Michael Thomas - Night of the Nazi Zombies

“Did you hear that?” asked Wilks.

Jones cocked his head slightly, and then he heard it. The sound was the same as the groan and shrieking sound they had heard from their attackers in the previous hours.

“Oh...shit!” called out Jones.

Wilks stepped away from the house, about to start running back to the church. Jones stopped him, putting his hand on his arm.

“Not yet, we need to clear this place before we leave. What if those things were trying to get to somebody inside?”

The two men returned to the house, both entering quickly but with their weapons lowered and ready for action. Apart from the gore all over the porch from the two dead creatures there were no signs of anything else. Jones kicked open the doors but they still found nothing of note. All that remained were the stairs and the two rooms at the top. Stepping behind each other they moved up until they could see the first door. Wilks pointed his weapon at the door and Jones kicked it open. Like the rest of the house it was deserted. There was just the last room left and this one was dark and locked. Jones tried to open it but it refused to budge. Jones lifted his boot and smashed it into the thin wood, splintering it and yet it still wouldn’t open. Wilks joined in by smashing his Sten’s wooden stock hard into the wood. More of the material splintered and broke leaving a hole big enough to squeeze a man’s head inside. The two soldiers looked at each other, neither prepared to do the stupid thing and expose his head. Jones crept up to the recently smashed hole and looked from one side to the other. From what he could see there were large pieces of furniture stacked up against the door.

Wilks spoke quietly, “Who blocked the door? There’s no way out of that room, not even a window.”

It was then that Jones spotted him, the dark shape hiding in the corner. Jones jumped back a little, surprised by the shape.

“Did you see that? There’s a guy in there,” he said almost hysterically.

Wilks had a look and then stepped back.

“Do you reckon its one of those things or a local?”

Jones looked around the landing at the top of the stairs whilst Wilks stood there worried.

“What are you thinking Sarge?”

Jones stopped, put his finger in the air as if he had an idea and then walked up to the door and shouted inside, “Oy, mate!”

The shape moved a little, and then staggered closer to the door. The two soldiers stepped back, pointing their weapons directly at its face. The last thing they expected was for it to speak, even more unexpected was that it wore a German uniform!

“Wer sind Sie?” said the man to the bewilderment of the British soldiers.

They had no idea what he meant and said nothing. The German continued.

“Ich bin ein Soldat aus dem Ost-Bataillon.”

Jones answered with a sharp reply, “You speak any English mate?”

The man disappeared and was soon followed by a lot of noise as he moved the heavy furniture away from the door. With a click the broken door opened and the German stepped out to meet them. He held out his hand and Jones, after a moment of hesitation, took the hand and shook it.

The man spoke, “Mein Name ist Wilhelm Kohl.”

Jones nodded, even he could understand what the man was saying, he introduced himself, “Sergeant Jones, British 6th Airborne.”

The German nodded and indicated to the stairs. Jones took this to mean he was ready to leave. The three men headed down the staircase and out into the street.

* * *

Smith had now entered the base and had a good idea of the layout. There was one way in and that was the way they had come. What was strange was that there were many blood trails, some from the containers and others from where there had presumably been trucks. The ground in the centre of the base was freshly scraped and looked like whoever had been there had left in a hurry. The base or more accurately, the compound, contained three Opel-Blitz 3 tonne trucks and pile upon pile of the wooden containers that seemed to pop up everywhere. There was a small prefabricated building at the far end and a small building, possibly a generator room for the lights. Smith moved to examine the containers whilst Lewis went to the generator room. Upon closer examination Smith found all the crates were either broken or missing their lids. Not one of the crates was sealed. What were they transporting and where were they now? Meanwhile Lewis had opened the door to the room and found equipment and fuel for a petrol generator. He closed the door and moved over to the building at the far end, staying close to the trucks to avoid being out in the open too long.

Smith finally found a single container that whilst broken, was slightly different to the rest. This one contained fragments of ripped clothing. It was as if somebody had been inside it and broken their way out. He thought for a moment then looked at the inside in more detail; the wood was covered in scratch marks and blood.

He spoke quietly under his breath, “Not good.”

He left the containers and joined Lewis at the building at the far end. The door was locked and Lewis was busy fiddling with a piece of metal trying to force it open. With a dull clunk the lock popped open and the two men went in. Inside it comprised of a long corridor with three small rooms at one side and a room at the end of the corridor. Above each door was a small glass window. Lewis clicked open the first door and Smith moved in slowly. The window provided a small amount of light; luckily there were windows opposite the door so the room was surprisingly well lit. There were three large desks and lots of shelves containing fluids and what looked like samples. Smith moved forward and looked at the first one; it had the usual toxic symbol on the front and had a thick, slime type substance inside. Alongside the glass vessel were small glass tubes, slightly smaller than test tubes, each filled with what looked like the substance. Smith pointed to them to Lewis could and also pointed to his bag. Lewis started loading items into the bag, being careful not to break anything.

From what Smith could see it looked like this base was some kind of research centre, though he was surprised at the lack of security. Maybe the building was more a delivery place, where people came to collect something, maybe even to be given doses of this stuff. Smith shivered at the thought, what could they be up to?

The two men moved to the next room that featured the same layout, but this time the shelves were bare of anything resembling the glass containers with the fluid. There were a large number of books and reports though. Smith had a quick flick through them; they appeared to be medical journals and books on human and cattle biology. He took a few of the reports but left the books; they were heavy and didn’t seem to be particularly useful. The third room was full of dusty boxes and containers, mainly with used glass containers in them along with spare paper and supplies, hardly anything the soldiers could make use of. All that was left was the room at the end of the corridor. Moving close to the door it was clear that this room was different in some way. The handle and lock were not the same as the other rooms and there were no windows to provide any light inside.

In the distance they heard the sound of gunfire, Smith instantly recognised it as short bursts from a submachine gun. The other team must have run into trouble, they needed to leave, and fast. Without pausing Smith slammed his boot into the door and with one meaty kick simply smashed it open. The two men stood in shock at what they saw. The room was lit by a small window in the centre of the ceiling and underneath it, chained to the floor was a completely naked man. This man was no ordinary man though. He was one of those things, the creatures that had been attacking them. Along his arms and chest were metal fittings that had been stitched into his flesh, almost as if they were intended for use with cannulas, the flexible tubes that may be inserted to deliver medication or drain fluid. The creature, like the others they had seen, had a quantity of a vile, blood like substance dripping from its mouth. It saw the two men and opened its jaw wide and howled in the awful groaning sound they were now very familiar with. Smith told Lewis to leave the building and he followed closely behind. As he left the room he turned around and fired a single 9mm shot into the creature’s head. It snapped backwards and crumpled to the ground with a sigh. The two left and emerged into the yard at the centre of the compound.