Rise of the Undead 1943 (5 page)

Vanessa sits under the map on the wall making a copy on an
old piece of parchment. Yusif approaches with her journal.

“Will this help?” he hands it to her. She locks eyes with
him.

“Yes, thank you.”

She takes the journal. Yusif turns to leave.

“It has begun?” she asks.

Yusif looks back to her, “Yesterday.”

Vanessa thinks, “Then, you are . . . ” she leaves it
hanging.

Yusif nods. Vanessa turns to the map. It shows all of Africa
and the Middle East, “Then I must hurry.”

Yusif walks to Camir who looks over a wrinkled parchment by candlelight.

Pilch and Matty sit behind the defensive barricade at the
doorway. Pilch dozes off. Matty, with his back to the hallway, looks at a
weathered photo of his wife and baby. Something moves in the darkness. Matty
picks up the Luger.

Monte sits alone with a note-pad and pencil, somberly
looking over the dog tags of those that have fallen.

Vanessa approaches.

“Well?”

She hands him the copy of the map, “Many of the passages
lead to exits.”

“That’s good,” he says looking down at the map. It shows the
entire Middle East, “You got to be shittin’ me.”

Vanessa shrugs, “Most of the passages lead for hundreds of
miles before they surface. If you believe the map.”

“This ain’t helpin’, lady.”

“One of the exits is close,” she points it out to Monte. He
nods, and she walks away as he studies the map.

Camir and Yusif are huddled over a parchment. It shows the
same map. They speak in Arabic.

“A half-day’s travel,” Camir notes indicating the route, the
same route.

Yusif nods, “Yes.”

“We must hurry; there isn’t much time.”

Yusif grimly nods. Camir looks over at Vanessa, who sits
down next to Oddball, “Strange addition.”

“Everyone has a task.”

Camir nods and stands, “I will scout ahead.”

Vanessa leans back against the wall next to Oddball. He
looks over to her, “You find us a way out of this mess?”

“I hope so.”

Oddball smiles, “I knew you would.”

Vanessa looks to Monte, who studies the map, “The men don’t
seem to like the Sergeant.”

Oddball shakes his head, “Naw, we just ain’t used to him. We
lost all our non-coms at Kaserrine, and ‘ole Monte got promoted. One day, he’s
tossin’ the baseball with us, and next he’s acting all high and mighty.”

Pilch struggles to keep his eyes open. Camir walks by and
waves as he heads down one of the tunnels.

Matty waves to Camir and turns back to Pilch, “It’s gotta be
religious.”

“Uh-huh”

“Some kind of curse or something.”

Matty stops cleaning the Luger, and listens. Something moves
in the darkness. Matty sits up, straining his ears, peering into the tunnel, “You
hear that?” he looks to the other tunnel, “I thought he went . . . oh well,"
Matty shrugs and drops down with his back to the tunnels, “Like I was saying,
it’s got to be religious. A pagan thing.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I shoulda paid more attention in Sunday school.”

A hand slowly moves toward Matty’s head from the other side
of the barricade.

“Pilch, for Christ sakes, I’m trying to have a philosophical
discussion . . . ”

The hand grabs Matty’s head and he’s jerked into the tunnel.

“Yeah,” Pilch hears a muffled cry and opens his eyes, “Matty?”
he looks into the dark tunnel, then looks down, seeing something. He picks up a
gold coin on a leather necklace.

Monte and the others stand at the entrance to the tunnel.
Everyone is on edge, scared, with fingers on triggers.

Monte looks into the darkness, “Shit,” he looks to Pilch, “You
saw nothin’?”

“I told you; I dozed off for one second, and he was gone!”

“God-damn-it!”

“Besides, that damn A-rab was out there. Hell, he might a’
done it himself.”

Yusif puts a hand on his scimitar.

Monte turns on Pilch, “Shut up!”

Vanessa studies the coin, “This is a Denarius. Roman coin,
from 200 B.C.”

“Why would that be down here?” Johnson asks.

“Why is anything down here?” Oddball whines.

Monte shakes his head, “Oddball.”

Oddball continues, “Nazis and demon priests and undead and…”

“Oddball.”

“Hell, why are we down here?”

“That’s enough!”

Johnson spits on the ground, “Yeah, sure it is.”

“I’m trying to get us out of here alive.”

“That why Matty’s gone?” Johnson accuses.

From down the tunnel, they hear a whistle. Pilch raises his
weapon. Monte motions for the men to take up firing positions.

“No!” Yusif barks.

Monte looks to him as he whistles toward the darkness. Camir
emerges from the tunnel.

“Geez, that guy gets around,” Oddball whines.

Yusif hands Camir a canteen, and he takes a long pull. The
two begin to talk in Arabic. Yusif turns to the men, “To the right is a
barracks room, I think for the undead we killed before…”

Oddball interrupts, “Undead we killed?”

“Yes, to the…”

Oddball interrupts again, “That don’t make no sense.”

“Oddball!” Monte snaps.

“I’m just saying, ought to be a different word for it is
all.”

“How about undead you re-killed,” Vanessa suggests.

Oddball thinks about it and nods, “See. That’s better.”

“I swear, I’m gonna kill you myself,” Monte says between
clenched teeth.

Oddball winks at her. Monte shakes his head in frustration
and turns to Yusif.

“Ahead, the tunnel leads down. The Germans are there,” Yusif
reports.

Monte nods, “Down it is.”

“Thought we was stayin’ here,” Johnson says.

“We still got a mission. We can always fall back here.”

“And we gotta find Matty!” Pilch says.

Monte looks doubtful, “Sure, Pilch. We’ll look for Matty
too.”

Monte looks to Yusif, who shakes his head.

Monte turns to Oddball, “You’re on point.”

“Me? But Sarge, I’m no good on point,” he whines.

“Oddball!”

“I’m serious, Johnson is way better.”

Monte points toward the corridor, and Oddball reluctantly
starts off.

Oddball is on point with Monte close behind. Water drips
from the walls. The torchlight flickers. The tunnel is tight and dark. Oddball
stops. From ahead, they hear the sounds of muffled gunfire, followed by
screams.

Oddball turns around, “We should go back.”

Monte spins him back around, “Keep moving.”

Oddball sighs, “Shut up Oddball, keep moving Oddball, knock
it off Odd . . . ”

Something moves in the darkness ahead.

Oddball screams, “Here they come!” and opens fire.

The rest of the men take up positions, and the tunnel is
instantly a blinding din of flashing gunfire.

Monte signals them to stop, “Cease fire!”

“Zombies!” Oddball screams and continues firing.

“Cease fire!”

Monte snatches Oddball’s weapon from his hands. Oddball
looks at him guiltily.

Monte turns to the rest of the men, “Everyone take a deep
breath and calm down!”

Oddball shakes with fear. Monte shines his flashlight ahead
and illuminates a dead rat that’s been blown to bits. Monte looks to Oddball
who sighs and shrugs.

Monte hands Oddball back his weapon, “Johnson, take point.”

Johnson slips past. Pilch lights a cigarette and hands it to
Oddball.

“Thanks, pal.”

Vanessa puts a hand on his shoulder, “I would have shot it,
too.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, he had it coming,” and she smiles at him.

Oddball frowns, embarrassed.

Johnson stops as the tunnel opens into a football-field-sized
room with a low crumbling ceiling that’s held up by rough timbers. German
bodies litter the floor entrance. He puts his hand up, “Quiet. Somebody is…”
and he peers ahead.

He can see a group of Germans behind a makeshift barricade
at the far end of the room.

Monte grumbles, “Germans.”

“Live or dead?” Oddball asks.

Pilch smiles, “Dead by the time I’m done with ‘em.”

The Americans get into a firing line as several figures move
toward them from a side tunnel jutting off from the room midway along its
length.

Johnson spits, “Looks like they aim to hit us.”

Some of the figures move toward the Americans; most move
toward the German position. Monte looks to the figures moving toward them,
“What kind of uniforms are those?”

“I was right. Romans,” Vanessa says.

The attacking undead wear the uniforms of Roman
Legionnaires.

Pilch lines up his rifle on a German,
“Congratu-fuckin’-lations Professor.”

As they get closer the Americans can see they are almost
full skeletons --skin dangles from bone and the uniforms fit poorly with little
meat left on the men.

The Americans open fire. The Germans open fire on the Romans
from their position.

“Go for head shots!” Yusif screams.

Pilch smiles and mutters to himself, “Just the way I like it,”
he fires dropping the German with a shot through the head, “That felt good,” he
says evilly and lines up on another German, a fellow sniper, “Hello,
sweetheart.”

Pilch smiles as his finger touches the trigger. Monte
notices and hits him in the helmet as he fires, sending the shot wild. Muller
and the Sniper look over.

“That way!” Monte indicates the Romans.

“But . . . ”

Monte smacks Pilch in the helmet, “Fire!”

Pilch mutters to himself as he lines up on a Roman. Camir
slips past them and moves toward the German position.

“Where’s he going now?” Monte cries out.

“To the Germans,” Yusif tells him.

“Think we’ve got enough on our plate right now.”

The Roman attackers go down under the heavy American fire,
heads missing or obliterated, bodies flailing like broken dolls onto the
ground. Eerie screams of longing and death echo through the enormous room as
balls of energy exit the skeletons as they are put down. Camir calls from the
German position in Arabic.

“More are coming from the tunnel ahead!” Yusif translates.

The Romans’ battle cries echo through the room. Monte puts a
hand on Oddball, who is visibly shaken, “Steady, son. Grenades.”

With quaking hands, Oddball pulls out two grenades.

“Wait for my command.”

Camir and fifteen German survivors make a run for the Americans’
position.

“Who do we shoot?” Pilch screams.

Monte is unsure, and looks to the two different forces
advancing toward them.

“The Romans!” Yusif screams.

Pilch is lined up on the Germans; he looks back, “But they’re
Germans!”

Monte looks to Yusif.

“They wish to join us. Trust me!”

“Fuck ‘em, he’s traded sides,” Pilch says.

Monte nods, “Covering fire! Protect the Germans!”

Pilch moves his rifle toward the Romans, “God-damn-it!”

The Americans open up on the Romans.

Oddball looks to Monte, “Grenades?”

“Not yet!”

A German goes down under a Roman’s blade. Pilch picks off
the Roman before he can take down another.

“They are not going to make it,” Yusif says.

Another German falls with a spear in his leg. A German
Sergeant stops to pick him up. The Romans pause in their advance to fall on the
pair, quickly slashing them to pieces with short swords and spears. Camir and
twelve German survivors are able to make it behind the Americans’ firing line.

“Get them back in the tunnel!” Monte yells.

“Fuck it. Let ‘em fight,” Oddball suggests.

Monte looks at the German soldiers, a tough bunch, and nods
in agreement. A spear sails in to take a German in chest. Everyone crouches for
cover as more spears sail in. Vanessa moves forward and pulls the injured man
back. Johnson scoops up a dropped Roman shield and uses it for cover.

Monte looks to the Romans and then to the Germans, “Can you
fight?”

Muller steps forward, “We need ammo.”

Monte picks up a rifle from a German corpse and tosses it to
him. The other Germans start picking through the bodies of the fallen looking
for ammo. Muller slams a round into the chamber and glares at Pilch.

“Take your best shot, fuehrer,” Pilch spits at him.

The sniper moves forward to confront Pilch, but Muller pulls
him back.

“Karl, relax.”

“Gutless . . . ”

Monte jerks Pilch back and roughly tosses him to the other
side of their position.

“Here they come!” Johnson screams.

The Germans and Americans open fire. Long muzzle flashes
from the weapons reaching out, empty shell casing dropping to the ground and a
wall of death shattering the Roman line. The assault slows, but the Romans keep
coming, pieces of their bodies being blown away as they approach. The horde
looks unstoppable.

“They’re gonna break through!” Johnson screams.

A scared German soldier stands up and dropping his weapon,
runs from the onslaught.

Johnson watches him go, “Hey! You dirty yellow son-of-a . .
. ”

The scared German only makes it a few steps when a bullet
hits him in the back. A German sergeant, Krugger, stands looking at the man he
just killed. The other Germans and GIs look to the smoking gun barrel and the
monster of a man.

“Fight!” Krugger yells and points toward the Romans.

The Romans are almost on them, snarling, screaming. A wall
of lead sprays from the Americans’ position. A spear takes a German in the neck
with a sickening crunch.

“Grenades!” Monte signals Oddball.

Oddball tosses them. The grenades explode. The air is filled
with debris and bones. The second wave of Romans breaks through.

“Again!” Monte yells.

Oddball pulls two grenades and throws them. But it’s too
late. The Romans are on them. One jumps over the bodies and lands on Oddball.
He screams as the Roman thrusts a dagger at his head.

“Oh shit!” Oddball cries out trying to keep the dagger from
his face.

As Oddball grapples with the Roman, another jumps over the
bodies, meeting Yusif’s blade. Oddball struggles with both hands to keep the
dagger away.

“Keep firing! Johnson, look out!” Monte screams.

Another Roman tackles Johnson. He rolls away from its knife
and fires into its head and then uses his shield to bash the skull in of
another Roman that’s crawling toward him. Krugger picks up the Roman trying to
stab Oddball and throws it, flailing, into the incoming horde. Oddball pulls out
his archeological shovel and starts hacking for his life. He doesn’t see a
Roman charging him from behind. The Roman readies his spear to run Oddball
through when Karl fires point-blank. The Roman drops to the floor. Oddball
spins and gives Karl a nod of thanks, but Karl doesn’t notice because he’s
lining up on his next target. Pilch fires and drops a Roman; then Karl fires
dropping another. Shot by shot the two snipers fire, looking to each other and
trying to out do the other.

One of the Germans is disemboweled by a Roman’s blade. Oddball
slips on the bloody mess, “Join the Army they said; who wants to be on a ship?
Yeah, good choice Oddball.”

“They’re flanking us!” Muller yells.

“Advance, on me! On me!" Monte screams.

Monte steps forward and leads the group through the horde,
counter attacking to break out before they are surrounded.

“Kill ‘em, kill all the sons a’ bitches!” Monte yells, and
they fight for their lives.

With a hail of fire the soldiers advance, anger replacing
fear. Krugger uses a dead Roman like a battering ram to clear a path. Another
German goes down screaming, his entrails spilling onto the ground from the
slash of a Roman’s short sword. Monte slams a new magazine in his Thompson and
fires a long burst into three Romans coming at him. He guides the burst high
and stitches all three through the head. He spins to see the floor is piled
with bodies and the combined group of Americans and Germans are killing off the
last of the Roman horde with single shots. He sighs and lowers his weapon, out
of breath, blood dripping down his uniform, “Alright.”

Muller looks to him, “Thank you. I’m Captain Muller.”

Monte glares at him, “Don’t thank me. We came to kill you,
not to save you.”

Muller nods and smiles, “If I am your prisoner, under the
Geneva Convention, you are responsible for my protection.”

Krugger starts to gather the German troops behind Muller.

“That’s funny,” Monte says sarcastically.

The two stare each other down. Muller holds his pistol at
his side. The Germans and American eye each other suspiciously, fingers on
triggers, weapons at the ready.

“We gonna have a problem?” Monte finally asks.

The two men look over their opposing forces, evenly matched.

Muller shrugs, “Could go either way.”

Monte grips his weapon tight and nods, “Could.”

Muller turns to his men, “Stand down.”

Monte slings his Thompson and the Americans relax. Muller
extends his hand.

“Let’s just get one thing straight. I’m in charge,” Monte
says firmly.

“I understand . . . Sergeant.”

Monte extends his hand, and the two men shake.

Pilch steps forward and spits at Muller’s feet, “No fucking
way. I ain’t joining forces with no murdering bast . . . ”

Karl hits Pilch with a hook.

Pilch glares at him, “That the best you got, Jerry?”

Pilch draws his arm back to strike when Monte grabs him and
tosses him back out of the way. Weapons are pointed on both sides.

Muller gently pushes Karl back. Monte nods an apology to him
and turns to Pilch.

“If you haven’t noticed, we’re in the shit here.”

Pilch rubs his jaw, “Bastards killed my brother. U-boat sunk
his transport; he drowned in the North Atlantic.”

Pilch moves for Muller, and Monte has to push him back.

“Seventeen and drowned ‘cause these fucking bastards want to
take over the world!”

“If you can’t control yourself, soldier, you can hand over
that weapon.”

Pilch and Monte lock eyes.

“He’s a god-damn Kraut officer; they butchered us at
Kasserine! Larry, Tom, Harrigan all of ‘em.”

The mood is tense, soldier eyeing soldier.

“Give me your weapon.”

“Fuck you.”

“Now!”

Pilch tosses Monte his rifle, and the soldiers on both sides
lower their weapons. Monte slings Pilchs’ rifle and turns to Muller, “Any way
outta here?”

Muller points toward the tunnel, “It goes deeper.”

“It is the way,” Yusif informs them.

Monte spins on him and points an accusing finger at his face,
“I want some straight fuckin’ answers out of you!”

Yusif looks to Camir and then over the dirty, bloody, sweat
stained faces of the men before him.

He nods, “We have been given a much larger task than the
petty war your countries are fighting.”

“Petty?” Monte asks.

Yusif nods, thinking.

Vanessa helps, “This place holds a gate.”

“Uh-huh,” Oddball says.

Vanessa looks to him, “It must be closed, or the undead will
flood the earth.”

Yusif nods, “It is our duty to see that this does not
happen.”

“The curse of Belial,” Vanessa tells them.

Monte looks to Vanessa, “This ‘gate.' Where’s it lead to?”

She shrugs, “You would call it hell.”

“But that was just a story,” Johnson objects.

Vanessa turns to him, “So is the Bible.”

Johnson genuflects.

Monte looks to her and Yusif, “You’re saying the gate to
hell is opening, and we’ve got to close it.”

“Yes,” Yusif says.

Muller nods, “So the French, the Romans, all of them, they
came in to close the gate,” Muller guesses.

“My ancestors, they could not do it alone,” Yusif informs
them.

“They needed soldiers, protectors.” Vanessa says.

Oddball indicates the dead Romans, “And got turned into them
Zombie thingies for their trouble!”

Muller looks around, “And we will suffer this horror now.”

“A small taste of the evil the world will suffer if we do
not succeed,” Yusif says.