Gas! Gas! Gas! (Royal Zombie Corps Book 3)

by C. M. Harald

  As a consequence, Marsh's frustration and anger frequently bled into his commands to the Tigers. A pattern quickly emerged in the aggressiveness and speed of Tiger reactions to occasions when Marsh was emotionally charged. On these occasions the Tigers moved far faster than the average human, or even the average zombie, as had been experienced outside of the blockhouse. They were more aggressive, with heightened senses, able to detect humans at a greater distance. However, the Tigers remained compliant to Marsh's will.

  Another area that Marsh and Mullen investigated early on was the issue of who actually controlled the Tigers when there were multiple handlers operating. Handlers issuing verbal commands controlled any Tigers within earshot, but with the mental commands, there was the potential for controlling Tigers at greater distance. Marsh had previously mentally seized control of newly created Tigers, and at a distance, but had never attempted to take control of Tigers operated by other handlers. Mullen quickly established that he could issue mental commands to Tigers that were under the control of Marsh. It also turned out that Marsh could do likewise with Tigers under Mullen's command. To push the boundaries, both of them tried issuing a single Tiger contradictory orders. The Tiger simply ignored both commands. As the next stage of the experiment, Mullen discovered that you could bind the zombies to the individual handler by issuing a simple mental instruction that the Tiger would ignore all other commands while under mental control. A series of exercises followed whereby they took turns in trying to break the control of the other handler. All these attempts to seize control, were complete failures.

  There was also significant development of a variety of fast moving tactics during this time. Sergeant Wells had been busy constructing a mock trench system for general training, inspired by the stories of the relentless practices the Canadians had undertaken before their successful attack at Vimy Ridge. Making use of this practice area, the two handlers developed several different tactics for use in combat. By late July, they were ready to try a few of these new tactics in combat. The human elements of the combat group were relieved when the relentless exercises and experiments finished. They had been run ragged by all the activity. It was then that Marsh had approached the Colonel to volunteer the combat group for a trial under combat conditions.

  Evolution

  "The evolution of the use of combat Tiger was stimulated by a pronounced clash between the new ways of thinking and the old."

  Regimental History of the Royal Zombie Corps (1969, London)

  After exhaustive training and preparation, Colonel Hudson managed to arrange a combat trial against a German position on the edge of some woodland. Several members of the General Staff were present, intending to observe the attack. The ground was on a slight rise, and at this particular point, no-man's-land was over 200 yards wide. Marsh was to be given full reign in the use of the tactics that he and Mullen had been developing. Should either Marsh or Mullen be incapacitated, other handlers would be on hand to ensure that a zombie outbreak did not occur. Elsewhere along the Front, a number of spontaneous zombie outbreaks had occurred during recent weeks. Each had been put down with significant bloodshed and there were fears that perhaps the enemy had triggered the outbreaks as a way to disrupt the Allied lines.

  In preparation for this assault, Wells had done his best to acquire the tools to prepare for the advance. Using aerial photographic reconnaissance, as well as maps and visits to the forward trenches, Wells had constructed a full size replica of the ground to be assaulted. He had been extremely successful in this task, and the combat group had spent several days practicing their tactics on a replica of the battlefield, every man knowing what was required of him. Below the wood, at the bottom of a gentle slope, ran a small stream. This feature was covered by three machine-gun posts, mounted in blockhouses in the German forward line. By the stream, there were a couple of forward listening posts, no doubt aimed at detecting trench raids and obtaining intelligence by listening to the daily noises of the British front line. The actual front line zigged and zagged along the high ground, the brow of the hill, with the three machine-gun posts the central features. When the Germans had pulled back to the Hindenburg line, they had the choice of the best defensive territory, and in this sector, they had chosen the height of the woodland. This advantage would forcing any advancing Allies to dig trenches on lower land that would be exposed to the fire from higher German defences.

  Two communications trenches linked the forward positions to the German second line, a further two hundred yards to the rear of what had been the woodland. This second-line featured several positions that could be machine-gun emplacements, yet they did not have a clear field of fire as the maps showed that they were on the back of the hill, not fully able to support the front trench. The final German line was a further three hundred yards back, again following the contours. This was positioned on the start of the next shallow hill, again ensuring the advantage of height. In the gap between the two supporting lines was the most interesting feature, several gun positions for mortars and light artillery, as well as a number of supply dumps and other supporting functions.

  With supporting infantry, the British objective was to take and hold the front two German lines, capturing the hilltop and exposing the support functions and the third line to direct fire. If possible, Marsh had planned a contingency in which the Tigers would lead an assault on the third line. The essence of the plan was for a rapid advance, with close infantry support. The attack would be a complete surprise, with no artillery preparation giving away a warning of the attack. The lack of artillery would mean that German reinforcements were not hindered, and it was instead anticipated that the shock value of the zombies would reduce the combat effectiveness of any enemy reserves.

  Intelligence had repeatedly confirmed that there was a widespread fear of the Tigers among the German infantry, who only had the countermeasures of machine-guns and head-shots to protect them. While it was suspected that the enemy was working on their own Tiger program, especially in light of the recent frontline zombie outbreaks, no other progress had been evident on the battlefield. However, some interrogations had revealed the deployment of small numbers of flame-throwers for use as an anti-Tiger weapon. Marsh knew this countermeasure would be effective, although probably not quickly enough to protect the defenders from the rage of a burning zombie. There had also been an absences of reports implying the deliberate deployment of gas to degrade the effectiveness of the Tigers. This was something of a relief in light of the newly discovered vulnerability of the Tigers to damage caused by chlorine.

  For the first time, Marsh experienced the unusual challenge of giving the initial briefing to the officers commanding the supporting infantry. As a corporal, he was unused to speaking to so many officers at once, and while Colonel Hudson delivered the main points of the briefing, Marsh was present to answer questions and expand on the specific details of the tactics that were to be employed. The Colonel would oversee the whole operation, but the effective command of the advance would be in the hands of a mere corporal, admittedly a corporal with a rather unique set of skills. It would be Alfie who would judge the conditions on the spot.

  One of the infantry officers had complained vociferously about this, but Hudson had quickly pointed out that existing tactics had not worked for the last three years and with this method it was essential for the lead handler of the combat group to set the pace of the assault. Speed and shock were essential and the complainant should treat any request coming from Marsh as an order from the Colonel himself. It was made crystal clear that the corporal had the full confidence of Hudson, as one of the few specialist tacticians, and one of the two advanced handlers in the entire British Army. The rank of the soldier was irrelevant, and Hudson pointedly suggested that the officer could take it up directly with one one of the Tigers if he thought he could do a better job. The officer had looked shocked and Hudson had expanded that if the officer followed the timetable for the action, it would unlikely that Marsh would need to
change the plan at all.

  'Hey Alfie, how'd it go?' Morgan asked Marsh when he returned from the final pre-attack briefing.

  'It's all go.' Marsh replied. The final briefing had gone much better than the earlier briefing to the officers. It was only hours until the attack and this time the officers had been focused by the immanence of combat, aware that if Marsh was successful, there would be far fewer casualties than would normally be the case for such an assault.

  'Where's Simpson?' Wells asked. Wells had assigned himself to the combat group, certain that he did not want to miss the opportunity to try out the tactics that he knew would be successful.

  'The Colonel has assigned Mr Simpson to act as a liaison to the infantry commander. Makes it a little more palatable for them if any instructions I send are ultimately delivered by an officer.' Marsh replied.

  'That's good news Alfie.' Wells grinned, 'Gets that idiot out of the way.'

  'Bet that's 'cause the Colonel didn't want Simpson buggering up our tactics.' Morgan thought out loud.

  'Maybe, but the man is still good in a fight.' Marsh said.

  'Don't defend him Alfie, he hates your guts.' Wells challenged.

  As soon as darkness fell, the combat group started moving into position. Marsh had convinced the Colonel to let him have twenty Tigers, almost the entire number available to the Battalion. Tiger recruitment had been going poorly. Other than a few outbreaks that had been brutally put down, few cases had been occurring in the wild and even fewer zombies were created in, and surviving, combat. Marsh had worried what would happen if they started to run out. Would the Colonel allow deliberate infection of volunteers then?

  The available Tigers were equally split between Marsh and Mullen. Each zombie wore head armour, and a quarter of them were carrying mortar rounds that could be used as demolition charges, should the need arise.

  'Know your timings?' Marsh asked Mullen just before they parted in the front trench, ready to climb out into no-man's-land.

  'Aye. Race you there,' Mullen replied, 'But quietly.' Both parts of the unit would work in co-ordination, with Mullen taking the left and Marsh the right, silently advancing towards the enemy line.

  As they crawled silently out into no-man's-land, Marsh felt the stead rising terror he experienced whenever he first exposed himself to risk. Every noise he made seemed to be magnified in the the quiet, despite distant booms from an artillery exchange somewhere else. The night was dark and while there was a new moon, the cloud cover was more than sufficient to ensure there was adequate darkness. Spread out on either side of him were his Tigers, closely followed by the protection squad. He could hear the occasional noise from them, but they were almost silent having practiced this careful movement. Yet Marsh worried that the German listening posts would hear them as they crawled past, bypassing the positions.

  As expected, it took over an hour to arrive at there assault positions. The movement was completely successful. There was no sign that the Germans were alert to their presence and Marsh waited quietly as the time on his luminous trench watch moved round to the assault time. Positioned just short of the German first trench, they could hear the enemy soldiers talking, relaxed and joking. Alfie thought about how similar the noises were to those that he made with his own friends, it was only the language that was different. He dwelt on the irony that this war was being fought against people that seemed so similar to him. Yet these thoughts did not relieve his fear, they simply increased it. He was so close to the enemy that they could hear him make the slightest sound, and he was fearful that an enemy patrol of no-man's-land could lead to the discovery of the assault team. The lack of artillery support had been regarded as a significant weakness in the plan, at least according to the infantry, and it was certainly proving a challenge to stay so silent when the guns could have masked any noise. However, Marsh was certain that the artillery would have alerted the defenders to an impending attack. This way, the Germans would be totally unprepared.

  'Forward.' Marsh thought at the appointed time, giving his Tigers a mental shove as well as further instructions to move quietly, attack quickly and with violence. His own fearful emotions would give an edge to the thoughts that drove the zombies to a higher pace.

  The Tigers rose quickly, responding to the silent command. They kept low and leapt into the trench, some directly on top of the defenders, the heightened zombie senses able to identify the warm humans without a direct line of sight. Within seconds, the Tigers had torn the life from their targets with the use of clawed hands, teeth and sheer super-human strength. The zombies did not pause to eat their prey, following their orders to move quickly, they sought to kill every single target within the trench. The defenders were stunned by the sudden appearance of the fast-moving, flesh-tearing monsters, and it was several seconds before the Germans responded with sporadic rifle fire.

  The humans in the combat group rose as quickly as their much slower human reactions allowed. By the time the first Germans started to defend themselves, the human assailants had jumped into the trench, setting about targeting any defenders who had been missed by the assaulting zombies. All the attackers were armed with either clubs, knives or machetes, and an assortment of other improvised weapons. Firearms were to be used as a last resort, ensuring that the fear felt by the enemy was maximised. This was to be an overwhelming, silent and fast attack. The only noises were the sounds of screams and shouts in German, with a rapidly decreasing rate of rifle fire. These noises would probably alert the second line and the listening posts, but Marsh was hoping that they would serve to terrify the defenders while preventing them from recognising the scale of the assault.

  Marsh found himself advancing along a stretch of trench towards one of the machine-gun blockhouses, exactly as he had planned. A Tiger moved ahead of him, rapidly despatching any defenders that dared show themselves. To his right was a deep bunker, down which he sent another Tiger. Muffled screams sounded as the Tiger killed every person in the bunker before returning to the surface, covered from head to foot in blood. Already Marsh could feel additional Tigers responding to his commands, as a number of the first Germans to die, reanimated under his control.

  The concrete blockhouse was unlocked when Marsh arrived at it. He turned the handle, pushing the steel door inwards.

  'Klaus?' asked a voice terrified by the commotion outside.

  'No.' Marsh replied, ordering a Tiger into the blockhouse.

  There were scuffling noises, pleading and screams, as the occupants of the building were rapidly overwhelmed. A field telephone in the blockhouse started to ring, and it was clear that Germans, elsewhere in the lines, were becoming alert to something unusual happening.

  Marsh checked his watch. He was two minutes ahead of schedule. They had seized their objectives and the infantry would shortly be moving up to secure the gains. There had been little noise from Mullen's flank and Marsh assumed that the two blockhouses Mullen had assaulted, had fallen just as quickly and quietly as his own objectives. Marsh used the remaining time to send orders to his Tigers so that they were ready for the next phase of the attack.

  'Alfie.' It was Wells, machine-gun slung across his back, bloodied bayonet in hand, 'We're ready to go.' Wells had been given the role of policing this section of trench for Tigers that could serve no further useful function.

  'How many new Tigers did you count?' Marsh asked.

  'I counted at least five in this stretch. There'll probably be more in the section Matthews is policing up.'

  Marsh was still unclear how many Tigers he could control, as he had never be in a situation where enough had been available to stretch him. That could change tonight, he thought. It was clear from the work with Mullen that the numbers of Tigers that could be controlled was much higher when mental control was used. Voice control was just too simple, crude command that were expressed with words rather than thoughts and emotions. Mullen had been able to control a respectable fifteen Tigers before training with Marsh. Now the Irishman's upper lim
it was unknown as well.

  'We'll move on in another minute.' Marsh replied, 'Any casualties?'

  'Not that I'm aware of. A few scrapes here and there among the guys. Mind you, some of the new Tigers look a bit rough.' Wells had in mind one newly animated zombie that was missing an arm. He had already decided the limb had probably been torn off rather than gnawed off, simply due to the pace with which the Tigers had inflicted the injury.

  For the next phase of the advance, stealth was a lesser consideration. The second German line was at least alerted by the screams, shouts and occasional shots from the front line trench. Speed was once again critical and Marsh sent the Tigers ahead at full speed while the human element of the combat group followed on as quickly as they were able. The continued advance meant evacuating the German front line trench, but Marsh knew that at the same time the follow-up troops were leaving their trenches to seize control of the listening posts and, the now empty, forward German trench. There were no survivors. The Tigers senses had seen to that. The follow-up troops would then move quickly on to the German second line so that they would arrive shortly after the Tigers had secured it. Marsh had wanted a similar approach for the first line, but the need to bypass the listening posts had meant that the support troops had needed to delay their own advance.

  Silence was not possible with the speed that the Tigers were now moving at, especially as they were passing through heavily damaged woodland, broken trees sticking up out of the ground. There was a very real risk that the enemy would fire a flare and light up the battlefield, exposing the Tigers and forcing the supporting humans to take cover.