War of the Damned (Relic Hunters)

by Martin Ferguson

  A mechanical arm tries to grab me, clawing into my cheek before I can force it off. The warm blood spreads across my face, but I stand my ground and keep fighting until we hear an almighty roar from the facility. A giant bursts through the remains of a facility window and then charges straight for us.

  ‘However far the train has got, that’ll have to do,’ I warn as I barge down two of the undead to reach the motorcycle. ‘Emma, get on!’

  I hand her the trigger as she climbs onto the back of the bike behind me, the engine thankfully starting up on first attempt.

  ‘GO!’ she and Abbey yell.

  ‘Hit it!’ I tell Emma and she activates the trigger.

  I send the bike hurtling forward, dodging through the wreckage of the Nazi base and masses of undead.

  ONE. TWO. THREE.

  A reaper charges us but I swerve clear, barely missing it by an inch.

  FOUR. FIVE. SIX.

  Bullets ricochet around us.

  SEVEN. EIGHT. NINE.

  The giant is right behind us, roaring and reaching out, smashing down anything in its path as we head towards the tunnel out of the base.

  TEN. ELEVEN .TWELVE…

  ‘Maybe I messed up the trigger,’ Emma cries. ‘We have to go back.’

  I’m about to agree, but before I can count to fifteen, we feel the shockwave of the blast, the German ammunition igniting brilliantly. Water gushes through the breaches in the cavern and great sections of the mountain tear free and crash down.

  ‘Don’t slow down!’ Abbey warns.

  ‘Not planning on it!’ I reply with the giant still right behind us.

  Water gushes down the tunnel behind us as more and more sections of concrete and rock fall from the ceiling. I don’t let go of the accelerator and never touch the breaks, relying only on my instincts to navigate the tunnel.

  ‘You did it! The whole mountain is coming down!’

  ‘Yep!’ I yell back as the tunnel begins to fall.

  Behind us, the giant is struck by a massive piece of falling rock, and then he is utterly engulfed by the collapse of the tunnel.

  ‘Keep going!’ Emma shouts, tightly pressed against my back.

  ‘C’mon, c’mon!’ I yell to myself, urging the bike on with everything it has.

  ‘Take the next tunnel left,’ Abbey advises.

  ‘You sure?’ I ask.

  ‘Trust me!’ she yells.

  I trust her, making the hard turn into another tunnel, which is much tighter and narrower than the train route.

  ‘Where are you taking us?’ Emma asks.

  ‘A short cut,’ Abbey replies. ‘Ever since you entered the mountain, I had your headset conduct a survey of the all routes.’

  Abbey’s short-cut has led us to a ledge running parallel with Hitler’s Steel Beast.

  ‘Get us down there,’ Emma shouts.

  ‘Yes, boss,’ I reply, urging the bike on until we are just ahead of the train. I wait for the right moment and then send the bike off the ledge and down to the train tracks, just ahead of the locomotive. The train horn blares repeatedly, Cecylia signalling in triumph as we see the light of day ahead of us.

  53

  CORPORAL ANDREW COOPER—Free. Somewhere in Germany

  We travel through the tunnel, Jenkinson not slowing once until we reach daylight on the far side. When we emerge, it is into the ruins of a battle. Burning tanks, shell craters, and bodies litter the ground. A tank shell explodes to our flank and Jenkinson brings our truck to a sudden stop with hands raised. Ahead of us are a dozen British and American tanks with infantry support. We all step out of the truck with hands raised in surrender, hoping they recognise we are not Germans.

  ‘We’re British!’ I shout out and the infantry quickly approach us. I cannot believe my eyes when I see that they are from the First Suffolk. They gather around us, greeting us and calling out for medics and doctors.

  ‘Andrew Cooper, I don’t believe it!’ a voice shouts to me.

  ‘Captain Grayburn,’ I say in surprise before he suddenly hugs me with his one good arm.

  ‘I thought you and the others were dead,’ he says.

  ‘We almost were,’ I reply. ‘Captain, the mountain, don’t go in there.’

  ‘I have orders…’ he begins to say.

  ‘Bring the mountain down,’ I reply. ‘Block every single tunnel into that place. The Death’s Head Division is inside there. Bury them, Sir. Please, trust me. You don’t want them getting out into the world.’

  He holds my gaze for a moment before nodding in agreement, trusting me. The captain passes the orders up the line, and shortly after, the tanks open fire along with artillery from the rear. The mountain is pounded and great sections of rock fall and cover the entrances, the horrors within trapped.

  ‘Thank you for trusting me, Sir,’ I say, as Captain Grayburn and I watch.

  What is left of my section and the surviving prisoners watch and cheer with each explosion.

  ‘Over these past years you have certainly earned more than my trust,’ the captain replies before looking to the mountain.

  ‘What happened in there?’ he asks.

  ‘I can’t explain it, Sir,’ I reply. ‘I thought I had seen the worst of humanity during this war, but… we lost a lot of good people. McClair, Taunton, Baker, and…’

  ‘Lathbury?’ he asks.

  I cannot bring myself to answer.

  ‘I am sorry,’ Grayburn says. ‘I know the pair of you were close. He was a good man. They all were.’

  ‘The best,’ I reply with a forced smile.

  ‘We’ll get you some food, water, and uniforms, soldier,’ Captain Grayburn says as he summons a sergeant to carry out his orders. ‘Then we’ll get you back to England and your families.’

  ‘No, Sir,’ I decline. ‘We cannot go, not yet. Not until this whole damned war is over.’

  ‘You misunderstand, my friend,’ Greyburn says with a broad grin. ‘It was announced yesterday. Hitler is dead and the Germans have surrendered. This mountain was one of the last Nazi holdouts.’

  I cannot take it in. These last days are a blur and now the news I have waited so long to hear. Doc Baird quickly appears and I make sure he sees to Jenkinson, Myhill, Jacobs, and Waters, the last of my section. They were all I could save.

  ‘We’re going home, Myhill!’ Jenkinson cheers, hugging his friend tight. ‘We’re going home!’

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ the marksman says in shock. Waters and Jacobs are the same, none of us able to truly take in the news we have waited so long to hear.

  I fall to my knees, tears streaming from my eyes as it finally sinks in.

  ‘I’m coming home, Maggie,’ I manage to say. ‘I’m coming home.’

  54

  ADAM—Absolutely shattered. The ruins of the Winterbourne Base, Germany

  I sit there in exhausted silence with my eyes closed, waiting for the painkillers to kick in. My head, chest, arms, and legs all ache. I have a dozen cuts including my stab wound but they are all bandaged along with a shot of antibiotics to fight off infections.

  All around me is the ruin of the Winterbourne base camp; much of it was destroyed when the German military arrived. Winterbourne quickly abandoned the site when they realised they faced greater numbers and tried to burn any record or incriminating evidence. Thankfully, the commotion gave enough of a distraction for Emma and Matt to enter the mountain.

  The ground makes for my seat, my feet warming by the dying embers of a fire. What is left of my body armour lies in a heap next to me along with my ruined bow and torn up backpack. Two empty bottles of water litter the floor with a third already in my hands.

  ‘You okay?’ I hear Matt ask, taking a seat next to me with an arm around my shoulders. I can hear the weariness in his voice and opening a single eye reveals that his burnt armour is gone, leaving him in his British Museum operational uniform. It was the uniform that saved him, fending off the flames that enveloped his body armour over top. His baseball cap sur
vived too somehow, his one constant. He has a few bandages of his own over his chest and neck where the flames breached his armour.

  ‘Do you prefer the name Flame-Grilled or Barbecued?’ I ask.

  ‘Roasted has a good ring to it,’ he says, wincing as he sits beside me. I offer him my water but he turns it down, a bottle already in his hands.

  ‘You didn’t answer me,’ he says. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘What do you want me to say?’ I reply. ‘I was kidnapped, taken into a lost Nazi base filled with monsters, and beaten half to death by the undead colonel who created the beasts – and worse of all, I thought you and Emma were dead.’

  ‘Not a typical day, was it?’ Matt forces a laugh. ‘Perhaps Karl Lehmann was right and we shouldn’t have tried to hunt down those trains.’

  ‘Maybe.’ I chuckle, wincing from the pain in my… everywhere.

  ‘Survived though, didn’t we?’ Matt says. ‘We always manage that.’

  One day, we won’t, I think to myself but dare not say it aloud.

  ‘It’s a funny thing to see,’ Matt says. ‘Watching a mountain collapsing in on itself.’

  ‘You should have seen it from the inside,’ I reply. ‘

  ‘Try being set on fire,’ he says, hitting me in the arm as he chuckles. His laughter quickly stops, his tone becoming more serious.

  ‘Must’ve been a helluva thing for Emma,’ he says, ‘seeing the flames on me after what happened to her folks.’

  ‘Despite that, she still helped you,’ I say. Anything for family.

  Emma approaches but doesn’t say a word, simply slumping down behind me and resting her head against my back. It’s a good job she didn’t hear us talking about her.

  ‘You all ri…?’ I begin to say before she silences me.

  ‘No talk, just rest.’ Emma sighs. ‘After all this, I could sleep for a week.’

  The three of us just sit there for a while, not speaking. I close my eyes and imagine I am somewhere else, a beach maybe. Under the sun’s rays, my pains lift away. Of course, that might just be the painkillers kicking in.

  ‘Cee okay?’ Matt asks, breaking the peaceful silence.

  ‘She’s better than okay,’ Emma replies with a yawn. ‘She’s having great fun bossing the military about over her new train.’

  ‘Her train?’ I ask with a chuckle.

  ‘That’s what she says. As the first one to drive it in over seventy years, I can’t blame her for claiming ownership.’

  ‘Here you are,’ Dave moans as he drops down next to us, warming his hands by the fire. He takes my offered bottle of water and downs most of it in a single go.

  ‘I wish Gabriel was here,’ he says shifting, so he is lying on his back, arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight. ‘I guarantee he would’ve had some booze on him.’

  ‘How’s the wife?’ Matt asks.

  ‘Ex-wife,’ Dave says. ‘She’ll be fuming when she wakes up. The military have taken her into custody over what happened in Berlin. She’s on her own now.’

  ‘Is she herself again?’ I ask.

  ‘Looks like it, so far,’ he replies. ‘Won’t know for certain until she wakes up – it might be hard to tell the difference.’

  ‘It was a good thing you did, bringing her back,’ Matt says.

  ‘I had to,’ Dave replies. ‘For my little girl’s sake, if nothing else.’

  ‘Hey, guys,’ Abbey says, patching into our earpieces. ‘I have bad news. It looks like Doctor Zajak escaped.’

  ‘Really? How?’ I ask.

  ‘Smashed her truck straight past the military cordon,’ Abbey replies. ‘The truck was found in the woods nearby with no sign of the doctor.’

  ‘Colonel Steinhardt warned that she would continue his work,’ I say.

  ‘That’s a problem for another day,’ replies Matt.

  ‘The German military is continuing the search for her and the rest of Winterbourne,’ Abbey explains.

  ‘They won’t find them,’ I say.

  ‘Sadly, I think you’re right,’ she says. ‘How are you all?’

  ‘Still alive,’ Matt says. I see him rummage through his backpack before producing his notebook. A smile escapes my lips when I see that book, knowing it started my entire involvement with the British Museum. Matt begins scribbling his coded notes of what he saw in the mountain. I wonder how many more adventures he has recorded in those pages.

  ‘Try not to lose it again,’ I tell my brother, before feeling Emma’s head slump against me.

  ‘She asleep?’ I ask the other two quietly, feeling Emma’s slow, heavy breathing against my back.

  ‘Yep,’ says Matt in a hushed voice.

  ‘I’ll be joining her soon,’ Dave murmurs, a snore quickly escaping his lips soon after.

  ‘Matt, take a picture,’ I joke, pointing at the slumbering Emma at my back. ‘It’d be a great wind up.’

  ‘She will kill us both,’ he replies. ‘This is the first any of us has slept since before Museum Island.’

  ‘That’s a no, I take it?’ I ask with camera-phone at the ready, but he doesn’t answer.

  ‘Hi everyone,’ Cecylia greets us as she walks over

  ‘If it isn’t the lady of the hour,’ Matt says.

  ‘I didn’t do anything special,’ Cecylia says blankly.

  ‘You got Hitler’s Steel Beast running and saved countless pieces of art and treasures that were thought lost,’ I reply. ‘I’d count that as pretty special.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have survived that place if it wasn’t for you,’ she replies. ‘Thank you, all of you.’

  She hands Matt a leather-bound book with a Nazi insignia on its cover.

  ‘What’s this?’ he asks.

  ‘I found it in the colonel’s private quarters amongst his many writings of the occult,’ Cecylia explains. ‘I thought it might be of interest. Among the pages are names and photographs of the British and American soldiers taken by the SS Totenkopf Division.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Matt replies. ‘Maybe we can offer some closure to families who don’t know of what happened to their loved ones.’

  Cecylia nods in agreement and I know she is thinking of her own ancestors.

  ‘What happens to the train and its cargo now?’ I ask.

  ‘That will depend on the new owner,’ Matt says, gesturing to Cecylia.

  ‘I have contacted Professor Lainson, who is making her way here as we speak,’ Cecylia replies.

  ‘I’m sure she will be ecstatic over the finds,’ I say of the Monuments Men descendant.

  ‘She was when I spoke to her on the phone,’ Cecylia says. ‘We will work together in returning the treasures to their rightful owners. It might take years but I vow it will happen.’

  ‘Your family would be proud,’ Matt says. ‘If you ever need it, I’m sure there would be a place at the British Museum for you. We’d all gladly give you a recommendation.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she says. ‘Your efforts in this will not be forgotten, I promise you.’

  A member of the German military summons Cecylia with more questions about the train and its cargo, so she makes her goodbyes and is gone.

  The four of us, with Abbey still in touch at the museum, remain where we are, exhausted, filthy, bruised, and bloody. My eyes close and sleep very nearly claims me before Matt nudges me with his elbow. I open my eyes and see that the colonel’s journal is open in his lap, a photograph of a group of prisoners in his hand. Matt’s eyes are open wide in shock, mouth unable to find words.

  ‘What is it?’ I ask him.

  He doesn’t reply with words but points to a single photograph.

  I scan the image, a dozen prisoners marching at gunpoint into the mountain. I see what has stunned Matt straight away. It’s the eyes I see first, black and staring. There’s the same ragged dark hair and pale skin with veins as pronounced as twisting tattoos. He looks no younger or older than when I faced him in the Vatican. I state his name, barely able to believe it.

  ‘Vladimir Makov
.’

  The Relic Hunters

  Will Return In…

  BLOOD OF THE DRAGON

  Historical Note

  The Suffolk Regiment fought throughout the Second World War European Campaign. They faced the blitzkrieg in France 1940 before being evacuated in what was to be known as the miracle of Dunkirk. They trained in England and Scotland in preparation for what would be their return to France on D-Day, 6th June 1944. On that fateful day the regiment would distinguish itself by capturing the Morris artillery battery and the Hillman Fortress, feats which are barely mentioned today, but without these accomplishments, the British Army would have struggled to secure a beachhead in Normandy and therefore the entire invasion would have been at risk. The ‘bloodiest square mile’ of the war in the battle of Chateau de la Londe was also a true event. Facing heavy enemy shell fire and counter-attacks, the regiment took the objective but at the cost of one hundred and sixty one men killed, wounded, or missing.

  The Suffolk Regiment was made up of incredible men who gave everything for King and country and faced all the Germans could throw at them time and again. They carried out impressive feats in the face of terrible conditions, against an enemy that would not yield a single yard without a fight. I hope that their inclusion in this book goes some way into ensuring that their deeds are not forgotten.

  I did borrow a few of the regiment’s anecdotes, with the soldier dousing his trench in petrol and the officer knocking on the turret of a German tank, all events mentioned by several sources in the ranks. Sadly Corporal Andrew Cooper and E and F Companies were inventions, the battalion only being formed of A – D companies, though I am glad the companies and the regiment itself did not have to suffer the fate of facing Colonel Steinhardt.

  The SS Totenkopf Panzer Division, or Death’s Head Division, was a real division in the German army. Thankfully, it is not known for the occult happenings which occur in this book, but there was one moment of infamy I reference. This was the La Paradis Massacre of 1940, where a large group of Norfolk Regiment soldiers surrendered to the SS Division after running out of ammunition. Ninety-seven of the Norfolk Regiment were executed with only two escaping. Many of the SS officers were appalled by the actions of the company commander of the unit, Fritz Knochlein. Knochlein would face trial for war crimes in 1948 for which he was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.