Coming to the end of the building, Shaw got down on one knee and peered around the corner. Aside from Zach’s trail, the path ahead was clear. Cursing the seemingly endless snowfall, Shaw stood up and then stepped out into the open. He knew from memory that the generator was located near the vehicle park. Although he couldn’t see it yet, he knew he was getting close.
Suddenly, he froze in place and then slowly got down on one knee. Looking about, he knew something unseen had triggered his response. A second later, he saw them. Lying face down in the snow were two German soldiers who must have been on duty when the camp was attacked. He had no doubt in his mind that the imposter, disguised once more as Freytag, had killed them both. Warily, he moved over to the corpses. A dark pool of blood had spread out from under the bodies. Bending down, Shaw rolled the closest soldier’s body over and saw that his chest had been cut open. Shaw knew that having missed its chance to feed on him that the imposter had gone in search of another victim. Rolling the dead soldier back over onto his stomach, Shaw stood up and peered into the night. An uncomfortable feeling of being watched crept up his spine. Holding his weapon tight, Shaw turned about and looked behind him. There was nothing there, only his and Zach’s tracks in the snow. Swearing under his breath, Shaw knew that he was tired and scared. Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him. No, it was more than that. He knew to listen to his instincts. They had kept him alive so far.
The sound of the beast still moving around inside the weather station office devouring its prey made Shaw’s skin crawl. He had to get moving. Picking up his pace, he moved straight towards the vehicle park.
Vogel looked at the people standing in the dark with him. Aside from himself, he had Bruce, Anna, and three worried looking soldiers, all loaded down with weapons and ammunition. He quickly briefed his men on what they were going to do and then repeated himself in English for Bruce. His plan was to skirt the outer perimeter of the camp using the mess hall for cover as they made their way to the barracks. When he asked for questions, there were none; everyone was just too scared to ask what would happen if the beast came after them. They all knew that it would be every man and woman for themselves.
Vogel said, “Right then, I’ll lead, followed by you two and then my men.”
Anna swore to herself. She was hoping that they would be last, so she could try and help Bruce escape. Anna could see that Vogel was no fool; he had placed them among all the Germans. He knew exactly what he was doing. They were still his prisoners, even if, for the moment, they were temporary allies.
“What about the SS Major?” asked Bruce.
“He can rot in hell for all I care,” replied Vogel. “He deserted his men. I’m not going to risk the lives of my men looking after that piece of shit.”
With that, Vogel, holding a pistol in his right hand, stepped off. Anna and Bruce followed close behind, while the three frightened German soldiers brought up the rear.
Before long, they were cautiously moving along behind the mess hall. The sound of the weapons and equipment rattling around troubled Bruce. As he was fond of saying, he wasn’t a soldier, but with the noise they were making, he knew that they wouldn’t hear anything coming their way before it was too late. Praying that they would make it to the barracks alive, Bruce began to wish that Vogel would pick up the pace. Every second they were out there meant another second for the beast to finish its meal and then begin afresh to look for more prey.
Reaching the line of parked trucks, Shaw let out a deep breath. Knowing that the imposter could be anywhere or anyone right now made Shaw grow cautious. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake, not when his friends’ lives were in his hands. Moving slowly down the side of the trucks, he soon passed the gaping hole in the fence where the beast had first appeared. Stopping, Shaw looked out into the night. At first, he thought it was his tired mind playing tricks on him again, but then he saw it move. A darkened shape paced back and forth as if guarding the way in or out of the camp. It was too far away to tell what exactly he was looking at, but the goose bumps on his flesh told him that there was another beast out there, perhaps waiting its turn to feast.
Realizing that there was nothing he could do about it, Shaw began to run. His heart began to race in his chest. The only thought in his mind was reaching the generator shed before anything else went wrong.
A couple of seconds later, Shaw saw the generator shack and picked up the pace. He could see the door was open and footprints led inside. Slowing down, Shaw stopped at the entrance and tried to get Corporal Zach’s attention. He didn’t want to call out and startle the soldier. The idea of being shot for no reason was not something that Shaw relished, nor did he want the beast to know that he was alone out there either. Quietly calling out Zach’s name, Shaw took a deep breath and then stepped inside the shack.
“Give me your weapon,” said a voice in the dark.
“With that thing on the loose out there, there’s no way in hell that I’m giving this up,” replied Shaw. “Kill me if you must, but I’m not giving this up until the camp is secure.”
From out of the darkness stepped Zach, his rifle aimed at Shaw’s head. Looking over the rifle’s scope at Shaw, he said, “Fair enough. Once this is over, you will surrender your weapon to me and resume your role as a prisoner of war.”
“Agreed,” replied Shaw, knowing full well that once the beast was dead, he intended to make a run for it with his friends.
Zach lowered his rifle. “The generator has been trashed. All the wiring has been pulled from it. I doubt that it will work ever again.”
“It’s not a total loss,” said Shaw as he looked around the shack.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you and I are going to make some Molotov cocktails. Hopefully, we’ll be able kill or drive off the creature.”
Zach nodded his head and then looked around for a full jerry can of gasoline while Shaw moved to the side of the generator and began to empty several jars filled with spare parts. Before long, they were busily making their bombs. Stopping for a moment to cut off a piece of his scarf as a fuse, Shaw wondered if his friends had made it to the barracks alive.
Although they hadn’t gone far, Bruce was profusely sweating under his parka. He was sure it was a combination of fear and the weight of everything he was carrying. In front of him, he could see Vogel peering around the side of the mess hall. The distance to the barracks was only about a dozen yards, but if they were caught in the open by the beast, they wouldn’t make it five feet.
Vogel turned about and told them that it looked clear and that they were going to make a run for it.
Bruce’s heart began to pound away. His mouth turned dry. He had never been so scared in his life. Taking a deep breath, he edged up close behind Vogel and waited for the word to run. A hand reached out and touched his shoulder. Looking back, he saw Anna trying to put on a brave face.
“We’ll be all right,” whispered Bruce. “Just a few feet more to go.”
Anna smiled and nodded her head.
Waving his hand for the others to follow, Vogel stepped out from behind the building took another quick look to see that the way ahead was clear and then began to jog towards a side door on the barracks.
They had barely gone ten feet when all hell broke loose.
Suddenly, a darkened figure stepped out from the shadows by the barracks and opened fire with his submachine gun. Dozens of bullets tore through the air. Most went wide, but some hit with deadly effect. Vogel was the first to fall, quickly followed by Anna and one of the German soldiers. Bruce spun about on his heels and saw Anna on the ground. Throwing himself on top of Anna, he tried to protect her from the lethal fusillade.
The instant that the firing stopped a voice called out in German asking who they were.
“Is that you Max, you fucking idiot,” replied one of the unwounded soldiers, recognizing the man’s voice. “You just shot Major Vogel and two other people. I think Hildebrandt is dead.”
A seco
nd later, a bewildered looking soldier ran over and saw what he had done. “I…I was on sentry near the front gate with Lance Corporal Steiner when the camp was attacked. I thought you were the enemy,” stammered the soldier, looking down at the lifeless form of one of his friends.
“Well, we’re not the fucking enemy,” yelled the soldier. “Now give us a hand getting everyone inside before anyone else gets killed.”
Bruce pulled Anna towards him. He feared the worst. Looking down at her face, he nearly leapt for joy when he saw she was still breathing. With a weak smile, she opened her eyes and said, “I was only grazed. I seem to only have bad luck these days. My left leg feels like it was struck with a red-hot poker, but I think I’ll live.”
“Thank God for that,” said Bruce, carefully helping her up on her feet. Placing an arm under her waist, they started to move as quickly as they could for the door.
A loud roar burst forth from the beast. It had heard the firing and smelt the fear in the air. Leaping up, it landed on top of the wrecked roof of the building. Turning its head, its genetically enhanced eyes saw a cluster of heat moving through the swirling snow. Instinctively, it knew that it was more prey milling about in the open. Letting out a bloodcurdling cry, the beast leapt down and then began to move towards its quarry.
Propping himself up with his right arm, Vogel saw the beast moving towards them. “For God’s sake, get me inside the barracks now,” he called out to anyone who would listen.
Hands reached out and grabbed Vogel’s jacket. Immediately, he felt himself being dragged through the snow. Raising his right hand up, he aimed his pistol at the beast and opened fire. He knew that he was hitting the creature, but it never once flinched, nor slowed.
Anna and Bruce were first at the door. They had barely crossed the threshold when they were accosted by the men inside the building. They could see the beast coming towards them. Hurriedly grabbing the rifles from Bruce’s back, they quickly loaded them with the ammunition from their packs.
Outside, the soldier who had shot at Vogel stood fixed to the ground, his eyes wide and terrified as the beast moved slowly towards him. Reaching down, he removed the empty magazine from his submachine gun and then fumbled on his belt for a full one. Finding one, he rushed to place it in his weapon. He was a second too slow. With a monstrous roar, the beast leapt forward, knocking the doomed soldier off his feet. His weapon flew out of his hands and landed somewhere in the dark. Instinctively, he brought his arms up to protect his face as the beast opened its wide, blood-covered mouth. Placing a paw on the soldier to pin him down, the beast leant its head down and sniffed the man. Fear was all it smelt and the powerful aroma made it hungry. Letting out a roar from deep inside its chest, the beast opened its wide mouth.
“No,” screamed the soldier as the beast shot its head down, easily pushing the man’s arms aside. Clamping its powerful jaws around the man’s head, it snapped closed its mouth, instantly pulverizing the soldier’s skull. From inside the building, the horrified soldiers heard the sharp snap of bone being crushed and watched helplessly as blood and gore spilt out all over the snow.
Vogel was hurriedly dragged inside and propped up on a cot in the middle of the room. A burning pain radiated from his stomach. Looking down, Vogel gritted his teeth and swore. The front of his jacket was wet. Carefully, he opened his jacket and saw that the bullet had travelled clean though his body. Pulling his scarf from his neck, he placed it over the wound to try and staunch the bleeding. Vogel tried to find the medic in the crowd of men hurrying back and forth to barricade the doors and windows of the barracks. Unable to see him, Vogel realized that he was either dead or still trapped somewhere outside.
“Let me see that,” said a voice.
Turning his head, Vogel saw Anna standing over him. Pulling his hand away from his wound, he sat back and tried not to flinch while Anna examined his bloody wound.
“Major, I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do to help. If you don’t get proper medical attention for that wound, you’ll die,” said Anna bluntly.
Vogel had suspected that his wound was mortal. He knew he couldn’t leave, and even if he wanted to. He was trapped.
A worried looking soldier walked over and said, “Sir, what are your orders?”
Looking up, Vogel saw the look of alarm in Lance Corporal Steiner’s eyes. “Keep doing what you’re doing. Barricade this place as best you can. Try to make it difficult for the beast to get in here. If it does, open fire with everything you have.”
“The prisoners, sir?” said Steiner looking over at Anna and Bruce.
“Arm them as well. If it gets in here, we will need everyone we have to stay alive.”
Steiner nodded his head; he was about to leave when he removed his pistol from his belt. Handing it to Anna, he asked her to stay by Vogel. Walking over to the pile of weapons, Steiner returned with a Thompson and gave it to Bruce.
Remembering what Shaw had taught him about the Thompson, Bruce made sure that it was loaded and then moved over beside Anna. Bruce knew that he would only be in the way if he tried helping the soldiers barricade the room. He couldn’t speak German and besides, he wasn’t a soldier. When it came, Bruce resolved to sell his life fighting alongside Anna. After all he had been through with Anna, she at least was someone worth fighting and dying for.
32
Weather Station
Looking down at his handiwork, Shaw saw that he had made five small Molotov cocktails. None of the jars were very big, so the effect would be less than he had hoped for. Placing them all carefully into a haversack he had found lying beside the generator, Shaw stood up and was about to leave, when he decided to bring a full jerry can of gasoline with him, just in case he got the chance to use it. Moving to the open door of the shed, Shaw saw Zach standing there staring out into the dark, his gloved hands gripping his rifle tight to his chest.
“What is it?” said Shaw, knowing that something had caught Zach’s eye.
“There’s someone out there,” replied Zach, his voice tense. “He’s been moving around in between the trucks for the past couple of minutes. I think he followed you.
“Damn,” muttered Shaw.
“He’s been trying to work his way over here. I’m certain that he saw me in the doorway, so he ducked out of sight.”
A chill ran down Shaw’s spine. The image of the imposter’s face flashed in his mind. It had told him that it was going to cleanse the camp. It wanted no survivors to tell the world what had happened here, and it was undoubtedly using the beast to do its dirty work, thought Shaw.
The sound of the beast roaring in the dark quickly followed by a ragged volley of gunfire told Shaw that he had to get a move on if he was going to help his friends.
“We can’t stay here. Any suggestions?” said Shaw to Zach.
“I’m going to move over beside the barracks,” said Zach. “Wait a minute and then make your way over to the weather station office. Hopefully, by doing that you’ll draw him out into the open. All I need is a couple of seconds to get a clean shot off.”
The thought of being used for bait didn’t thrill Shaw, but he didn’t have another suggestion. “Whatever you do, shoot it in the head.”
Zach nodded and then as quietly as he could, he stepped out of the shack and moved quickly to the side of the barracks. Finding a good spot for observation, Zach brought his rifle up to his shoulder and looked out towards the parked vehicles. Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm his beating heart, Zach prepared himself. The hardest part was always the wait. The kill only took a fraction of a second. The wait, however, could go on for hours, but they didn’t have hours, and he knew it. Crossing himself, Zach brought his eye down to his sniper scope.
To Shaw, it was the longest sixty seconds of his life. The instant he hit sixty in his head, he was out the door and running over to the side of the building they had been prisoners in. He wanted to come in behind the beast. It would give him the best opportunity to strike it before it knew what was ha
ppening. Coming to a sliding halt, Shaw dug into his haversack and pulled out one of his gasoline bombs. With his heart racing in his chest, he edged his way around the side of the building until he could see the beast. His blood turned cold when he saw it rip out the bloodied entrails of a man lying on his back in the snow and then greedily gobble them down. His gut told him to light the bomb in his hand and hurl it at the monster, but his mind told him to wait. It wasn’t sufficiently distracted. If he missed the creature, it would be on him in seconds. Keeping to the shadows, Shaw waited for his chance to strike.
A darkened shape cautiously emerged from behind the parked half-track and stood there looking towards the barracks.
Zach saw the figure through the falling snow and quickly placed the reticle pattern inside his scope on the man’s head. Letting out his breath, he held it for a moment and then began to take up the slack on his rifle’s trigger.
With a deafening roar, the beast suddenly turned away from its meal and then charged headlong into the wooden outside wall of the barracks, shaking the building. The sound of wood snapping and splintering filled the air.
Pulling back on the trigger, Zach felt the wall he was using for support move. With a loud bang, his rifle fired. Swearing, he looked through his scope and saw the man he had been aiming at run back into the dark holding a hand to the side of his head. He took some consolation knowing that he had hit him. How bad, he had no idea, but it wouldn’t be bothering them anytime soon, of that he was certain. Ejecting the spent casing from his rifle, Zach moved to the side of the barracks and peered around the corner. His eyes instantly widened when he saw the massive beast step back a few yards from the barracks and then with a deep growl, throw itself once more headlong into the already damaged outer wall.
Incursion (A James Shaw Mission Book 1) Page 20
