“Captain Scott, we’ve got an American here!”
Peters turned back to the bodies, spotting movement in the middle of the group.
Humphreys pointed to another that was moving.
Humphreys stood up, looking at Peters, “What the hell?”
As Peters turned, Humphreys spotted more of the shapes moving from the woodland.
“Oh shit, Sir, we’ve got more of them!”
One of the men in the unit spotted movement behind them, from the group that had been approaching from a distance.
More were also approaching from behind them.
Peters screamed out, the American soldier that was wounded amongst the bodies was holding onto his leg, lifting himself up the sergeant’s body.
Humphreys ran over and tried to help, only to be pulled to the ground by more of the dead men.
The two girls started screaming, the same sound that the British soldiers had heard at the start of the action.
They were pulled out of harm’s way by the burly Lance Sergeant Jones.
One of the corpses somehow pulled itself up to their position but Jones stamped down hard and emptied a dozen rounds into the body, he put a few in the head, just to be sure.
He looked back at the two cowering girl, they were petrified.
Smith shouted to Jones and Wilks.
“Get over there and give them a hand, the rest of you, open fire!”
The soldiers immediately opened fire on the new targets that had arrived.
Jones and Wilks leapt over the broken fence and moved ahead, firing bursts at any of the living corpses that got too close.
Within seconds they were there and dragging the wounded Humphreys away from the bodies but some of them were still holding on.
Jones smashed the wooden stock of his Sten MKV into a man’s skulls, knocking him down whilst Wilks kicked another repeatedly.
The two men kept pulling at Humphreys.
Peters tried to stagger back, away from the bodies on the ground.
The American kept trying to bite at him but he held him off with his hands.
Something clawed at his feet, forcing him to lose his balance and dropped him to the ground.
Back at the fence Smith could see their situation falling apart.
The bodies on the ground all around their position were slowly lifting themselves up and moving towards them, whilst in the distance more of them were appearing from the dark woods.
Smith ran back to the two officers, firing bursts from his Sten as he went.
All along the line the soldiers were shooting and every few seconds the crump of a grenade blasted apart several of the enemy.
Smith spoke rapidly to the men.
“I’ve got no bloody idea what’s going on.
I suggest we get moving and fast.
See those buildings ahead?” the sergeant pointed out to the distance, the officers nodded.
“Right, we get to decent cover, check the wounded and get into a more defensible position.”
Lieutenant Harvey gave the order and the soldiers lifted themselves up, grabbed any wounded and the two girls and made for the buildings off in the distance.
Smith and the two officers helped pull Humphreys from what looked like living corpses but there was nothing they could do for Peters.
Dragged to the ground at least three of the corpses were taking mouthful of flesh from his arms and throat, he was screaming and blood gurgled from his throat and mouth.
Lieutenant Harvey paused for a moment then pointed his Colt 1911 at the man and fired three rounds at him.
Two impacted into the unfortunate soldier’s chest, the third and final round hit him square between the eyes.
Without hesitation the survivors dragged the wounded men between them and joined the exodus across the field to the buildings.
The thin column was now scattered and running the distance of two field lengths to the buildings in the small village.
Though the lead men were almost there, the two officers, Smith and the men they had just saved were struggling to keep up.
Moving at a fast walking pace the moving corpses were slowly gaining on the group.
Smith fired bursts when he could, but he mainly needed to help the wounded Humphreys who was being dragged between him and Captain Scott.
Smith noticed that Lieutenant Harvey was being grabbed by two of the vile things.
One was knocked back by several rounds fired at point blank at its head by the officer’s pistol, the second however was hanging on to his smock and equipment, slowing him down.
Before he could try and help another appeared at his side and he was forced to release Humphreys for a moment and spray a burst of fire into the thing’s chest.
A short distance ahead, were Chard and Archer.
As they ran both of the men kept a watchful eye on their left flank.
They were running as fast as they could with the equipment they were carrying.
Chard held his Sten MKV in both hands whilst on a sling he carried the PIAT projector.
Archer on the other hand lugged the heavy Bren machinegun, not a weapon for sprinting with.
Looking behind Chard spotted the trouble the officers and Smith were in.
“Archer, the Lieutenant is in trouble, give me covering fire,” shouted Chard.
Turning around and dropping to their knees for increased stability they provided covering fire for the retreat.
Chard emptied two complete magazines from his Sten gun whilst heavy bursts from Archer’s Bren gun tore into the groups of creatures.
The first burst was wide but the second succeeded in knocking down several of their pursuers.
Archer took careful aim with his Sten and loosed a couple of rounds taking a chunk of flesh from the corpse holding onto Lieutenant Harvey.
Harvey, now free of the creature, grabbed Humphreys and the small group carried on towards the buildings.
The small number of buildings formed the heart of the small French village.
The area itself looked completely unspoilt from the ravages of the war.
At this time of night there were no people wandering about and the narrow roads were deserted of the few vehicles you might expect to find.
At the centre of the village the three small roads joined together and the most prominent building was a kind of vehicle workshop.
In front of it were a few old tractors and an old, rusty looking truck.
Running alongside the road were a number of small houses that eventually led to a small grassed area and then a church.
Behind the church were a number of small farm buildings, though there was no immediate sign of the main farmhouse.
A low wall ran around the church though it had a few gaps, some deliberate and others from lack of maintenance.
To the distant side of the church was a graveyard that disappeared into the cover of a number of trees.
It looked like a vicarage or other large house was positioned behind the trees.
In the other direction a boarded up petrol station betrayed a time when there was better access to both labour and machines.
The Allied soldiers crossed the road and rallied outside the church where cover appeared plentiful.
Before the officers arrived the men were already preparing to defend the perimeter.
The walls provided ample cover and a convenient place to rest firearms.
Private Wilks, hearing the groans from the wounded Martinez went over to see if he could help.
“Anything I can get you?”
The American soldier responded with a moan.
“It’s my leg, it’s starting to hurt like a real bitch!”
Wilks bent down and sniffed the wound; he had to force himself not to turn away from the stink.
This was just what he had been taught back in England, the smell of decay.
It was odd though; he didn’t remember being told gangrene would kick in so fast with a wound.
Looking in his pack he found some morphine and gave the American the quick injection he needed to take the edge off.
“That’ll help for a bit, I’ll get the Lieutenant to have a closer look when he gets here.”
Martinez acknowledged with a thumbs up.
Chard and Archer reached the wall and leapt over it as soon as they got there.
Archer immediately swung his Bren machinegun around and placed in on the wall.
He called out to the riflemen who joined him.
“Chuck me some mags, I’m getting low here.”
Each man carried spare clips for the unit’s machinegun and conveniently the gun took the same ammunition as the Lee Enfield rifles carried by nearly half the unit.
Chard grabbed the spare magazines and placed them on the wall next to Archer.
Clarke, Gardner and Harris with their Enfield rifles then joined them at the wall.
The men spread out with about six feet between each man.
They were ready.
The rest positioned themselves between the church and the wall, covering all possible angles into their position.
All the soldiers were now inside the secure position, apart from the officers and Smith who were bringing up the rear with the wounded Humphreys.
Smith could see the last of his men leaping over the wall ahead and it looked like they had finally found a position they could successfully defend.
The sound of the creatures was getting worse and each time he checked over his shoulder the number of them seemed to have increased.
Forgetting about shooting them he used his last burst of energy to manhandle Humphreys up onto his shoulder and then jogged the last hundred yards.
The two officers ran with them, firing the odd shot with their handguns as they ran.
Up ahead several dazzling flashes glittered then the whistle of bullets as the riflemen fired with great precision right between the officers to hit the creatures behind them.
Smith grinned to himself; all that training was finally paying off.
They were now at the wall and Smith literally threw Humphreys to the waiting arms of the soldiers at the wall.
He then leapt over the wall, followed by Lieutenant Harvey and Captain Scott.
Chard moved over to the group and explained the situation.
“Martinez is in a bad way and you brought Humphreys back.
The bad news is we lost quite a bit of our heavy equipment back there.”
Smith looked at their position, then back at Chard.
“Still got the mortar?” Chard nodded.
Smith considered their position for a moment and then spoke to Lieutenant Harvey.
“We have a decent position here for now, but we’re going to need something better and soon.”
Captain Scott added, “I agree, if we get stuck here and the sun comes up we’ll be sitting ducks from Fritz,” he looked up to the church tower.
“What about inside this church?”
Lieutenant Harvey agreed, “I suggest you take the wounded and the girls and get them inside.
The high walls and windows will make the doors an easy bottleneck for those bastards.”
He pointed to the creatures that could just be made out far in the distance.
Smith arranged the details.
“We’ll leave Clarke, Gardner, Harris and Archer on the perimeter, the rest can get inside for now.”
Harvey nodded in agreement.
“Reckon you can get Trent and his rifle up in the tower?”
Smith looked up and shrugged, “I’ll see what I can do.”
He moved off to make the arrangements.
At the wall Archer slammed in a new clip onto his Bren gun and pulled back the bolt.
This wall was the first line of defence for the church and Archer would be damned if he was going to let one of those things make it anywhere near them.
He looked off to his right, Clarke and Gardner were both leaning against the wall, watching the horizon the same as him.
Looking to his left Harris was a little more casual, smoking on a newly lit cigarette whilst watching off to their left.
The church was as expected, well constructed.
Though it likely saw few people during the occupation it was in generally good condition.
The roof was intact and the stained glass windows all remained.
The entrance to the church was through a stone porch that led to a large doorway, protected by solid wooden doors that were reinforced with iron bands and studs.
Luckily for the soldiers the church doors were open, something Smith made a mental note to rectify.
Smith pulled back his bolt from the safety slot cut into it, the first round slid into place.
With his weapon ready he entered the building first.
Jones, Lewis and Wilks followed close behind and immediately fanned out to check the building was safe.
The church followed the traditional basic design with the altar off to the right whilst the tower was to their left.
The doorway the men passed through took them directly into the centre of the nave.
Smith stood there so that he was in the exact centre of the church, he turned in a full circle, noting any points of interest to his men.
With an unknown number of hostiles outside it was important that they established a defensive position that could be held for an indeterminate amount of time.
There were two main aisles running along the northern and southern parts of the nave.
Each of the two long walls featured two tall windows, each a good four feet above the ground.
Smith noted their height with satisfaction; they would be a decent obstacle to the things outside.
Looking ahead Smith could see the chancel, the traditional space around the altar at the liturgical east end of any traditional Christian church building.
In the centre was the altar, a large stone item that commanded this part of the church.
Opposite the chancel was the tower, a cramped but thick walled part of the church with a dark entrance at the rear leading to the staircase.