Rise of the Undead 1943 Read Online Free PDF Page B

tightly in place.
    Pilch and Johnson emerge from the dark corridor into a small
room. Crude cots line the walls. A metal grate sits in the middle of the floor.
A muffled explosion knocks dust from the ceiling and water splashes up from
beneath the grate. Yusif stands over a headless body of a German solider that’s
still twitching.
    Johnson looks at the river of blood running from the corpse
and into the grate, “God almighty.”
    Pilch turns on Yusif, “Hey. Someone tell you to go running
off on your own?”
    Yusif ignores him, wiping his scimitar off on the corpse.
    “You hear me?” Pilch demands.
    Yusif puts his scimitar away, saying nothing.
    Pilch takes a step toward him, “Hey, I’m talking to you.”
    Yusif looks to him, “And I am ignoring you.”
    They stare each other down.
    Johnson tries to break it up, “No other doors or exits?”
    “No,” Yusif answers, eyes still locked on Pilch.
    “Then come on, we should get back,” Johnson tells them.
    Pilch waits for Yusif and Johnson to pass and then falls in
behind them.
    “Where the hell’s your friend?” Pilch asks.
    A hand grips the metal bars from below as they leave.
    Oddball looks at a life-sized drawing of an ancient warrior painted
on the wall. The chest cavity is opened up, and there’s no heart.
    Matty walks up behind him, “That had to hurt.”
    Oddball doesn’t hear him, his eyes slowly growing wider
looking at the split open chest of the victim in the picture. He can hear the
ripping of flesh and the wet pops as the chest is forced open. He shivers at
the sounds of the victims gurgling screams of agony.
    Yusif, Pilch, and Johnson arrive back at the intersection.
Pilch shoves Oddball knocking him out of his trance, “What’s the matter with
you?”
    Oddball looks to him, horror in his eyes. Pilch looks to
Matty and then to Oddball, unsure what is going on.
    Monte turns on Yusif, “Where the hell did you run off to?”
    Pilch turns from Oddball to Monte, “I asked the little pecker-head;
he wouldn’t say squat.”
    “Well?”
    Yusif locks eyes with Monte but says nothing.
    “See what I mean, like he’s a fucking mute,” Pilch says
shaking his head.
    Yusif takes in a deep breath and sighs, “I did not see any
point in standing around squabbling like school girls.”
    Oddball looks to him, “Ohhh, I guess this kind of shit
happens to you everyday!”
    “He chopped some Jerry’s head clean off, too,” Johnson says.
    “Fucking savage,” Pilch mutters.
    Monte sighs, “Just let somebody know next time.”
    Yusif nods, “I believe the rest of the Germans are still
inside.”
    “Well let ‘em stay here. I don’t care,” Oddball cries out.
    Pilch nods in agreement, “Damn straight.”
    “Pilch, shut your damn mouth!” Monte snaps.
    Monte and Pilch glare at each other. Some of the other men
nod in agreement. Pilch walks away, eyeing Yusif.
    “Where’s Camir?” Monte asks.
    Yusif points to the tunnel that Matty said no one went down.
    “How the hell?” Matty exclaims and turns to look into the
darkness.
    “What we gonna do, Sarge?” Clint asks quietly.
    “Anything down that way?” Monte asks.
    Pilch shakes his head, “Dead end.”
    “Then, we ain’t got much choice.”
    “What? No! Why not stay here? The Army’ll come and get us,”
Oddball pleads.
    Monte shakes his head.
    “But Lewis and Smith, they’ll tell ‘em where we are,”
Oddball continues.
    “We don’t even know if they’re alive,” Monte tells him.
    Panicked, Oddball looks around the dark corridor, “But . . .
”
    “No! We move,” Monte barks.
    “I hate to say it, but Oddball has a point,” Johnson says coolly.
    Monte puts his hand on the butt of his pistol and glares at
the men, “Anyone questioning my orders?”
    No one speaks. Johnson spits on the floor while glaring at
him.
    Yusif steps forward, “I will lead.”
    Monte grabs his arm, stopping him, “I’d feel better with one
of my men doing it.”
    Yusif shakes his grip loose,