Time War: Onslaught

by Nick S. Thomas

  They heard the raging gunfire outside, and Corwin rushed back out to the bike. He lifted one of the ammo boxes from the car and loaded it into the machine gun. He ran out into the street but stopped in his tracks at what he saw. All of the jeeps were parked up in a crescent shape around the largest building in the town, across the thoroughfare from the hall. Every single one was firing into the building with everything they had. The six-pounder rang out and blew another hole in the lower floor. Part of the ground above it collapsed, and four Germans were thrown into the street dead. Corwin didn’t even go for cover. There was no need, and he simply stood casually and watched the slaughter.

  “What is that building?” he asked.

  “The barracks.”

  The Brownings were finally empty, and the six-pounder fired one last shell that blew another entrance through the side of the building. Porter looked happy with himself and went to load in another shell.

  “Stop!” Corwin called out, “Let’s move in, sweep and clear. Leave none alive.”

  He went forward, and most of them disembarked, except a few who remained to reload and man the Brownings. More than a dozen bodies lay in front of the structure where they had been shot as they rushed out to engage the vehicles, or were blown out by Porter’s artillery piece.

  “You sure did a number on this place,” said Corwin, approaching the gaping hole where the main doors used to be. He stopped when he noticed some movement in the distance. It was Frasi slipping in through an open window, carrying nothing in his hands but a knife. He was going door-to-door and killing without a sound.

  “Chas, Vi, Rane, with me, the rest of you spread out. I want every single building in this fucking town gone through!”

  They split off as he stepped through into the building. It was littered with dead soldiers. One was still breathing but bleeding profusely through a neck wound. He lifted his pistol and fired a shot to kill the man instantly.

  “A clean death is more than these dogs deserve,” said Celine.

  But Corwin shook his head.

  “You’d have it another way?”

  “I would torture them to the very end so that they might know a little of the suffering they cause.”

  “No, we are soldiers, not psychopaths. Or do you want to become like them?”

  “When you have seen your friends and family raped and tortured, you might understand.”

  It was hard not to be sympathetic, but Corwin knew it was best left. He carried on through a hole that had been blasted into the next room. Several body parts were scattered about the place where the HE shells had blown the occupants apart. Everywhere he looked there were dead bodies and holes through multiple walls where the Brownings had torn through with ease.

  Corwin finally found the staircase that would lead them up to the next floor, but as he took the bend, a shot from up the stairs skimmed his arm. He ducked back and looked down to see that it had drawn blood.

  “Motherfuckers!”

  He pulled the pin on another grenade and launched it up the stairs with tremendous force. A few seconds later the charge blew, and they felt the walls shake as part of walls inside collapsed. It was clear that large parts of the building were weakened.

  “Fuck going through his place,” he said and drew out a charge of C4, placing it on one of the supporting walls.

  “Get to it. Let’s bring this thing down. Two-minute fuses.”

  Vi smiled as she drew out charges from a bag slung over her shoulder, and the others carried on through the ground floor of the structure.

  “What are you doing?” Celine asked in horror.

  “What needs to be done, I’m not willing to waste time going room to room with these bastards. We could be here for hours.”

  “So you’re going to take the whole building down?”

  He grabbed her by the arm and led her back out the way they had come. Two soldiers rushed in to block their way, but Corwin sprayed them with the machine gun he still had in hand. Firing from the hip single-handedly, he was able to keep it in check and killed them both with a single burst. He almost had to drag Celine along, but she could do little to resist. He took her back to the convoy to find the gunners still firing bursts into any targets they could see.

  As they approached, a bullet struck Travers in the left arm where he was manning one of the guns, and he dropped down into the vehicle wincing in pain. Corwin spun around and fired a burst into the window where he’s seen a glimmer of movement. He rushed over to Travers.

  “I’m all right,” he said defiantly.

  Corwin lifted his hand away from the wound. It had a clean entry and exit.

  “You’ll be just fine. Now take a look at this,” he said and pointed back to the barracks.

  Vi and Chas were running back towards them.

  “Where is Rane?” Corwin asked.

  As he was speaking, a huge section of wall collapsed out into the street, and Rane came barrelling through where he had created a new exit.

  “What the hell?” Travers asked, “No man could do that.”

  “No, because we are more than that,” replied Corwin.

  Rane headed towards them with more speed than anyone would expect from his size, but still not fast enough to reach them before the charges blew.

  “Run!”

  But time had run out. The first charge blew, and several others followed until the whole lot went up with a massive explosion. Corwin ducked down behind the cover of the jeep. He felt the vehicle rock as Rane was hurtled into the side by the force of the blast. A hail of debris and shrapnel showered down upon them until it began to settle, and Corwin got up to survey the scene. Dust still clouded everything, but as it began to clear, nothing remaining of the three-storey building other than a large mount of rubble.

  “Holy shit,” Travers said from the seat of jeep, “You know I thought you were a covert operations team? This isn’t particularly subtle.”

  “Well there are times for subtlety, and then there are times when we are needed,” Corwin said, sounding almost flippant.

  He went around the vehicle to check on Rane. He found the hulking man slightly embedded in the side of the jeep where he had caused the body to buckle. He put out his hand and helped him up. He wasn’t hurt at all.

  Travers looked at the damage, and the unscathed Rane, and shook his head.

  “You aren’t like the rest of us, are you… human, that is?”

  “We are that and a little more.”

  Celine was looking around at the carnage as the odd few gunshots rang out in the distance from their team going house to house.

  "Are you happy now? Will you do what you promised?" Corwin asked.

  She looked a little stunned.

  "We have cleared this place of the enemy. It's yours to take," he added.

  She shook her head.

  "No, there is no coming back here. Not until this war is over. The Germans will be back, and if they find us here, we will be all killed."

  "Whatever, will you lead us to Dohman?"

  She seemed to have trouble taking in what he was saying.

  "All this death, I never..."

  "Never what? Expected us to succeed?"

  She knelt down beside the body of one of the town’s people who was dead on the road beside her.

  "What is that?"

  Corwin kicked his foot against an armband on the dead man's clothing. He couldn't have been much more than eighteen years old.

  "It is the Milice, an army formed in France who are pro-Nazi and who fight against the resistance."

  "They fight their own people?"

  "Is it that surprising?" asked Beyett, "We have seen enough of that in our own life times."

  "I knew him. His older sister was a good friend of mine."

  "Do you regret asking us to do this, Celine?"

  She wept a little and then shook her head.

  "No, I just wasn't ready for it."

  "There will be a hell of a lot more killing before th
is war is through, on both sides. Want my advice? Get the hell out of here."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Leave France. If it can ever be set free, it will be years, and while the Germans remain and locals help them, you will not be safe."

  "Would you leave your home country so easily, Captain?"

  He shrugged.

  "Yes."

  But he knew it was easier for him. He had never truly called somewhere home like she had known. He looked up. Beyett was pointing to his watch in an attempt to push things forward.

  "We have done our part of the bargain, now you must do yours. Will you lead us to Dohman?"

  She got up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

  "I will show you where he is, but nothing more. I am sorry I doubted you and your people, but you must know that we do not have your strength. We cannot get involved in whatever you are about to do. The repercussions would be more than we can bear."

  "Then lead the way."

  CHAPTER 9

  "Still think this is a good idea?" Travers asked.

  They were on a ridge overlooking a town not too dissimilar to the one they had almost raised to the ground that morning. The rain had cleared now and visibility was good. It was far better patrolled than the previous one. Corwin lifted his binoculars to evaluate the scene further.

  "Good idea or not, it's got to be done."

  He could see a few dozen Germans in the square at the centre of the town. But still only a few odd patrols protected the outlying areas. He stopped as he noticed something stand out in the distance.

  "What the hell is that?"

  He looked closer and could just see what looked like parts of vehicle tracks sticking out from a line of bushes.

  "Armour?"

  "Not this far south. We don't see anything tracked around here," Celine said.

  "Yeah, well then explain to me what it is I am seeing."

  She took the binoculars and studied it for herself.

  "I don't know. Maybe some old French vehicle, but it looks abandoned either way."

  "Abandoned or camouflaged," Beyett said.

  "Forever the optimist," added Corwin.

  He turned and looked back to Lecia, as he knew she had a better eye and had been studying it through her riflescope.

  "I don't see why it should affect our mission whatever it is."

  "And if it is heavy armour?"

  "Well, Travers, then I guess we'll have to deal with that if the time comes."

  "Deal with it? I remember dealing with them in 1940, and they've come on some way since then."

  "Fair enough, then let's do this quick and quiet."

  “Quick and quiet? When have we ever managed that?” Beyett asked seriously.

  Porter began to laugh, and Corwin realised how absurd a concept that was as he looked around at the team he commanded.

  “What do you think, Lecia?”

  Corwin trusted her opinion more than any of them.

  “Worth trying to do this without a fight. I say we send in two on the bike, and see if they can get in without a fight. Meanwhile, Frasi and me will work our way into the town, locate the bastard, and haul him out. Job done!”

  Corwin sighed.

  “Close to a solid plan, but you aren’t going in there without me. Celine, which house is Dohman in?”

  She pointed without hesitation, and Corwin lifted the binoculars for a better view. It was a luxury two-storey cottage with very little grounds. An open top Mercedes staff car was parked out front.

  “Figures,” said Corwin, “Okay, the bike goes in first, and if it makes it past the first gate, Frasi, Lecia, and I will go in on foot. The rest of you will stay on the outskirts and be ready to create the mother of all diversions if the shit hits the fan. Volunteers for the bike?”

  No one said a word.

  “Beyett, you are going. You have a better chance of being convincing as a German than any of us here. Who’s going with him?”

  “I will,” replied Harland.

  “Not a fucking chance,” snapped Corwin, “You’d have us wading through bodies within minutes. No, for this we need someone with at least a little subtlety.”

  “Something to create a little distraction, do you think?” Chas said, and she stood up, popped a few buttons open on her shirt, and struck a provocative pose.

  Corwin smiled, “Something like that, maybe.”

  But his appreciation did not go unnoticed by Lecia.

  “Sure this is a good idea?”

  “What, you don’t think she is a convincing enough whore?”

  Lecia had nothing else to say.

  “Nylund, you will go with Beyett. You look like you have enough of a stick up your ass to be one of those Nazi bastards.”

  That got a few laughs, but not from Nylund. He could never take a joke that involved him.

  “Just remember, the aim is to get past the guards and free of them. We don’t want any hangers on, okay?”

  “I got it, Boss,” replied Chas in a sexy voice as if she was already in character.

  “Okay, if this thing goes to shit, then we rendezvous back at Celine’s camp, you got that?”

  They all nodded in agreement.

  “But the rest of us, what do we do?”

  “Just make sure you’re ready to cover our asses if things go to shit.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yep, that’s exactly it.”

  “And you think it will?”

  “I don’t presume to know anything, Sergeant, not about a mission with so many variables. All I do know are the basic rules of surviving this kind of cluster fuck. Assume the worst, plan for a complete fuck up, and you might just be okay. Anyone got any more questions?”

  There was no response.

  ‘Then you know what you have to do. If we hit trouble, and you think you can make a difference, you get in there sharpish and give us a hand. But if things are going bad, and you’ll know when they are, you get the hell out. Back to the rendezvous and reassess, you hear?”

  “Get real,” replied Harland, “You fail at getting this asshole and it’s all over. So we don’t stop until the mission is complete.”

  Corwin reluctantly agreed.

  “All right, then let’s make sure we don’t fuck it up. You all know what you have to do, so get to it.”

  He followed Nylund and Beyett to the bike and waited while they pulled on the uniforms they had captured.

  “Stay calm,” he said, “Remember they don’t expect any trouble. There is no risk of resistance in these parts. If you turn up in the right kit and look like you should be there, you should have no problems at all. And, Beyett, remember who you are playing, a German officer, and one who doesn’t take any crap. So you don’t take it off anyone, anyone at all. You understand that?”

  Beyett buttoned up his uniform and put on his cap. Corwin was genuinely impressed. They both looked the part.

  "All right, throw me a radio. Nobody moves until you hear my order."

  Travers passed him the hulking piece of equipment that was backpack size, and he threw it over his shoulder.

  "Chas, you're going with them, too. You never know, that distraction might come in handy after all."

  Lecia looked unimpressed as if she expected to be able to do just the same, and he could see it in her eyes.

  "I need you and your rifle where you can do what you do best," he said to reassure her, but he was also speaking the truth, "You see that church tower, that is where you and I are going. Frasi, just... oh, hell, do what you want."

  He knew there was no point being any more precise. Frasi did pretty much what he wanted, but he at least did it well.

  "Nylund, you go on my say so. Rest of you do nothing unless things get really bad. We aren't here for a fight, but if the need arises, you come in like hell fire, you got that?"

  "We'll be there," replied Harland.

  He took one last deep breath and then went onwards into the valley below on foot. The deep folia
ge covered their advance all the way to the outskirts. That was just as well, as the sun was shining brightly now, and the visibility was clear for many klicks around. Corwin looked around cautiously as they went forward as if expecting to meet trouble in any moment, and yet Lecia strolled along as if she was taking a casual walk in a park.

  "You think anyone is watching?" she asked him.

  "Maybe."

  "Don't you think we might have known about it by now if there was?"

  He shook his head.

  "There is no one," stated Frasi with the utmost certainty.

  "There you go," replied Lecia.

  There was a wall ahead between two buildings. It was as tall as a man and made of stone. Frasi went right up and leapt onto it with the precision of a cat. He perched there for just a second before leaping inside. Corwin and Lecia jumped on after him. They hauled themselves up to look over at where they would be landing just for a moment and found Frasi slowly lowering the body of a German soldier with his throat slit. They jumped in after him and landed softly.

  The German still had his rifle on his shoulder and cigarette lighter in hand. Frasi hauled the body over and through an open door.

  "They'll come looking for him soon enough," whispered Corwin.

  "Then let's get this done," said Lecia as she went forward towards the church holding just her rifle. Corwin couldn't believe her recklessness. He drew out his HDM and rushed on after her.

  They reached the church to find the wooden door ajar. Lecia pushed it and stepped on through where a priest stood before them. He said something in French that meant nothing to Corwin, but the man did look a little startled.

  "We aren't Germans," said Corwin quickly before Lecia could get any words out in French.

  "No, I wouldn't believe that you are," the priest responded in such perfect English with only the faintest of French accents, "but what on earth are you doing here?"

  He was well spoken and clearly highly educated in the way he spoke.

  "We have come for a man."

  "Just one?"

  "That's right."

  "I suspected it might be too much to ask that you have come to rid us of these vile wretches."

  "Give us time. Right now you can give us a hand and make that time a little sooner."

  "What can I do?"