Part 2: The Panzer
“What. The fuck. Was that?!” Albrecht said, shivering still staring at the closed hatch door, the creature on the other side was howling and pounding on the door with a furious rage.
“I...I don’t know Private….I just don’t know.” Dietrich’s eyes were still closed tightly preparing for a death that never came as he still tightly gripped the hand that saved him. The four men sat in the hull of the tank while the beast roared just inches away from on the other side of a steel door.
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee…” Muller, who manned the loader position, the youngest and lowest rank of the four, clutched his rosaries and nervously prayed as tears rolled down his cheeks. “Blessed art thou among women, and bless is the fruit of thy womb…”
“Private, quit your yammering. I’m trying to think!” Tank commander Sergeant Gunther shouted at the younger man. He was equally as nervous and scared but had to be composed for the sake of his men. “There’s no time for praying! We need to devise a strategy.”
“This is our only strategy now!” Muller turned and stood as high as he could in the cramped Panzer tank as he outstretched his arm clutching the rosary and shook it in Gunter’s face. His shouting rivaled the volume of gunfire and explosions outside, “these earthly weapons are nothing against that thing!”
“Stand down Private,” Gunther grumbled sternly, but Muller was unhinged.
“We must look to the Lord and divine light to save us from this scourge!” Muller collapsed to his knees and raised his hands above his head as he continued to scream.
“Stand down Private!” Gunther now raised his voice to match Muller. The other two men, Albrecht and Deitrich just sat in the corner of the Panzer in shock of what they had just witnessed outside the 4 inch steel door.
“Oh Lord! Forgive me of my sins! Save me from this wickedness!” He began ripping the patches off of his uniform that indicated rank, his name, the symbol of the iron cross and the swastika of the third Reich. “I beg forgiveness for my warring ways if you only save me from this-”
“I said, stand down private!” Gunther delivered a swift front kick knocking the raving man to the ground and drew his sidearm. Albrecht and Dietrich began to hide themselves away knowing that one misfire and a bullet could bounce around the heavily armored hull of the Panzer and kill them all.
“Forgive me Sergeant…” the sudden kick derailed the freight train of words exploding from Muller's lips and he took a pause lying on the cold steel floor. He wiped the small amount of blood from his lip and motioned his hand back towards the other men showing them the crimson smear on his knuckles. “This is what it wants comrades. And it will not stop until it has what it wants.”
“B-Blood? Wh-what are you talking about Muller?” Albrecht stammered, he didn’t want to believe what he was hearing but he was witness to that thing ripping through a whole platoon of men with ease.
“It’s the damn Americans!” Dietrich interjected. He was in denial at what he had witnessed. He continued loudly as he pounded on the hull of the tank, “they know German engineering is superior! This Panzer could destroy four of their measly Shermans, so they are trying to play God and they made some sort of...super soldier to turn the tide of the war!”
“No, not the Americans they are too stupid for something like this.” Gunther holstered his weapon and continued theorizing about the monstrosity that killed so many of their allies and enemies. “Perhaps the Russians? Yes, their scientists are much more-”
“NACHZEHRER!” Muller shouted as he pounded his hand on the floor of the tanks. The other three men gasped and turned their attention towards the once raving lunatic. “Not American or Russian, this wickedness is Nachzehrer and death comes for us soon!”
“Nachzehrer? This...this is an old wives tale like Krampus and Nosferatu. Surely you cannot be serious…”
“I don’t know Dietrich, you saw that thing rip through the second division and the 50 cals had no effect on it.” The men slowly began to argue amongst themselves.
“There has to be a logical explanation for this! These…these creatures are not real.”
“They are very real my friend! Good and evil, God and the devil, these things are older than we humans!”
“So what do you suppose? A silver bullet?”
“It’s not a werewolf Gunther! We need crosses and garlic.”
“In case you haven’t noticed we are trapped in a tank, where are we going to get garlic from genius?”
“I don’t see you coming up with any bright ideas Sergeant so give me a break!”
“Herr Albrecht” In the midst of their arguing the four men had not noticed the eerie quiet outside the confines of their Panzer tank but the sound of a crying child’s voice cut through their heated tones and brought the silence into focus. “Herr Albrecht, hilf mir bitte….hilf mir.”
“It’s a child…” Albrecht reached for the handle of the tank hatch and began to turn it but Muller leapt from the ground and grabbed his arm. He raised a finger to his mouth and they waited to hear the voice again.
“Hilf mir herr Albrecht, ich habe angst,” again the child’s soft voice called to Albrecht through tears and again Albrecht tried to crank the hatch open.
“This is the devil’s trick!” Again Muller grabbed his arm stopping him. “That is no child, that is the nachzehrer trying to lure you to your death. We must wait here until day break lest we all die. Do you understand Albrecht?”
“Papa...papa…” The voice called again, the men remained still except for Albrecht who still clutched the handle tightly. Gunther placed his hand on his pistol as sweat began to form on his brow. Dietrich sat huddled in the corner of the tank as he began to pray and rock back and forth, “Papa rette mich, ich habe angst.”
“It’s child Muller! A child much like my own!” Tears began to well in Albrecht’s eyes as he gripped the handle tighter and tighter. “What kind of father would I be if I let a child suffer from that thing out there?”
The distraught Albrecht pushed Muller away with a sharp kick to the chest and quickly popped open the hatch and began to work his way out into the cold dark night. He called to the child in his native German, I’m coming honey, everything will be alright, but before he could fully exit the tank the creature pounced. Blood poured down into the tank, showering the other three men as the creature ripped and tore at Albrecht’s throat as his legs kicked wildly. Soon his body was lifted completely out of the tank and flung out of sight of the other men. The creature stuck its head into the open hatch of the tank and let out a horrendous, ghastly screech as the men scattered away from the entrance into the corners of the Panzer tank.
Gunther quickly drew his sidearm and began to open fire on the monstrosity that looked no different than a normal man except for the large unhinged jaw with its dangling slippery tongue and dark orange eyes with small back dots for pupils. Gunther’s bullets had no effect and the creature swatted him away easily. In the struggle, an errant shot was fired inside the tank, ricocheting off the thick armor walls and hitting Dietrich directly in the forehead. Reaching in to take a final blow on Gunther, the creature snarled. Mustering his courage, Muller leapt to his feet and stuck his rosary to its forehead causing it to howl in pain and leap from the hull of the tank. Muller quickly grabbed the handle of the hatch and slammed it shut before collapsing on the ground.
“I told you that your bullets are of no use here and look at what you've done.” Muller shouted as he tried to catch his breath motioning to Dietrich’s lifeless corpse who was leaking blood from the fatal wound. The two men sat huddled together, defeated, covered in their comrades blood as the beast raged from just outside the four walls that surrounded them.
“If that will not work, then how will we defeat this beast?” Gunther, once the commander, now looked toward the superstitious Muller for advice.
“I do not know,” Muller responded in a somber tone, “the only thing we can do now is survive the night.”
STAY TUNED FOR PART THREE TOMORROW
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