The shot rang out loud and violent, even louder still was the silence that followed it. Thomas watched through the scope as the commando"s head went up in a puff of blood and bits of bone. The body fell down amidst a shower of the remaining blood, it was a clean hit and it seemed to do what it was intended to. The other two commandos backed off, giving each other covering fire as they tried to drag their headless leader"s body off. Thomas fired two warning shots at the commandos, who were then forced to abandon the corpse. They limped a strange sort of run, going as fast as their wounds could carry them, to the far side of the airfield. The j.a.panese defenders arose from their cover, bewildered as they tried to spot who took out their mysterious a.s.sailants. "Squads Delta and Echo should be finished soon. We need to get down there and finish what those strange commandos have started. Move out, men." Thomas ordered.
Soon enough, the whole squad slid down the hill leaving a trail of flying dirt and dust clouds, soon enough they were amidst a hail of bullets as the j.a.panese defenders finally spotted them. The j.a.panese weren"t overly accurate, they missed every single bullet they fired, Thomas switched from sliding down the hill on the heel of his boots to sliding down on his a.s.s.
Peering through the scope as it b.u.mped and weaved, he focused in on one of the j.a.panese defenders wielding a Type-Ninety-Eight Light Machine Gun with it"s thirty-five round banana magazine protruding out of the top. He could even make the slide bouncing back as it let out sh.e.l.l after sh.e.l.l, smoke faintly rising from the barrel as it started to take on a dim red tinge.
There was no hesitation, the distance was only two-hundred yards, there would be no bullet drop. Thomas fired and let the rifle in his hands kick the recoil into his chest before coolly jumping to his feet and continuing to slide the less than fifty feet to the ground.
The bullet storm from the defenders became less intense without their light machine gunner, enabling the squad to a.s.sault them that much faster.
A grenade was thrown, an explosion was seen, heard, and felt. The cries and screams of dying men soon echoed out for a time, and then all was silent.
Thomas and his squad took a look around, there was mostly devastation to be seen. The damage the commandos did was extensive, just by entering any building outside of the main hangar where the j.a.panese were defending one could tell that they didn"t stand a chance. Although there were five commando corpses recovered, the casualties the defenders accrued were horrendous. Not a single survivor could be found.
The plane they were supposed to have acquired was the only thing left intact, and after checking out the onboard systems and to make sure everything worked short of taking off, Thomas had the squad gather the commando corpses. Out in the runway, six commando corpses lay side by side, each with various gaping wounds across their bodies. The curious thing was that these bodies didn"t bleed blood like they were supposed to. Instead, the blood sort of oozed in the gaping holes like a gel, seemingly st.i.tching the body closed.
"Get Squad Foxtrot on the radio, tell them we need our doctor," Thomas ordered. "There"s f.u.c.kery afoot."
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After fifteen minutes had pa.s.sed, Doctor Elaine had arrived with two other soldiers in tow. They were, of course, her medical a.s.sistants. A doctor is only as good as her a.s.sistants she had once mused to Thomas. They had moved all of the bodies onto metal tables and brought a couple of wheeled cabinets out as per the doctor"s orders. She stood in front of the oozing bodies as they constantly st.i.tched and repaired themselves in front of her, she frowned.
"You know, Captain, this sort of thing isn"t within the realm of my expertise. I"m a neurologist and a brain surgeon, but without the other doctors here, I couldn"t even begin to tell you what"s going on with these bodies." Elaine sighed, "Honestly, there are only three or four doctors in the world who would be capable of something like this, and three of them are dead."
"And the fourth?" Thomas inquired, he was genuinely curious. If the fourth one was not dead, and he was not working for the Allies at the onset of all this, then where was he.
"If I am not mistaken, he should be imprisoned in one of MI-6"s most secure prisons." Eleanor answered. "Although I suppose in light of your own powers, they decided they could use his help in acquiring an a.s.set of their own."
"No s.h.i.t Doc," he replied. "Though these don"t seem quite so complete. Almost as if this were a trial run and if that is the case then we are going to have to hunt down the other two commandos. We can"t give them time to reach their rendezvous and escape."
Thomas turned around and barked for a direct line to the squads on the beach. "This is Captain Thomas to all squads, pull our equipment off the beach and secure it. There are three British Commandos on the island that must be hunted down. This is a kill on sight order, if you see them do not hesitate to engage. Be warned that they take an extreme amount of punishment and seem to regenerate, kill shots do not work. I say again, kill shots do not work. Aim for extremities and joints. Thomas out."
Thomas turned to the rest of his a.s.sembled current company, "since we don"t where they are, we are going to have to set up a watch for tonight. I doubt this is something sanctioned by upper command as we have received no priority communications. I want double watches set up for tonight, two man pairs. Keep your eyes peeled. Our current mission is on hold until we deal with or find these guys. If my hunch is correct, they were a.s.saulting this airfield for something they needed. Dismissed."
Thomas sighed, it was going to be a long night and he couldn"t rest comfortable without knowing where the enemy was or even what they were. He turned his sight towards the main airfield command structure. There had to be something there for them to make an a.s.sault with just three men, and Thomas was going to be sure to find it.