Michael Thomas: Night of the Nazi Zombies

* * *

The group of three men had moved as close to the German vehicles as they dared. Though it was now quiet they were all acutely aware that they were potentially massively outnumbered and had no idea what was out there. About two hundred yards behind was the small wooded area, and immediately behind that was the crashed glider. Even as they lay prone watching the German column, the remaining British soldiers would be removing everything they could use from the glider as well as salvaging German weapons and equipment from the battle.

“Look at this,” called Trent.

From his vantage point he had an excellent view of the lane and could see each of the vehicles.

“What?” replied a nervous sounding Harris.

Trent pointed out towards the vehicles, describing what he saw.

“It looks like something spooked the column, see, look at the closest truck.”

Chard lifted himself up, confirming Trent’s observations.

“Yeah, I can see it. The first truck has dropped into the ditch, the rest stopped behind it and the armoured car…”

“Yes?” asked Harris.

Chard continued, “the armoured car is in the middle of the field off to the east.”

“I don’t understand, I can see why the column stopped, but why is the car so far away?” said a confused Harris.

“Maybe they were chasing somebody,” added Trent, “or trying to get away from somebody?”

“Maybe, but if they were being attacked, why is there no fire or smoke? Did they just abandon the car?”

Chard spoke to Trent.

“Go back to the glider and tell the Sarge what we’ve seen and then get back here right away. We need you to watch our backs, but he needs to know what we’re doing.”

He nodded in agreement. Chard continued surveying the area; he was still mystified by the situation with the German vehicles.

“Come on, let’s take a closer look, we need to know what’s out there.”

Chard and Harris stepped out into the lane and made their way slowly towards the vehicles. In a matter of seconds they reached the first trucks. What surprised them more than the missing men were the scores of dead Germans littering the lane. From their hiding place they couldn’t see low enough to spot these bodies.

“Jesus Christ!” swore Harris. “What the fuck happened here?”

“I don’t know,” answered Chard, “look at this one.”

Harris crept over to Chard, looking down at the bodies. The one Chard was pointing at looked strange. Harris couldn’t quite work out what he was being shown. Chard, with his hand on the man’s arm lifted it up, the limb was clearly not attached to the body. The black blood of the German soldier dripped out onto the road. Even worse though was what looked like rips and tears, almost as if an animal had been eating chunks of their flesh.

* * *

Trent moved as quickly as he could across the long grass to reach the glider and the group of paratroopers. Smith met him as he arrived, waiting for information, “Well, what’s going on?”

He explained the situation. Smith did not look impressed.

“Give me that,” said Smith as he took the binoculars and checked for himself.

The trucks and armoured car were still in position and one was burning away, filling the sky with black smoke. As for people, there was no sign of either people running or the firefight. He lowered them and spoke to the Lieutenant.

“I don’t like it, Sir. They may have gone to ground and that means the whole area from here to the bridge could be occupied by them.”

Harvey thought briefly, “I don’t see we have much of a choice, I suggest we get Johnson and get moving. If we are smart I’m sure we can get through without trouble.”

“Sir, I suggest we wait for Chard to get back with more intel, we don’t want to march off until we have something concrete,” Smith replied.

Harvey considered his suggestion, “Ok. Right, what is our status?”

Smith checked his notebook, examining the scrawled notes he’d kept after the battle.

“We are left with thirteen plus you and me, Sir. Casualties are twelve dead plus Johnson still in the glider.”

“Bloody hell!” answered the Lieutenant. “How about injured? Can they all move?”

“Yes, Sir. Johnson is the only seriously wounded, once we have him on the stretcher we can get moving,” offered Smith.

The men around Smith and the Lieutenant had by now assembled as much equipment as they could realistically carry, including several German submachine guns and a few trophy pistols.

One of the paratroopers popped his head out of the glider, “Sir, where is Johnson?” he asked.

“In the bloody glider,” answered an exasperated Harvey.

“Nobody in here, Sir,” the soldier repeated.

Smith was already at the door and climbed back inside the wreckage, Harvey was right behind him. Looking through the wreckage there was no sign of Johnson, or the dead sappers. Smith moved up to the cockpit. He waited there for a moment before turning back to Harvey.

“They’ve all gone, nothing but blood.”

“Who? Why?” asked Harvey, now totally dumbfounded.

Chard and Harris appeared through the tree line, having now completed their recce of the German convoy. Harvey moved forwards, looking for answers. “What did you find, Corporal?”

“Sir, you’re not going to believe this,” exclaimed Chard.

Harris nodded, providing backup to the impossible situation the two men had recently found themselves in.

“Speak up man, what did you find?” ordered an exasperated Lieutenant Harvey.

“Well Sir, we examined the convoy and as expected, the vehicles were abandoned. One is still on fire, the rest look abandoned, not sure if they still work. We would have looked further…but”

“But what?” intervened Sergeant Smith.

Harris stepped up, adding to Chard’s description, “Well, we found bodies…lots of bodies.”

“So they must have been hit by the rest of our unit then,” said a satisfied Harvey before he was interrupted by Chard.

“No, Sir. The men weren’t shot, they were attacked by some kind of animal.”

Harvey and Smith both looked unimpressed. Smith spoke first.

“What do you mean some kind of animal? There must have been thirty plus men there, all armed and all ready for a fight.”

Harris carried on.

“You’re right, we found them, at least thirty bodies, all mutilated and still bleeding. Some of them had their throats torn out, it was…” Harris bent over and vomited on the grass.

Smith thought for a moment and then turned to Harvey, offering his suggestion.

“I don’t know what’s going on Sir, but I can tell you it’s something we need to keep well away from. We don’t have time to mess around any longer, we need to get to the bridge and fast.”

Lieutenant Harvey nodded in agreement, “Yes, we can’t stay here and we need to get to the rendezvous, pronto. Put out scouts and let’s get going.”

Smith saluted and moved to the men at the glider. He pulled his Sten gun to the side, making it easier to move and headed directly to where Chard and Trent were standing. As he approached Trent stopped speaking and turned to the sergeant.

“Right, you know the drill. You two, you’re on point. Get the rest formed up. We need to get the rendezvous and fast.”

The two men split up, passing on Smith’s orders. Within seconds the unit was loaded up and already moving off in a column, running parallel with the convoy and road, but keeping at a safe distance from the previous ambush. Two of the soldiers finished their preparations and set the remains of the glider alight, ensuring any equipment the depleted unit couldn’t carry would not fall into the enemy’s hands.

The only thing left to do was to leave a few surprises for Jerry. This was a task that Lance Sergeant Jones was finishing with a great deal of relish. What better way to use up the surplus weaponry they couldn’t carry than to use it against any following Germans?