Chapter 22
Battle of Peleliu
Operation: Stalemate II
Lt. Wesley
1st Marines
The darkness was the worst part. And the silence. As the landing craft was about to launch, no one said a word. Occasionally the intercom would blast orders or someone might cough or sneeze, but it was quiet. Wesley looked up at the landing motto near the gate out of the ship. “Stay alert. Stay alive.” Wesley felt his grip tighten around his M1 Garand. He muttered a silent prayer. Sergeant Pepper—that was his name right? Pepper?—laid a heavy hand on Wesley’s shoulder. “Relax kid,” he said, “You’re in with the old breed.”
“Three days people, just three days. No more, no less.”
“Right,” Pvt. Lawson griped, “Three hell-filled days with the whole Japanese army trying to kill us.”
“You know what Lawson?” Peter cut in, “Why are you such a downer?”
“Shut up!” yelled Captain Sanderson, “If we can’t work together now where all dead!”
The loud speaker cut in, “Dog squad, launch is go!”
“That’s us! Get ready!”
With a slow creak like an old rollercoaster the boat move off the loading dock and past the loading doors. As they emerged into the light, they where almost deafened by a rocket volley firing from the ship across from them. Waves washed over the boat and the driver shut his flood hatch as to not get wet. Even being so far away, MG fire roared directly over their heads.
“Keep your heads down.”
Even without being able to see the beach, Wesley could easily see their objective. The Point. The large mountain fortress withstood navel shelling and was now firing huge shells down on the Marines even before they could leave their boats. With a loud swish, a shell slammed into the serf right next to the boat. The sudden wake toppled Wesley to the floor. Oxford offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet.
“Get up Tumbles!” he mocked. Lawson slipped on the soaking wet deck and banged his head on the side of the boat.
“Hey, too bad you where wearing you helmet Lawson, you might not have been able to fight that Jap army you where talking about!”
The other Marines bellowed out laughs, even it the midst of all this chaos. Wesley didn’t yet understand the Marines, but he found himself admiring them. Laughing in the face of death. Classic.
Eventually with a thunk, the boat hit land.
“Last one out…” said Peter as he threw himself over the edge. The other Marines just stared at the empty seat he sat in. On of the youngest Marines tapped Wesley’s shoulder and politely asked him “Is he insane!?”
Wesley whipped the water from his face and replied as he hoisted himself over the edge, “We all are. We’re the Marines.”
The other Marines just stood in shock. No one expected the new guy to be that brave. Not to be outdone, Sgt. McAllen tossed his 50 cal over the edge of the boat.
“Come on,” he said, “We’re going for a swim.”
Wesley didn’t expect the water to be that cold. As soon as he plunged in, he found himself waist deep in freezing cold water. He stumbles as he tried to get a foothold on the coral reef, slipping beneath the waves. When he surface he had lost his weapon, couldn’t find the other Marines, and had swallowed a huge gulp of salt water. As he made his way to the beach, MG fire roared over his head, making a lead ceiling Wesley could not pass. With a flash, one of the heavy guns fired into the surf strait as Wesley. He heard a “Look out!” and was pulled into the sea. When he was pulled back up, he found himself staring in the face of an older, more experienced Marine. Wesley’s ear felt like they were filled with cotton, but he could make out the words “Stay down!” before the Marine trudged off. As he sloshed through the water, Wesley felt a warm trickle run across his leg. Upon examination Wesley found that it was blood in the water. It soaked through to his trousers and stained his hands. Eventually he found the source. A torn Marine floated face down in the surf. In the midst of the Beach landing, Wesley had a moment where it seemed like no one else was there. He flipped over the body and stared into the face of Pvt. Lawson.
Peter was shivering from the water, but he managed to find his was on to a rock a distance away from the bullets. An older Marine was pulling bodies (living or otherwise) from the ocean. A young Marine was planning a joint strike over the radio. A corporal ran over to great Peter.
“Hey, good to have you here! Good to see one of the squads made it through fine!”
“Thanks. So, are we knocking out those bunkers, or are we planning to let them use up there ammo first?”
The corporal gave a wheezy laugh. “No, we have Miller over there calling in a strike. Should be ready in….”
“Thirty seconds,” Miller called.
“Alright, let’s watch the fireworks!”
“Roebuck!” one man called.
The older Marine dashed off, leaving Peter alone. He fixed his bayonet and prepared to charge.
“Ten seconds!”
Peter could here in intercoms of offshore ships adjusting their fire.
“Five, four, three, two!”
There was a distant, foom-foom-foom-foom and tracked the rocket as they sailed across the sky, them the beach exploded into a firestorm. The bunker be came leveled and bodies flew left and right. Every Marine on the beach charge together inland. Peter took off toward another location.
He found himself in a mine field just off the beach. Eventually he came across five stone lions. That was the main marker. He dropped down into a trench and found himself in a small cavern. In it sat a small desk with blueprints and schematics. He checked them to see if they where legit. Command had tough him little Japanese for this mission, but he could make out the word “Porter’s” on it. When he found the weapon, it was only half complete with the main power cell missing, but it would have to do. He shoved it into his bag and went on his way. When he made it back to the beach the rest of his squad had been looking for him.
“Oh thank God, you’re alive,” said Pepper.
“Why? How many people did we lose?”
“Too many.”
Wesley noticed a small object in Peter’s hand.
“Hey, what’s that?
“Nothing.”
Wesley saw a flash of red when Peter shoved the object back into his bag.
“Alright. Come on. Those boys over at the airfield need our help.”
Wesley felt a cold lump grow in his throat has they left the blood-red sands.
Chapter 23
Back at the crash.
4:23pm
Wesley sat on the steps inside of the bunker. Outside, a large fire was still blazing for a signal for the incoming aircraft. Doyel with the last of his energy shambled over to Wesley and sat next to him.
“This is it,” he said, “We’re going home.”
Wesley let out a small cry when he heard this. “Jesus, I thought we were already dead. God, the first thing I’m doing when I get home is have a big old cheeseburger, an ice cold beer, and then I’m going to sleep.”
“The first thing I’ll be doing is… being fed through an IV as I’m tested for some gross disease.”
“You still think you’re dying?” Wesley asked. Doyel just had a grime expression on his face, and then broke into a fit of coughing.
“So,” Wesley continued, “What did you do before the war?”
“Oh, not much. Cole and I grew up on a farm. We had pigs, cows, chickens, goats. You know, all that good stuff.”
“How’d you get into flying?”
“Flying crop dusters. Cole and I saved up a fortune to by one. We used to leave first thing in the morning to go work on it, fly it, and not come home ‘till late at night. Once the war started, we thought it was the perfect idea to go into military flying. What about you? What’s your story?”
“Well, I was a student.”
“Student?”
“Yeah. I went to Harvard and worked on history. Once I was drafted I had to go through officer training. That took a while. Because of that, I was one of the newer Marines to join. I saw Guadalcanal first hand, but just from the deck of a ship. I was too late to join the Marines on the island.”
“Good thing. From what I heard it was hell.”
“Oh, it was. Ask Oxford, he was there. Anyway after that I went island hopping without even seeing a Jap. It wasn’t until Peleliu that I fired my first shots.”
“On the beach?”
“No, I’d lost my weapon. On the airfield though I’d manage to fire my carbine and take out a few infantry. I also snagged a bazooka off a dead body and killed a tank with one of the rockets. Eventually on The Point I got to get up close and meet the enemy. I was inside the mountain with my trench gun as was in the perfect position to take out a platoon. One of them charged. I can still see the look in that boy’s eyes as I pinned him down and….”
Wesley seemed to space out. Doyel quickly swapped topics.
“So I heard you where also in Okinawa.”
“Oh, yeah. That was terrible. We lost so many men. I almost got torn in half by a satchel charge. A few boys helped my out of the battlefield and to the med ward. I even got to ride in Major Gordon’s truck... And I became a Captain that day. It became my job to watch over the rest of my squad and reach Sheri Castle, where I fired my last shots of the war… Fun stuff.”
Just then the radio barked to life into a series of code. The sound of engines could be heard in the distance. Oxford ran outside yelling “It’s them!”
Wesley ran outside a looked at the horizon. The blood-red sun showed the silhouettes of fighter planes approaching. The Marines ran outside shouting and hollering in joy as the fighters flew overhead. The pilots circled the building once and then lowered speed. Really lowed speed. The pulled the brakes and dropped their payload.
A large cloud of napalm shrouded the bunker and set trees ablaze. All the fortifications Wesley set up outdoor was engulfed in fire. The three Marines dropped to the ground as the fighters pulled off. Wesley got to his feet and stared at the scorched earth.
“Fucking idiots!” Oxford cursed at the top of his lungs. “Don’t you see what’s going on!?”
Wesley just dropped to his knees and replied, “I don’t understand.”
“The US Army just told us to go fuck ourselves. Evidently, they think that the Krauts captured us, and think that it would be easier to thermo bomb us and take out the Krauts too then it would be to rescue us!”
“No…”
“Shit…” Doyel cursed. Several freshly turned and burning zombies where beginning to rise from their graves. “We have to get inside now.”
“Doyel… your right. We have to gather our stuff before we leave.”
Chapter 24
“What!?”
“Get inside, grab a gun, and form up.”
The zombies where inching nearer and nearer to the Marines. One after the other, the three men ran for the bunker. Doyel stumbled and fell to the ground. Wesley lifted him up and pushed on. The entire bunker was in flames. If the Marines hadn’t been outside, they’d have been trapped inside and engulfed in flames. Wesley set Doyel down. He picked up the M2, his double shot, his .357 and his personal pack. Oxford and Doyel where packed and ready to go as well.
“Alright, does everyone remember the plan? Good. Hold you ground here ‘till we have to leave.”
A burning support beam fell right in from of Oxford.
“At this rate that won’t be much longer!”
Zombies began to swarm the building, sacrificing their hands to claw their way into the burning building. A few actually started climbing into the building, getting dangerously close to the Marines before one of them shot it dead. A large amount of burning debris collapsed from the foundation, sending Wesley sprawling to the floor. Oxford quickly pulled him back up.
“Don’t worry buddy, I’ve got you back!”
Another zombie snuck up behind Doyel and threatened to bare down on him, but
Wesley though quickly and pushed the creature into the flames and hosed the creature down with napalm.
“We’ve got to move!” he yelled as another zombie tried to pull him into the fire.
The men rush up the stairs. As some of the zombies tried to pull themselves up, the Marines used the butt of their guns to push them back down. One ghoul grabbed Wesley’s uniform and tried to pull him down. He grabbed the zombie’s arm, only to have the charred flesh slide off the bone. Wesley pulled out his knife and sliced the zombie’s arm off and punched it in its swollen head so hard a white puss covered his hand afterwards.
One zombie charged and tackled Doyel to the ground. He fired his pistol at it, but the bullets just bounced off. The thing was wearing a flack jacket! Slowly, the creature raised its head. What Doyel found made him shriek in horror. He was staring into the face of Cole. The creature let out a moan as chunks of flesh fell from its mouth. The creature was opening its mouth to feed.
With a red spray, Wesley’s shotgun bore through the creature’s head, and totally decapitated it. No one else saw what had happened but Doyel. Doyel felt… angry.
“Alright,” Doyel said, prepping the bazooka, “Let’s push the bastards back!”
The rocket hit the steps and exploded, sending body parts flying. Even more zombies pulled themselves back up. Just then, Wesley heard something coming from the radio room. Chatter. Someone was sending a transmition to the bunker!
“Fall back to the radio room!” he yelled. As the Marines ran down the stairs, Doyel fired the last rocket and demolished the staircase, blocking the Marines in and the zombies out. Wesley dashed to the radio and intercepted the message. It was coordinates in Morris Code. He was not radio man but he decoded the message on a small piece of paper. The coordinates where to Berlin!
“Peter!” yelled Ox, “They’re from Peter!”
Wesley could have said he told them so, but there was no time. As Doyel manned the MG, mowing down tons of zombies, Wesley and Oxford began tearing down the wall to the tunnel. When they reached the tunnel, a large group of zombies ran out, vicious from hunger. Oxford managed to kill a few with his M1A1, and Wesley finished off the rest with his .357 and shotgun. The tunnel was open! They could leave. Several zombies where tearing apart the barbed wire that held them back.
“Doyel, let’s got!”
Doyel just walked around and primed the satchels on the support beams.
“Doyel, what the fuck are you doing? Let’s go!”
“There’s only room for two on your freedom train Captain. Someone has to hold back the zombies as you escape. Besides (he stops to enter a fit of coughing) I’m not going to make it anyway.”
“Doyel we can still---”
“No, you can’t. Don’t worry. I’ll topple the building and trap the zombies inside. You’ll make a clean get away. Cole would have wanted it this way.”
Doyel began to prim an old bomb from the B-17.
“Go…” Doyel said. Wesley stood his ground. With a pop, one of the wires broke and the zombies began to climb through. Doyel fired his M1911 at them and yelled the order louder. “GO!”
Wesley ran. He didn’t know why, he just ran. He felt like he was on Peleliu again. Like he was a kid. As he entered the forest Oxford questioned where Doyel was. Wesley just dropped to his knees and began to cry. When Oxford realized what happened, he ran off to the bunker. There was one last scream, and the bunker ignited. Small bits of debris feel back to Earth, but nothing was left but toppled concrete. Wesley grabbed Oxford to stop him from running into the blaze.
“Look,” he said, “Doyel wasn’t a Marine, but he was the bravest man I’ve ever known. Unless you want him to die in vein, we have to make it to Berlin, find Peter, and get home. Do you hear me!?”
The two Marines took one last look at the blaze before the set off into the woods….
Chapter 25
Doyel counted to ten before grabbing the hellbox to the charges. The writhing horde in from of him had its arms outstretched ready to feed. He took a deep breath, pushed down the charge and… nothing. Nothing happened! This was unfair! He was going to see Cole! He threw the hell box and it dropped to the floor. Then something happened. The “mystery box” began to glow yellow as a silver metallic liquid poured out of it. As Doyel tried to touch it, he burned himself. It was a molten form of the rock they gave Peter.
The molten liquid moved across the floor until it reached the bomb. It began to cover the bomb like a symbiotic and the bomb began to hover in front of Doyel. One voice thought ran through Doyel’s mind like an evil wind.
Touch it.
Doyel reached out for it with his good arm and touched it. It was too hot to get near. He looked at his bitten arm. It seem to fell better again when near this. Doyel removed his bandages to reveille his gory forearm. He outstretched his arm and stuck it in the liquid alloy. With a loud bellow of pain, he reached the molten core and felt a burst of heat, and so heard the last thing he would ever hear:
Ka-boom.
The end
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