The room slowly filled with Nazi officers. They were wearing full dress uniforms with red armbands. Many were decorated with ribbons and medals. From their position behind the boxes, the squad could see what was going on. But everyone was speaking in German and none of them could understand it from 200 yards away. The last of the Nazi officers took his seat. Their backs facing Dale and the other three men.
Two more German soldiers appeared from the right side of the chamber, escorting another beautiful woman. Both women appeared to be healthy, and showed no physical signs of torture. The second woman’s ankle was chained to the platform behind the alter, next to the first woman, each stood inside one of the shallow, boxes of dirt. Dale was getting a bad feeling about this. He knew something was happening, something bigger than these two women, something bigger than him and his men.
The two women looked at one another, each knowing that this was going to be a very bad day, if not their last. They trembled before the group of Nazi officers but kept glancing back toward the flying machine. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen soon.
A man began to walk down the ladder from the metallic saucer. He was wearing a full-dress Nazi uniform, complete with medals and ribbons. Dale guessed he was close to seven feet tall. Focusing on his face, he noted it was not like any other face he had ever seen before. The man had gray skin and large black eyes. Not black pupils, black eyes, like the eyes of an insect. Then Dale realized, this was no man at all. This was some kind of monster, perhaps not even from this planet.
The Nazi creature walked up the red carpet, onto the stage, and took his place in one of the large decorative chairs. Five more extremely tall, gray-faced beings emerged from the flying machine and took their places on stage. Each of the six creatures was wearing Nazi uniforms. Dale thought the insignias indicated they were generals. The audience sat completely still, and the large chamber was filled with a deafening silence.
Matthews glanced over at Adam, who was staring at the bizarre scene before them. The tallest of the six stood to his feet. He walked up to the altar and stood behind the woman on the right. Even from this distance Matthews could tell she was horrified. The hideous creature pulled out a jeweled blade and displayed it in front of the woman, she recoiled with disgust. He positioned the blade across her arm, then in one quick movement he sliced open her flesh. Her blood began to run down her arm and drip onto the soil. The creature chanted, “Blut und Boden,” and the Nazi congregation repeated the phrase. Dale did not understand what was happening, but his bones rattled with disgust.
The second large creature stood, ceremoniously accepting the jeweled blade from the first creature as it returned to its place among the others. The second creature approached the woman, slowly penetrating the skin of her other arm. She screamed in pain, begged it to stop, but it did not relent. Matthews could see the backs of the Nazi officers’ heads, they did not move, not one inch. The Nazis did not even whisper. They were not like the two German guards that brought the women into the chamber, laughing and carrying-on. Dale could not tell, but he was certain they were terrified.
The second creature finished his assault on the young woman, blood streaming down her arms, she was sobbing uncontrollably. A third creature lifted her head up by her long brown hair, and with lightning speed, lifted the ceremonial dagger and cut her throat all the way to the bone. Her blood sprayed all over the altar and onto the wooden platform. Splattered in blood, the woman chained beside her began to scream uncontrollably.
The creature returned to his chair momentarily and then walked back up to the altar. The young woman was still lying on the marble table, her blood flowing off the marble and onto the carpet. Seemingly, from nowhere, an ornate goblet appeared in the second creature’s hand, and he began to collect the blood dripping off the table top. After what seemed like an eternity, the creature handed the bloody goblet to the tallest of his kin.
Taking the goblet from the creature with both hands. The tall one walked from around the altar and stood in the center of the platform before the Nazi officers and said nothing. He stood before them and lifted the bloody goblet to his lips and drank. Not a sound from the fifty Nazi officers, only the screams from the remaining terrified woman.
Dale was horrified, but what could he do in the face of such superior numbers? He knew that there was no way he could eliminate all fifty Nazi officers, the six creatures, and the guards that were surely lurking in the tunnels on the other side of the chamber.
Another of the creatures stood up and walked up behind the second woman who was tied to the bloody alter. The creature started to lift the jeweled blade into the air. There was no doubt as to this woman’s fate. Matthews closed his eyes, trying to think of a way to save the young woman. What could be done?
A large explosion rocked the concrete chamber. Dale looked up and saw Nazi soldiers being flung 30 and 40 feet. The blast came from the center of the seating area, where a few seconds ago the chairs had been lined up in perfect order. Nazi soldiers were lying on the ground bleeding; some, dazed by the loss of limbs and blood. Dale saw one crawling away from the blast zone; others were running and limping away. Everyone was confused. It was complete bedlam.
Dale looked over at his crew, and to his surprise, Steve Dyer was standing up, in plain sight holding, the M-9 rocket launcher on his shoulder.
Dale knew the decision was made, and Steve would most like never see a court martial for what he had just done. There was no point in yelling at him for disobeying orders. He glanced over at Adam. Adam understood and nodded. They both stepped from cover and started firing their weapons into the crowd of fleeing Nazis.
The first few seconds were easy. The Nazis had been completely caught off guard by the explosion, which had immediately killed about 20 of them. The remaining 30 were in differing states of shock and confusion. The few that had their wits about them, enough to draw their pistols, were cut down quickly by Adam’s BAR. At two hundred yards, a BAR will make quick work of a pistol-wielding Nazi. But that was just the first few seconds.
Through the haze of explosions and gunfire, emerged one of the creatures. The large creature was running directly toward the squad.
How fucked up is this? There is a seven-foot-tall creature, dressed as a Nazi general, charging directly at me. I can handle this. He has 200 yards to cross with no cover. I can fill him with lead long before he gets to me.
Dale took what seemed like forever to change his magazine and bring the loaded weapon to eye level. In those few seconds, the creature had closed the distance by half. The Thompson machine gun roared, and Dale emptied half the magazine in to the creature at 75 yards. The creature stopped, lurched forward, and dropped to one knee. Dale was certain he had taken out the seven-foot-tall monster when it leapt up, and began the charge again.
Dale jerked the trigger; this time making certain to aim for the creature’s chest. He could see the impacts. He could see the creature stumble but not fall. Shit, it must be wearing body armor. Twenty-five yards, no time to reload. Dale pulled out his combat knife, but before he could get into a hand-to-hand combat position, the creature exploded into a ball of flame. Dale was thrown back from the blast.
Dammit. If we live through this I’m going to kill Steve Dyer.
The creature was dead, and if it wasn’t, it wished it were because it was missing a leg and an arm. It was a short-lived victory. The next creature was charging, already half way across the space between them and the stage. A football field is all that separated them from the hideous beast. Steve was already reloading his M-9 bazooka. There was probably not enough time; this creature was fast.