Die Glocke

by M C Drake

  The rest of Hawk flight had reached the deck, the helicopters hovered just above the ground, the National Guard soldiers had to jump; Hawk flight was not hanging around.

  A bright projectile of superheated light leaped out and flew true towards the vulnerable helicopters. It impacted on Hawk six and sheared clean through the rotor blades, they split into pieces, the explosive blossom from the round spread outwards and the helicopter shattered; sending hundreds of pieces of shrapnel in a three hundred and sixty-degree arc. The soldiers had nowhere to go and were peppered by the pieces of hot metal.

  “Man down, man down!”

  “Medic.”

  The remaining men jumped out of the choppers as quickly as they could, they flung themselves to the deck to avoid any incoming fire. Hawk’s one and three lifted away and accelerated as quickly as they could.

  Hawk eight was still dropping off troops when another flash of purple light raced out from the distance, it flew passed the rear of the Huey; the air sizzled in anger.

  “Shit, that was close!” The pilot shouted. He looked over his shoulder and when he saw that the last man was clear he pulled the stick back and powered up into the sky.

  Another three rounds sprang out towards the climbing aircraft, the first one clipped the bottom skidpad, the metal melted and buckled under the strain of the heat but the round did not explode, the second round hit the tail portion of the aircraft and tore it right off, smoke trailed from the Huey as it went into a spin. Alarms sounded in the cockpit as the pilots lost control.

  The reporter that had accompanied the National Guard had his head in his hands as he lay sobbing on the floor, the cameraman was crouched down and caught the final moments of Hawk eight as it span into the turf, the helicopter hit hard but did not explode; the pilot was killed instantly on impact but his co-pilot only suffered a broken pelvis and bad lacerations to his head.

  Hawk ten lifted clear of the carnage and raced away as low to the ground as possible, it desperately followed Hawk’s one and three.

  “Has anyone got sight of the enemy?” Sergeant Roderick asked.

  “Negative sir.”

  “We can't see shit sir, whatever it is… It seems more interested in the choppers.”

  “Get a defensive perimeter set up, we need to take stock of the situation so I want everyone to check ammo, go.” Sergeant Roderick ordered.

  Hawk nine had stopped responding to radio calls and was busy trying desperately to avoid the glowing orbs that homed in on it with unnerving accuracy. Thunder rocked all around them, shortly followed by the violet lightning flashes. The pilots ignored all of this and raced further away from their mission.

  Finally, the thunder dulled, the lightning seemed to retreat like an eel returning to its cave after striking out at prey, the orbs stopped following the Huey and just appeared to float aggressively on the spot. The pilot let out a sigh of relief as he wiped beads of sweat from his face.

  A stream of superheated light spat out in a long line towards Hawk nine, the pilot managed to bank slightly to the left and avoid most of the rounds, a few hit the right-hand side of the fuselage and burnt large black holes out of the metal.

  “Where the fuck did that come from?” The pilot shouted.

  His co-pilot let out a cry and pointed to their left, “Passing us eleven o'clock high.”

  Two fighter jets roared passed in standard formation, they were a dark grey color and appeared not to have any insignia on their short stubby wings, each wing housed one engine that glowed a radiant purple.

  “Who the hell are those guys? You see where they went Mitch?”

  The co-pilot struggled to look over his shoulder, he caught the fighters just as they rolled inverted then came up behind the Huey.

  "They're right on our six, get us out of here!"

  The pilot began weaving the Huey left and right in a totally desperate attempt to shake off the hostile jet fighters.

  The led fighter slowed his aircraft down and eased into the perfect firing position, the pilot waited for a harsh beeping sound to ring in his ear and then pulled the trigger. An arrow of bright pink light arced forward and rushed towards the helpless helicopter, the round flew straight and true and impacted on the main body of the Huey; it detonated in a brilliant white light and the American helicopter was blasted out of the sky.

  The fighters banked in a sharp right turn and raced after the last three Huey's.

  Living fossil

  The cameraman swung his hefty lens around, trying desperately to track the two fast moving jets but they streaked by and were out of sight in the blink of an eye.

  Suddenly all hell broke loose, bright streams of purple fire washed over the area, the air sizzled and cracked, the men laid flat, hugging the ground as best they could as the rounds burnt and scorched the area all around them.

  "Where is that coming from?" A young soldier shouted.

  “From in front of us, we need to lay down some covering fire!” Sergeant Roderick said, “We need to get to that burnt out service station, give us some shelter and somewhere to mount a viable defense.”

  “What about the wounded, we can’t risk moving them.” The medic shouted as he applied another dressing to steam the bleeding.

  The whole area seemed to be alive with angry purple fireflies; they filled the air and peppered the limited cover that the National Guard had. The men tried to return fire whenever they could but the volume of incoming fire kept them from getting any coordinated resistance going.

  “Lay down a couple of smoke grenades, once they provide us with cover we are going to make a dash for that closed restaurant. Don’t argue, we are going to have to move the wounded.”

  The medic nodded but he did not seem too pleased with Rodrick’s plan.

  “Ok now!” The Sergeant shouted as he got to one knee and fired a couple of bursts down range. The fire focused on him long enough that his team managed to throw three smoke grenades.

  Rodrick dived to the floor as the luminous rounds filled the air that he had just vacated milliseconds before, he let out a scream as the uniform on his shoulder started to burn; a single round had scraped him on the very top of his shoulder.

  "You lucky bastard," Jones said to him, he crawled over and checked the wound. It had burnt itself closed and did not bleed. Jones gave his Sergeant the thumbs up.

  The smoke billowed out and gave the men some much-needed shelter, they ran for it, the wounded were put on stretchers where possible but many were just thrown over the retreating men’s shoulders.

  Large glowing projectiles cut through the smoke and detonated on the area where the men had been just a few seconds earlier, it was completely vaporized and shards of heated rock flew into the air.

  More and more rounds flew blindly through the smoke but miraculously none of the men were hit. They got into the ruins of the restaurant and immediately took up positions where they could provide defensive fire; Sergeant Roderick finished the sweep of the building.

  “Clear!” he shouted.

  "We have to get out of here sir, we can't compete with the firepower they have!"

  "Who are we even up against, I ain't ever seen anything like it?"

  Roderick sighed, his men were right they were in over their heads. "Alright." He said, "Get on the radio; we need some support or an evac.”

  “Yes, Sir.” The radio operator said.

  “Sir!”

  “What now private?”

  “Look through the smoke, there…and another one.”

  "Shit," Roderick muttered.

  Through the clearing smoke, the ominous figure of a tank appeared, followed by another and then another. They appeared to be large battle tanks.

  The cameraman was still filming and got a good shot. The reporter still cowered at the back of the restaurant, his eyes firmly clamped shut.

  The three tanks came into view, their shape was familiar. "Can't be!" Roderick said.

  “What is it sir?”

  Roderick
shook his head, “They look like Tiger I’s but they can’t be.”

  “Are you saying they are German Tiger tanks? “

  The first tank’s gun swiveled slightly, the barrel pulsed a furious purple and while the machine was still moving, it fired. The round flew forwards and sliced through the front of the roof; it exploded and a ball of superheated light expanded. The front of the roof disintegrated.

  The technician back at the base turned to his superior officers, “They are requested immediate fire support or Evac? They are in the shit Sir’s!”

  The two men in black shook their heads; they were focused on the images of the tanks in front of them.

  “Tell them we need as much Intel on what we are up against as possible. We regret there is no fire support available at the moment.”

  The technician looked at them in horror; he looked at his Commander who just nodded. “Do as they ask.”

  The radio operator threw down the receiver in disgust, he turned to the Sergeant, “We’re on our own sir, the bastards have sold us out. They want Intel, are they fucking mad!”

  Another round shook the building, the right-hand wall collapsed inwards; a cloud of dust washed across the men.

  The Tiger tanks continued to fire and move; they were followed by an ever growing amount of soldiers in black-clad armor. The National Guardsmen returned fire as best they could but it was clear they were outnumbered and they had nowhere to run.

  “We are not combat effective; we have to defend this position.” Sergeant Roderick said as he fired a control burst towards the enemy soldiers.

  The third Tiger tank fired, its round went into the heart of the building. The round exploded and a wave of purple washed over three of the men; instantly they ceased to exist.

  The cameraman had survived but he was temporarily blinded by the intense blast, he stumbled around trying to get his bearings. An intense pain burst through his chest, he dropped the camera as he clutched at the wound; he could not see but he could feel a warm liquid seeping across his hand and he could taste the bitter taste of copper in his mouth.

  The camera bounced one on the floor, it was still filming but the view was quickly obstructed by something falling in front of its lens. Another blast of intense light washed over the camera and then the live feed was cut off.

  Broadcast

  The silence around the room was palpable, the monitors showing the television broadcast now just showed a blizzard of white, grey and black swarming across the screen. The TV station that was showing the live report did not know how to react to the coverage that they had just witnessed.

  The men in black had seen enough, they were busy organizing a meeting with the President and his closest advisors. They made a couple of calls and after patiently demanding an urgent meeting; they finally got what they wanted.

  The two men turned to the rest of the room and placed down beige colored folders in front of everyone present.

  “Please read the information contained in this document, it is vital you understand it. This will brief you on how to handle the outcomes of what you have witnessed today. The public will know soon enough but you are not to speak to anybody about this under any circumstances. Is that clear?” They chimed in unison.

  The people in the room did not speak but managed only to nod slowly.

  “Good, you have all done well.” The men in black said blandly as they went to the leave the room.

  The monitors in the room snapped to life and the camera zoomed onto the face of a very stern looking man with beady black eyes. The man wore a dark black cap with a silver skull and bones logo and a large eagle holding a swastika that caught the sunlight and glinted into the camera lens.

  “What the hell, who the hell is that?” One of the technicians shouted.

  The men in black turned back and looked at the figure on the screen, their faces were emotionless apart from a flicker of a smile that lasted less than a second.

  The man on the TV looked into the camera as a smile formed over his sinister face.

  "Good morning America and what a wonderful morning it is indeed." The man said in good English despite his thick German accent.

  “I know you will be wondering who I am and why am I speaking to you, that will be explained in due course but first I have something to show you.”

  The image of the man disappeared and was replaced with a chilling scene. The camera panned over the bodies of American soldiers; a lot of the bodies were badly burned while others had a look of fear and pain imprinted on their cold looking faces.

  “Early this morning these men were sent to attack us, our forces responded quickly and without mercy.” The German narrated.

  “Shit.” One of the technicians in the control room said, “That’s the National Guard we sent in!”

  “Shh.” The men in black responded.

  The screen changed back to the man proudly wearing the SS uniform.

  “All military actions against us will be met with the same result, overwhelming and unrelenting force, there will be no mercy.” The man’s expressions changed into what looked like an evil grimace. “The general population should not resist our requests; it would be unwise to do so.”

  President Nixon rushed into the emergency meeting room where his military advisors were sat waiting for him; they were all fixated with the television broadcast. Nixon took his seat.

  “How long has this been going on for?” He growled.

  “Three minutes.”

  “Where is this broadcast coming from and has anyone confirmed its authenticity?”

  “Working on it Sir.”

  Nixon shook his head and just watched.

  “This is the beginning of a wonderful new era; today we are laying the foundations for the only true master race to take their rightful place as rulers of the world. Those foundations were wrongfully destroyed and desecrated two decades ago.” The man spat onto the floor.

  He then sighed.

  “Some of this was our fault, our leadership fell under the curse of drugs and fucked themselves over into oblivion but you, you were the ones who violated our land and destroyed our people.” The anger was clear in the man’s voice but he quickly calmed down and began to smile again.

  “Well now America you will feel what we felt, you will be helpless as our forces overrun your land and you will witness the Reich rising again, the flames from this phoenix will destroy the vermin that have been allowed to populate every corner of society.”

  The man looked directly into the camera, his piercing dark eyes narrowed, "While I have been addressing you our forces have finished taking all of your land-based nuclear weapons facilities. We are aware of your nuclear submarines but you will not use them on your own country. If you do we will have no problem turning your entire infested country into a nuclear wasteland that will never recover.”

  Nixon turned to his advisors, “Is this true?”

  The military advisors tried to contact the nuclear bases but none of them responded.

  “Sir we cannot raise any of the bases.”

  “Shit, keep trying!” Nixon shouted, “And for the love of god get this fucking broadcast shut down, the last thing we need is mass panic!”

  “We are trying Sir but it seems like it is on every channel, we can’t get it off of the air.”

  Nixon slammed his fists down hard on the table.

  The images changed from the broadcast and showed full bodied armored soldiers with guns at multiple nuclear facilities in the United States. In the center of the soldiers was American serviceman that had been restrained."

  The German started to narrate once more, “Let us be clear America, this Country is ours and just to make sure you completely understand the gravity of your situation. Fire.”

  The soldiers in the images raised their weapons and opened fire in a blaze of pink light; the rounds tore into the helpless people and their bodies slumped to the floor, blackened by the intense heat.

  “Have a good day, Com
mander Sporrenberg out.”

  The screens went black.

  There was a stunned silence in the emergency room in the White House. Similarly, the room where the men in black stood was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. The technicians held back tears.

  The men in black spoke briefly. “Gentleman we are at war. Get something to eat and some rest but stay on call. We are going to need all the help we can get.”

  The men in black left the room and promptly disappeared.

  The room exploded in a round of applause.

  “Our new Commander, wonderful speech Sporrenberg, just fantastic.”

  Sporrenberg turned to face the man, “Thank you advisor, I am going to my room now. Do not disturb me for a while; I trust you can handle the inevitable backlash?”

  Sporrenberg failed to notice the spark of intense disgust and fury that was on his advisors face that lasted less than a millisecond.

  “Yes Commander that will not be a problem.”

  “Good.”

  Sporrenberg stormed back to his room and dismissed the guard from outside the door. As the former SS man entered his room he was pleased to see the gift waiting for him on his bed. Pamela was handcuffed to the bedposts, she had been cleaned up and was just wearing a slim white thong, and Sporrenberg could see all of her glorious curves in full.

  Sporrenberg smiled as he undid his belt and started to wrap it around his knuckles.

  “You are not going to enjoy this but don’t worry, at least I am going to enjoy it immensely.”

  Pamela did not respond she just looked around the room in a daze; she was unable to focus on anything.

  Sporrenberg placed his hand under her chin and force her head upwards, he looked deep into her eyes and smiled.

  The men in black

  The incident room in the White House was now in full overdrive; military generals had arrived from all the major bases and were busy arguing amongst themselves. Who were they fighting against, where did they come from? How had they taken so many important strategic positions without anybody noticing?