‘Animals keep finding their way into my formulas,’ Steinhardt states with tired frustration.
Doctor Zajak looks down at the dead body analytically. ‘Your formulas enhance what is already present?’ the doctor says, taking a step towards the colonel. ‘But variations give you differing results, I’m guessing. Have you tried absorption through the lungs via inhalation?’
‘This is a key aspect of my plan,’ Steinhardt replies with surprise. ‘Payloads, which will create gas clouds with the potential to transform entire populations have already been prepared.’
‘With additional compounds, and variances in oxygen and hydrogen, the effect on the bloodstream could be accelerated greatly,’ Zajak says, enthralled. She takes another step closer to the colonel.
‘Doctor Zajak, what are you doing?’ Veitnar scorns.
‘I presume you have investigated the concentration of your serums and formulas?’ she asks. ‘The stronger the dose, the stronger the soldier?’
‘It seems I have met a like mind,’ the colonel says. ‘Concentrations are an interest but too high a dosage and the patient becomes unstable. It has a damning effect on the control element too. Tell me, Doctor Zajak, do you wish to learn more of my findings? What you have seen is merely the surface.’
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘You have done more in your seclusion inside this mountain than a thousand scientists and researchers. I wish to know everything you have learned.’
‘And you shall, my dear,’ the colonel replies, ‘but first, a test of faith. Choose one of your group to experience the advancements only I can provide.’
Zajak turns towards us and I see the maddened gaze in her eyes. The woman we knew is gone, replaced by someone free of her own shackles. I know instantly who she will choose.
‘Doctor Zajak, stop this madness,’ Professor Veitnar says.
‘He’s sealing his own fate,’ I whisper to Dave, who nods.
‘You,’ she says, pointing at the professor and advancing towards him. ‘For every time you belittled me, berated me, shunned me and my ideas.’
The rest of our group edges away as she faces up to Veitnar.
‘I am your mentor,’ Veitnar pleads, backing away dangerously close to the edge of the gangway. ‘I taught you everything. I made you who you are.’
‘I guess that is true,’ Zajak says, placing a hand on the cheek he struck.
‘Natalia, please,’ he cries.
‘It is far too late for that,’ she says, before pushing him hard, down towards the vats below.
The professor is engulfed by the boiling chemicals and his screams soon silence. Moments later, the inhuman wail of a Reaper comes as the once professor returns with flailing arms that end with monstrous claws.
‘To hell with this,’ Follia says, reaching for her blade. She is stopped as the Nazi undead swarm us.
‘Take them,’ the colonel orders his undead army. ‘I will select those for our tests myself, beginning with the large one and the woman with the foul mouth. You will join our legion and I will assimilate your technology with our own. When the time is right, the world will be reminded of the true Reich – and you will be a part of it.’
44
CORPORAL ANDREW COOPER—Prisoner. Somewhere in Germany
It’s impossible to keep track of time in the dark pits of the cells they hold us in. We are stripped of all clothing and kit, but our army identification tags remain hanging around our necks. Our hands are shackled in chains. We are given no food and our only water pours down from above. We cannot rest or sleep in the downpour. The space is its own torture, but if that wasn’t enough, the colonel and his men take great delight in torturing us, beating us with fists and clubs. They force our hands into boiling water, press hot pokers to our flesh, and pull the teeth from our mouths. They hang us for their amusement until we are moments from death and play with us like we are a child’s toys. I have lost two teeth and just as many fingers. The bastards took their time about it too.
Corporal Allen of the missing platoon we were sent to find is in the cell, a shadow of his former self. He was a wretch of a man before, but now he is terrified of everything and everyone around him.
‘They killed them,’ he repeats to me every once in a while. ‘They killed all my lads. Turned them into monsters.’
‘Stay quiet,’ I hiss, not wanting him to scare my lads.
‘Lieutenant Clarke was here,’ Allen mutters. ‘As was a bunch of our men captured by those bastards. They were in worse shape than me. None of them got out of here alive. They’ll kill us all. We’re in hell. The devil burns me for my sins.’
‘Shut up!’ I raise my voice and Allen is silenced.
Lathbury, Jenkinson, Myhill, McClair, Jacobs, and Waters. We are all that is left of the Suffolk 1st. Waters is sobbing. Jenkinson and McClair argue. Myhill prays. Only Lathbury remains silent, despite my attempts to get him to speak.
‘Do not despair, my friend,’ a voice calls to me from the darkness. ‘All is not lost. There is always hope.’
This encouragement comes from another prisoner bound by more steel and iron than the rest of us combined. His head is encased in a metal mask, his arms sheathed in iron gauntlets that cover hands. Though the guards torture the rest of us, they leave this man alone. Every now and again, the Nazi scientists will enter the cells and draw blood from him, but that is the only punishment he is subjected to.
‘What do you mean?’ I ask. My words are barely a whisper, exhaustion taking my voice.
‘Their time will come,’ the masked prisoner says through his helmet.
‘I just wish they’d realise the war is lost,’ I reply. ‘Germany is falling.’
‘These monsters are not Germans,’ the captive replies. ‘Do not make that mistake. Our captors are SS. They are Nazis. They are the worst humanity has seen for centuries.’
‘And what of you, friend?’ I ask. ‘How did you come to be here?’
‘Now that is a tale,’ he replies. ‘Not one for today.’
‘But why do they take your blood?’ I ask.
‘For all their false wisdom, their technology and stolen riches, their only true treasure flows through my veins.’
‘What is your name?’ I ask.
‘Vlad,’ he replies.
‘Russian?’
‘Something like that,’ he says.
We fall silent as guards enter the room, praying we are not picked for torture, or worse, chosen for experimentation.
‘These two,’ one of the guards says, pointing to McClair and me.
‘No, no, don’t do this!’ screams McClair as they unchain him and start to drag him away.
‘Stay strong, lads,’ I tell them as I am also unchained. ‘Don’t let these bastards see fear from you. We survive together.’
‘Andy…’ Lathbury tries to call to me.
‘See you on the other side, Bob,’ I reply.
45
ADAM—Terrified captive of Undead Nazi, Germany
‘Evil bastards!’ I yell as the undead drag away another of the Winterbourne operatives to experiment on. There are only five of us remaining now. Dave, Cecylia, and I, and two of the Winterbourne mercenaries. Our wrists are bound in rusted iron shackles, our captors choosing one of us at a time for their tests.
‘So brave,’ Cecylia whispers beside me. ‘If only you weren’t a guy.’
‘Very funny,’ I say.
‘I wasn’t joking,’ Cecylia replies.
‘Save your energy, you two,’ Dave scolds. ‘You’ll need it if we’re going to get out of here.’
‘And what exactly is your grand plan?’ Cecylia asks.
‘Well, Adam has been working on his shackles for the last ten minutes with that picklock he smuggled in here,’ Dave replies.
‘It’s a letter opener actually,’ I reply. ‘Swiped it from Hitler’s train. Not having much luck with the lock though. I’ve only managed to cut myself with it so far.’
‘And what do we do if you ever get us f
ree?’ Cecylia asks.
I note how her breathing has become raspy and difficult without her inhaler. ‘We have no weapons…and no way out of here….’
‘You’re a ray of sunshine, Cee,’ I jest.
We hear gunfire in the distance and the shots are growing closer.
‘Sounds like someone is resisting,’ Dave says. ‘Follia would be my bet.’
‘Could be another Winterbourne team,’ I suggest as I continue to work on my shackles.
‘Maybe,’ agrees Dave. ‘Whatever it is, we need to take advantage of it and get you two out of here when Adam gets us free.’
‘Just…us?’ Cecylia questions. ‘What…about…you?’
‘He can’t leave the mother of his child behind,’ I state. ‘He’s too good a guy to do that.’
‘You know me too well.’ He chuckles.
‘Protector, mentor, grumpy uncle-figure,’ I say, before the lock of my shackles clicks open, ‘and of course, always a believer.’
‘Get us free, kid, quick,’ Dave says.
I free him, Cecylia, and the two Winterbourne operatives, who we’ve discovered are called Scott and Tessa. With her hands free, Cecylia recovers her inhaler from her pockets and takes several long doses. The cell door takes even less time to unlock than the shackles, and once open, I check no guards are lurking beyond the door.
‘We need to stay quiet and out of sight for as long as we can,’ I instruct.
‘Use that gunfire as a distraction,’ Dave adds.
‘Are you two with us?’ I ask the Winterbourne operatives.
‘No way,’ replies Scott.
‘We’ll take our chances on our own,’ says Tessa.
‘Fine,’ Dave replies. ‘I didn’t want you covering our backs anyway.’
Tessa and Scott hurry out of the cell, taking one direction while Dave, Cecylia, and I take another.
‘Hopefully, they’ll just be another distraction,’ I say. They distract while we act and make our getaway.
We keep low and move quietly down the dark corridors, stopping at every sound. We see a few of the undead Nazi soldiers and members of the recon team, but they pass without spotting us. We make it past the chemical vats and into the officer’s quarters before we are forced to stop again.
We take cover in the quarters of a Captain Schulz, finding a dagger and a rifle untouched in decades and without ammunition. Dave takes the rifle and I give Cecylia the dagger; I’m still only armed with the blunt letter-opener. We hear the screams of those being subjected to the colonel’s tests in the distance. Cecylia struggles to control her breathing, using her inhaler more than a few times. Dave peers into the darkness towards the medical chambers and I know he is looking for any sign of Follia.
‘So far, so good,’ I say. ‘Now if we have a little more luck, we will…’
At the doorway to the room stands one of the reapers, its mangled and distorted body rising as it lets out a single long wail.
‘You were saying?’ Cecylia asks me.
‘Stop it!’ roars Dave, charging and striking the creature hard with the butt of the rifle. The rifle cracks against the Reaper’s skull but it simply roars and leaps at the former-soldier, crashing into him and sending them both colliding into a table. I jump towards them, kicking the beast with both feet and sending it sprawling back across the room. It recovers quickly, and despite Dave clubbing it with a broken table leg, the Reaper just keeps coming. I bring the table top down and slam it into the creature, dazing it for a moment before a dagger flies across the room and impales in the beast’s throat. Before it can react, Cecylia throws herself at the fiend, stabbing the dagger down again and again. She only stops when the Reaper stops moving.
‘I hope that was Veitnar,’ she says, breathing deep from her inhaler to regain herself.
‘What was that?’ I ask.
‘Self-defence,’ she replies. ‘I vowed never to be a victim after what happened to my family. I was waiting for my time.’
‘Let’s get moving then,’ Dave says. ‘That wail might’ve summoned more of them.’
‘You’re right,’ says Cecylia, as a pair of reapers charge towards the room.
I pick up the letter-opener and make ready for a final showdown – but it never comes. Gunfire tears across the corridor and the reapers are torn apart.
‘Stay back!’ I yell at the gunmen with blunt letter-opener raised.
‘You’ll need more than that puny thing.’ I recognise the voice instantly.
‘Matt!’
He is in full combat gear, body armour in place and weapons drawn.
‘I thought you were dead,’ I cry as I rush to him and hug my brother tight.
‘We thought you were, too,’ Matt says.
‘But we didn’t give up on you,’ adds another recognisable voice. Emma. I recognise the tiger across her body armour first. When I go to hug her, she doesn’t resist.
‘It’s good to see you, too,’ Emma whispers with a smile.
‘What happened to you?’ Dave asks as he greets the pair.
‘As we were getting out of the train in the lake, we saw Bishop with the rocket launcher,’ Matt says. ‘We knew we were the target.’
‘We used the train as a shield,’ Emma explains. ‘Keeping it between us and the blasts was the only thing that saved us.’
‘How’d you get down here?’ I ask.
‘We alerted Abbey and Charles and they contacted the German government,’ Matt says. ‘Charles explained that those who raided Berlin were here. They launched a full attack on the Winterbourne base and dig site. We went with them on the proviso we enter the tunnels.’
‘I wish you’d brought the German military down here with you,’ Dave says.
‘Me too,’ Emma agrees. ‘What are those things? Undead Nazis?’
‘Yeah, catch us up will you,’ Matt asks.
I brief Emma and Matt on what we’ve learned so far, knowing that even as I say it, I sound like I’ve lost my mind.
‘Here, these will help,’ Matt says as he and Emma unshoulder bags, including my backpack.
‘I thought they sank with the train,’ I say in surprise, finding my leather jacket, pen-knife, body armour and compound bow all undamaged.
‘All cases, including your backpack, have been fitted with counter measures similar to a life-vest thanks to Tristram at the museum,’ Matt explains. ‘They floated to the surface of the lake. It’s lucky they weren’t destroyed in the explosions.’
‘Don’t mention luck,’ Cecylia warns him.
Matt and Emma keep watch as Dave and I prepare. I pull on the body armour and my jacket over top before securing my quiver of arrows over a shoulder. I secure smoke grenades and my wire bolas in my pockets. Lastly, I extend the compound bow and test its cord, ready. I see Dave is prepared too, body armour secured with combat shotgun over his shoulder and assault rifle primed.
‘Why does Adam have a bow yet the rest of you have guns?’ Cecylia asks.
‘Have you ever seen him shoot a gun?’ Emma asks.
‘Ah, I see,’ Cecylia says, obviously recalling my attempts in the tunnels.
‘Missed you too,’ I tell Emma, drawing a smile from her.
‘Where’s your glasses?’ she asks. ‘Don’t tell me you lost them! Abbey will be furious if you…’
‘Hang on, they’re right here,’ I say, taking them out of the overalls. ‘They’ve been dead ever since our train took a jump into the lake.’
‘Try them again,’ Emma urges.
I do as she says, and to my surprise, the headset activates; readings and information flashes across the lenses along with giving a clearer image via infra-red night-vision.
‘I activated a failsafe to ensure they didn’t fall into enemy hands,’ Abbey’s voice comes in via the earpieces of the glasses.
‘I’ve missed you most of all, Abbey,’ I say, laughing.
‘I’m just glad to see you’re all okay,’ she replies.
‘You know how to use a weapon, Cee?�
�� Matt asks Cecylia.
‘I know the inner workings and how to operate a handgun,’ she replies, taking one from him along with ammunition. ‘I have never actually fired one in anger before though.’
‘Today might be a first for you then,’ Emma says.
‘You good?’ Matt asks me.
‘Ready for some payback,’ I say. ‘Whether it’s Winterbourne or undead Nazi soldiers, it doesn’t matter.’
‘And there was me worried about you.’ Matt laughs.
‘I honestly thought you were dead,’ I say in all seriousness.
‘We’ll talk after, yeah?’ he says. ‘For now, we need to get out of here, and figure out how to get that train out, too.’
‘Get me to the train,’ Cecylia says. ‘If you have any explosives with you, I have an idea how to get it moving.’
‘Got a bunch in my bag, especially for this man,’ Emma says, handing them to Dave.
‘We’ll need them to bury this place under the mountain,’ he replies. ‘We can’t let a single one of those things get out of here.’
‘Agreed,’ we all say.
‘I cannot leave here without Follia either,’ Dave adds.
‘Really?’ Emma asks. ‘You’d risk your life for that lunatic! She tried to have Matt and I killed!’
‘I understand,’ Matt says. ‘Despite everything, she is the father of his child. We will help if we can.’
‘Thank you,’ Dave says.
‘Ready?’ I ask.
‘Yeah,’ Matt replies, reloading his assault rifle.
‘We survive together,’ Emma says, unable to hide an excited grin.
‘I cannot wait to get out of here,’ Cecylia adds.
‘Let’s do this,’ Dave says lastly.
46
ADAM—Ready for payback, Germany
Armed and ready, the five of us advance out of the officer’s quarters. There is only one way through to the train and that is past the medical facility. We have to go through the colonel and his undead.
War of the Damned (Relic Hunters) Page 25