Time War: Onslaught

by Nick S. Thomas

  "Then why did we land here?"

  "Had to land somewhere...now stay silent."

  Corwin lifted his pistol close to his chest ready. They watched and waited, and soon they noticed another light behind the first, and the subtle silhouette of a truck following the bike.

  Just our luck!

  "What do we do?"

  "Shhh."

  They bike came clearly into view. It had a sidecar with a machine gun mounted, and a similar weapon on the roof of the truck. It looked like there were twenty soldiers in the back of the open top truck, and behind that a small amphibious jeep like vehicle with four more soldiers. They came to a halt, and the two on the motorcycle got off the bike. Flashlights lit up from them scanning the ground around them, and Corwin and Badcock hunkered down lower.

  He knew they were well concealed by the undergrowth, but any serious search would quickly find them.

  "We're done for, aren't we?" Badcock whispered.

  Corwin looked around for some solution, but there was a fair bit of open ground between him and the truck. He couldn't close the distance without taking a lot of fire, and his silenced pistol felt like a toy compared to the army of weaponry he was looking at.

  Where are you, Lecia?

  He knew she couldn't tip the balance alone. He watched as the two Germans flashed their lights around and finally stopped and focused on something. He heard a few words called out by them, and he squinted to make out what they were so interested in. His face turned to a scowl as he recognised the corner of their jeep and the drop frame it was mounted in.

  Oh, shit, just what we needed!

  He lifted his pistol and took aim at the gunner on the machine gun of the truck.

  "Get ready," he said to Badcock.

  "Ready? Ready for what?"

  "When this starts, it's going to be hell. You open up on the back of that truck, and you keep up the fire."

  "What are you gonna do?"

  "Get in there as quick as I can."

  Badcock looked shaky, but he had no choice but to rely on him.

  "Ready?"

  He nodded, and Corwin went back to his pistol and began to squeeze the trigger when one of the Germans barked out some orders. They were about to unload and start scouring the area. It was his last chance. He squeezed the trigger, and the gun fired with so little resonance that nobody noticed the bullet hit the gunner's throat. He slumped forward over the gun without any noise at all. Corwin sighed, seeing he had gotten away with it, but then one of the Germans in the back of the vehicle leaned forward to check on him. The game was up.

  Corwin got up and was just about to leap out from cover and make his run, when he heard a V8 engine roar to life a little way down the road from where the Germans had come from; and then a second soon after. They revved highly, and he could just make out the silhouettes of two vehicles slip out from the cover of the trees and get on track to the road. A hail of cries rang out from the German officer and NCOs below, but they didn't have enough time to do anything at all.

  Muzzle flashes and the thunderous drum of .50 calibre machine guns lit up the street. The two of them watched dozens of the rounds riddle the truck. The shots went right through multiple soldiers and into the cab as if meeting no resistance. One of them armed a grenade, but before he could fire it, his arm was blown clean off by one of the massive rounds. The arm still holding the grenade dropped into the back of the vehicle. The few still alive and able to move leapt out in panic, as the guns continued to rip the vehicle apart. Corwin took his HDM into his left hand, drew out his Colt into his right, and leapt out into the open, and running out from cover.

  He fired with both weapons at the two who had been on the motorcycle. As he did so, the amphibious vehicle lurched forward and raced towards him. A hail of light gunfire hit the occupants from their side. Badcock was emptying the magazine of his Sten into them. Corwin joined in and fired both his weapons into the windshield as it rushed towards him. At the last minute he jumped aside and rolled into a ditch at the side of the road.

  Corwin was back on his feet in seconds and dropped his HDM. He slammed a new magazine into his Colt and fired into the back of the occupants as it veered off and crashed into a tree. It rolled onto its side and finally collapsed over so that any still alive were crushed under its weight. He heard a vehicle slide to a halt, and he snapped around. Two of their jeeps rocked up beside him. Harland was on the gun of one and Nylund the other.

  "Nice timing!" he yelled to them.

  "I see your girlfriend didn't save you this time?" Harland asked.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Corwin saw a German get up in the cab of the truck and lift a pistol to aim at him, but a gunshot rang out to his other side. Blood splattered over the windshield as a shot went through the man's head. Lecia stepped out from the undergrowth not far from where Badcock was hiding.

  "Better late than never," muttered Corwin.

  He walked amongst the bodies until finally he found one still breathing. The man had a bullet wound in his flank and leg but was still conscious. He hauled him upright against the deflated wheel at the back of the truck. He looked terrified and unable to move. So terrified in fact that he seemed to ignore his wounds. Beyett stepped up alongside him.

  "How is your German coming along?" Corwin asked him.

  "Better than Vi's, but nothing compared to what Tano can do."

  Corwin shrugged, thinking what an asset their meddling comrade could be.

  "Ask him what they were doing here?"

  Another of the jeeps raced into the scene, and Rane leapt out and approached. His physical presence horrified the German more than anything had so far. Before Beyett could even try his language skills, the man spoke out in English with a thick German accent.

  "Who are you people?"

  Corwin smiled in relief; now knowing he could handle it personally.

  "We're the bastards who have come here to end you and those you follow."

  The soldier looked none the wiser and still stunned by everything he had seen.

  "So tell me, what were you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

  The man shrugged. Corwin put his boot on the man's wounded leg and applied pressure until he screamed out in pain.

  "Please no!" he called out.

  Corwin released the pressure and waited for a response.

  "There were reports of suspicious activity in a village ten kilometres north of here."

  "What sort of suspicious activity?"

  "I don't know, rebels, trouble makers."

  "So you were not expecting to find anything on this road?"

  He shook his head.

  "Good."

  Corwin lifted his pistol and fired a single shot into the man's head, killing him instantly.

  "Why did you do that?" Travers asked, jumping out from one of the other jeeps.

  Corwin frowned as if he was either unsure of the question or displeased with the fact it was being asked.

  "I get that we have to kill or be killed, but what danger was that man? We don't kill the wounded."

  "Then you’d better start, Sergeant. All this man could do was cause us trouble. Right now we have the element of surprise. Think that will last if we leave a trail of breadcrumbs."

  "Breadcrumbs? That’s a human being we are talking about. We take prisoners."

  Harland laughed wickedly in the background.

  "You think it's funny?" Corwin jumped in before he had a chance to go on.

  "Maybe that is the way you are used to working, but it won't cut it here. We do not take prisoners. We do not try to save the lives of the enemy. We do not shoot to wound. I am sorry if that is hard for you to stomach, but you will stomach it, or you'll only create problems for us."

  "No quarter? Is that how you would want to be treated if you were wounded or captured by the enemy?"

  "It's not about what I want. It's about what is necessary. You know how many times I have had to have this conversation?"

&
nbsp; "That's because what we are doing here is wrong."

  "Yep, and the alternative is even more wrong. You want to win this war, then you better be prepared to get your hands a little dirty."

  "This isn't what I signed up for."

  "Neither did we," added Lecia.

  Though it went over their heads that she was talking about something very different. It weighed on them all that this was never supposed to be their war, all except Harland and Porter, whose sadistic sides would have them enjoy killing, no matter where or when they had to do it.

  "Sergeant, I have come too far to deal with this again. If you can't cope with it, then leave now and make your own way home. Otherwise you are coming with me and not questioning my decisions. What will it be?"

  Travers looked around at the others as if trying to find someone sympathetic, but even Badcock shook his head and looked away.

  "I'll follow you, but God help us when we have to answer for what we have done."

  "You can worry about that when the time comes. Now give me a hand."

  He rushed over to the vehicle the Germans had first discovered and started to release it from the cage it had been dropped in. The others joined in, and they soon had it free rolling. Badcock jumped into the driver's seat and fired up the engine. He edged it out of the frame, and the front wheels dropped and sunk into the soft ground. The vehicle kept pushing forward until finally the rear dropped into the same soft ground. It stopped dead and all four wheels were turning.

  "Get it in low!" Travers yelled.

  He looked over at the levers and could see it was already low.

  "It's all this weight!" he shouted back.

  One of the other jeeps rolled up. It was Shirley, the six-wheeler, with Chas at the wheel and Porter and the others on the back. With six of their people hanging off and Rane on the back, the suspension was bottoming out.

  "Where's the other jeep?" Corwin demanded.

  "The ‘chutes failed, and it landed on its head. It's no good," replied Chas.

  He looked to the others for confirmation.

  "She's right. It ain't going anywhere," added Rane.

  "What do we do about it?"

  "Nothing we can do, Chas. We don't want to leave clues for the enemy, but neither can we destroy the site without raising attention. Is it hidden?"

  "Certainly is, you'd really have to be digging hard to come up on it."

  "Then that will do just fine. Turn that thing around, and give us a hand with this one," he replied, turning to leave.

  "Where are you going?"

  "To find us some extra wheels."

  He left the group to get the vehicle out and went over to the amphibious vehicle. One of the dead soldier's arms was sticking out from the side where he had been crushed. He thought to turn the vehicle over when he noticed the front axle and steering had been totalled by the crash. He turned back to the truck that was running with a river of blood still dropping out over the sides. He went to the front grip to see two large holes. He unclipped the hood catches and lifted it.

  Wisps of smoke poured out from two holes where .50 calibre rounds had gone the length of the vehicle and through the entire block, passing through the radiator.

  "Totally fucking shot," he said to himself and slammed the hood down.

  He turned around. Lecia was eyeing up the motorcycle and sidecar.

  "You're not serious?" he asked her.

  "If it runs, then it's a fuck load better than walking," she replied and leapt on the saddle.

  "Do you even know how to start it?"

  "I got some idea, yeah."

  She looked around and checked the controls, putting her weight on the kick-start and driving it down. The engine turned over but did not start. He looked over to see their jeep being pulled free. Badcock drove it out onto the road ahead. Meanwhile, Lecia kicked it over twice more and still nothing.

  "Come on, leave it!"

  She fiddled a little more and kicked over once again. The bike fired into life. She looked up to him with a defiant and cheeky smile that made him smile and shrug, as if to accept she was right.

  "All right, spread the load and follow us!" Corwin ordered.

  Rane and one of Travers’ men jumped in with Badcock. Corwin slumped down rather unceremoniously into the seat beside Lecia as she spun the rear wheels and sped off ahead of the column. They heard the roar of the V8s at their backs, and finally they were off and on their way.

  "Days of prepping some vehicle for war and I get to share a crotch rocket," complained Corwin.

  "This thing ain't so bad."

  She looked very pleased with herself and proud of her new ride. Corwin observed the machine gun before him. A box magazine was loaded and all but ready to use.

  It’s something at least, I suppose.

  "So where we going, Boss?" she asked.

  "That German said they were heading this way to deal with some trouble. Guess where our contact is?"

  "So we're heading right where the Germans are looking for trouble, and so will be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary?"

  "That about sums it up, yes. Still like this bike, now you know the full facts?"

  "She'll do just fine."

  "We've got a fair ride ahead of us, and I want plenty of time before sunrise to see what we are dealing with!"

  She put the power down, and they surged forward under little more than the tiny blackout light. They felt the sidecar wheel hit a pothole. The wheel bounced up off the ground. Corwin lifted up off the seat and crashed back down unceremoniously. He knew they were in for a rough ride, but he wasn't going to be the one to slow them down.

  CHAPTER 8

  Corwin wiped the dripping water from his face, but it barely seemed worth it now. It had been raining nonstop for an hour, and they were soaked to the bone. The baking dusty desert like conditions they had come from didn't seem so bad now as Corwin began to shiver. He looked back and could see that despite the lack of roofs, the windshields were keeping the worst of the weather off the rest of them.

  "This is shit! Still think this bike was a good idea?"

  "We're going forwards, aren't we?"

  He shrugged but then noticed a sign with the village name they had been looking for – Allenc.

  “This is it.”

  “You sure?”

  Before he could even think to answer, a hail of gunfire rang out, and bullets hit the ground all around their bike. Lecia responded quickly and wrestled the handlebars to the side. They banked so sharply the sidecar wheel lifted off the ground, and Corwin was hardly able to hold on to save him from being thrown out onto the road. The turn caused them to smash through a pile of undergrowth, and the front wheel of the bike dipped into a rut. The bike jolted to an abrupt halt and stalled.

  “Smooth,” replied Corwin.

  He jumped out and took cover behind one of the trees. Their convoy had halted and held position, but nobody was firing any shots on either side.

  “What is this?” Lecia asked.

  Corwin just noticed the faintest of movements. Frasi moved to flank their position with such incredible agility, and then he vanished into the night.

  “I should imagine turning up to the resistance on a jerry bike doesn’t exactly get a warm welcome party.”

  “Hey, we had to take the bike, so quit your bitching.”

  Corwin got up and took a few cautious steps forward, stopping to survey the scene once again. He could barely see a thing, and missed his night vision equipment, and a whole host of other equipment that made them so effective in combat. He clenched his rifle close to his body and looked around to check nobody was close.

  He then bellowed, “Nice day for a barbecue!”

  He looked back at her with a bizarre smile, but she looked utterly confused as he stood upright in almost plain view and called out again.

  “I said, nice day for a barbecue!”

  “Have you gone completely mad?” Lecia asked in a hushed voice.

&nbs
p; But he only smiled back.

  “Only on the far side of the world!” a voice replied in a French accent.

  Lecia still couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “You’ve gone crazy,” she muttered.

  But Corwin stepped out and advanced casually with his rifle lowered. After thirty paces he heard a rustling beside him, and a woman appeared with a German submachine gun in her hands. Another two armed men were just visible from where she had come.

  She stopped and hesitated for a moment, looking at him with suspicion.

  “You are?”

  “Captain Wyatt Corwin.”

  “We have been expecting you, Captain, but I did not expect you to be…well…as you are.”

  “Well, we do things a little differently.”

  “I am sorry for firing shots your way, but they were not aimed to kill. We have already been visited by another group this night, and they were not friendly.”

  “Yeah, I heard. You pissed some people off, and we ran in to the next group heading your way to deal with whatever trouble was going on here.”

  “Then we must not stay. Our base is a short drive from here. Follow us.”

  She went into the bush and pulled back some foliage. It revealed a little French car that had been completely hidden in the woods.

  “We’ll wait for you on the road!” she said as she climbed in, and they heard another vehicle fire up nearby.

  Corwin went back to the road. His people were in complete silence with their engines cut and weapons at the ready.

  “It’s okay. This is my contact!”

  “Sure gave you a friendly welcome,” replied Harland.

  Corwin saw Lecia trying to haul the bike out of the mud at the side of the road.

  “You really want to take that heap of junk? It almost got us killed once.”

  “And yet we are still here. Maybe she isn’t so unlucky. Come on, give me a hand.”

  He grumbled under his breath but went over and wrenched it out of the mud. He waited and watched as if expecting her to fail to start the bike he had already begun to hate, but it soon fired up in defiance.

  “I hear the Germans make things well.”

  “Mores the pity,” he replied and climbed in.