meat into his mouth on his fingers.

  “I’ll take some of that stuff too.” Chuck motioned for Lance to toss him a tin.

  Lance threw him one and then got up and walked one over to Kristen. She stared at him.

  “I’m not really hungry,” she said.

  “Like it or not, we all need to eat.” Lance pressed the tin in her hand and left her holding it to return to his seat at the table. Its top and the floor surrounding it was covered in the gear he was still sorting through. He looked over at Kendal, who was busy stuffing his face with the dog food-like meat.

  “I get the weapons, the first-aid kits, the rations, and all that,” Lance said. “What I don’t get is this other stuff.” Lance reached up to show Kendal the silver cross he was wearing around his neck. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re all wearing one of these.”

  Kendal stopped eating and felt around under the top of his shirt. Lance was right. He had one on too.

  “And check this out,” Lance told him, holding up a small wooden stake. “There was one of these for each of us too in our bags. But the kicker is the ammo…”

  “The ammo…” Kendal’s expression was one of confusion. He had no idea what Lance was talking about.

  “The ammo for our weapons, Kendal.” Lance met his eyes. “It’s all silver and so are the blades of the knives we got. I checked.”

  “That’s messed up,” Chuck commented around a mouthful of meat from his tin.

  “It really is,” Lance agreed. “Silver ain’t cheap. There’s no way the U.S. military was equipping all their troops with it in World War II.”

  “So maybe we’re supposed to be some kind of special squad,” Kendal suggested.

  “The Lone Ranger brigade,” Chuck quipped.

  “The implications of what this type of gear might be for is scary, Kendal.” Lance leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. “I mean, think about it… Derek said our mission was to stop some secret weapon project the Nazis were working on, right?”

  “Yeah,” Kendal agreed. “That’s what I heard him say too.”

  “Don’t tell me, you think we’re going to be fighting monsters,” Chuck said, laughing. “I don’t remember reading about any monsters in World War II, Lance. Come on, man.”

  “As real as this game is supposed to be, Chuck, it isn’t the real World War II. It’s still a game.” Lance frowned. “So yeah, I think we’re going to be fighting monsters.”

  Chuck nearly choked on his latest mouthful of meat as his eyes bugged and he went pale. “Seriously? Monsters?”

  “That’s what it looks like based on this gear,” Lance said. “Our mission is to shut down a new secret weapon project. We all know that Hitler was crazy about occult stuff. Would it really be that far of a stretch if this game wasn’t a World War II simulator at all but rather a period-piece, monster-fighting game?”

  “Oh crap,” Chuck breathed.

  “Monsters, Nazis, does it matter?” Kristen injected. “Whatever comes at us, we’ll have to kill it if we want to get out of this game.”

  Derek must have woken up at some point during the conversation because he sat up in the bed and gently slid out of it, leaving Payne asleep. “I take a nap and suddenly we’re monster hunters? What the heck? The guy who sold me this game didn’t say anything about monsters.”

  “It’s sounding more and more like he barely told you anything about it all,” Lance snapped.

  Kendal heard the anger in Lance’s voice. He knew he had to change the subject or Derek would soon be bleeding on the floor of the cabin.

  “All that matters is we’re here now,” Kendal said. “Derek may have brought the game, but we each made the choice to interface with it without really checking it out. That’s on us all. Let’s not forget it either. We need to stay focused and work together; otherwise, we may as well go ahead and start digging our graves right now.”

  “As much as I would like to grab up one of those guns and put a bullet in Derek, Kendal is right, Lance,” Kristen said with a sigh. “We can deal with him when we get back to the real world.”

  Kendal saw that Lance was really making an effort to keep his temper in check. He hoped Derek was smart enough to keep his mouth shut and not push him.

  “Anything else in the gear that we should all know about?” Kendal asked before Derek could make the mistake of opening his mouth.

  “Yeah, there’s a map.” Lance opened a small, metal tube and slid the map out of it. He spread it across the top of the table and looked it over. “It appears to be of the area we’re in. This X…” he stabbed the mark on the map with his finger, “seems to be where we are now.”

  “And the other one?” Kristen asked.

  “I guess that’s where we’re supposed to be headed,” Lance answered. “Given the fact that this cabin is where the X is on the map, I’d say this map is a tool provided to us by the game that will continue mark our location as we move.”

  “That’s pretty cool,” Chuck said.

  Kristen moved to stand near the table and lean on it with her palms against its top looking down at the map. “Not really,” she said. “That other X looks to be a long way from where we are.”

  “That’s a lot of Nazi-filled woods to trek through.” Kendal ran his fingers through his hair. It was a nervous tick of his that he often did when he needed to concentrate.

  “It sure is.” Lance scowled at the map as if he wanted to rip it up and kick over the table to let out his frustration. “We’re going to have to get started as soon as the sun comes up.”

  “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a car or truck we can steal along the way.” Chuck had finished his tin of meat and his words were distorted by the backside of his hand wiping at his lips.

  “Chuck…” Kristen shook her head sadly.

  “How many cars do you think we’ll find just sitting around out here in the woods during the middle of a war?” Lance asked. “This is a rural country in the 1940s, not a modern-day zombie apocalypse.”

  “Oh.” Chuck finished wiping at his mouth. “You’ve got a point there, I guess.”

  “Come to think of it, we haven’t seen anyone else around these parts,” Kristen spoke up.

  “True, but we haven’t exactly covered a lot of ground yet either,” Lance countered. “Depending on where and when this game is set, we might eventually come across a resistance cell though. They would be more than willing to help us, and Lord knows we could use all the help we can get at this point, even if it’s just information.”

  “Like you said, we’ll get started in the morning then.” Kendal glanced over at the window and the darkness beyond it. “There’s nothing else we can do tonight anyway but try to make sure we’ve all accessed whatever skills and knowledge the game gave each of us as we entered.”

  “Roger that.” Lance did his best to smile, but Kendal could see that he was really worried about what the dawn would be bringing with it.

  ****

  Lance was taking his turn on watch as the night was coming to an end. He had refused the chance to get some sleep. Kendal had tried, but even with having the bed to hims
elf, he couldn’t rest. He was too fired up from everything that had happened since they entered the game for his mind to settle down. Eventually, he had given up and moved to sit on the cabin’s floor near the fire, concentrating on unlocking the skills the game had downloaded into him.

  “Kendal,” Lance called to him. “Come over here.”

  Lance’s voice was tense. That wasn’t a good sign. Kendal carried his rifle with him as he approached Lance and the window. The sun had barely begun to rise, its first, early rays beginning to pierce the darkness.

  “Take a look at the trees around the edge of the clearing,” Lance ordered him.

  Kendal moved past Lance to nearly press his face up against the glass. Squinting, he could just ever so slightly see the outlines of shapes amid the trees. Kendal almost screamed as he saw that the shapes were those of men. Lance grabbed him quickly, shaking his head furiously.

  “The others don’t need to know yet,” Lance whispered in his ear.

  “Those are German soldiers, aren’t they?” Kendal kept his voice as quiet as Lance’s.

  “Yes and no,” Lance told him. “Keep watching them and tell me what you see.”

  “They’re not moving at all,” Kendal replied. “It’s like they’re statues or something.”

  “They haven’t moved since I first spotted them over an hour ago,” Lance said. “Do you realize how cold it has to be out there?”

  “Pretty dang cold,” Kendal answered.

  “No human could stay that still for that long in those temps and not move at least some,” Lance informed him. “Here.” Lance slipped a pair of binoculars into his hands. “Take a closer look at them with these.”