“It can’t be, you’re dead!”
The man laughed and then spoke in a German accent but in perfect English, “I would have been had I stayed with you, you and that incompetent leader Hitler… I see you buffoons lost the war!”
Anger flashed across Kammler’s face.
“Time has not been kind to you my old komrade, now tell me, how far up the Americans ass is your tongue?”
That was it, Kammler lost it, “Listen here you insubordinate little shit, I do what I need to do to survive! But I do not work for these Yank fucks… Now I demand you get me out of this hole and explain to me what is going on and how the fuck you don’t look any older!”
The man who was wearing an immaculate black uniform with black knee-length boots just stood there and laughed, “Nice to see you still have that fire in your belly.”
He turned to the figures stood behind him, “Destroy the data they have collected, retrieve the Red mercury and then kill them all!”
As soon as he spoke, twenty ropes flew over the side followed immediately by figures that slid down with ease.
“No!’ Kammler shouted, “You can’t do this to me!” He protested but the man stood beaming down at the entrance just shook his head as he turned away.
Kammler opened the tube of Pervitin and took them all, he chewed them as quickly as he could then he pulled his Luger P08 pistol out, he began firing it at the armor-clad figures. Kammler, despite his age, was still a good shot. The small arms fire had no effect though and just bounced harmlessly off of the body armor.
Kammler fired until the clip was empty.
The figures advanced and fired, a stream of superheated rounds stuck the old man in the chest. He felt no pain though as the amount of meth he had taken had dulled all of his senses, a mixture of death and the Pervitin flooding through his system made him feel as though he was watching it happen to someone else. Kammler died at peace with himself.
The figures acted as an execution squad and soon finished off the remaining scientists and technicians in a hose of fire. They then went about the task of collecting the red mercury which they tied carefully to the ropes then had their colleagues pull up the container. Finally, they planted charges all over the laboratory.
After the last soldier had left, the entire lab was instantly vaporized in a bright fireball with a pinkish hue. Kammler, the other scientist’s bodies and all their work ceased to exist in an instance.
The sound of gunfire and then another explosion had jump-started Warren and his squad into action, they collect their weapons and ammunition. They gingerly made their way to the entrance to the canteen, they stayed low as they got to the windows. They watched and they waited to gauge how bad the situation was.
What they saw was a war zone, firefights raged around the base, exchanges between red tracer rounds zipping out and the return fire of bright purple lights filled the night’s sky. It was clear that the soldiers at Wright Patterson Air Force base were getting overwhelmed by this unknown enemy.
“We have got to get out there and give them some support! They’re gettin their ass kicked.”
Hall held up his hand, “Not yet lads, keep observing, see if we can spot a weakness.”
“Yes, Sir,” they whispered but the tension in their voices was clear.
Soldiers screamed and shouted as they tried to stay alive. A grenade was thrown into a group of enemies, it exploded dead on but to Hall’s amazement they kept advancing and firing.
“It didn’t affect them at all, the shrapnel just bounced off their armor,” Hall said in disbelief.
A huge tracked behemoth rolled into view, shortly followed by another one and then another one. Streams of purple fire poured from the gun housed on the turret. The fire put down a group of Airman who had barricaded themselves into the entrance of a hanger.
The huge turret turned and then an angry bright bolt of purple fired from the huge gun, the round flew into the barracks where Hall and his team had been a few minutes earlier. The second and third vehicles fired and the barracks evaporated in the superheated explosion.
“What the hell, who the fuck has weapons like that?” Cox whispered.
Hall just shook his head, he fiddled with his radio but it still was not working.
“We are in trouble; we can’t coordinate our defenses.”
“What are we going to do Sir.”
Hall thought for a second, “We need to get the word out that we are under attack, we need to get to Dayton, get a call for backup out.”
Hall could see his men were hesitant to leave the fight. “We can’t help them here, the enemy has overwhelming numbers and equipment, it wasn’t a fair fight from the start.”
They nodded.
The squad moved slowly and carefully, they hoped they could jump into a couple of jeeps and get out of the base but when they arrived at the hanger where the vehicles were kept, their optimism soon vanished; none of the vehicles would start.
The door behind them crashed open, they swiveled with their weapons raised.
The figure had a fellow soldier slumped over his shoulders, he tried to raise his hands.
“Staff Sergeant?” Hall said relieved.
The man let out a huge sigh of relief, “Good to see you Sir.”
“You too Billy, who have you got there?”
Billy Jonson let the man down and laid him out on the floor near the door.
“It’s Miller Sir, he’s unconscious can you get someone to look at him?”
Hall nodded to Glen, “Give him a once over mate.” Hall gave Bill a quick glance over, he was shaking from fear and adrenaline. “Get that door shut Billy, then give us a sitrep will you, you know what we are up against.”
Billy gingerly closed the door, then shook his head as he walked over.
“No idea sir, we were ambushed by a huge group of soldiers wearing tough, full body black armor and full face helmets. It takes a lot of bullets to even put a single one of those freaks down.”
“You managed it then?” Hudson asked.
Johnson just nodded.
They sat and talked for a little while longer before Hall made the decision, “Ok clearly we aren’t going to get any of these vehicles to start, we are going to have to go on foot.”
“A group already tried that sir, those tanks they have, they gunned them down before they got to the perimeter fence.” Johnson said with a weary tone.
“We don’t have a choice; we will just have to be more cautious.” Hall said.
“Right let’s get to it, we ain’t getting paid by the hour.” Hall said with a smile on his face.
Groans rang out from his men, “The old ones are the best ain’t they sir!” Hudson laughed.
Tour of Duty
The mess room was a hive of noise and activity; the navy personnel were tired but this did not impact on their jovial mood. They were finally on their way home after an extended tour, normally they would be flown home but The Americans were taking the opportunity to repair and replenish the massive aircraft carrier during the break in the bombing campaign.
They were hoping the peace negations in Paris were going to finally put an end to this war.
Brooklyn Jnr sat in the corner with his back slightly to his friends, and while they were having a great time playing cards, he sat sullenly re-reading a letter for the fifth or sixth time.
William Morris sighed, he threw his cards to the table. “I’m out of this one fella’s.”
This of course led to the usual calls of ‘pussy’ and ‘what’s a matter moose, lost your golden touch?”