Insert Nacht der Untoten Here (part 1 of 3)

The first scene is that of a gambler
Who had lost all his money at play
An' he draws his dead mother's ring from his finger
That she wore long ago on her wedding day
It's his last earthly treasure, but he stakes it
Then he bows his head that his shame he may hide
But, when they lifted his head - they found he was dead
That's just a picture from life's other side.

Pictures From Life's Other Side, By Hank Williams, 1951

April 30th, 1945, Berlin. Capital city of Nazi Germany.
The Red Armies advance through the streets has been just as swift as it has been brutal. Any German soldier brave enough to stand in the defense of the capital city of the third Reich was quickly gunned down as the Soviets marched onward to the Reichstag.

"Dimitri, plant charges on the final Flak 88 or our tanks will not be able to move up!" Sergeant Reznov commanded, laying down suppressive fire with his SMG.

Silently the hero of Stalingrad crept up, raising his FG42 Machine gun and mowing down a wave of advancing SS honor guard.

A bullet from a German rifle flew by his head as he knelt down to plant the explosive on the German artillery, Dimitri swallowed as the Axis soldier adjusted his aim and prepared to fire again.

A loud bang and a flash of light and the Nazi had breathed his last, Private Chernov ejected the smoking bullet casing from his Mosin-Nagant and prepared to fire again, taking notice the nod of thanks Dimitri gave him as he finished planting the charge.

The charge blew, effectively giving the AA gun an early retirement as the Red Army advanced up the stairs of the Reichstag.

-

Shuri Castle courtyard, Okinawa Japan.

With their objective complete, Sgt. Roebuck and his fellow marine raiders work was complete. Three of them were now going home. Two of them would be riding home on a boat, the other was being shipped in a wooden box.

Private Miller fiddled with the dog tag of his former friend and ally as he pondered the meaning of it all and the true cost of war. Roebuck walked up and laid a hand on his back.

"Polonsky's death was not your fault Miller, if I hadn't ordered you to stand down when I did he might still be alive." Roebuck said as army trucks drove into the courtyard, collecting the dead and salvaging whatever weapons and ammunition they could.

Miller turned to face Roebuck but remained silent, for there was nothing to say.

A marine raider stepped out of the truck and waived to them, indicating that there was room in the truck if they wanted to ride along. Miller turned and took one last look at the courtyard before slowly making his way to the truck.

-

Berlin, threshold of the Reichstag.

The last of the honor guard fell, for a brief moment something existed that many of the 3rd Shock Army had not experienced since the beginning of the war: Absolute silence.

"Advance men! Into the heart of the fascist Reich!" Reznov shouted, as the army began to move. Chernov the flag bearer led the charge.

Suddenly the doors of the building exploded outwards as a soldier that had been lying in wait barged out, gripping the trigger mechanism on his flamethrower.

A viscous tendril of fire lashed out from the mouth of the weapon, engulfing Chernov. The hammer-and-sickle covered flag of his homeland never once left his hand as he fell to the ground.

"Chernov!" Reznov yelled as Dimitri opened fire, killing the flamethrower.

The men all approached their fallen comrade as he lay dying, Reznov reached down and removed the charred, yet intact diary from his pocket.

"Someone should read this," he muttered slowly as Chernov gave up the ghost. "Onward men, his death will not go unpunished!"

The Red Army poured up the steps of the Reichstag, hearts set on avenging their fallen comrades.

-

In a bunker somewhere in Berlin, the sounds of battle can be heard above.

"It is finally ready my master..." An ancient scientist replied, as he connected one final wire to a futuristic looking machine that did not look like it belonged in the year 1945. Vacuum tubes and radio transistors were littered about the room, a telegraph machine ticked away steadily in the corner.

"I was beginning to think that the war would be over before you would complete your work." The shadowy figure called master replied, shouldering a massive sword.

"Shall I turn it on?"

"Yes... for the time of reckoning is nigh!" The figure shouted dramatically as the scientist pulled a lever, a shower of sparks erupted from the mechanism as the machine hummed to life. Almost instantly the telegraph machine's speed doubled, punching out digits as fast as the mechanical arm could move.

Throughout the city dead Nazi's began to rise from where their corpses had fallen, stiff muscles cracked as a brain that had long stopped functioning suddenly restarted and began commanding limbs to move again. All throughout Europe, the dead were rising.

On the steps of the Reichstag, Private Chernov's burned eyelids fluttered open, revealing two glowing yellow orbs beneath as with deliberate effort he began to stand.

Back in the subbasement, the shadowy figure whispered to himself, "You drove them deep into the heart of Reich. You thought they were dead. You were wrong."

He began to laugh.

-

Present day, Jared's room in the sleeping quarters of the Library Arcanium.

Jared awoke to the sound of pounding fists on his door, after jolting awake he rolled over and glanced at his alarm clock, it was one thirty in the morning.

Jared slipped on a pair of sweat pants and a wife-beater and answered the door for a frantic looking Chloe.

"What is so important that it couldn't wait until morning?" Jared asked his former lab mate.

"Tash has called an emergency meeting, help me wake up the remaining American agents, this cannot wait!" Chloe said, dragging Jared out of the room and slamming the door shut behind him.

"Why, what's happened?" Jared asked, suddenly feeling much more awake.

"The Sue Storm device has gone active..."

Jared felt his heart skip a beat.

-


"Everything that was asked of us, we've done. Every night we lay in a filthy foxhole praying the enemy won't slit our throats. Every day we spent crawling through the mud and dirt while bullets whistled all around. But this is the last time we're going to have to put our lives on the line. This is the enemy's last stand. When we take Shuri Castle, we go home. All of us." Sgt Roebuck

Roebuck and the remaining marines had barely made it into the truck before the dead began to rise. Miller hastily grabbed his M1 Garand rifle from the weapons crate in the back as he watched the swarms of the imperial zombies rising out of the ditches.

"Banzai charge!" Shouted a marine.

"No, somethings wrong. These troops are unarmed! Banzai may be glad to sacrifice their lives for their country, but they aren't stupid! They wouldn't do a suicide run if they had no hope of killing us." Roebuck shouted, loading a trench gun.

The zombies swarmed the road as the driver of the truck shifted into reverse and hit the gas.

"What in God's name are these things?" Roebuck shouted as he witnessed a marine fall beneath a wave of the walking dead.

"These aren't the enemy! These men were killed just this morning!" A soldier shouted, opening fire.

-

Several hours later the marines had fallen back to Shuri Castle. The structure's outer barrier consisted of many high walls that worked very well at keeping ancient intruders and zombies out. Unfortunately it was not so effective against the American artillery the had stricken it the day before and the assaulted castle's many wounds left many structural weaknesses that the zombies could freely exploit. As the battle drew on the marine's weapons began to run out and they were forced to begin to fall back to the inner courtyard. Somewhere in the middle of all this chaos nobody seemed to notice seven figures materialize on the roof.

"Rhia, we've got a zombie that's about the tear through the blockade on the east wall!"

"I see it, I'm taking the shot," Rhia whispered from beneath the bandanna across her face. She held her breath as she lined up her Springfield sniper rifle, taking much care with her aim as she lead her target. There was a flash of light as she pulled the trigger and the bullet began its course into the zombie. It's body fell back to the earth it came from with a spattering noise and a flop. Ingrid ejected the bullet casing and loaded a fresh one.

"Good shot, let's keep moving..." Chloe whispered, switching the safety off on her Thompson, taking extra care not to slide off the slanted roof tiles.

-

Berlin

Jared crawled around the floor of the burned Reichstag building searching for a new drum for his PPS, everywhere around him members of the Soviet forces flung lead, steel and blood into the unending horde.

"Don't you find it ironic that in the 1930's Hitler and the Nazi party blamed the fire in the Reichstag on the German Communists party and now Communists are attempting to save the aforementioned building from ruin?" General Idea mused from Jared's fake Russian uniform collar.

"Cram the history lesson and tell me how to reload this thing..." Jared answered, pulling an abandoned drum clip out from beneath a fallen beam.

The barrier behind Jared suddenly exploded as two zombies burst into the room.

Idea shouted as a zombie ran up behind Jared and dealt him a crushing blow before Jared could draw his sidearm.

Jared fell down and desperately attempted his pistol, gasping for the air that had been knocked out of him.

Two loud bangs penetrated the air as the zombies suddenly became much lighter around the midsection, Jared felt like he was going to be sick.

"You okay?" Phenoxia asked as she pulled out a hypodermic needle and stabbed it into Jared's thigh.

"That is not one for the resume!" Jared said softly, standing up.

"What?"

"Nothing, most characters from zombie mode have a series of humorous one liners, I'm experimenting..." Jared said, standing.

"Well it doesn't seem appropriate!" Phenoxia replied, reloading her sawed off shotgun.

"Well if I wasn't laughing, I'd be crying..." Jared replied, resuming his struggle with the drum clip.

Phenoxia ran up to the window and quickly began rebuilding the barrier.

"So the Germans have been holding out on us, now we face the real army!" Reznov shouted from the balcony as he blasted a zombie.

Jared finally got the clip changed and ran up to the second floor.

Three zombies broke through the barrier at the top and began rushing the stairs, Jared pulled the trigger and the bullets began to fly.

Arms and legs were shredded as the Soviet weaponry's high rate of fire tore into the zombies. To Jared's horror they didn't even slowed down.

"Why won't they die!" Jared shouted in frustration as he vaulted over the railing.

"Because they are already dead?" Idea offered.

"Not helping!" Jared growled, tearing into the approaching zombies again.

Jared's combination of spraying and praying eventually resulted in one of the zombies collapsing in a broken heap as the PPS' dull click indicated that Jared was once again out of ammo. Drake came from around the corner and finished the other two off with his MP40.

"In Soviet Russia, The grenades cook you!" Jared shouted, flinging the explosive through the shattered barrier, taking out another zombie.

"Jared, no offense but you are severely unqualified for this mission..." Drake said, whipping sweat from his brow with the dusty sleeve of his fake uniform.

"None taken, I'm just here for my experience with Sue Storm, I've never had more then basic arms training..." Jared replied sheepishly.

"It's astonishing how you ever made it to the rank of Admiral!" Idea added.

"Quite you."

-

Although it wasn't her usual choice of weapon, Tash couldn't deny that the M1 Garand rifle's bayonet was quite effective for her fighting style, she would of rather have had her sword but it was tough enough maintaining her disguise as it was.

"Has Charis discovered where the Stu is yet?" Ben asked, fast stepping out of a zombie's lunge.

"Code Words Ben! We're supposed to be Marine's here!" Adrian hissed, slaying the zombie with his Bowie knife. "We need to blend in with these soldiers if we want to have the best chance of pulling this operation off..."

"Er, has headquarters located Hitler's bunker yet?" he asked.

"Ben, We're in Japan... We have no reason for... Never mind," Tash said, face palming.

"To answer your question no, we only know he's either here or in Berlin although it's equally likely that there are devices in both locations, Engineering Corps is still tracking the target." Chloe said, trying to make her voice sound as masculine as possible beneath her heavy face guard.

The American Marines continued the fight against the Imperial undead for several hours with little success, for every zombie that fell two more would rise to take it's place. Moral was low and munitions were lower still.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Adrian shouted, "We haven't made any progress since we've gotten here, and we still don't even know where the Stu is!" Adrian shouted.

"We can't keep this up Adrian, both teams are exhausted... We need to rethink our strategy..." Tash replied, putting three rounds into a zombie with three distinct pops of her Garand.

The zombie didn't stop and hurled itself violently on top of her, Tash repeatedly began stabbing the abomination with her bayonet. With a mighty heave and a burst of fire magic she thrust her rifle bayonet clean through the zombies neck.

Adrian bounded over just in time to throw the zombie of off her with a powerful shoulder tackle.

Tash shot Adrian a look that expressed a simple, wordless thanks as she raised her rifle and unloaded the rest of her clip into the head of the final zombie in the courtyard.

"Okay everybody, we only have a few minutes before the next wave arrives... I want everybody to get to the barracks for extraction..."

"Hold on... I've got a tiny isolated blip on the radar, it's coming from a small island about 25 miles south of the coast!" Pete replied, toying with the frequency on his transistor radio."

"Could it be our target?" Adrian asked while reviving a fallen marine.

"Too much interference... I absolutely cannot tell, but I think it's probable." Pete replied grimly.

Adrian chewed his lip, "Alright, then we stay."

Tash turned to face the group.

"Chloe, Ben, go look around and see if you can't find some army trucks that still run. Ingrid! Get on the roof of that tower and cover them. I don't want to spend another bloody minute hear then I have to..."

-

It came as no surprise to Jared when they received the order to pull back to the roof, the struggle seemed very hopeless; the powerful soviet forces simply did not have the numbers to hold the Reichstag. It was only a matter of time before their ammo supply ran dry.

"Let's go..." Michael ordered, and the Berlin team advanced up the stairs.

"The problem is our usual MO of go-in-and-look-for-the-stu just doesn't work when we're confined to such a small area..." Drake replied.

"Not to mention that we just can't get past infinite waves of the undead when we only have a finite amount of ammo and energy." Jared added, aiming his gun towards an advancing horde as he slowly backed up the stairs, although there was no point as he had run out of ammo long ago.

Drake tossed a grenade into their midst, effectively dispatching them.

"Whoever survived that is probably just a crawler, we'll get by." Drake said as a cloud of dust rose up.

Jared pulled out his secondary pistol and inserted his final clip.

"Where'd Micheal and Nixie go?" Drake asked as he and Jared reached the top of the stairs.

"There are so many Soviets up here they probably just got lost among them. We'll meet em on the roof." Jared said.

"Couldn't we just use the LPMC to track him down?" Drake asked.

"Sorry, I sent Idea and his men on a special assignment a half of an hour ago."

Tiny plotholes opened somewhere in the corner of a long forgotten Nazi foxhole.

"Men, we require the German artillery at this outpost, we believe it to be deserted. But stay alert just in case..." General Idea said, fitting a silencer on a miniature Thompson SMG.

"Sir, remind me again why we're using all these inferior firearms." Colonel O'Korn asked, loading his Springfield.

"You remember the mission briefing don't you? Period weapons only soldier!" Idea harshly whispered.

"Does that apply to us?"

"SHUT UP!"

The little green army man advanced along the makeshift building's sandbag walls, reaching what could be considered the command post.

"Hold! I hear voices." Idea said, peering around the corner.

"Zees are dark time mein Freund." Said a Nazi officer slamming down a shot glass.

"Aye. Zee war es all but lost. Yet our superiors still expect us to fight to zee last. It is such a vaste. Now our fallen comrades are rising, but it ez not for Germany they are fighting. No, I've seen men I've fought beside for years torn down by zee corpses of men who fought under there command. It makes no sense to me."

The officer poured himself and the soldier across from him another drink.

"Nor to me mein Freund, nor to me." Said the officer as he drank the liquor.

"Surgeon! Industry!" Idea whispered.

"Yes general." The two units said in unison.

"Execute maneuver stille Nacht," He said.

"GGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Industry shouted, squeezing of several rounds from his BAR and charging into the room.

"Vat iz zhis?" The officers said, standing up.

"I thought Germany was supposed to be the land of toys?" Industry shouted at the top of his voice synthesizer.

Industry opened fire, tiny bullets whizzed through the air, striking the glass on the table. Liquor and tiny shards flew every where.

"Surgeon! NOW!" Idea shouted.

"GAAH!" One of the officers shouted, grabbing his ankle and pulling out a tiny syringe. It was only a second before his eyes rolled back and he fell to the floor.

"You'll pay for that!" The second man said, drawing his Gewehr 43.

BONK! A LPMC bomber slammed into the officers' head, he fell to the floor.

"Sorry, didn't have another syringe... had to make some changes to the plan." Surgeon said, waving at the pilot that it is okay to land.

Idea shook his head disapprovingly as he and the LPMC advanced past another sandbag wall.

"Bingo!" He shouted, shouldering his weapon and picking up his radio.

"Idea to the Admiral, we have secured the artillery!"

"Great!" A flustered and increasingly irritable Jared shouted, "Open fire on the streets outside the Reichstag! We are going to push these zombies back and make our way into the city no matter how many flipping Zombies stand in our way!" Jared said, picking up an abandoned PPS clip and reloading.

Drake formed up behind him as the two of them began firing a spray into the zombies advancing up the stairs.

"As Gene Simmons put so eloquently, 'It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll!'" Jared shouted.

"Brian Johnson!" Drake said,

"Who?"

"Brian Johnson is the lead singer for AC/DC, not Gene Simmons."

"Drake, you can be right, or you can be killing zombies. It's your call."

"I think I'll just do both!" Drake said, resuming his attack.