“I took the opportunity to shoot the thing in the head, opening up and squeezing four rounds into the green scalp. I saw the holes they punched into that thing, and I saw the way its head was knocked sideways by the impacts, but it never even slowed. It just moved at Crowley.
“Crowley saw it too. He saw that thing coming at him, and he looked away long enough to stare me in the eyes. His smile was as broad and wild as it could be and he winked at me and said, ‘I’ve got him, Ben. Get the soldiers.’
“Well, I figured he was a nut case, but I was also riding on a combat high right then. I did what he said, and I promised myself I’d see he got a proper funeral stateside. I took down three more Nazis then I dropped my rifle and grabbed for Crowley’s, because the third man I shot at should have died and instead he just stood there. My weapon was out of bullets.
“Right then I felt pretty damned invincible, I must say. I was above the actual combat, and I was shooting them as easy as a man could shoot a fish in a barrel. They were shooting back, and if you look closely you can still see the scar under my right eye where one of them bullets hit the wall near me and a piece of that stone flew off and punched me in the face. I felt it, but it didn’t matter. I had the advantage. I still figured I was a dead man and too dumb to know it, but it was one hell of a fine feeling right then. I reckon maybe I was a little crazy at that point. I shot four more of them, and was ready to aim again, when I saw one of the Gestapo types hit the switch on the wall.
“There were alarms going crazy a second later. The air was filled with a sound like an air-raid siren, and I was so shocked I actually dropped Crowley’s rifle. I looked around, my heart in my throat and beating way too fast, and I saw Crowley and the green thing struggling against each other. That thing was swinging its huge hands at Crowley, and Crowley was swinging right back. I saw Crowley take a fist in the gut, and I saw his body lifted off the ground by the force of the hit, but when the monster pulled its fist back, Crowley landed swinging as hard as he could.
“Like I told you before, Eddie, I hit that damned green man with four bullets from my rifle, I saw them break into its skull, and I saw at least a couple of them leave the other side of its head. I didn’t figure it could be hurt. What I hadn’t counted on was that Jon Crowley seemed to be just as tough. I saw that thing throw him halfway across the room, and I saw Crowley bounce off a wall with enough force to fly another five feet on the rebound. I figure most people would have been dead after that, or at least unconscious. Crowley came off the ground like a scalded cat and reached out to one of the soldiers standing too close to where he landed. He grabbed the man by his hair and yanked him hard enough for the man to shriek. Then Crowley grabbed the needle gun in the Nazi’s hand and fired every round he could into the monster coming at him. Somewhere along the way he got the thing where it was vulnerable. He shot out its eyes. Lord, the mess! And its blood was green too. I don’t know what they did to that poor man, but I swear I hope the secret is never discovered again.
“Any living thing that had its eyes shot out would very likely fall to the ground screaming, or probably even die, what with the brain being right behind the eyes. Not the green man. It kept coming, tilting its head and listening to every sound. It might have worked with someone else, but Crowley could move so softly you wouldn’t even know he was there if he didn’t decide to let you know. I pretty much forgot about the Germans then, and I reckon they forgot about me. We were all too intent on watching what was happening. It was sort of like seeing a car wreck… you don’t really want to slow down, but there’s this part of your mind that makes you look, if you understand what I’m saying.”
I thought about that for a second and nodded. I’d had that same compulsion a few times in ’Nam and stateside as well. Some things are just too extreme not to stop and ponder.
My grandfather lit another cigarette, and then opened another Budweiser for himself and for me. When he started again, his voice was a little calmer. “I guess maybe not all of the Krauts forgot to do something productive. That Gestapo fella called out in barking German and I guess he told that thing where Crowley was, because it turned sharply and it grabbed him by his arms. That thing pulled him close in a bear hug and squeezed him like it was trying to get juice from an orange. Crowley almost howled, and I reckon I would have too, ‘cause I could hear his ribs breaking.
“I remembered the rifle sitting in front of me as that freak dropped Crowley on the ground. I shot the man in the fancy uniform. I figured that way maybe he wouldn’t have a chance to pull any more stunts with calling out warnings. Also, I didn’t like his face. He was smarmy and full of himself.
“Well, he died in a bad way, with a bullet that clean blew out his spine just around the same height as his belly button. He screamed a lot. And I confess I enjoyed hearing him scream. I took a shot at another one, and heard that empty clicking sound. I was out of bullets. I figured it was about time to meet the Almighty and beg His forgiveness for my sins.
“I was pretty sure things couldn’t get any worse. They were about as bad as they were likely to get in my estimation. That was when I learned that the green thing standing over John Crowley wasn’t the first one the Nazis had made. I guess wherever they’d been put, they responded to the alarm. They marched into the room in perfect unison, wearing outfits that made it clear they were designed to be as scary as possible. They wore SS uniforms and the guns they carried would have looked better on a tank than in their hands.
“That was it for me. I had my limits. I was alone and I had no weapons. I got up from my spot on the ground. I was one story above all of those freaks, and I figured if I stayed I’d either end up dead or like one of those green giants. One of them German boys called frantically to the things and they stopped where they were, falling into formation. The blind one stayed where it was, and the remaining soldiers — living soldiers that is, not zombies in Nazi clothing — breathed a sigh of relief. I took one look down at Crowley, deeply saddened that I’d have to leave his body behind for them to mess with.
“And I almost fainted when he looked back up at me and winked. That grin of his stretching even wider than I’d have thought possible, like he was just having the time of his life. Last I saw of him he was rising from the ground, and he was starting to laugh.
“That laugh of his was worse than the sounds those men had made when they were being operated on. Worse even than the sight of the monster battalion walking into the room. I swear the sounds that came from that man’s mouth shaved five years off my life.
“I went ahead with my plan, and I ran like the Devil himself was on my ass, with the sound of that laughter following me all the way to the entrance of that damned place. I got lost four times trying to get out of the building. I stumbled and I fell and I got up and I ran some more, and through it all, I heard Crowley’s laughter and the screams of the Germans.
By the time I’d reached the door, I saw the rest of my squad looking at me with pale, shaky faces and eyes that were close to mad. Every one of them was hurt, and badly. Between the three of them they’d managed to get one of the green men down and incapacitated. It was still alive, but it was so shot up and torn that it couldn’t move more than to shake and flop like a fish out of water.