He called to the girls, Adrienne came over and the two engaged in a conversation, in French that was way too fast for either of the officers to follow.
Whilst the discussion continued Sergeant Smith went back outside to check on the status of the unit.
The whole front of the church reeked from the smell of recently used firearms. The walled area so recently defended by the soldiers was full of grubby and tired airborne soldiers.
Smith called them to attention and checked the numbers.
He walked along the perimeter that followed the length of the church, inspecting each man and his kit and noting details down in a small notebook, especially their ammunition and supplies.
Though this current defence had been without casualties, he was appalled at the losses they had sustained since leaving England.
When he finished he let the men return to their posts and re-entered the church to speak with the Lieutenant.
Back in the church Smith was greeted by the sight of a groaning Martinez, Corporal Chard was busy checking his wounds whilst Lieutenant Harvey observed.
“I don’t understand, Sir.
His wounds stopped bleeding sometime ago and he seemed to be getting better, but now his heart rate is getting weaker.”
“Could it be internal bleeding?” asked the Lieutenant.
“Maybe,” answered an unconvinced Chard, he moved up close to Martinez and whispered into his ear, “can you hear me?”
Martinez groaned, turning towards the medic.
Chard listened intently; with a couple of sighs the injured Martinez appeared to pass out.
He certainly wasn’t dead as his chest was still moving up and down, albeit very irregularly now.
“What did he say?” asked Lieutenant Harvey.
“He said he could hear his heart in his ears, or something like that.”
The men stood around the wounded soldier, confused at what was going on.
The old man said something more to the two girls and then joined the officers at the altar.
He looked at Martinez and then spoke to Lieutenant Harvey.
“Yes, I have seen this before, it is not good.”
Martinez started to shake, his voice was slurred and blood started to drip from his mouth.
His face was now pale and his eyes appear liked black glass.
Martinez rolled first one side and then to the other.
He started to cough.
Chard shouted to the men, “Hold him!”
Harvey and Smith moved towards the wounded man, grabbing his arms and holding him down.
Humphreys, who until now had been propped up against the altar, hobbled over and helped hold him down also.
The coughing got worse and with each spasm more blood poured from his mouth.
Humphreys went to wipe the blood away but was stopped by the surprisingly strong arm of M. Poulain.
“No, do not touch the blood,” said the Frenchman.
Martinez shook once more and then with one final cough he stopped moving.
Chard looked closely at his face, it was lifeless.
Carefully opening his eyelid revealed a strange, hazy blackness to them, not the eyes of a normal man.
The two officers released their hold on the now dead Martinez.
Captain Scott looked confused.
“I don’t understand, I thought the wounds were superficial, why did he start shaking like that?”
Lieutenant Harvey looked to the Frenchman.
“Monsieur Poulain, you seem to have an idea what is going on, perhaps you could enlighten us?”
The old man nodded in agreement, moving closer to the officers.
“Yes, I have seen this before.
Two nights ago one of the old men from the village was bitten by something in the forest.
I didn’t see him until yesterday when I went to visit him at his farm outside the village.
When I got there I found his wife dead and he looked like your man here,” he pointed at Martinez, “I think the Germans are using a poison like to turn people into animals.”
Captain Scott looked unconvinced.
“You’re saying those people outside attacked us because of some chemical weapon?
Bullshit!”
Chard put a sheet over the body of Martinez that was still lying on the altar, whilst the men continued their discussion.
The old man ignored the American and continued.
“When I was in the army in the war we came across many different types of chemicals.
Some burnt out throats, others our eyes, some even made the soldiers got a little crazy,” he gestured with his hand around his ear as if to say they were mad.
Sergeant Smith added his own thoughts. “This may be true, what I don’t understand though is how these things are able to keep going even when we’ve put half a dozen rounds into their chests.”
Out of the corner of Captain Scott’s eye he could see movement behind Smith, from where the Martinez’ body was.
As Smith was talking he could see the Captain’s eyes looking at something behind him.
He turned his head slightly.
“What?” he asked.
The Captain pointed at the altar, Smith turned and the others followed suit.
Incredibly Martinez was sitting up but the sheet still covered him.
Smith muttered, “What the hell,” and made towards the body.
Lieutenant Harvey was closer and reached out to pull off the sheet.
Smith stopped moving towards the body as he was distracted by the oozing black, congealed blood dropping off the altar and down onto the floor.
“Uh Sir, don’t do that,” he called out but too late.
Harvey had pulled the sheet to reveal the full horror.
Martinez may have lifted himself up but he certainly wasn’t alive, not in the traditional sense.
His composure was of the recently deceased and his eyes and face were expressionless.
His mouth was wide open and revealed his teeth that were already dripping in some kind of foul, dark blood or gore.
Martinez leaned towards the Lieutenant and grabbed him across the upper body.
Chard rushed forwards only to be struck by the left arm of Martinez; the strike was surprisingly strong and knocked the soldier back several feet.
With a thrusting motion Martinez’ head pushed forwards and he sank his jaws deep into the British officer’s neck.
Lieutenant Harvey cried out in pain.
Captain Scott already had his pistol out from its holster and fired off three rounds from the hip, two of which struck Martinez in the chest.
The third bullet embedded itself into the stonework behind the altar.
Captain Scott shouted out, “Everybody back!”
Lieutenant Harvey, with a mighty push managed to knock Martinez back and then stumbled backwards, finally collapsing onto the floor.
A torrent of blood gushed from his throat, he had but seconds to live.
Smith grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the altar.
Chard knelt down to the mortally wounded officer whilst Smith pulled out Harvey’s pistol and trained it on the figure of Martinez.
“Look at him,” said Captain Scott.
They all looked at the creature with a mixture of fear and shock.
Martinez was pulling himself off the altar and dropped down onto the floor.
Without hesitation he lifted himself up slowly and looked towards the soldiers.
His body was slumped and the gore continued to drip from his mouth.
Private Lewis and Wilks took up positions around the wounded officer, both with their weapons cocked and ready.
Smith called to the creature, “Martinez, can you hear me?”
It simply looked at them with its lifeless eyes.
It moved its head, looking at each of the men, showing no sign of recognition to any of them.
Without warning it wailed, the same sound they had heard in their defence of the church wall previously.
The thing made to move towards the group with its mouth open and threatening.
Captain Scott didn’t hesitate, “Drop him!” he shouted and repeatedly squeezed the trigger on his automatic.
Smith joined in, as did Lewis who worked the bolt of his Enfield so fast he was able to put three bullets into Martinez before he hit the ground.
Wilks held down the trigger on his Sten, emptying a full magazines worth of thirty rounds into him.
The sound of the weapons’ fire was deafening in the church, a building created with perfect acoustics that on this occasion simply accentuated the noise.
A total of nearly fifty bullets of different calibres tore holes in Martinez, his right arm was cut clean off whilst multiple rounds ripped open his throat and chest.
Gore flew all over the altar and Martinez was thrown up against it.
He slumped to the ground, still sat up but lifeless once again.
With the body on the ground the soldiers reloaded, each of them making sure they wouldn’t be surprised again.
Captain Scott bent down to check on Harvey when the creature started to move again.
It opened its eyes and started to move.
Before it was able to do anything of note the old Frenchman stepped out in front of the creature and pointed his army issue pistol directly between the eyes of Martinez.
He fired one shot that blew out the back of the man’s head and he fell down, for the last time.
M. Poulain turned to the Captain.
“I think this is the only way to kill the beast.”
Chard added the final bit of news that they all dreaded, “He’s gone, Sir.”
The soldier slumped down next to the dead Harvey and then jerked in surprise before getting up and joining the others.
Captain Scott looked bemused but Sergeant Smith knew exactly was the soldier was thinking.
“You think he’s going to go crazy like Martinez, don’t you?”
Chard nodded, too shocked and pumped up on adrenalin to actually speak.
Smith pointed the pistol he had taken from the now dead officer, he looked at him carefully, looking for any glimpse of movement.
The body was completely lifeless, he eased back on the trigger, perhaps he was just dead.
He almost smiled to himself at the thought as though death now meant something different to just hours before.
Wait, he saw something on his face, was it movement?
Smith squinted, looking down the barrel of the pistol, and then he saw it.
Lieutenant Harvey opened his eyes, the same glassy look they had seen on Martinez and then open his mouth in the shrill cry of these undead monsters.
Without hesitating he pulled the trigger, putting a single round into the base of the brain.
The officer’s body snapped backwards, joining Martinez on the floor.
Chard, who by now was starting to get enough oxygen back into his lungs to calm down, voiced his observations.
“Looks to me like these creatures have some kind of venom, like a snake.
If they bite you it somehow turns you into one of these.”
Humphreys looked less than impressed.
“What the fuck do you mean it turns you into one of those things?” he pointed to the bodies on the ground.
Chard looks a little confused at his outburst before spotting the bandages on Humphreys, “Oh shit!” he swore, realising both the risk he saw in the man and also the insult he had just announced.
He added an uncomfortable, “Sorry,” to the end of his little speech.
Humphreys carried on with his rant.
“Look, I’ve been bitten and I feel fine, nothing wrong with me, look!”
Captain Scott looked unsympathetic.
“I agree with Chard here, those things do something to you but, and this is a big but, it only seems to affect people when they die.
Look at Harvey and Martinez, they both died from their wounds before turning, maybe that is what happened to the ones outside.”
M. Poulain joined in, “I agree.
Everything I have seen shows me these things always attack you after another one has hurt them and after they have died.
It looks like devil’s work.”
“Or Nazis’ work?” called Captain Scott.
“Same thing isn’t it?”
Smith interjected.
Captain Scott spoke to the old man.
“What did the girls have to say?”
“Well, it seems they were out with a group from the other village, they’ve been waiting for you to arrive,” explained the old man.
“Waiting?” asked Captain Scott.
“Yes, the girls and their family have been working with the resistance for some time now.
They were working with, I think you call them pathfinders or something?” asked M. Poulain.
Captain Scott gave a look of acknowledgement.
“They say they were attacked by these things when they were heading to meet their friends.
They were the same ones, same movement, smell and noise. It seems they are the same things.”
“So based on what you know, how many of these things do you think there are out there?” asked Captain Scott.
The old man continued.
“Well, so far I have seen more of these things than there are people in any of the surrounding villages.
From what the girls have told me though, I think I know where the rest have come from.”
“The source of what makes them act like this or the source of the people?” asked Sergeant Smith.