Rise of the Undead 1943 Read online

  “We need ’em,” Monte says looking around the small group of men, “Half strength and half of them ain’t even got their boots broke in.”

  Pender looks back to Harris who struggles to get his back pack comfortable, “And that kid don’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.”

  “West Point?”

  Pender nods, “Daddy is a state senator in Virginia.”

  “Oh, from a proper family then,” Monte says with a smile.

  “Yes, which means we gotta try and keep the little pecker-head alive,” Pender says turning to Monte with a stern expression.

  The smile drops from his face and he nods in agreement. Yusif passes them and moves ahead of Smith, taking the point.

  “Hey! Where you going?” Pender calls out. Yusif continues with a wave of dismissal.

  Pender starts to object when Camir steps from a group of rocks. Smith stops, shocked that he was so close. Yusif greets him in Arabic. Pender holds up his hand and the platoon comes to a halt. Pender slaps Smith on the back, “Nice spotting there, Hawkeye.”

  “But ain’t he on our side?” Smith protests.

  “We can put that on your tombstone,” Pender tells him and moves forward to Yusif and Camir. He sees the abandoned archeological camp in the distance.

  Pilch and Oddball inspect the German corpse with the head wound. Pilch looks at the soldier’s insignia, “Third mechanized,” and then roughly searches through the pockets.

  “They the ones that chewed us up at Kasserine, right?”

  Pilch nods, taking the wallet from the corpse and standing, “Can’t say I’m sorry to see ’em rotting here dead.”

  Oddball looks at the wallet and shakes his head in disapproval. Pilch shrugs and pockets it then, checking that Monte or Pender aren’t looking, he unzips his trousers and urinates on the dead man’s face.

  Yusif and Camir talk in hushed tones. They look up as Pender approaches.

  “What’s the hold up?”

  Yusif waves him silent.

  “Alright, I’ll just hold on then,” he says irked and looks back to check on the men and sees Pilch urinating on the dead German, “God damn Pilch,” he mutters to himself.

  Monte moves up shaking his head, “I don’t know which is worse,’ he says looking at Pilch, “him or him,” and he nods toward Harris.

  Pender follows his gaze to Harris. The young officers is on one knee, map in hand, compass around his neck, binoculars up to his eyes, trying to look the part of a West Point war hero. Pender shakes his head, “Jesus Christ, does he think there’s a photographer someplace getting a picture of this?”

  Pilch zips up, looks around to the top of the canyon and un-slings his rifle, “Shouldn’t be sitting here,” he says as he slips back a few feet and behind a rock for cover, “I wouldn’t just stand there gawking,” he tells Oddball as he removes the protective covers over the telescopic sight of his sniper rifle.

  “Why not,” Oddball says defiantly as he pulls a pack of smokes from his shirt pocket.

  Pilch gently cleans the glass, “Never good when we stop this long.”

  Something moves under the sand by the German corpse near Oddball. He doesn’t notice as he struggles to light a cigarette in the desert wind. Oddball turns around trying to use his body as shelter from the wind when it stops and a peaceful calm comes over the desert. He lights the cigarette and looks around. A lone cloud passes in front of the sun and the bright day briefly goes dark. Pilch shoulders his rifle, ready for action. The sand moves again, closer to Oddball. As the cloud moves from the sun the wind hits with a roar.

  Pilch looks around, “I got a bad feeling.”

  Oddball looks over to Pilch, “What ’ya mean?”

  “I’m just saying I got a bad feeling is all.”

  “Well, why you gotta say that? Now I got a bad feeling,” Oddball whines as he looks to the top of the canyon.

  Matty strolls up behind Pilch and smacks him in the back of the helmet, “You always got bad feelings. You ever thought that maybe your just a bad person?”

  Pilch looks to him, offended, “Why you gotta say that? Now I got a bad feeling about you.”

  Yusif turns from Camir to face Pender, “Several Germans wait ahead.”

  Pender peers into the distance, “Where?”

  Camir leans his head around the rocks, and Pender follows his gaze. They see three Germans in the distance, atop a group of high rocks above the abandoned archaeological camp.

  “Shit, we ain’t gettin’ them outta there easy,” Pender notes and waves Harris over.

  “What the hell?” Pilch says looking to see the German corpse has disappeared. Oddball and Pilch exchange a ‘what the fuck’ look.

  “Where did he go?” Oddball asks in alarm.

  “Where’d who go?” Matty asks.

  “The German,” Oddball whines.

  Matty looks around, “What German?”

  Pilch gazes accusingly at Matty, “How’d you do that?”

  “Do what?” Matty whines.

  “Hide the German,” Pilch barks.

  Harris joins them trying to tuck all of his accessories into pockets, “What do we got?” He demands and looks to Yusif.

  Yusif can sense something is wrong; he looks past Harris toward Pilch and sees something moving under the sand near his foot. He slowly draws his scimitar; it hums as it leaves the sheath. The sand stops moving. Harris follows his gaze and then looks back to the scimitar.

  “Got a group of Krauts waitin’ on us,” Pender informs him as he checks that his weapon is ready and not noticing the strange moment with the scimitar, “Monte, take first and second, string out in a line and pivot in. I’ll take the rest along the rocks here. You give us a good base of fire.”

  Pender looks up to see Monte staring at the humming scimitar. Pender snaps his fingers to get his attention, “Sergeant!”

  Monte looks up to Pender, “Got it.”

  Harris looks up from the scimitar to find Yusif staring at him. He looks to Pender, “Sergeant, I’ll give the orders here.”

  Pender looks to Harris. The two men lock eyes.

  Pender grinds his teeth but breaks, “Yes sir.”

  Harris looks to Monte, “You wait for my orders to pivot. I’ll lead the other half and we’ll sneak along the rocks, I want prisoners.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “But sir, they have the high ground, and it’s pretty open out there,” Pender objects.

  “We’ll sneak. You hear that men, no one fires unless I give the order.”

  Harris doesn’t wait for any more objections and moves around the rocks.

  Pender shakes his head, “This should be fun,” and follows.

  Harris leads the men along the rocks toward the German’s position. Pender tries to slow him down, “They got a bead on us, sir.”

  Harris doesn’t slow, “You’re paranoid-- or you’ve lost your nerve.”

  Pender’s eyes go wide with rage, “Why you snot nosed little…”

  A bullet hits Pender in the chest with a smack of tearing flesh. Harris stops and turns around. Pender looks down at the neat hole over his heart and then up to Harris. His eyes blaze in their last moments of life, and the young lieutenant can see that those eyes blame him for his death. Harris stares into those eyes, doubt and fear pushing aside his cocky bravado and confidence in the face of mortal combat. He reaches out to take Pender, to try and do something when another round hits Pender in the heart and sprays the young officer with blood.

  “Cover!” Pilch screams.

  A bullet hits one of the Americans in the neck, and he goes down gurgling for breath, weapon discarded and hands vainly trying to stop the river of blood pouring from his throat. The rest of the men dive behind rocks for cover as more rounds whine in. Harris watches Pender’s lifeless face as his limp corpse falls backwards to the ground. More bullets zing by, kicking up dirt and debris.

  Pilch looks to Harris, “Hey, sir.”

  Harris looks down at his unif
orm and sees that he’s covered in Pender’s blood. He stands motionless and stunned looking at the blood as bullets smack the ground near him.

  “Sir?” Pilch calls over.

  Harris is too shocked to respond. He looks up to the young American that was hit in the throat; his neck is in shreds, and blood is running like a fountain from his wound and mouth as he kicks and squirms in vain. A bullet hits one of the new recruits in the face, and his helmet sails free with most of the back of his head.

  Harris opens his mouth to speak, to give an order but nothing comes out.

  Monte and the rest of the men come charging in, “Open up, open up!” Monte screams.

  Pilch looks down the scope of his sniper rifle and fires, the round sparks on the rocks inches from a German, “But the Lieutenant didn’t say we could,” he chides as he lines up another shot. He has the distance now and holds his breath, relaxes, and fires. The German takes the round in the head, “He runs it by the books, ya’ know.”

  A round clips Harris in the shoulder, and he snaps out of his trance, spins and starts firing wildly. Lead by Monte, the veterans fire carefully aimed shots and keep their cool while the new recruits spray out fire carelessly.

  Another German goes down.

  “Got’em!” Oddball calls from behind a rock.

  “Bull-shit, I got ’em,” Lewis calls.

  “You lyin’ sack of shit…” Oddball starts when another American goes down with a shot in the head. Oddball watches the man’s feet twitching in his death dance and drops his argument with Lewis. The last German tumbles from the rocks after the bark of Pilchs’ rifle, and the sounds of gunfire and crack of bullets subside to the quiet howl of the desert sands as fast as it had begun.

  Smith kneels by the lifeless body of Pender, “Monte, Sergeant Pender is down!”

  Harris glances over, “Leave ’em and move forward.”

  “But…”

  “I said move out!”

  Monte gently pulls Smith away from the body, and the men move into the camp. Monte looks back to Pender’s corpse and then turns to the men with a sigh, “Check those tents.”

  Johnson looks back to Pender and the other dead Americans, “We ain’t just gonna leave him back…”

  “Johnson!” Monte snaps.

  Johnson clamps his mouth shut and moves toward a tent. Harris looks to the archway and stops. The wind howls, kicking up the sand. Monte stops, seeing a leather book half buried at his feet.

  Pilch, Oddball, and Johnson move toward one of the tents. Pilch eyes Yusif and Camir suspiciously, “Two of ’em now.”

  Oddball smiles, “Relax. Sarge said they’re on our side.”

  “Shit. Monte ain’t no Sergeant in my book. Just a second string Corporal.”

  Johnson nods in agreement, “Yup.”

  Johnson and Oddball enter the tent while Pilch moves to inspect the dead German that fell from the rocks. Pilch rolls the dead German over to see his round took him in the neck. The man has an old scar that runs from the top of his head and down his cheek. Pilch rifles through his pockets and pilfers a wallet.

  Harris stares, riveted by the stone archway. The desert wind howls around him eerily.

  Monte approaches, “Excuse me, sir?”

  Transfixed, his jaw twitching and the desert wind filling his ears, Harris is oblivious.

  “Sir?” Monte gently shakes his shoulder.

  Harris snaps back to reality, “What?”

  “Found this,” Monte hands Harris a leather-bound journal.

  Harris opens it, “Professor Montclair. University of Paris.”

  He leafs through the pages.

  Yusif quickly steps in, “May I?”

  Harris hands him the journal.

  “I know this archeologist, left months ago, to England I believe.”

  “Why would he leave his notes behind?” Harris asks.

  Yusif shakes his head concerned, “He would not.”

  Oddball exits the tent with a heavy serrated archeological shovel, “Look what I found.”

  Yusif subtly pockets the journal.

  Margrave looks to Oddball, “Swell, where you find that?”

  “In that tent.”

  Clint walks out with an ancient black-glazed wine amphora, “Oh yeah, well look at this.”

  Pilch looks up from his pilfering of the German, concerned he may be missing out on the ‘spoils of war’.

  Oddball smirks, “What you gonna do with some old jar?”

  “Shit, it’s better than a friggin’ shovel. I bet it’s worth a fortune!”

  Lewis comes out of another tent with an amulet hanging from a string of copper beads, “Swell!”

  Oddball swings his new tool like a club. Harris looks to Monte with raised eyebrows.

  “You knuckleheads knock it off,” Monte barks.

  Harris looks to Yusif and gestures to the stone archway, “This the bunker?”

  Yusif nods, “Yes. Come.”

  Pilch moves toward the men and looks back to see the dead German is gone. He turns in every direction but can’t find the corpse. The rest of the men are entering the temple. The wind picks up with an evil howl. The sand moves near his feet.

  “Pilch, get your ass over here!” Monte barks from inside.

  A bony hand reaches from the sand just missing his boot as he hurries toward the temple.

  Chapter 4

  Yusif and the Americans enter the temple with rifles at the ready. Matty looks around; the eyes of the statues seem to look at him no matter where he gazes, “Whoa.”

  Monte looks down at fresh tracks on the ground. Yusif nods, “Germans. When we arrived, they had already disappeared behind the door.”

  Monte and Harris approach the stone door. Yusif slips into the shadows and moves for the statue of the beautiful man.

  Clint walks up behind Oddball, “Hey Oddball, got a smoke?” he asks quietly.

  Oddball, eyes darting around the room, nods and pulls a pack out of his shirt pocket, “Sure, Clinty.”

  Monte examines the stone door, “Looks like a door, but I can’t find no handle,” he works his hands around the massive stone block.

  Clint sucks in a drag of the cigarette and looks at the hieroglyphics carved into the wall. It shows people being impaled around a bonfire. Clint hears echoes of surreal screaming, the cries of impalement and the cheers of the priests. He spins, startled by the screaming, and looks around the room. The sound fades.

  While the Americans examine the door, Yusif quickly slips the talisman onto the statue.

  Harris leans down to study the door, “We’re gonna have to blow it. Breaching charges.”

  Harris stands, and there’s metallic click from deep in the floor. Harris takes a step back as the stone begins to roll aside.

  “Firing positions!” Monte screams.

  Rifles are pointed at the doorway, and the men prepare for battle. The door rolls open to reveal the torn remains of a German soldier. The head is gone, and he has been disemboweled; blood is splattered onto the walls and drips from the ceiling in places.

  Clint’s cigarette falls from his mouth, “God-damn!”

  Johnson shakes his head, “This ain’t the cleaning up I had in mind.”

  Oddball peers down the dark sandstone tunnel that stretches into darkness. Torches light the stone corridor, the eerie light playing tricks on his eyes. He stares, mouth open; the sounds of screams fill his ears, and he stands frozen in place.

  Pilch moves up behind him, “You alright?”

  Oddball doesn’t react.

  “Oddball?” Pilch shakes his shoulder.

  “What? Yeah, fine.”

  “Margrave, you’re on point,” Monte barks.

  Margrave stares at the remains of the German, “Where’s his head?”

  Pilch frowns and pushes him forward, “Go on kid, it’s gotta be down there someplace.”

  Margrave looks back to Pilch, fear in his eyes and then turns and enters the tunnel.

  “Everyone
stay alert,” Monte orders.

  “No shit,” Clint retorts.

  Monte glares at Clint and then looks to Smith, “You and Lewis hang back and cover our rear.”

  Smith nods.

  Margrave stops and looks down at the bloody entrails and gore at his feet.

  “Get moving, Private!” Harris snaps.

  Margrave, eyes wide with fear, carefully steps over the blood-soaked mess.

  Monte shakes his head, “Jesus kid. You trying to keep your boots clean?” and he steps in, his worn boots crushing the gore into the stone floor.

  Oddball looks to Pilch, “Who keeps all the torches going?” he asks concerned.

  Pilch looks down the hallway at the torches and then to Oddball, “You ask too many god damn questions,” and he enters behind Monte.

  Chapter 5

  Margrave leads them deeper into the earth. The flickering torches are less frequent, and the tunnel is becoming darker. Johnson spits a mouthful of chew onto the floor, “Krauts could be lying for us anywhere.”

  Matty notices something on the ground and bends over, “Hey Sarge,” he holds up a German Luger.

  Monte nods, “Any rounds left in it?”

  Matty checks, “Couple.”

  Pilch points to the wall, pockmarked from bullet hits, “Look.”

  Matty looks up from the Luger, “Geez.”

  Pools of blood and empty shell casings litter the floor.

  “Somebody’s last stand,” Monte comments.

  Pilch runs his hand over the chipped rock from the bullet hits, “Who were they fighting?”

  Monte looks to Yusif, “Any of your men come down here?”

  Yusif shakes his head.

  Margrave stops at the edge of the torchlight. The darkness stretches out before him. Harris comes up behind him, “Get moving, private.”

  Margrave pulls out his flashlight and turns it on, cautiously moving forward. He hears a growl from the darkness and freezes.

  Harris stays close behind him, “Gimme some light.”

  Margrave shines his light straight ahead to reveal that the tunnel ends in a “T” intersection with passages leading off right and left, “Which way?”

  Harris taps his shoulder, “Right.”

  A replacement solider steps forward and shoulders his rifle to cover them.