The power station was coming apart.
This presented a deadly problem for the complex.
The power station was centrally located at the most lowest levels of the Fortress.
With the station crumbling, the floor above became unstable.
Left unchecked, the lava would destroy the Fortress from the inside out.
And there was no way to stop the destruction.
Now that the lava was flowing nothing the Germans had could stop it.
It was a fatal blow to Fortress Alpha.
Grimme looked at Boehm lying on the floor near her.
A large chunk of concrete dislodged from the ceiling.
Emergency lights came on with the power failure.
“What happened to the lights?
Get up,” she was screaming at the top of her lungs.
“You must save your Führer!”
Boehm struggled to her feet and tried desperately to get to Grimme.
Each time she took a step the horrible shaking caused her to lose her footing and she fell again.
For the first time Boehm feared they may not survive.
But she had to try!
Once again she jumped to her feet and moved toward the Führer.
Grimme had not moved from her position on the floor beside her desk.
She was no help at all.
Boehm threw herself toward Grimme, crashing into the front of her desk.
“I’m coming,
Mein Führer
!”
Grimme was now curled into a ball on the other side of the desk like a child.
“Help me,” she screamed.
“Please help me.”
The office was now literally disintegrating around the two women.
In a last ditch effort to get to Grimme, Boehm got to her feet by hanging on to the edge of the large desk.
She steadied herself momentarily and took a step toward Grimme.
Instantly a large part of the floor above crashed through the finished ceiling and landed directly on Boehm.
There was a horrible dull sigh from Boehm as the weight of the concrete chunk smashed her chest.
Her lungs were crushed.
She could not breathe.
She choked on her own blood and stomach contents as they were squeezed out of her mouth.
Boehm looked over to Grimme.
The Führer’s face was the last thing Boehm saw as she died.
After seeing Boehm die, Kaete Grimme rolled over and tried to stand.
She was knocked off of her feet immediately.
The room was filled with smoke and ash.
She could not see the door.
She tried to crawl but was stopped as a huge crack began to appear in the floor under her right hand.
One side of the crack was rising and the other side falling away.
As the crack enlarged steam and smoke started pouring through the crack.
It became hot, damned hot.
Grimme’s eyes widened with fear as the floor below her began to give way.
More concrete fell from the ceiling narrowly missing Grimme as she tried to crawl away.
But where was she to go?
The heat was approaching unbearable and getting worse each second.
Smoke and flames were pouring in through a widening chasm in the floor.
Hugo’s explosive charges dealt the Fortress a mortal blow.
Lava had obliterated several floors below Grimme’s office.
The floors were buckling and failing fast.
“Help me, please!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Grimme’s repeated cries for help were heard.
She was answered by a single male assistant who ran into the room, his arms over his head trying to protect himself from the falling ceiling.
“I’m coming,
Mein Führer
!”
He took several steps and immediately fell through a hole that opened in the floor a few feet in front of Grimme.
His screams were silenced instantly as his body fell into the lava below and was vaporized.
The floor was seconds from collapse.
Kaete Grimme’s existence was coming to an end and she could do nothing to stop it.
The heat in the room was now causing Grimme’s mahogany desk to smoke.
Papers on the floor near the hole in the floor burst into flame.
The room shook violently again and the floor dropped about twenty feet down resting on the remnants of the floor below.
The lava flow was rising.
Grimme screamed in agony as the floor became like a griddle, searing her hands and knees.
She tried to move but her hands and legs were burning and sticking to the melted rugs on the floor.
The pain was unbearable.
Flames burst from her pants.
Grimme’s eyes bulged as the fear and pain overtook her.
She was on fire! Seconds later, the Führer of the Fourth Reich, Kaete Grimme, was incinerated as the lava flowed up and over her.
Explosions were now occurring on all levels.
Lower levels were filling with molten lava.
Those levels above were failing structurally and falling into the lava pool below.
Very few if any were going to survive this inferno.
It was fitting that the Fourth Reich Germans were perishing by fire.
But not only were the Germans themselves perishing but their secrets as well.
The secret of making gold was burning away along with billions of dollars worth of German gold.
Monday, July 18, 2011
In the Jungle;
11:35 a.m.
Even though the group was well over a mile from the Fortress they could hear the low rumblings of explosions.
They felt earth tremors that seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.
Dane stood up and looked toward Fortress Alpha.
He knew he had no chance to see anything through the jungle but it didn’t stop him.
His best friend was out there somewhere and he was worried.
“C’mon, Hugo,” Dane said quietly.
“Get your ass out here.”
Tim stepped over beside him.
“Sounds like explosions,” said Tim.
“I wonder what’s going on.”
“We gave them a small going-away present.
But it turned out to be much larger than I imagined.
Our grenades set off a huge fuel fire and set off some of the armament on their attack helicopters,” explained Dane.
Ben walked up, catching the tail end of Dane’s last sentence.
“Well, that would give those bastards something to chew on while Hugo got out,” he said, trying to reassure Dane.
“Hell, I bet with all of that going on Hugo will be able to just waltz out of there.”
Dane smiled, yet was worried for his friend’s safety.
Ben continued, “Well, at least we are relatively safe here.
We can wait a while until Hugo comes in.
We might as well relax.
Anyone want some food?”
Ben walked over to one of the larger backpacks and pulled out some kind of jerky.
“Dana?
Randall?”
“Actually, I could eat a horse,” said Dana, standing.
“Me too,” said Randall.
The two slowly half walked, half limped over to the backpack.
“Well, I don’t have a horse but I do have something that I think will tide you over until we can get you a hot meal.”
Ben handed out two large flattened pieces of jerky that looked like old dirty, burnt leather.
He didn’t know what kind of meat it was, but it definitely was not beef.
“Beef jerky, I love this stuff,” said Randall, tearing gingerly into one end of his slab.
Dana was a bit more particular, taking a few seconds to look at what she was getting ready to eat.
Both had to contend with a few lost teeth.
As Randall pulled off a stringy piece and began to chew, his eyes widened.
He looked perplexed as he tried to figure out what he was eating.
“Oh, by the way, that’s not beef jerky, Randall,” Ben said grinning.
Dana looked up from her perusal of the snack and looked at Randall.
He was trying to swallow his piece, clearly struggling with the taste.
Finally it went down.
“Ben, what are we eating?” asked Dana.
“Yeah, Ben, what did I eat?” asked Randall.
Ben was grinning ear to ear.
Tim was snickering.
“That’s not good when you two are laughing,” smiled Dana.
“Oh, it’s not bad,” said Ben.
“It’s just that it is not beef.
Tecal and his men made it.
I think it might be better if you don’t know what it is.
Even Tecal did not tell me what it was.
If I had to guess, I would say some sort of water oxen or jungle deer.”
Tecal was sitting over by the backpack happily chewing on a piece of the jerky.
“It good to eat,” Tecal explained.
“It made from good meat.”
Dane had to laugh.
It was the first time they all laughed together and it felt great.
Dana finally took a bite and chewed it.
“Well, other than being much gamier than beef, it’s not too bad.
In fact, after what we have been through it’s the best I’ve ever tasted.”
Suddenly a large explosion was heard in the distance, then another.
This time they felt the ground shudder.
The group all went silent.
Each was worried about Hugo.
“Those were much larger explosions than those earlier,” said Ben.
“You guys really touched off a mess.”
Dane was looking into the distance toward the continuing explosions.
His furrowed brow showed his concern.
“No, this is something else,” Dane said quietly.
“What we did couldn’t have done that much damage.
It sounds like Hugo may have added to their troubles.”
Now a huge cloud of black smoke was rising above the jungle.
“It looks like the complex is under attack.”
Dane wondered if his friend may have gone too far in an effort to save them all.
Hugo was not one to fail in any of his responsibilities.
He would not hesitate to sacrifice his own life for the group if needed.
For the first time Dane felt really scared.
Ben looked out in the distance toward the complex.
He too saw the dark column of smoke rising.
“Wow, that’s a helluva fire to see this far away.
I wonder what happened.”
“I don’t know, but I hope Hugo gets back pretty soon.
That looks like his work but I certainly hope he got out,” said Dane.
He stepped over beside Dana and Randall.
“Well, let’s get as comfortable as we can and wait on the ol’ boy.”
His tone was intentionally upbeat, but his thoughts were not.
Come on, Hugo… he thought to himself.
Dane began to gather his gear.
Internally he was fighting the urge to go find Hugo.
At the same time he didn’t want to keep Dana and Randall in the jungle longer than he had to.
They both needed medical attention.
After a few minutes he made his decision.
“I’m going back in to get Hugo.”
“Wait a minute, Dane,” said Ben, stepping in beside him.
“We are all worried.
But Hugo can take care of himself.
We cannot afford to lose you or any other person in this group.
Hugo will come in.
I know he will.”
Dane looked Ben directly in the eye.