Джозеф Нассис - SNAFU - Heroes [An Anthology of Military Horror]

This wasn’t the first time Gabrielle had appeared to him and when she had deigned to do so previously it had always been in his best interests, so he wasn’t worried about her leading him astray.

At least, not too much.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have some idea where he was headed.

“Where are you taking me?” he called to her across the room, his voice sounding unnaturally loud even to him in the stillness of the church.

She said nothing in reply, however, simply turning and walking into the mouth of the tunnel.

Cade followed.

Once inside the passage, he was surprised to discover that mining lights had been strung along its length at some point in the past; he hadn’t noticed them earlier in the evening when he and his men had discovered the entrance. The bare bulbs cast a dim light on the earthen walls around him, but at least he could see well enough to follow along in Gabrielle’s wake without tripping over the occasional pile of rubble that lay along the floor.

The air inside the tunnel was cold and smelled of damp earth and old decay, causing him to eye the walls and ceiling uncomfortably. They looked sturdy enough, but he’d be thankful just the same when he emerged at the other end.

Wherever that might be.

He tried to catch up with Gabrielle more than once, but no matter how quickly he hurried along, she always stayed just out of reach. He got close enough once to catch a glimpse inside the depths of the hood she wore and wished he hadn’t; the wet gleam of bone showing through on the ravaged side of her face was such a sharp contrast to the smooth, unblemished skin on the other.

After that harsh reminder of how he’d failed to save her the night the Adversary had attacked them, Cade wasn’t in such a rush to stay close.

Roughly ten minutes after he descended into the church basement, Cade stepped through a hole in the rear wall of the caretaker’s shed that stood at the far edge of the large cemetery that occupied the back of the church property. The door ahead of him was wide open, the harsh winter storm having pinned it back against the shed wall, and through it he could see Gabrielle winding her way through the gravestones toward the dense copse of trees just beyond.

Any chance of mistaking Gabrielle for a living, breathing woman was dispelled when Cade noticed the thick carpet of newly-fallen snow that the storm had deposited on the ground over the last few hours was completely undisturbed in her wake.

Bracing himself against the cold, he stepped out into the storm and followed his murdered wife.

Duncan awoke to find Riley’s hand on his shoulder and the other man leaning over him in the semi-darkness.

“Time to get up,” Echo’s executive officer told him. “Cade wants us ready to move in five.”

Move? Duncan thought. Move where?

He didn’t bother to ask, for he knew Riley would just tell him to wait for Cade’s briefing. He nodded instead and said he’d be ready.

When Duncan joined the others in an alcove off to one side of the nave a few moments later, he discovered they were as curious as he. For once, Riley didn’t know any more than he was telling, which was rather strange in its own right. As the number two man in the squad – in the entire Echo Team for that matter – Cade usually kept him pretty well up to speed, but not this time. After all they’d been through in the last twelve hours, the thought made Duncan uneasy.

That feeling only intensified when Duncan saw Cade approaching from across the nave. The Knight Commander was walking beside Father Nils, speaking earnestly to him as they came toward the others, and it was clear from the expression on the young priest’s face that he didn’t like whatever it was that he was hearing. Though they were keeping their voices down, the tension between the two men was obvious and Nils was repeatedly shaking his head in the negative. It seemed he didn’t want to do whatever it was that Cade was suggesting.

Good luck with that, Duncan thought. Once Cade made up his mind...

Duncan’s gaze dropped lower and that’s when he noticed that Cade’s boots were leaving wet footprints on the marble floor in his wake.

He’s been outside. Recently, too.

The plan had been for them to wait for morning and for the reinforcements due as soon as the weather passed. If Cade had left the safety of the church to scout things out, it meant either the reinforcements weren’t coming or that Cade had decided to take the battle to the enemy rather than wait for help to arrive. Neither one boded well for Echo.

When Cade reached them, he confirmed Duncan’s fears with the first words out of his mouth.

“I know where this thing is hiding,” he told them, “and we’re going after it.”

Fifteen minutes later Echo Team stood outside the entrance to the tunnel in the basement of the church. Olsen, Riley, and Duncan donned the makeshift-flamethrowers that Father Nils and his men had constructed and then listened carefully to Father Nils as he explained the operation.

Seems easy enough, Duncan thought. Pump this handle here, turn that knob there, and then squeeze the trigger.

Lighting the resulting jet of fluid seemed to be the only tricky part and he was reasonably confident that he could manage that without setting himself ablaze, so there didn’t seem to be too much to worry about.

Except for the horde of ravenous demons waiting to strip the flesh from our bones and feast on the remains.

Duncan reminded himself that it was probably best not to dwell on the minor details.

Cade turned back from his examination of the tunnel mouth and called them to order.

“All right, listen up,” he said, as they gathered around. “This old World War II tunnel leads beneath the church cemetery to the far side of the property before emerging at the edge of a thick pine forest. We’re headed for a cave system about three clicks inside the woods.”

Duncan glanced down at Cade’s still-damp boots and was tempted to ask how he’d discovered the thing’s hiding place, but then reason reasserted itself and he let the moment pass.

Sometimes, it’s better not knowing. Especially when the Knight Commander was involved.

“Conserve the flame throwers until we get to our destination; we’re going to need them more than anything else at that point and we don’t want to run out of fuel before we get there. As before, use your swords if possible, your guns if necessary. Understood?”

After receiving a chorus of nods, Cade took point, a fully loaded HK MP5 in hand. Behind him came Duncan and Olsen, with Riley taking up the rear. Father Nils attempted to follow, but Riley gave the priest a stern look and that was the end of that. Duncan didn’t blame him; he wouldn’t want to tangle with the master sergeant either.

The knight commander led them through the tunnel – cold, damp and decidedly uninteresting, Duncan noted, but free of demons, thank God – and out into the cemetery proper. It was still snowing, though not as heavily as it had been the night before, and the wind whipped through the gravestones with an eerie sound. Duncan did his best to ignore it his nerves were jangled enough as it was from what they’d been through already.

In addition to the flamethrowers, Father Nils had supplied them all with miniature headlamps of the type worn by the rescue crews who worked the ski slopes above Durbandorf during the year. The lights were small but powerful and should do quite nicely in the absence of their usual gear. Flipping on his lamp, Duncan followed in Olsen’s wake as they got underway.

They reached the tree line without incident and continued forward, slipping between the ancient trunks like wraiths. It was half-past nine in the morning but it felt like early evening; so dense was the cloud cover that very little light was getting through. Something about the darkness felt unnatural and Duncan had little doubt that the daylight was being held back in no small part by their infernal adversary.